Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 248 Amin Abandoned, Prisoners Everywhere (Part 2)

The Little Ice Age has caused widespread devastation, and temperatures in the north are dropping lower and lower.

In early November, Liaodong was already covered in ice and snow, with howling winds and biting cold.

At this time, the Jurchens, who had been besieged in Liaoyang for nearly half a year, had also run out of food and reinforcements.

The Jurchen commander Amin had no choice but to break out of the encirclement.

As for why he chose to break out openly early in the morning instead of sneaking out at night, it was because it was too cold.

It's so cold during the day that you'd shiver uncontrollably; if you went outside at night, you'd be frozen solid.

He wasn't unaware that the chances of a successful breakout were higher at night. The problem was, in such cold weather, choosing to break out at night was tantamount to suicide. Even if the Ming army didn't come to encircle and annihilate them, most of his soldiers would freeze to death in the cold night.

Therefore, his only option was to break out during the day, specifically when the sun was up.

His breakout caused a great stir in the north of Liaoyang.

First came the Ming troops on the east and west sides, which quickly transformed into six long lines.

Two long lines emerged from the south gates of Liaoyang Left Guard and Liaoyang Right Guard. These two groups were purely cavalry, and their numbers were not large, with only about five thousand on each side.

They didn't run towards the north bank of the Taizi River at all; instead, the two long lines rushed directly along the south bank of the Taizi River towards the north gate of Liaoyang City.

Two other long lines emerged from the east gate of Liaoyang Left Guard and the west gate of Liaoyang Right Guard. These two groups were also pure cavalry, each numbering approximately 20,000.

After they rushed across the ice to the north bank of the Taizi River, they immediately spread out in an arc, forming a semi-circular arc with Liaoyang City as the center, covering an area of ​​nearly thirty miles.

The last two groups of troops poured out from the north gates of Liaoyang Left Guard and Liaoyang Right Guard. These two groups were all chariot troops, with five thousand chariots and one hundred thousand chariot soldiers on each side!
After arriving at the north bank of the Taizi River with their warhorses and chariots, they continued northward for more than ten miles before spreading out in an arc. They were centered around Liaoyang City, but the semi-circular arc they spread out covered an area of ​​nearly forty miles.

At this time, the Jurchens in Liaoyang had already fled to the north bank of the Taizi River. Hearing the thunderous sound of horses' hooves on both sides, they ran north for their lives, hoping to escape to Shenyang.

Unfortunately, these days they had only been drinking thin porridge and had to fight off the cold, so their strength was almost completely depleted.

They were already panting and their legs were weak from running just five or six miles from Liaoyang City to the north bank of the Taizi River.

Even if they run as fast as they can, they can only cover two miles at most in a quarter of an hour.

In other words, it would take them at least two hours to get to the place where Huang Taiji had assembled his army and meet up with the reinforcements!
Huang Taiji remained stationary. After hearing the thunderous sound of hooves from the south, he only sent out a large number of scouts to investigate, without hastily leading a large army to provide support.

As a result, the scouts he sent out saw nothing but a long line of chariots that stretched as far as the eye could see!

Moreover, judging from the reports from the scouts, the Ming army's chariots formed not one, but two long lines.

Now both long dragons are starting to converge towards the middle.

If he chooses to lead his troops out immediately, he will definitely be able to break through the Ming army's chariot defense line.

This was because the distance between the two chariots was as much as thirty or forty miles, while they were less than ten miles away from the two chariot formations.

He only needs to lead his troops to break through to the middle, and he will definitely be able to break through before the two chariots close in.

The question is, what do we do after we break through?

The Ming army's chariots were all pulled by warhorses, and it seemed like there were people pushing them from behind. At that speed, the distance of ten or twenty miles on each side could be closed in half an hour at most.

In other words, if they break in and cannot turn around and jump out of the encirclement of chariots within half an hour, they can forget about getting out!

Can he rescue Amin and the 50,000 infantrymen within half an hour?

That's obviously impossible. Foot soldiers rely on their two legs to run, and in this freezing weather, they'd be lucky to cover ten miles in half an hour.

In other words, even if he could break through and join up with Amin's infantry, he wouldn't be able to bring those 50,000 infantrymen out.

In this situation, should he still rush in?
He hesitated for a long time, but finally gritted his teeth and loudly ordered, "Send word: the entire army retreat!"

Amin was abandoned by him just like that, along with the 50,000 infantrymen guarding Liaoyang City!

At this time, the Ming army's chariot formation had gradually closed in, and the Ming army's cavalry had already surrounded the center.

Amin had led his men on a long and arduous journey of over ten miles, thinking they were about to escape.

Unexpectedly, a black line suddenly appeared on the snowfield ahead, and soon the black line turned into countless black dots, surging towards them.

These are Ming cavalry! He hesitated only slightly before leading his trusted men and hundreds of personal guards on horseback, galloping wildly northward.

As for his infantry, he couldn't care less about them anymore. These guys were already panting heavily and were about to collapse. There was no way he could escape with them.

He fled in the direction that was where the Ming army's banner was located.

That is, the location of the large flags with the characters "Cui" and "Cao".

He probably thought that if he could defeat the Ming army's commander, the Ming cavalry would be thrown into chaos, and he could escape in the confusion.

As for who was under the "Cui" banner and who was under the "Cao" banner, he didn't care at all.

All he knew was that the Zu brothers were the most capable fighters in the Ming army.

He might not even be able to defeat Zu Dashou, and Zu Dabi almost defeated their number one warrior, Aobai.

If there were a large banner with the character "祖" (ancestor) in front of him, he would definitely take a detour.

What's with all these "Cui" and "Cao" banners? He's not afraid of a damn thing.

Upon seeing this, Cui Yingyuan and Cao Wenzhao couldn't help but look at each other in astonishment.

Has Amin lost her mind?

This guy actually charged straight at them, was he looking for death?
Upon seeing this, Cao Bianjiao was overjoyed and said, "General Cui, General Cao, let me go and meet Amin?"

Upon hearing this, Cui Yingyuan couldn't help but hesitate.

His refusal to let others go there seemed like he was trying to steal the credit.

The question is, could he really send a young general in his early twenties to fight the Jurchen commander to the death?
Upon hearing this, Cao Wenzhao inquired, "General Cui, why don't we let Bianjiao test its skills?"

If your uncle says so, what can I say?
Cui Yingyuan could only say loudly, "Alright, transform into a dragon, be careful, if it really doesn't work, retreat."

Upon hearing this, Cao Bianjiao immediately led over a hundred of his personal guards on horseback to meet them.

At this time, Cao Wenzhao and his nephew Cao Bianjiao were not famous at all.

This was all because Zhu Jue promoted the uncle and nephew based on historical records, and the uncle and nephew had not yet made a name for themselves.

When Amin saw that the person rushing up was a young Ming general in his early twenties, he couldn't help but purse his lips.

This kid is probably too eager to make a name for himself, so he's come here looking for trouble.

Who would have thought that during their first encounter, Cao Bianjiao almost cleaved his spear in two with a single blow!
All he could do after that was defend and dodge.

Cao Bianjiao wielded his war saber with incredible skill, each strike powerful and heavy, and the other simply couldn't withstand it!
In just a few moments, the spear in his hand slipped from his grasp, and then he felt a chill on his neck before losing consciousness.

Cao Bianjiao was an invincible general who could lead 800 men to Huang Taiji's tent. His skills were nothing compared to Huang Taiji's!
When the commander Amin was killed, his confidants and guards were so frightened that they turned their horses around and fled.

Cao Bianjiao didn't chase after them; he just waited there for the cavalry behind him to surround them.

Before long, 40,000 cavalrymen surrounded 50,000 Jurchen infantrymen, forming an impenetrable encirclement.

At the behest of Cui Yingyuan and Cao Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao immediately rode forward, gathered his strength, and shouted: "Lay down your weapons and surrender! Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!"

By now, the Jurchen infantry had almost collapsed on the ground from running, and they had no strength left to resist.

They were having trouble even breathing.

No one knows who threw military power on the ground and then collapsed there.

Immediately afterwards, everyone hurriedly threw away their weapons and collapsed to the ground.

Fifty thousand Jurchen infantrymen surrendered just like that!
It's not that they were all afraid of death.

The problem is that they haven't had a proper meal in a month or two, and now that they've run more than ten miles, they have absolutely no strength left.

They can't even stand up straight, how can they put up a fight?

When Cao Bianjiao saw the prisoners scattered all over the ground, he was taken aback.

(End of this chapter)