Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 274 Chuan Ting Opens Up a Chaotic Tai Chi Battle (Part 1)
While Huang Taiji was still in a daze in Liaozhou, troops had already gathered in Liaoyang, the main city of Liaodong.

This most important town on the nine borders has long been returned to the Ming army and has been renovated. Boilers and heating have been installed, and Sun Chuanting has moved his headquarters to the former governor's office in the city.

At this time, the entire city of Liaoyang had become a huge military camp. The number of chariot soldiers stationed here in Liaodong Town alone reached 100,000, and there were also as many as 50,000 Liaodong Iron Cavalry and Jingying Cavalry. In addition, 10,000 Jingying musketeers had already taken over the city's defenses.

That's not all. There are also Liaohai City and Liaohe City, where the number of garrison troops stationed by the capital reached a staggering 150,000. In addition, in the waterway between Liaohai City and Liaohe City, more than 1,500 small merchant ships were lined up for hundreds of miles.

Zhu Jue spared no expense in his efforts to recapture Liaodong. He sent almost all of the main land forces of the Beijing Garrison, as well as most of the small Zhiyuan merchant ships.

Sun Chuanting had already made all the preparations, and he had also long since discovered the movements of the Jurchen cavalry.

By this time, the Jurchen cavalry had already fled to Shanxi, and the garrison in Shenyang was less than 50,000, with the garrison of Dingliao Right Guard having at most 10,000.

Even if he chooses to launch a full-scale attack, taking Shenyang and Dingliao Right Guard would not be a problem at all.

However, the Jurchens had already learned to forge cannons. There were at least a hundred cannons on the walls of Shenyang and Dingliao Right Guard. If they chose to attack head-on, they would suffer heavy casualties.

More importantly, their goal was not just to capture Shenyang and Dingliao Right Guard, but to deal with the Jurchens and eliminate the biggest threat from the north!

At this time, the main fighting force of the Jurchens was not the infantrymen guarding the city, but the cavalry. Moreover, Huang Taiji was very slippery, and the Jurchen cavalry would run away as soon as they sensed something was wrong.

Therefore, their strategy was not to launch a full-scale attack, but to use feints and diversions to make the Jurchen cavalry rush back and forth until they were exhausted, at which point they would defeat or even annihilate them in one fell swoop.

As for Shenyang and Dingliao Right Guard, they are nothing special; they can take them without losing a single soldier with a simple siege tactic.

The reason Sun Chuanting gathered most of the troops from Liaodong Garrison in Liaoyang City was to besiege Dingliao Right Guard.

Anyway, their goal this year is to take the south bank of the Hun River and besiege Dingliao Right Guard. With 300,000 Beijing garrison troops deployed along the Hun River, it would be enough to defend Dingliao Right Guard. There would be no problem using all the main force of Liaodong Garrison to defend Dingliao Right Guard.

Achieving this year's strategic goals is no problem at all; he has already made all the necessary arrangements and is just waiting for the Emperor's decree.

That afternoon, around dusk, as the sun was setting, he climbed the city gate tower on the north side of Liaoyang as usual, raised his binoculars, and scanned the north bank of the Taizi River.

Huang Taiji might be trying to play the empty city ploy with him. There wasn't a single person on the north bank of the Taizi River north of Liaoyang City, and farmland within a radius of more than ten miles was even left to lie fallow and uncultivated.

The Empty City Stratagem was a joke to him; he wasn't afraid even if there was an ambush on the other side.

Moreover, the Jurchen cavalry had already fled to Shanxi, so the opposite side was completely empty. Not to mention there wasn't a single Jurchen cavalry or infantryman left.

Huang Taiji was essentially handing him food; when could he even pick up his chopsticks?
As he was pondering this, a speedboat suddenly sped towards him from the west.

Soon, the people on the ship disembarked at the dock in the north of the city and headed straight here.

Lü Zhi!

This is His Majesty's decree.

Before long, Lü Zhi strode up the city gate tower and announced loudly, "Lord Sun, His Majesty has decreed that you launch an attack immediately."

It's almost dark now, should we launch an attack immediately?
Upon hearing this, Sun Chuanting looked up at the sky, then raised his binoculars to scan the area. He then decisively ordered, "Issue the order: have the chariot troops in the city immediately set out to build a pontoon bridge to prepare for crossing the river. Order all naval fast ships to immediately carry the chariot troops of the Beijing garrison to the south bank of the Hun River to set up defenses."

It was getting dark, so it was definitely not a good time to launch an attack.

However, darkness also affected the defenders, especially since the Jurchens had few troops on the south bank of the Hun River. If they launched an attack under the cover of darkness, no one would see them. By the time the Jurchens realized what was happening, the Jurchens would probably have already occupied the south bank of the Hun River.

They didn't need to launch a surprise attack, but now that His Majesty's decree has arrived, launching one is a perfectly good option for them.

Therefore, he did not hesitate to order an immediate attack. The messengers quickly spurred their horses and scattered.

Before long, 100,000 chariots and soldiers in the city formed a long line and sped out of the north gate, heading straight for the south bank of the Taizi River, which was four or five miles away.

They even prepared the materials to build the pontoon bridge.

As soon as the chariot troops arrived at the south bank of the Taizi River, two fast naval ships pulled iron chains across the river to the other side. The iron pillars, wooden stakes, rafts, and planks on the five thousand chariots were quickly moved to the riverbank like ants carrying food.

The pontoon bridge was also extending towards the opposite bank at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Around 7 PM, just as night was falling, the pontoon bridge, which was more than three zhang wide, was completed.

Sun Chuanting had already arrived at the south side of the pontoon bridge.

He looked up at the bright moon and sparse stars in the night sky, and then decisively said, "Order the spearmen to light torches and spread them out on both sides of the pontoon bridge."

The messenger rushed off, and soon, thousands of spearmen lit their torches, then lined up in two rows and strode onto the pontoon bridge, heading towards the opposite bank.

Seeing this, Sun Chuanting gave detailed instructions: "Shuaijiao, you first lead 100,000 chariots and soldiers across the river and set up a camp. Wenzhao and Bianjiao, you lead the Liaodong cavalry and the Jingying cavalry to cross the river and set up camp later."

Tonight you can rest in the camp on the opposite bank. Tomorrow morning around 5 a.m., Wen Zhao will lead the Liaodong cavalry as the vanguard, detour through Fengji Fort, and clear out the enemy along the north bank of the Taizi River.

The instructors and chariot soldiers followed, and they were to reach the north bank of the Taizi River within two days and complete the construction of the Dingliao Front Guard City within a month.

"By transforming into a dragon, you shall lead the Jing garrison cavalry to sweep through the south bank of the Hun River. Do not let a single Jurchen escape; capture them all and bring them to Liaoyang City for safekeeping. Those who dare to resist shall be killed without mercy."

Upon hearing this, Cao Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao, Zhao Shuaijiao, and others immediately bowed and said, "Your subordinates obey."

Soon, a long line of torches, like a dragon, lit up the south bank of the Taizi River and stretched rapidly toward the north bank.

At this moment, on the main channel of the Liao River, more than 1,500 naval ships transformed into a fiery dragon over a hundred miles long, heading straight for the Hun River.

Their surprise attack caught the Jurchens completely off guard.

At this time, the Jurchens did not have many troops stationed in Shenyang and Dingliao Right Guard. When these hundreds of thousands of troops launched a surprise attack, the Jurchens were so frightened that they trembled and dared not resist at all.

The next day, they blocked the official road on the south bank of the Hun River and the road from Shenyang to Dingliao Youwei!
The south bank of the Hun River was recovered just like that, and Dingliao Right Guard was also besieged in the Great Dividing Range, isolated outside.

The Jurchens in Shenyang could only hurriedly send out fast cavalry to request aid from Huang Taiji, who was far away in Shanxi.

When Huang Taiji received the news, no one knew what he would think.

He originally thought that Sun Chuanting's siege of Shenyang was an opportunity for them to defeat the city piecemeal.

This was all because his cavalry still had an advantage, and Shenyang City had more than two hundred cannons. Under these circumstances, even if the Ming army besieged Shenyang City, they would definitely have to set up camp five or six miles away from the city wall.

In other words, the Ming army would establish an arc-shaped defense line of over thirty li in circumference around the east, west, and north sides of Shenyang, providing numerous points of attack.

He probably never dreamed that Sun Chuanting would abandon the siege of Shenyang and instead block the south bank of the Hun River to besiege Dingliao Right Guard.

The Dingliao Right Guard area couldn't be used to form a circular formation, and Sun Chuanting was using a city fortress to surround it. There was already a Zhenjiang Fortress to the south of Dingliao Right Guard, and if Sun Chuanting built another Dingliao Front Guard City to the north of Dingliao Right Guard, then there would be a city fortress on each side, one in the south and one in the north.

What could Huang Taiji possibly do?

(End of this chapter)