Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 99 Tai Chi is too hasty, don't rush (Part 1)
Lu Xiang-sheng understood after hearing Zhou Yu-ji's words.

It was clearly abnormal that the Jurchens did not attack Santunying but went straight to Jizhou City.

This is because the city wall of Jizhou City is more than three zhang high, while the city wall of Santunying is only one zhang high. Moreover, Santunying has not yet dug a moat. Logically speaking, Santunying is much easier to attack than Jizhou City.

The Jurchens probably thought that Jizhou City could be taken as easily as Zunhua City.

There must be spies in Jizhou City!

How do we deal with this spy?
Lu Xiang-sheng thought for a moment, then decisively said, "Yu-ji, immediately arrange for your cavalry to patrol the city, one hundred men per team, and arrange ten teams to patrol the city continuously, strictly investigating spies. They should be rotated every two hours, day and night."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yuji quickly bowed and hurried away.

Lu Xiang-sheng then instructed, "Hui-wen, you take trusted confidants and personally guard the grain depots in the city to prevent spies from setting them on fire."

Upon hearing this, Wang Yingzhi quickly bowed and hurried away.

After Lu Xiang-sheng saw him walk away, he waved and said, "Ying-yuan, come on, take us to the East Gate."

Sun Yingyuan quickly ordered his men to bring his mount, mounted it, and led them into the city.

At this moment, the main streets of the city were lined with armored chariots, densely packed together, like two iron walls. The common people seemed to consciously avoid walking into the passageway between the chariots, as they could easily ride their horses at full speed.

Jizhou City was not large, and in less than a quarter of an hour, they arrived at the tightly closed East Gate and climbed the gate tower.

Lu Xiang-sheng dismissed everyone else, leaving only Sun Ying-yuan, Wang Cheng-en, Fang Zheng-hua, and others. He then had the accompanying Imperial Guards and Eastern Depot experts disperse before solemnly asking, "Your Majesty, do you think it's better for us to launch a preemptive strike or to maintain a strict defensive posture?"

How do you say this?

I cannot give orders blindly.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment before saying, "Let me take a look first. Cheng En, fetch the large telescope."

Upon hearing this, Wang Chengen quickly took the binocular case off the back of his personal guard, carefully took out the binoculars, and presented them with both hands.

Zhu Jue took the two-foot-long telescope and immediately held it up with both hands, scanning the area east of Jizhou City.

The terrain of Jizhou City is truly excellent. To the east of the city is a valley with a river running through it. The flat land in the middle of the valley, wide enough for people and horses to pass through, is only one or two miles wide. It only widens to about five or six miles wide when it reaches the city wall about three miles away.

It's a pity there were no cannons.

In this terrain, if there were cannons, the chariots could be pushed out and lined up in a row. The 1,500 chariots would be just five or six miles wide, while the tens of thousands of Jurchen cavalry would have to line up almost a mile in front of the city wall to form a formation.

In other words, as long as they had artillery, they could simply push the armored wagons out in a line, advancing while firing cannons, and inflicting heavy casualties on the Jurchens, forcing them to flee in defeat.

Unfortunately, the new type of artillery had not yet been built.

As he was marveling to himself, a thunderous sound of hooves suddenly came from the valley ahead.

The Jurchens are here!

He raised his binoculars and scanned the distant valley. Sure enough, a dense cluster of black dots was rapidly approaching.

Upon hearing the sound of horses' hooves, Lu Xiang-sheng and Sun Ying-yuan quickly raised their binoculars.

The Jurchen cavalry arrived at breakneck speed, pouring out of the valley and spreading outwards like waves, growing in ever larger numbers.

What kind of tactics is this?
Cavalry cannot attack cities. Let alone the city walls that are more than three zhang high, cavalry cannot even cross the moat that is more than ten zhang wide.

In other words, the Jurchens were doing a futile effort; no matter how many cavalry they had, it wouldn't make a difference if they came running.

Zhu Jue watched for a while and couldn't help but ask, "Jian Dou, what do they mean by this? What's the point of the cavalry coming over?"

How to put it? Lu Xiang-sheng guessed, "They probably wanted to show off the strength of their cavalry and intimidate the soldiers defending the city."

Who are you scaring?

Would the soldiers defending the city be afraid of cavalry?

Zhu Jue then glanced at the soldiers guarding the city on his left and right.

Sure enough, none of the soldiers in the Beijing garrison were afraid; they didn't even take off their muskets.

Zhu Jue then surveyed the somewhat disorganized formation of the Jurchen cavalry and asked, "Jian Dou, what do you think of the Jurchen's fighting strength?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng carefully examined the object again before cautiously asking, "Your Majesty, do you want me to tell the truth?"

How could I possibly allow you to speak recklessly and deceive the emperor?

Zhu Jue nodded without hesitation and said, "Yes, I want to hear the truth."

Lu Xiang-sheng thought carefully for a moment before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, although underestimating the enemy is a major taboo in military strategy, I really cannot praise the Jurchens' formation."

It's difficult for cavalry to be arranged in a neat and orderly formation, but the Jurchens' formation is too scattered. Perhaps their individual combat strength is quite good and their morale is also very high, which provides an advantage.

Overall, their fighting strength can only be described as decent. They might have the upper hand against the various Tatar tribes, but if our Ming soldiers were to truly fight to the death, they might not be able to defeat them.

Your assessment is very insightful.

The Jurchens were only so-so at fighting; if the Ming Dynasty didn't have internal problems, they might not have been able to defeat them.

For example, the Battle of Sarhu.

If it weren't for Commander Yang Hao's desire to kill his arch-enemy Liu Ting, deliberately dividing his forces to send Liu Ting into the heart of the Jurchen territory to his death, while also wanting Li Rumei to gain an advantage by sending Du Song and Ma Lin to lead the charge, the Jurchens might not have been able to defeat him.

Liu Ting only had a little over ten thousand men, and Du Song and Ma Lin's forces were also fewer than the Jurchens'. This gave the Jurchens an opportunity to defeat them one by one. As a result, when Li Rumei led the main force to the front and heard that the Jurchens had defeated the three armies one by one, he collapsed without a fight and turned to run away, trampling countless of his own men to death!
In other words, the 40,000 to 50,000 elite troops from Liaodong led by Li Rumei did not participate in the battle at all. This also proves that the Jurchens were not better than the Ming soldiers. It was just that Yang Hao's tactic of dividing his troops had a big problem.

This is not nonsense. Later, Xiong Tingbi was put in charge of reorganizing the Liaodong army that had retreated. If they really fought against them, the Jurchens would have no chance to advance and would not have been able to take Shenyang at all.

If Xiong Tingbi hadn't been inexplicably dismissed and investigated, Shenyang and Liaoyang would have been in complete chaos. With the cooperation of the traitorous Feng Shengming, the Jurchens would never have been able to capture Shenyang and Liaoyang.

If the Ming soldiers were truly willing to risk their lives, the Jurchens might not necessarily be able to defeat them.

Mao Wenlong led less than two hundred men to launch a surprise attack on Zhenjiang Fort, but they were no match for him. Even Kangxi's great-grandfather, Tong Yangzhen, was captured by Mao Wenlong.

Even when Yuan Dudu risked his life to defend the isolated city of Ningyuan, they couldn't defeat him. They rushed in and were simply defeated, not only handing Yuan Dudu a great victory at Ningyuan, but also a great victory at Ningjin.

The same thing happened in the Battle of Songjin. Zu Dashou fought desperately, and the Jurchens couldn't even take Jinzhou.

If Hong Chengchou hadn't sent them 130,000 elite border troops, they wouldn't have been able to win the Battle of Songjin!
Furthermore, Shanhaiguan was given by Wu Sangui, and the capital was given by Li Zicheng. If no one had given them anything, they wouldn't have been able to take Shanhaiguan, let alone the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

To put it bluntly, the Jurchens only managed to destroy the Ming Dynasty and seize its vast territory by relying on the various absurd acts of traitors and collaborators within the Ming Dynasty.

Why was Huang Taiji in such a hurry to lead his army to Jizhou? Wasn't he thinking that a traitor who colluded with the enemy would hand over the city of Jizhou to him?

Otherwise, why rush over here?
Huang Taiji, are you in such a hurry to seize Jizhou City?
Don't rush yet.

I am here.

No one can give you Jizhou City, but I can give you a big surprise!

(End of this chapter)