Ming Dynasty: Moral blackmail? I, Emperor Chongzhen, have no morals!

Chapter 112 No court sessions, no council meetings, and suppression of urgent memorials.

Before long, thousands of Jurchen soldiers, carrying ladders, surged towards Jinzhou City in a dark mass.

The sounds of drumming and shouting were incessant.

Zu Dabi, who was patrolling the city wall, spotted the Jurchens moving and shouted, "The Tartars are coming! Counterattack!" The soldiers hurriedly set up their muskets, and the city wall was filled with smoke and the sound of gunfire echoed everywhere.

Many Jurchen soldiers were hit by firearms and fell down after climbing halfway up the ladder, letting out painful howls.

Hearing the commotion, Zu Dashou also climbed the city wall and squinted at the distance. He saw that thousands of soldiers were attacking the city on the east side of the city wall, while ten miles outside the other city walls, a large number of Jurchen soldiers were digging trenches and building fortifications, seemingly preparing to station them permanently.

Zu Dabi leaned over and pointed outside the city, saying, "Brother, this is the Tartars probing the city; there's no artillery support from the rear."

Zu Dabi discovered that the attacking soldiers numbered only a thousand, most of whom were Han Chinese who had shaved their heads. These were the Han Eight Banners organized by Huang Taiji, composed of Han Chinese from Liaodong and surrendered soldiers, not the elite Tartar troops.

Zu Dashou nodded, looking into the distance. Under the banner in the distance, there were many soldiers wearing white cloth armor: "These are the Plain White and Bordered White Banners, and that is Dorgon."

Zu Dashou received information that the main force of the Qing Eight Banners had all participated in the battle. The first batch of soldiers consisted of the Plain White Banner, Bordered White Banner, Plain Yellow Banner, and Bordered Yellow Banner. However, only the main force of two banners remained. It was clear that the first batch of main Qing forces had not gathered, or that the Plain Yellow Banner and Bordered Yellow Banner had not come to Jinzhou at all.

"The Tartars have retreated," Zu Dabi said, pointing to the Jurchen soldiers running towards the commander's flag.

"This is a probing attack." He then pointed to the Qing soldiers digging trenches and building fortifications in the distance: "It seems they intend to besiege Jinzhou, rather than launch a full-scale attack."

Zu Dabi looked in the direction Zu Dashou was pointing and indeed found more soldiers gathered on the outskirts, building defensive fortifications: "Brother, it seems the Tartars want to starve Jinzhou to death."

Zu Dashou nodded. He was not worried. He had enough food for fourteen months. Even if there were several strong attacks, he could hold out for several months. As long as the gates of Jinzhou were not suddenly opened, there was no danger of Jinzhou falling.

"Take down the elite troops and use them to guard the city gates!"

Zu Dashou assigned all his core retainers to guard the four city gates of Jinzhou, rather than defending the city walls. This was partly because the Tartars were not attacking the city with full force, and partly to prevent spies from suddenly opening the city gates.

"Yes!" Zu Dabi clasped his hands in a fist salute and hurriedly went to redeploy the defenses.

In the distance, Dorgon and Ajige, mounted on horseback, watched as the attacking soldiers retreated after less than half an hour, leaving behind dozens of corpses. Both men looked grim.

"See?" Dorgon said, "A direct assault on Jinzhou is futile. We can only trap it."

"Then let's stay here," Ajige replied. "Let the Plain Yellow and Bordered Yellow Guards hold off the Ming reinforcements, and we'll stay here."

Ajige did not want to launch a direct attack on Jinzhou. The casualties in the siege would be mostly his Plain White and Bordered White Banners. Even if they captured the city with heavy casualties, they would not gain much benefit.

He had no intention of launching a direct assault; the casualties would all be his own men. Even if they fought to the last man and captured Jinzhou, they wouldn't gain anything—Jinzhou was a military fortress, with nothing but the garrison and their families. Their provisions and pay depended entirely on supplies transported from within the Great Wall, and once their weapons and armor were used up, they had to be handed over; they couldn't keep any.

"withdraw!"

After Dorgon finished speaking, he turned his horse around and headed towards the newly built camp behind him.

A few days later, Guan Ningjin's urgent report arrived in the capital, but it was suppressed by Zhu Jian and was not discussed in court.

He knew that if this matter were to be discussed publicly, most of the officials would submit petitions requesting aid to Jinzhou. As the discussion dragged on, it would turn into factional infighting, eventually causing a great uproar throughout the capital without any resolution.

Zhu Jian handed Sun Chuanting the urgent report forwarded by Sun Chengzong and the memorial regarding the situation in Guanning and Jin: "The Jurchens have dispatched troops."

Zhu Jian was not surprised. He knew that the Battle of Songjin was bound to happen. However, because the Jurchens had not gained any benefits from their fifth invasion of the Great Wall and the Shanxi merchants had been besieged in advance, the Jurchens were short of supplies. Therefore, the Jurchens launched the war after the autumn harvest. Otherwise, they would have started the siege around March of this year.

Sun Chuanting took the urgent report and read it carefully, but the more he read, the more his brows furrowed. After reading it, he snapped the report shut: "Your Majesty, it seems that the Tartars intend to launch a full-scale attack on Jinzhou this time."

Sun Chuanting was not at the front line. Judging from the number of people and the scale of the urgent report, the Jurchens were going to launch a strong attack on Jinzhou, remove this thorn in their side, and compress the space of the Ming army on the Guan-Ning-Jin defense line.

"Huang Taiji thought he was being clever and wanted to use this method to lure reinforcements to Jinzhou, so that he could besiege the city and trap the reinforcements, thus starving Jinzhou to death." He paused for a moment and then continued, "Sun Chengzong stockpiled fourteen months' worth of grain in Jinzhou before the war, which was enough to sustain the city."

Zhu Jian will not go to the rescue of Jinzhou, nor will he give Huang Taiji the opportunity to besiege the city and attack its reinforcements, even if Jinzhou is on the verge of collapse and about to fall. He previously sent Lu Xiangshan with 70,000 troops as a backup plan to protect Shanhaiguan and to deal with the loss of most of the Guan Ning army, not to send him out of the pass to provide relief.

"If we don't send reinforcements, Jinzhou will fall once our fourteen months' worth of provisions are used up," Sun Chuanting said with a worried expression.

"Mr. Sun said, what use is Jinzhou?" Prosecutor Zhu wasn't dwelling on whether or not to lose Jinzhou; instead, he asked what its use was.

"This can stabilize the Guan-Ning-Jin defense line and prevent the Jurchens from entering the pass."

Zhu Jian shook his head: "The Song Dynasty didn't even have the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, yet it still existed for so long, didn't it?"

Sun Chuanting was taken aback, wondering what this meant, and then asked in confusion, "Does Your Majesty intend to abandon Jinzhou?"

"We can't hold on anyway, so we might as well give up." Zhu Jian said with a hint of helplessness.

Jinzhou is in the hands of the Guan-Ning Army. Not only does it require a lot of food and supplies, but it also serves no purpose. If it could restrain the Jurchens, then a higher food and supplies would be acceptable, but now it is of no use at all.

Zhu Jian knew that Wu Sangui had led half of the Guan Ning cavalry all the way from Shanhaiguan to Yunnan. With such combat power, he did not believe that the Guan Ning army had no fighting ability, unless the Guan Ning army did not want to fight.

"I believe that if Your Majesty issues an order, Lu Xiang-sheng can lead an army of 70,000 northwards. As long as the garrison at the Ning-Ta defense line remains intact, 70,000 new troops can fight against 50,000 elite Tartar troops."

"What about the cost?"

Sun Chuanting did some mental calculations: "If the war lasts for a year, it will probably cost tens of millions of taels of silver."

Ten million taels of silver are still in Guanning and Jin, which is a complete waste. It would be better to use ten million taels of silver to build a strong navy.

Zheng Zhilong's large ships, along with soldiers and cannons, would only require 20,000 taels of silver. With 10 million taels, he could expand his fleet to 500 large ships and recruit 250,000 naval troops. With these people, he could land in Liaodong from the sea. Why would he need to defend Jinzhou?