sovbooks Chapter 84 Reinforcements Arrive and Meals Are Ready
Chapter 84 Reinforcements Arrive and Meals Are Ready
Chapter 85 Reinforcements Arrive and Meals Are Ready
Chapter 084 Daishan did not lead the main force of the four right-wing banners of the Eight Banners to attack Shuangchengwei City. Instead, he searched for Hamutai's whereabouts. Unless a blizzard fell immediately and could cover up all traces, Hamutai would definitely be discovered.
Of course, Hamutai did not simply flee. He was now the Taiji of the Xibe tribe and the banner of resistance of the Haixi Jurchens. It was precisely because of Hamutai's scorched-earth policy that Daishan's supply lines were disrupted.
Daishan habitually set his sights on these twenty-odd tribes that had submitted to the Jurchens. These small tribes were very poor, with little food and even fewer people. But the problem was that they had cattle and sheep, as well as a certain number of horses.
The tribal leaders of Daishan informed Hamutai, who then ordered the annihilation of these twenty-odd tribes in one fell swoop. With the cattle, sheep, and horses of these twenty-odd tribes, as well as the captives, the four banners of the right wing were all eating their fill, and Daishan had temporarily solved his supply problem.
At the same time, Daishan's troops also beheaded as many as six or seven thousand people. Due to the capture of women and children, as well as a large number of cattle, sheep and horses, the movement speed of Daishan's troops dropped from 160 or 170 li per day to 60 li per day.
Daišan is no longer in a hurry. He was ordered to annihilate Hamutai. Although he has not yet encountered Hamutai, he has already obtained these captured supplies and beheaded heads. Even if he returns in the future, it will be enough to give Nurhaci an explanation.
Hamutai keenly noticed the changes in the Jiannu. He was also somewhat curious. When he encountered these survivors of the tribe who had fled to Hamutai, Hamutai thought for a moment and basically understood Daishan's intentions.
The two sides circled back and forth in the vast area at the foot of Changbai Mountain, constantly launching small-scale probing attacks. Despite Daishan's numerical advantage, the Haixi Jurchens were driven to the brink of despair by Daishan. They even killed those who surrendered, which led to the Haixi Jurchen trade alliance, or rather, the anti-Jin alliance, growing larger and larger.
At this moment, Hamutai led the young and strong men of the tribes and gathered in the Zhusheli Valley of Changbai Mountain. Hamutai's intelligence was back online. He knew very well that if he wanted to lure the Jurchens to attack this place, he had to create a trace of life here. Otherwise, the Jurchens were not stupid. How could they possibly rush in?
Hamutai not only built a simple camp in the valley, but he also sent out dozens or even hundreds of men every day to constantly harass the Jiannu. Meng Gun asked with some confusion, "Old Hamutai, when will we be able to defeat the Jiannu by doing this?"
Meng Gun was in a hurry. His son was harassing the Jurchens when they were caught up by them. In order to force them to tell him their whereabouts, the Jurchens skinned Meng Gun's son, Meng Getu, alive and tortured him to death. But Meng Getu was also a ruthless man. Even in death, he cursed Daishan.
"The temperature has dropped rapidly even before the Mid-Autumn Festival. This winter will definitely be harder to endure than last year. Those Jurchens can't find us, so we'll hold our ground and scorched earth, forcing them to waste their supplies. In Lord Chen's words, we'll drag the fat Jurchens to the brink of death, and the thin ones to the point of near death!"
Hamutai laughed, "When the time comes, Lord Chen will deal with them!"
Meng Gun suddenly realized: "That's right! Before we set off, Lord Chen instructed us that we didn't need to deliberately pursue any great victory. As long as we could thwart the Jurchens' raid on Yongning, that would be a victory. Now, the Jurchens seem to have the upper hand, but in reality, they have fallen into a passive position. Even if we continue to maintain this situation where neither of us can hit the other, it will still be very advantageous for us!"
Hamutai did not want to lose his precious troops and did not want to confront the Jurchens head-on. However, Daishan, who now had a way out, did not deliberately seek out Hamutai. The two sides played hide-and-seek in the vast area, with only a small number of cavalry sentries engaging in fierce battles.
This is actually the situation Chen Ying most wanted to see. He is very clear that the Haixi Jurchens are now almost as fearful as the Ming Dynasty. Even if Chen Ying strictly orders them to fight the Jurchens, they might just flee to the far north.
Chen Ying never imagined that he could rely on the Haixi Jurchens to defeat the Jurchens; what he actually needed was time.
On August 22nd of the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, a large fleet arrived at Yongning Port. Several fast ships immediately set off from Yongning Port to guide them into the port.
The commotion alerted the garrison and the artisans, and many rushed over to see what was happening. Seeing warships and ships arriving one after another, they exclaimed in astonishment, "Good heavens, how many people have come?!"
The first ship approached the pier, and the soldiers, exhausted from their ordeal at sea, disembarked and climbed onto the pier, forming neat rows as they walked ashore.
They were all like mute soldiers, not one of them uttering a word, yet their movements were quick and orderly. These two points alone were enough to prove that this was an elite force.
They were indeed an elite force, and the main force of Chen Ying's Shahe New Army in Shahe. Chen Ying hardly had to worry about training this army. He only needed to raise money, food, equipment, and supplies. The training was done by Zhou Bin, the former commander of Xingzhou Zhongtunwei.
There were certainly some incompetent officers among the hereditary military officers of the Ming Dynasty's garrisons, but most officers were actually qualified. The higher the rank of the officer, the more serious they were about educating their family members, because high-ranking officers, such as officers of the fifth rank and above, needed to take exams in Beijing or Nanjing.
Moreover, all hereditary officers had to pass an examination, and the standards for the examination were extremely strict. These hereditary officers dared not fail the examination, because if they failed, their hereditary military rank would be downgraded. However, the problem was that the rank of the garrison was fixed. If they were downgraded from a third-rank commander to a fourth-rank commander, they would have to wait if there was no vacancy for a commander.
When the time comes is your own problem; the imperial court will not take any responsibility. You should know that the annual salary of a third-rank commander is 300 shi (a unit of grain), while the annual salary of a fourth-rank commander is only 270 shi. That's a difference of 30 shi in salary alone each year. More importantly, the difference in real power is even greater.
When Chen Ying was training his troops, he appointed Zhou Bin and Wang Gui, the current commanders of Shahewei. Faced with these hereditary officers, Chen Ying didn't really have a better way. He promoted his confidants, such as Chen Daniu, Wang Tiezhu, and Qin Siming, and could only guard the thousand-household units on Dalu Island and Shuangchengwei.
Fortunately, Wei Zhongxian was quite helpful. Emperor Tianqi had a good impression of Chen Ying, and when Chen Ying applied to establish a new garrison at Dalu Island in Shahe Guard, the emperor immediately agreed. After all, for the court to add a new garrison, the court would only need to pay the salaries of a fifth-rank garrison commander, a thousand centurions, and a hundred bannermen, as well as the garrison would bear the cost of the soldiers' supplies.
The imperial court only contributed a small portion, and Chen Ying was willing to expand it, so the Ministry of War was naturally delighted. Now, Shahe Guard has five ordinary thousand-household units under its jurisdiction: left, right, front, middle, and rear, and three garrison thousand-household units: Shahe, Dalu Island, and Shuangcheng, for a total of eight thousand-household units and one hundred and five hundred-household units.
The current Shahe Guard has more than two guards and a hundred-household garrison in ordinary guard posts. Of course, this does not include the consuls general of each manufacturing bureau. Most of the consuls general in charge of each manufacturing bureau enjoy the rank of a sixth-grade hundred-household garrison commander, while a few, such as Wang Baishun, Shen Keqin, and Chen Jide, enjoy the rank of a fifth-grade deputy thousand-household garrison commander.
"Greetings, Commander!"
Chen Ying stepped forward to help Zhou Bin and Wang Gui up, saying, "No need for formalities. How are the troops? Have they all arrived?"
Zhou Bin bowed and said, "Reporting to Commander, all four thousand new soldiers of Shahe Guard have arrived, with not a single one injured, sick, or lagging behind!"
"very good!"
Wang Gui said, "Fifty linked thunder cannons, 20,000 cannon rounds, 3,000 flintlock guns, 150,000 rounds, 14,000 catties of gunpowder, 5,000 hand grenades, and 100,000 cans of meat have all been transported here."
"It's good that everyone is safe. I was really afraid something might have happened. If the ship had capsized, all the people on board would have cried foul!"
Chen Ying is now somewhat stressed. Half a month ago, among the artisan fleet migrating from Dalu Island to Yongning, a thousand-ton seagoing vessel was capsized by a strong wind, and 452 people fell into the water. Although they tried their best to rescue them, only 78 people were saved, and more than 300 people perished at sea.
Chen Ying was heartbroken. Now that the troops have safely arrived in Yongning, he can now mobilize more than 7,000 troops, including more than 700 Haixi Jurchen cavalry and more than 14,000 catties of gunpowder, which is enough to give the Jurchens a headache.
Before long, a large army gathered at the seaside dock. Most notably, this army had fifty artillery pieces and more than one hundred four-wheeled chariots.
The side-mounted chariot discovered by Sun Chengzong actually had a major limitation: it only had two wheels, and the side-mounted chariot needed to be propped up when it stopped.
What surprised everyone the most was that this army, which had no shields, no spears or lances, was entirely composed of firearms soldiers, a unique sight in the entire Ming Dynasty.
Although they numbered only over four thousand, they were equipped with a large number of artillery pieces and firearms. The biggest difference was that they were also equipped with hand grenades. Although they did not have mercury fulminate, they used red phosphorus powder and copper strips as the detonation method. To detonate a hand grenade, one only needed to pull out the rough copper strip, and the copper strip would rub against the red phosphorus and glass powder, thus detonating it without an open flame.
Unlike the side-mounted chariots of the Liaodong Army, Chen Ying's chariot was a beast-powered version of an armored vehicle. The entire carriage was made of five-millimeter-thick steel armor, which could basically ignore the Jurchens' arrows. Even if the horses pulling the chariot were shot dead, this armored vehicle was also an independent firepower platform.
It is equipped with two breech-loading cannons, one inch in caliber, one in front of the other, which can rotate 180 degrees horizontally and 60 degrees vertically.
As for the actual combat effectiveness of this army, Chen Ying didn't know. However, this time he really didn't intend to fight the Jurchen head-on. Instead, he would use the avalanche to break the Jurchen's morale first, and then go forward to reap their heads.
The arrival of the Shahe New Army in Yongning caused a sensation among the various Jurchen tribes of Yongning Haixi. This was the army of the Great Ming Dynasty that they had been longing for. The only thing they couldn't understand was why the Ming Dynasty didn't provide armor for its soldiers.
This is also the most frustrating thing for Chen Ying. The Shahe New Army is arriving in Yongning for the first time. Although the weather in Yongning is not colder than in Liaodong, the Zhusheli Valley where they will fight is in the northeast of Changbai Mountain. At that time, the mountainside will be covered with at least fifty or sixty centimeters of snow.
For the Shahe New Army to survive here, the first thing to do is to keep warm. The mandarin duck battle jackets that Chen Ying equipped the Shuangchengwei cavalry with weighed four jin, which was more than the two jin of the general equipment of the Ming army. However, the cotton-padded clothes equipped by the Shahewei were as heavy as six jin, which basically met the requirements for keeping warm in extremely cold conditions.
In addition to their cotton-padded coats, they also wore sheepskin boots, gloves, masks, and other items. Excluding their weapons, the cotton-padded coats, trousers, and boots alone weighed thirteen or fourteen kilograms, almost the same weight as their light armor. They also carried individual sleeping bags, making their load even heavier.
Nevertheless, the arrival of reinforcements reassured everyone considerably. Chen Ying waved his hand and announced an extra meal for dinner that night: a pot full of oily mutton offal, which made the soldiers of the Shahe New Army stare in disbelief.
Although the soldiers of the Shahe New Army had long been able to eat their fill, they could not eat well. No matter how much money Chen Ying had, he could not buy enough meat to fill the stomachs of the Shahe New Army soldiers.
There was no other way. The Ming Dynasty was an era of small-scale agrarian economy. For example, meat was something that ordinary families simply couldn't afford to eat or raise. Very few people raised livestock. Families who were able to raise pigs or sheep were not short of money, and they would not easily sell these animals.
The awkward thing is that, not to mention Chen Ying, even if Xun Gui wanted to hold a grand banquet, he would need to prepare the ingredients in advance. In fact, not to mention Xun Gui, even if the Tianqi Emperor wanted to hold a grand banquet for his officials, there were about 900 civil officials and 600-700 military officials in the Ming Dynasty, totaling less than 1,700 people. However, even for these 1,700 officials, the emperor would need to prepare in advance for a grand banquet, otherwise the palace would not be able to prepare so many ingredients.
If even the emperor was like this, let alone Chen Ying.
The soldiers of Shahewei mostly ate mutton offal, though not all of it; there was also mutton, especially mutton spine. As they ate, they exclaimed, "If I had known we could eat this well, I would have been willing to fight in Liaodong for the rest of my life!"
The soldiers ate meat, which they hadn't had in a long time, as if it were New Year's Day. More importantly, many young girls from various tribes in Haixi stared wide-eyed at the Ming soldiers.
No one likes a person who smells bad. They prefer men who are clean and smell nice. In comparison, although the Ming soldiers had slightly darker skin, they looked tender and soft, which was exactly what these Haixi Jurchen girls wanted.
Unable to enter the camp of the Shahe New Army, the girls from various units began to sing at the top of their lungs: "In the dense red pine forest, which birch tree is the whitest? Among the brothers returning from the hunt, whose archery is the most accurate? I have brewed rice wine, waiting only for the one who shoots the wild goose—"
Of course, these are relatively subtle songs. Some are even bolder, with lyrics that are entirely descriptions of body parts. They sing while gesturing wildly, causing the soldiers of the Shahe New Army to feel aroused and many to suffer from insomnia all night.
When Chen Ying learned of this, he was both amused and exasperated. They were all young men, how could they withstand such provocation? It was already very cold, and these Haixi Jurchen girls were really going all out, deliberately bathing in the river, and in cold water at that.
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