Chapter 70: A Dying Struggle
Chapter 70: A Dying Struggle
“The Jiannu’s siege tactics are a joke. I really don’t understand why everyone fears them.
They have no cannons.
No large trebuchets.
They don’t even have things like siege towers.
All they know is to swarm the walls like ants. At most, they dig tunnels and use gunpowder to blast. But their gunpowder can’t even breach the earthen walls of Yehe City. Against fortified cities like Liaoyang or Shenyang, which have brick facings, it’s just a loud noise at best. They also lack more powerful ranged weapons. The best they have are Frankish Cannons captured from us, but I’ve never seen them use those. Whether it’s because they don’t know how or lack gunpowder, I can’t say. What they really use is just the bow and arrow. I truly don’t understand why those with cannons should fear those with bows and arrows. In open-field battles, I admit they are fierce, savage, and tenacious, almost fighting to the death without retreating. Just two hundred of them nearly trapped me to death.
But if we lose a city while defending it, it would be utterly humiliating.”
Yang Xin said.
He slept until the next morning. After waking up and eating a huge meal, he was completely recovered.
As for him killing E Yi Dou…
That name didn’t mean much to him. Actually, he didn’t have a strong impression of many of Wild Boar Skin’s early followers. He had no idea what it meant that this man was one of Wild Boar Skin’s five chief ministers.
“Then we absolutely must not send troops.”
Xiong Tingbi said.
“Currently, our army also lacks capable soldiers. What we have left are only the forces of Li Ruzhen and He Shixian. Li Ruzhen is solely defending Shenyang. Although he commands about ten thousand men, only about two thousand are actually capable of fighting. He Shixian’s truly capable troops also number only a little over two thousand. Chai Guozhu just arrived in Liaoyang. The various reinforcement troops he leads total twenty to thirty thousand, but the vast majority don’t even have armor or weapons, let alone warhorses. Except for the garrisons holding various forts across Liaodong, these are all the truly presentable, battle-worthy troops we have in Liaodong right now.
Yang Gao exhausted all the capable troops from the north of the Great Ming and sent them all to their doom at the Battle of Sarhu. Nearly half of the remaining so-called elite troops were lost at Kaiyuan-Tieling.
Now, there truly are no troops to use.
I should actually thank you. If you hadn’t advised me to keep the Capital Garrison, I’m afraid even my own central army would have no usable troops now. If we really wanted to save the Yehe Tribe, we’d have to deplete the garrisons from various locations.
Those forts could scrape together tens of thousands of men.
But.
Do you think Chahua wouldn’t switch sides?”
Xiong Tingbi said.
“Is silver useless then?”
Yang Xin asked, surprised.
“Silver is certainly useful. But at this moment, Wild Boar Skin has more silver than I do! Do you know how much money and grain he seized in Kaiyuan? They couldn’t finish hauling it away with oxcarts in days. He has far more usable money and grain than I do! Moreover, he captured Zaisai. Next, he just needs to use Zaisai as a hostage, offer silver as a bribe, and apply both kindness and pressure to force Chahua into an alliance. Then, do you think Chahua might turn around and lead his large army to raid Guangning?”
Xiong Tingbi said.
Yang Xin had to admit this possibility wasn’t non-existent.
After all, Chahua had fought the Ming Army for decades. Even his elder brother was shot dead by Li Chengliang, or more accurately, by Li Chengliang’s household troops leader Li Pinghu. During the battle of Fushun, he even coordinated with Wild Boar Skin, harassing Liaoxi from east and west. It was the Battle of Sarhu that changed the situation in Liaodong and made him wary of Wild Boar Skin. But if Xiong Tingbi depleted Liaodong’s battle-worthy troops to head north and fight Wild Boar Skin, and Chahua suddenly switched sides, leading the already assembled Mongol allied army to raid and plunder Guangning, the gains would far surpass the ten thousand taels per year Xiong Tingbi promised. At this moment, the Ming Army not only had to resist the Jiannu, but also guard against the Mongols seizing the opportunity. For Xiong Tingbi, the wisest choice was actually to hold his position, maintain the status quo to adapt to any change, and focus on reorganizing the army to build a solid defensive line.
“But if Jin Taiji dies, then the over ten thousand elite troops of the Yehe Tribe will join the Jiannu!”
Yang Xin said.
“What can I do? I inherited this mess. Do you think I don’t understand all this? But I simply have no troops to use. All I can do is do my utmost to protect Shenyang and Liaoyang. Anything beyond that, I want to do but can’t!”
Xiong Tingbi said very frankly.
“Then why did you ask me to deliver the letter?”
Yang Xin asked.
“It was to make Jin Taiji hold out a few more days!”
Xiong Tingbi said.
He was also a bit of a villain. He never intended to save Jin Taiji. He just wanted to give Jin Taiji a glimmer of hope so that guy would fight on a few more days. After all, whether Jin Taiji or Wild Boar Skin died in their fight was no loss for him. Moreover, for every extra day Wild Boar Skin was delayed at Yehe City, Xiong Tingbi gained another day to reorganize military affairs and build defenses. In essence, he and Yang Xin weren’t different. It was just that Yang Xin wasn’t quite as ruthlessly pragmatic yet; Yang Xin still harbored thoughts of somehow saving Jin Taiji in the end.
But Xiong Tingbi never considered that.
“I’m still too young!”
After Xiong Tingbi left, Yang Xin sighed.
“Xiong Tingbi truly is powerless. In fact, what he fears most now is that Wild Boar Skin gives up attacking the Yehe Tribe and turns south towards Shenyang. Shenyang is already panicked. He sent civil officials to inspect Shenyang, but no one dared to go.
Yang Gao squandered far too much at Sarhu.
He threw the entire Liaodong army, both local and visiting troops, into that battle. Now it’s hard to fill this hole. The Ministry of War did gather seventy thousand troops from various places to reinforce Liaodong, but the Ministry’s numbers are only on paper. In reality, there are only about thirty thousand government troops in Liaoyang city now. Besides over ten thousand Sichuan Army soldiers and reinforcements from places like Xuanfu and Shanhai Pass, the rest are a bunch of battered remnants. Even most officers died on the battlefield. The reinforcements are mostly newly recruited. The garrisons usually had many ‘ghost soldiers’ on payrolls, maintaining only elite household troops. In the emergency, they hastily recruited to fill gaps.
But these new recruits have no armor or weapons. They are just a bunch of able-bodied men.
In short, apart from the immobile garrison troops in various places, Xiong Tingbi only has about fifty thousand troops for the defense of Liaoyang and Shenyang.
And most have little to no combat capability.
The truly capable fighters number no more than twenty thousand. But the thirteen thousand Sichuan Army soldiers, having traveled thousands of miles, just arrived exhausted. Supplies are also scarce, including firearms. Yang Gao abandoned too much material at Sarhu. For his grand campaign, the cities of Liaoyang and Shenyang had almost emptied their arsenals of weapons and ammunition, all of which he ended up leaving for the Jiannu.”
Chen Yujie said.
Which meant Xiong Tingbi used this mess to quickly stabilize the situation.
He was still quite remarkable.
Of course, he had to thank Jin Taiji for this. Jin Taiji’s death bought Xiong Tingbi time.
If Wild Boar Skin hadn’t gone north to attack the Yehe Tribe but instead relied on the spoils from Kaiyuan and Tieling to press south with all his might, he might have taken Shenyang in one push.
At this time, Li Ruzhen was defending Shenyang. Since he could abandon his ancestral graves at Tieling, he certainly wouldn’t mind abandoning Shenyang. After all, he was like a startled bird by now. No wonder Yan Mingtai and others absolutely refused to go to Shenyang. The distance from Liaoyang to Shenyang is only about a hundred li. On a fast horse, it’s just a day’s journey. But they defied orders and wouldn’t go. They knew going there might mean not coming back.
Shenyang is indeed only about a hundred li from Liaoyang. But it’s also less than a hundred li from Tieling!
The Jiannu army could also reach it in a day!
They were all very clear-headed.
But this meant Yang Xin’s previous efforts were completely wasted. Nothing had changed.
The Yehe Tribe would still be destroyed.
The five tribes under Chahua would still be subdued by Wild Boar Skin through a mix of kindness and pressure. Though they wouldn’t truly serve him, at least they would coordinate with Wild Boar Skin’s actions later. In the original history, that’s how Wild Boar Skin controlled them. They even spent tens of thousands of livestock to ransom Zaisai, wavering between the Ming, the later Qing, and Ligdan Khan, never able to define their position clearly, until they were gradually swallowed up and extinguished by Wild Boar Skin.
And this way, Yang Xin would also have sacrificed Zhou Yuji.
“No, I can’t just accept fate!”
Yang Xin said firmly.
“What else can you do? Xiong Tingbi sending you with the letter was just to trick Jin Taiji. Your task is complete, and you even brought back E Yi Dou’s head. Once reported to the Capital City, your crimes will surely be pardoned, and you’ll likely receive rewards. Why get entangled in this further?”
Chen Yujie asked, puzzled.
“Since I promised Jin Taiji, I must do what I can to have a clear conscience!”
Yang Xin said.
His main concern was not wanting to lose Zhou Yuji.
Such talent couldn’t be discarded. If Wild Boar Skin broke through Yehe City, Zhou Yuji would certainly die. At the very least, he had to do something about it.
“Didn’t Xiong Tingbi send someone to Shenyang? I think you’re very suitable.”
He said to Chen Yujie.
“I’m a seventh-rank Court of Imperial Sacrifices Academician, not even properly appointed. My status is completely insufficient. He needs someone to take charge of the overall situation, at least a fourth or fifth-rank official, and one familiar with Liaodong. To be precise, he needs a regional defense commissioner. I’m a Court of Imperial Sacrifices Academician, an advisor on military affairs with him. I don’t qualify for that. Do you want a seventh-rank civil official like me to command Li Ruzhen?
Do you want to infuriate Li Ruzhen to death?”
Chen Yujie said.
Originally, Yan Mingtai was supposed to take on this important task. Xiong Tingbi wanted him to perform the role Wang Huazhen currently held in Guangning. Yan Mingtai was an Assistant Commissioner in the surveillance commission, the same rank as Wang Huazhen’s Assistant Administration Commissioner in the administration commission. His qualifications were sufficient, but Chen Yujie’s would be too far-fetched.
“Then say you’ll go first to have a look, acting as a pathfinder for those civil officials. They’ll support it.”
Yang Xin said.
“They certainly would support it. They’d love to have a scapegoat. You just want to go along. But what can you do even if you go? Can you persuade Li Ruzhen to go north? If he had the courage, he wouldn’t have fled back from Tieling. He Shixian is braver than him, but He Shixian only has about two thousand four hundred truly capable fighters. Even if Wild Boar Skin went north, there are still ten thousand Jiannu left guarding Tieling. With Li Ruzhen’s and He Shixian’s current strength, they’d lose even in an open-field battle, let alone counterattacking Tieling.”
Chen Yujie said, exasperated.
“Don’t worry about that. I have my own plan. But you need to get Xiong Tingbi to give you at least five hundred Capital Garrison soldiers to accompany you!”
Yang Xin said.
“That’s not a problem. But don’t you set me up!”
Chen Yujie said warily.
“Never. How could I, your sworn brother, set you up? Let’s also get Old Cao to come. But before that, I need to ask you a question.”
Yang Xin said with a smile.
“Speak!”
Chen Yujie said.
“Can you imitate someone else’s handwriting?”
Yang Xin asked.
“Don’t mess around! Forging official documents is a capital crime!”
Chen Yujie said, horrified.
“Nonsense! I’m a law-abiding good citizen. I don’t do illegal things. Forging official documents is certainly out of the question. Even forging Xiong Tingbi’s personal letters is something I wouldn’t do. But, if we’re just friends playing a joke on each other, then it’s no big deal!”
Yang Xin said with a laugh.
As he spoke, he pulled out the letter Xu Xianchun had asked him to deliver to Li Ruzhen.