Chapter 461: Under Seoul City, attack as defense

Since Nurhaci integrated the Jurchen tribes and established the Later Jin regime until the reign of Huang Taiji, the Qing Dynasty's foreign policy has been expanding outward.

Internally, they kept catching the Jurchens in the deep mountains and forests, while in the outside world, they attacked in several directions in North Korea, Mongolia and Ming dynasties. They also relied on the elite of the barbarian army and had never failed outside, and they were invincible and won steadily.

Despite the decline of Hejian Prefecture, the fundamental land of the Qing Tartars was still maintained, and even made hundreds of miles of progress in Liao Town.

Such a situation was also the capital for the Qing Tartars to continue to expand outward. After all, their homes were safe and sound, and they had innate psychological advantages when going out to fight.

The same is true for combat. When fighting on the enemy's territory, the enemy's homeland and fields are destroyed, and the enemy's civilians are killed and injured. If you win, you can weaken the enemy's strength and loot a large amount of property and population. If you lose, the enemy's strength will also be weakened. You can run back to your country and reply calmly.

In this era, the geographical location of the Qing Dynasty can also be said to be an advantage. The Liaoxi Corridor is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The Qing Dynasty was originally the Jianzhou Jurchens of Menghua. They had their own allies and advantages on the grasslands. To the east and north are deep mountains and forests, and they are scattered small tribes of Tungus. North Korea has been conquered, while the rest are the sea.

In this era, only the Japanese chief Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent a large army to cross the sea to attack North Korea, preparing to cross the North Korea to attack the Ming Dynasty, but was defeated by the Ming elite troops in Wanli, and even led to the collapse of the Toyotomi shogunate to some extent, which is also the reason why Toyotomi Ieyasu Suoguo is currently.

Apart from those maritime merchants who were oblivious to their righteousness, the Ming Dynasty had no choice but to do anything at sea. Zheng He's glory had already passed for two hundred years.

So the coastal areas. The Qing Dynasty had never set up too many defenses. Even though Kong Youde and the other three once surrendered from Dengzhou to the Liao Town of the Qing Dynasty on a sea boat, they still felt that this was a natural disaster.

After Dongjiang Town, the Qing Dynasty did not place too much power on the coast, on the border of North Korea, and even within North Korea. The main force was to the Mongolian on the grasslands and the Ming Dynasty. There may be barbarians born with rejection of the ocean (of course the Vikings did not count). There were also complete contempt for the Ming Dynasty and North Korea.

Such a policy lasted for nearly twenty years. Facts have proved that this policy has always been quite successful, and the Qing Dynasty has always been able to concentrate on the direction of the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia.

Among the upper-class figures of the Qing Dynasty, except Huang Taiji, the relatives and nobles who were still tribal barbarians twenty years ago had no lofty strategic and tactical vision. What the regent of this generation was just to continue the policy of Huang Taiji. And they incorporated their own specious understanding of Sinology into it. Compared with Huang Taiji, many of the only advantage of Rgon was that they had Hong Chengchou, a strategist who might not be loyal.

But how could a traditional scholar like Hong Chengchou bet on the ocean, let alone his half-heartedness?

It is precisely because of this neglect. Wang Hai, the commander of the North Korean garrison army, broke into Seoul so easily, and was able to block the news for nearly half a year without being discovered.

In this era, the poor communication of information was one aspect. Instead of being slaves from the Qing Jurchens, the conquered Korean officials and people were more willing to be servants of the Ming Dynasty. After all, their master was a civilized empire, which was much more glorious than their master was a barbarian who had not been long-lived.

However, when the Qing Dynasty discovered that the central area of ​​North Korea was already controlled by the Ming army, it was like a stinger gradually approaching the ground in its ribs, and the stinger was not removed. When the Qing Dynasty fought against the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia, it must be wary of whether anyone would penetrate the flanks.

From the border between North Korea to Shengjing, there are no natural dangers and terrain barriers along the way, and no troops are even arranged.

Upon hearing this news, the Eight Banners were frightened and Shengjing was furious. Duoduo, the prince of Duoluoyu, who was already preparing to start the attack, received an urgent order from Shengjing, asking him to lead his army back immediately. Go to North Korea to clear the enemy.

North Korea has an enemy. The hinterland of the Qing Dynasty was threatened, and the soldiers of all flags who had always been unwilling to send troops to help took action. In this situation, it is impossible to stay outside the pass and enjoy happiness.

In addition to arresting the birth of Jurchens and Prince Zheng of Sorendi, Jirhalang, the Prince of Zheng of the Sorendi, was unable to return, except for the leader of Duoduo, the chief of the Yellow Banner of the Yellow Banner, the Eight Mongolian Banners, and the Three Thousand Han Banners, the Three Thousands of the White Banners, the Three Thousands of the White Banners, the Three Thousand Mongolian Banners and the Two Thousand Han Banners, were 15,000 people, carrying twenty-five cannons to quell the rebellion in Korea.

As the news became clearer, the news received by the Qing Dynasty became clearer and clearer. For example, the Ming army and horses entering Seoul were about 6,000, and the firearms were excellent.

There are also all the North Koreans, from the king to the ministers of the reconciliation, and even the commanding generals in southern Korea, who had already joined the Ming army. All the soldiers and horses in Manchuria facing south of Kaicheng were wiped out, although the number of people was not too large.

The weather in Chongzhen's fifteenth year was not as cold as before, so the snow was getting heavier every year, and the heavy snow in Chongzhen's sixteenth year was also quite heavy. Although it was auspicious snow that indicated a good harvest, the heavy snow blew in the spring, but the ground was extremely muddy. It was easy to say that the cavalry and infantry riding horses were as good as that.

But this time, because the city of Seoul is high and thick, it is a big city, the cannons, various siege equipment, and supplies it brings are really southbound.

Is there any waterway that goes directly to North Korea from Shengjing? So the march along this route is particularly slow. At the end of March, the troops were sent to the North Korean border in almost late April. There are also three thousand soldiers stationed here with the Inlaid Blue Banner and Zhenghong Banner, which belongs to the border area of ​​Liaodong and Korea.

However, this army was not so resident on the border to guard against North Korea's counterattack, but rather to guard against Han soldiers from Fuzhou and Jinzhou in southern Liaoning. Although some of the troops of King Sanshun and Duke Xu Shun were stationed there, and they all knew that they were loyal, the Manchu and Han defense should not be ignored, and they should be prepared for it.

Being a snail all the way. When you walk near this border, your speed begins to get faster because in North Korea they can consign a large number of local residents and livestock and transport them to the south at any cost.

The further you go south, Duoduo, the prince of Duoluoyu, became more gloomy, because according to the reports of the garrison troops in the border and northern Korea, since the news spread, a large number of Korean civilians fled to the south. At present, they are already blocking the intersection with controllable Korean troops, but the effect is not great.

North Korea has a small population. If it runs to the south in such a large number, many things in the future will be big trouble.

What made Duoduo, the prince of Duoluoyu, even more shocked was that news came vaguely, saying that the military horses in Seoul were from the Ming army in Shandong.

The wounds of the Hejian Mansion's defeat seemed to have been healed, but in fact, every Jurchen noble with sufficient status was extremely afraid of it. If you could not touch it, you would try not to touch it.  It would be quite troublesome to start a war in this season of muddy roads. If it were a strong army in Shandong, it would be unimaginable.

However, there are enemy troops on the flank of the Qing Dynasty, which is absolutely not allowed and must be removed. Otherwise, people will be unstable and will have big problems in the whole situation.

From Shengjing to Korea, Obai and Duoduo were incompatible with each other, even though one was the Prince of Duoluo. If it weren't for the third time in the Ming Dynasty, Di Duoduo would be the prince now, and Aobai was just a second-class official, but Aobai was still a hard-pressed person, and both sides were extremely unhappy.

Those who are subordinates are extremely sad. The above orders are issued. The two masters rarely have the same time. The servants below really don’t know what to do. But I hope these two people can agree on the same opinion, that the sun really comes out from the west.

In Pingcheng (Pingyang), North Korea, the sun really came out from the west. The two bigwigs of the Yellow Banner and the White Banner reached a unified opinion. The county prince Duoduo used the general seal to transfer more than 3,000 flags on the North Korean border regardless of the situation, and then went to Jinzhou and Fuzhou to mobilize the troops of the Sanshun King.

Duoduo and Oboi led the army first, and these later troops followed, if all arrived. The total number of people would be nearly 30,000. Such a large army was astonishing for the Qing Dynasty.

But the Qing Dynasty's logistics supply was only for the marching of this 5,000 troops. The sudden increase in troops, and the logistics supply could not be followed at all. In desperation, it had to recruit food and grass from the Han farmers in Liaodong and southern Liaoning and the common people of North Korea. In the battle between the Qing Dynasty and the expansion of northern Liaoning, the entire Liao area and the Han people were in great suffering. In recent years, the Qing Dynasty unified the entire Liao area, which was considered stable, and the same was true for the common people of North Korea.

At this time, it was suddenly plundering again. It was cold in the north. It was the busy farming land in March and April, but such a sudden incident happened.

Originally, it was still peaceful in southern Liaoning, and the situation in Liaodong and North Korea collapsed immediately. A large number of Han people fled into the mountains, while North Korea fled to the mountains to the east. Moreover, the news that local officials reported to Shengjing made Fan Wencheng and Ningwan so scared that I went to Dorgon to find him.

The reason is that the Liao area has been calm for a long time, but during this period, there have been small groups of people rebelling. According to Huang Taiji's idea, if the Qing Dynasty wants to be strong, it must absorb and digest more Han people and let them go to fight and farm. In recent years, it has been difficult to move towards this goal, but there have been repeated.

After hearing Ning Wan and Fan Wenchengsheng's tearful advice, the Regent Dorgon discussed with several princes of the flag the next day and concluded that on one hand, Han officials were sent to appease, while on the other hand, Princes of Ying Ajige and Bellekdehun went to guard the Liaoyang area.

These two bigwigs can mobilize their troops to Liaonan and Liaodong to suppress them at any time. Now, some things are going to be broken down.

The terrain of North Korea is Xiping Dongshan. The areas near the Yellow Sea are all plains or shallows, while the east is mountainous areas. From Yizhou (here Yizhou is not Yizhou Wei, Yizhou is in the current Dandong area, while Yizhou Wei relies on the Mongolian grasslands) to enter North Korea, and you can go south along the plains.

However, there is the narrowest place on the flat land, Kaesong. Although Kaesong is also a small place in North Korea, the North Korean country has set up a mansion here alone. Even the Tartar soldiers stationed in North Korea have placed more than a hundred soldiers in Kaesong, which is the throat of North Korea from the south.

After the Jiaozhou Camp landed, it also arranged more than a thousand troops in Kaicheng, and annihilated hundreds of Jurchen Tartars who came to change their defenses here.

Taking advantage of the thawing of spring, the North Korean garrison troops drove away local people to dig a large number of trenches north of Kaicheng and set up many roads to hinder action.

When the army led by Duoduo, the prince of Yu County, came here, he found that even the only fairly intact road was destroyed. With so many supplies and equipment, if you want to move, you must have a relatively complete road, which delayed the travel time of the Tartars.

When the repair was completed and we advanced to Kaicheng and were about to start the siege, we found that Kaicheng was already empty. There was no one.

This surprised Duoduo. Anyone who is a qualified military general will know that if you want to defend Seoul, you must defend Kaicheng. Once you pass the area of ​​Kaicheng, there is almost a flat land north of Seoul. There is no danger to rely on defense, and you can only passively defend the city.

The next journey was relatively smooth, and we arrived directly outside Seoul. Camped ten miles away from Seoul, Duoduo and Obai took their men to the edge of Seoul to observe the city defense.

When Huang Taiji was conquering Korea during the day, Oboi followed him to fight, but after seeing the current city defense of Seoul, he opened his mouth wide. His face was full of incredible expressions.

The surrounding area of ​​Seoul is completely different from before, even two in appearance. The city wall is the original city wall, which can be used fortifications for the city defense. The area has been expanded outward for a total of two miles, with chest walls, trenches, and horse-resisting horses everywhere. There is almost a layer of earth enclosure of two people high around the city wall. I don’t know how large the project volume will be.

Even Obai claimed to be the most brave man in Manchuria, but when facing such city defense fortifications, his scalp was numb, and even the horse under his crotch could feel the owner's anxiety. The horses kept sniffing. Originally, the problem in Duoduo and Obai was that the walls of Seoul were high and thick, so it was a problem to attack.

But now my eyes are full of fortifications and earth encirclements outside, and it takes a lot of effort to fill and push it down, not to mention that the so-called Shandong soldiers and horses have not yet seen their true faces in the city.

Although Duoduo, the Prince of Yu County, was very young, he was also a decisive person. Otherwise, under the title of Abatai, he would have been the prince. Although he was later demoted.

But now Duoduo and Oboi looked at each other. They all saw from their eyes that the other party was in a dilemma. Such a city would be attacked. A lot of soldiers would be lost. But now the Eight Banners are in a state of great enthusiasm, and the soldiers and slaves in each banner are the property of each banner. If they lose too much, no one will be willing.

"Prince Yu, you are the chief general this time. You are here to make this idea, and the last general will follow the order!"

After hesitating, Obai spoke first. Although Obai was older than Duoduo, his nose was not a nose and his eyes were not an eye, but this time he completely shifted the responsibility. Duoduo frowned, and he naturally understood Obai's intention.

The last thing is to obey the order, but whether to do it or not is another matter. Anyway, when you return to Shengjing, you will have any responsibility or sins, but the Lord will bear it with all your strength.

Duoduo, the prince of Yu County, did not answer Oboi's question, but turned around and asked a leader behind him:

"Arla, have all the troops removed? There should be a reward in the morning. What is the result?"

"If you go back to your master, there is no one around Seoul. People in Incheon are all running away. If you want to catch the siege, you have to go further."

Going to capture the senda a hundred miles away, the labor and energy cost a lot. Moreover, the subsequent troops have not yet gathered together, and more than 10,000 soldiers besieged a big city like Seoul, and there are so many soldiers in the city, so we can't divide the troops anymore.

Hearing the report from the leader behind him, Duoduo thought for a while, and spoke in a deep voice and ordered:

"Relying on the signing army to attack the city, but the fortifications in front of them can't be overcome. I see that the slaves in the city want to defend themselves. Tomorrow we will only set up guns and bombard the north, and try to rush in from this side!"

Now, this is the only way. Oboi is more brave than the military dispatch, but this is a little bit less. He nodded and never said anything again.

That night, a Han army stationed in the Phoenix City, the Left Guard of Dingliao, came to join the army led by Duoduo. This Han army was Shang Kexi's subordinate. The advantage was that it brought five cannons. In this situation, the more firearms such as such long-range attacks, the better.

The next morning, the fire started to cook, and the army began to move toward the city of Seoul. The situation of the siege was similar to the situation of the Tumote tribe camp on the grassland.

The fortifications are surrounded by layers of fortifications. The earthen enclosure wraps the entire Seoul city wall, and the fortifications seen in each direction are the same.

If you want to attack the city, you naturally have to choose the north side where you have the closest to the base camp, have a way to retreat, and have a convenient march. Duoduo would choose this side, and the defenders in the city also knew that this would be the case outside the city.

Five thousand troops set out in a mighty manner. After they arrived, more than two thousand light cavalrymen automatically left the brigade and went to the surrounding city to conduct mobile reconnaissance, which also prevented the other party from coming out of the remaining city gates and causing sudden disturbances.

The red-clothed cannon has a range of about two miles, but if you want the cannon to achieve the best power, you must try to shoot as close to the city wall as possible, five hundred steps or closer, which can exert the maximum power. Observing under the city, there are also cannons on the top of the city city, which looks very huge in diameter, but the city defense cannons at the top of the city are difficult to move at the angle, as long as they are arranged in another direction.

After Shang Kexi's subordinate Dusi looked at the fortification, he solemnly suggested to Duoduo and Oboi:

"Even if the city wall is blown away nearby and relying on the fortifications on the periphery, the thieves inside can repair the gaps in the city wall as quickly as possible. At that time, they will definitely encounter blows, which will not be worth the loss."

Although Oboi and others looked down on these Han army generals very much, they were not the time to look down on him at this time, but they also asked Dusi's opinions. Dusi received such respect and was quite excited and said:

"There are about thirty general artillery this time and the general artillery are similar to that of the general artillery. The villain thinks that as long as we set up the cannon array and push it little by little from the outside, there will always be a time to reach under their city wall."

This is a safe and sound opinion. If a few soldiers surround the big city, that's all.

The cow was pulling in front, and the North Korean civilian Ding Zhuang was shouting and pushing, while the army followed the artillery slowly forward.

When the army was about three miles away from Seoul, the army had not yet entered the position. Suddenly, they saw the door facing the ground open on the Tuwei side. At this time, the Qing Dynasty soldiers understood the configuration of the door. The door facing the Tuwei in this direction was a kind of suspension bridge overturning door similar to the reverse direction.

The person inside pulls the rope and the door will be turned up, but the person outside cannot know whether the door is open or not.

You can see that it is the part of the city wall of Seoul. The earth enclosure here has to expand a large piece of space outward. After the wooden door of the earth enclosure is opened, you can also see that the soldiers and horses inside are ready to attack.

When I flipped through the door and opened it, I heard a sharp whistle inside. The soldiers and horses swarmed out between the earthen encirclement and the city gate. They were actually cavalrymen. Seeing that they could have four or five hundred people, what was it that these soldiers were good for? Do you want to take advantage of the fact that they were not firmly caught off guard? Who did these Ming soldiers think they were?

Prince Yu County Duoduo raised his whip and pointed at the other side and said with a smile:

"Does these thieves think they are Yue Fei's elite cavalry and want to have eight hundred thousand or more?"

The jokes that Yue Fei traveled across the Central Plains and attacked the Jin army were circulated for a long time. These things were naturally loved by the Eight Banners, who liked to enjoy and simply culture. However, even if you heard them, the Eight Banners’ favorite is the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The jokes between Yue Fei and Jin Wushu are wonderful, but they sound awkward.

Duoduo, the prince of Yu County, was an extremely absurd and slutty figure in the Qing Dynasty. He went on a large army to carry military prostitutes and seize the concubines of Fan Wencheng, a great scholar of the Neiwen Academy. When he was in the mansion, he often sang with those who were in costumes. Compared with this story of Yue Fei, he heard a lot.

But as soon as he opened his words, several of the soldiers beside him smiled bitterly, while Oboi, who was beside him, glared at him with wide eyes open, with disdain on his face.
To be continued...