I

Liaodong, Phoenix City.

Hundreds of years later, Manchus accounted for more than 70% of the city's population, making it one of the largest Manchu settlements in the country.

But most of those Manchus moved there later, and the Qing Dynasty intended to enrich this "Longxing Land". Buddha Manchu is a descendant of the Jurchens in Changbai Mountain, Yiche Manchu originally settled in Jilin, and Baoyi Manchu is a Han who worked for the Shenyang Internal Affairs Bureau. The Eight Banners of Xibo and the Eight Banners of Mongolia also moved here from the north.

At this time, Phoenix City had a population of less than 30,000, both inside and outside the city.

At the end of March, when the snow melted, the Datong Army in Baozhou (North Korea border) crossed the Yalu River and moved to Dandong City, which had not yet been repaired.

In the northeast of Dandong are the ruins of Jiulian City of the Ming Dynasty.

Jiuliancheng, also called Zhenjiang Fort, was used to guard against Japanese pirates in the Yalu River. After the Manchus and Qing conquered the city, they not only destroyed the castle, but also moved all the population away. Neither Manchu nor Han were allowed to live here.

The dangerous mountain fort further north is also deserted.

Only Tangzhanbao, which is closest to Phoenix City, has been in the past two years. In order to prepare for the Datong Army, Dorgon moved some troops and their families there.

Around Phoenix. More than 90% of the fortress defense system built by the Ming Dynasty was abandoned by the Qing Dynasty.

Lu Xiangsheng had already been promoted to division commander and commanded the 14th Division stationed in Baozhou, North Korea. He led his troops all the way north without encountering any obstacles, and quickly arrived at the repaired Tangzhan Fort.

Tangzhanbao was originally a post station and was founded in the fifth year of Chenghua.

There are two mother cities, large and small. The mother city is 400 meters long on a side, and the child city is 150 meters long on a side.

Moreover, the sub-city is within the mother city!

Obviously, the city is not big.

The garrison, family members, craftsmen, coaters, and serfs all evacuated into the city, plus livestock and grain, crowding the two small cities.

"fire!"

Lu Xiangsheng didn't talk nonsense. After setting up camp, he immediately started shelling.

These two small cities are connected together. Although there is no moat, there are two natural rivers, both of which are tributaries of the Da Chong River (Love River).

Surrounded by rivers on three sides and mountains on one side, it is easy to defend but difficult to attack!

"Boom boom boom!"

To deal with this kind of castle, only a fool would cross the river and climb the city to attack it as a last resort.

Just bombardment, bombardment, and more bombardment!

After six days of shelling, the southern city wall next to the river had a crack as big as a head.

There were only 150 Eight Banners soldiers stationed here. Seeing that the situation was not good, the defender quickly decided to evacuate. And they retreated in an orderly manner, allowing the families of the soldiers to take their money, food and livestock, cross the river to the north bank of the Bei River and leave, and then row over to pick up the defenders.

Lu Xiangsheng had no way to do this. Without the help of the hot air balloon, he would not even be able to see the enemy's actions clearly.

Because there are mountains on the north bank of the river, the Datong Army can only shell the south bank of the river in the south, and there is no way to display troops elsewhere.

"Shi Zheng, the enemy has withdrawn!"

After landing to replenish fuel, the hot air balloon took off again, and soon there were sentries waving flags to convey messages.

"Cross the river and seize the city!" Lu Xiangsheng ordered.

There are only more than a thousand serfs left in the city, and there are no Han people. They are all Korean serfs. All the Han people here were kidnapped by Huang Taiji seven years ago.

After a day's rest, we headed up the river valley and found Phoenix City dozens of miles away.

The area of ​​Phoenix City is similar to that of Tangzhan Fort. It is square in shape with four walls each 350 meters long.

Similarly, it is surrounded by water on three sides and backed by mountains on one side.

However, it is far stronger than Tangzhan Fort!

"Master Zheng, capture a few Tatars and work carefully."

Lu Xiangsheng's 14th Division had just set up camp when soldiers from Souyama captured four people.

The leader knelt down when they met and shouted: "Wen Enxun, a humble citizen of the lower country, pays homage to the general of the heavenly dynasty of the upper country!"

"Are you Han?" Lu Xiangsheng asked.

Wen Enxun replied: "General Qi, Xiaomin is a Korean."

Lu Xiangsheng wondered: "Since you are a Korean, why are you in the mountains south of Phoenix City?"

Wen Enxun explained: "General Rong Zhen, my father was originally the envoy (translator) of North Korea to Sheng... in Shenyang. After my father died of illness, the current leader of North Korea killed his father and usurped the throne, and the Wen family... was also liquidated and killed. The common people could not return to North Korea, and there was no use staying in Shenyang, so they requested to settle down and farm in Liaodong. The Tatar chief Dorgon promised dozens of acres of land and gave several Korean serfs to let the common people and their families live in Shenyang. Farming in the ravines of Phoenix.”

This man is one of the ancestors of the Wen family in Fengcheng City hundreds of years later.

Lu Xiangsheng asked: "Why don't you withdraw into the city?"

Wen Enxun said: "When the heavenly soldiers come, how can the Tatars stop them? The common people are Koreans, so how can they help the Tatars defend the city? Therefore, after the smoke was ignited in Tangzhan Fort, the common people took their whole family and serfs with them. Hide in the mountains and wait for the heavenly soldiers to arrive."

This guy sounds nice, but in fact he is afraid of death and takes the opportunity to join the Datong Army.

After the North Korean king usurped the throne, he also killed many Wen family members, which showed that the Wen family was close to the Manchus and they were dogs raised by the Manchus in North Korea. In the past, he betrayed his master and defected to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and now he defected to the Datong court. His ability to adapt to the changing circumstances can be said to be a unique skill passed down from family to family.

Lu Xiangsheng asked: "Do you know the military situation in Phoenix City?"

Wen Enxun said: "There are 1,200 Tatar soldiers stationed in Phoenix City, and 150 soldiers have been withdrawn from Tangzhanbao. The number of regular soldiers should be 1,350. However, there are many bannermen living in the valleys. Now they have all withdrawn into the city, and the bannermen have also If we defend the city together, there are probably four to five thousand Tatar soldiers in the city, maybe even five or six thousand. Also, the Tatars in the city are all Han Jurchens."

Han Jurchen is the Chinese Jurchen.

These Jurchens, who spoke Chinese and had Chinese surnames, were assimilated by the Ming military households in Phoenix City, so they were all classified as the Eight Banners of the Han Army.

Wen Enxun wanted to make meritorious deeds and continued: "The guard of the Phoenix City is Naudai, the youngest son of Shuerhaqi. He was involved in Amin's case in his early years and was deposed as a commoner. Two years ago, Dorgon, in order to win over Jierhalang gave Naudai the title of knighthood again and asked Naudai to garrison Phoenix City."

Naodai is Nurhachi's nephew. He has been Nurhachi's personal guard for several years, and he can barely be considered battle-hardened.

Lu Xiangsheng knew most of this information.

Lu Xiangsheng asked: "Many Korean serfs have withdrawn into the city. The Tatars must have forced the Koreans to help defend the city. Can you go and shout to persuade them to surrender?"

"This..." Wen Enxun was afraid of death, but did not dare to disobey, so he said bravely, "The common people are willing to serve the general!"

Instead of immediately persuading them to surrender, they first deployed their artillery and fired at the Phoenix defenders across the river.

Phoenix City has six cannons and is located high up, so the artillerymen of the Datong Army did not dare to underestimate them. First, let the civilians withstand the artillery fire and build the fort with earth and rocks to form an earth wall on the shore. The barrel of the gun can be extended from the muzzle, but the barrel of the gun is blocked by the earth wall.

Under the downpour of artillery fire from the defenders, more than seventy civilians died, and this section of earth wall was finally built.

Although not strong, the soft earth wall can effectively absorb the kinetic energy of enemy artillery shells.

"Boom boom boom!"

The two sides fought for five days, and Wen Enxun was sent to persuade them to surrender.

This guy was sitting in a small boat, with water splashing from the cannonballs around him. He was trembling with fear before he advanced a few meters.

The Datong soldier rowing the boat smiled and said: "Mr. Wen, don't be afraid. Our boat is small and it is so far away from the city wall, so it is not easy for Tatar shells to hit it."

"Yes...yes..." Wen Enxun lay trembling on the boat.

Seeing that the boat was approaching the north bank, the artillery of the Datong Army stopped firing.

"Mr. Wen, the Tatar artillery fire has also stopped. You should seize the opportunity to shout."

"boom!"

Just as he finished speaking, another cannonball hit, and the water even splashed onto Wen Enxun, and the ship was almost capsized by ripples.

The boat continued to move forward and had entered the blind spot of the city defense artillery.

Wen Enxun was urged to stand up, picked up the tin trumpet, and shouted in Korean: "Korean people in the city, listen, my name is Wen Enxun, and I am also a Korean. Stop helping the Tatars defend the city. The Chinese army has already Sooner or later, Phoenix City will be breached. You quickly pick up weapons and rebel, and take the opportunity to make great achievements. From now on...ah!"

Because of the shooting angle, artillery couldn't hit them, but bows and arrows could, and a shower of arrows came over them.

Wen Enxun retreated in panic and fell onto the boat. The nearest arrow was only half a meter away from him.

After shouting twice, Wen Enxun finally returned. He was paralyzed with fear, and was dragged off the boat in the end.

On the city wall, Nao Dai frowned and said: "The Koreans in the city are only given one meal a day, and they can only drink a bowl of porridge for each meal. As long as they are not hungry to death, they can still work. Tie their hands and feet with ropes, and let them They can only take half a step at a time."

After thinking about it, Naudai said again: "Gather the warriors and leave the city tonight for a night attack!"

Capable generals who defend the city will usually look for opportunities to leave the city to attack, otherwise it will be very demoralizing to be surrounded all the time.

Naudai followed Nurhachi and fought with the Ming Dynasty for several years. He was definitely not a loser who didn't understand military affairs. Of course, since he has been deposed as a commoner for more than ten years and has not fought a tough battle for such a long time, it is possible that his skills will revive.

If you become a commoner, you are not a real commoner.

After being stripped of all his titles, Naodai was still helping. For example, in Ningyuan City, because the outer city was damaged, Nao Dai was in charge of repairing the outer city of Ningyuan.

He has great research on the structure of Ningyuan City, and is naturally very good at how to defend the city.

After arriving in Phoenix City, Naudai also built a "big acute angle" in Phoenix City, which is a similar style to the Western bastion. Therefore, the Phoenix City in front of us was particularly troublesome. Faced with a close-range siege, there was no blind spot for fire cannons and bows and arrows.

Lu Xiangsheng's choice was to divide his troops.

One is stationed in the southwest, that is, the "Fengcheng City Gymnasium" hundreds of years later. There are rivers to the north and east, and there are mountains to the southeast, protecting the passage from the southwest, which is also the food route for the Datong Army.

One group crossed the river to the east, went around to the north, crossed the river back, and camped between the mountain and the river. There is a 600-meter-wide passage here, and trenches can be dug along the way.

Fortunately, Phoenix City is small in area, with sides only 350 meters long from east to west, north and south, so it is impossible to make perfect use of this terrain.

If the area of ​​Phoenix City were several times larger, Lu Xiangsheng would be completely blind. Surrounded by water on three sides and backed by mountains on one side, it also had a sharp angle for building a bastion. There was no other way but to destroy it with artillery.

After Lu Xiangsheng observed the terrain, he seized the loopholes and divided his troops to dig trenches. Naodai also sent people from the mountains to attack at night.