Chapter 19: Catching Huang Taiji Alive
Twenty miles east of Shengjing City.
The frontal assault and two wing encirclement of the Jiannu cavalry were shattered by the Ming army one after another. Ta Zhan, who was unwilling to lose, organized another strong attack, but it still ended in failure. In this service, more than 400 Jiannu cavalry who launched the attack successively died, and more than 100 people were seriously injured and could not move on the battlefield. Less than 200 cavalry fled in panic, while the Ming army only killed more than 100 people and seriously injured dozens of people.
"General, we won, we won!"
Scarface rushed to Wang Pu, and was so excited that he jumped up and down, shouting, "This guy was a bandit and then a general, and he had been in a war for almost twenty years. He had never won such a great victory today. It is said that the Jiannu cavalry was invincible in the field, but this time he was killed by the Ming Dynasty's official army.
Zhen Youcai slipped out from under the horse's belly, and his face still looked like he was still scared. When he saw the wounded Jiannu lying on the battlefield wailing around him, his eyes were almost protruding. It was incredible. It was so incredible that he defeated 3,000 Jiannu cavalry with only 600 infantry soldiers, and it was in a field battle. This was simply incredible!
Not to mention the experience of such a great victory, I have never heard of it before.
Wang Pu was not in the mood or the time to be proud. He was thinking about a very serious problem.
In this breakout battle, Zhen Youcai's plan to fight the east and west was not unreasonable, but how could Jiannu see through it? Not only did he see through it, but he also set up an ambush outside the east gate. If it weren't for Wang Pu's extraordinary keen sense of danger, it would not be Jiannu who was lying on the battlefield, but Wang Pu and his more than 900 servants under him.
Who saw through Zhen Youcai’s trick? Who would this person be?
The Jurchens were indeed brave and good at fighting, but they had few people who could read, and only a very small number of them were good at strategy. Apart from the early Nurhaci, Huang Taiji and his son, there were only the later Dorgon, Duoduo brothers and Emperor Kangxi. There were indeed many talents among the traitors who recognized thieves as their fathers. For example, Fan Wencheng was a master of tricks, but he was not valued by Jiannu at all.
Wang Pu waved to Zhen Youcai and shouted: "Zhen Youcai, come here."
Zhen Youcai quickly ran to Wang Pu, nodded and said, "General, are you looking for a villain?"
Wang Pu said in a deep voice: "Zhen Youcai, I ask you, how many of the Jiannu are good at strategy?"
"This..." Zhen Youcai scratched his head and said, "It shouldn't be much. The slave chief Huang Taiji is the most powerful one."
"Huang Taiji?" Wang Pu pondered for a moment, and suddenly shouted, "Huang Taiji! It's Huang Taiji! Why did I forget this?"
Zhen Youcai was startled and asked carefully: "General, what's wrong with Huang Taiji?"
Wang Pu quickly restrained his smile and said, "The slave chief Huang Taiji is outside Shengjing City, and now there are less than two hundred guards left by his side!"
"This..." Zhen Youcai said in disbelief, "How did you know, General?"
"The secret of heaven cannot be leaked!" Wang Pu turned around and shouted, "Scarface!"
Scarface was searching on the battlefield with his servants, and found that Jiannu, who could still breathe, took two blows. When he heard Wang Pu calling, Scarface hurriedly ran to Wang Pu and asked, "General, are you looking for a villain?"
"Don't worry about these injured Jiannu." Wang Pu said murderously, "Call all brothers immediately and follow me to go back to Shengjing!"
"Ah?" Scarface said in surprise, "Go back to Shengjing?"
"Yes, go back to Shengjing." Wang Pu said viciously, "This time we will capture the slave chief Huang Taiji alive."
"Catch the slave chief Taiji alive?" Scarface shouted, "Okay, that's great. The villain will go and summon the brothers."
■■■
Outside Shengjing City, Jiannu Daying.
The palace had become a sea of fire, the entire Shengjing City was in ruins, and the eight city gates were bombed and collapsed, so Huang Taiji only stayed in the city for half an hour before leaving the city and returning to the camp.
When it was almost dawn, news finally came back to the camp, but it was not a good news but bad news.
Huang Taiji was awakened by the sound of rapid footsteps just after he lay down. As soon as he sat up under the help of the guard, Ta Zhan, who was covered in blood, stumbled into the tent. The servant fell to his knees and cried loudly: "Your Majesty, the servant is useless, the servant is useless..."
"What's going on?" Huang Taijiqiang calmed down and shouted, "Get up and talk."
Ta Zhan didn't dare to get up and cried with his head, "Your Majesty, it's over. The two thousand Mangos cavalry who brought the ambush Ming army were all finished. Ebilong was also killed in battle, howl..."
"What?" Huang Taiji couldn't believe his ears and ate, "All, all over?"
"It's all over."
"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"
Huang Taiji suddenly roared, and even Man Zhu Xili, who had just come in, was shocked.
Ta Zhan choked and said, "Master, this is all true. The Ming army's firearms are so powerful. We, before we rushed to the Ming army, we had already suffered heavy casualties."
"The Ming army's firearms are powerful? How powerful can they be? Ah!" Huang Taiji gasped violently, and cursed while gasping, "Have you ever experienced it when fighting with the Ming army before? Even the red cannons on Ningyuan City did not do anything about us. How powerful can these less than a thousand Ming army's firearms be?"
"Emperor." When Huang Taiji was furious, a guard suddenly hurried into the tent and said in panic, "Emperor is not doing well."
"What's the matter?" Huang Taiji even wanted to kill someone and shouted sternly, "What's wrong?"
"Ming, Ming army..." The guard pointed outside the tent and said in a trembling voice, "The brigade of Ming army is coming."
"What did you say? Ming Jun!?"
Huang Taiji's face changed drastically, and when he turned his ears, he could hear the sound of horse hooves like a tide.
"Hurry!" Ta Zhan, who was covered in blood, jumped up from the ground and shouted sternly, "Protect the Emperor quickly and break through!"
Two guards rushed into the tent to raise Huang Taiji and left. Huang Taiji was fat. Although the two Jiannu guards were tall and strong, they were very difficult to run with Huang Taiji, who weighed more than 300 kilograms. As soon as the guards protected Huang Taiji's imperial chariot left the camp, more than 900 servants led by Wang Pu arrived.
If it weren't for Huang Taiji, it would be easy for two hundred Jiannu to get rid of the entanglement of the Ming army. If the Ming army dared to pursue, they might even have the possibility of severely damaging the Ming army in the pursuit battle, and then in turn defeating the Ming army.
Unfortunately, Huang Taiji is the slave chief of Jiannu, and Jiannu must protect him even if he fights his life! Huang Taiji's existence not only severely slows down Jiannu's speed of movement, but also makes the Jiannu have concerns and cannot do their best. They can only stay around Huang Taiji's imperial chariot. The Ming army's firearms and bows and arrows are shot over. The Jiannu not only cannot dodge, but also has to use their bodies to block it!
This should have been a tragic encounter, but it eventually turned into a one-sided massacre.
Under the unscrupulous attack of the Ming army, two hundred Jiannu guards were killed and injured quickly, but the Ming army also suffered heavy casualties. At least fifty servants died under the bow and arrows and sabres of Jiannu. More than one hundred servants were seriously injured and lost their ability to move. However, the casualties of the Ming army were completely worth it, because they really captured Huang Taiji alive.
The imperial chariot was split open. When the bright steel knife was mounted on his neck, Huang Taiji seemed calm and composed, and he tried his best to maintain the majesty of the king.
Huang Taiji looked around and saw that there were murderous soldiers in the Ming army. This was a Ming army that made Huang Taiji feel unfamiliar, completely different from all the Ming army he had contacted before! The Ming army had no confusion, no fear, no retreat, and no fear. There was only burning murderous intent in their eyes. This was a group of warlike beasts!
Huang Taiji soon saw Wang Pu, the Ming general whom he dreamed of capturing alive. Unfortunately, he failed to capture the other party alive, but was captured alive by the other party.
Huang Taiji realized who the Ming army general standing in front of him was, and his breathing suddenly became rapid and asked, "Are you accurate?"
Unlike Nurhaci, Huang Taiji received a good education since he was a child, read a lot of Chinese classics, and could speak fluent Chinese.
Wang Pu smiled faintly and replied: "The general of Datong Town, Daming Empire, Wang Pu."
"General Datong?" Huang Taiji frowned and asked, "Wang Pu, I really can't understand. Since you have run away, why do you still have to lead your troops back? Are you not afraid of missing the opportunity to retreat and let me mobilize a large army to destroy you?"
"I'm afraid, of course I'm afraid." Wang Pu said calmly, "But in order to capture you alive, it's worth taking any greater risk."
Huang Taiji asked: "How do you know that I am in Shengjing!"
Wang Pu laughed and said, "Do you really want to know?"
Huang Taiji nodded.
"It's very simple, because your woman Hai Lanzhu!" Wang Pu said, "When I was in Datong, I often heard people say that the slave chief Huang Taiji had a charming concubine named Hai Lanzhu. Now Hai Lanzhu is critically ill, you will definitely rush back to see her for the last time. Also, this time, our army can be said to have done all the mechanisms, but in the end, he almost got ambushed. Who else can have this strategy except you Huang Taiji?"
"Concubine Chen?" Huang Taiji showed an anxious expression on his face and asked, "Where is she? Is she okay?"
Wang Pu sighed and said, "I don't want to lie to you either. Hai Lanzhu's condition is very bad. When she was caught, she was only breathing. Now she has been pounding on the horse's back for so long after following the army. Now she is probably already exhausted."
"I'm called Chen Fei, you are not allowed to call her name!"
Wang Pu called Hai Lanzhu's name twice, which made Huang Taiji very unhappy. Hai Lanzhu was his Huang Taiji, the favorite concubine of the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. How could a small general Datong call her name directly?
"Why?" Wang Pu sneered, "Huang Taiji, please understand. Now you are no longer a slave chief of Jiannu, and now you are a prisoner in the hands of this general!"
Huang Taiji's face turned pale and gasped, "I want to see Concubine Chen."
"No hurry." Wang Pu said coldly, "From this time, as long as Hai Lanzhu is not dead, there are times when you couple meet."
"Go back to the inner gate?" Huang Taiji laughed, "You still want to go back to the inner gate? Hahaha, the eight thousand iron cavalry with the white flags have arrived in Shengjing from the Songshan front line at night. They have already crossed the Liaohe River long ago, and are only one or two hundred miles away from Shengjing. Wang Pu, now you can't fly back to the inner gate even if you have wings."
"The white flag inlaid? Eight thousand iron cavalry? It sounds scary." Wang Pu smiled, "But even Huang Taiji was unable to keep this general, and others would not be able to do so. This general could transfer them thousands of miles away as long as he used a little trick."
"Is that true?" Huang Taiji said coldly, "I have to wait and see."
Chapter completed!