Chapter 796: Inside and Outside the City (Happy New Year)

Although he needed to suppress these sons, he had patience, because at least they were still useful for now. He could slowly create opportunities for Dorgon, letting him take over more niru and households, and eventually allow him to inherit the throne legitimately...

"Your son understands. I will go back and arrange it immediately. I absolutely will not disappoint Father Khan's expectations!" Huang Taiji bowed and agreed.

Huang Taiji saw clearly his father's wariness and precautions against Amin, and his hidden intent to weaken himself. He took it all in and kept it in his heart. His heart did not waver in the slightest; it remained eternally calm.

Because he knew he was thirty-three years younger than his father. He had plenty of time to change all of this. He could wait.

At night, in the camp of the Bordered Blue Banner, which had already been set up, Great Khan Nurhaci's messenger arrived at the tent of Banner Lord Amin and read aloud the decision the Great Khan had made during the day.

When he learned that the Great Khan had decided to assign him the task of leading the main assault on Liaoyang City without even consulting him, Bordered Blue Banner Lord Amin trembled with rage all over. He clenched his hands tightly, unable to utter a single word.

But he still accepted the order, respectfully seeing the envoy off, because he knew he had no room whatsoever to resist.

If he dared to resist, his father, who had been stuffed into a chest by the Great Khan and suffocated to death, would serve as a cautionary tale. And no one would come to help him or speak for him. So he could only bow his head and obey.

Now, all he could do was seize the time to quickly make deployments for the upcoming assault on Liaoyang City, and try his best to minimize the loss of his own strength.

He opened his bloodshot eyes wide, then beckoned his personal guards over.

"Bring Jirgalang to me!"

The guards quickly brought his full brother Jirgalang over.

Jirgalang's features were quite similar to Amin's, but his temperament was vastly different. Perhaps because he had been terrified by their father's fate, he harbored no excessive ambitions. He focused single-mindedly on currying favor with Nurhaci, was perfectly content with his current status, and had no desire to covet things others were unwilling to give him.

Amin looked down on this younger brother of his, but he also had no choice but to rely on him.

When he told Jirgalang of Nurhaci's decision, a pained look first flashed through Jirgalang's eyes, but it quickly transformed, just as Amin had expected, into resigned submission to fate.

"This is the Great Khan's order. We can only obey."

"That's why I called you here, to see what we should do next." Amin suppressed the disgust in his heart and spoke to Jirgalang as briefly as possible.

"What else can we do? After we reach Liaoyang, we rest a little and then attack. Take advantage of the Han people still being in shock and hit them hard a few times. Once the Han are scared out of their wits, they'll fall into internal chaos. Then we find a way to charge into the city. Without the protection of city walls, what are the Han people worth!" Jirgalang quickly voiced his opinion.

"That's a reckless charge!" Amin directly cut his brother off. "Charging head-on like that, how many of our men will die? Who will still respect our Bordered Blue Banner then?"

"But this is the Great Khan's order..." Jirgalang said quietly.

"The Great Khan didn't tell you to go die yourself. No need to be in such a hurry!" The impatient Amin barked.

A moment later, he realized he had misspoken. He quickly and cautiously glanced around, then lowered his voice.

"I'm not saying we should defy the Great Khan's order. I'm just saying we need to think of ways to reduce our own losses. Understand?!" Amin replied impatiently.

Jirgalang did not answer, clearly still shaken by his brother's earlier rebuke.

"Come here and listen to me," Amin called Jirgalang over, drawing him close to his side. "According to our scouts' reports, after Shenyang fell, Yuan Yingtai has already withdrawn the troops from the Fengji and Weining garrisons, pulling them back to jointly defend Liaoyang. So the troop strength there is considerable now. What's more, they've diverted water to fill the moats and deployed a large number of troops along the moat line to guard it in a ring. Tell me, if we charge head-on like that, how much blood will we shed?!"

Amin was very well-informed about the Ming army's defensive arrangements in Liaoyang City.

This was nothing surprising.

Because a large number of spies had long been planted within the Ming army and Liaoyang City, the high-ranking generals of the Jianzhou Jurchen Jin army had an almost perfect grasp of Ming Grand Commandant Yuan Yingtai's deployments in Liaoyang City and the city's defensive conditions. It was not just this battle; in nearly every previous engagement with the Ming, the Jianzhou Jurchen Jin army had a considerable understanding of the Ming army's internal situation. Therefore, they always held a huge advantage from the very start when facing the Ming, easily making targeted deployments.

After repeated defeats, more and more people were willing to cooperate with the Jianzhou Jurchen Jin army to save their own lives. So the Jin army's intelligence-gathering work was now becoming smoother and smoother, allowing them to understand almost all of the Ming Commissioner's arrangements for defending Liaoyang City.

"Then what do you think we should do?" After hearing Amin's explanation, Jirgalang also understood the predicament they now faced, and thus regained his composure from his earlier agitation.

Amin did not answer; he was simply thinking slowly.

After a moment, he made up his mind.

"These moats are too troublesome. If we slowly build bridges, how long will that take? We need to find a way to drain the water from the moats."

"You mean we should dig another trench to divert the water away?" Jirgalang understood, but a moment later he looked doubtful. "But will there be enough time for that? The Great Khan might not be willing to wait for us slowly. What if he urges us on?"

"There must be enough time!" Amin's face twitched slightly, revealing a hint of ferocity. "Make the Han people dig the trench. Dig it fast! It doesn't matter how many die. There are plenty of Han anyway! After we reach Liaoyang, go search the surrounding area. Yuan Yingtai couldn't possibly have moved all the Han people from the surrounding area into Liaoyang City. You must capture every Han person you can find and bring them to me. Make them dig the trench with all their might! Understood?!"

"Alright, understood." Jirgalang nodded quickly.

"I will lead the troops to supervise from behind your lines. The Ming soldiers won't just watch us dig the trench like this; they will surely come out to stop us. The moment they dare to come out, I will charge over and smash them to pieces!" Amin said coldly. "As long as we take Liaoyang and plunder its wealth and slaves from within, we won't have to fear lacking the chance to grow stronger!"

As long as he could grow stronger, then even Nurhaci would have no way to order him around at will! He added this fiercely in his heart.

For thousands of years, the survival rule of the Mongol and Jurchen tribes had been this simple: the law of the jungle, where the weak could only ever submit to the strong, enduring their oppression and bullying, with not a shred of familial affection ever existing.

After several days of marching, the Later Jin army led by Nurhaci finally arrived beneath the walls of Liaoyang City. The Jianzhou Jurchen Jin army, now at the city gates, quietly set up camp outside the city, waiting for the day they would breach this great city.

Inside Liaoyang City at this moment, the arrival of the Jurchen army had already caused a wave of panic. Although everyone knew beforehand that after the fall of Shenyang, Liaoyang City would ultimately become the front line against the Jurchens, when this Jurchen army truly appeared before their eyes, people still instinctively felt that fear.

Atop the walls of Liaoyang City, the Ming Grand Commandant of Liaodong, Yuan Yingtai, and the Mobile Inspection Censor, Zhang Quan, ascended the battlements together to observe the enemy's military formation. In the distance, the Jianzhou Jurchen Jin army was constantly patrolling outside the city, setting up camp. Though busy, the great army was orderly and disciplined, like wild beasts ready to choose a victim and devour them at any moment.

After observing carefully for a while, the Ming Grand Commandant secretly drew a sharp breath.

The army before him was orderly, advancing and retreating with ease, its military law strict and severe. It was indeed worthy of being the formidable force that had utterly routed his predecessor Yang Gao and himself, and driven him into a desperate situation.

Although he knew full well that he and his subordinates could not defeat this army, he no longer had any intention of retreating, because he had to live and die with Liaoyang City.

Below the city walls were the troops under their command, the Ming dynasty's last armed force in Liaodong capable of resisting the Jurchens. At this moment, they were deployed along the moat, watching the distant army with nervous tension. Although they all held weapons, wore full armor, and had red-coated cannons gleaming with a blue-black luster beside them to bolster them, they scarcely dared to breathe, their morale clearly already very low.

"Ah! I only regret that back then, Li Yincheng was momentarily careless, allowing that old slave to grow so powerful!" After surveying the military situation on both sides, the Mobile Inspection Censor Zhang Quan beside Yuan Yingtai suddenly let out a long sigh.

Li Yincheng referred to Li Chengliang, one of the most illustrious generals of the Ming Wanli era. He had reported great victories to the imperial court ten times and received countless rewards from the court. Yet it was also he who had once taken Nurhaci as a foster son and given him the opportunity to grow powerful. If he knew this from beyond the grave, just what would he think?

Yuan Yingtai did not answer, but turned his head to look at Zhang Quan.

Zhang Quan's face was now pale, his brows tightly furrowed, and even his hands were trembling slightly. He was clearly worried and indignant to the extreme.

"Yuheng, do not behave like this." Seeing the other man's demeanor, Yuan Yingtai could not help but reproach him. "The soldiers are all watching us right now. If we cannot remain calm and composed to set an example, but instead panic, won't the soldiers all lose heart? How will we defend the city then!"

"Now that things have come to this, what use is it even if we force ourselves to look calm?" Zhang Quan countered with a bitter smile. "The tide is lost. No matter what we do now, we can only fulfill our duty as best we can."

"Yuheng!" Yuan Yingtai could not help but rebuke him.

"Dalai, don't tell me you think I'm afraid?" Zhang Quan was still smiling bitterly as he asked softly in return.

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