In fact, Nurhaci was quite clear-headed in his assessment of the situation.

The Ming army grew stronger and stronger, from relying on the city to defending to taking the initiative to attack. Even without counting the sharpness of the weaponry, such morale and spirit had already shocked Nurhaci.

Of course, Nurhaci was not in despair yet. But facing the siege of the Ming army on all sides, there was no way to reverse the situation.

Manpower was lacking, supplies were in short supply, and money was available, but it could not be used to buy anything. Even if the Ming army simply surrounded the city without attacking, the Later Jin could not hold out for long in this situation.

As the Ming army's desire to attack grew stronger and the buffer zone between the two sides disappeared, the Later Jin's hope of obtaining supplies by quickly attacking the Mongolian tribes or Korea was dashed.

Shrinking the defense zone was originally a helpless move, but now it has become a retreat. The space for maneuvering is getting smaller and smaller, and the situation is getting worse and worse.

The reasons are not difficult to find: isolation, lack of supplies, and insufficient manpower. These are the three reasons.

The original hope of taking advantage of the Ming army's deep penetration and defeating them one by one was obviously shattered by reality. The Ming army did attack in different directions, but its force was quite strong and could be called a corps.

Wanting to defeat or annihilate tens of thousands of well-equipped and powerful Ming troops, Nurhaci weighed the pros and cons and believed that it would be difficult to succeed without concentrating the Eight Banners troops.

Even if we were to deal with the weaker Dongjiang Town, without the Six Flags troops, our chances of winning would be slim.

But the current situation is different from the Battle of Sarhu. At that time, there was only Jianzhou. Although the Ming army attacked in different directions, the Later Jin army was mobilized in full force, so there was no need to worry about the safety of the base.

However, Liaochen is now within the attack range of the Ming army. Both western Liaoning and waterways pose a threat to Liaochen, forcing the Later Jin army to leave troops to defend it.

What if we withdraw from Liaoshen and return to our old nest Jianzhou?

Nurhaci had considered this, but it would mean failure, a heavy blow to the morale of the army and the people. With the people's hearts scattered, could they still compete with the Ming court in the future?

You have to know that even the Jurchens were not a monolithic group. Nurhaci only unified the various Jurchen tribes after years of conquest.

The unified Jurchen tribes were able to unite, firstly because they were intimidated by the military power of the Jianzhou Jurchens, and secondly because they could gain benefits by following Nurhaci in fighting against the Ming Dynasty.

To put it bluntly, the Later Jin was a coalition of bandit groups, which included a large number of Mongols.

If there is no benefit, who would follow you? This is the simplest and most obvious truth. How could Nurhaci not understand it?

But what good is there now? We have suffered heavy casualties and are short of supplies. Who can't see that we are just holding on?

Therefore, Nurhaci had to mobilize and put together a force that could defeat a certain Ming army. As long as the siege was broken, the situation would change.

The number of Jurchens at that time should have been around 400,000 to 500,000. Xiong Tingbi once said in a memorial that "Now we have changed the era name, and we have a total of 100,000 soldiers."

The Eight Banners was originally an organization that combined military and production functions. According to the Eight Banners system, "all the Eight Banners men are soldiers" and unless there are special circumstances, they all have the obligation to perform military service.

Furthermore, the Jurchens were almost all slave owners, each with their own household slaves, who could also be considered a military force. "For example, if a soldier had four or five slaves in his household, they would all rush to accompany him, specifically to plunder property."

Therefore, it is probably accurate to estimate the total number of troops mobilized by the Later Jin at around 100,000. However, after the successive defeats and attrition in the past few years, the number of truly brave and capable fighters was only around 50,000 to 60,000.

In other words, the Eight Banners were still the backbone of the Later Jin Dynasty. The number of soldiers in each banner varied, but on average, there were only about 7,000.

On the other hand, the Ming army's mixed corps had already reached over 8,000 men. Equipped with powerful firearms, they couldn't guarantee victory against a single banner. Even a defeat would be enough to cripple the Jiannu.

In western Liaoning, southern Liaoning, and eastern Liaoning, plus Dengzhen, Jinzhen, the Beijing Camp Cavalry, and the naturalized Cavalry, the total strength of the Ming army was no less than a dozen mixed brigades, almost twice the number of the elite Eight Banners.

As for the miscellaneous troops mobilized by the Later Jin, namely some Mongols and household slaves, they had weak fighting will and were no match for the Ming army in terms of combat effectiveness.

Nurhaci was also aware of this, but there was no other way out. It was a matter of life and death, and they had to mobilize in order to turn things around.

Feeling depressed, Nurhaci casually flipped through the intelligence he had collected. Some of this intelligence was obtained through inquiries, while others were deliberately spread by Ming spies.

"After the pacification of Liao, retired soldiers will be given 100 mu of land and exempt from tax for five years; Liao civilians will be given 50 mu of land and exempt from tax for one year; Liao civilians who participated in transportation and other support work will be given 100 mu of land and exempt from tax for two years..."

Nurhaci gasped when he saw this intelligence. The Ming Dynasty was also mobilizing, and the conditions offered would surely tempt ordinary people.

The so-called Liao people include all the people in the areas ruled by the Ming army and the areas ruled by the Later Jin army. With such favorable conditions, would the Liao people still hope for the victory of the Later Jin army?

Not only did he use land to buy people's hearts, but he also offered rewards to the Jurchens. The emperor of the Ming Dynasty was really willing to spend a lot of money!

Nurhaci frowned, as if he saw the defeated Jurchens being hunted down in Liaodong by vicious people holding hoes and sticks.

The Liao people in the ruling area are already restless, so even the Han army will take advantage of their defeat to launch a counterattack, right?

Nurhaci believed that when he reached the end of his road, not only the Han people, but even the unified Jurchen tribes would fall apart.

The Yehenara, Hada, and Huifa tribes...all fled when disaster struck, which was not surprising at all.

"Father Khan." Daishan suddenly spoke, interrupting Nurhaci's thoughts, "The war is imminent. Should we move the elderly, the weak, women and children out of Liaoshen first?"

"No." Nurhaci's eyes flashed, and he rejected it without hesitation. "If we arrange it this way, the army will be in chaos before the battle even begins. We are fighting to the death, so how can we leave a way out? If our army is defeated, the elderly, the weak, the women and the children will only find temporary safety wherever we move to."

Daishan thought for a moment and nodded, saying, "Father Khan is absolutely right. I was confused."

Nurhaci pondered and said, "I propose to concentrate our forces, launch a sudden attack, and violently attack the enemy forces in southern Liaoning. What do you think?"

Daishan didn't think much about it and said, "I think so too. Although the enemy forces in southern Liaoning are strong, we must defend Liaoshen and eliminate the threat that directly reaches the heart of the country."

The words are very clear. If we don't give up on Liaochen, don't relocate the elderly, the weak, women and children, and defeat the Ming army in southern Liaoning, the threat will be too great.

Moreover, the Ming army in southern Liaoning held the key point of the Later Jin's rule, that is, the heartland. If it was not eliminated, it would be difficult to move troops in other directions.

Nurhaci narrowed his eyes and finally made up his mind. The decisive battle of Liaoshen was not to be fought in Liaoshen, but Haizhouweicheng was the appropriate battlefield.

…………………….