In the deep and long silence, the occasional cry of a crow could be heard.
Through the gaps between the trees, Mao Chenglu held up a telescope and looked at the fields and the curling smoke rising from the fortress in the distance.
It was certain that the Jiannu were completely unprepared. Mao Chenglu was a little excited as he was about to carry out his long-planned surprise attack behind enemy lines.
His emotions affected his body, and the fatigue from days of sleeping in the open, going through the forest, and wandering around seemed to have eased considerably. Mao Chenglu put down his telescope and retreated with several Ming soldiers back into the depths of the dense forest.
The Dongjiang Army was expanded to five divisions. In addition to having sufficient manpower, Mao Wenlong also put into practice the plan that his adopted son Mao Chenglu had repeatedly mentioned.
Despite the obvious intention of flattery, Gou Zhenhuai and Chen Jisheng both believed that this plan was quite feasible. The Eastern Tartars' forces were mainly in Liaodong and Liaonan, leaving their rear areas empty, making it a good opportunity to harass them.
Therefore, Mao Chenglu carefully selected two thousand elite soldiers to form a task force, and took enough dry food to secretly march north along the Yalu River.
Then they sneaked across the river at night, entered the Changbai Mountain area, crossed mountains and ridges, and sneaked for several days before reaching their destination.
According to later maps and names, the task force has now arrived in the Baishan area, and the Shasongpai they are about to attack is also a small fortress.
Even more excited than Mao Chenglu was Liu San, a native of nearby Liutun. He also served as a guide for this surprise attack.
I wonder if I can meet my fellow villagers. They must be living a miserable life under the knives and whips of the Qing army.
Liu Qi's heart was in turmoil. He silently put on his hood and iron mask, loaded ammunition into his musket, and installed the bayonet.
Mao Chenglu had already made arrangements. Like a lion fighting a rabbit, he would use all his strength to surround the rabbit from all sides and would not let a single enemy go.
"Set off!"
Upon hearing the officer's order, Liu Qi took action immediately, walked in front of the team, and led his comrades out of the woods along the mountain road.
As the last rays of sunset disappeared into the horizon, several Ming troops crossed the open fields and surrounded Shasongpai.
Hundreds of miles away, Chen Jisheng led the Dongjiang Army's rear guard onto the beach and headed towards Donggou (later Donggang City).
Mao Wenlong, commander-in-chief of the Dongjiang Army, personally commanded the Zhongxie and led his troops by boat to break into Liaodong from the mouth of the Dayang River.
After landing, they successively captured Yanshantun, Huangtufen and Xiaodianzi. Although they did not achieve any major military achievements, they relocated thousands of Liao people and continued to advance deep into the enemy territory.
Mao Chenglu attacked deep behind enemy lines, while other troops took active action to support him. Combined with the actions of the Ming army in Lushun, almost the entire Liaodong region was mobilized.
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Take the initiative and strike before the Jiannu launch their winter attack, disrupt their deployment, consume their supplies, or at least prevent them from preparing calmly.
Dongjiang Town proposed that Dengfu Yuan Keli take the lead in contacting, and Jinfu Bi Ziyan and Jinglüe Xiong Tingbi responded actively. An unexpected large-scale raid thus began.
Although according to the communication conditions at that time, it was impossible for the Ming troops, which were hundreds of miles apart, to move in unison and with great precision.
However, Liaozhen and Jinzhen still did their best and launched supporting military operations within a relatively short period of time.
The garrison on Juehua Island dispatched 3,000 soldiers, led by He Kegang, who broke into the Daliao River by boat and landed to carry out harassment.
When the Daliao River area fell into chaos, the Liao people living in five townships, including Hongcaotun and Liuqitun, sixty miles away from Niuzhuang and Niangniang Palace, took the opportunity to defect, using rafts made of sorghum stalks to cross the river to the west.
Before their defection, the Liao people often lured or poisoned Jiannu officers and soldiers, and these incidents were recorded in Jurchen documents.
For example, three Jurchens from the Hahana Niulu clan were tricked into a Liao citizen's home by a friend and then killed. Seven Jurchens stationed in a certain place were invited to a Liao citizen's home to drink medicinal wine, and all of them died...
The brutal rule of the Later Jin over the Han people in the vast Liaohe River region finally provoked resistance from the Liao people, who found it difficult to survive. Fleeing was a passive act, while rising up in resistance was an active act of venting anger.
As the ships from Jinzhen broke into Pulandian Bay and troops landed and occupied Shihe and Sanshilibao, the Jiannu-ruled areas were already on the alert and fell into a completely passive position.
It is hard to tell which is the main attack and which is the feint.
The main reason why the Jiannu fell into a passive position was the lag in intelligence, which was even quite scarce.
Entering and exiting the Ming Dynasty through Zhangjiakou or Datong, and then taking a detour back to Liaodong, was not only time-consuming and dangerous, but also yielded limited intelligence. After all, Shanxi merchants didn't know much either.
Therefore, the Jiannu probably knew the strength of Liaozhen and Dongjiang Army, but lacked understanding of Dengzhen and Jinzhen, which were in the second line.
It has been almost a year since the new army of the Ming Dynasty was first established at the beginning of the year, and then the various military towns were gradually reorganized and the military system was changed.
It can be said that this counterattack was an outburst after a long period of accumulation by the new army. The most motivated were the officers who graduated from the military academy and served in various military towns.
The governor of Jin, Bi Ziyan, and the governor of Deng, Yuan Keli, were also happy to see it succeed.
The court spent so much money, and the emperor was given everything he wanted. It was time for the emperor to be happy and know that all the money he invested was actually used and not wasted.
At the same time, testing the training results of the new army and increasing practical experience through combat was also a common goal from the governor to the officers.
Moreover, the Jiannu's coastal contraction strategy also made landing easier.
In short, the sudden outbreak of the chaotic attack caused the Jiannu to be confused in their cognition and judgment, and for a time they did not know where to deploy their heavy troops.
If it were last year, or even at the beginning of the year, the Jiannu would not be in such a difficult situation.
However, after experiencing the defeat at Port Arthur, the battles of Manpu, Changcheng, and Zhenjiang, the Jiannu had become aware of the improvement in the Ming army's combat effectiveness and had a new understanding.
Therefore, the Jiannu did not dare to send out a few thousand troops casually, arrogantly and confidently believing that they could defeat the invading enemy.
Daishan, the great prince, led the Red Banner and the Bordered Red Banner, along with generals Yuetuo and Sahalian, to reinforce Gaizhou and Fuzhou and attack the Ming army heading north from Lushun Fort to Jinzhou.
The third prince Manggurtai and the eighth prince Huang Taiji led the Zhenglan and Zhengbai banners to fight against Mao Wenlong; the second prince Amin led the Bordered Blue Banner to fight against Chen Jisheng; and the Duolo prince Dudu led the Bordered White Banner to Liaohe River.
Although the old slave only had two banners of soldiers left, he felt that was enough. The Ming army in western Liaoning was far away, and an attack would require crossing several rivers, which was quite difficult.
The Ming army in Liaodong had improved in both manpower and combat capability, but they still couldn't gain an advantage there, especially in field battles, which was where Lao Nu's confidence lay.
But we also have to be on guard against the Liaohe River. I am not sure whether Huduntu will take any action.
The analysis and judgment were correct, but I didn't realize that this was the beginning of the Ming army gaining the upper hand, and I even missed the task force led by Mao Chenglu.
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