Seeing that Li Ruolian had made up her mind, Li Zicheng didn't say anything on the surface, but he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
Although Li Zicheng had never led an army on his own, he was able to capture the capital and send Emperor Chongzhen to his death.
This shows that he still has talent.
Li Zicheng thought to himself, "If Li Ruolian really changes his mind frequently, then this battle will really be in trouble."
"This siege is all about morale, it's about which side is more resilient."
"Therefore, those stubborn generals are more likely to win siege battles."
"On the contrary, those who are quick-witted are more likely to cause problems."
Just as Li Zicheng was still pondering, Li Ruolian, who was standing next to him, suddenly spoke up in surprise.
"The Jurchens have indeed arrived!"
Upon hearing this, Li Zicheng quickly looked up as well.
Just as Li Ruolian said.
In the dim light of the night, countless figures could be seen approaching indistinctly.
If not a Jurchen, then who could he be?
"It seems like this first battle is in the bag!"
Li Ruolian and Li Zicheng exchanged a glance, both seeing the excitement in each other's eyes.
At the same time, Mangultai, who was leading the troops, also realized that something was wrong.
"I've heard that Li Ruolian is a confidant of the young emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and he specially appointed him as the top martial arts scholar."
"Li Ruolian was in charge of leading the troops on the first two occasions when the Ming army went out of the pass, which shows that he is not easy to deal with."
"But now the Ming army camp is almost completely undefended."
"What's going on here?"
"Something's definitely up to no good here!"
Mangultai felt somewhat uncertain.
He slowed his pace and asked a Zhen behind him, "Do you think the Ming army might have laid an ambush beforehand?"
"If it really comes down to this, let's retreat!"
Upon hearing this, Ngezhen smiled bitterly to himself.
"No wonder our banner chief couldn't defeat Huang Taiji back then, and now he can't defeat Daishan either."
"So he really was out of his mind!"
"The arrow is already halfway out of the bow; how can it be pulled back in?"
"If we retreat before we've even encountered any trouble, what will the soldiers in the city think? What will happen to their morale? Will we even be able to defend Guangning City?"
Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and said, "Banner Master, even if the Ming army has set up an ambush, we have to bite the bullet and charge in!"
"Otherwise, morale will be completely destroyed!"
"And... don't forget, Shengjing has also sent Ao Bai to wait on the Liao River."
"The Great Prince will know everything we do here."
This last sentence is actually an allusion to Mangultai.
This Guangning City isn't just for you to defend.
If Mangultai really causes trouble, Aobai will have to enter the city and seize power.
If the Mangultai people are still alive by then, but they lose their military power, wouldn't that be worse than death?
Mangultai actually knew this principle as well.
But when the time came, he inevitably hesitated and looked back.
This is actually quite normal; most people are like this.
No matter how much preparation you do beforehand, you may still panic and forget what you were supposed to do when the time comes.
After being reminded by this ezhen, Mangultai finally cheered up.
"Alright! Let's charge in!"
"Hmph, even if the Ming army has some kind of ambush, as long as our Eight Banners charge, we have nothing to fear from them!"
As he spoke, Mangultai had already stood up.
They no longer cared about concealing their tracks.
"Charge with me!" he roared, charging ahead.
Seeing this, Ezhen could only sigh and follow suit, charging forward.
Mangultai's action was somewhat reckless, but it was extremely effective.
The soldiers of the Plain Blue Banner, who had been advancing cautiously, all stood up instantly.
"Charge with the flag leader!"
Mangultai led a thousand elite troops in this surprise attack outside the city.
The thousands of people suddenly roared, their shouts echoing like thunder in the night sky.
"Haha, the Ming army is definitely going to be in for a surprise!"
Overjoyed, Mangultai led his troops into the Ming army camp.
But as soon as he entered the camp, he immediately regretted it.
It turned out that even at this time, the Ming army's camp was still pitch black.
But not long ago, the Jurchens had caused such a huge uproar.
As long as the Ming army wasn't deaf, they should have been able to react.
However, there's no response now, which can only mean...
"Oh no, there really is an ambush!"
Before he could finish speaking, the shouts of battle from the Ming army could be heard all around.
Countless arrows rained down on the camp.
"Oh no!"
As the arrows fell, many Jurchen soldiers beside Mangultai fell to the ground.
The Jurchens were also skilled in archery and horsemanship, and they instinctively drew their bows to retaliate.
However, once the arrows were nocked, they didn't know where to shoot.
The Ming army had made preparations in advance and measured the distances.
At this point, all you need to do is fire at your own camp.
However, the Jurchens did not know the location of the Ming army, nor did they know how far away the Ming army was.
In the darkness of night, it was impossible to see any of these things.
Even if they launch a counterattack, it will only be a waste of their energy.
Mangultai panicked.
Just as he was about to call the other Ejen over, he saw several arrows fly past his eyes.
They actually managed to shoot and kill the few Ezhens who were walking this way.
Mangultai's eyes widened instantly, and his heart pounded wildly.
"If I had taken just a few more steps, I would have been the one who died!"
Thinking of this, he completely disregarded his troops and immediately lowered his head, running towards Guangning City.
Mangultai usually eats delicacies from land and sea, and even at night, he can see very clearly.
He ran away at lightning speed, and he actually made it back.
However, once he left, the Jurchens, who had fallen into the trap, were completely bewildered and were easily defeated by the Ming army.
The Ming army first fired a dozen or so volleys of arrows before surrounding them again.
The next morning, Li Ruolian looked at the newly compiled battle report and clapped her hands, laughing loudly, "Excellent! Excellent!"
"I never expected this battle to be fought so well!"
"The Jurchens who launched a sneak attack last night only managed to escape with a few men; the rest of their thousands of soldiers were completely wiped out by us!"
Li Ruolian has actually seen quite a few big scenes.
When Huang Taiji was killed by a single cannon shot, he had far more elite Eight Banners troops around him than he did this time.
However, in that last great battle, it was all thanks to Li Zicheng's artillery and Qin Liangyu's White-Spear Soldiers.
It doesn't have much to do with Li Ruolian.
However, this ambush was directed by him alone.
This is naturally different for Li Ruolian.
Li Zicheng saw all this and smiled as well.
"General Li, His Majesty would be very pleased if he knew about last night's battle."
Upon hearing this, Li Ruolian became much more restrained and stopped laughing loudly.
"Your Majesty has been very kind to me, and this small victory is not enough to repay Your Majesty."
He stood up and gave orders to the Ming army:
"Let the troops rest for a day, and launch a fierce attack on Guangning early tomorrow morning."
Li Ruolian was impatient and couldn't wait to recapture Guangning City.
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