Hauge finally made it back to Kaesong that evening.
The soldiers guarding the city were unaware of what had happened when they saw their Khan running back alone.
They quickly opened the city gates and welcomed Hauge inside.
Then a garrison commander stepped forward and cautiously asked, "Great Khan, you've returned in such a hurry, where are your troops?"
Hauge first dismounted and took a breath.
Then, in a fit of rage, he exclaimed, "My troops? Hmph, they're all just a bunch of traitors!"
"Rebellion?" The garrison soldiers were shocked.
Haug nodded emphatically.
"That's rebellion!"
"They actually dared to be so rebellious and even lay a hand on me!"
"Men, go and send a message to Shengjing, tell them to send me troops. I'm going to kill all those rebels!"
The commander's expression turned somewhat strange again.
"Great Khan, did you not receive the news from a few days ago?"
"The Ming army has already surrounded Guangning, and Shengjing is in constant turmoil. They are still asking you for help, hoping that you will quickly lead your troops back."
"How could they possibly send us troops?"
The garrison commander had other thoughts in his mind, but he dared not voice them:
“It’s obvious that Dai Shan has become disloyal. Even if he can still send troops.”
“When those soldiers came, they certainly weren’t there to help you.”
Haug, however, did not think that much about it.
He slapped his forehead: "I completely forgot about that!"
"What should we do now?"
Seeing that Hauge was somewhat flustered, the guard tentatively asked, "Great Khan, where is Jirgalang?"
"You can ask him."
Hauge was still flustered, but when he heard Jirhalang's name, he sneered.
"Zirhalang?"
Why are you bringing up this traitor?!
The defending general and the others were dumbfounded.
"Traitor?!"
Haug nodded emphatically.
"This Jirhalang is a traitor!"
"What? You're one of his people too?"
The garrison commander quickly shook his head.
"Great Khan, I am a member of the Plain Yellow Banner, your servant."
"Please don't doubt me."
Hauge glanced at the garrison commander suspiciously a few times, snorted coldly, and then stopped pursuing the matter.
He ordered the garrison commander, "Since you are not Jirgalang's man, then relay this order for the Great Khan."
“Take Jirgalang for example, he betrayed his own people. The 28,000 bannermen I led over Linjin also rebelled.”
"Order the garrison troops in all areas to prevent those traitors from entering the city."
The commander knew that once this order was issued, the situation in Goryeo would collapse instantly.
Regardless of whether the King of Goryeo intends to take action against the Yangban, or whether the Yangban nobles of Goryeo will rebel.
These Eight Banners people who entered Goryeo were bound to fight a civil war first.
But the garrison commander dared not hesitate.
Haug is now somewhat insane; if he dares to utter even half a word of "no," he'll be beheaded immediately.
The garrison commander had no choice but to say helplessly, "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will go and relay the order right away."
Meanwhile, south of the Imjin River, Zhang Xianzhong was riding his horse, laughing heartily.
"What did I tell you?"
"As long as I lead the troops, we will definitely win a great victory, right?"
These words were extremely arrogant, but the Ming soldiers present all nodded frantically.
"Lord Zhang is absolutely right! You are truly amazing!"
They spoke from the heart, without a trace of flattery.
After all, they had indeed won a great victory not long ago.
This was the first major victory the Ming army had ever achieved since the time of Nurhaci's cavalry.
Even the victory at the beginning of the year, when Li Ruolian and Qin Liangyu killed Huang Taiji, cannot compare to this great triumph.
A centurion trotted over, his face beaming with excitement, and said, "Lord Zhang, the battle results have been tallied!"
"In this battle, we suffered three thousand casualties, and the Jurchens also lost more than three thousand men."
"But we also captured more than two thousand people, and more than two thousand surrendered."
"In addition, more than 3,000 Eight Banners soldiers fled eastward."
Zhang Xianzhong nodded casually, not taking these numbers to heart.
If he truly understood warfare, he would surely have discerned the problem reflected in those numbers.
The Ming army had all the advantages of timing, location, and popular support, and Haoge made a foolish mistake, which is why they won the battle.
Even so, the casualties of the two armies were roughly the same.
If the Jurchens' morale hadn't collapsed first, the outcome of this battle would have been very uncertain.
If it were someone else, they would definitely feel uneasy at this point and decide to quit while they were ahead, taking the prisoners back to Hanjing.
However, if Zhang Xianzhong knew when to stop while he was ahead, he wouldn't be Zhang Xianzhong.
He laughed loudly, "Good! Excellent!"
"It seems the Jurchens are truly finished!"
"Men, send some soldiers to guard the prisoners here."
"The rest of you, follow me eastward in pursuit."
The canal workers nodded excitedly after hearing this.
"We'll do as Lord Zhang says!"
Even those four generals dared not object at this moment.
What just happened was completely unexpected.
They now have some doubts about whether Zhang Xianzhong truly possesses some kind of magical power.
The four men exchanged glances, walked up to Zhang Xianzhong, and put on ingratiating smiles.
"Lord Zhang, the task of pursuing the Jurchens must naturally be undertaken."
"But don't you still need to report the victory to the imperial court?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Xianzhong nodded in agreement.
"That's true."
"If we don't let the emperor know about our situation soon, he might start to worry."
"Just find any clerk and have them write a report of victory."
"I'm about to lead my men in pursuit of the Jurchens!"
Almost simultaneously.
Beneath the walls of Guangning City.
Li Ruolian looked at the distant city wall, turned around and laughed, "Zicheng, it seems your little tricks aren't very effective."
It turns out that for the past few days, Li Zicheng had been bombarding Guangning with that real Italian cannon.
After bombarding the city for a day, they sent people to the city walls to persuade the city to surrender.
Tell the garrison inside the city that if our one cannon is this powerful, then if a dozen cannons were to fire at once, they would surely be wiped out.
The Jurchens in the city were naturally tempted when they heard this.
However, Mangultai is much more reliable than Hauge.
He killed several Ejen who had suggested surrendering.
He also took out his own gold and silver accumulated over the years and distributed them to the city's garrison.
They managed to stabilize morale, albeit barely.
Li Ruolian said, "If all else fails, let's launch a full-scale attack tomorrow."
"As for your dozen or so cannons, stop pretending and fire them all."
"It can at least play a role, reducing the number of deaths in my Beijing garrison."
The current Beijing garrison was almost entirely trained by Li Ruolian.
He was naturally very emotional.
However, Li Zicheng hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.
"no!"
"If we fire a dozen or so dummy cannons now, wouldn't all our previous preparations have been for nothing?"
"Let your Beijing garrison suffer more deaths, then so be it!"
Li Ruolian was immediately enraged.
"Li Zicheng, do you know what you're saying?"
"I never expected you to be so cold-blooded!"
Li Zicheng shook his head.
"How am I cold-blooded?"
He stood up, looked at the Jingying garrison in the distance, and suddenly sighed.
"Have you forgotten that I am also from Shaanxi and Gansu?"
“These people in the Beijing Garrison are actually all from my hometown. How could I bear to watch them die?”
"But General Li, not only those who die under the walls of Guangning are dead."
"This large-scale eastern expedition by the imperial court won't just result in deaths in Guangning!"
"If my plan succeeds and really fools the Jurchens, making them believe that my Great Ming really has more than a dozen Italian cannons."
"Then when we attack Shengjing in the future, the number of people we lose will be several times less than the number we lose now!"
"General Li, a merciful commander cannot lead an army!"
Li Ruolian was stunned after hearing this.
After a long silence, he sighed and said, "Does it really have to be this way?"
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