Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 420 Liaoyang

After Gao Jinku captured Fenghuang City, he tortured the prisoners severely. He learned from the prisoners that Liaodong was indeed extremely empty. Gao Jinku was extremely excited. He only rested in Fenghuang City for one day and then divided his troops into four groups.

Many fortresses including Xin'an Fort, Suiyang Fort, Gushan Fort and others were captured one after another, while Gao Jinku led the main force deep into Liaodong and surrounded Liaoyang City.

The city of Liaoyang had been lost since the first year of the Tianqi reign, and it has been thirty-nine years since then. At that time, Nurhaci's army was at the gates of the city. The Ming generals Li Huaixin and Hou Shilu led their troops out of the city to fight. The Later Jin army deployed their troops on the left and right, and Nurhaci led his troops to attack, and the Ming army was defeated.

Nurhaci then took advantage of the victory to dig the west gate of the city to drain the moat water and force his way across the moat. After a long battle, the Ming army was defeated in many directions and retreated to Liaoyang City. Yuan Yingtai and the inspector Zhang Quan divided their troops to defend the city.

The next day, the Later Jin army attacked the city fiercely. Within a day, the spies attacked the west gate and the Later Jin army entered the city from the west gate. Yuan Yingtai saw that the situation was not going well, so he hanged himself with a sword. Zhang Quan was captured and refused to surrender, and died soon after. After Liaoyang was lost, more than 70 cities in the three rivers of Liaodong surrendered to the Later Jin.

Gao Jinku listened to Hu Zhan's introduction and said proudly: "Back then, Nurhaci took Liaoyang City in one day. Today, I want to imitate him, hahaha!"

Hu Zhan was shocked when he heard this, and quickly covered Gao Jinku's mouth and said, "What are you talking about! Are you going to die?"

Gao Jinku let go of Hu Zhan's hand and asked in confusion: "What did I say? Why do I want to die?"

Hu Zhan was speechless for a long time before he whispered, "Who is Nurhaci? He is the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty. No matter what, he was still an emperor. How big of a brain do you have to compare yourself with him?"

Gao Jinku snorted and said, "Once Your Majesty has conquered the world, Nurhaci will become a fake emperor."

"It's not okay to be fake. You can't compare yourself with him. Nurhaci is still a rebel. Do you want to compare yourself with him too?" Hu Zhan said unhappily.

Gao Jinku scratched his head when he heard this, but said in a somewhat unsteady tone: "This... That's not what I think, but we are so far away, I guess the king won't know, right?"

"You were so loud just now, who knows if there are any members of the Qingluan Guards there."

Gao Jinku was shocked when he heard this, and he looked around hurriedly, regretting it in his heart. At this time, Gao Jinku was so happy that he shouted loudly to the city wall: "Your Majesty is wise and mighty, and the thieves in the city will die without a burial place if they don't surrender!"

After he finished shouting, Gao Jinku still felt that it was not enough, so he shouted again: "Today, I, Gao Jinku, will offer this city to the king to show my loyalty. I swear to be loyal to the king until death. I...I...Long live the king, long live the king, long, long live the king!"

Hu Zhan got goosebumps when he heard this. Just when Gao Jinku was so excited that he was about to mount his horse and whip his horse to attack the city, Hu Zhan hurriedly stopped him and whispered, "That's enough, that's enough. The king will definitely know your sincerity. The siege equipment has not been built yet, so we can't attack Liaoyang City now!"

Gao Jinku nodded and said loudly, "Set up camp. If the bandits in the city don't surrender, I will capture the city tomorrow and will not let them off easily."

After Gao Jinku finished speaking, he turned to Hu Zhan and said, "Do you think there are any people from the Qingluan Guard in the army? If my loyalty is not heard by the king, then I will lose a lot!"

Hu Zhan sighed, reached out and patted Gao Jinku on the shoulder, and said: "General, do you want the king to know that you want to emulate Nurhaci, or do you want the king to know your loyalty?" After saying that, Hu Zhan shook his head and left.

Gao Jinku thought for a long time, with a tangled look on his face. After a long while, he looked up to the sky and sighed. Shen Liu, who was not far away, looked at Gao Jinku with some admiration. He walked over and flattered Gao Jinku: "General Gao is loyal and sincere, and the world will testify to it. In the future, the general will surely be promoted step by step under the command of King Zhou!"

Upon hearing this, Gao Jinku wanted to scold him, but thinking that one should not scold someone who smiles at him, Gao Jinku held back his words, just rolled his eyes at Shen Liu, put his hands behind his back, and walked away on his own.

Shen Liu: “…………”

In Liaoyang city.

As night fell, Liaoyang City was shrouded in an uneasy silence. The defending general Zhu Shiyin sat alone in the empty meeting room, the flickering candlelight shining on his frowned and uneasy face.

Currently, there are only 1,200 defenders in Liaoyang City, while the number of people outside the city is more than ten times that of the enemy. There are more than 1,000 defenders, many of whom are old and weak. Facing the enemy outside the city, Zhu Shiyin does not think Liaoyang can be defended no matter how optimistic he is.

After a sleepless night, Zhu Shiyin decided to lead his army to abandon the city and flee to Shengjing. Since he only had so many people and could not hold the city, he might as well join up with Man Dahai. That way, he would have a chance to gather strength and wait for an opportunity to counterattack.

At dawn the next day, taking advantage of the cover of day, Zhu Shiyin led the defenders to quietly open the north gate, escape from Liaoyang, and head towards Shengjing.

In the early morning, the outline of Liaoyang City appeared taller and taller in the sunlight, but there was not a single defender on the city wall. When Gao Jinku sent people to persuade them to surrender, he discovered that the defenders in the city had already fled.

Gao Jinku was very happy about this and said to Hu Zhan beside him: "Your Majesty is indeed famous. The Tartars fled without a fight. Hahahaha!"

Hu Zhan was not as happy as Gao Jinku. If Man Dahai gathered soldiers from various cities, it would not be a good thing for their side. Hu Zhan knew that although Liaoyang had been captured, the battle in Liaodong was far from over.

After all, his army came across the sea, and although they had the Korean rear in the rear, they were still an isolated army deep in the country. Hu Zhan was also worried about the reinforcements from the Qing army inside the country. If he were to ask himself, Hu Zhan believed that Dorgon would never watch Liaodong being lost like that. The reinforcements from inside the country would definitely come, it was just a matter of number.

Hu Zhan's worries were not groundless. Thinking of this, Hu Zhan felt helpless and couldn't help but hope that it would be great if the king could send another town to Liaodong.

Then Hu Zhan sternly advised Gao Jinku: "General Gao, don't take it lightly. Although Liaoyang was taken without a fight, Shenyang will never be taken so easily. In my opinion, Man Dahai will definitely mobilize the surrounding troops to defend Shenyang City to the death."

After hearing this, Gao Jinku's smile gradually faded. He nodded to show his agreement: "Well, Man Dahai is a member of the Qing imperial family who has fought for many years. If he insists on defending, we will probably have to spend some effort to capture Shenyang."

Hu Zhan pondered for a moment, then suggested to Gao Jinku: "In my opinion, we should ask the king for reinforcements."

Gao Jinku was a little surprised and said, "We have been marching all the way here, but we have captured the city of Liaoyang so easily. We still need another 100 soldiers, and we are almost in Shenyang. Can reinforcements arrive in time?"

Hu Zhan shook his head and said, "I just have a feeling that our trip to Shenyang may not be so smooth!"

Gao Jinku thought about it, then shook his head and said, "Let's just be careful. If we come back and forth, the flowers will be cold by the time we wait for reinforcements."

Just as Gao Jinku's troops were approaching Liaoyang, Man Dahai was not idle either. He drew troops from the garrison near Shengjing to gather troops, while Bolo also traveled day and night, leading 5,000 cavalry from the interior to Shengjing.