Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

The battles taking place inside and outside Jinzhou City seemed chaotic, but in fact they were always under the control of Zhang Shikang and Zu Dashou.

After all, the Liao soldiers not only had the advantage of home field, but also had twice as many troops as the Tatars. In addition, the commander Jirgalang was captured at the beginning of the battle.

Having lost their main general, they were trapped in a jar. When Wu Sangui and Liu Zhaoji's fresh troops joined the battlefield, the battle was soon over.

The battle in Jinzhou City lasted less than an hour and a half, and the last 3,000 soldiers of the Jianlu surrendered.

In order to prevent any unexpected events, Zhang Shikang immediately ordered Liu Zhaoji to lead 6,000 people back to defend Songshan Fort, and asked Sun Weifan to send Huang Degong, the co-governor of Kuaima, to let the 6,000 Liao soldiers in Shanhaiguan City garrison Ningyuan City.

This time Huang Taiji was really tricked by him, and Zhang Shikang expected that this guy would not give up.

As the gateway of the Ming Dynasty outside the Great Wall, defense of Jinzhou City is naturally of paramount importance.

The work of clearing corpses in the city is still in progress. According to statistics, more than 2,600 Ming soldiers were killed and more than 4,000 were injured in this battle.

Among the more than 2,600 casualties, more than 900 to nearly 1,000 were garrison soldiers. Even though Wu Sangui had tried his best to hold back, the garrison soldiers were too weak.

These soldiers followed at the end of Zhang Shikang's troops. Not only did they have poor combat effectiveness, they were also very slow runners.

In order to avoid arousing Jirgalang's suspicion, Wu Sangui had no choice but to kill him.

Except for the garrison soldiers, more than 1,600 Liao soldiers in the city were killed in the battle.

Among the 10,000 men led by Jirgalang, there were more than 4,000 elite soldiers from the Bordered Blue Banner, and the rest were from the Eight Banners of Mongolia.

Among the more than 3,000 Tatars captured in the end, there were more than 2,000 Mongols and only more than 600 Jurchens from the Bordered Blue Banner, which shows how brave the Jurchens were.

In Jinzhou City, an old drama was played out again.

Zhang Shikang tied up more than 3,200 prisoners and arranged them in several rows. He first ordered his subordinates to drive out the Jurchens who belonged to the Bordered Blue Banner.

Then they found a few Mongols among the Liao soldiers and asked them to go forward and ask the Mongolian prisoners, giving them only two choices: either die or join them to kill the Jianlu.

The Mongols were not stupid. Since they had already surrendered, they certainly wanted to live, and almost all of them chose to join them.

But Zhang Shikang is not stupid. It is not convincing enough to say that you can join just by asking him to.

So he ordered his subordinates to release one of the Mongolian Tartar's hands, and threw them a knife, asking them to chop the Blue Banner Jurchen captives.

Zhang Shikang had done this kind of thing before and was very familiar with it. He specifically asked the Mongols not to chop off the neck and head, or stab the chest.

Otherwise, if the Tartars were killed with one sword, there would not be enough swords to kill the others.

The Mongols obeyed the order and in less than half an hour, more than 600 Jurchens were chopped down to only a dozen.

All the Mongols who had killed the Jurchens were immediately untied, and then the guys who had surrendered previously walked up to the group of Mongols.

He comforted them in Mongolian, saying that following the commander-in-chief was better than staying in their original tribe. Not only was the food good, but the treatment was also generous. With the company of fellow tribesmen, the Mongolians immediately felt much more at ease.

In the end, Zhang Shikang stripped the last dozen or so Jurchens naked in front of all the Mongols and released them.

This was to warn the Mongols present not to have any fluke mentality. Once this group of Jurchens returned to Yizhou City, they would definitely report everything that happened here.

As for this group of Mongols, the only option left is to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

This method is simple and highly effective. Although it is too bloody and brutal, wars are happening everywhere in the world at that time. Compared with the massacre by the Tartars, this is nothing.

This great victory undoubtedly greatly boosted the morale of the Liao soldiers. Against ten thousand Tatars, this record surpassed the record of their garrison in Guanningjin for several years in just one battle.

You know, under normal circumstances, killing a few hundred Tartars would be worth the Liao soldiers cheering for a long time.

If we can kill two or three thousand, it will be considered a great victory.

Of course, when killing a few hundred Tartars is reported, the number will become a few thousand, and killing two or three thousand enemies will become tens of thousands when it is finally reported to the Ministry of War.

Killing ten thousand Tartars in real life was an experience that none of the Liao soldiers present had ever experienced.

Zhang Shikang only used a little trick to catch 10,000 Tartars in a jar. When Zu Dashou told everyone the cause and effect of the incident, all the generals of the Zu family admired Zhang Shikang very much.

Of course, there were also many people who did not dare to look Zhang Shikang in the eye.

They have been cursing Zhang Shikang on the city wall these days, even cursing his ancestors for eighteen generations.

That was as offensive as it could be, and what was even worse was that today Zu Dabi and Zu Zeyuan even cursed the current Emperor Chongzhen.

Thinking about it now, everyone is terrified.

To put it in a serious way, this matter is a capital crime.

“Today’s battle is entirely due to your contributions. Soldiers who died in the battle will be compensated, and soldiers with records of killing the enemy must also be verified.

I will have the Ministry of Revenue pay out the rewards and pensions in full and on time, but I will not allow anyone to falsify or lie about battle achievements for any reason. Once discovered, the person will be sentenced to death.

Have I made myself clear?"

Zhang Shikang looked around at Zu Dashou, Zu Dabi and others.

"I understand!" A group of ancestors spoke one after another. Most of them were still a little nervous, so their answers were particularly straightforward.

They don't dare to do anything about pensions anymore, and they don't even know if they can save their lives.

"Which general cursed me the most harshly today?"

Zhang Shikang probably guessed why these people were so silent, so he took the initiative to mention the matter.

Zu Dabi and Zu Zeyuan were suddenly startled, but no one dared to stand up.

Zhang Shikang’s massacre of bureaucrats and gentry in the interior last year was no joke. Before meeting Zhang Shikang, they all thought that he was a bloodthirsty person.

When they killed the Tartars today, they showed no mercy and took no prisoners, which further confirmed their views.

If anyone admits it now, wouldn't that be courting death?

"You are one of them, right?" Zhang Shikang pointed at Zu Dabi and said with a smile.

When Zu Dabi was called, he trembled and knelt down immediately.

"Marshal, please spare me! I am a fool, a fool!

Big brother, big brother, save me! ~" Zu Dabi was frightened and begged for mercy while looking at Zu Dashou.

Although this strategy was proposed by the Grand Marshal, his elder brother also made great contributions.

Moreover, he cursed others himself. Who told the eldest brother not to warn him at all? If he had known in advance that this was a deception against the Tartars, he would never have cursed so harshly.

But Zu Dashou turned his head away and pretended not to see it.

Zu Dashou knew that the Marshal was most likely joking with them, and that his relatives had indeed been too arrogant and domineering in previous years, and it was time to give them a lesson.

"And you." Zhang Shikang pointed at Zu Zeyuan again.

So Zu Zeyuan also knelt on the ground and did the same thing as Zu Dabi.

They thought Zhang Shikang would be angry and kill them by surprise, but Zhang Shikang just let them get up.

Still with that smiling face, he said:

“Why spare my life? You all performed very well today.

If cursing me twice can kill ten thousand Tartars, then next time you must remember to curse me twice more."

……