nucmednet Chapter 77 The troops are approaching the city
Chapter 77 The troops are approaching the city
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Since November 22nd of the sixth year of Chongzhen's reign, the rebel army has marched straight in, passing through more than a dozen prefectures and counties, and arrived directly at Dengzhou, where they have been besieging the city. The four gates of Dengzhou have been closed for more than half a month now.
During this period, both the garrison inside Dengzhou City and the rebel army outside the city maintained relative calm. The two sides, with a peculiar tacit understanding, maintained a stalemate outside Dengzhou City.
Sun Yuanhua tried his best to appease the rebels and maintain his power and status in Dengzhou and Laizhou. Li Jiucheng and Kong Youde, on the other hand, attempted to walk a tightrope between "accepting appeasement" and "establishing independence," hoping to gain more concessions from the court and maximize their own interests. As for Yu Dacheng, the governor of Shandong, he had been trying to evade responsibility and push all the pressure onto Sun Yuanhua. After the battle of Ruanchengdian, he was completely terrified and became a "pro-appeasement faction," trying his best to avoid war. Under these circumstances, the hostile actions of the two sides did not escalate.
Despite the misfortune suffered by the people outside the city and the intermittent clashes between the two sides' cavalry, neither side ever truly engaged in a major battle, and the rebels did not launch a direct attack on Dengzhou. The fact that Li Jiucheng and Kong Youde "sought amnesty" while Sun Yuanhua "advocated amnesty" was no secret both inside and outside Dengzhou.
However, Sun Yuanhua's efforts to pacify the rebels were slow due to the deliberate delays by Li and Kong. Fearing that he would not be able to explain himself to the emperor if the stalemate continued, he sent the governor's garrison and Zhang Keda, the general of Dengzhou and Laizhou, out of the city to attack, determined to "force pacification through fighting".
The two sides clashed at the east gate of Dengzhou and a battle ensued. Zhang Tao, the commander of the standard battalion, held the city gates, while Zhang Keda led his troops in a two-pronged attack against the rebels. Zhang Keda's men, reinforcements from Liaodong and Zhejiang, were quite formidable and engaged the rebels in fierce fighting, achieving some local victories. Just as the situation seemed to be turning in their favor, Zhang Tao faltered.
Zhang Tao's troops, mostly Liaodong people from Pi Island, disregarded orders and withdrew from the battlefield after contact with the rebels. Some even joined the rebels, turning against Zhang Keda's forces. Zhang Keda hadn't anticipated this turn of events and was caught off guard, suffering heavy losses; less than 30% of his original troops remained. The barracks Zhang Keda and Zhang Tao had set up outside the city to defend it were all abandoned, and the weapons and supplies within fell into the hands of the rebels. The rebels' momentum surged dramatically.
To make matters worse, Zhang Tao's troops were all Liaodong people, sharing the same origin as the rebels. They all harbored deep hatred for the people, officials, and soldiers of the Dengzhou and Laizhou regions, and their internal cohesion was extremely strong. After joining forces with the rebels, they were all determined to storm Dengzhou to "avenge their grievances."
The conflict between the Liao people and the local soldiers and civilians of Dengzhou was deep-seated and had not been formed overnight. The seeds of hatred had been sown long before the large-scale migration of soldiers and civilians from Dongjiang to the interior.
Starting from the first year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, a large number of Liaodong people, unable to bear the oppression of the Later Jin dynasty, crossed the sea from Pi Island to Dengzhou, where they were settled by local officials. The total number was no less than several hundred thousand. However, from the moment they arrived in Dengzhou, these hundreds of thousands of Liaodong people were exploited and mistreated by local officials. Many who had crossed the sea to return to the mainland were forced to flee back to Dongjiang due to the unbearable torture and exploitation. So much so that in the first year of Chongzhen's reign, when Yang Guodong, the general of Dengzhou and Laizhou, came to Pi Island on official business, the resentful Liaodong people gathered and attempted to kill him in revenge.
Historical records state that "the Liao people were fierce and the Deng people could not tolerate them," and "after the loss of Liaoyang, more than 100,000 Liao people fled to Dengzhou and Laizhou to escape the chaos. The local people often humiliated them or killed each other, causing resentment among the Liao people." "The Liao people migrated inland to avoid disaster, and the local people became their enemies every day, despite warnings and admonitions."
In order to suppress the Liao people in the city, from the moment the rebel army approached the city, the governor's office, the general's office, and the military supervisor's office all dispatched patrolmen, carrying command arrows, to patrol the city and water city of Dengzhou, strictly prohibiting "gathering crowds and making noise" and "spreading rumors." Every few days, unlucky people were beheaded and displayed to the public. The relationship between the Liao people in the city and the soldiers and civilians of Dengzhou became increasingly tense.
Dengzhou appeared to be a fortified city, with mountains of grain and provisions, hundreds of cannons, and six or seven thousand new and old soldiers, most of whom had been trained by the Portuguese and were among the best in the Ming army in terms of firearms skills. In theory, with its strong city walls and powerful cannons, holding Dengzhou should not have been difficult. However, many of the generals and soldiers in these troops were Liaodong people, and Dengzhou was also inhabited by a large number of discontented Liaodong people. Internally, the city was already fragmented and disunited, as fragile as paper.
Liu Ye knew a general idea about all of this. Rather than saying that the rebels captured Dengzhou, it would be more accurate to say that the rebels exploited the conflict between the Liao people and the local people of Dengzhou, and cooperated with the Liao soldiers and people in the city to make the seemingly fortified Dengzhou fall without a fight. The battle between the rebels and Zhang Tao of the Standard Battalion and Zhang Keda, the general of Dengzhou and Laizhou, was an important turning point.
Before successfully infiltrating the rebel army, Liu Ye's original plan was to incite the rebels to disperse and attack various prefectures and counties in Shandong after the fall of Dengzhou, thus avoiding an early decisive battle with the government troops suppressing the rebellion and keeping the rebels bogged down in the war in Shandong. The reason for this was that, in the original historical timeline, after capturing Dengzhou, the rebels were overconfident and wanted to seize Laizhou in one fell swoop. However, after a prolonged siege, they failed to capture Laizhou and retreated to Dengzhou after a defeat in a decisive battle outside the city. Then, under prolonged siege, they ran out of ammunition and food, abandoned the city, crossed the sea northward, and joined the Later Jin dynasty.
Kong Youde's surrender not only provided Huang Taiji with a battle-hardened army, but also with valuable cannons, craftsmen, and casting technology. This changed the Later Jin army's long-standing weakness of being invincible in field battles but lacking in siege capabilities, thus altering the balance of firearms between the Ming and Qing dynasties and contributing to the Ming dynasty's demise.
However, plans often go awry. Through the White Lotus Sect's channels, Liu Ye infiltrated the rebel army more smoothly than expected. Upon hearing the news of Zhang Tao's troops' collapse and Zhang Keda's southern army's near annihilation, he knew his opportunity had arrived—rather than waiting for Dengzhou to fall before inciting the rebels, he could find a pretext to infiltrate Dengzhou and meet with Sun Yuanhua, preventing the rebels from launching a coordinated attack from within and without, thus cutting off Kong Youde's path to defect to the Later Jin.
After making up his mind, he requested an audience with Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng, claiming that he had a plan to break through the city.
Lured by the silver, the soldiers guarding them reported the matter. At this time, the rebel generals Kong, Li, and others were fiercely debating whether to accept the offer of amnesty or to take Dengzhou City in one fell swoop. Upon hearing that the White Lotus Sect had a brilliant plan to break through the city, they allowed Liu Ye and others to enter the central army camp directly.
The three of them walked through the rebel soldiers coming and going and arrived at the main camp. After entering the camp, they found it filled with generals in full armor. Li Jiucheng was sitting in his seat, next to a general of similar age and dressed in the same clothes. The general looked more honest and less arrogant.