Today, I take you to restore a major war that determined the fate of the two countries - the Battle of Salhu, which was a turning point in the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, and was also a representative military case in which less won more.
Before we understand this Ming and Qing Armageddon, let's first look at the relevant historical background
Pre-war situation
In 1616, Nurhaci, the leader of the Jurchen tribe in Jianzhou, established the "Dajin" regime in Hetuala (present-day Xinbin County, Liaoning Province).
Two years later, Nurhaci declared that he "hated the Ming Seven Greats" and rebelled against the Ming Dynasty, and after the rebellion against the Ming Dynasty, Nurhaci conquered Fushun, Qinghe and a large number of Ming fortresses through espionage, military strikes and other actions. Everywhere Nurhaci's army went, it brought great disaster to the Han people.
Seeing that his army's ambition to defeat the Ming army was growing, Nurhaci ordered three hundred Han Chinese prisoners to be taken to Fushun Pass, killed two hundred and ninety-nine of them, cut off the ears of the remaining one, and asked him to send a letter to the Ming officials.
Nurhaci chose to retreat shortly after conquering Fushun and Qinghe, but his actions had already angered the Ming dynasty at the time, the Wanli Emperor, who was determined to solve the "Houjin" (Dajin) regime founded by Nurhaci through a major war.
The Battle of Salhun began under this after all
Pre-war preparations
In 1618, after the Ming army was largely assembled in various places, Yang Ho, after consulting with the civilian and military generals, decided to divide the army into four roads and march on the last four sides of the Jin capital Hetuala.
The general situation of the four-way Ming army is as follows
The Eastern Route Army was led by the general Liu Ling, a force made up of the Ming army and most of the Korean army. Head north from Kuandian;
The Southern Route Army, led by the general Li Rubai, marched east from the Yahu Pass; the Western Route Army was led by the general Du Song; from Fushun to the east; the Northern Route Army, led by the general Ma Lin, joined the reinforcements of Yehe Jurchen on the way south from the Sancha Second Fort.
On February 21, 1619, the Ming army performed a martial arts oath in Liaoyang, and a crying and laughing thing happened in the middle, the cattle used for the sacrifice before the Ming army went out on the expedition were tossed and turned for half a day and could not die, and it took a lot of effort to finally kill it. In ancient times, when superstitious providence was superstitious, the ming generals thought it was unlucky and lamented that heaven did not bless themselves.
Although it felt unlucky, but for the ready Ming army, this war will never stop, Yang Ho immediately issued an order to go out after the oath meeting, but the heavens did not seem to give much face, suddenly heavy snow fell, the Ming army had no choice but to postpone the time of the troops.
After the oath-taking meeting, Yang Ho did an amazing thing, he wrote the time of the Ming army's expedition and the fact that the army was about to attack after the division of the army, and sent It to Nurhaci in a letter, in addition to the strength of the Ming army, he also said that the date of the Ming army's expedition was later. Trying to confuse Nurhaci. This act of his has also been criticized by posterity, and some people have always said that he is a traitor.
Nurhaci's side was a little panicked when he knew that the Ming army was about to launch a large-scale attack, and sent a letter to Yang Hao, proposing that as long as the Ming Dynasty withdrew its troops, and gave houjin satin three thousand, silver three thousand two, and gold three hundred two himself could order an armistice. The Ming side ignored Nurhaci's request for peace.
On February 25, Yang Hao ordered the expedition, but Du Song and Liu Ling objected, believing that the snowy terrain and enemy situation were not clear enough to go out, and then Yang Hao could not resist the incessant urging of the imperial court, and reprimanded Du Song and Liu Ling, and finally the Various Ming armies set out one after another and embarked on a journey with an uncertain future.
Nurhaci knew that a major war was inevitable after learning the news of the Ming army's separation, and he adopted the strategic principle of "relying on a few roads to come, I only go all the way".
The battle of fate between the Ming and Qing dynasties broke out
According to the Records of the Facts of the Three Dynasties and Liao, the ming army at the Battle of Salhu used the offensive force as "the main guest and a total of more than 88,530".
Counting the reinforcements of Korea and YeHe, the Ming army used an army of between 100,000 and 110,000.
Since the Ming army was an idea to go out, the specific number of Ming troops on each route was controversial, and it will not be elaborated here.
As for the Houjin troops, according to the famous historian Huang Renyu through the two hundred and twenty Niulu (Eight Banners Grassroots Military and Political Organization) under Nurhaci's command at that time, and the three hundred people under the jurisdiction of one Niulu, the Houjin army was about 66,000 people.
The first Ming army to encounter the main force of houjin in the Battle of Salhu was the Western Route Army led by Du Song.
Du Song, who was anxious to make a new contribution to Daming, led the Western Route Army to march rapidly towards Hetuala, and encountered some Jin scattered soldiers on the way, which were solved by the Ming army, and the Western Route Army arrived at the Hun River in the early morning of March 1.
Nurhaci sent a large number of sentries in response to the coming Ming army, paying attention to the movements of the Ming army on the four roads and harassing the Ming army; recruiting minmen to build a city on strategically important ground to defend against the Ming army. On March 1, Nurhaci received a sentry to report that the Ming army was approaching from the south and west. Nurhaci analyzed that the Ming army in the south was only a team that attracted firepower, and the Ming army in the west was the main force, as long as the other Ming armies in the west were defeated, it was not enough to worry. Nurhaci prepared to attack the Ming army on the western road first, and the Houjin troops urgently assembled to leave five hundred people to defend Hetuala, and the rest of the Houjin troops advanced westward.
Just when Nurhaci received a sentry post on the way to the west to return to the southeast Qinghe City to find the Ming army, Nurhaci believed that the southeast road was narrow and dangerous, so only a small number of people were sent to contain it, and the Houjin army continued to advance westward.
On the side of the Ming army, Juniper's Western Route Army reached the Hun River and saw that the Hun River was shallow and ordered to cross the river. To boost morale, Juniper wore no armor and rode forward lightly. Unexpectedly, Nurhaci built a in the upper reaches of the Hun River in order to prevent the Ming army from crossing the river, and the Later Jin army saw that the Ming army crossed the river and directly released water, and the Ming army was caught off guard by drowning many Ming troops, and more seriously, the Ming army's heavy battalion could not cross the other side of the river, and the main force of the Western Route Army that had already crossed the river could only continue to fight with light weapons.
Juniper, who had crossed the river, could not turn back, and marched all the way into the two Houjin camps in Lianke, captured the Houjin fourteen, and led his army to the Salhu near the Salhu Mountains. After the Ming army arrived at Salhu and found that Jin Minfu had built a city at Jiefan Mountain, Du Song ordered Zhao Menglin and Wang Xuan to lead most of their men and horses to camp at the foothills of Salhu Mountain, and they themselves led 10,000 elite soldiers to cross the Suzi River and attack Jiefan Mountain.
Hou Jin deployed four hundred cavalry in this generation, and although there were few soldiers, their determination caused some obstacles to the Ming army. These four hundred cavalry took advantage of the Ming army to cross the Suzi River and attacked the tail of the Ming army, because the number of these four hundred cavalry was too small, after being repulsed by the Ming army, retreated to Jiefan Mountain and the people on the mountain relied on the terrain to resist the Ming army.
The Houjin army on the mountain relied on favorable terrain to resist the attack of the Ming army, and when the two armies fought, Nurhaci's second son Dai Shan led the main force of Houjin to arrive, and Du Song saw that he could not adjust his deployment at this time, so he had to continue to attack Jiefan Mountain. The Ming army rushed up to Jiefan Mountain regardless of casualties. Dai Shan sent Hou Jin's 1,000 elite soldiers up the mountain to support, and the rest of Hou Jin's troops were divided into two parts, one to guard against the Ming army in the Sarhu camp on the other side of the river, and the other part to prepare to attack the Ming army near Jiefan Mountain.
Nurhaci then arrived at the battlefield, Nurhaci thought that Daishan's deployment was inappropriate, so he adjusted his deployment to draw a part of the Houjin troops who were preparing to attack the Ming army on the mountain at Jiefan Mountain, and gathered a total of 40,000 troops and horses with a total of 40,000 soldiers and horses with the Houjin soldiers and horses that were originally guarding against the Ming army of the Salhu camp, and used the fog to attack the Ming army in the Salhu camp.
At this time, more than 10,000 Ming troops in the Sarhu camp saw the enemy flocking to them, and the soldiers did not fear but desperately resisted. However, due to the small number of Ming troops, they were eventually outnumbered. After the Jin army crossed the trench, destroyed the fence, and rushed to the Ming army, Zhao Menglin, Wang Xuan, and a large number of Ming soldiers who remained in the Salhu camp were killed, and the Ming army that survived could only scatter and flee. After the Jin forces began to pursue and kill, the Ming army almost no one survived.
The Ming army on Jiefan Mountain saw that the Salhu camp had been breached, and the army's heart was shaken. But Juniper still resisted desperately under command. After Nurhaci attacked the Sarhu camp, he mobilized all the Eight Banners of Soldiers and Horses, cooperated with the Houjin army and the Minfu on the mountain, and attacked the Ming army on both sides.
In order to turn the tide of the war, the Ming army tried to occupy a hill, but by this time the Houjin army had formed a siege of the Ming army, and a large number of Houjin soldiers and the Ming army were fighting in the woods.
That night, the Ming army lit torches and tried to illuminate the battlefield to facilitate the use of arquebusiers and muskets for shooting, but the effect was not good, and a large number of projectiles were shot into the deserted jungle. Because the battlefield was illuminated, the position of the Ming army was exposed, and the arrows of the Later Jin Army rained down, and the Ming Army fell down a large piece in an instant, and the Ming Army suffered heavy casualties and was finally defeated.
More than ten arrows were shot in the battle of Juniper and he was eventually killed. The Ming generals Chai Guodong, guerrilla Wang Yu, Zhang Daji, Yang Qin, Wang Hailong, and Yang Ruda were also killed in battle. In the end, except for the very few remnants of the Ming army soldiers on Jiefan Mountain, except for Dusi Liu Yujie and others who led a very small number of remnants to escape, all the rest were killed, and almost the entire army was destroyed.
In this way, the Western Route Army of the Four-Way Ming Army was destroyed in Salhu and the surrounding areas, and this war was also named "The Battle of Salhu".
After the great victory of the Jin army, it pointed its troops at the Northern Route Army led by Marin, and a fierce war was about to begin.
Due to the length of the reason, the battle of Salhu is divided into two parts, interested friends stay tuned Oh, like the dots of attention like thank you!
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