Hong Chengshou's Reinforcements
Marshal Hong Chengchou was ordered by the Chongzhen Emperor to rescue Zu Dashou and his army. Under his command, there were 8 area commander in chiefs (Zongbing) and 130,000 troops, which includes Wu Sangui and Cao Bianjiao's troops.
At the tenth lunar month, Hong left Shanhai Pass and summoned eight generals: Cao Bianjiao, Wang Yanchen, Bai Guang'en, Ma Ke, Wu Sangui, Yang Guozhu, Wang Pu and Tang Tong. The Ming troops under their control were numbered up to 130,000 infantry heavily armed with matchlock muskets and 40,000 cavalry and were ordered to liberate Jinzhou. Meanwhile, Zu Dashou still maintained the defence of Jinzhou and used Songshan, Xishan and Tashan as defensive wings. At the Qing side, generals Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi were ordered to reinforce the troops laying siege over Jinzhou.
Hong positioned his troops on Mt. Rufeng which stands between Songshan and Jinzhou. First battle erupted and Qing forces were suffering a terrible defeat. When the news approached Huangtaiji, he decided to drown into the battlefield. Though numbered heavily, Hong decided to remain defensive and conducted small scale attack on the enemy front line. When the enemy became exhausted, he then released full-scale attack to achieve victory. Yet, the impatient Chongzhen emperor ordered his general to be more offensive.
Upon seeing enemy's rushing movement, Huangtaiji ordered his troops to set an ambush along enemy's retreat, while also seizing enemy's logistic supply. His troops then slaughtered every single retreating enemy, forcing Hong to conduct desperate attack. His sub-ordinates were in debate upon his plan, some argued that they should retreat to Ningyuan and resupply the troops. Without any official order, Wang Pu and some generals decided to retreat upon hearing that Huangtaiji himself is leading the army, and were horribly slaughtered by Huangtaiji. Only 50,000 survived the massacre.
At Hong's camp, there were only 10,000 soldiers left, and were forced to retreat into Songshan. Cao Bianjiao and Wang Yanchen managed to escape the encirclement and united with Hong. The siege of Songshan thus began.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Songjin