Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 2607 Misfortunes never come singly; the Manchus send troops to Youbian County
Since Jiao Mo and Li Yu had already escaped, the six top experts, Qin Shi, Bai Xiang, Jin Peng, Du Hui, Cheng Jing, and Qin Yao, simply joined the pursuit of the fleeing army.

Their fundamental objective in this cavalry raid was to kill as many Jin soldiers as possible.

The battle ended in a resounding victory for Han Xin.

Although the number of soldiers lost by Qi Jiguang's troops after this battle was not large compared to the total number of soldiers mobilized for the entire Northern Expedition, the losses were still significant.

However, after this battle, Qi Jiguang's troops could only garrison the two prefectures of Yuyang and Youbeiping, and were no longer able to take Guangyin Prefecture to the west.

Of course, this does not mean that the threat to the east of Youzhou forces has been eliminated after this battle. After all, they will soon be greeted by Xue Rengui's 100,000 troops landing in Youzhou from the sea.

Even though Han Xin won a battle, he couldn't change the fact that the total military strength of Youzhou at that time was less than 60,000.

Meanwhile, after receiving news that Han Xin had launched a surprise attack on Qi Jiguang's troops, Li Mu realized that Han Xin had deceived their entire army of 100,000. The Han Xin they had previously known was just a fake.

However, by this time, the enemy had already successfully retreated into Guangyin.

Although Li Mu gained Zhuojun for free, he felt extremely cheated by Han Xin's feint.

In fact, after defeating Qi Jiguang, Han Xin secretly led his troops in a surprise attack.

However, he did not find an opportunity to make a move, and then decisively left.

With his small cavalry force, he was able to launch a surprise attack on an army of 20,000, but that doesn't mean he could launch a surprise attack on an army of 100,000.

To launch a surprise attack on such a massive force of 100,000 men, and for Han Xin not just to fight for a short while and then leave, but to achieve tangible results.

Therefore, we can only take real action when the time is right.

If he couldn't wait for that opportunity, there was no need for him to risk fighting such a battle. Winning wouldn't bring much benefit, and losing would only damage morale.

When it comes to warfare, Han Xin was a patient and calm person who would not do anything that would not yield any benefit.

The morale of the lower classes in Youzhou was greatly boosted by Han Xin's victory.

However, the higher-ups in Youzhou were not as optimistic as those at the bottom. They could use the victory in this battle to fool the lower-ups, but they could not fool themselves.

While repelling Qi Jiguang's forces did offer some help in addressing their upcoming situation, it was still far from sufficient.

As if things weren't going to go wrong, at the same time, the Manchu cavalry launched a large-scale invasion of Dai and Shanggu prefectures.

Of course, it wasn't about occupying territory like the Li Tang dynasty did before, but simply plundering—people, money, food, and anything else that could be plundered were within their plundering scope.

Previously, the Manchu Qing dynasty did not send troops, and even pretended to send troops to fight against the Tuoba Wei, in order to reassure the You Qin dynasty that it could allocate troops to fight against the Jin army.

Only at this time could they maintain a basic understanding. The Manchus feigned an attack, and Youzhou, taking advantage of the situation, used this pretext to completely redeploy its troops to the southern front. However, times had changed. The fact that they could maintain an understanding then did not mean they could maintain it now.

Previously, they had hoped that the Jin army could resist them, but now they basically have no ability to do so. So of course they want to take advantage of this last opportunity to plunder as much as they can.

The two sides maintained a tacit understanding before because it was in the interests of the Qing Dynasty, and now they are seizing this opportunity, also because it is in the Qing Dynasty's interests. The relationship between the two powers has always been determined by their respective interests.

In particular, Youzhou's northern forces had all been mobilized at this time, leaving the region in a state of extreme vulnerability.

Furthermore, they also won over Zhao Tuo and Han Yanshou, two traitors, making them virtually invincible.

Even Cai Ze and Zuo Zongtang, the prefects of Dai and Shanggu counties respectively, fell into the hands of the Manchus and were captured alive by Senggelinqin, a Manchu general who led the expedition.

Several key generals, including border commanders Wei Zhang, Nei Shi Teng, and Wang Bolong, fell into enemy hands at the same time, while Yin Chun, Du Chong, Ma Xing, and others died on the battlefield.

Although the Qing dynasty did not suffer many losses of troops in Youzhou, it was because Youzhou had not many troops left to lose on the border.

However, the important figures of Youzhou suffered heavy losses under the Manchu rule.

It can be said that at this time, although Youzhou was militarily depleted, without the two guides Zhao Tuo and Han Yanshou, the Manchus would not have been able to achieve such success, let alone gain such great benefits.

Without these two collaborators, even if Wei Zhang, Neishi Teng, and Wang Bolong had few troops and couldn't win the battle, they wouldn't have fallen into enemy hands so easily.

After wiping out the last remaining resistance force of the You and Qin on the border in one battle, the two counties of Dai and Shanggu were completely turned into a racecourse for the Manchu Qin.

Apart from a few local powerful clans who, together with some officials or generals who managed to escape from Youzhou, organized a militia, the two prefectures of Dai and Shanggu were completely left to the mercy of the Manchus at this time.

However, although these people organized some scattered militias, they could only barely defend a few cities. They simply did not have the ability or strength to drive Youzhou out of the country.

Moreover, the reason these people were able to hold onto a few cities was only because the Manchus were unwilling to attack.

Whether the Qing dynasty could hold these cities if they were to launch a serious attack is an open question.

For the Manchus, their purpose this time was plunder. Why would they fight to the death over the many cities in Dai and Shanggu prefectures? If they couldn't plunder one, they would just plunder another!

Moreover, they are very busy at this time, and they will plunder as many people as they can within this limited time!

Even in the cities closest to the border, after nearly plundering their inhabitants, they didn't forget to set them on fire one last time.

The Manchu strategy was simple: to take advantage of this last bit of time to turn these two prefectures into as little wasteland as possible, whether by abducting the people or setting them on fire.

The news from Dai Commandery and Shanggu Commandery completely erased Han Xin's victory in that battle.

Upon hearing the news that the Manchus had sent troops to two prefectures, even Qin Zheng, with his deep-seated cunning, was so enraged that he overturned the table in front of all the court officials.