The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 263 Dilemma
Chongzhen 12th year, February 29th.

The main force of the Qing army retreating from Jinan went all the way north under the leadership of Dorgon. After leaving Jinan Prefecture in Shandong, they directly passed through Hejian Prefecture in North Zhili and entered the Fengrun and Yutian areas in Shuntian Prefecture.

The road was not peaceful. The Ming army harassed them many times. The main force of the Ming army led by Sun Chuanting moved forward everywhere and harassed them along the way, which also brought them a lot of trouble.

On the way north, in order to break through the blockades set up by the Ming army in Dong'an and Wuqing.

Encouraged by victory, the Ming army's will to fight was much stronger than before.

Although the Qing army broke through the defense lines in both places and defeated the defending Ming army, they also paid a corresponding price.

Many people who had been plundered were recaptured by the Ming army, and a lot of livestock, food, grass, gold and silver were also recaptured.

In mid-spring, it was raining and snowing, and the bad weather made the army's trek extremely difficult.

Because they carried a large amount of gold and silver baggage, as well as plundered people and livestock, the Qing army moved extremely slowly.

The high morale of the Ming army also made the Qing army feel troublesome. The opponents they once looked down upon at all have now become a threat to them.

Nearly [-] Qing troops were all concentrated in Fengrun and Yutian cities.

In the Fengrun Qing army camp, a military discussion was going on.

The content of the military discussion is naturally where to exit the customs in order to minimize losses.

"The army of the Ming Dynasty knew that we wanted to leave the pass, so they had already taken the lead in seizing the nearby passes and sent more troops to various cities."

In the military tent, Dorgon stood in front of a huge map wearing silver armor.

The map clearly depicts the general situation in red and black.

"The main force of the Qin army led by Sun Chuanting, the governor of the Ming Dynasty, had moved to the east of us near Yongping Mansion on February 28, with more than [-] soldiers and horses."

"To the north of Yongping, there is a Ming army stationed in the eastern suburbs of Qian'an. The number is about 6000. The leader of the army is Yang Guozhu, the general of the Xuanfu of the Ming Dynasty."

After Dorgon finished speaking, all the Qing generals in the tent looked gloomy.

It is not a good thing for the main force of the Ming army to move eastward to Yongping Mansion, because there are two extremely important passes near Yongping Mansion-Lengkou and Xifengkou.

Their original plan was to withdraw troops from Lengkou and Xifengkou.

The strategy agreed not long ago was to withdraw from these two passes and the main force of the two yellow flags had already arrived near the two passes as a response.

But now the main force of the Ming army is moving eastward to Yongping Mansion, which undoubtedly threatens these two roads out of the customs.

Du Du, the leader of the flag with a red flag sitting at the bottom, frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, and then asked.

"There should be heavy Ming troops in Jizhou Town and Zunhua, right?"

Dorgon turned his head and glanced at Du Du who asked the question, then looked at the generals in the tent, and then spoke.

"As Doroan Pingbeile said, there are heavy Ming troops in Jizhou Town and Zunhua."

"Currently stationed in Jizhou are the troops commanded by Chen Xinjia, the governor of the Ming Dynasty. The main force is the battalions from Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi towns, and some are battalions from Shaanxi. The total strength exceeds [-]."

"The defense of Zunhua is the Guan Ning Army led by Gao Qiqian, with a total strength of more than 2."

Du Du frowned. Among the three Ming troops, only Gao Qiqian, who was stationed in Zunhua, was a soft persimmon.

But even high-altitude dives have been like taking a beating recently. In early February, they dared to sneak attack their rear camp in Wuqing.

They did not expect that Gao Qiqian, who had been timid from the beginning of the war and had been hiding behind him all the way, would dare to initiate an attack and attack their camp.

At that time, their main forces were placed on the front line, and only the second and third line troops of each banner were left behind, and the number was not large.

For a time, they were unable to withstand the Guan Ning Army led by Gao Qiqian. The outside of the camp was breached. After a small defeat, the Guan Ning Army snatched back a lot of civilians and baggage.

Although they later gathered troops and defeated the attacking Guan Ning Army, and killed two of the Guan Ning Army's generals, they saved some face.

However, the population recaptured by Guan Ning's army and the gold and silver cannot be recovered.

Du Du felt depressed, but he wanted to fight Gao Qiqian. The things that the Guan Ning army sent by Gao Qiqian fought to snatch back were basically the property belonging to his subordinates with red flags.

It's just that Gao Qiqian is in an awkward position now. Even if they can defeat Gao Qiqian now, it won't be of much use.

Walking along the Zunhua front line, there is actually only one location where you can exit the customs, and that is Da'ankou in the northwest of Zunhua City.

"The main force of the Ming army is in Jizhou Town and Yong'an Mansion. If we can't get to these two places, we can't go to D'ankou, right?"

In the second year of Chongzhen's reign, they entered for the first time by destroying the Great Wall through Da'ankou. ,

"The terrain of Da'ankou is narrow, and the Ming Dynasty also has heavy troops defending Da'ankou. Even if it can be captured, it will take a long time just to transport the population and baggage out through Da'ankou. We can't wait too long, so we can't use Da'ankou. .”

Dorgon shook his head. He had thought about this idea before, but he soon rejected it.

Da'ankou is a place with narrow terrain. Although they can march, it is difficult for them to transport so much baggage out in time.

The Guan Ning Army cannot fight in the field, but they are extremely tenacious in defending the city. They can really defend Liaodong until they die of old age.

Shenyang and Guangning would not even have fallen if it weren't for the guards' sharp orders and the presence of internal agents.

Even though they have groups of red cannons sitting on the fortress complex built up one after another in Liaodong, they have not yet taken down all of them.

Although Guan Ningjun, led by Gao Qiqian, is a soft persimmon, but with the lessons learned in the southern suburbs of Wuqing, it is difficult not to worry that Gao Qiqian will go crazy again.

The nights are long and there are many dreams. Once the time to transport the baggage becomes longer, Guan Ning's army will inevitably suffer considerable losses as long as they dare to fight out.

Guan Ning's army has many cavalry, and they spread out to attack everywhere, and they can always get something back.

He failed to capture Jinan, and lost troops and generals one after another. After losing the looted baggage and population, he had no way to send orders to Huang Taiji.

As for the other two entrances, Hongshan Pass and Longjing Pass were in the north of Jizhou Town.

To get out of the customs here, you also need to deal with the Ming army in Jizhou Town first.

Sun Chuanting's countermeasures and the defenses he set up really gave Dorgon a headache.

If the Ming army remained the same as before, then Sun Chuanting's arrangement would not be of much use at all.

Because the Ming army did not dare to take the initiative to attack, no matter how good the strategy was, it was just empty talk.

They only need to send a soldier and horse to surround a city like the first entrance, and then the army can pass directly under the city with their baggage, and the Ming army in the city will not make any movements at all.

But it didn't work now. Under the leadership of Sun Chuanting, the Ming army had the upper hand several times, and its morale also increased.

In the subsequent harassment, they continued to gain advantages and the morale of the Ming army continued to rise.In just three months, the entire Ming army in the pass seemed to have changed people, and they were extremely proactive in fighting.

And the most annoying thing is that the main force of the Ming army did not confront them head-on and did not give them a chance to engage in large-scale battles.

Dorgon was deeply annoyed by sending a large number of small-scale cavalry troops to harass.

He has only [-] troops under his command.

Since entering the customs this time, there are still about 37 people and livestock looted, and there are countless grain and grass supplies.

Such a large number of people, livestock, and food, grass and baggage could only be managed with [-] troops, and the troops needed to be divided for defense.

The military strength is often stretched thin, and how can it be fully taken care of.

Dorgon's eyes kept wandering over the map, and he was thinking about a feasible strategy.

It is naturally best to go from Lengkou and Xifengkou in the east.

Huang Taiji led the main force of the two yellow flags to be outside the couple, waiting to meet them.

However, the main force of the Ming army led by Sun Chuanting was in Yong'an Mansion again, which made Dorgon quite afraid.

In the confrontation between Wuqing and Dong'an, the Ming army led by Sun Chuanting caused a lot of casualties to them.

There are two generals under Sun Chuanting who are the most difficult to deal with, one is Cao Bianjiao and the other is Chen Wang.

From the very beginning of the Zhending Battle, the names of these two people began to appear frequently in Dorgon's ears.

These two men led the troops along the way and killed many of his troops.

Both of them are cavalry commanders, and they have an elite armored cavalry under their command. They can turn like the wind and attack like lightning.

The Mongolian cavalry in the army could not stop these two soldiers and horses at all, and only the elite cavalry of each banner could parry a little.

Moreover, Chen Wang also has a troop equipped with a large number of firearms. Not only does it carry an artillery that fires extremely quickly and has a long range, but the fire blunderbuss is also extremely sharp and can be loaded much faster than the bird blunderbuss generally used by the Ming army. , and more ruthless and accurate.

During the storming of Wuqing, the soldiers and horses under his command suffered a lot from the infantry formation under Chen Wang.

In the end, the armored soldiers from the guard camp charged forward, and with their elite archers they managed to push the front line through.

The first line of Lengkou and Xifengkou looks the best on the surface, but it is not a wise choice.

As if to confirm Dorgon's idea, the curtain of the Chinese military tent was suddenly opened, and a bloody messenger rolled into the tent.

In the central military tent, all the generals of the Qing army looked at the messenger who rolled into the tent just like Dorgon.

When the news of the frontline's defeat was told from the mouth of the messenger, Dorgon's eyes turned red in an instant.

As the vanguard, Zhenghongqi encountered Yang Guozhu's troops in Qian'an. A fierce battle broke out between the two sides late at night and was defeated, losing hundreds of people.

This was not over yet. The soldiers of Zhenghong Banner regrouped and gathered their troops and horses to garrison in Guihechuan. They encountered Yang Guozhu's surprise attack again. This time they suffered hundreds of casualties and lost a large amount of food and grass supplies. .

Dorgon's face turned blue, but he finally controlled his temper.

He wasn't originally grumpy, but starting from Jiazhuang's defeat, he became more and more unhappy and gradually became grumpy.

Nowadays, the Ming army is surrounded by heavy troops on all sides, and the morale of the army is also fluctuating. At this time, he must stabilize his mood and not be affected by trivial matters, thereby affecting the entire army.

"The Ming Dynasty has gathered heavy troops at various passes. A few small defeats are not important. Has your original plan to explore the Ming army's deployment in Lengkou, Jianchang been completed?"

Dorgon did not scold or blame him. Now that he was defeated, there was no use in scolding and blaming him.

Punishment is definitely necessary, but not now.

The messenger was slightly startled, but he immediately reacted, but his face looked a little ugly.

"Reporting to General Fengyi, the Ming army set up heavy defenses in places such as Jiuyao Slope and Qianhu Pavilion, built many forts, sprinkled them with Juma, and buried gunpowder in some important places, about twenty or thirty layers of gunpowder. , I’m afraid it’s not easy to attack.”

"Today, Lengkou and Xifengkou are still in the hands of the Ming army."

As the messenger presented an overview of the Ming army's defense plans, Dorgon's expression turned gloomy again.

Although the defense plan was relatively crude, Dorgon could understand the key points.

The Ming army continued to build fortifications based on mountain passes, built a large number of forts, and dug trenches around the perimeter, which was enough to be said to be impregnable.

If you want to cross Lengkou and Xifengkou, it is impossible without paying enough price.

The main force of the Ming army led by Sun Chuanting was on the near side. If they were not careful, they might even be in danger of capsizing.

This is not an alarmist thing, but something that could actually happen.

So if you want to exit the border now, you must not go through Lengkou and Xifengkou.

However, if you can’t take Lengkou and Xifengkou, and you can’t take Da’ankou, Hongshankou and Longjingguan, which one can you take to get out of the customs?
In the original historical process, the soldiers in Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi towns basically lost their combat effectiveness and withdrew from the battlefield.

Although the Qin soldiers led by Sun Chuanting achieved a small victory, they were still unable to survive alone.

The high dive was even more unbearable. After barely fighting for a few times, he started to be a coward again.

The reason why Gao Qiqian now dared to attack the Qing army's camp so boldly was actually because he was completely helpless.

Chongzhen personally issued an order to hold him accountable. Gao Qiqian was so frightened that he lost his mind when he saw the imperial edict.

How much power eunuchs like him can hold in their hands depends entirely on how much the emperor loves them.

Gao Qiqian clearly knew that the reason why he was able to command an entire town of troops was due to the emperor's trust in him and his belief that he knew soldiers.

Once the Holy Family is gone, he is nothing at all.

Gao Qiqian relied on this identity and commanding troops to earn enough gold, silver and treasures. Naturally, he didn't want to lose them, so he was so crazy.

Because of Chen Wang's butterfly flapping its wings, the situation facing Dorgon and the Qing army today is far more difficult than it was in history.

Historically, when Dorgon came out of the customs, he faced [-] to [-] Ming troops who were demoralized and exhausted.

However, what Dorgon now needs to face is a Ming army with a size of nearly [-] and high morale.

　Yang Guozhu did win several battles during the Wuyin Incident. The Ming army still had a certain degree of combat effectiveness at that time.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)