Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1108 Abandoning the Defence and Fleeing South

Zu Dashou's judgment was correct. Under his fierce attack, the Eight Banners Army in Panshan was on the verge of collapse.

The Eight Banners were not good at defensive warfare. They were famous for their archery and horse riding since their establishment. For the Eight Banners, defensive warfare was a matter of playing to their weaknesses and avoiding their strengths. But the Eight Banners' commanders were helpless in the current situation. The importance of Panshan was self-evident, and the location of Panshan was not suitable for large-scale cavalry mobile warfare. In addition, the Ming army had elite Guanning Iron Cavalry, which was comparable to the Eight Banners Cavalry in terms of combat effectiveness. In addition, the Ming army's new army also had a large number of firearms. The Panshan defenders had thought of using cavalry to open a gap and take the initiative to defend Panshan, but this attempt ultimately failed. So far, the Eight Banners could only retreat to Panshan and hold on.

After Zu Dashou launched the attack, the Eight Banners soldiers in Panshan clearly felt that the intensity of this attack was completely different from the previous attacks. The Ming army on the opposite side was like crazy, rushing forward wave after wave, all of them were blood-thirsty.

Behind the attacking Ming army, the Ming army's firearms, especially the artillery, brought great casualties to the Panshan defenders. Every time the Ming army's artillery fired, the Eight Banners Army stationed there could not even raise their heads. Although the Eight Banners were still brave, they could not stop such a crazy attack! The defense line was in danger everywhere, and Sony, Aobai and others could only use all their strength to barely hold on.

But even so, it was difficult to continue defending, not to mention that the casualties of the Eight Banners remained high. In just one day's fighting, the defenders of Panshan suffered thousands of casualties. You must know that there are only more than 7,000 defenders in Panshan at present, and the casualties of nearly a thousand people accounted for nearly 20%. If it were an ordinary army, it would probably collapse with such a huge loss.

At this time, Sony and Aobai knew that Panshan might no longer be able to be defended. If they continued to fight, not only would Panshan fall into the hands of the Ming army, but even they and their Eight Banners troops would all be consumed in this war.

As the powerful generals of the Qing Dynasty, Sony and Oboi were not rookies who had just come out of the battle. They had fought many battles and were very clear about the current situation.

"What should we do?" The two looked at each other and saw the answer in each other's eyes.

Since they sent people to ask for help many times five days ago, but Shengjing not only did not send any reinforcements, but not even an envoy came. They knew what Shengjing was planning. It seemed that Shengjing wanted them to defend Panshan alone to buy time for Dorgon to return, but did not want to continue to send reinforcements.

After all, the Qing Dynasty had already deployed more than 10,000 troops before and after Panshan, which was already a lot in terms of numbers. Once more troops were sent to Panshan, who would guard the hinterland of Liaodong? How would Shengjing be defended? Unless Dorgon's main force could return as soon as possible, otherwise these reinforcements would be sent out and Shengjing would face a situation where there were no troops available.

Regarding this situation, although Sony and Aobai were dissatisfied with Shengjing's decision, they did not complain too much. After all, although the battle of Panshan was hard, it could still be maintained. In their view, as long as they continued to defend Panshan and patiently waited for the arrival of Dorgon's army, the situation of the war could be completely reversed.

However, they did not expect that the Ming army did not use its full strength in the previous attack, which gave them this illusion. When Zu Dashou launched a fierce attack, Sony and Oboi suddenly realized and completely understood the tactics and intentions of the Ming army.

Unfortunately, it was too late at this time. Facing Zu Dashou's crazy attack, the entire Panshan defense line was almost unable to hold on. Moreover, Zu Dashou's attacking troops were only part of the Ming army. The Ming army had more elite troops that had not yet been dispatched. Once these troops also participated in the attack, not only would Panshan be impossible to defend, but the fate of the two of them would also be doomed.

Thinking of this, the two of them couldn't help but shudder at the same time, and even revealed a look of fear. They couldn't continue to defend, and if they continued to defend, the whole army would be annihilated. They had to find another way.

But what other good solutions are there in this situation? The only solution is to abandon Panshan and retreat to the outside of the Liaoxi Corridor, relying on the vast Liaohe Plain to fight the Ming army with cavalry. This is the tactic that the Eight Banners are familiar with, rather than fighting the Ming army in Panshan and wasting time.

Sony and Aobai were both straightforward people. Once they figured out the matter, they immediately made up their minds to abandon Panshan and retreat to the Liaohe Plain.

But giving up directly was risky. Once they retreated in the battle and Zu Dashou followed them to attack, the retreat would turn into a rout. So there was a trick to how to withdraw the troops. After discussing it, the two quickly arranged it. They used all their tricks to finally hold off Zu Dashou until dark. After dark, Aobai led the elite troops of the Eight Banners to leave first, and Sony followed. He temporarily left more than a thousand Han army flags in Panshan as the rear army, and told the generals of the Han army flags to wait until dawn the next day before retreating.

After making the arrangements, Sony and Aobai evacuated Panshan one after another under the cover of night. As they left, although the Ming army on the opposite side noticed some unusual movements, they found that there were still enemy troops stationed in Panshan after a trial night attack. So they thought that the garrison in Panshan was adjusting its forces to guard against the next attack by the Ming army.

Zu Dashou was not aware of this. Late at night, he suddenly had an idea and called his generals to discuss the plan of launching a surprise attack on Panshan tonight to see if he could break through Panshan, which he had not been able to capture during the day. At that moment, one of his generals told him about the abnormality of the Panshan defenders a few hours ago.

Upon hearing this news, Zu Dashou immediately felt something was wrong. He had fought against the Jiannu for so many years and knew them too well. "Not good! The Jiannu in Panshan are trying to escape!"

"Want to run away? No way? I sent people to try, and the defenders of Panshan are clearly still there!" the general said in surprise.

"Idiot!" Zu Dashou couldn't help but curse: "If the Jiannu wanted to escape, wouldn't they leave some people behind to cover their retreat?"

"this……."

"Stop talking about this and that. Pass my order and attack Panshan immediately! Whether the defenders of Panshan are there or not, we just need to fight. If this piece of fat meat really slips away, wouldn't my work be in vain?"

Zu Dashou gnashed his teeth and said, and everyone instantly showed a solemn expression. At this moment, the original plan of a sneak attack was completely cancelled. Zu Dashou quickly mobilized his troops regardless of his subordinates' fatigue and began to attack Panshan fiercely.

As expected, the attack on Panshan exposed the enemy. Originally, there were less than a thousand Han army flags left behind. As Sony and Aobai led the elite troops of the Eight Banners and left first, these Han army flags were nominally the rear guard, but in fact, they could be said to have been directly abandoned by them.

The generals of the Han army knew this very well, but they dared not disobey the orders of Sony and Oboi, so they had to stay in Panshan. They planned to wait until the second half of the night, when people were most sleepy, and then quietly evacuate Panshan and run in the direction of Sony and Oboi.

Of course, Sony and Aobai had originally asked them to hold out until dawn before retreating, but this general was not stupid. Once the Ming army launched another attack after dawn, he would not be able to stop it with such a small number of people. Would he be a scapegoat? If he wanted to run, he should run early. Besides, the darkest time before dawn was the best time to run. Anyway, he had been guarding for several hours after Sony and Aobai withdrew, so he had fulfilled his obligations. What difference would it make if he ran more than an hour earlier or more than an hour later?

But what the general never expected was that just when he thought everything was going according to plan, the Ming army suddenly launched an attack in the dark. The Ming army camp opposite was suddenly ablaze with fire, and countless Ming soldiers came out of the camp, holding torches and attacking Panshan without hesitation, which caught the Han army flag on Panshan off guard.

The Panshan side was completely unprepared, and many people were even ready to retreat. How could they react in time when the Ming army launched a fierce attack? The Ming army easily attacked the front of Panshan, but the fierce resistance they imagined did not happen. On the contrary, under the light of the fire, they could see that the sparse defenders on the Panshan side turned around and ran away regardless of everything.

Seeing this scene, the Ming army knew that the main force of the Jiannu in Panshan had already withdrawn, and only a small force was left. The generals commanding the front line were furious when they heard the news. They blurted out a series of swear words, picked up a sword and rushed forward with their men. They had worked so hard for so long and suffered so many casualties, but the fat meat that was about to be eaten slipped away? How could they bear it?
In less than an incense stick of time, the Panshan line was completely broken by the Ming army. After entering Panshan, the Ming army did not stop, chasing after the fleeing Han army flags.

After receiving the report from the front, Zu Dashou's face was also very ugly. He did not expect the Jiannu to run so fast and slip away right under his nose. On the one hand, he asked someone to pass the news to the commander's tent as soon as possible, and on the other hand, Zu Dashou quickly mobilized his Liao army to pursue.

Although Sony and Aobai had already run away, they should not have run far, so there was still a chance to catch up with them now. More importantly, Wang Jinwu had already made arrangements. Before the battle, Wu Sangui had led the Guanning Iron Cavalry to detour from the northeast to cut off the enemy's retreat. As long as he chased them quickly and fiercely, Wu Sangui would be able to block the gap in time, and maybe he could catch Sony and Aobai.

By the time Wang Jinwu received the news, Zu Dashou's troops had already broken through Panshan and were chasing in the direction of the enemy's retreat.

Wang Jinwu quickly changed his original plan and ordered a part of his army to quickly follow Zu Dashou's army to advance, so as to prevent Zu Dashou from chasing too fast and being caught off guard by Sony and Aobai who turned around and attacked him. In addition, his main force immediately broke camp and marched towards the exit of the Liaoxi Corridor, leaving a thousand-man army on Panshan to garrison and clean up the surrounding area to protect the army's retreat.

After making these arrangements, the sky in the east gradually turned white, and the day finally dawned. At this time, Sony and Aobai's elite Eight Banners had arrived at Wujiafen in one breath. If they continued forward, they would reach Xining Fort. As long as they passed Xining Fort, they would be safe. After all, Xining Fort had been in the hands of the Qing Dynasty since the beginning of the war. There was also an Eight Banners garrison of more than 200 people. From Xining Fort to the east was the Liaohe Plain. By then, with the Eight Banners' cavalry and archery, even if they could not defeat the Ming army head-on, at least they would not have much problem dealing with it.

(End of this chapter)