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

Chapter 1113: Unsatisfactory
Dorgon's plan was good, and the battle situation was just as he expected. If nothing unexpected happened, the Ming army would be defeated. If the Ming army, including the cavalry of the Solon tribe, was defeated or even swallowed up, the Qing Dynasty could rely on this battle to break the encirclement of the Ming army, thus boosting morale and changing the situation.

But something unexpected happened. Just when Dorgon was about to reach the deck, an army suddenly emerged from the right wing of the Ming army. The appearance of this army caught Dorgon off guard. Moreover, as soon as the two sides fought, the other side fought extremely resolutely. Dorgon's Eight Banners soldiers were caught off guard, and their tactical intentions were directly exposed to the opponent.

"Haug!"

Dorgon cursed loudly. He never expected that Hauge in Korea would show up at this time and lead his troops to the battlefield.

Dorgon never took Hauge into account in his assessment of the war situation. In his opinion, Hauge had been badly beaten by him in the Korean War. If it were not for the Ming army's full-scale offensive on Liaodong, Dorgon would have had to abandon Korea and withdraw his troops in order to rescue Shengjing. Pyongyang would have been captured by Dorgon long ago, and Hauge, who was stationed in Pyongyang, would have become a dead soul under his sword.

Having escaped by chance, shouldn't Hauge stay in Korea to reorganize his army and lick his wounds? Why did he suddenly appear here with his troops? And judging from the banners and numbers of the enemy, Hauge not only pulled out his main force in Korea, but also directly defected to the Ming Dynasty.

As the dignified Prince Su of the Qing Dynasty, the eldest son of the late Emperor Huang Taiji, the elder brother of the current Emperor Fulin of the Qing Dynasty, and the former heir to the throne of the Qing Dynasty, Hauge actually surrendered to the Ming Dynasty? This result was unimaginable to Dorgon. What was even more terrible was that Dorgon also saw the flag of Jingwuer, a member of the Zhenglan Banner who had surrendered to the Ming Dynasty before, from Hauge's army. Jingwuer's appearance shocked Dorgon even more, because although Jingwuer was in Korea before, he had always been in Hauge's army, but he had never officially raised his flag. Dorgon naturally didn't know the existence of this army, but now it was different. Jingwuer directly raised his flag in the Ming Dynasty and appeared with Hauge's army, directly blocking his way to the north of the deck.

"Hauge! Jingwuer! Zhenglan Banner!"

Dorgon gnashed his teeth, and his anger was imaginable. He wished he could skin these two bastards alive and eat them alive, and he hated the Zhenglan Banner to the extreme.

Among the Eight Banners, the Zhenglan Banner is the most special one, because both the original banner owner Amin and the later Manggurtai were unruly guys, and the final fate of these two banner owners was that they were dealt with by Huang Taiji and died unclearly.

However, soon after his death, although Huang Taiji reappointed the leader of the Zhenglan Banner, Jing Wuer and others rebelled directly because the Ming army crossed the sea to attack the north during the Battle of Jinzhou, and raised the banner of "anti-Qing and pro-Ming", which caused problems within the Eight Banners. Although the rebellion was suppressed and the rebel Tuntaxi was killed, Jing Wuer and others took part of the Zhenglan Banner and surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, and suddenly became a general of the Ming Dynasty from a Niulu Zhangjing of the Zhenglan Banner.

Afterwards, in order to solve the internal problems of the Zhenglan Banner, Huang Taiji not only adjusted the various Niulu of the Zhenglan Banner, but also specially handed over the Zhenglan Banner to his eldest son Haoge for command. In this way, he could directly control the troublemaker of the Zhenglan Banner and avoid similar situations from happening again.

But Huang Taiji never expected that although Hauge controlled the Zhenglan Banner and the various tribes of the Zhenglan Banner did solve the problem of instability as he expected, his sudden death later led to a struggle for the throne of the Qing Dynasty. Because he died suddenly and did not leave a will, his eldest son Hauge, whom he had trained for many years, was unable to succeed smoothly. The throne fell into the hands of the young Fulin due to the collusion of Dorgon, Zhezhe, Fan Wencheng and others, which led to the subsequent division within the Qing Dynasty.

Huang Taiji was a great hero, but he did not expect such a situation to happen. After losing the throne, Hauge was constantly attacked by Dorgon. In addition, the Empress Dowager Zhezhe at the time wanted to maintain a balance, which made Hauge's situation in the Qing Dynasty extremely difficult. In the end, he was sent to Korea and was directly marginalized.

However, Zhezhe was not left behind. This shrewd woman thought she could control the overall situation and play with Dorgon and Hauge. But she underestimated Dorgon's ambition, and she didn't expect that her niece Bumbutai would secretly join forces with Dorgon. In the end, Zhezhe died suddenly due to carelessness. After Zhezhe's death, Hauge immediately realized that he and Dorgon had no chance of living in peace. In addition, the rebellion in Korea broke out at that time, so Hauge had no choice but to take the risk and lead his troops to rebel.

From this point of view, the Zhenglan Banner is really an outlier among the Eight Banners. It rebelled against the Qing Dynasty one after another, and now the whole banner has thrown itself into the arms of the Ming Dynasty. What kind of magic potion did the Ming Dynasty give Haoge? Did Haoge, as the Prince Su, really betray the Qing Dynasty completely?
After a brief exchange of blows, Dorgon realized that the tactic of a surprise attack on the opponent had failed. With the arrival of Haoge's Zhenglan Banner and Jingwuer's troops, the Ming army's strength increased greatly. Although the troops were still inferior to Dorgon, don't forget that Haoge's appearance directly changed the balance of victory and defeat, and the Zhenglan Banner's combat effectiveness was not weak, especially Jingwuer's troops were equipped with a large number of firearms. In comparison, Dorgon was only lightly equipped for a surprise attack and was not as good as the opponent in firepower.

To adopt the tactic of attacking Fushun, Dorgon must quickly deal with this Ming army to be effective. Once the battle situation is stalemate, his tactics will not work. Originally, Dorgon wanted to catch this Ming army off guard, defeat or even destroy this Ming army in the shortest time, and after dealing with this Ming army, he can free up his hands to go south to Benxi, and defeat this second Ming army before the Ming army in Benxi comes to its senses. In this way, even if Wang Jinwu's main force in Liaozhong is still there, he has become an isolated army. Without the cooperation of the first two troops, he is not as good as Dorgon in terms of military strength or battle situation. Dorgon has enough confidence to fight a decisive battle with the opponent. But now everything has changed, and the key to the change is the appearance of Hauge. Thinking of this, Dorgon was furious, but facing this situation, he could only grit his teeth and curse helplessly.

In desperation, Dorgon could only postpone his action and sent someone to contact Hauge with a letter from his personal soldiers.

In the letter, Dorgon told Hauge that the Qing Dynasty was in its most critical moment. If the Qing Dynasty lost the Liaodong War, the foundation established by the old Khan would be completely destroyed. Hauge, as the grandson of Nurhaci and the eldest son of the late Emperor Huang Taiji, how could you do such a thing that would make your relatives sad and your enemies happy?
Dorgon promised Hauge that if Hauge turned back from the brink of death and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, his previous crimes would be forgiven. Not only that, Dorgon also promised that if Hauge could come back, he would report to the Queen Mother and the Emperor and confer the title of Regent on Hauge, making him equal to himself, and he would not hold Hauge accountable.

Dorgon would never say such words in the past, but now Dorgon directly persuaded Hauge with a letter, which showed great sincerity. In Dorgon's mind, even if Hauge was hesitant, as long as he was moved, he would have a chance to deal with the Ming army. All he needed was for Hauge to not help and just stand by and watch, which would be enough.

But Dorgon never expected that the current Hauge was no longer the same as before. When Hauge finally made up his mind to surrender to the Ming Dynasty and led his troops back to Liaodong from Korea, it was impossible for Hauge to turn back. Moreover, Hauge's disgust and hatred for Dorgon could not be resolved by just a letter. As for the queen mother, the emperor, and the regent, they were all ridiculous remarks in Hauge's view. You must know that the throne of the Qing Dynasty was originally his. As for the relationship between the queen mother Bumbutai and Dorgon, Hauge knew it. And there was Fulin, a kid who was still wet behind the ears. What if he was his younger brother? How could he, a kid who knew nothing, ascend to the throne? Doesn't this prove it?

After reading the letter, Hauge laughed out loud and tore the letter to pieces without thinking. He also cut off the ears of the people sent by Dorgon, beat them up and sent them back.

Hauge's resolute attitude made Dorgon even more furious. Since Hauge refused to listen to his advice, Dorgon could only use war to resolve the problems between the two sides.

In this way, the two sides fought a great battle on the deck. Although Dorgon's troops were superior, the Ming army, including Hauge's side, was not bad either. Whether it was Hauge's troops or Jingwuer's troops, or even the Solon tribe that went south, they were all elite troops skilled in riding and shooting, especially the latter. Although the Solon tribe had fewer people, their combat effectiveness was stronger than the white-armored soldiers of the Eight Banners. In addition, the elite new army led by Li Xin played an important role on the battlefield, cooperating with the cavalry of various units to fight Dorgon back and forth. In the battles for several consecutive days, they did not show any signs of defeat, but instead caused a large number of casualties to Dorgon's troops.

The more he fought, the more anxious Dorgon became. Although he had the upper hand in the battle situation, it was not easy to defeat his opponent in a short time. Especially Hauge, Jingwuer and the cavalry of the Solon tribe caused him a lot of trouble. The Ming army was also a tough nut to crack. It was not easy to gnaw it off.

At this time, Dorgon was already full of worries. He knew very well that the longer the time dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for him. But there was no other way, he could only bite the bullet and continue to fight, hoping to defeat the opponent as soon as possible, so that he could free up his hands to face the changes that might happen later.

But Dorgon never expected that not long after the Battle of the Deck broke out, Wang Jinwu in Liaozhong and Sun Chuanting in Benxi launched attacks at the same time. Wang Jinwu's attack was directed at Shengjing, while Sun Chuanting's troops rushed directly towards Fushun, intending to join forces with the deck troops to attack Dorgon from the front and back, defeat Dorgon's main force, and then turn around to attack Shengjing.

When the news reached Dorgon, he panicked instantly. There were not many defenders in Shengjing, only more than 10,000 people, and the main force of the Eight Banners was in his hands. Once Shengjing was lost, the foundation of the Qing Dynasty would be gone. Especially in Shenyang, there were still the Empress Dowager, the Emperor and the Eight Banners nobles. Once they fell into the hands of the Ming army, even if he still had a large number of troops, he would become a rootless duckweed. How could he continue to deal with the Ming army?
But now the war situation is at a stalemate, and he cannot withdraw his troops immediately. Even if he does this, the Ming army is not stupid. The Ming army in front of him will definitely join forces with Sun Chuanting's troops heading north, and then attack Shengjing from two directions. By then, Shengjing will still not be able to be defended.

For a moment, Dorgon was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, sweating profusely. He had to make a decision immediately, otherwise it would be irreversible. After a long while, Dorgon finally stamped his feet and gritted his teeth, deciding to return to rescue, even if he lost some troops, he must protect the Empress Dowager and the Emperor. As long as the Empress Dowager and the Emperor were there, the Qing Dynasty would be there, otherwise the Qing Dynasty would be gone.

(End of this chapter)