Ming Empire

Chapter 22 The Qing Army Retreats
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Soon, Prince Su Haoge, Prince Wuying Azig, Rao Yubeile Abatai, as well as Ganglin, Xifu, Sony, Baiyintu and other important ministers and generals in the Qing Dynasty were urgently summoned to Dorgon account.

At this time, Dorgon and Duoduo had already put on their filial piety, and the people who entered the account were shocked when they saw it, and hurriedly asked about the situation.

"The emperor has passed away," Dorgon said "crying bitterly", "the news came from Shengjing that the emperor died of hemoptysis due to overwork. I called you here today to report the matter and discuss the follow-up arrangements."

Dorgon wiped away the tears on his face, and then told the others another serious matter with a gloomy expression: "Everyone, this king also told you another unfortunate thing. The Ming army succeeded in attacking Shengjing and ruined the In Shengjing City, most of the men in the city were killed, the palace and your houses were basically destroyed, our family members were basically massacred by the Ming army, and Shengjing City was almost in ruins."

"what?!"

"My God!"

"How could this be?"

The bad news announced by Dorgon stunned everyone like a bolt from the blue.In the big tent, there was a burst of exclamation, and Jier turned into wailing and anger, and almost toppled the big tent. The crying and roaring of the big man was too terrifying.

Dorgon yelled angrily a few times before suppressing his voice. After everyone quieted down, he explained his meaning: "Everyone, it is a misfortune for the country that the Nanming barbarians took advantage of it. Shengjing was destroyed. , The emperor passed away, this is the misfortune of the Qing Dynasty. It’s just that things have already happened, and what we have to do now is to deal with the aftermath. Today, the king summoned you to ask you, how to deal with it next?”

"It goes without saying that we must avenge Huang Ama." Hauge, who wailed for a while, stood up angrily, glared at Dorgon and said, "Prince Rui, please announce immediately that you will use all your strength to attack Songshan and Jinzhou, we must capture Songshan and Jinzhou, destroy the city, massacre all the people in the city, and avenge Huang Ama."

Hearing what Hauge said, Dorgon and Duoduo looked at each other, and both brothers saw a trace of disdain in each other's eyes.Hauge really has no brains. If Songshan and Jinzhou were captured so easily, where would such a tragedy happen?

Now we are going all out to attack Songshan and Jinzhou, not to mention winning, the Qing Dynasty may be defeated.

Azige, who is also powerful in Kong Wu, but not as brainy as Hauge, expressed similar opinions to Hauge, and demanded a decisive battle with the Ming army to avenge Huang Taiji.Seeing what Hauge and Azig said, the others hesitated to stand up and express other opinions.

Seeing this, Dorgon smiled wryly, and signaled Duoduo to stand up and express his opinion.

Duoduo understood, and immediately stood up, "Everyone, this king disagrees with Prince Su and Prince Wuying."

"Tell me your opinion!" Dorgon said to Duo Duo expressionlessly.

Duoduo cleared his throat and said loudly: "Everyone, Shengjing was destroyed, the emperor passed away, and most of the tens of thousands of bannermen who stayed in Shengjing were killed by the Ming army. This time, the Qing Dynasty was seriously injured. You don't know, Shengjing The news of the destruction has spread, there are signs of riots around, and many tribes are ready to move, wanting to take the opportunity to make trouble. Shengjing is the foundation of my Qing Dynasty, those who survived, especially the queen and the emperor's children must be protected, otherwise Once the situation gets out of control, both the Mongols and the Koreans may take advantage of the fire to loot, and our remaining family members will suffer a catastrophe, and by then, the Qing Dynasty will really be over."

"Then what do you think?" Hauge suppressed the anger in his heart, and asked Dodo bluntly.

Because of going up to the battle, the Zhenglan Banner he was leading suffered a big defeat, and he was also injured. Haoge was hit hard, and he no longer had any confidence in front of other people. Otherwise, Duoduo would refute him like this today, and he would be furious. Strongly stick to one's own opinion, and even use violence against those who disagree.

"This king feels that the most important things now are to stabilize the rear, rebuild Shengjing, appease the bannermen, and avoid being robbed by neighboring tribes," Duoduo said, and glanced at Dorgon, who was showing admiration. , and then said in a firmer voice: "There is one more important thing, and that is to establish a new emperor as soon as possible to stabilize the situation."

Doduo's last few words, like a thunderclap, awakened Hauge and Azig who were originally angry.

Hauge is the eldest son of Huang Taiji. It stands to reason that he is the most likely to inherit the throne, but the reality is the same.Before Nurhachi's death, Dorgon was appointed to inherit the throne, but at that time, Huang Taiji was very powerful, and finally the throne was taken away by Huang Taiji.Of course, Dorgon would not stop there, he was always looking for opportunities, Huang Taiji died, and for him, the good time to regain the throne came again.

And Hauge was not Huang Taiji's direct son, and he was not loved by Huang Taiji at ordinary times, so it was almost impossible for him to inherit the throne.

But Hauge must have the idea of ​​seizing the throne. For him, now is the best time to fight for the throne. Duduo’s words that he should support the new emperor as soon as possible woke him up. Therefore, he did not insist on his own opinion and wanted to attack Songshan and Jinzhou with all his strength. , to avenge Huang Taiji.Competing for the throne is the most important thing right now. Once the opportunity is missed, it will be impossible to aspire to the Ninth Five-Year King.

Dorgon immediately agreed with Duoduo's opinion: "Prince Yu's words are reasonable. It is impossible to capture Songshan and Jinzhou at once. The reconstruction of Shengjing and the establishment of a new emperor are the most urgent things for my Qing Dynasty. This king thinks that we We should immediately withdraw our troops from Songshan and Jinzhou and return to Shengjing!"

Just now, the two brothers have reached a consensus and decided to suspend the Songjin Battle and withdraw troops from Songshan and Jinzhou.

For the talented and bold Dorgon, although it is a pity to withdraw his troops in this way, Songshan and Jinzhou are just around the corner, but the capture of Songshan and Jinzhou is much more important than fighting for the throne.In addition, Shengjing was destroyed, and the rear of the Qing Dynasty was in a mess. If the news spread, the Qing army would lose its morale, and other tribes might take the opportunity to attack. The Mongols might take this opportunity to escape.

If there is another war, the follow-up supply of military supplies will also be very problematic.

Therefore, the most important thing now is to withdraw troops as soon as possible, stabilize the domestic situation in the Qing Dynasty, and support a new monarch.For Dorgon, winning the throne was more important than anything else.

The throne is left behind, and it may never be regained. After the war, there will be opportunities.

Everyone with different thoughts quickly reached an agreement and decided to withdraw troops from Songshan and Jinzhou immediately.

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When Cao Bianjiao planned to lead his army out of the city to attack the Qing army outside the city again, he found that something was wrong and the Qing army showed signs of retreating.

Before retreating, the Qing army launched a false attack on the city. The eight banners of the Han Dynasty and the Eight Banners of Mongolia attacked the city. After being massacred by the defenders at the top of the city, they stopped the attack.This situation was different from usual. The Qing army, which had not launched a large-scale siege for several days, should not have launched such a hasty operation, and then hurriedly ended the siege. Cao Bianjiao, who commanded the troops to repel the attack of the Qing army, had doubts in his heart.

Just when Cao Bianjiao was puzzled and was about to organize another attack on the camp, the sergeant came to report that the Qing army had retreated.

Cao Bianjiao rushed to the top of the city and saw that the Qing army was retreating.In the dark night, there are flashes of fire everywhere, and there is a lot of noise.

Cao Bianjiao has been in battle for a long time. Although he thought that this might be a trap to lure the defenders in the city to attack, subconsciously he felt that things might change substantially, so he didn't think too much about it, and immediately sent troops out of the city to chase after him. kill.

It was the Eight Banners of Han Dynasty behind the hall who made a lot of noise, that is, the "San Shun Kings" Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi.

In the evening, they received Dorgon's siege order, asking them to attack the city. The three commanded their troops to attack the city bravely. After losing a lot of troops and retreating, they found that the situation was wrong, and the Jurchens retreated.This discovery didn't matter. Feeling abandoned, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi and others were afraid of being wiped out by the Ming army in the city, so they immediately ordered their camp to retreat.

The military discipline of the Eight Banners of Han was far less strict than that of the Eight Banners of Jurchen. Although Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi and others had repeatedly ordered not to make any big disturbances, how could it be possible to retreat in a panic without causing big disturbances?

Cao Bianjiao took advantage of the situation to attack, and the Eight Banners of Han led by Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi who were retreating suddenly fell into chaos.

Hong Chengchou, who received Cao Bianjiao's report, also took the opportunity to command other troops to fight out of the city. Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi were all defeated and suffered heavy losses. In the end, only one third of the troops escaped and ascended to heaven. Tens of thousands of people.

A few days ago, Hong Chengchou suffered a disastrous defeat because several major soldiers fled before fighting. He was deeply afraid that he would be trapped and die in Songshan City. Fighting a victory is something that I never dreamed of.

Hong Chengchou couldn't figure out why the Qing army retreated hastily. After the battle, when he summoned his generals to discuss the military situation, he asked this question.Cao Bianjiao, Wang Tingen, Xia Chengde and other generals and governor Qiu Minyang were completely unaware of this, but they all knew that this must have happened because of a change within the Manchu Qing, otherwise the Qing would not have suddenly retreated across the board.

When everyone was puzzled, a general hurried into the room and reported loudly: "Master Supervisor, we have captured Kong Youde's deputy general. After interrogation, we learned that there was an army of the Ming Dynasty that went to Shengjing for a long distance and succeeded. After arriving in Shengjing City, the slave chief Huang Taiji was so angry that he vomited blood and died after hearing the news. Jiannu was afraid of chaos in the rear, so he had to retreat."

Upon hearing this news, both Hong Chengchou and Cao Bianjiao were shocked.

"That's great. I don't know who led the army to attack Shengjing and succeeded. The governor will definitely reward you a lot." Hong Chengchou danced happily, and laughed out of composure. "Haha, Jiannu still has today, haha, that's great."

"This is really a blessing for the Ming Dynasty!" Qiu Minyang, the governor of Songshan, also said with emotion: "I really don't know who will have the courage to dare to go deep into the hinterland of Jiannu alone, attack its capital successfully, and destroy Shengjing. No wonder Huang Taiji is so angry die."

Cao Bianjiao, who had been worrying about Cao Yue's comfort for a long time, immediately smiled when he heard the news, and he boldly said: "Master Supervisor, if the general's expectations are correct, the Ming army that sneaked into Shengjing will surely It was the last general's cousin, that is, the last general's deputy Cao Yue. When counterattacking the Jiannu attack that day, Cao's deputy general and the last general attacked the Jiannu camp, but they disappeared afterwards. The troops led by Cao's deputy The horses are all soldiers left behind by the last general’s uncle, General Cao. The level of riding and shooting is not inferior to that of Jiannu. It is impossible for the entire army to be wiped out by Jiannu. Later, they disappeared. They must have rushed out of Jiannu’s encirclement and attacked Shengjing has gone."

"It's possible!" Hong Chengchou nodded in agreement after hearing this, "I believe that in a few days, the truth will be revealed. The governor immediately sent a report to the imperial court, telling His Majesty the news of the Songshan victory, so that His Majesty would be less worried. "

"It should be so, but, Master Supervisor, this news has not been confirmed, in case there is a mistake, then..."

"Don't worry about this, Bendu has his own measure!"

(End of this chapter)