I

  Chapter 456 454 [Persistent Consumption]

   Seeing the death of the main general, the Manchu and Qing cavalry did not collapse, but recklessly attacked the Datong Army.

  These cavalry who risked their lives to charge were all under Babutai's banner.

  In addition, the Manchu Eight Banners, Mongolian Eight Banners, and Outer Fan Mongolian Banners that were not recorded by Babutai Niulu all became frightened and demoralized. Especially the Mongolian banners of the outer vassals, although they were still shooting arrows at the Datong army, they gradually turned to the north to escape, and took the initiative to lift the siege of the Datong cavalry.

  When 30% of Babutai's Niulu was killed or injured, all the other cavalry fled the battlefield, letting these desperate friendly troops cover their retreat.

  Finally, Niu Lu under Babutai also escaped, but it was not a complete collapse.

  The cavalry of the Manchu and Qing dynasties often spread out to fight, making it difficult for them to completely lose their organization. The middle and low-ranking officers automatically commanded the remnant soldiers, and began to fight and flee with the Datong army. Although they still could not escape the end of destruction, it greatly delayed the Datong cavalry to pursue the main force of the Qing Dynasty.

   Of the more than 12,000 cavalry used to stop the attack, only about 9,000 cavalry fled back, which shocked Dorgon so much that his vest was sweating.

   "Where's the old nine?" Dorgon didn't call Babutai any more.

   Nikan was covered in blood, and replied: "He died in battle."

  At this time, Nikan was not yet a famous king. When he broke through Shanhaiguan, he was named Dorobel.

  Dorgon was furious: "There are more than 12,000 riders, how could they lose so badly?"

  Nikan pointed to the Mongolian cavalrymen from the Outer Domain: "These people are afraid of the enemy and dare not fight. They surround the enemy without attacking, and sit back and watch the friendly army be attacked but do not rescue them!"

Taiji (Prince) Guru Siqibu of the Karaqin Mongolian tribe immediately defended himself: "Your Highness, this is a slander to our Mongolian warriors. We received orders from the general to surround and surround the enemy's flanks and rear, but we have just completed the encirclement , the enemy launched a fierce attack on Mele Ezhen (Babtai). Before we had time to rescue, Mele Ezhen was already killed. Under the fluctuating morale of the army, they could only escape with Nikan Baylor."

   "Nonsense!"

  Nikan was so angry that his face was red and his neck was thick: "It was you who surrounded and did not attack, which led to the death of Mele Erzhen!"

  Gulu Siqibu roared: "You are framing our Mongolian warriors!"

   "I didn't!" Nikan also yelled.

  Next, the generals of the two sides also joined the ranks of the dispute, and quarreled on the way to withdraw troops.

"Shut up!"

  Dorgon scolded angrily: "The army retreats, how can it be delayed? Who is right and who is wrong, retreat first and then talk about it."

  When the banner owners heard the news, they all came to see Dorgon on horseback, discussing in low voices while marching.

  For them, this is not only a matter of war, but also a very serious political issue!

  Karaqin Mongolia was one of the earliest Mongolian tribes that belonged to the Qing Dynasty, and the father and son of Guru Siqibu were the earliest foreign powers to belong to Karaqin Mongolia.

  This tribe is now grazing on the grasslands in the northwestern part of Liaoning, very close to the core of Manchu rule.

  In this battle, Karaqin Mongolia has been fighting and releasing water, which has exposed a message: Outer Fan Mongolia is no longer united with the Manchus. If the Eight Banners of the Manchus continue to lose troops and lose generals, I am afraid that the Mongolian tribes in the northwest of Liaoning will fall to the Datong Army!

   "Except for rations, weapons and armor, all other supplies are given up!" Dorgon gave an order anxiously.

  The people who transported these luggage were also gone, and they were driven to the south, which might stop the pursuers for a while.

  At the same time, Dorgon sent all the cavalry, one to cover the direction of the coastline, and the other to cover the direction of the chasing troops in Gaizhou.

   "Your Highness, there are enemy troops blocking the way!"

   "The whole army lined up to charge!"

  Dorgon was already in a state of rage, and he felt that those southern barbarians were deceiving people too much.

  Yaozhou is less than fifty miles away from Gaizhou. It was built by the Manchu Qing Dynasty to attack the Ming army in Gaizhou.

   Under the state of marching in a hurry, the main force of the Eight Banners quickly walked half of the distance, and this place has entered the sphere of influence of the Qing Dynasty. The Datong army dared to block it. Is this bullying the warriors of the Eight Banners who can't lift their swords?

  Looking at the formation of the Manchu Qing army, Lu Xiangsheng smiled and said to Li Zheng: "Let's withdraw!"

   It is impossible not to withdraw. The first batch of troops intercepted by boats, the number of Datong soldiers has not exceeded 10,000, and the fortifications have not been repaired. Dorgon's army numbered in the tens of thousands, and they were all elites of the Eight Banners. A real fight would be death.

  Even if the main forces of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties were held back, it would be nothing more than turning the Gaizhou battlefield into a peripheral battlefield of Yaozhou. Moreover, the Datong Army lost the protection of the city wall, so it would be better to fight directly in Gaizhou.

   Fearing that the Datong army would withdraw to the ship, thousands of Manchu and Qing cavalry swarmed to kill them.

   "Boom boom boom!"

  Navy ships shelled immediately to cover the boarding of the Datong army, and the navy soldiers also raised firecrackers on the side of the ship.

  The Manchu and Qing cavalry dared not approach at all. They watched the Datong army withdraw to the ship, but dozens of them were bombarded to death by artillery.

   Just as the infantry retreated to the ship, Li Dingguo, Wang Tingchen, and Wu Huapu also chased after them with their cavalry. They only sent out 200 cavalry to gather up the peasants that Dorgon had left behind.

  No one thought of wiping out the main force of the Eight Banners, but only planned to take advantage of Dorgon's withdrawal and chase all the way to bite off a few more pieces of meat.

  The population of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was so large, one death would be one less!

  Dorgon gathered 20,000 cavalrymen, including the Han army flag shotgun vest, and rushed towards Li Dingguo's thousands of cavalrymen.

   Li Dingguo, Wang Tingchen, and Wu Huapu ran away, what a fart, they slipped away.

  The main reason is that they chased all the way, they were exhausted and unable to fight directly. People can rely on perseverance to persevere, but you can't let war horses also understand the spirit of Datong.

  After the occupation of Liaodong, the proportion of cavalry in the Eight Banners of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties has reached 40%.

   Even the Eight Banners of the Han Army also had shotgun vests, similar to the dragoons of the Datong Army. There were also many Manchu and Qing cavalry who rode on horseback and rushed on the road. After the horses were tired, they could only turn into infantry and fight immediately. There are also some heavy infantry who use horses to carry armor when marching fast.

   It is estimated that the Manchu Qing did not know how many cavalry and how many infantry they had, because many of their soldiers were both cavalry and infantry.

  Under repeated losses, the main force of the tens of thousands of Eight Banners can easily pull out 20,000 cavalry to fight.

  Seeing that the pursuers on the west side retreated to the ship, and the pursuers from the south rode away on horseback, Dorgon ordered the whole army to move on. All the soldiers are all in armor, and all the horses are leading the horses on the road, ready to mount the horses and kill the pursuers at any time.

   Just like that, Dorgon withdrew his army back to Yaozhou.

  The generals of Datong also returned to Gaizhou, counting the battle damage and harvest, and all of them were smiling.

  Including the enemies destroyed by the defensive bastion, a total of more than 11,000 Manchu elites were killed and captured—some of the wounded with limited mobility were abandoned outside Gaizhou City when Dorgon withdrew.

   Killed more than 4,000 Baoyi and civilian husbands—most of them were cannon fodder for siege.

  Including the population that was raided and plundered by boat, the captive coat, peasants, and serfs, there were more than 30,000 people!

  In addition, more than 20 usable artillery pieces were seized, and more than 60 abandoned artillery pieces were seized. Among them are a large number of copper cannons, each of which weighs two to three thousand catties, which can be brought back to the south to mint copper coins.

  As for the battle losses of the Datong Army, 681 infantry defending the city were killed, 176 peasants, soldiers and civilians were killed in battle, and more than 2,000 soldiers were injured in total. In the harassing battle in Jinzhou and the pursuit battle in Gaizhou, the Datong cavalry killed 1923 people and injured more than 3000 people.

At the post-war summary meeting, Li Zheng said: "The puppet Qing cavalry is still very brave. The biggest loss of our army in this battle is the cavalry pursuit. Although we wiped out 3,000 enemy cavalry, more than a thousand of our cavalry were killed and injured. There are more than 2,000 of them. In the future, we must avoid close combat with enemy cavalry and rely more on firecrackers and artillery to annihilate the enemy!"

Lu Xiangsheng added: "Although the cavalry of our army suffered heavy casualties, the results were still very good. During the pursuit battle, the puppet Qing general who was beheaded was the ninth son of Nurhachi, and he captured more than 3,000 horses. Dagon continued to discard luggage and civilian husbands. As for the casualties of hundreds of cavalrymen during the raid on Jinzhou, it was to hold back the enemy of Jinzhou and rush to help Shanhaiguan. The puppet Qing’s sudden withdrawal of troops is probably due to the news that Shanhaiguan was besieged.”

Li Zheng nodded and said: "General Lu is right. We should fight tough battles, and we still have to fight tough battles. Li Dingguo's sudden beheading of his chief general greatly boosted the morale of the whole army. Please reward me for your credit."

   "Report... Shanhaiguan to come!"

   "Ask him to come in."

  A messenger quickly rushed into the meeting room: "Generals, our army has raided and occupied Weiyuantai, and the enemy army is likely to withdraw its troops and return for reinforcements."

   Everyone looked at each other, each laughing.

  Xiao Zongxian asked: "When did it happen?"

  The courier replied: "We captured Weiyuantai seven days ago. There was a storm on the sea, and the ships could not sail, so the announcement was delayed until now."

Li Zheng sent someone to arrange for the messenger to rest, opened the military document, and said after reading it: "The Shanhaiguan side means that if the Manchu Qing army goes to the rescue, they will immediately withdraw their troops. The military rations in Shandong and Beizhili are very scarce. If the Puppet Qing is exhausted, we will have to wait at least two or three months after the autumn grain harvest before we dare to really fight against the Puppet Qing.”

  From the autumn grain harvest to collection, and then transported from the south to Shandong, two or three months has been very fast.

  At this time, the army of Fei Ruhe and Zhang Tieniu was attacking Shanhaiguan with two meals a day, and if it continued, they would have to eat one meal a day. The military rations consumed in war are different from those stationed in the local area. They need to be consumed in mid-way transportation, and the civilians and craftsmen accompanying the army also need to consume them.

  Lu Xiangsheng sighed: "Alas, the military rations are still not enough, and the military rations in Liaodong can't last long. Fortunately, this time, Jinzhou and Fuzhou have harvested wheat, otherwise His Majesty will have to raise more food and grass to bring in."

   This is very similar to the situation in the early Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to regain Liaodong, but he had no army and no food, so he could only quietly farm in Liaodong for several years.

  Xiao Zongxian suddenly said: "The Pseudo-Qingdiao sent a large army to rescue Shanhaiguan, so they can only stay on guard against Haizhou and Yaozhou. The enemies of Haizhou and Yaozhou will definitely not dare to leave the city without permission. Should we take this opportunity to do something?"

Lu Xiangsheng said: "While the main force of the enemy army is going to Shanhaiguan, our army can loot the countryside of Haizhou and Yaozhou with one man and two horses. When we see fake Qing's crops, we destroy them, and when we see fake Qing's houses, we burn them down. If there are people and livestock, they will be plundered! With such a method of warfare, within a year or two, those Tartars will starve to death!"

  The Gaizhou offensive and defensive battle was anticlimactic, but the real war had just begun.

  Manchu Qing will definitely be short of food this winter, and North Korea and Mongolia have already robbed it. Let’s see where they will go to grab food.

  (end of this chapter)