In the twelfth year of Chongzhen, it was noon on March 11th.
The sun is visible at noon, and the fog is steaming for half the day.
The sun is strongest at noon. According to legend, the Yang energy will reach its limit at this time and the Yin energy will dissipate immediately.
In the past dynasties, most of the prisoners on death row were executed at noon. The reason was that execution when the yang energy was at its strongest could suppress the appearance of ghosts and make the criminals extinct.
At this moment, a fierce battle was breaking out in Qingshan Pass.
On Daqing Mountain, a naked warrior was waving his drumsticks desperately and beating the war drum in front of him violently.
The drum beater's face turned red, and his naked upper body was covered with beads of sweat. The cold wind had no effect on him at all.
On Daqing Mountain, the drums sounded like thunder, vibrating like thunder.
The sound of the high-spirited war drums was like a heavy hammer, hitting the hearts of the soldiers on the battlefield one after another, and their bodies also resonated with the drums.
"kill!!!"
The shouts of killing were loud all over the fields in Qingshan Pass, and everywhere in sight was filled with soldiers of the Ming army pouring in like a tidal wave.
Countless fiery red flags fluttered on the mountain slopes everywhere, and waves of high-pitched and mighty sounds merged into a strong sound like a sea wave and swept in.
On top of the castle tower of Qingshan Pass, Dorgon leaned against the crenellation and surveyed the battle situation below the pass.
On the seventh day of March, the Ming army broke through the third battalion of Nanshan, occupied Gongshutai in Nanshan, and set up a large number of artillery on it.
Gong Shutai is located high up, overlooking the camp they built around the mountain.
Most of the camps in Nanshan and a small number of camps in Dongshan were under threat from the Ming army's artillery.
Dorgon could only order the gradual abandonment of the camp and a gradual retreat.
However, even if Dorgon tried his best and tried his best, he could only delay the Ming army's plan to conquer the entire Nanshan for a day and a half.
On the ninth day of March, Dorgon had to order the entire Nanshan position to be abandoned.
Without the support of the southern mountainous position, Dorgon also had to give up part of the eastern and western mountain positions.
Fortunately, the delay allowed Dorgon to come up with a way to deal with it.
Within two days, Dorgon ordered to build defensive positions again on some important roads, using the surrounding camps as fulcrums. At the same time, he used the advantages of his cavalry to block the Ming army's attack as much as possible.
Of the original forty-nine forts, only the last seven remain.
Four of the seven fortresses are on the east and west mountains, and only three are still at the foot of the mountains, near the foot of Qingshan Pass.
The rest were either abandoned by the Qing army or were defeated by the Ming army.
But now, the three fortresses used as fortresses by the Qing army in Guanxia are about to be destroyed.
The biggest reason why these three forts can persist until this moment is that the Qing army's cavalry has the advantage after all, and the safe distance of the artillery is not enough to threaten these three forts, so they have remained.
"This group of Nikans is really endless!"
Duduo stood beside Dorgon, cursing angrily.
"Tan Tai, this loser, was able to conquer three fortresses in a row in less than half an hour."
"With the guard camp behind us, we couldn't grab a small high platform and lost our lives in Nanshan."
Duduo was filled with resentment, not only cursing the Ming army, but also cursing General Tan Tai.
"It's okay now. The battle has ended like this...back to the outside of the pass, and the Huangtai..."
Tan Tai is a loser. He can't defeat Jinan and Nanshan. He can't defend Nanshan. His plans have been ruined time and time again because of his incompetence.
"Be careful what you say."
Dorgon's eyes squinted slightly, and his expression suddenly became stern, suppressing Dodo's subsequent words.
It doesn't matter if you scold Tan Tai a few times, the important thing is that Duduo can't develop the habit of speaking casually and offending others in the future.
And in the end, Dodo was obviously planning to talk about his brother.
Although everyone around him was Dorgon's direct descendant in Zhengbai Banner, Dorgon still felt that it was not safe.
His brother is not a fuel-efficient lamp. Among the two white flags, Dorgon himself knows that there are many people who have been inserted by Huang Taiji.
Not to mention those who didn't know that even among his direct lineage was Huang Taiji, Dorgon was not surprised at all.
"The war has already been fought like this, what's the use of complaining anymore?"
"Tan Tai was assigned to guard Nanshan by me. I also gave the military order to guard the mountain. No matter how much we shirk responsibility, I was the reason for the final defeat because I was the coach. It's as simple as that."
Dorgon saw that Duduo was no longer speaking, and the violence in his eyes became much less intense.
"What we need to think about now is how to transport more baggage out of the customs."
Dorgon frowned, and his mind couldn't help but become a lot more confused.
Together with the road to Qingshan Pass, it is located between two mountains, which is the location of the valley. The terrain here is relatively gentle and the roads are smooth in many places.
Therefore, the battle area is no longer limited to narrow mountain roads, and large-scale troops and even cavalry can be mobilized.
This is also the reason why these last three fortresses can be defended.
On the narrow mountain road, the limited fighting range is actually quite beneficial to the Ming army.
Because of the long-term influence of the servant system, the Ming army did have a considerable number of elites.
For a long time, the Ming army on the nine sides was fighting either Mongolia or Hou Jin.
In the small-scale confrontations, the Ming army basically did not fall too far behind, and even held the advantage in many battles.
But success is also a servant, failure is also a servant.
In the past two hundred years of conflict with Mongolia, the general environment of emphasizing civility over military affairs and this pathological servant system gave the Ming army an advantage in small-scale conflicts in public security wars.
But once a large-scale war occurs and the number of people exceeds 10,000, the war often ends with the defeat of the Ming army.
Returning to a large-scale confrontation, Dorgon gradually regained control of the situation.
It's just that the Ming army relied on the mountains and had artillery set up on the mountainside to shoot at their positions. Even if they were defeated near the official road, they would not be defeated.
Coupled with the impact of previous victories, the morale of the Ming army is now high, and it is no longer as prone to collapse as before.
Many of the usual means and tactics could not be used now, and therefore they were overwhelmed by the Ming army's momentum.
The war situation has collapsed to this point, and it can no longer be restored.
Dorgon withdrew his gaze towards Guan Nei, turned back and asked Dodo.
"There are still many seizures that have not been shipped out of the customs."
"Gold, silver, weapons, and cloth have all been transported out of the customs at the beginning. Valuable rare utensils, jewelry and antiques have also been transported out of the customs first. Now what is left in the customs are people and livestock plundered from all over the country."
"There are still 60,000 people and animals stranded in the pass."
"Sixty thousand..."
"It seems that I can't be taken out of the confinement..."
Dorgon looked at the thick smoke and dust rising in the distance, and looked at the outermost fortress that had turned into a sea of fire at this moment, his expression as dark as water.
The troops on the front line were no longer able to withstand the Ming army's offensive.
Transporting so much goods and baggage must be guarded, and many soldiers followed them out of the customs.
Today, there are less than ten thousand soldiers left in the pass.
"Let the soldiers from the two mountain camps be withdrawn first. After everyone has withdrawn, all the camps in the pass can be abandoned, and the guard camp will serve as the palace army..."
"us……"
Dorgon raised his head and glanced at the high-hanging cold sun.
"Evacuate Qingshan Pass..."
Duduo frowned slightly and asked subconsciously.
"In such a short time, I'm afraid it's too late to move all the people and animals inside the customs out of the customs..."
"These humans and animals in the pass..."
Duduo didn't finish what he said, and he didn't ask any more questions.
Because he had already gotten the answer from Dorgon's cold eyes...
…
Within Qingshan Pass, fierce fighting was taking place everywhere.
The cavalry of both sides were walking in the valley, and more than a dozen groups of Ming army cavalry with a size of 100 people were galloping back and forth on it, chasing and fighting with the Qing army's cavalry.
On the foothill slopes on both sides of the valley, several thousand Ming army cavalry formations stood for security.
The foothills of Xishan Mountain are the largest cavalry formation of the Ming army and the one with the most flags.
Sun Chuanting stood in front of the formation wearing a golden helmet with three flags, a bright and dark moon, a breastplate with golden lacquer and mountain patterns, and a red war skirt with animal patterns.
Sun Chuanting was holding a telescope at this time and observing the battle situation everywhere.
A group of armored cavalrymen wearing robes and belts, holding their reins and bridles, stood quietly behind Sun Chuanting.
Chen Wang also stood beside Sun Chuanting.
Although he won the Nanshan offensive and defensive battle, his troops suffered heavy casualties as a result.
The 2nd and 3rd Infantry Thousand Headquarters suffered casualties, but they were not too serious. They were not the main force attacking the mountain.
The main force attacking the mountain was his First Cavalry Thousand Headquarters.
The three fortresses captured in the front were all captured by the heavy armored troops of the 1,000th Cavalry Headquarters.
When defending Gongshutai from behind, a bloody battle broke out on the mountain road, and the First Cavalry Thousand Headquarters suffered heavy casualties.
In total, nearly two hundred people were killed in the four battles, and there were sixty or seventy injured.
Including the soldiers who had been trapped in Jiazhuang and Jinan, the number of Thousands of First Cavalry Headquarters that can still fight is less than 600, with nearly half of the casualties.
Therefore, in the subsequent battle, Sun Chuanting did not assign any combat tasks to Chen Wang, but asked Chen Wang to lead the troops and follow him.
In the past few days, Chen Wang had been following Sun Chuanting, watching Sun Chuanting command the army to mobilize and fight with the Qing army.
Many times when Sun Chuanting issued orders or dispatched troops, he would also explain to Chen Wang why he responded in such a way.
Naturally, Chen Wang would not give up this opportunity to learn. This kind of large-scale corps combat experience was exactly what he lacked.
The entire pass has been fought into a ball, and the battle lines are intertwined, almost all surrounding Qingshan Pass.
The Guancheng of Qingshan Pass is located on the mountainside guarding the road out of the pass, with mountains on both sides arching against each other, and peaks and mountains stacking up.
Whether facing inside or outside the pass, Qingshan Pass is a place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.
At the foot of the pass, there is a simple camp.
Now the remaining plundered people and robbed livestock in the pass are all in that camp.
The road out of the customs was full of people and livestock being driven towards the outside of the customs.
The scene that Sun Chuanting saw at first was even more infuriating.
Under the lens of the telescope, the slaves on the mountain road kept urging them to speed up.
When some weak civilians fell to the ground and could not keep up with the large army, the butcher's knife was swung down mercilessly.
Sun Chuanting put down the telescope in his hand, and there was anger and helplessness deep in his eyes that could not be concealed.
After these days of fierce fighting, he had already tried his best, and the battalions in each town had also tried their best.
The casualties almost doubled. They rescued a total of 40,000 to 50,000 people from various camps, and also took back a lot of livestock and food.
But more people were still taken out of the pass by Jiannu.
Those people who were taken away from the customs outside the customs were as slaves of those who built slaves, and they were the most despicable slaves. They could not be regarded as a person at all...
Every year, many people who were kidnapped from outside the customs wanted to return to the customs after traveling through mountains and rivers and going through many difficulties and dangers.
Their arrival also made everyone aware of everything that happened outside the customs.
"Governor, it looks like Jiannu is about to retreat."
Chen Wang had excellent eyesight. He first noticed the strange movements of the Qing troops in the two mountains, and immediately frowned and reported to Sun Chuanting.
Sun Chuanting's expression was slightly condensed, and the pupils in his eyes suddenly shrank. He had been paying attention to the battlefield and also saw the strange movements of the Qing soldiers between the two mountains.
"You're right."
Sun Chuanting looked solemn. The camp on the two mountains was the support of the Qing army. It was precisely because of the fortress on the two mountains that the Qing army was able to protect the camp at the foot of the mountain.
But now the Qing army is taking the initiative to withdraw from the two mountains. This is undoubtedly a signal that the Qing army is preparing to withdraw from Qingshan Pass.
Sun Chuanting didn't hesitate much, and immediately passed the news that the slave bandits were preparing to abandon the stronghold and leave the country, to Cao Wenzhao and Zu Dashou who were commanding at the front line.
Let the two men lead their cavalry forward, cut the battlefield, intercept the Qing troops withdrawing from the two mountains, pursue the retreating slaves, and rescue as many plundered people as possible.
Sun Chuanting's military order was passed down. Zu Dashou and Cao Wenzhao, who were commanding the front line, also paid attention to the retreat of the Qing army and immediately spread the news.
When the soldiers of the Ming Army heard that the Qing Army was preparing to abandon the pass and flee, they all cheered and their morale was high.
Because, this war is finally coming to an end.
Not only did they win this battle, but they won it beautifully, and they also wiped away the shame they had suffered for many years!
Many generals had already begun to think about the rewards they would receive when they returned to Beijing to discuss their merits, but Sun Chuanting agreed to celebrate them in the palace.
All the soldiers were also thinking about the silver rewards that would be distributed at that time, as well as the wine and meat that would be distributed during the celebration banquet.
As a result, high-pitched shouts rang out again from the Ming army's array.
However, the cheers that rang out from the Ming army array lasted less than a moment, and were suppressed abruptly...
On the way out of the customs, the evacuating Jiannu armored soldiers were holding sharp blades and constantly killing the plundered people and livestock on the road.
At this time, the camp at the foot of the mountain was also burning with raging fire. Jiannu's cavalry galloped back and forth in the camp, holding their sabers high and constantly slashing and killing the people and livestock in the camp.
Those dead people and livestock became the best obstacles blocking the mountain passes and became the cover for the retreat of the Qing army...
(End of chapter)
