Although the think tanks of the Qing Dynasty came up with a more appropriate solution after brainstorming, there was a prerequisite that everyone ignored.
That is, for most infectious diseases, there is an incubation period, that is, there is a time lag between infection and onset, which may be several days or dozens of days.
Take smallpox as an example. The general onset time is around the 12th to 14th day.
However, everyone in the big tent didn't know exactly when the King's soldiers were infected, so they could only figure it out like a guessing game, and then come up with a plan that seemed reasonable.
"Your Majesty, Xu Dingguo is a new general and may know something about it!"
"Yeah~! Xuan!"
Regarding the fatal disease such as smallpox, Huang Taiji consciously talked about it with a stern tone, not to mention his subordinates. It would be great if Xu Dingguo really knew the truth.
"General Xu Dingguo comes to the emperor! Long live my emperor! Long live! Long live!"
"My beloved, I am exempt from the courtesy! Come here! Give me a seat!"
Xu Dingguo is one of the few good news obtained by the army, and he previously held the position of Chief Military Officer of Manming, so he may really know some inside information.
Giving Xu Dingguo a seat was considered preferential treatment. If it were one of our own, even Angbang Zhangjing and even Gushan Ezhen, who was not from the Eight Banners, would have to stand in the tent from beginning to end.
"Xu Aiqing, to be honest, about a hundred people in the Imperial Division of the Qing Dynasty are sick today, and their symptoms are similar to smallpox. Does Aiqing know about the relevant matters? Is smallpox spreading in the city?"
Huang Taiji told half truths and half lies, deliberately concealing the number of patients, but it still allowed the other party to understand.
"...Report to the Emperor! According to the meeting of the generals, there was an emergency vaccination in the city before. However, the generals didn't know what the thing was. They just made a small incision on the skin with a knife, smeared blood on it, and then bandaged it. And that's it. Tai... Prince Manming claimed that this medicine can prevent epidemic diseases, and people who have suffered from smallpox do not need to be vaccinated. Based on this, I will speculate that this is a medicine to prevent smallpox!"
Xu Dingguo thought for a while and then spoke out in detail.
He has also been vaccinated with this substance. If it is really effective, he will not be afraid of the ravages of smallpox.
It's just that Huang Taiji said that hundreds of people were infected. Is this really true? I'm afraid there's still room left, right?
Xu Dingguo also remembered that people had said that the prince could definitely defeat the enemy with immortal magic.
Could it be that it was really smallpox? ? ?
Then wouldn’t it be true here in the Qing Dynasty...
Be bad!
Did you make the wrong move?
Seeing that the Ming Dynasty was about to win, he voted for the Qing Dynasty!
If this is really the case, this is really a bad move!
Otherwise, why don't you just change your mind and vote back? ? ?
"Don't lie to the Emperor with your lies!"
Hauge absolutely doesn't believe this story. Does the Barbarian Prince still have such incredible abilities?
If a small puncture can prevent smallpox, wouldn't everyone be immune from it in the future?
"Hauge! Don't be unreasonable!"
Although Huang Taiji lowered his face and scolded his son, he felt in his heart that what Xu Dingguo said was a bit exaggerated.
All the civil servants and generals were naturally hesitant, seeing was believing. They hadn’t seen it yet, so who could be completely convinced!
"Your Majesty, could you please take off your sleeves and show them to your Majesty?"
Xu Dingguo didn't want to commit a crime against his king as soon as he surrendered, so he might as well fight to the end with the Ming Dynasty.
"My dear, you are interested! Very good!"
Huang Taiji also wanted to find out the truth, so as not to be deceived by just a few words.
"This is where it is! Not only the general, but also the people under the general who have never contracted smallpox are treated in this way. The emperor can choose and check at will!"
Xu Dingguo pointed to a wound on his arm that had not fully healed and explained. It was embarrassing to say that if you want to live safely in the Qing Dynasty, you have to rely on the small inoculation in the Ming Dynasty.
"Well! I don't need to be like this if you love me. I really believe in you!"
After looking at it, Huang Taiji was thoughtful and did not choose to screen them one by one.
It was useless to look at it at this time, because the smallpox virus had begun to spread in the camp.
Man Ming knew that if Xu Dingguo wanted to use a cruel trick, he wouldn't just make such a small cut that was no longer as long as a fingernail.
Right now, Man Ming is prepared for this, but Qing is completely unprepared, and he doesn’t even know what the vaccination is. This is too difficult to deal with.
Fortunately, one thing is roughly certain, that is, the smallpox outbreak was most likely caused by the Man Ming Taizi, who had sinister intentions.
The King of the Qing Dynasty was unprepared and was suddenly attacked. It was useless to scold him now, he had to retreat quickly.
The warriors who died in the city were relieved, but those who returned injured had now become a huge hidden danger.
There are not many people who have suffered from smallpox outside the customs, far less than those inside the customs, and the people up and down the Eight Banners are even worse with acne.
At this time, both the Tianyou Army and the Tianshu Army have discovered that a large number of soldiers are sick, and they must stay away from the central army.
Without further delay, Huang Taiji immediately ordered the generals to lead his troops to set off immediately.
In particular, those who are already sick must be gathered together and placed in a downwind position.
Once the number of infected people increases again, it will be difficult to return outside the customs, let alone siege the city and call for reinforcements.
The entire army retreated towards Qinghedian. All those who had fallen ill or were found to have symptoms were stationed ten miles south of the camp.
Dorgon ordered his ministries to dispatch thousands of cavalry and captured almost half of the doctors in Shuntian Prefecture to diagnose and treat the sick soldiers of the King's Division. Anyone who dared not comply would be killed on the spot.
For the sake of their own lives and the lives of their families, doctors had to consider themselves unlucky and came to diagnose and treat diseases for the Qing army. However, for diseases like smallpox, there was basically no targeted medicine.
Whether you can survive the death gate safely depends on your personal destiny. At most, they can only supervise and guide some unhygienic situations in the camp.
one day!
Two days!
Three days!
Three days later, on October 12th, the Qing army discovered that the number of people with red rashes on their bodies had soared from the initial two thousand to more than five thousand.
However, this was far from the final result. Every day, red rashes were found on nearly a thousand people, which made those who had never had smallpox feel horrified and shudder.
Two days later, even the respectful king Kong Youde fell ill. The reason was not that he was anxious about getting angry, but that he was also infected with smallpox.
In addition to Kong Youde, many generals under his command were also infected. The God's Blessing Army has now actually lost its command and combat effectiveness.
Originally, the Tianyou Army was divided into two parts. Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming lived next to each other.
After hearing the news, King Geng Zhongming of Huaishun was so frightened that he immediately ordered his troops to break camp again and move to a position ten miles away.
Thousands of people in Geng Zhongming's department also fell ill, but he himself has not been infected yet. For the sake of his own life, it is better to be careful.
Except for those who had suffered from smallpox, Geng Zhongming didn't know who had not been infected. He was suspicious all day long and looked at everyone like a patient.
It's no wonder that tens of thousands of people in the entire Qing Dynasty Royal Division have become ill, except for Dorgon's troops who did not participate in the siege of Dorgon.
Except for colds, fevers, and skin wounds from the fighting, the rest were all smallpox and rashes similar to smallpox.
The camp was lifeless, and the people in the tent were divided into three categories: those who had already had acne, those who were about to have acne, and those who had rashes!
In order to ensure that the sick soldiers would not run around, Huang Taiji specially selected people who had survived smallpox from various ministries as guards.
Anyone, even an Eight Banners soldier, who had smallpox and dared to disobey orders would be killed on the spot by the guards.
Dorgon has already sent people to warn Azig and Duduo that fighting against the wise King Qin's army is secondary at the moment.
The key is to keep a distance from the sick people and never get infected with smallpox, otherwise life or death will be uncertain.
Azig understood it, and Duduo understood it even more. He was so frightened that he simply led his troops to stay in Wanping and refused to leave.
Whoever dares to go back now may be infected with smallpox. How can we not be afraid?
Even Dorgon, who was responsible for helping the surrounding people, also led his troops to deliberately distance themselves from the army.
All matters should be handled by those who have survived smallpox. The rest who have not survived will stay in the camp and are not allowed to come in or out at will.
Anyone who discovers a rash must report it immediately. Anyone who dares to conceal it deliberately will be punished by military law regardless of their position.
Smallpox is more terrifying than Man Ming's army of half a million!
Facing an army of 500,000 barbarians, the King of the Qing Dynasty had no fear at all and could just attack them.
But now that smallpox is raging in the military camp, how can everyone in the King's division resist it? ? ?
Doctors all say that this disease has been difficult to cure since ancient times, and it depends entirely on God's will to survive the disaster.
Although Huang Taiji felt that the doctors were incompetent, he also knew that the other party was definitely not unwilling to treat him.
If we can only tolerate it temporarily and do not kill all the doctors, we will lose the hearts of the people.
By October 17th, it had been nearly nine days since the onset of the disease.
The number of sick people has reached 20,000!
There were constant smallpox outbreaks in relatively safe camps, and even if there were three more camps, it would be impossible to prevent them.
Doctors speculated that smallpox had already spread throughout the army, but had not yet developed symptoms, thus evading screening.
The military camp was originally handled well, but what's more, the camp of the relatively loosely wrapped Ahabs has completely gotten out of control.
Thirty thousand people have already become sick, and the rest are about to get sick soon.
Especially those who had acne all over their bodies and oozing foul-smelling pus, the guards wanted to chop them to death.
A pit for burying corpses has been dug in an open space behind the camp, and graves have been built all over the place.
It is said that people who died from smallpox only accounted for 20% of the total number of people who got sick.
However, even this is unacceptable to Huang Taiji.
There were only a little over 200,000 left in the army, and another 40,000 died due to smallpox!
The remaining people have just recovered from their serious illness. How can they still expect these people to besiege the city and fight for reinforcements?
The fourteenth brother Dorgon's subordinates have not heard of being infected, but who can guarantee that he will not be infected?
In addition to Zhenghuang Banner, even Xianghuang Banner is now infected, and a large number of infected people have been found in other ministries.
The situation in Baoyi was even worse. Huang Taiji wanted to withdraw his troops, but he was unwilling to do so.
If you leave the customs at this time, it will be equivalent to entering the customs this time. In addition to losing troops and generals, you will not get any benefits.
All the ambitions I had when I took the oath were shattered by a sudden smallpox!
Just resist like this, and people are dying every day!
And smallpox continues to spread, with no sign of stopping.
If things continue like this, I'm afraid that the main camp of Zhenghuang Banner will be infected.
Huang Taiji no longer allowed the soldiers of each battalion to move around at will, and even the discussion of countermeasures was limited to four think tanks.
Even so, the result of the discussion was four words - helpless!
"After three days, if there is no improvement, withdraw your troops and leave the border!"
If the entire army suffers from acne for a month, from the ninth day of October to the ninth day of November, the time will not be long, but then they will have to rest for a month.
During this period, it is necessary to ensure that Dorgon's troops cannot be infected, otherwise the army will lose its last protective power.
It took two months to block the lives of more than 80,000 soldiers who were not infected. This was something Huang Taiji did not want.
Prince Man Ming used this poisonous trick because he had already guessed that the Qing Dynasty King would suffer such consequences, and would not have ordered his troops to attack.
If the Qing Dynasty wanted to turn defeat into victory, it had to spend the winter outside the capital.
Combined with the current severe situation, this is undoubtedly a huge challenge.
If you fail to win the battle against smallpox, your entire army will be completely wiped out.
What's more important is that Man Ming had already taken precautions. No one was dead, so he huddled in the city and watched the excitement.
To withdraw the troops at this point is to abandon the chariot to protect the commander, and the strong man has his wrist cut off. You have to endure it if you can't bear it.
It's just that Huang Taiji still has three days of buffer time to see if he can get God's protection.
By October 21, the only change was that the number of soldiers dying from smallpox had increased again...
Both the slave soldiers and the Eight Banners soldiers have completely lost their previous vigor and fighting spirit, and are no different from lingering on.
After receiving reports from various ministries, Huang Taiji weighed the pros and cons and finally decided to withdraw his troops and leave the country.
The entire army broke camp on October 22, and Dorgon's 80,000 warriors were responsible for breaking up the rear.
In order to make up for the huge losses caused by the army, Huang Taiji ordered his fourteenth brother to take all the people he could collect out of the customs!
As of the day they arrived at the camp, more than 3,400 people in the Qing army had died from trauma, more than 5,000 people had died from smallpox, and more than 8,000 people had died from wrapping wounds.
It seemed that the number of non-combat casualties was not large, but after excluding those who were sick but still alive, there was nothing left. Even the obedient King Kong Youde, who was seriously ill, was carried out of the camp.
"Second brother, third brother's troops haven't gathered yet?"
"It says it's for the sake of the entire army, so let's take the first step!"
Facing Azig's question, Dorgon just agreed. It sounded like Duoduo was very brave, but in fact he was afraid of following the army and getting infected with smallpox.
Since Duduo is willing to cut off the queen, he can be satisfied. Duduo's troops are not small, and he has never heard of contracting smallpox. It is clear that he does not dare to send troops to pursue.
Dorgon finally looked at the outline of the capital from a distance, feeling a sense of sadness and sorrow in his heart. Without saying a word, he whipped his horse and headed north.
People will continue to die on the road, but this is not what Dorgon said. What is important is to let the people behind them avoid corpses that may be infected with smallpox.
Those who were unable to walk or who were about to die could stay where they were and let them obey their fate. Huang Taiji did not force them to follow the army and retreat northward, so as not to become a burden.
On October 24, after Yang Wenyue learned that all the Donglu nearby had disappeared, he guessed the general situation and immediately led his troops out of Yanqing Guard and headed straight for the capital.
"Your Majesty, Yang Wenyue, arrived too late to save you. Please beg the Crown Prince to come down and punish me!"
"Ai Qing was the first one to come to Qin Wang. What crime is there? If he is guilty, wouldn't everyone who comes after Qin Wang be executed by Ling Chi? Without courtesy, please give him a seat! Ai Qing has brought troops this time. What’s the geometry of the horse?”
"I am incompetent. Apart from the garrison troops stationed in Xuanda, my troops this time are less than nine thousand!"
"A lot! Xuanda itself is a strategic location, so it must be arranged like this. Ai Qing first killed the rebel Wang Pu, and then came to Qin Wang. He performed very well, and I am very pleased!"
"Your Highness is ridiculously complimenting me. I cannot bear it. I fought with the Donglu in the Yanqing Guard area before, and my troops were delayed by the Donglu and could not advance. Every time I think about this battle, I feel regretful."
"It doesn't matter, victory or defeat is a common thing for military strategists. Who in the world can be sure of winning every battle? If Aiqing wants to save face, he can mobilize his troops and horses, merge with my troops, and pursue the retreating Dong Capture the remaining troops."
"Your Highness has an order, and no minister dares to disobey it!"
"That's good!"
A certain prince already knew about Braid's retreat and admired Huang Taiji.
This guy is really able to resist, and the deadline was several days longer than he expected.
It's probably because he couldn't bear it any longer, so he ordered his troops to withdraw. Otherwise, he would have to stay in the Fifth Ring Road as a thorn in the side!
