Wang Cheng'en listened to Hong Chengchou's account of the battle on the south bank of the Xiaoling River, until he heard that Zhang Cheng's Xuanfu Army Division had gathered with Zu Dashou's troops in Jinzhou City and were working together to break through the three trench lines of defense surrounding Jinzhou by the slave thieves. He couldn't help but feel greatly. Invigorate.
He, who was still very calm at first, stood up from his seat and quickly walked out of his warm tent. Under the attention of everyone, he knelt down facing the direction of the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
Wang Cheng'en, eunuch Bingbi, the eunuch of the Ming Dynasty, and the admiral of Dongchang, knelt on the ground and bowed to Emperor Chongzhen in the direction of the capital. He kept saying: "Your Majesty, the siege of Jinzhou has been lifted... The siege of Jinzhou has finally been lifted... I congratulate your Majesty...congratulations to Your Majesty..."
After Wang Chengen knelt down and prostrated nine times, he called for two young eunuchs to help him stand up. The two traces of tears on his face were clearly visible, and the tears that had not completely fallen shone brightly in the sun.
Only then did Hong Chengchou come up to him. He cupped his fists and bowed, "Your Majesty, your loyalty to the Holy One is truly remarkable. Chengchou is also deeply moved."
Wang Chengen, however, was not interested in his flattery, and said in a thin voice: "Our family is just a slave serving the emperor. It doesn't matter whether he is loyal or not."
He suddenly rolled his eyes and lowered his voice slightly and said: "On the contrary, it is you, the important ministers and generals who lead the army, who must be truly loyal to the emperor, be diligent in the king's affairs, put aside personal gains and losses, and focus on the overall situation in everything. It’s better to do things for the Holy One.”
Although Hong Chengchou could not understand the meaning of his words, he remained calm and said with a smile: "Your Majesty is right, I have written it down."
He went on to say: "When Chengchou received this good news, he did not dare to delay for a moment. He immediately came to inform the prince, so that he could make the prince happy. However, the military situation on the front line was changeable. In order to break up Jinwei, our division had three armies. Advance together, now Zhang Cheng's troops on the west route can join forces with Zu Shuai, it is thanks to the full strength attack of the other two routes to contain most of the slave thieves."
As he spoke, Hong Chengchou couldn't help but look at Wang Chengen's expression. Seeing that he didn't look bored, he continued: "Your Majesty, when the three troops of Bai Guangen, Ma Ke and Tang Tong were defeated, how could they rely on the troops in front of them?" The soldiers and horses of the first town of Tunwei, with the assistance of the Ningyuan Army, were indispensable in containing the soldiers and horses of the Three Banners of the slave thieves.
Wu Sangui and Cao Bianjiao were the first to cross the river. They led the army and fought fiercely with Dorgon for two days, killing many enemies. Wu Sangui especially sent out a surprise force to feign an attack to the east, helping Zhang Cheng to break through the slave and bandit defense line to the north. His achievements are no less than those of Zhang Cheng. "
It was only at this moment that Wang Chengen's face turned around. He looked at Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao in front of him. Although the smile on his face was still the same as before, there was an intriguing and strange look in his eyes.
I only heard him say to Hong Chengchou: "Governor Hong, you have to evaluate the merits of each general one by one. As long as they serve the country wholeheartedly, they are all heroes and good generals of our Ming Dynasty, so they cannot be omitted.
Governor Kuang Hong commanded tens of thousands of troops to fight. He was also very familiar with the abilities of all the generals. He should measure their abilities and evaluate their talents. When the Liao War was understood, he could recommend talents to the court. Lest the country's generals be buried below and not be able to display their thoughts of serving the country! "
Hong Chengchou also stroked his beard and smiled and said: "I originally thought that it was the responsibility of the Hanlin Academy to reserve talents for the country. But now I hear the prince's words, it is like an enlightenment, and I feel like I am enlightened."
He stepped forward and grabbed Wang Chengen's hand, and said: "When the war here is over, Chengchou will carefully screen the generals and recommend them to the imperial military department according to their abilities so that they can display their talents and serve the emperor."
Wang Chengen also smiled and said: "That's very good. I hope that Governor Hong will be able to recognize talents. When the time comes, our family will jointly submit a letter with Governor Hong to recommend talents to the court and promote talents for the country."
After he finished speaking, he asked about the war ahead: "Director Hong, Zhang Cheng and Zu Dashou have met at Nanguan. How did the slaves react?"
"My lord, Zhang Cheng has reported back to the army that the slave bandit Prince Azige of Wuying County has led the Tatars with the Manchurian White Banner and the Mongolian Red Banner to assist the Mongolian White Banner stationed at Nanguan of Jinzhou.
According to Wu Sangui's report, the number of slave bandits in front of him was greatly reduced, and there seemed to be signs of reinforcements to Jinzhou Nanguan. "Hong Chengchou reported the war outside Jinzhou City.
Today, the Ming Dynasty's tens of thousands of troops, composed of ten generals, have been aiding the Liao Dynasty for half a year. During this period, they fought several battles with slaves and traitors, with each side winning or losing.
But now, nearly half of the Ming Dynasty's division has been lost. One of the generals has been killed in front of the battle, and another general has been wounded in the battle. Three generals are missing, and it is unknown how many people were injured from the deputy general on down. , nearly 30,000 brave soldiers died on the battlefield, and more than 40,000 people were unable to fight anymore due to casualties.
Although many of them were imposters or civilian men who accompanied the army, for the Ming Dynasty, today they are all heroes of the country.
In fact, since the Liao King's Division marched into Songshan, the Qing army has suffered heavy losses after successive battles.
They killed Prince Duduo of Yu in the battle, and Gushan Ezhen also lost as many as five people, and there were even more generals including Mele Zhangjing and Jiala Zhangjing. There are nearly 20,000 soldiers, and there are countless soldiers and servants accompanying the army.
Even Baya Lazhangjing of the Qing Dynasty, who was known as the world's elite, had several people die in this battle of Liaodong. It can be said that this battle has seriously damaged the vitality of the Qing Dynasty.
Of course, the casualties of the Qing army were mostly soldiers from the Mongolian, Korean and Han banners, followed by the Beibei cavalry from the Inner Mongolia and the Eight Mongolian Banners. Finally, their core combat force, the Eight Banners of Manchuria, suffered the least casualties.
The Qing Dynasty mobilized the whole country for this war. All men taller than a cart wheel, regardless of age, were drafted to fight. In this way, they could barely gather 170,000 horses.
Among the 170,000-strong army, only 110,000 were real warriors called "armored soldiers". This was the four banners of the outer vassal Mongolia, the inner Mongolia, the Korean army, the Han army, the eight Mongolian banners, and the Manchurian army. All Eight Banners.
So far in the war, nearly 20,000 armored warriors have been killed. In addition, more than 15,000 people have been lost due to injuries. This does not include the armored soldiers of various banners.
In this way, the Qing army was also severely weakened, but what Hong Chengchou, Wang Chengen and others did not know was that the Mongolian princes, Taiji, and Baylor who accompanied the expedition were already full of complaints.
Even the Taijis who attached themselves to various Mongolian ministries have complained a lot. These have even affected the morale of the Mongolian Eight Banners warriors, not to mention those Korean soldiers.
This is also the key to why Zhang Cheng, Wu Sangui, Wang Tingchen and other three Ming armies have been able to fight fiercely against the slave thieves and still not fall behind.
Although the Ming army had won several battles and their morale was high, the battle in the wild was indeed far different from that of the slaves. The results of today's battle were actually due to the low morale of the slaves.
The above are still the casualties that Hong Chengchou knows now. In the successive battles yesterday and today, many battle losses have not yet been calculated in detail. It is estimated that the casualties are even greater than those in previous battles.
But no matter what, they finally reached the south gate of Jinzhou. It has been almost two years since Jinzhou City was besieged by slave thieves, and now is the closest time to breaking the siege of Jinzhou.
Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, said to Wang Chengen: "Your Majesty, I want to lead my bodyguard to cross the river and go north. Although Qiu Fuchen is left here to command the defense, we cannot do without the prince."
Wang Chengen didn't know that Hong Chengchou was just trying to give him an excuse not to cross the river with him, so he smiled and said, "This way, our family will not cause trouble to Governor Hong."
He then said to Hong Chengchou with concern: "It's just that the war in Hebei is dangerous, and Governor Hong is responsible for the safety of the soldiers and civilians in Liaodong. You should pay attention to precautions and never go into danger."
"Of course, that's how it should be. Thank you, the prince."
…………
Just as Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao in the Ming Dynasty, bid farewell to the eunuch Wang Chengen, the eunuch Bingbi, and led his staff and troops to cross the Xiaoling River and head north.
Dorgon, Prince Guorui of the Qing Dynasty, was very anxious. He painstakingly planned to defeat the main force of the Ming army on the north banks of the Nerv River and Xiaoling River.
But things went against expectations. After the successive battles, in addition to Prince Zheng Jierharang's side defeating the Ming Army's Ji Zhen, Miyun Town, Shanhai Town and other troops one after another, he and Daishan were like bumping into an iron plate. , and did not gain much benefit.
Although Wu Sangui and Cao Bianjiao's troops were obviously weaker than themselves in terms of military strength, they were tenacious enough to fight. They attacked and attacked hard for two consecutive days, but they could not defeat them.
There was even a time when Cao Bianjiao led a small number of elite cavalry into his own army formation. Just like what happened at the foot of Rufeng Mountain, he ran across and beat him indiscriminately in his own army formation, and was almost defeated.
Fortunately, Meng Atu, the assistant minister of Zhengbai Banner, fought hard with Mele Zhangjing Kangligu, Adahai and others. Especially Adahai hit Cao Bianjiao's mount with two arrows in succession, forcing him to change horses and fight again.
Kang Ligu was even more fierce. He stabbed Cao Bianjiao with all his life. Although he died at the hands of Cao Bianjiao, Cao Bianjiao did not dare to fight anymore and was escorted by his own soldiers to break through and retreat.
However, after this battle, Dorgon's deployment was in chaos, especially the Mongolian troops from the outer vassals who accompanied the army, and they were even more ineffective. Their roar was the loudest, but the charge was the least.
It seems that they are secretly retaining their strength, just roaming around the periphery, riding and shooting, but never engaging in close combat with the Ming army. Even though Dorgon gave repeated orders, this was still the case, but there was nothing he could do about it.
As a last resort, Dorgon had to temporarily withdraw his troops outside Jinzhou Xiguan in order to reorganize his army and fight again. Of course, Dorgon had other motives for doing this.
He just wanted to lure the Ming army led by Wu Sangui and Cao Bianjiao to continue deeper to the north, so that they would be away from their original camp and farther away from Xiaoling River.
After the Qing army retreated to Jinzhou Xiguan, they could also support each other with the Mongolian red-banner Buyandai headquarters originally stationed in the west of Jinzhou City, which could be said to kill two birds with one stone.
Furthermore, this side is much closer to the pontoon bridge on the Xiaoling River in the west of the city, and the Wang Tingchen's troops there are also very fierce. This can strengthen the defense of the pontoon bridge here.
Sure enough, as soon as he withdrew, he received a military report that the Ming army Wang Tingchen's troops broke through to the north and had reached less than a mile in front of the floating bridge. Dorgon quickly ordered Zhenbilu Zhumala to lead his troops with a white flag on the top of the mountain. reinforce.
Sure enough, after the arrival of the army led by Jierhalang, they defeated the Ming army under Ma Ke in Shanhai Town in one fell swoop, and repulsed the Ming army under Wang Tingchen until they approached the north bank of the Nuer River.
At the same time, Dorgon gradually gained an advantage. No matter how Wu Sangui and Cao Bianjiao rushed to kill them, their troops were at a disadvantage. In addition, after Cao Bianjiao was injured, the morale of his ASEAN troops was also greatly reduced.
As a last resort, they could only retreat all the way south. Although Cao Bianjiao and Wu Sangui continued to send elite knights to make feints to the east, intending to disperse Dorgon's troops, they remained unmoved.
At the critical moment, Dorgon received the news that Xuan's army had reunited with Zu Dashou in Jinzhou City. He was shocked and had to suspend the attack on Wu Sangui's tribe.
Dorgon first ordered Buyandai to lead the Mongolian Zhenghong Banner to quickly reinforce Daishan, and then transferred back the Manchurian red flag of the auxiliary state Mandahai and the Mongolian white flag of Suna, and Mandahai was led by Mandahai to support Prince Li. On behalf of kindness.
Mandahai was the seventh son of Daishan. When he learned that his father was in danger, he led his army and galloped eastward without saying a word.
As a result, the pressure on Wu Sangui and Cao Bianjiao was reduced, especially Cao Bianjiao, who was more ferocious. He simply bandaged the gunshot wounds on his body, and even seven or eight arrow wounds. He ignored it at all and rushed in on horseback. on the battlefield.
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Prince Li Daishan originally thought that the Xuan Army opposite him had no remaining strength. Especially when Hauge led the Zhenglan Banner warriors to join the battle, the Xuan Army's infantry formation could no longer withstand it and began to slowly retreat backwards.
Dai Shan was still happy in his heart, thinking that he would be able to defeat Xuan's army today, and maybe capture Zhang Cheng, the famous general who was known for his courage in fighting and had killed his own son.
You must know that Daishan's two sons, Yue Tuo and Ma Zhan, both died at the hands of Zhang Cheng. How could he endure such revenge?
This was also Dorgon's original intention of sending him to the east road to command Zhan Xuan's army. I believe he would definitely fight Zhang Cheng to the death, and he would definitely take Zhang Cheng seriously.
Although in his early years, Shanyin disliked Yue Tuo and Shuo Tuo for being the children of the former Fujin, he did not like them and even often abused them. Especially after the death of the old slave Nurhachi, Yue Tuo and Shuo Tuo not only did not support him He succeeded to the throne of Khan, but forced himself to support Huang Taiji to ascend the throne.
But no matter what, they are his sons after all. Now Daishan just wants to capture Zhang Cheng and chop him into pieces in front of everyone.
But just when he thought that Xuan's army could be defeated, he saw a Ming army of thousands of people marching eastward after Xuan's army formation, seeming to want to bypass his army's formation and attack the Mongols stationed outside Jinzhou Nanguan. Zhengbai Banner Yibai Department.
And there were only some foreign Mongolians left around him who were unwilling to work hard, and then there were the Tatars with white flags in Azige. Just when he was hesitating, the military report came that Zu Dashou in Jinzhou City was personally leading seven thousand troops. The Liao soldiers rushed out of the city and headed straight to the south.
