Here in Lahore, the flag of the Ming Dynasty is still flying above the city. But outside the city, as before, the flag of the Ottoman Empire was flying.
Since Delhi was occupied by the Persian Empire's army, Lahore has no more reinforcements and supplies. It was fine in the beginning, but now that a few months have passed, life here in Lahore has become difficult.
There began to be pessimism in the city because there was no hope of victory. If it weren't for the powerful combat power shown by the Ming Dynasty in annihilating the Mughal Empire, this pessimistic mood would have come earlier.
The lack of materials forced Wu Sangui to start restricting food, especially in terms of food. After the control, the pessimism became stronger.
For this reason, he had to patrol the city head and the city every day. In addition to sharing the joys and sorrows with the soldiers and eating the same rations, he maintained a high fighting spirit to influence the soldiers.
Fortunately, after he decided to use Lahore as a city to block the Ottoman Empire, he sent the old and weak in the city out of the city. Otherwise, more food will be consumed.
Wu Sangui knew very well that he must give hope to his soldiers before he could hope to defend or even turn defeat into victory.
For this reason, he kept telling the soldiers guarding the city that Li Laiheng's troops were harassing the enemy's rear route. Regardless of the number of enemies, they would be more uncomfortable.
Especially later, when the enemy troops outside the city never attacked Lahore again, but instead divided tens of thousands of troops and headed northwest, Wu Sangui knew that Li Laiheng's troops were still fighting. While he was worried about Li Laiheng's troops, he was actually very moved in his heart.
In the early years of his life, his father Wu Xiang and his uncle Zu Dashou had a great influence on him. Everyone once told him that only when you have soldiers you have power, but when you don't have soldiers you don't have power. Therefore, you must protect yourself wisely, and having the power in hand is the fundamental way.
But before he could begin to apply the guidance of his father and uncle, Emperor Chongzhen began to personally lead the army into battle, and then, one battle after another was won. He also began to accompany him on expeditions, but what he learned from Emperor Chongzhen was different from what his father and uncle reminded him. In short, he kept winning, so that later on, he forgot what they said.
Now during these days when he was holding on to Lahore, especially when the situation of the Ming army in Lahore became more and more difficult, for some reason, the things his father and uncle taught him back then came back to him, and he felt a little bit Scared.
He was afraid, not that he was afraid of himself, but that Li Laiheng's subordinates would understand the principles taught by his father and uncle. When you know something cannot be done, you will choose to protect yourself wisely!
Wu Sangui knew very well that the only people Lahore could rely on now were Li Laiheng's troops. If Li Laiheng's troops were more passive in fighting, or simply hid, who could blame them? It can be said that they have been fighting, not to mention running away.
If they didn't try their best, the Ottoman army outside the city could concentrate on attacking the city. In a few months, not to mention whether it will be captured by them, at least it will definitely not be like it is now, mainly due to the pressure from the consumption of food supplies.
Wu Sangui knew from the fact that the Ottoman Army actually separated most of the cavalry that it was Li Laiheng's troops who had hurt the Ottoman Army, forcing them to send so many troops back to pursue and intercept them in order to clean up and protect them. The back road is safe.
Of course, Wu Sangui wanted to take advantage of this news and immediately publicize the reason for the departure of the Ottoman Empire troops, letting the soldiers in Lahore know that they were not alone, but had friendly forces and were still fighting together.
To be honest, at that time, the morale in the city immediately rose a lot.
Wu Sangui also thought about taking the opportunity to break out. After all, the enemy outside the city had lost tens of thousands of cavalry. Once they can successfully break through, it will be just infantry, so it should be much easier to deal with.
However, first, he could not guarantee whether the Ottoman Empire's cavalry troops would really go to encircle and suppress Li Laiheng's troops when they left, or whether they would just be pretentious and find a place to ambush and wait for him to break out.
The reason why this suspicion still exists is that he does not understand the enemy he faces, the Ottoman Empire. He didn't know who their leader was, what style they usually fought in, and what style they used. Therefore, he had this doubt.
The second reason is that it is not easy to break through. During the few months of the siege, the Ottoman army dug trenches around Lahore to prevent the Ming army from breaking out of the siege or making a surprise attack out of the city. If Wu Sangui wanted to lead his troops to break out, there would definitely be many casualties.
There is also the last reason. Wu Sangui and Li Dingguo have different origins. Li Dingguo was born a bandit, and he didn't care much about Tang Wang and others from the bottom of his heart. With the emperor's secret decree, he didn't care, and used mutually harmful tactics to enter the Persian Empire.
But Wu Sangui came from a family of generals and had many things to think about, and was not as single as Li Dingguo. Despite the emperor's decree, he was still a little worried.
After all, the King of Tang is a relative of the emperor. If his side breaks through, the Ottoman Empire army can march eastward and unite with the Persian Empire. Not only will the Tang Kingdom suffer, but the other two vassals may also suffer. Once this happens, who will be unlucky? In Wu Sangui's heart, he was actually not sure.
With all kinds of worries in his heart, Wu Sangui didn't dare to move. As time passed slowly, the morale that had been boosted before was slowly consumed again.
On this day, Wu Sangui was in the military camp in the city. When he finished the gruel with the soldiers, he suddenly reported from the city head: "Commander, there is movement from the enemy outside the city. It seems that their cavalry is back!"
When Wu Sangui heard this, he was shocked and rushed to the top of the city to check what was going on.
Sure enough, to the northwest, dust was flying. Even without a telescope, you can see groups of Ottoman cavalry returning to the camp outside the city.
Seeing this, Wu Sangui's heart sank. The return of the cavalry of the Ottoman Army can only mean one thing. That is, they have solved the problem of back roads, and then they can attack the city with all their strength!
He didn't know whether Li Laiheng's troops were wiped out by them, or whether they could not withstand the heavy encirclement and suppression by the Ottoman army and had escaped. In short, no matter what, Li Laiheng has only 5,000 cavalry troops. After fighting for several months, and suddenly encountering heavy encirclement and suppression, it is absolutely impossible to win.
Thinking about this, to be honest, Wu Sangui was a little desperate now that he didn't even have his only friendly force. Lahore was really left fighting alone.
However, no matter how desperate he was, he knew in his heart that this emotion must not be shown. Instead, he had to find various reasons to boost morale.
With this thought in his mind, he carefully observed the enemy's movements. Needless to say, he saw some abnormal signs.
First, the Ottoman cavalry who came back did not come back neatly, but came back one by one.
Second, although the distance was a bit far and the faces of those people could not be seen clearly, the movement after he was greeted by the enemy did not seem to be good news. If they really accomplished their goal and returned, they would at least be able to hear cheers, right? But no!
Wu Sangui believed that if the goal was achieved, even if the Ottomans were very restrained, their commander would not fail to know that it would be best to use this news to boost morale. After all, the Ottoman Empire was held back in Lahore for several months, and their morale was also not high.
Upon discovering this, Wu Sangui became a little suspicious. Is it possible that the small number of troops under Li Laiheng's command can actually defeat the heavy encirclement and suppression? How can this be?
Although he was thinking so in his heart, it did not prevent Wu Sangui from speaking out about this matter and letting all the soldiers know. In short, he used every means to boost morale.
"Send the order and let all the soldiers know that Marshal Li's troops have won again!" Wu Sangui showed an excited "smile" and said to his guards, "The enemy returned in a hurry and waited to see if they won. They will definitely send their heads to threaten them, if not, they have lost!"
At least he looked through the telescope and didn't seem to find any heads.
Therefore, Wu Sangui's reasonable inference became the hope of the Ming army soldiers.
The Ottoman cavalry came back one after another until the evening, but Wu Sangui did not go down to the top of the city and kept observing with a telescope. Finally, he discovered something was wrong. The enemy troops who came back seemed to be missing tens of thousands of cavalry.
And the most important thing is that it has been a day, and there is no cheering at the Ottoman Empire's military camp, and no heads are thrown over. If it were Wu Sangui himself, he would be able to throw the fake head into the city to scare the enemy!
Therefore, at this time, he came to the conclusion that either the enemy commander did not know how to fight, or the enemy had suffered a huge defeat and no longer even thought about using such methods.
In comparison, Wu Sangui is more convinced that it is the latter situation. However, this seems impossible! Li Laiheng had worked with him for several years, and he knew the combat effectiveness of that cavalry!
He didn't understand, and he didn't say anything.
By the next day, Wu Sangui made another discovery. Observing through the telescope, it seems that there is a feeling of panic on the enemy's side. He was even more surprised. Could it be that Li Laiheng's troops really won the battle?
At this time, he never thought that reinforcements were coming from Hong Chengchou's troops or from the country. Therefore, the enemy used a strategy of attacking the enemy's heart to let Wu Sangui know that the main force of the Ottoman Empire was still in the north. Domestic reinforcements cannot come through the messenger. Who knew they would come so soon? Generally speaking, it would take at least a year and a half.
Over the past few days, the enemy outside the city seemed to have become more chaotic, and even the Ming army soldiers without binoculars could feel it.
Hope, like the seeds of spring, began to sprout and grow in the hearts of the Ming army soldiers, and the morale of Lahore finally recovered. But they were curious, what happened to lead to such a turn of events?
