In the previous Battle of Songshan, Shanxi General Wang Puxian fled, and Wu Sangui followed closely, which eventually led to the great defeat of the Ming army. Many generals, including Bai Hu, were trapped in Songshan City for half a year. Although he finally escaped due to Lu Xiangsheng and Zhou Xian. However, because the Ming army's troops were severely damaged, they were unable to control many places in Liaodong, resulting in the slaughter of Zhongtun in Guangning, including all of Bai Hu's relatives.

When Zhou Xian mentioned this, Bai Hu suddenly changed color, clenched his fists, and remained silent for a long time without saying anything.

Zhou Xian brought the pot and poured some wine for Bai Huo, and continued: "The Ming army was too imaginative. In my opinion, it is better to rely on yourself than to rely on anyone."

Bai Hu frowned and said, "But we only have more than 12,000 people. How can we defeat the Qing army?"

Zhou Xian shook his head gently and said, "The battle against the Qing Dynasty is a national war of the Ming Dynasty, and it is not something that one or two generals can decide. Now the northern region is in chaos, and the imperial court can mobilize troops only in Liaodong Wu Sangui, Tianjin Luo Yangxing, Juyongguan Tang Tong and other several troops. Even if we add more than 10,000 people to the north, there are less than 50,000 people. In the past, when fighting with the Qing army, three times the Ming army could fight against the Qing army. With this little force, even if we can barely defeat more than 10,000 Qing cavalry outside Tongzhou, the loss will be great. If the Qing cavalry who entered Shanxi returned to the capital, where should the imperial court dispatch troops to rescue? Besides, several imperial troops, Tang Tong was stationed in the capital, Luo Yangxing lost troops and generals, and the only Wu Sangui who could fight with the Qing army had only 20,000 troops. In real battle, it is still unknown who will win or lose."

Liu Konghe asked, "What good strategy does the governor have?" He sent troops with Bai Hu and was also very concerned about this matter.

Zhou Xian said: "This year, our army has completely stabilized the Jin and restored the two states, and sent soldiers to break into Gaizhou several times. Although we have lost 50 posts, we have also restrained many Qing troops. Moreover, Han Yong has also made a world near Liaoyang and directly threatened the hinterland of the Qing army. In Korea, the three lands belong to our army, and although it is still not threatened Liaodong at present. However, in the past, the Qing army was unable to transfer troops from Korea and transfer grain, but instead had to continuously import troops to Korea. In this year, the Qing army suffered a great blow, not only in terms of military strength, but also in terms of wealth. You must know that Liaodong is bitter and cold, and its recovery ability is far lower than that of the Ming Dynasty. The Qing army invaded the Ming Dynasty this time, and I think it is more important to rely on plunder to supplement their previous losses."

Everyone nodded and agreed with Zhou Xian’s words.

Chen Mingxia said: "The court had been wrong in treating the Qing army from the beginning. If a elite soldier was trained to continuously break into Liaodong like the Qing army entering the pass, it would be impossible to make the Qing army so strong."

Bai Hun's face looked ugly. He had been stationed in Liaodong for a long time, and he was among the wrong executors.

But Zhou Xian shook his head, "What the hundreds of historians said makes sense, but it is not entirely true. You should know that the mountains and hills in Liaodong are far more complex than those in the Central Plains. Although elite troops entering Liaodong can cause some losses to the Qing army, they are also prone to fall into the heavy siege of the Qing army. The court lacks food and silver, and it is not completely wrong to want to hit the Qing army with a fatal blow to completely solve the Liaodong situation. What is wrong is that the court underestimated the strength of the Qing army, and the faction of the army is complicated and the struggle between each other is lacking, which eventually leads to continuous defeat. In my opinion, if you want to defeat the Qing army, you cannot think of using it in one move and one move. Instead, you should adopt different strategies according to different situations and do everything possible to attack the Qing army. If you regard the Qing Dynasty as a big tree, first cut off its water source, then remove its branches and leaves, then cut off its branches and trunks, and finally uproot it."

Chen Mingxia nodded gently.

Bai Hu heard Zhou Xian go around and seemed to have some ideas, so he asked directly: "What are the good suggestions do the governor have?"

Zhou Xian sighed and said, "After our army conquered the Jin and restored the two states, I sent someone to contact Wu Sangui to send troops from Ningyuan, and the two armies worked together to attack the Qing army. However, General Wu refused for various reasons, which made Huang Qianshi alone in southern Liaoning. I forced me to send troops to Korea, trying to restrain the Qing army from there in order to stabilize the two states. But even so, the fifty posts were still taken away by the Qing army. Wu Sangui has currently controlled Liaodong, including more than 50,000 troops, including the Shanhaiguan Guard. But after the Battle of Songshan, did he fight with the Qing army once? As far as I know, Huang Taiji and Dorgon have sent people to contact Wu Sangui to convince him to surrender to the Qing Dynasty."

Bai Hu's face changed, "What the commander-in-chief means is that Wu Sangui may surrender to the Tartars?"

Zhou Xian shook his head, "General Wu is a smart man. Although the Qing Dynasty is powerful now, the Ming Dynasty is not without a chance. He will not surrender to the Qing Dynasty unless he has to. The smartest way is to preserve his own army's strength and then he will be priced at the time. The capital is in crisis, and he only brought 20,000 soldiers. He did not want to defeat the Qing army at all, but was forced to send troops to rescue under the pressure of the court. As long as he could restrain the Qing army and prevent them from attacking the capital, he could explain to the court. As for how much damage the Qing army caused to the capital, how many people were killed, and how many young and strong people were kidnapped, it was not a question he considered."

Liu Konghe had a straightforward personality and couldn't help but curse: "If the Ming Dynasty is so critical, if Wu Sangui really acted like this, how could he be worthy of the court's kindness to him? General Bai, you are from Liaodong and you are considered an old acquaintance with Wu Sangui. Is he really such a villain?"

Bai Xu was silent for a while, and finally nodded gently. "Supervisor, but now the only one who can resist the Qing army is the 20,000 people from Wu Sangui. I heard from you that I don't want our army to be with Wu Sangui, so how should we do it?"

Zhou Xian smiled bitterly and said, "By relying on our army's forces to go north, it is a luxury to defeat the Qing army. How to make the losses of the Ming Dynasty smaller and the attack on the Qing army larger is the most realistic. I think the first goal you have achieved is to ensure that Tongzhou is not lost, and 7,000 infantrymen successfully enter Tongzhou to help defend the city. The purpose of the Qing army entering the pass is to loot wealth and plunder the young and strong. Your second goal is to rob the wealth from them and regain the young and strong."
Chapter completed!