~.< >-~ The dark night shrouded the earth. In the largest tent in the Qing army camp, Yue Tuo was lying on a low bed with a pale face, including Dorgon, Du Du, and Duo Feng.
When the senior generals gathered around him, all of them had sad looks on their faces.
Beside the bed, a thick candle burst out, making the shadows of everyone flicker, making it look very eerie.
After a long time, Yue Tuo, who was lying on the low bed, began to breathe quickly and slowly opened his eyes. His changes were quickly noticed by the people around him. Luo Luohun, who had been sitting by the bed, had a look of surprise on his face.
, he immediately grabbed Yue Tuo's hand and said tremblingly: "Amma, you finally woke up!"
Yue Tuo slowly closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths before opening them again. He ignored Luo Luohun, turned his eyes several times, and finally fixed his eyes on Dorgon and asked softly: "
Prince Rui, how is the war going after Japan faints today?"
Dorgon said in a deep voice: "So that the general will know that after you fainted today, I immediately ordered the entire army to withdraw and return to the camp."
Yue Tuo nodded: "You were right when you ordered the withdrawal. The morale of the entire army has been lost today. Continuing to attack will only increase casualties. Have you come out with the number of casualties among the soldiers today?"
After listening to Yue Tuo's words, Dorgon and the generals hesitated for a moment and did not answer immediately. Luo Luohun even lowered his voice and said, "Amma, you'd better rest for a while. I'll leave these matters to Prince Rui."
Just worry about it."
After hearing this, Yue Tuo's dim eyes flashed with a cold light, and he stared at the generals and said: "Now I am still General Yang Wu, I have the right to know, tell me immediately!"
Dorgon hesitated for a moment and then whispered: "Today, our army suffered casualties of more than seven...seven thousand two hundred people."
"What?
Even though Yue Tuo had been prepared, he was surprised. An abnormal blush appeared on his originally sallow face, and he lay on the bed and coughed.
"Ahem, cough, cough, mm. Yuetuo coughed and vomited another mouthful of blood.
"General, General, please call the doctor!"
It didn't matter that Yue Tuo coughed up blood like this, all the generals panicked. Those who called for doctors called for doctors, and those who poured water were all in a mess.
Oddly enough, after Yue Tuo coughed up another mouthful of blood, he felt a lot more relaxed. He took a breath and slowly lay down on the bed. He closed his eyes and rested for a while before slowly saying: "Okay.
I'm much better, I can't die now, I don't need to call the doctor."
As a military general, Yue Tuo is usually quite strong, but these days he is overwhelmed by heavy military duties. Today he was stabbed again and coughed up blood. Now he spit out a mouthful of blood that he had been suppressing.
On the contrary, I feel a lot better.
Yue Tuo thought for a while, then turned his attention to Dorgon and said, "Prince Rui, how many warriors have we lost in recent days?"
Dorgon said without thinking: "Including the warriors lost today, the number of warriors we have lost in these days has reached about 25,000."
Although everyone already knew this number, when they heard Dorgon say it again, the faces of the generals darkened again. This number already accounted for one-third of the total force of the Qing army entering the Pass. The casualties were too great.
.
Yue Tuo seemed to have no reaction and continued to ask: "Prince Rui, I am afraid that I am not strong enough to continue to command. If I officially hand over the army to you, can you estimate how long it will take if I continue to launch the attack tomorrow?
How many troops must be lost to capture the Ming army's camp!"
Dorgon was silent for a long time before saying: "If I, the king, and his troops are allowed to continue to attack the Ming army camp, it will take at least two to three days and the loss of 20,000 to 30,000 Qing warriors before we can capture the Ming army camp.
After listening to Dorgon's words, Yue Tuo closed his eyes in pain and twitched the corners of his mouth: "Two to thirty thousand, so if we want to completely wipe out this Ming army, our army will lose forty to fifty thousand Qing warriors."
Can you do it?"
No one among the generals answered, and the atmosphere in the big tent was very solemn. Although everyone did not want to admit Dorgon's prediction, they had to admit that this was a helpless fact, because these days, countless Qing warriors have used bloody weapons to
Life proves this.
At this time, Luo Luohun suddenly said sadly: "Ama, Prince Rui, we can't fight like this anymore. If we continue to fight like this, our Qing Dynasty's foundation will be completely destroyed. We'd better retreat"!
"
"What did you say?" Yue Tuo's expression suddenly became serious. He stared at his eldest son with sharp eyes and said sternly: "You mean that our hard work these days has been in vain, and the blood of so many warriors has been shed in vain.
?"
Luo Luohun also risked his life and protested: "Ama! It's not because of the children who have shaken the morale of the army. In fact, our Qing Dynasty can no longer afford to lose anything at this moment. This time our Qing Dynasty entered the customs, we have already gained countless grains and people."
, the goal has been achieved long ago. Even if we return to Shengjing now, no one can say anything. Why are we still entangled with Pang Gang and Lu Xiangsheng? Are their lives more precious than the tens of thousands of warriors of our Qing Dynasty?
?"
Luo Luohun talked more and more enthusiastically, "Our Qing Dynasty's foundation is not strong to begin with. Fighting such bloody battles of exhaustion is not our strong point. Even if we can annihilate this Ming army, so what? Children can
Of course, even if this Ming army is completely wiped out by us, the Ming Dynasty will be able to train an equally elite army of tens of thousands in less than two years. But as for us, if we lose tens of thousands of elites, we don't have more than ten years.
Can you recover?"
Listening to Luo Luohun's words, there was silence in the big tent. The expressions on the faces of the generals were different, either shocked, disdainful, or thoughtful, but still no one made a sound.
All I could hear was Yue Tuo's rapid breathing.
Yue Tuo's chest was rising and falling uncontrollably. He pressed the edge of the bed with his hands and struggled to sit up. Seeing this, Luo Luohun quickly helped his father up and put a pillow on Yue Tuo's back.
Yue Tuo sat up and stared at his eldest son without blinking. Although Luo Luohun said what he just said with a rush of blood, he still felt a sense of fear under the eyes of his father who had been afraid of him since he was a child.
At the same time, he was also afraid of his father's body. He murmured softly from the corner of his mouth: "Ahma, don't be angry, my child... My child is just talking nonsense. You must not take it to heart, otherwise you will be angry."
Yue Tuo sighed lightly, glanced at Luo Luohun and the generals, and said slowly: "Do you all think that Prince Rui and I insisted on annihilating this Ming army in order to claim credit in front of the emperor and gain promotion for ourselves?
?You are wrong. No matter how shameless my Yue Tuo is, he will not dye the crown of my head red with the blood of my Qing warriors. Prince Rui and I are so close to each other. This Ming army is actually just for one person."
"One afternoon man!"
All the generals couldn't help but exclaimed in surprise. Until now, they had vaguely understood that only one life in the entire Ming Dynasty could allow Yue Tuo and Dorgon to attack desperately regardless of the casualties of the Qing warriors.
Looking at the faces of the generals, Yue Tuocai said: "It seems that you all understand that this general is talking about Pang Gang. In just two years, this man can train tens of thousands of powerful soldiers from scratch on his own.
, and more importantly, he is also very good at using firearms. You have also seen that when Pang Gang was not included in Lu Xiangsheng's team, Lu Xiangsheng lost nine out of ten battles against us, but what was our result after Pang Gang joined in?
What? You don’t need me to tell you, I guess you all understand, right?”
"Before this, General Ben and Prince Rui have agreed that no matter how heavy the casualties are, the Pang Gang must be nipped in the bud. But now it seems that the price is too great for us to bear.
To the point where you can’t afford it?
At this point, everyone fell silent. These days of fighting had given them a thorough understanding of the power of firearms. A warrior who had trained hard for more than ten years was completely incapable of doing anything in front of a Ming army armed with firearms who had only trained for a few months.
They were unable to fight back, which frustrated them greatly.
Yue Tuo looked at the silent generals and sighed secretly. The more he fought with Pang Gang, the more scared he became. The more powerful the Qingzhou Army became, the more determined he was to kill Pang Gang.
Strongly, he knew very clearly that the strength of the Qingzhou Army was only based on one condition, that is, the Qingzhou Army with Pang Gang was a powerful Qingzhou Army. Without Pang Gang, the seemingly powerful Qingzhou Army would be like a beach.
The castle above will collapse. Not only him, Dorgon also holds the same view as him, so he and Dorgon made a decision in advance to capture the Ming army regardless of casualties.
The battalion was determined to kill Pang Gang, but now it seems that the casualties were indeed too great, and they were already serious enough to shake the foundation of the Qing Dynasty.
There was silence in the big tent, and everyone's eyes were focused on the faces of Yue Tuo and Dorgon, as if to say, the two bosses, whether they fight or leave, you should give them an accurate answer.
Yue Tuo and Dorgon did not say anything, but frowned in silence. Obviously this decision was too important for them, making it difficult for them to make a decision.
In the end, Dorgon seemed to have made up his mind and said to Yue Tuo: "General, it seems that we have all underestimated the combat power of the Qingzhou Army. If we want to complete the previous plan, we cannot afford such casualties. But
If you just want to leave like this but are unwilling to do so, let's do this. Tomorrow we will use all the strength of the army to attack again for an afternoon. It is limited to three hours. If we can capture the Ming army's camp, it will be better. If we cannot capture it, we will do it immediately.
Retreat and never stay, what do you think?"
Yue Tuo pondered for a long time, then nodded slowly and said: "Okay, as Prince Yi Rui said, we will be ready tomorrow morning and start attacking at noon. If we cannot capture the Ming army camp before dark, we will retreat immediately."