On the Huben Division's position, seeing the defeated Qing army retreating, the soldiers of the Huben Division burst into cheers. The soldiers shouted "Wan Sheng!" and they stopped shouting for several minutes.
Xue Sanku, deputy leader of the Selection Regiment, found Li Zhi and said excitedly: "Commander, take advantage of the Qing army's collapse. Our cavalry can rush forward and kill for a while. We will surely gain a lot!"
Li Zhi looked at the Qing troops escaping in the distance and shook his head.
"Can't catch up!"
Xue Sanku said sarcastically: "Commander, the Qing army has completely collapsed into a large piece!"
Li Zhi said calmly: "The soldiers of the Qing army are brave, and they are fleeing now because they are afraid of our cannons. But our number is too small. If the cavalry rushes out to engage in close combat with the Qing army, and the Qing army regains its morale and counterattacks, we will not be able to bear it."
The more than 40,000 people behind the Qing army did not participate in the battle and suffered less damage. Although they were defeated, they may regain their morale at any time and turn around to fight with us."
"At present, we are still too weak. When we encounter the main force of the Qing army, we can only defend but not attack. We have more than enough in defense, but not enough in attack. If we want to eat up the main force of the Qing army that has collapsed, we have to wait until we become stronger."
Xue Sanku smiled coquettishly and said, "Good morning, sir!"
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To the south of Mali Valley, the defeated Qing army fled ten miles away. Seeing that Li Zhi's soldiers and horses never chased them out, they gradually stopped.
The valley only has one direction: north and south, so the defeated Qing troops did not disperse. No other nearby Ming army dared to attack the defeated Qing army, so the Qing army suffered no losses during the flight. Dorgon and the Manchu and Mongolian nobles rode their horses to gather the dispersed troops.
soldiers, and gradually reorganized and gathered more than 50,000 remaining soldiers.
Dorgon led more than 50,000 remaining soldiers to camp again five miles away from Li Zhi's stronghold, and confronted Li Zhi's troops from a distance.
On February 18th, the soldiers of the Qing army had been preparing for two days. Seeing that Li Zhi had never attacked, the soldiers of the Qing army gradually calmed down and their morale recovered a little. The soldiers were no longer as strong as when they had just gathered up a few days ago.
The grass and trees were all covered with soldiers, and military discipline was restored when the camp was organized for cooking.
In the central tent of the Qing army, the generals started arguing again about where to go.
Having just experienced a major defeat, all the Manchu and Mongolian nobles were a little discouraged and could not cheer up. However, the army was blocked by Li Zhi outside the Qingshan Pass and could not get out. The difficulties they faced at this time made the nobles have to worry. They surrounded
Dorgon sat on both sides of the tent, debating the next course of action.
Yibai said: "The soldiers and horses of Xuanfu, Datong, and Shaanxi in the Ming Dynasty are all in Tianjin, and the defense in the west is empty. We might as well abandon Qingshan Pass and go west, find a pass in Xuanda to attack, then go out to Mongolia and take a detour
Return to Shengjing."
Abate shook his head and said: "This strategy is inappropriate. We don't know how to defend the Xuanfu and Datong of the Ming Dynasty. It would be too risky to travel thousands of miles there. Not to mention that we don't know which pass is loosely defended and can be captured. We can attack indiscriminately."
It is a situation of losing troops and generals. From here to Xuanfu, Datong has to pass through the capital of the Ming Dynasty, which is a place where the Ming Dynasty is strictly defensive. If Li Zhi and hundreds of thousands of Ming troops come from behind and surround us, we will be doomed!"
Du Du also said: "We cannot withdraw the camp like this. If the Ming army knows that we were defeated by Li Zhi and there are only more than 50,000 people left, the Ming army will definitely surround us. With Li Zhi taking the lead, the Ming army may
Just dare to fight us!"
Yibai said: "Stay here and confront Li Zhi. What should we do if the Ming army surrounds us and Li Zhi attacks us from both front and back?"
Du Du said: "We can't enter Qingshan Pass if we stay here, and Li Zhi's men can't get out of this Mali ditch. The people of the Ming army have not received the news of Li Zhi and don't know about our defeat. How can they dare to challenge us?"
Blocking the entrance to the valley can seal the news of the defeat. When the nobles heard Du Du's words, they felt that it made some sense.
Hauge gritted his teeth and said: "We can't capture Li Zhi's stronghold, but Li Zhi doesn't dare to leave the stronghold to attack us. Li Zhi only brought a few months' worth of food at most. We blocked him in the valley and starved him to death.
!”
After hearing Hauge's words, everyone's eyes couldn't help but light up and they thought carefully about the feasibility of this strategy.
After all, Li Zhi's soldiers and horses are too strong, and he takes the initiative to fight. He can be said to be the most important enemy of the Qing Dynasty. If Li Zhi can be trapped in the valley and starve to death, it will be a good ending for the Qing army. In fact, it would be a good outcome for the Qing army.
The Qing army entered the customs this time and robbed a large amount of grain and livestock. If the robbed Nikans were killed, the grain and grass would be enough to support more than 50,000 soldiers and horses spending a year in Mali Valley.
As long as Li Zhi is dead, the Qing army's troops will not just enter the pass and plunder at will, they can capture as many Nikans as they want.
The nobles were silent for a while, thinking about the feasibility of Hauge's strategy.
Dorgon has always been proud of himself, but he was hit hard mentally by the big defeat the day before yesterday. He has been a little discouraged these days and has not said a few words in the past two days. But when he heard Hauge's words, he still
He cheered up and said: "This strategy will not work. The Ming army has more and more troops. Now there are hundreds of thousands. If we wait until June, there will be more than 200,000."
"The weather in Senei is hot. In June and July, a large number of people in our army will suffer from heatstroke. If other Ming troops come to attack us with artillery at that time, our situation will be worse than now."
After hearing Dorgon's analysis, everyone was disappointed.
Yibai took a breath and said: "If you can't attack or defend, what should you do?"
All the generals looked at Dorgon.
Dorgon closed his eyes, shook his head and said, "I have no choice now."
When the generals heard this, they were very disappointed and spread out on their chairs one by one.
But Dorgon opened his eyes and said: "But I asked the emperor for help when I was in Jinan. I think the emperor is leading his army towards Qingshan Pass. When the emperor arrives at Qingshan Pass, we will definitely have a way to get out of the customs."
When all the nobles heard Dorgon's words, their eyes lit up.
The emperor is coming.
The emperor must have a way.
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On February 25th, Li Zhi sat in the Chinese army camp, frowning and saying nothing.
Li Laosi looked at Li Zhi and said: "My boss, the Tatars are camping five miles away. They have been blocking us for almost ten days. They don't want to besiege us for several months, right?"
Li Zhi shook his head and said: "The Tatars cannot get out of the fortress, and the number of Ming soldiers and horses in Gyeonggi will only increase. The Tatars are also human beings, and they will be afraid of the Ming Dynasty's human sea tactics. They will definitely not waste time with us here."
Li Laosi asked: "Then why are the Tatars blocking us? Don't they go to other places to attack other passes?"
Zhong Feng shook his head and said, "I think the Tatars are waiting for something?"
Zheng Kaicheng asked in surprise: "What are you waiting for? Will the Tatars send reinforcements?"
Zhong Feng said: "I don't know, I just have a feeling."
While everyone was discussing there, they saw a lookout running into the tent in a panic and shouting: "General, the Tatar reinforcements have come out of Qingshan Pass!"
Li Zhi was stunned for a moment, glanced at Zhong Feng, raised his telescope, ran out, and climbed up to the watchtower in the middle of the stronghold.
Li Zhi raised his telescope on the watchtower and saw the reinforcements of the Qing army.
In the valley to the north, a mighty team was slowly approaching Li Zhi. Li Zhi took a closer look and felt that there were more than 10,000 soldiers and horses. Some of this team were wearing red-trimmed uniforms.
Some of the dragon flags on the side are blue dragon flags, which are probably the soldiers and horses of the Manchu and Qing Dynasty flags with yellow and blue flags. There are also some soldiers and horses carrying the Han military flag and the red flag.
Among the soldiers and horses, a strong man was holding a huge golden umbrella, and a fat middle-aged man was riding under the umbrella. Li Zhi looked carefully with a telescope and saw that the middle-aged man had a square face and a high nose.
He has a two-part mustache on his lips, and he is wearing a gorgeous dragon-patterned armor. The armor is black with yellow stripes and is very imposing.
Dragon-patterned armor? Emperor of the Qing Dynasty?
