Li Laiheng took the first-hand military information sent by the red team and confirmed it again and again: "Yan Xin, are you sure that the Qing army has entered the border in large numbers?"
The Red Team's strict salary management made it clear: "The scale of the Eight Banners soldiers entering the customs this time is much greater than that of Abatai, at least more than 60,000 to 70,000 troops. They are full of horsemen and the army is so vast that it is impossible to hide it. It is not just in Shanhaiguan.
, According to the rumors circulating among the people, there were large groups of Qing soldiers entering the border wall at various places in the Northern Fortress, including Manchurians and Mongolians, both in large numbers."
"What exactly did Chongzhen promise to the Manchus? To make Huang Taiji willing to work hard for him like this!"
"Master, during the peace talks between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Hong Hengjiu should be the go-between."
"Of course I know this, but how did Hong Hengjiu get the Qing army to serve Chongzhen like this? Even if the Ming court ceded land, which piece of land could be ceded to the Qing army? What's more, Huang Taiji's ambitions didn't stop at ceding land!"
Li Laiheng was very confident in the Red Team's ability to collect intelligence, so he knew that Yan Xin's news that the Qing army's troops had entered the border one after another was true. More than 60,000 to 70,000 troops? I'm afraid it was more than that!
From this point of view, Huang Taiji really wanted to leave the country empty-handed? He did think highly of Chuang Jun, but how much price did Chongzhen give to make Huang Taiji sacrifice his life for him like this?
At this time, the Chuang army had completely abandoned the Baoding Prefecture area they originally occupied. Although they won the battle, Li Laiheng not only could not cross the Baigou River to take the capital directly, but also had to abandon Baoding and retreat in large steps. This had to make the Chuang army move up and down.
Feeling deeply bruised.
Zhang Pilu and Ma Bao moved very quickly. One of them went west to reinforce Guguan, ensuring that the important place between Jin and Zhao was intact. Ma Bao pursued Bo Hetuo and collected the tribute from the southern part of Hejian Prefecture.
County, Jiaohe and Nanpi counties.
In this way, although the invaders abandoned Baoding and retreated in large steps, they formed a new complete line of defense along the Hutuo River at Guguan, Zhending, Jinzhou, Shenzhou, Wuqiang, Jiaohe, and Nanpi.
This new line of defense relies on the Hutuo River and carries out in-depth defense in the vast area between the Hutuo River and the Yellow River to ensure that the situation in Huaiqing, Weihui, Dezhou and other places is stable and will not be harassed by the coalition forces.
But now that Li Laiheng has learned that Huang Taiji has further mobilized troops into the Pass, then in the Gyeonggi area, the Ming and Qing coalition forces can mobilize at least 70,000 to 80,000 troops to go south.
Although Li Laiheng and Liu Fangliang also had about 50,000 elite soldiers and horses, the Hutuo River was not a particularly wide river, and the new defense line of the invading army was very long, with no dangerous mountains to rely on in the middle.
If Huang Taiji forced his way south at this time, Li Laiheng would have no way to stop the Eight Banners soldiers from drinking the Yellow River.
It is no wonder that Gu Junen persuaded: "Shanxi is rotten, and Yanzhao cannot be defended. The Hutuo River cannot be relied on, so he takes the risk of staying in southern Hebei. For the sake of this land, he may be surrounded by the Ming and Qing allied forces on three sides. Tian Jianxiu has thirty thousand troops.
No, are you going to let Zhao’s 50,000 invaders fight again?”
"Retreat, retreat, retreat... Shanxi has been defeated, and the morale of the army has been greatly affected. If we continue to retreat, will we be able to stop by then?" Li Laiheng retorted, "I don't believe that Huang Taiji can really do it.
He worked wholeheartedly for Chongzhen, and he entered the country empty-handed, so he must have other plans."
Gu Junen urged: "Apart from the emperor and ministers of Chongzhen, who else in the world thinks that Donglu is a good match? But the current situation is really critical. The Qing army really wants to force its way south. There is no danger to defend southern Hebei. The Eight Banners soldiers are outnumbered.
We can reach the Yellow River day and night. If we don't take two more steps back now, if there is a real fight, can we still go back to Henan?"
"No need to say more. I have made up my mind. Retreating is absolutely impossible. This is not because of my will, but because of the morale of the advancing army. Retreating again and again will inevitably affect the fighting spirit of the entire army. This invisible thing, you pass by Boye
A battle, don’t you know its value?”
Fang Yiren saw that the atmosphere between Li Laiheng and Gu Junen was becoming more and more tense and serious, so he tried to make peace with them. In his opinion, Li Laiheng's decision to insist on the intruders not to retreat was more clever.
Gu Junen's military vision is not bad, but now Li Laiheng's men are not entirely their Chu Chuang army, and a considerable part of the troops are surrendered troops with very average strength.
In addition, compared to Chu Chuang, who was accustomed to fighting on the defensive, neither Li Laiheng nor Fang Yiren could fully trust the defensive combat capabilities of the Central Plains Chuang army, especially their tenacity.
This does not mean that Chu Chuang is definitely better than the Central Plains Chuang Army trained by Li Zicheng, but because the Central Plains Chuang Army is good at offensive warfare, but has little experience in large-scale defensive operations. If the Chuang Army retreats again and again, it may really
It destroyed the morale of the Central Plains invaders.
Li Laiheng and Fang Yiren considered all these aspects and finally insisted on maintaining the defense line at Guguan, Zhending, Jinzhou, Shenzhou, Wuqiang, Jiaohe and Nanpi.
In addition to Zhang Pilu garrisoning the pass and sending troops to reinforce Taiyuan, Li Laiheng also divided the generals and ordered Ma Bao to guard Nanpi and Jiaohe counties, Ma Shiyao to garrison Wuqiang, Li Shiwei to garrison Shenzhou, and the main force of the Chuang army to garrison Zhending and
Jinzhou is convenient for reinforcing Taiyuan, and Zhending itself is also the strongest and most important city stronghold on this line of defense.
Judging from the intelligence Zhang Pihu received after taking over the defense and defense, the Chuang army was ambushed by Sun Chuanting in the Battle of Yanmen. Although they suffered heavy losses, even General Guoyi Tian Hu was shot dead by the Qing army.
However, the entire army was not wiped out. More than 30,000 soldiers and horses still fled back to Taiyuan with more than 10,000 elite troops. For some unknown reason, the Ming and Qing allied forces did not attack Taiyuan immediately after the Battle of Yanmen, but divided their forces to pacify the northern Shanxi states.
County, wiped out all the defenders and civil and military officials of the rebels in various prefectures and counties in northern Shanxi, and massacred the families of the rebels before moving south to attack Taiyuan.
These crucial few days of window time gave Tian Mixiu a chance to breathe. Although he lacked the talent to command on the battlefield, his ability in logistics planning was not low.
After the defeat and retreat to Taiyuan, Tian Jianxiu immediately began to organize defense. The entire city's soldiers and civilians were mobilized. Jiang Shishi was a general in Datong and had a high prestige in Shanxi. At this time, he had made up his mind to devote himself to the army.
Try your best to at least wait until you kill Liu Qian before doing what he wants.
With Jiang's help, the invasion army organized city defense in Taiyuan with great efficiency. In just a few days, the defeated army of more than 10,000 people regrouped and stabilized their position. Tian Jianxiu mobilized a large number of people to attack
City assistance defense.
When the allied forces of the Ming and Qing dynasties slowly arrived at Taiyuan City for unknown reasons, the city was no longer empty and deserted. Instead, under the hard work of Tian Jianxiu and Jiang, it suddenly became a city with enough power.
A solid fortress that made Sun Chuanting troublesome.
For some unknown reason, Dorgon seemed to have little interest in attacking Taiyuan. In the past few days, the main force of the coalition's siege force came from Li Chengdong's troops under Gao Jie, the commander-in-chief of the Qin Army.
Li Chengdong was quite cunning with his troops, but the city defense of Taiyuan was strong and the Qin army lacked a sufficient number of heavy Hongyi artillery. They attempted to attack the city several times, but all ended in failure.
In the past, when Sun Chuanting was in Shaanxi, he worked hard to build a train camp with a large number of artillery pieces. However, after the Battle of Xin'an, almost all the Qin army's artillery were captured by the intruders.
In the Battle of Datong and the Battle of Yanmen, the reason why the Ming and Qing coalition forces were so powerful was that their ferocious firepower relied entirely on the artillery of the Qing army. Now Dorgon is waiting and watching, relying only on Sun Chuanting's own 30,000 Qin troops. In the absence of
With the help of heavy artillery, even Taiyuan City with only 10,000 people left could not be captured.
This gave Li Laiheng time to reinforce Taiyuan. On the road from Taiyuan to Guguan, Zhang Pizhu's exploration cavalry was out in all directions. Chu Chuang was also actively deploying troops and made moves to threaten the flanks of the Ming and Qing allied forces' Western Route Army.
situation.
Of course, the most important point is that Tian Jianxiu sticks to Taiyuan and is buying time for Li Zicheng to return from Shaanxi...