After the Dashun Army cavalry withdrew into the city, Xuzhou soldiers and civilians hurriedly closed the city gates. The huge city gates and suspension bridges were hidden in the shadow of the earthen walls. The Shun Army cavalry quickly rushed through the trenches just dug by the local soldiers and civilians, and re-entered the city.
After returning to the protection of the city wall.
Gu Kecheng suffered a lot of injuries, and almost everyone else in the army's cavalry was also injured.
This attack resulted in the loss of hundreds of elite guards of Gu Kecheng's military standard, and the loss of nearly 200 horses. All they gained in return was a group of refugees who were able to escape safely into the city.
But in terms of morale, this feat declared that the Dashun Army would never give up any of its people.
When Gu Kecheng, with blood still flowing in his hands, was walking on the cross street of Xuzhou City with the support of Xu Du and others, the people in the whole city were excited. The enthusiasm of the people was really refreshing.
Nothing can compare to this!
Even the gentry whose interests were harmed by the reform of the camp system were affected by this enthusiastic atmosphere. Under the leadership of Yan Ermei, many old celebrities, wealthy gentry, and officials of the Ming Dynasty who had served at home,
These arrogant people who always think highly of themselves also flocked to both sides of the street to watch the return of the hero.
Everyone extended their hands to the team of warriors led by Gu Kecheng. If the season had not allowed it, people would have easily seen the beautiful scene of flowers being thrown on the horses' heads.
The elderly, women and children, celebrities, ordinary people, poor people, wealthy and powerful gentry, local subordinates, noble literati, all gathered on both sides of the streets of Xuzhou City.
The cheers became an ocean, symbolizing the fighting spirit and courage of the defenders who would never surrender under the pressure of Dorgon's army.
Xu Du supported Gu Kecheng and asked with a hint of reproach: "Does Jing Lue really want to use his body of gold to exchange for the people to withdraw from the city? What if, what if there is an accident, how will the overall situation be dealt with?"
Gu Kecheng laughed loudly: "Xu Sheng! At that time, of course you will be in charge of the overall situation of Xuzhou City, and of course the overall situation of the world will be handled by the King of Jin!"
After finishing speaking, Gu Kecheng looked around and shouted loudly to the surrounding soldiers and civilians:
"The Donglu and the Rui Chiefs went south to slaughter and plunder Cizhou, Daming, Puzhou, Yuncheng...many cities and civilians have been burned to the ground, and the people's land has all been reduced to ruins.
How can we tolerate the atrocities committed by the Tatars? The King of Jin will arrive at the battlefield at any time with his troops. As long as we guard the walls of Xuzhou, we can watch the King of Jin wipe out Hu Chen!"
The knights standing around Gu Kecheng, after this military adventure, were filled with blood and passion to save the people.
They then shouted: "Sweep away Hu Chen!"
Then the sound spread throughout the city. The civilians carrying logs and fallen rocks were shouting, the scribes who praised military affairs in the supervising office were also shouting, and the soldiers with cannons and muskets at the top of the city were also shouting.
Shouting, even traders and lackeys, butchering dogs and selling meat, all shouting like this.
Many people don't know what the specific connotation of these four words is, but everyone vaguely understands that it probably means defeating the Qing army and preventing the Qing army from slaughtering Xuzhou City.
This point is equally important to everyone in the city.
The sound became louder and louder, and the morale of the defenders also increased. In the end, even the Qing troops outside the city could hear and feel this heat wave that should not be underestimated.
Nikan's face froze, and he returned to Dorgon's horse with a livid face.
The regent's 100,000-strong army appearing on the horizon was unable to boost Nikan's inner fighting spirit. He once again understood what Bohetuo had said many times:
The bandits are different from the Ming army and must not be insulted!
"Prince Regent, the morale of the remaining rebels is extremely high. The city of Xuzhou is heavily defended. It is also a majestic city with deep ditches and high fortifications. I'm afraid... I'm afraid that we won't be able to get down to the city within a month or two."
What Nikan said was relatively optimistic. Others like Shang Kexi and Kong Youde, who knew the firepower of the Qing and Shun armies' red barrage artillery, saw the tight defenses and solid earthen forts in Xuzhou City. They were not sure how long it would take to break the city.
It is estimated that there are even pessimistic predictions of more than three months.
Nikan said that Xuzhou City could be conquered in one or two months. This was already based on the Qing army's 100,000 troops, leaving no remaining troops to defend Li Laiheng, and attacking Xuzhou with all their strength.
Dorgon's expression was stern. He just stretched out his hand, drew a line along the outer edge of Xuzhou City with his finger, and said:
"Dig trenches in the north and west sides of Xuzhou City first, and build walls inside and outside the trenches. To the west of our army's camp, we also dig deep trenches and build walls to guard against reinforcements from stray thieves."
According to the reports from the Qing army's cavalry, the upper-level generals of the Qing army have almost understood the situation of Li Laiheng's army entering Xuzhou. They estimate that the Dashun Army's reinforcements and leading cavalry troops will be able to arrive near Xuzhou in one day at the latest, and the following main infantry will be
, it may take more than two days.
Therefore, Dorgon's strategy was to use these few days to quickly dig trenches around the city and build a wall more than one foot high. Due to the large city of Xuzhou, and the fact that not far to the south of Xuzhou is Nanming's control area,
Therefore, Dorgon gave up his plan to surround Xuzhou City on all sides, and focused only on isolating the west side of Xuzhou City.
By this time, the cold weather had gradually subsided, and it was already early March of the first year of Guangzhong. The ice and snow gradually melted, and the soil became muddy and moist, which was not conducive to marching, but it was relatively easy to dig trenches.
.
The 80,000 reinforcements led by Li Laiheng were divided into two groups: the vanguard cavalry and the main infantry, and they marched eastward one after another to catch up. The vanguard cavalry was very close to the current location of the Qing army, and the exploratory cavalry and Ye Bushou from both sides had even appeared.
Hands-on situation.
Therefore, Bo Hetuo further said: "Xuzhou City is difficult to attack. Please put digging trenches and building walls as the first priority, and not attacking Xuzhou City for the time being. The bandit's light cavalry has rushed to my side, and we must use heavy troops to protect the dig and stop it."
Only when thieves harass us can we make progress."
Dorgon paused slightly and ordered Bo and Tuo to personally lead the troops to escort the Qing army's task of digging trenches. However, most of the other clan members and generals were no longer optimistic about the prospects of the war in Xuzhou.
Even Nikan, who had always been a radical, felt how dim the prospect of the Qing Dynasty's southern expeditionary army was after seeing the boiling public sentiment among Xuzhou's soldiers and civilians.
Fan Wencheng couldn't help but said: "The navy of the Ming Dynasty has not appeared near Xuzhou City so far. How could their movements be so slow!"
At this time, except for Dorgon, who still had confidence in victory, the rest of the Qing army could only place their hopes of victory on the arrival of the Nanming army.
The two traitors of the Ming army, Kong Youde and Shang Kexi, looked at each other and felt an incredible sense of absurdity in their hearts.
How could things get so ridiculous?
Only Dorgon's expression remained untouched. He had put his personal rights above the national destiny of the Qing Dynasty and the national future of the Manchu people. For Dorgon, he could only avoid the disaster caused by the food shortage in Hebei by going all out to the south.
Only when his political status was shaken could he avoid the remnants of Xianghuang Banner and Zhenghuang Banner taking the opportunity to counterattack. Even if the battle failed, Dorgon also imagined that he could take advantage of the passage to escape into the Nanming area, obtain food supplies, and then go north again or return to Beijing by sea.
He looked to the west, looked to the south, his eyes lit up again:
"Li Laiheng is just a small man, how can he compete with Gu? The three armies immediately built walls and dug trenches. We were ready to stand up and block Li Laiheng outside Xuzhou City and seize Pengcheng inside.
Since the bandits want to hold on to Xuzhou City, we will hold on to these two trenches and wear down the vigor of the reinforcements. When the enemy army is exhausted, the lone general will personally unite the elites of the two white flags and ride on the wind to advance directly to capture Li Laiheng.
As long as the formation is used to kill this thief, even if there are millions of people, they will surely fall apart."
Dorgon's two white flags also had a group of snipers with excellent archery skills. He had already made plans to take Li Laiheng's head among the thousands of troops. The task of these sharp archers was to fight between the two armies.
At that time, he directly shot Li Laiheng himself.
Fan Wencheng also said: "Hong Chengchou once said that the bandits and generals all take the lead and risk their own lives. Li Laiheng is the first-class brave man among the bandits, and his bravery is no less than that of Batulu in our country.
, this battle will definitely lead to the vanguard, this is a great opportunity for our army to kill the thief Xiao Li."