Wu Sangui fled back to Ningyuan almost alone from Songshan and then from Xingshan, and he lost all the men and horses in his department, and he did not hesitate to do so. The imperial court still trusted and valued him, and after he was promoted to commander, he authorized Ningyuan Liao soldiers and reinforcements to be at his disposal.

For Wu Sangui, the most important thing at hand is to collect the scattered soldiers, recruit soldiers, and regroup troops. By the beginning of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Wu Sangui's training had reached 10,000 people, and the newly trained soldiers in other towns were about 25,000 people.

Chongzhen completely entrusted Wu Sangui with the important task of relieving the siege of Jinzhou, Songshan and Tashan after the defeat of Songshan, and ordered him to use each other, drive each horse step by step, encourage the heart of death, and work hard, swear to advance and suppress, fight laziness, and relieve the siege in one drum. It was obvious that Wu Sangui had become Ming's only reliance outside the pass at this time, and he relied on this reorganized army to continue to hold on to Ningyuan.

Wu Sangui knew that he was guilty of fleeing, perhaps out of the idea of atonement, and in the second year after the Battle of Songshan, as soon as Songshan was broken, he and another fugitive general, Bai Guangen, led 4,000 troops to try to organize an attack. They marched to Tashan and camped, Tashan was already under siege by the Qing army, Wu Sangui ordered half of the troops to Gaoqiao, encountered the Qing soldiers, but retreated without a fight. Wu Sangui's military operation was probably to test the reality of the Qing army, not to find Qing soldiers to fight.

After four days, Zu Dashou was in a completely desperate situation, and he was willing to surrender the city. He made a promise to the Qing generals and kings who besieged Jinzhou: "If I am obedient, Ningyuan can also get it." The kings allowed him to surrender.

So after a year of siege, Jinzhou finally conquered without a fight. As soon as Jinzhou was broken, the kings discussed the strategy of Ningyuan, and when the wife of Chengzu Dashou had not moved back, and the general soldier Wu Sangui had not yet been replaced, he should go there urgently. They believed that Wu Sangui was guilty of fleeing and would definitely be removed by the imperial court, and when he had not yet been replaced, he would take advantage of Zu Dashou's relationship with him in Ningyuan to seize Ningyuan in one fell swoop.

However, Wu Sangui did not want to surrender, and the prince of Shuozheng, Jierharang, and the king of Dororui, Dolgon, had sent people to Ningyuan to get in touch with Zu Dashou's son. The officials defending the city knew that Zu Dashou had surrendered and was not allowed to enter the city. The people sent were turned away from the city and shouted to the city, but the city guards ignored them without listening to a few words, and the plan to take Ning Yuan finally failed.

Songshan and Jinzhou were captured one after another, Xingshan and Tashan could be broken day and night, and Qing Taizong and his kings and ministers turned their attention to Ningyuan. This city is only two hundred miles away from Jinzhou, the cavalry can reach in an instant, Ningyuan originally had Jinzhou and Songshan cities as a barrier, and the Ming soldiers advanced and retreated freely. At this time, Ning Yuan had been directly exposed to the powerful Qing soldiers, and the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers stationed in this city had lost their sense of security. What the Ming Dynasty's advisers and commanders were most worried about was that the Qing soldiers could drive directly to the city at any time and encircle Ningyuan with the tactics of encircling Jinzhou.

There were indeed people within the Qing Dynasty who advocated taking advantage of the great victory of the Qing army to quickly capture Ningyuan. Zu Kefa, Zhang Cunren, Ma Guozhu, Lei Xing and other Han officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate suggested to Qing Taizong: "Since Jinzhou has been captured, Ningyuan has fallen into horror, Shanhaiguan is in turmoil, Yanjing is shaken, and Wu Sangui, the general soldier of the Ming army, is guilty of killing because of the loss of Songzhou and Jinzhou. Zu Dashou's wife and children are still in Ningyuan, and they have already returned with a heart. ”

Although the Qing Dynasty had this idea, what the Ming Dynasty feared did not happen, because Qing Taizong did not intend to take advantage of the victory to increase his troops in Ningyuan, and he thought that the Ming officers and soldiers of Ning Yuan, who were in a panic, were unable to resist the attack of the Qing army. When dealing with the officers and men of the Ming Dynasty in Jinzhou and their families, he particularly stressed that all officials in Jinzhou, who originally belonged to Ningyuan, should be kept for preservation and must not be harmed.

It seems that he wants to use the policy of appeasement to get Ningyuan without fighting, and at the same time, Qing Taizong sent Eight Banners to garrison the main road west of Ningyuan to maintain military pressure on Wu Sangui.

Time passed day by day, and it was already April, and there was still no sign of Wu Sangui's surrender. The Han official Zhang Cunren once again advanced Ningyuan's strategy, this time he did not advocate marching into Ningyuan, and proposed a peaceful offensive against Ningyuan, clarified the policy, and recruited him to return.

He said: "It is advisable for the emperor to issue an edict to the town generals and other officials in Ningyuan City, declaring that Songzhou and Jinzhou have no reason for life and death, and that they should be punished for their differences. Wu Sangui is not a genius, can you not shake his mind?"

He remembered that when he was guarding Dalinghe City, he repeatedly read the letter of surrender from Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty, which prompted the generals who defended the city, including himself, to think about it, and finally surrendered the city. He thought that this was a successful experience, and especially reminded Qing Taizong to take advantage of the fact that Ning Yuan was in a hurry now, and quickly wrote a letter to Ning Yuan, Wu Sangui and others to persuade him to surrender: "With the blessing of my emperor, a piece of paper is better than adding tens of thousands of troops. ”

Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty accepted Zhang Cunren's suggestion and immediately wrote letters in his name to the generals of Ningyuan, Wu Sangui, and the besieged officers and soldiers of Tashan and Xingshan to surrender. Ergetu, the special envoy of the Criminal Department, rushed to the front and handed over his letter to the besieging kings of the city, Belle, who carried it everywhere.

Led by Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty, mobilizing so many people to write letters to Wu Sangui did constitute a powerful political offensive. Their letters are all written in a very practical way, and they all proceed from the actual situation of individuals, and they understand their reasoning, move them with affection, understand their interests and disadvantages, and tell them eloquently, which cannot help but move people.

How should Wu Sangui feel when he reads these letters, which are like snowflakes? I am afraid that he will not be indifferent, because these people who wrote the letters, except for Qing Taizong, are all his friends, so they know him best, and they can also gain insight into his ideological activities, especially they can understand his situation at this time, and their words cannot but cause his thoughts to fluctuate. First of all, Wu Sangui's situation is the most difficult moment in his thirty years, he is really caught in the vortex of isolation and the most dangerous, he is at a crossroads and needs to make a choice.

They warned Wu Sangui that Chongzhen would not forgive him for the sin of escaping, Wu Sangui had suffered heavy losses militarily, and now he was holding on to Ningyuan, and he was alone, if the Qing soldiers came to the city, the Ming Dynasty was unable to rescue, and then they were either forced to surrender or die for the end of the Ming Dynasty, and there was nothing else to do.

As Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty clearly announced, the early surrender was the greatest, and the Songjin generals who were forced to return by the situation were completely different from them. All this, Wu Sangui knew his current situation better than anyone else, and he would certainly not doubt the sincerity of their surrender conditions from the preferential treatment that his friends had received from the other party. Qing Taizong issued an appeal to him to surrender, and indeed chose an appropriate time, earnestly, not to say that it is insincere, to analyze the matter for him, not to say that it is not deep, to put forward preferential conditions, not to say that it is not generous. In short, all of this is impeccable and has great seduction.

However, Wu Sangui did not react to this, and these letters were sunk like stones in the sea, and did not get a single response, which was somewhat surprising. Wu Sangui's best friends were full of things that they thought were sure of, but they didn't show up, which couldn't help but disappoint them.

In the blink of an eye, summer went to the end of autumn, and it was already the early winter season of October of the seventh year of Chongde, and the surrender of Qing Taizong and Wu Sangui's friends still did not have any effect, and Wu Sangui continued to remain silent and did not answer. At this time, Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty took his elder brother Abatai as the general and organized another expedition to Guannai. At the same time, he still did not give up his struggle for Wu Sangui, and once again sent a letter of persuasion to Wu Sangui.

Qing Taizong's letter was written short and clear, but in fact he urged Wu Sangui to answer as soon as possible, and he ordered the chief military officer Zu Dashou to write to Wu Sangui, hoping to impress him with Wu Sangui's most respected and trusted Zu Dashou. Zu Dashou immediately wrote a letter and attached a knife that he often wore as a token to win Wu Sangui's trust.

The letter of Qing Taizong and Zu Dashou was sent to Ningyuan, but it was like a stone sinking into the sea, and there was no response. Soon, Wu Sangui replied with practical actions, which was to continue to confront the Qing army. Wu Sangui, the general soldier of Ningyuan of the Ming army, led the horse infantry into battle, and the Qing soldiers defeated his cavalry, and obtained 72 horses, 37 pairs of armor, 39 bows and a small number of other military items.

Zu Dashou deeply felt the favor of Taizong of the Qing Dynasty, and he proposed that it was advisable to take the five cities outside the Guanwai City, Ningyuan, Shahou, Zhonghou, Qiantunwei, and Zhongqian. He thought that the Ming army was already weak, Yanjing was shaken, and the people outside the customs were panicked, not to mention that Wu Sangui's general soldiers were deeply worried, and the civil and military officials were all terrified. Be at a loss what to do. It should be taken at this time, or to be appeased or requisitioned.

The meaning of Zu Dashou's suggestion is to focus on subduing Wu Sangui. When he surrendered in Jinzhou, he made a promise to surrender Wu Sangui, but it has not been effective, so he asked Qing Taizong to send troops to attack the city of Zhonghou where Sangui's family is located, and force Sangui to surrender to Qing automatically. But this suggestion was not implemented, and Qing Taizong died half a year later.

On the eighth day after Zu Dashou made this suggestion, he suddenly received a letter from a Mongol named Sone sent by Wu Sangui. Wu Sangui finally replied, and finally gave Zu Dashou a little face, and Zu Dashou immediately presented the letter to the Qing Taizong Imperial Tour.

This means that Wu Sangui has already made up his mind, but he has not yet made up his mind, and he is still considering it, Wu Sangui chose this time to write a letter to Zu Dashou, which is indeed after some careful consideration. At this time, it was only more than a year before the death of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty was already on the eve of the fall of the country. The peasant rebel army headed by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong is vigorously developing, and there is no doubt that the spearhead is pointing at Beijing.

The Qing troops outside the customs were approaching Shanhaiguan and then to Beijing, and the two major military forces inside and outside the Guanguan, no matter how different their respective interests were, actually formed a flanking attack on Beijing. The Ming Dynasty is like a dying patient, has lost any ability to defend itself, and the only thing waiting for it is its demise, and all people of insight have seen that the death of the Ming Dynasty is only a matter of time.

With Wu Sangui's cleverness, he would not fail to see this sinister situation. A year ago, he refused to reply to the letter of persuasion from many sides, indicating that he had not lost faith in the Ming Dynasty, and now he has replied to the letter, at least reflecting that his confidence is beginning to waver. He hesitated on the matter of reducing the clearance, and although he expressed a little intention to surrender, it was just to leave a basis for the future reduction of the liquidation, and to firmly grasp the initiative in the choice of advance and retreat in his own hands.

At least for the time being, he didn't plan to surrender, or further, he didn't have the idea of surrendering at all. He did not write directly to Qing Taizong, and did not say a word about the kindness of this emperor who was eager to be appeased, which made it clear that he did not want to respect or recognize him as the emperor, and only replied to Zu Dashou's persuasion from the perspective of relationships. He also knew that this letter would definitely fall into the hands of Qing Taizong, so he revealed his dilemma in a tactful tone, obviously seeking their understanding, but in fact politely refusing to persuade him to surrender.

In his reply to him, Qing Taizong took the trouble to explain the situation and urged him to return as soon as possible, but Wu Sangui ignored it. After that, until Shunzhi ascended the throne, he continued to appease, but did not change his mind, and even he once decided to surrender to the peasant army instead of the Qing Dynasty. Wu Sangui is indeed different from others, he has not had the idea of lowering the Qing for a long time.