Wu Sangui underestimated Li Zicheng's determination, and also underestimated the will of the Shun army, which swept through the Central Plains and turned to attack and trap Beijing. He had expected to negotiate and negotiate a buffer time of nearly a month, but he miscalculated.

On the other hand, Li Zicheng did not expect Wu Sangui's attitude to be so resolute. Even though Li Zicheng, who later learned that Wu Sangui was determined to fight to the death, sent Wang Zeyao, the former governor of Miyun of the Ming Dynasty who surrendered in Beizhili, to Shanhaiguan to meet with Wu Sangui with the title of Shangshu of the Shun Dynasty's military department, and promised to give Wu Sangui some more time to think about it, and his attitude eased a lot to show his tenderness, but Wu Sangui had already made up his mind to fight, and he was perfunctory in words, but he began to prepare for war in private.

Li Zicheng led the main force to delay on the way for three days, hoping that Wu Sangui would change his mind, but he couldn't wait for the desired result, so he continued to march. On 20 April, Li Guo, the vanguard of the Shun army, led 20,000 soldiers and horses of the rear battalion to the west of Guancheng like thunder. At that time, Wu Sangui was settling down the Gaodi army that had retreated in a hurry, and there were many flaws in the defense line, Li Guo saw the flaws, and rushed through the Xiluo City that had not yet been built, and protruded from the outside of the pass to the back of the Shanhaiguan defense line. In this way, together with the Tang Tong army in the north and the main force of the upcoming Shun army, the Guan Liao army will form a flanking attack in the east, north and west.

The Guanliao army, which was firmly guarding several important strongholds in Shanhaiguan, was full of 50,000 people, and another 30,000 temporarily recruited people assisted in carrying earth and stone equipment, which was not useful in battle. There were 20,000 people in the rear camp of Li Li, the forward of the Shun army, and the main force of the Shun army led by Li Zicheng was no less than 80,000, totaling more than 100,000. In the treacherous situation of being surrounded, facing twice as many veterans of a hundred battles as himself, Wu Sangui really had no bottom in his heart. However, Guo Yunlong, Yang Shen and others, who set out to seek support from the Qing army, should not even have seen the shadow of Shenyang at this time, so it can be inferred that regardless of whether the Qing army is willing to send troops to help, even if the Qing army sends troops immediately, when they rush to Shanhaiguan, I am afraid it will be too late.

The situation is stronger than others, Wu Sangui can only grit his teeth secretly, and be mentally prepared to become a benevolent if he is outnumbered.

"Gong Chen, the enemy is outnumbered, if the battle is unfavorable, you can go to the back gate of the south wing of the city, go out of the east of the city, and then turn away the old dragon head on the south side of the city. Ordinary people don't know about this road, and the thief will definitely not be aware of it for a while, but it can be safe. On the evening of the 20th, the scouts reported that Li Zicheng's tent had arrived ten miles west of Guancheng, and Wu Sangui, who had a premonition that war was about to break out, specially found Chen Hongfan and said this to him.

"What about Wu Ye?" Chen Hongfan frowned.

Wu Sangui said angrily: "It's better to be a broken jade than a complete tile!" The lives of my Wu Sangui and tens of thousands of Guan Liao soldiers are connected with this Shanhaiguan, and there is only a bloody battle to the end! He added, "If the outcome is unfortunate at that time, I hope that Chen Gong will tell the court that I, Wu Sangui, will also be a loyal minister and martyr of the Ming Dynasty until my death!" ”

Chen Hongfan sighed: "Wu Ye is really a great husband! ”

Zhao Yuanheng, who was listening, said: "Is the Tartar here?" ”

Wu Sangui's face was gloomy, and he shook his head and said, "I can't catch up when I come." ”

Zhao Yuanheng was silent. The last straw was to no avail, even if Wu Sangui agreed to Li Zicheng's request now and went to the Shun army alone, according to the consistent behavior of the Shun army, he would inevitably be under house arrest and reduced to a prisoner like Wu Xiang in the end, and Guan Liaojun would not escape the end of being dismembered in the future. Wu Sangui said that he was also a hero in Liaodong, and the two ways of stealing life and fighting to the death were in front of him, and it was reasonable to resolutely choose the latter.

"There are many thieves and generals, and our army is weak and the enemy is on the back, and the situation is dangerous." Wu Sangui said that he was behind here, "This battle is more auspicious and less, I came to find Chen Gong, one is to let Chen Gong arrange a retreat in advance, and the other is to show Chen Gong's ambition." ”

Chen Hongfan nodded and said: "Do your best to obey the destiny of heaven, and Wu Ye's loyalty and righteousness can be seen every day." This battle is for my Ming Dynasty, no matter whether he wins or loses, Wu Ye will be famous for a hundred years. ”

Wu Sangui smiled, and his smile was half bitter.

The next day, April 21, Li Zicheng issued an ultimatum to Wu Sangui, ordering Wu Sangui to enter the camp in an ordered tone to disarm tens of thousands of Liao troops and return Wang Zeyao to his detention, but Wu Sangui flatly refused. Wu Sangui's main army was deployed along the west of the Shihe River near Xiluocheng to prevent the Shun army from directly attacking the fortifications, while Guancheng and various strongholds were garrisoned by civilians and a small number of soldiers.

Seeing that there was no hope of persuading him to surrender, Li Zicheng launched an offensive according to the original plan. The 8,000 troops of the Tang Tong army in the north cut off a stone pass and other places to prevent the Guan Liao army from fleeing north. The main force of the self-leading army and the Guan Liao army fought in the vicinity of Xiluo City. At the same time, the 20,000 troops of Li Guo's army outside the eastern pass took advantage of the moment when the main force of the Guanliao army was pinned down to storm Dongluo City, North Wing City and other strongholds.

Before the battle was about to begin, Wu Sangui, who felt that his chances of victory were slim, felt a little sad and indignant, but just when he was determined to die, Guo Yunlong, who had not heard from him for a long time, suddenly returned.

"Where's Lao Yang?" Wu Sanguixiong, who was wearing armor and holding a helmet, stood up and asked Guo Yunlong in a daze.

"Kept by the Qing army."

"How did you get here?"

"The Qing army asked me to come."

"Which Tartar asked you to come?" Wu Sangui was very strange. The Guan Liao Army has always called Qingguo a "Tartar", how did this Guo Yunlong change his personality today, and he kept saying that he was a "Qing army".

"Dolgon."

"It turned out to be him." Wu Sangui was born and grew up in Liaodong, and most of his enemies were Manchuria, and he knew the Qing army more thoroughly than the Ming Dynasty, and he was no stranger to the person "Dolgon".

In August last year, the Qing Emperor Huang Taiji died suddenly, because he did not have an heir before his death, which led to several forces within the Qing Dynasty around the successor. The contenders for the throne are Huang Taiji's second brother Daishan and his sons, Huang Taiji's eldest son Haoge, and Huang Taiji's fourteenth brother Dolgon.

Among them, Prince Li Daishan had many achievements in the early days, and was quite appreciated by his father Nurhachi, and the eldest brother Chu Ying was Nurhachi's heir after being deposed, but he was deposed in the political struggle with Huang Taiji, and could only support Huang Taiji for survival. Although Huang Taiji superficially respected Dai Shan during his lifetime, he was actually constantly suppressed. Until Huang Taiji's death, the Zhenghong and inlaid red belonging to Dai Shan have been weakened many times, and Dai Shan himself is also old and has no ambitions, and he was the first to withdraw from the competition.

Dai Shan's sons, the eldest son Yue Zhi and the second son Shuo Zhen are all small flag owners with red flags, but one of them died of smallpox in Jinan when Chongzhen invaded the Ming Dynasty in the eleventh year, and the other had a disagreement with Dai Shan and could not be supported. The third son, Sakhalian, was talented, but died young. Of the rest of the sons, only the seventh son, Man Dahai, has a slight reputation, but his qualifications are still shallow, and he is far from the point of competing for the throne with his strength. So these people are also gradually losing their competitiveness.

On the other hand, Prince Su Haoge was brave and good at fighting, and he joined the army before the age of 20 and made outstanding military achievements. In the second year of Chongzhen, he was awarded the title of Heshuo Baylor for his merits, and after Huang Taiji ascended the throne, he became the prince and took charge of the household affairs, and was on an equal footing with his uncles. Moreover, the blue flag belonging to him was changed from the yellow flag, one of the two yellow flags that originally symbolized the "color of the country", and was strengthened many times during Huang Taiji's lifetime, and his strength was strong. Originally, the Zhenghuang Banner and the Yellow Banner that were personally controlled by Huang Taiji basically supported Haoge, and the owner of the Blue Banner and Nurhachi's nephew, Prince Zheng Zilharang, was also inclined to Haoge. Therefore, once Hauge ascended the throne, he would be supported by the two yellow, two blue and four flags, accounting for half of the eight flags, and would naturally be able to stabilize the situation quickly. In terms of strength, qualifications, and ability, Haoge had quite an advantage, and at that time, important ministers of the Qing Dynasty, including Turge, Sony, Aobai, Tan Tai, etc., visited Haoge one after another, and they were not afraid to show their positions.

At first, Dorgon himself was not very strong. During the Nurhachi period, he divided the Zhenghuang Banner and the Yellow Banner under his control into the twelve sons Azig, the fourteenth son Dolgon, and the fifteenth son Duoduo. The positive yellow flag was divided into two, and Azig and Dolgon each got fifteen oxen in the flag, and each served as the owner of the small flag; In the same way with the yellow flag, Nurhachi himself and Duoduo each have fifteen oxen. But at that time, because the three sons were still young, the real power of the two banners was still in the hands of Nurhachi alone.

After Nurhachi's death, Huang Taiji reversed the colors of the two yellow flags with the two white flags, and at that time Dolgon was just a small flag owner with a white flag at half-mast with a white flag. Instead, Dordor, benefiting from the tribe's tradition of "young son succession", took over all of Nurhachi's cattle and became the true banner master. However, Azig, Dolgon, and Duoduo were born to a mother, and the relationship was very close, and the two white flags they controlled totaled ninety-eight Niulu, second only to the one hundred and ten Niulu of the two yellow flags left by Haoge Zhenglan and Huangtaiji.

In addition, in terms of military qualifications, Dolgon also made great contributions in the conquest of Lin Dan Khan in the Chahar Department and the battle of Songshan Fort against the Ming court, which was not inferior to Hauge. And Hauge was rude and rude, and Dorgon was more humble and receptive, and his reputation was better. After carefully pondering the advantages and disadvantages of both sides, Dolgon believed that the crux of his resistance was that the important ministers left behind by Huang Taiji were worried that Huang Taiji's line would be subverted and lose power. Then he judged the situation and dispelled the idea of taking the position for the time being, and re-played the cards to Daishan and Jierharang on the condition of supporting the ninth son of Huang Taiji.

chose Fulin, one was because he felt that he was too young to control, and the other thought came from the harem.

Huang Taiji was the emperor, and the five concubines were canonized as the five great blessings, and their status was outstanding. Dolgon was very clever, and first found the highest-ranking monarch Fujin and the empress Zhezhe of the middle palace, and discussed with him about Fulin as emperor. Sure enough, Zhezhe was very much in favor of Dorgon's proposal. Zhezhe himself was the daughter of the Mongolian Korqin tribe of Belmangus, who was an important ally and in-law of the Qing state, and contributed greatly to the pacification of the Mongolian tribes of the Qing state. Zhezhe didn't want the status of the Horqin tribe to decline after Huang Taiji's death, although she failed to give birth to an heir for Huang Taiji, but her niece, the son of Concubine Zhuang Ben Mutai, who was also from the end of the five great blessings of the Horqin tribe, was Fulin, and Fulin's accession to the throne would have helped the Horqin tribe the same - the son of her other niece, Concubine Hai Lanzhu, who was second only to her in the five great blessings, unfortunately died early, otherwise she would have been a more suitable candidate than Fulin.

The concubine of the fourth of the five great fortunes also had no children, and Dolgonsi and the old tradition of "young son inheritance", and also mentioned Bomu Bogol, the son of the third noble concubine Namu Zhong. Bomu Bogol is the youngest son of Huang Taiji, and his support may also be able to use traditional customs as a reason to win more support.

Of course, Zhezhe would not agree, but he would not say anything about safeguarding the interests of the Korqin Ministry, and bluntly told Dolgona Muzhong that she was the old concubine of Lin Dan Khan, and such a background would not only fail to win support, but would cause a bad impact. Only then did Dorgon make up his mind to support Fulin.

Dorgon prepared a set of rhetoric, and at the meeting to decide the heir, he first used his attitude to firmly oppose Hauge, and the two sides were at loggerheads. When he was at a stalemate, he threw out a compromise plan for himself and Hauge to take a step back and dictate Fulin, and put pressure on the influence of the harem and the Mongolian tribes behind it. Seeing this situation, they thought that Fulin was also the son of Huang Taiji, and that their own interests would not be harmed, so they changed their flags one after another and voted for Fulin. In the end, Fulin ascended the throne as the emperor, changed the Yuan Shunzhi, and was assisted by Dolgon himself of the two white flags of Dolgon, Zilharang of the two blue flags and Haoge faction, and the centrist Daishan. The aftermath of Huang Taiji's sudden death subsided.

Since the accession to the throne of Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing State, Dolgon has gradually shown his extraordinary means and ability, and even the Guan Ning Army, which is an outsider, knows that it is the real person in charge of the Qing State.

Wu Sangui's heart pounded and asked, "Where is Dolgon?" ”

"I just defeated the thief Tang Tong's army last night, and now I'm marching north of Weiyuantai." Guo Yunlong swallowed, "Dolgon left Lao Yang and asked me to inform Wu Ye that the soldiers are coming, so you can kill the thieves with peace of mind." Speaking of this, he pointed to a man who followed behind him, "This is the wife and brother of General Dolgon, and he is here to win the trust of Wu Ye." ”

Wu Sangui was uneasy, Guo Yunlong didn't say that he hadn't paid attention, and then he looked at it and saw a thin man standing behind him. The man was pale and thin, and although he was wearing a long robe, if he looked closely, he was on the left.

When the man heard Guo Yunlong's words, he first bowed his hand to Wu Sangui, and then took off the watermelon hat on his head, and then revealed the cleanly shaved head and the eye-piercing money rattail pigtail on the back of his head that Wu Sangui was all too familiar with.