Such a long confrontation and constant fighting were very bad for the Ottoman Empire, after all, the European direction and the Tsarist Russian direction could not really be unguarded at all, and the long confrontation, the loss of national strength was unparalleled, even if the Ottoman Empire was able to defeat the Manchu Qing in the end, it would inevitably be greatly damaged, and there was a danger of being taken advantage of by the Tsarist Russian Empire and the European side. Heavenly Sounds "." 2

It's just that the Ottoman Empire wanted to fight a decisive battle, but the Manchus did not cooperate, and they had no feasible way, so they could only drag it with the Manchus.

The Ottoman emperor gritted his teeth, even if it was a confrontation, but he didn't believe it, he Ottoman Empire was founded for hundreds of years, with a vast territory and a large population, could it be that the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which had risen less than 20 years ago, consumed national strength?

However, the Ottoman emperor was wrong, and the Ottoman Empire may not be able to afford such a long confrontation that consumes national strength, but the Manchus can afford to drag it out.

Because the enemies on the Manchu border, except for the Ming in the east, were only those of the Ottoman Empire in the west.

In the direction of the Ming Dynasty, because the Ming Dynasty is too powerful, Dolgon knows very well that if the Ming Dynasty is determined to attack the Qing Dynasty, the current Qing Dynasty will have no effect on how many troops are stationed on the border, so Dolgon gambled, almost did not guard against the Ming Dynasty at all, and devoted all his energy to the confrontation with the Ottoman Empire.

In addition, the wealth of India is undoubted, it has the world's largest granary, and a large population, but a few years ago the Manchu Qing Dynasty conquered the Mughal Empire, and a lot of production was destroyed because of the war, but now that the Mughal Empire has perished, all the destroyed production can be gradually restored.

For example, at present, Dolgon has begun to resume the production of armor and weapons in India, and as long as there is a period of time, armor, weapons and soldiers can continue to reinforce the Syrian battlefield from India.

As long as the Manchu Eight Banners were not damaged, no matter how many soldiers the other ethnic groups lost, they could not hurt the foundation of the Manchu Dynasty, but the Ottoman Empire did not, because there were many tribal forces and too many casualties among the various ethnic groups, which was easy to lead to large-scale rebellions.

Therefore, with such good conditions and such a long period of national power consumption, the Manchu Qing Dynasty had the absolute upper hand.

Sure enough, with the passage of time, the Qing army was still on the defensive in the first two years, and in the third year, the Qing army was able to attack and defend each other, and in the fourth year, the Qing army began a local counteroffensive, and more than half of the Qing soldiers were covered with armor, and their combat effectiveness increased greatly.

In the fifth year, most of the Qing soldiers were covered with armor, on the other hand, the Ottoman Empire, the newly replenished soldiers all had no armor, only simple weapons, if it continued to be consumed like this, the situation would evolve into less and less armor of the Ottoman army, while the armor of the Qing army was more and more, and the comprehensive strength of the two sides was gradually changing.

In May, the Qing army numbered 900,000, while the Ottoman army could only maintain about 700,000.

The Qing army continued to take the initiative to attack the Ottoman army, and the offensive and defensive postures of the two sides were suddenly reversed, turning into an offensive of the Qing army, while the Ottoman army was on the defensive.

On this day, the first large-scale fighting in the five years of the standoff, both sides committed more than 300,000 troops to fight for the city of Raqqa, an important city in eastern Syria.

The capture of Raqqa means that the capture of nearly half of Syria is of extraordinary significance to the entire campaign, and can almost be regarded as a turning point.

In order to achieve victory in this local war, the Qing army dispatched more than half of the Manchu Eight Banners, nearly half of the flint rifle team and other most powerful armies, as well as nearly 400 imitation Shenwu field artillery.

In order to hold Raqqa, the Ottoman army also dispatched heavy armor legions, some iron cavalry corps, arquebuses and other Ottoman elite forces, as well as more than 600 iron cannons of various types to fight.

"Boom! Rumble! "Bombardment----- shells bombarded each other, and soldiers on both sides were killed at every moment.

"Xiuxiuxiu------" arrows rained down, piercing the bodies of one soldier after another.

Blood flowed, fierce battle for three whole days, around the city of Raqqa, floating corpses, blood flowed like a river, the bloody breath spread throughout the sky of the entire Kara city within a radius of dozens of miles, the Qing army killed and wounded 180,000, the Ottoman army killed and wounded 150,000, but the Qing army also successfully entered the city of Raqqa, and the focus of the battle then shifted to the city.

Gradually, even the Ottoman army continued to increase its troops, but it was not able to drive the Qing army out of Raqqa, because while the Ottoman army continued to increase its troops, the Qing army also continued to increase its troops.

"Damn Dolgon!" The commander of the Ottoman army, Deniseri, was grim and angry.

He knew that Raqqa could no longer be saved, and if he continued to fight fiercely in Raqqa City, it would only be their Ottoman Empire who would suffer.

This is a huge battle for the survival of both countries, and any unnecessary loss could jeopardize the victory or defeat of the entire war.

The city of Raqqa had fallen, but they had another, more fortified city of Damascus.

In recent years, the Ottoman Empire has gradually become weak, and the Ottoman commander Deniseri, under the concern and foresight, has established a large number of defenses in the Damascus area, relying on the strong Damascus city.

"The marshal has an order, the whole army retreats to the city of Damascus!" Immediately, the Ottoman commander Deniseri ordered the Ottoman army to withdraw from the city of Raqqa, and at the same time, in order to avoid the pursuit of the Qing cavalry, he also left a 10,000-strong Ottoman cavalry behind.

However, the Qing army apparently had no intention of pursuing the retreating Ottoman army and continuing the fighting.

In fact, after such a long battle, the Qing soldiers were already exhausted, and the city of Raqqa had just been captured, and it still needed to be consolidated, and all kinds of military supplies also needed to be replenished, so Dolgon gave up the idea of pursuing the retreating Ottoman army.

All in all, after this battle, the strategic contrast between the Ottoman Empire and the Manchu Qing was already at a disadvantage.

"Hehe, Ottoman Empire, you are destined to be defeated by my Qing Dynasty again!" In the camp of the Qing army, Dolgon sneered.

Defeat the Ottoman Empire, the Qing Dynasty will be able to annex a large area of the Ottoman Empire again, and even annex the entire Ottoman Empire, the Qing Dynasty only continues to grow stronger, and it is finally possible to achieve the status of equal to the Ming Dynasty, the ultimate goal is to defeat the Ming Dynasty and return to the Central Plains!

After resting for five days in Raqqa and bringing all the supplies, Dolgon led the Qing army to continue the attack on Syria, killing the largest citadel in Syria and the center of Syria, Damascus.

----------------------------