Under the fierce offensive of the Qing army, Gongchangling has been holding on for half a month, and in this half month, the offensive of the Qing people has never stopped, which has brought great pressure to the Hongtang soldiers.

Of course, the Qing army's own losses were also heavy, more than 100,000 soldiers took turns to enter the battlefield in half a month, and more than 30,000 people were killed in battle alone, not to mention a huge group of wounded soldiers.

However, the Gongchangling Walled City was also crumbling, and the number of Hongtang defenders in the city who could still maintain their combat ability was no more than 30,000, and the battle with the Qing army could be said to be a defeat for both sides.

It's just that even so, the two sides didn't think about stopping, the more they felt each other's strength, the more the two generals had to persevere, otherwise their companions and relatives behind each other would be threatened by this.

The firearms of both sides gradually began to mute fire after a long period of fighting, limited by the materials and craftsmanship of this era, even if it is a high-quality firearm produced by Hongmen, in the process of long-term and frequent use, the gun chamber gradually begins to deform, and the danger of exploding may occur at any time, forcing the Hongtang artillery to begin to cherish the few remaining times of use.

The second-hand goods seized by the Qing army from the battlefield and obtained from the Koreans were even more unbearable, and there were several explosions in the early days, so that the one or two artillery pieces that are still sporadically used, as well as the shooters of the hundreds of muskets, were terrified when they used firearms, for fear that one of them would accidentally not die in the hands of the enemy, but innocently died at the mouth of his own gun.

After eating the bitter fruit of the defeat of the last time in order to save trouble, and crossed the defenders of Liaoyang City, and finally made their own side suffer the consequences and fall into the bitter fruit of defeat, this time the Qing Dolgon They were fully prepared for a steady battle, and did not think about looking for other flaws, and raided deep into the territory controlled by Hongtang.

The stalemate in the Battle of Gongchangling caused the Qing army to suffer a lot of losses, but in the eyes of Dolgon and Haoge, they were mentally prepared, although their hearts were painful, but they were also stubborn to attack Gongchangling.

In the past half a month, the heavy snow has fallen sparsely several times, so that the corpses of both sides that have nowhere to be placed on the battlefield will not begin to decay and deteriorate because no one cleans them up, and then produce a plague that threatens the living soldiers.

At the same time, the low temperature also made the wounded soldiers less of the threat of infection and greatly increased the chance of survival, which was also the benefit of the Qing army when they started the war in winter.

But the trouble brought to the Qing army by winter is also not small, the mind of the Han people is too good, the city wall on the Gongchang Ridge, under the attack of the Qing Dynasty at any cost, after the loss of countless siege equipment and artillery, many places are on the verge of collapse.

However, the first day looked at the fragmented city wall, the second day was watered by the Han people overnight, and the cold climate was forced to make use of the cold climate to create a hard ice city, which was not only hard and abnormal in the cold climate environment, but also extremely smooth, so that the Qing people were a little weak to climb the city wall, and it was really uncomfortable.

"Commander, shouldn't we ask the base camp for help?"

The Hongtang soldiers in the city were all attentive, but Lu Shijie, as a staff member, had to prepare for the battle in the future.

"What's the hurry? Our wounded troops can hold out for some time! ”

Shang Kexi did not agree with Lu Shijie's suggestion, in his opinion, the 30,000 available men in his hands were enough to deal with the enemy army under the city for at least half a month, so it was a little early to ask for help at this time.

"Divisional commander! We do have enough manpower now, but we can't just rely on such manpower to resist the more than 100,000 Qing troops under the city, right? ”

"In the long run, our Gongchangling Walled City will inevitably be the first place to resist the Qing army, if we lose this fort, the Qing army will inevitably repeat the situation of approaching Phoenix City last time. Without the original design, it is almost impossible to recreate a local battlefield with more and fewer fights. ”

"Instead of letting the Qing army invade the territory that we have built with great difficulty and has some appearance, it is better to put on a battlefield with the Qing people under Gongchangling, so that even if they break through my Gongchangling, they will not be able to touch the stronghold behind us."

"You're right, but where did our commander send his men from? Could it be that someone was transferred from Shanhaiguan? ”

Shang Kexi was a little moved, but the reality also made him feel powerless, Hongtang's army of nearly 100,000 troops, to guard such a huge piece of territory, there is no room for loss on the side of the Hat Helmet Mountain, and Shanhaiguan cannot relax its vigilance, and the deployment of troops in several places has already made the Hongtang army difficult to deal with.

"There will be 20,000 reinforcements on Dayuan Island soon, let's send out a letter for help earlier, and let the commander know our predicament!"

Lu Shijie seemed to have learned Shang Kexi's chicken thief, and replied meaningfully at this time, making that Shang Kexi look up and shake his head.

"So you had the idea, okay, you just do what you want!"

Shang Kexi nodded, said that he agreed with Lu Shijie's suggestion, and let him go to operate, while he himself wanted to go to the city in person to help the city soldiers take advantage of the gap time to rebuild the city defense, which was the foundation of their Hongtang soldiers.

The letter for help was quickly delivered to Wu Jie, who was sitting in Phoenix City, and he casually handed it to Shi Lang beside him and asked, "Do you think they are really tight over there?" ”

"My subordinates think that it may not be, with the geographical advantage of Gongchangling City Defense, we have hoarded a large number of firearms in it, even if the Qing army attacks fiercely, our army's losses should not be more than half by now."

Shi Lang shook his head, he didn't believe in this letter for help, at least after he and Wu Jie guarded Shanhaiguan, Zunhua, Phoenix City and other cities, and had rich experience in defending cities, he was even more convinced of his own judgment.

"Then what do they want to do now by sending this letter for help?"

Wu Jie was also puzzled, and he couldn't figure out the reason for this letter for help that shouldn't have come so soon.

"According to my subordinates, I'm afraid that Senior Commander Shang and they are already thinking about the 20,000 reinforcements we haven't arrived yet!!"

Shi Lang Chen thought for a while, then raised his head and gave his opinion, he and Lu Shijie are classmates and friends, graduated together and joined the staff to exercise, but in the subsequent career of the department, they had different opportunities for each other and separated, but they could also guess what kind of calculation his classmates were playing.

"Gong Changling as our immediate position, its importance is undoubted for us, if we consider the whole territory, if we can resist the opponent's attack in front of Gong Changling, then the damage to us will be minimized."

"Master Shang should have thought of this, so he started to prepare for this in advance."

"It's embarrassing for them!"

Wu Jie was puzzled, but he was a little moved to praise his behavior, it was because he had experienced the pain of defending the city, so Wu Jie could better understand Shang Kexi's choice.

(End of chapter)