The signs of division in the team put the Qing army in a difficult situation, and the position of Prince Dorgon began to waver.

When he chose to lead the army south, Prince Dolgon, who had just gained power, needed to use more military merits and more benefits to win over the Qing nobles and banner owners and let them stand on his side.

But looking at it now, it seems to be counterproductive, although he led everyone to open up the southward defense line that has blocked the Qing Dynasty for many years, so that the footprints of the Qing Iron Cavalry are imprinted on the land of the Han people, and he has achieved what his father Nurhachi did not achieve. But in the same way, the Han army that came out of nowhere seized the loophole of its own rear air defense and neglected to take precautions, first captured the defense line of the Great Wall in Shanhaiguan and Zunhua, blocking the route of their own return to their hometown, and at the same time sent troops to kill in the territory of the kingdom and wantonly destroy, causing damage to the population and livestock of major tribes, bringing a great threat.

The delay in opening the road to return gradually caused the tribal nobles and banner lords and generals who followed him to the south to gradually breed worries and fears about the ethnic groups within the kingdom, and even more shook the trust and support for themselves through the construction of interests.

After several discussions, the final result was that Dorgon had to follow the advice of the generals and nobles present, and chose to take a detour at this moment, knowing that this choice was a mistake, but Dorgon could only let it go, and the frustration in his heart can be imagined.

Of course, before making this wrong choice, Dolgon was not without other actions, such as the danger after the detour, and without too many cavalry support, he let the cavalry light division attack, lurking between the snow-covered mountain roads and Ningjin without a perfect Great Wall and other defensive lines, although they could only sneak in in small batches, but they could also let the cavalry return to the country before them, delaying the pace of destruction of the Han army.

The Qing army, which continued to attack Ningjin and the surrounding Lianshan, Tashan, and Songshan, suddenly died down, making Wu Chao and others, who had been nervous, a little stunned, and at the same time couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Wu Jie and their soldiers who had stubbornly defended Shanhaiguan in the early stage lost more than two-thirds, and now although there is support from the Hongtang headquarters in place, it is still weaker than the strength that the Qing army still retains.

Among the countless siege battles of the Qing people, the heaviest losses were those Han people who were coerced by them from the Ming Realm in the north, and they were pushed to the front line of the battlefield like livestock, making it clear that they would be used to send them to death and consume the morale and strength of the Hongtang defenders.

According to rough statistics, the number of Han people who were driven to the city by the Qing people alone exceeded 500,000, and seven or eight out of ten of them died in battle, and few survived.

On the other hand, the army of the Qing people, although the more than 200,000 troops who went south suffered heavy losses in front of the Ningjin defense line and Shanhaiguan stronghold where Hong Chengchou was stationed, but when they opened the gate of the Ming Dynasty, they quickly recovered the strength of the company.

In addition to the garrison and the Han army that were left in Shuntianfu, Dolgon and their soldiers who returned to the north this time still had more than 200,000 soldiers, even if they waited for two or three months to siege the city, their losses still did not reach the point of breaking their muscles and bones.

All this made Wu Jie and the others sigh when they could only look at the Qing army that was gradually withdrawing from the vast snowy fields, and they didn't dare to have the idea of going out of the city to fight.

Of course, Wu Jie was not ignorant of the fact that the Qing people sent a small detachment of cavalry to sneak back along the surrounding mountains of Lianshan, Songshan and other strongholds, but they were worried that this was the enemy's plan to lure the enemy, and second, even if the opponent's small army returned to the north, how much could it play a role?

Although we have to admit that the main combat effectiveness of the Jurchens is indeed amazing, the number of their elite soldiers is not even as large as the current scale of the Hongtang army, although the strength of the Hongtang army is at a disadvantage, but on the whole, the gap between the two sides is really not very large.

Even when all kinds of news were sent back to Sheng Gao and Xiao Xiurong, Wu Jie couldn't help but regret a little, if he had supported Li Tianyang's plan and directly mobilized the whole army when he set out on the expedition, at least half of the Qing Dynasty had already fallen into the hands of Hongmen at this time.

Seeing the retreat of the Qing people, although they didn't know what the other party's idea was, Wu Jie and the others did not relax their attention to the surrounding situation at night, while sending elite scouts to track the movements of the Qing Dynasty, while seizing the time to rest the team and strengthen the city defense.

Wu Jie's sworn to the death won enough opportunities for Wu Chao, Shang Kexi and others who were deep in the Qing Dynasty, although Wu Jie was saddened by the death of his cousin Wu Chao, but he was also pleased that Shang Kexi did not let himself and others insist on turning into nothing.

The good news has not been cut off for a day, and the second batch of reinforcements brought by Hongtang's headquarters made up its mind to make Wu Jie full of confidence that he can face the enemy head-on with the Qing people.

may have lost the suddenness and opportunity of the first battle, but the Qing people were not without losses, even if the other party returned to China, now the Hongtang headquarters can compete with the opponent.

With the arrival of the second batch of Hongtang troops, the focus of the Hongtang expeditionary force has also changed from the previous goal of harassing and attacking and destroying the enemy's hinterland strength as much as possible to sticking to the strongholds in the coastal zone and consolidating the fortifications, and is ready to fight a protracted war on the territory of the Jurchens.

He Sanjiang's department directly gave up their territory in Shandong and returned it to Sun Chuanting's department who crossed the river to the south, and when the other party was still thinking about where He Sanjiang's main force would go, He Sanjiang and all of them had already gone north to join Wu Jie and them.

Coupled with the 50,000 troops supported by the Hongtang headquarters, it is now said that the army strength of Hongmen has been completely pressed on the territory of the Qing Dynasty.

Liaoyang City eventually fell into the hands of Shang Kexi, and the rout of the Daishan support army made the large-scale reinforcements in his country disappear for at least a month or two, which was enough for Hongmen to control hundreds of miles of local land such as Liaoyang in the north, Qingxi in the east, Ningyuan in the west, and Phi Dao in the south, and settle the huge population captured from the Qing Dynasty.

Moreover, the two Hongtang armies led by An Xianguo and Shang Kexi, taking advantage of the fact that the main force of the Great Qing Kingdom had not yet arrived, and their tribal mobilization orders had not yet taken full effect, continued their acts of annexing and strangling every cent of the strength of the Great Qing Kingdom, forcing countless Jurchen and Mongol tribes to either move to the more barren and other northwestern places, or flee to a big city like Shengjing to escape the war.

(End of chapter)