The drums of "Dong" and "Dong" began to sound, and the ten big drums mounted on the car were neatly beaten by the drummers, and they could be heard in Tongzhou City ten miles away. Li Yan's three army formations stepped on the drum beat, advancing step by step, and the army formation was not chaotic at all. The gunners dragged the artillery to follow, and the gun chamber was already loaded with a projectile bag, as long as it was loaded with shotgun or solid shells as needed, it could cause damage to the Qing army at any time.

Wu Sangui, who was at the head of Tongzhou City, was also looking at the battle in the south at this time. However, it is too far away, and it is not possible to see clearly, but it can probably be seen that Li Yan does not seem to have suffered a loss.

"Dashuai, this Li Yan is really here." Hu Taiyi said with a smile: "We should also choose the opportunity to break through." ”

Wu Sangui hesitated for a moment and asked, "Do you think it's better for us to break through to the south or to the east?" ”

Hu Taiyi said without hesitation: "To the east." ”

Wu Sangui didn't speak, just looked at Hu Taiyi.

"Marshal," Hu Taiyi explained, "The Qing army is strong, and Li Yan will not suffer for the time being." Even if we fight with Li Yan in the north and south and defeat the Qing army, how effective can we be? When the Qing army returns, we will have no room for maneuver. ”

"Now we still have room for maneuver with the Qing court?" Wu Sangui asked expressionlessly.

Hu Taiyi smiled and said, "Why not? The Regent's letter of persuasion to you is proof of this. Before, we fought against the Qing soldiers outside the border, which was to be loyal to the country, and each was his master, and no one could say anything. But now, the Ming Dynasty is over, and the Emperor Dashun has run away, what is Li Yan? We are now fighting for ourselves, so we must be left and right to avoid falling into a situation from which we will never recover. ”

Wu Sangui nodded involuntarily. He has been thinking about his future behavior these days, but the more he thinks about it, the more he can't make up his mind. When he heard that Li Zicheng had fled, he almost surrendered to the Qing court. But it was only a little bit, he knew that Li Zicheng had an army of one million, and he should not give up the Jingshi, so he had to wait.

"What can I do when I go back to Shanhaiguan? It was still under the internal and external attacks of the Qing court. Wu Sangui said lightly.

Hu Taiyi arched his hand and said: "The marshal should have seen that Li Yan's strength is very strong, and his combat power is especially above our Guanning army." And I heard that he also occupied Shandong, so it shouldn't be easy to defeat. There is Li Yan dragging here, and the Qing soldiers can't divide many troops to attack Shanhaiguan. We just need to occupy Yongping Mansion, recruit and train the villagers, take precautions inside and outside, and wait for the general trend of the world to be clear. If the troubled times continue, then we have this place and can also have enterprising capital. ”

Wu Sangui smiled slightly after hearing this, and said, "Well, it makes sense. The world is full of heroes, and this huge world does not necessarily have our share. ”

"Handsome and wise." Hu Taiyi complimented.

Wu Sangui ordered: "Inform the troops, get ready." We can only have one chance, and if we can't rush out, we can only surrender. Tell the soldiers, let's kill the Qing army, if we surrender and be settled by the Autumn Queen, it will be certain. Let everyone raise their spirits, this is related to everyone's life and death. ”

"Subordinates obey."

For the Qing soldiers, Li Yan's initiative to attack surprised them. Since the Battle of Songjin that year, they have not seen the Ming army that took the initiative to attack. But they were all hesitant and divided their troops according to the plan just now? Or an immediate attack?

However, Li Yan's three military formations were well maintained, and there was no chaos in the march. In particular, those artillery pieces could also follow the array closely, which made them extremely worried. They can only attack head-on, and attacks in other directions will be flanked from both sides. However, the firepower that Li Yan showed just now made them dare not act rashly.

Dorgon and the others consulted with each other, but they couldn't come up with a solution. In normal times, Dorgon would have given the order. But now there has just been a drama to take the opportunity to consume two yellow flags, and Dolgon's order is not good. Although they brought with them sixty or seventy thousand slaves, the cavalry could not rush through, let alone those slaves. Besides, those slaves were the property of each family like horses and mules, and cloth fields and houses, and who would want their possessions to be consumed in battles that were almost impossible to win?

"We still divide the troops according to what I just said!" Dolgon finally decided: "Surround Li Yan's men and horses." ”

But the various departments have not yet divided their troops, and Li Yan stopped first. The artillerymen immediately flattened the position with short shovels and began to aim at the Qing artillery. Even the five four-and-a-half-inch cannons were pushed to the two corners of the military formation. While the Qing artillery was still in place, they had to fire with maximum firepower in order to weaken the Qing army's artillery units.

More than seventy percent of the gunpowder of the Qing army was sold by the Jin merchants, so it was still the gunpowder ratio of the Ming army. According to the size of the Qing army's artillery, Li Yan could also judge that the Qing army's artillery could hit two miles away. However, if his artillery wanted to fire accurately, it had to be within two miles, so he had to let his troops advance to a distance of six hundred paces from the Qing army. In order to allow the artillery in the two military formations behind to play a role, Li Yan's military formation was only four hundred steps away from the Qing army.

In order to prevent the artillery attack of the Qing army, he ordered the soldiers to dig soil on the spot and bag it to build bunkers. But after all, this takes time, and this time can only make the troops resist.

Li Yan's side had already prepared, so he fired first. "Boom", "boom" cannon sound again. However, this time it was not so dense, all the guns were firing separately, adjusting the angle and then continuing to fire, and the three guns were against one target.

When a shell passed near the Qing artillery, the Qing artillerymen did not react, and they were nervously loading ammunition and preparing to fire. The enemy's formations were also within range of their artillery. Their target is the enemy's array, and even the strongest troops will collapse after being bombarded by shells a few times.

"Boom", "boom" artillery sound became more and more intensive. The shells collided indiscriminately in the arrays of both sides, and each solid bullet could cause more than a dozen casualties. Once the soldiers in a certain place on Li Yan's side are defeated, the soldiers will give priority to building bunkers in this place, and they know that it will take time for the artillery to turn the angle. Moreover, the bunkers they built were very thick, with four sandbags on each floor, which could basically consume most of the energy of the shells. Even if the sandbags are knocked down, they can quickly get back up again.

And the Qing troops, who were lined up behind the artillery, suffered heavy losses, and shells were always flying around them. After several casualties, the soldiers there were redeployed to avoid further casualties.

Although the Qing army had also seen Li Zicheng's troop bunkers, the thin bunkers of one or two layers could not stop their shells at all, so the Qing army never thought of using such useless things from top to bottom. Now that I see Li Yan's troops using it, I know the benefits of this thing.

But they knew a little too late, and now they can't find that many bags. And it seems that Li Yan's troops are not aimed at attacking them, but are looking for trouble with the Wuzhen Chaoha battalion.

...