In order to make no more waves in this battle related to the future of the Qing Dynasty, Prince Dolgon started a counterattack in advance.

It is not an easy thing to draw out the main forces under the nose of the Hongtang army on the opposite side. But it was not an easy thing, Prince Dolgon was stunned, not only continued to exert pressure on the Ming army in the daytime battle, but also the troops he drew out were enough to deal a heavy blow to Shang Kexi, who came later.

According to the assumption, even if the Ming army was deceived by him and learned of the attack on this side and came to support, it should be at least after dawn. However, he never expected that the commander of this Ming army would be so decisive, and after discovering that his side was in a disadvantage, he immediately took the opportunity to use all the material supplies to ignite, as a channel to transmit news, so that the main force of the Ming people on the battlefield could get the news at least half a day earlier than estimated.

In the case of being ambushed and the troops are in a weak position, this Ming army showed rapid battle command, formation, shrinking the defensive line and other tactical cooperation, so that it quickly built a defense line that was not strong but full of resilience under the unfavorable combat terrain.

Before leaving, Dolgon called the generals of the Mongol and Manchu Han armies to the side, and expressed their plight to them, if they could not take this Ming army, then in the next two days, their Qing army must give up this offensive and be forced back to the vast wasteland north of Shengjing.

Although Dolgon was ambitious and wanted to build a legacy far beyond that of his brother Emperor Taiji, he was also a visionary leader, with a strong sense of when to retire and when to fight.

Otherwise, he would not have led the children of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty to the south to attack the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and occupied the vast and fertile land of the Ming people on the north bank of the Yellow River.

If they were in the rear of the Qing Dynasty, there was no such army as Hongtang, and the base camp outside the Qing Dynasty would be restless, and now they would be afraid that the Qing Dynasty would all be moving to the capital of Shuntianfu.

It is precisely because Dolgon has far-reaching insights and sees far deeper than ordinary people, so he understands the next trend of this battle better, when he uses high-ranking officials and money beauties to inspire and impress the Mongolian and Han generals, and to understand the reason and emotion of the noble generals of their Eight Banners, and analyze the troubles they will encounter in the next Qing Dynasty, and then encourage this Qing army to attack the Ming army is still gratifying, full of enthusiasm and confidence.

However, in the face of reality, the Qing army led by Dolgon still failed to complete their sneak attack, so that Shang Kexi's goal persisted until the arrival of the Ming army's support forces.

The arrival of the cavalry division galloped across the Qing Dynasty's sneak attack army, bringing up pieces of blood, and from time to time the Hongtang cavalry lost their horses' hooves by unknown obstacles in the dark, or were dropped off their horses by the counterattack of the Qing soldiers, but on the whole, it also disrupted the formation of the Qing people's attack.

When the sky was white, the second Hongtang army that arrived in a hurry, under the leadership of Zhu Dazhuang and other Hongtang generals, entered the battlefield in full swing without stopping, and Dolgon, the prince of Daqingrui, knew that it was impossible to do anything, and it was time to retreat.

The other unfortunate news reached Dorgon's ears, which only made his frustration even more sad, but it was also expected.

Outside Phoenix City, a Ming army was in a stalemate for nine days, and was broken by the Ming army last night, and 20,000 Han and Korean soldiers stationed in the Chinese army camp were defeated by it and fled in a hurry.

When he sent the main force under his command to ambush Shang Kexi's Hongtang headquarters, Dolgon knew clearly that if he could not fight a quick battle against Shang Kexi's army and break through and defeat this Ming army before dawn, then the camp of the Qing Chinese army with weak air defense outside Phoenix City would inevitably become the target of the Ming army.

Although there are a lot of Han soldiers left behind, but because the elite of the Eight Banners does not know where to go, the political Han army brothers have thought that they have become the scapegoats and cannon fodder of the Qing army, even under the repeated reprimands of the Han army generals and various mobilizations, they have held on for some time, but the overall combat strength of the Hongtang army far exceeds that of the Han army brothers, and the Han soldiers whose hearts have been taken away have only delayed the main force of the Qing Dynasty for one night.

After the sky began to brighten, the Hongtang army, under the leadership of Commander Niu Qiangwei, broke through the camp of the Qing Dynasty Central Army, which had been in a stalemate with their Hongtang army for almost ten days.

"Withdraw your troops!!"

Dolgon's whole person was decadent, and three words came out of his mouth, and more than a dozen generals around him looked at each other with different expressions, but some wanted to speak, but finally endured it, and after a long sigh, he turned his head and left Dolgon's side.

In fact, if there was no arrangement last night, even if Shang Kexi cooperated with the main force of Hongtang Wu Jie's department to compete with the progress of the Qing Dynasty, although it was reversed in terms of strength, but it would really be more than half a month later to defeat the Qing army on the frontal battlefield.

And if Dorgon still insists on fighting to the death against Hongtang's army on the frontal battlefield, then the battle will last longer, and the losses of both sides will be a situation that is difficult for both sides to accept.

But Dolgon can't be so short-sighted, their population of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty is not prosperous, over the years, under the leadership of the two masters of Nurhachi and Huang Taiji, the entire Jurchen Ding Ye has not exceeded one million, and the number of men who can be used is even less, but only more than 300,000 people.

The successive wars made the population of the Qing Dynasty suffer heavy losses, especially Dolgon led people south to the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and was seized by the Hongtang army to wreak havoc in the country, so that the population of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty lost at least 20%, which also made Dolgon and the nobles of the Eight Banners eager to eat their flesh and drink their blood, so that they brazenly sent troops south when the domestic wounds were not appeased, vowing to take down this Ming army to comfort the souls of the clan's relatives in the sky.

However, under the condition that the preparation was not sufficient, and the strategy was restrained by the Hongtang army, the battle involving nearly 250,000 people in the end of Phoenix City became a turning point in the decline of the strength of the Qing people.

Dolgon had to retreat, and if he continued to fight like this, there were less than 50,000 elite soldiers around him, even if he could kill and injure the same number of Ming troops, but it also meant that the elite strength of their Jurchen Eight Banners would also be consumed by him in this pasture that once belonged to their Jurchens.

(End of chapter)