In Shengjing City, Prince Li and the new emperor Shunzhi, who were in charge of the Qing Dynasty, were gathering together to listen to the courtiers under the palace report on the turbulent military situation in the country.

The little emperor Shunzhi is only six years old now, how do you know that the words in the mouths of the courtiers below contain a strong crisis, seemingly sitting dignified on the dragon chair, but in fact, his eyes are not listening, looking for things that can distract him.

However, he sat in the center, and after Prince Rui Dolgon led the team into the Ming Dynasty, Prince Li Daishan, Prince Zheng Nurharang and other imperial relatives looked solemn, and listened carefully to the reports of their subordinates with calm faces.

"How many soldiers are still available in our country today?"

After the courtiers reported the latest military information, Prince Li Dai Shan was not angry because of the repeated failures of the soldiers under him, he had fought with the Hongtang soldiers on the Korean battlefield earlier, and he was the prince of the Qing Emperor, although Dai Shan was surprised and angry at the number of troops that Dongjiang Town was now arranged, but he also clearly realized that the other party's current large-scale invasion must have been planned for a long time, and the defeat of the soldiers below was not entirely on them.

However, not long after the founding of the Qing Dynasty, the territory under his command was too small, which was why Prince Rui Dolgon insisted on leading a large army to invade the territory of the Ming Dynasty and wanted to expand the territory.

For example, now, when the two armies of Dongjiang Town, one west and one east, are approaching the two cities of Liaoyang and Qinghe, in fact, they are only hundreds of miles away from Shengjing, the capital division of the Great Qing Dynasty.

"Returning to Your Highness, there are 35,000 soldiers and horses of the Eight Banners and more than 77,000 soldiers and horses of the Han Dynasty in our country, which are stationed in the major cities around Shengjing."

Ma Guozhu, a member of the Qing Army, stepped forward to answer.

"Issue a decree, where there is no danger, leave a small number of soldiers to take care of it, and the rest of the soldiers and grain and grass materials will be transferred back to Shengjing to converge!"

"Order the soldiers of Liaoyang and Qingxi to do their best to contain the invading army of Dongjiang Town, and buy time for our dynasty's reinforcements."

After all, Prince Li Daishan is also a person who is proficient in military affairs among the imperial princes, and in the face of the detailed military reports that have been reported from below, he has already had a plan in his heart about the strength of this prepared Dongjiang Town army.

"Wow!"

Wai Lang received the order.

The Qing Dynasty is not without soldiers, but the children of the Eight Banners tribe of the Great Qing Dynasty are scattered in the vast northeast mountains, forests and grasslands, even if the kingdom issues a summoning order at this time, it is really necessary to wait until the tribes scattered in various places lead the team to come to the rescue, I am afraid that they can only give them Shengjing to clean up the battlefield.

In addition, Prince Regent Rui Dolgon took away the vast majority of the elite soldiers among the children of the Eight Banners, and the soldiers in the tribes who stayed behind, unless it was to launch a mobilization order for the whole clan, there would not be too many soldiers who came to support, after all, the population of the Jurchens in the Qing Dynasty was so large, and the bitter cold land of Liaodong was not suitable for breeding clansmen, which had plagued the development of the tribal kingdom over the years, so when Dolgon decided to go south, he finally won the support of the rest of the Eight Banners.

And only those who have read a series of battle reports will understand how strong the strength of the Ming army in Dongjiang Town is, and Phoenix City, which can be regarded as an important town in the Qing army, only supported the situation for about a day, and was said to be overwhelmed by the fleet artillery fire of Dongjiang Town, which is said to be like a thunderous sky, and finally the strong city defense was directly destroyed.

And along the way, the artillery used by the Dongjiang Town army to attack the city and seize the land was not less scarce than the artillery fire used by their Qing army to attack the heavy city of Ningjin defense line, and for Liaoyang, Qingxi and other cities built by the Qing Dynasty, I am afraid that it will be able to resist the other side for a long time.

As long as the Qing soldiers in the two cities of Liaoyang and Qingxi can delay enough time, then this army will have a great chance of winning no matter which way to support it first, and then turn the gun to attack the other way, which way will definitely be able to resolve the crisis of the Qing Dynasty.

The respective armies led by Wu Chao and Shang Kexi, the strategy they came to implement along the way was the three-light policy, and in itself, their expeditionary army wanted to swallow elephants to capture the territory of the Qing Dynasty, to be honest, the opportunity was not great, unless they implemented the first step of the plan in place, so that Hongmen and its surrounding allies could see the possibility of success, and then pour all the strength of Hongmen to attack, maybe there would be a chance to occupy the Qing Dynasty.

The materials, horses, livestock, etc., which could not be transported, were either burned and killed on the spot, or became food for the soldiers, and the damage caused by the Hongtang soldiers who walked through the land was even greater than when the Jurchens entered the Ming Dynasty.

In addition to the Han and Koreans who were regarded as slaves, or other ethnic minorities who rebelled against the Eight Banners, the children of the rest of the tribes, regardless of their age, the elderly, the weak, women and children, were directly killed or hacked.

Even the Hongtang warriors themselves were quite resistant to such cruel things, after all, the education and influence of Hongmen on the people under their command had never harmed ordinary people.

Until again and again because of soft-heartedness, the Hongtang warriors secretly let go of some ordinary tribal children, women and children, and when they turned their heads, they would turn into messengers of revenge, shoot a few cold arrows from the dark and remote jungles and bushes, and use more cruel means to plunder the lone Hongtang warriors, and finally let these Hongtang warriors with good thoughts understand that the battlefield has really never been merciful.

In addition, the middle and low-level non-commissioned officers of Hongtang have repeatedly mentioned their lives, instilling the concept of national war in these soldiers, making them gradually become cold-blooded and ruthless as if they were brainwashed, and picking up the Jurchen and Mongolian tribal people along the way, rarely happens to be soft-hearted.

A few years ago, a man-made biohazard smallpox epidemic planned by the Hongmen secret organization "Freemasonry" ravaged the entire Qing Dynasty, causing great damage to the Qing Kingdom, and it was not easy to recover some strength to come back, this time because of the Hongtang army's three-light policy, I am afraid that for the Qing Dynasty, even if they drive the Hongtang army out of the territory of the Qing Dynasty, I am afraid that it will hurt the fundamentals, and then for the military actions in the direction of the Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that it will gradually shrink.

With the gradual strengthening of the Xiaoice River period, as soon as the Qing Kingdom established itself, their major tribes gradually began to migrate to the relative south where Shengjing was located, like the Donghe Wei that was still under the control of the Jurchens, and now it has become the grassland of the Mongols.

Therefore, the wanton plundering of the Hongtang army this time was like a retribution, returning to themselves the many sins that the Jurchens had created in the Ming border over the years.

(End of chapter)