In the camp of the Ming army outside Ningyuan City, Wu Ping already knew the battle situation on Hou Yi's side.

After the battalion reported the situation, he said Hou Yi's decision, "General Hou said that he would continue to carry out your orders and lead his troops to hunt down and kill the Manchu people. ”

Wu Ping nodded: "Hou Yi still understands, and knows that even if he comes back, he won't be able to help much." ”

"But there is still a Qing army here in Ningyuan, isn't it a great opportunity to eliminate them?" Ying Zheng asked puzzled.

Wu Ping said with a smile: "The Qing army is not stupid, how can it be hit again if it hits once?" With our current strength, it will not be easy to destroy the Qing army, but there is no need to rush. Lord Wang, he will soon lead a large army to break through the Shanhai Pass. When the prince arrives, it will be time to completely destroy the Qing army!

Before the arrival of the prince, let's try to contain this Qing army as much as possible. What I'm most worried about now is Jin Xin, the main force of the Qing army has already met the past, and I am worried that Jin Xin will be defeated by the Qing army if he is not careful. ”

"Then should we send troops to reinforce General Jin Xin?"

Wu Ping shook his head: "It's too late." The main force of the Qing army has been going for a day and night, and the battle has already been engaged. If the Qing army succeeded, Jin Xin might have been defeated by this time. ”

"What if General Jin Xin holds it? Then we need our support in time. ”

"If Jin Xin can hold it, with the 20,000 troops in his hands, it is enough to resist the Qing army for a few days, then there is no need for us to interfere." Wu Ping said, "A few days is enough time for the prince to lead his troops to break the Shanhai Pass, and then we will send troops again to encircle and annihilate the Qing army in one fell swoop!" If we go to support Jin Xin, it is likely to force the Qing army to retreat, and then we will really lose the opportunity to annihilate the Qing army. ”

"My subordinates understood." Ying Zheng said admiringly.

Looking at the back of the battalion going out, Wu Ping shook his head slightly, the more than 20,000 subordinates of Ning Yuan in the entire canon, and Hou Yi can be used and can take charge alone. In the past two years, Wu Ping has been in charge of Shandong and has always been interested in cultivating talents, but he feels that there are many reckless people under him, but there is a lack of real courage and resourcefulness, which makes him often sigh.

Besides, the loss of 3,000 Eight Banner soldiers made his heart like a knife, and there were only so many soldiers in the entire Qing Dynasty, and the loss of 3,000 people was already an unspeakable pain. Afraid of being attacked by the Ming army again, he led his troops to leave Ningyuan overnight and chased after Bolo.

Zilharang, who has been on the battlefield for a long time, knows that in the current situation where it is obvious that the enemy is strong and we are weak, the strength of the Ming army is far more than that of the Qing Dynasty, and it is no longer possible to divide the troops, and the loss of 3,000 people is a lesson from the past.

Therefore, even Ning Yuanming's army divided his troops to chase and kill the people of the Qing Dynasty, and Zierharang couldn't take too much care of it. Fortunately, the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang and the little emperor of Shunzhi had already been sent to Jinzhou, which was the only thing that Jierharang was happy about.

Ning Yuan Zhong right, Jin Xin led an army of 20,000 to arrive here, only a hundred miles away from Ning Yuanwei, and had to order to stop the advance, because he received news that the main force of the Qing army was coming with all its might.

Seven or eight thousand cavalry, nearly 20,000 infantry, this is the Manchu army that is about to attack. The news was that Wu Ping had sent a speedboat south along the coastline, and the speed of the speeder was much faster than the march of the army.

After receiving the news, combined with the information sent back by the cavalry sentinels, the cavalry was repeatedly intercepted and killed by the Manchu cavalry, and could only probe the distance of several miles in front of the army, which showed that the Qing army was strictly blocking the information, indicating that the Qing army had decided to destroy its own 20,000 troops.

Jin Xin immediately ordered to be stationed in the center and right. The center right is a thousand households, but the wall is very broken, and the area inside the office is not large, but it is reliable to arrange a line of defense. Jin Xin deployed the army outside the wall, placed artillery guns on the wall, and combined the upper and lower to build a defensive line.

The Ming army on the march suddenly stopped, which made Luckedhun and Bolo very depressed. Originally, it was thought that while the Ming army was marching, the cavalry would launch a surprise attack first, and then the infantry would carry out a general attack, and it would not be difficult to annihilate this Ming army. I didn't expect the Ming army to be so alert, and it stopped in the morning, and the infantry of Boluo's department had not yet arrived at the battlefield, and it was still twenty miles away from the Ming army.

Luckedhun was also depressed, and he led his cavalry to hide in a valley ten miles away, more than three miles from the road. Just waiting for the Ming army to pass by, he led the army to suddenly rush out, but he didn't expect the horse to return, but the Ming army stopped.

Something must have gone wrong, and Luckedhun sent someone to contact Bolo to discuss what to do?

What else can be done, if you can't sneak attack, you can only attack, in the face of the Ming army that is waiting for you, how can a strong attack be captured in a moment and a half? The Ming army had 20,000 men, which was not much less than their own number.

So Bolo ordered the advance to be stopped, and at the same time sent someone to inform Luckedhun to continue to hide and see if the Ming army would continue to march on the next day, waiting for the opportunity to raid.

However, in the evening, Zilharang sent someone to report the situation of the battle that had taken place in Ningyuan. Hearing that the Ming army had booby-trapped the three thousand eight banners, Ji'er Harang led the troops to evacuate and Ning Yuan was rushing to this side, Bolo was so angry that he was about to vomit blood.

Zierharang led his troops to leave Ningyuan, his intentions were completely exposed, how could the Ming army be fooled?

The sound of horses' hooves came in the night sky, but it was Luckedhun who rode his horse in person at night to discuss the military situation with Bolo, who first told him about the battle between Zierharang and Ning Yuanming's army.

"The Vice-Chancellor is right. Our troops are getting smaller and smaller, and we have suffered enough from dividing our troops. At the beginning of Linqing, if it wasn't for Dolgon sending us to attack and harass with cavalry, where would there be a defeat in Linqing. If the Auxiliary King didn't send an army to chase after the Ming army that slaughtered my people, how could the 3,000 Eight Banners die? Lucked Hun said, he even agreed with Zilharang's move to bring his troops forward, "If we want to defeat this Ming army, we can only have hope of success by concentrating all our forces!" ”

Bolo frowned: "Have you thought about it, the auxiliary king's move will inevitably make the Ming army notice, so we have no possibility of attacking." ”

Lucked said: "Attack? Which is so easy, you should have found that the current Ming army is much more cunning and difficult than in previous years.

Take the Ming army on the other side, its general is named Jin Xin, just ten days ago, I fought him in Tianjin, when he was still on the march, I launched a surprise attack with 5,000 cavalry, but just like that, I still did not defeat him.

At that time, the Ming army was disrupted by our cavalry, but the whole army was not defeated as before, but most of the Ming army was still resisting on the spot even if it was disrupted, and did not flee at all.

Now that Jin Xin has clearly noticed our moves, he has made a defensive posture, I don't think we still have a chance to attack. ”

"So what do you think we should do?" Bolo asked in a deep voice.

"Either immediately attack the Ming army, our troops are now more than the Ming army, and their combat power is stronger than theirs. If it is a strong attack, there is a great certainty that the 20,000 Ming troops will be annihilated. After annihilating Jin Xin, he led Prince Li of Shanhaiguan to retreat.

Either we evacuate immediately, no longer care about the 5,000 people in Shanhaiguan, and quickly return to the outside of the pass with the army through Ningyuan, Ningyuan's Ming army is weaker than us, and it can't stop us at all.

However, whether it is fighting or defending, we must quickly make up our minds, and we must not hesitate again, otherwise once we get into a battle with the Ming army and are entangled by it, it will be difficult for us to take away these 30,000 troops. ”

Listening to Luckdhun's words, Bolo hesitated, unable to make a decision. If the Ming army bypasses the Shanhaiguan again, in the face of more and more Ming troops, they can't eat the 20,000 Ming army, not to mention, they will lose their troops, and the 20,000 Ming army can bypass the Shanhaiguan to come here, which shows that Dai Shan can't stop the Ming army at all.

Retreat, retreat will mean that Prince Li Daishan and the 5,000 Qing army will be ignored and thrown to the Ming army, how can Boluo bear it, and how can he explain to the imperial court?

Luckedhun said no more, waiting for Bolo's decision. Bolo and Luckedhun are both Baylors, and their status in the Manchu court is not much different, but Bolo has the official position of the general of the southern expedition and is responsible for the withdrawal of troops, so he can only decide whether to fight or withdraw. Luckedhun also knows that whether it is fighting or withdrawing, it is difficult!

Bolo's face changed violently, and he finally made up his mind.

"Fight!" After making up his mind, Bolo's face became firm, "Since Emperor Gao raised troops to attack the Ming with seven hatreds, in the past thirty years, my Qing Dynasty and the Ming Kingdom have fought countless fierce battles, annihilating a Ming army, and laying a larger and larger territory, what do you rely on?" It is the fearless courage and confidence of the Eight Banners soldiers.

If we flee in the face of the Ming army today, where will we have the courage to fight the Ming army again in the future? Even if we return to Jianzhou, where can we defend in the face of the aggressive offensive of the Ming army?

Therefore, this battle must be fought, even if it is a great sacrifice, the Ming army must be annihilated, so as to restore the courage of my Eight Banners! ”

"Then fight!" Seeing that Bolo had made a decision, Luck Dehun also said angrily: "I'll go back and prepare, and I'll launch an attack on the Ming army early tomorrow morning!" ”

The two Qing armies of Bolo and Luck Dehun were actively preparing, and Ning Yuan was on the right and Jin Xin was also arranging a defensive line at night. Bonfires inside and outside the walls were bright, and the Ming soldiers were digging ditches and stacking walls at night to arrange defenses, preparing for the attack of the Qing army.

Since leaving the Shanhaiguan, Jin Xin has always been careful, and has not been in a hurry to make meritorious contributions. Because Jin Xin knew that he couldn't fail, if he lost once, he would never be able to catch up with Li Yi in the future.

Therefore, after judging that the Qing army had an intention to attack him, Jin Xin actively deployed defenses, and had a faint expectation in his heart, looking forward to the Qing army's attack. Compared with marching in the wilderness and meeting the Qing army to start a battle, it is more likely that the Qing army will attack and win by arranging defenses and waiting for it.

Although the center and right are small, there are walls and ditches, there are wells in the city, and it is close to the seaside.

All night, Jin Xin didn't sleep, but excitedly patrolled around, checking the situation of the defense deployment.

However, the heavens were destined to disappoint him, and at dawn the sky began to rain.

At first, it was still drizzling, but slowly it rained more and more, and finally by dawn, it was as big as a pour.

Zhongzuo is a small city, the Guanning military households in the city have been evacuated to Juehua Island, but the houses are still there, of course, the houses in the city can not accommodate 20,000 people, and yesterday in order to prepare for the big battle with the Qing army, there was no barracks built at all, because the weather in May is very hot, the army can camp in the open air. Now the rain is getting heavier and heavier, and I have to urgently set up a tent overnight to shelter from the rain.

Standing under the eaves, looking at the storm outside, Jin Xin frowned, such a big rain Qing army will definitely not attack again, and the battle will not be able to be fought.

Ten miles away in the valley, in the middle of the night, Luckedhun ordered to prepare for an attack. His army was cavalry, able to quickly approach the battlefield and serve as the vanguard of the attack.

However, before the army could begin to eat breakfast, it began to rain, and the rain became heavier and heavier, and the whole thousands of horsemen and horses were drenched in soup.

Like the Ming army, the Qing army did not set up tents, so where could it be so troublesome in the summer. However, it is difficult to do now, and there is nowhere to hide when it rains heavily.

And what is even more troublesome is that the plan to attack the Ming army was completely ruined. With such a heavy rain, the ground is soaked in rainwater and is so soft that it is difficult to walk, where can I walk ten miles and then attack?

At first, he thought about waiting to see if the rain would be lighter, but the rain became heavier and heavier, and it was like a pour. His thousands of men had been in a valley, and now the rain was pouring down on the hills, forcing him to retreat to the heights of the hills.

"Lord Belle, we can't wait any longer, we must evacuate here as soon as possible!" A veteran of the Eight Banners looked up at the gloomy sky and suggested to Luckedhun, "Look at this day, this rain is going to fall, maybe it will be two or three days." ”

The western Liaoning corridor was originally sandwiched between the mountains and the sea, and the northwest side was a continuous group of mountains, if it really took two or three days, the flood flowing down from the mountains alone would be enough to make the entire western Liaoning corridor a country.

Over the years, every summer, the western Liaoning corridor will be flooded, and even the city walls have not collapsed. And if it really gets to that point, it will be difficult to withdraw from Liaoxi to Guanwai!

"Withdraw your troops and rendezvous with Bolo!" Luckedhun quickly made up his mind, he was going to leave with the cavalry while he could still walk.

Cao Zhuangyi, forty miles away from the center and right, an army walking in the vast rain, is the retreat of Jierharang overnight.

And now, the rain is so great that he can't even open his eyes, so naturally he can't march, and Zilharang doesn't wait to lead the army to a high post.

In order to avoid Ning Yuan's Ming army from chasing and killing, the withdrawal was really in a hurry, and the camp was directly thrown to the Ming army, which made the Qing army not even have a shelter from the rain, so they could only resist in the rain.

Drenched and transparent, like a chicken in soup, the personal guard Goshha hurriedly set up a tent and asked Zilharang to take shelter from the rain, but he refused.

Zilharang stood on a rock, let the heavy rain wash over his body, looked at the vast rain curtain, and let out a beast-like roar: "Thief God, are you going to kill me?" ”