A fire at the side gate can intercept the Manchu Tartars for two or three hours at most, and after Huang Taiji broke through the side gate, in order to annihilate the remnants of Fang Yuan's fleeing soldiers, he will inevitably lead the army to pursue to the death.

After Fang Yuan evacuated the side gate, he didn't linger at all along the way, and directly led the army south, running wildly for a day and a night, traveling two or three hundred miles, and finally arrived at Dandongkou when he was almost exhausted.

According to Fang Yuan's estimate, in these two or three hundred miles, ordinary cavalry would have to walk for at least two days, and Huang Taiji's pursuers should be at least nearly a day's foot.

After he arrived at Dandongkou, Chigutai did live up to expectations, captured the Han and Mongolian Eight Banners stationed at Dandongkou, and sent people to welcome him into this small city near the river.

The city wall of Dandong is only two zhang high, or rammed earth to build, the defense is weak, compared with the strong city of the Central Plains, it is too far behind, but it is similar to the defense of Zhangjiakou market.

The small city is full of smoke and ruins, which shows the tragedy of the previous battle.

Fang Yuan was exhausted from marching overnight, so he first arranged for the 1,500 sergeants who had retreated from the side gate to go to the barracks to rest.

He himself didn't have this blessing for the time being, so he fought hard and walked side by side with Chigutai, asking about the process of capturing Dandongkou.

Chigutai said triumphantly, "The commander of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty is the traitor prince Geng Zhongming, what kind of combat power can these traitor soldiers have?" I divided the 5,000 Xuanjia Army into five teams, three teams made a feint attack on the three gates guarded by the Mengba Banner, and two teams took turns to attack the east gate guarded by the Hanzheng Yellow Banner. ”

On the first day, the Hanzheng Yellow Banner in Dongcheng was captured, Geng Zhongming was so frightened that he abandoned the army and fled, and the traitors who were the grandsons of the Han Eight Banners surrendered faster than dogs. It took me another whole day, attacking inside and outside, and successively breaking through the three gates guarded by the Eight Banners. Geng Zhongming saw that the general trend had gone, so he led the defeated army to flee west. ”

Fang Yuan saw that Chigutai was covered in blood and scarred, it can be seen that he was the first soldier in the siege process, the Xuanjia army was able to capture Dandongkou so quickly, Chigutai was indispensable, even the commander was on the battlefield, how could the soldiers not fight to the death?

Chigutai has made a great contribution this time!

Fang Yuan patted him on the shoulder affectionately, and asked about the losses in this battle.

Chigutai's face changed slightly, and he said with an embarrassed expression, "The armament of the Mengbaqi is only inferior to that of the Manchurian Baqi, and the combat quality is really not weak, so a total of 1,200 sergeants were lost in this battle. ”

In a war, the battle attrition of 1,200 is indeed higher, but this is not to blame Chigutai, after all, it is a tough battle in the face of 1 or 20,000 enemy troops, and it is the greatest victory to achieve the strategic goal within the scheduled two days.

Fang Yuan comforted Chigutai again, not mentioning the heavy losses, but promised that he would pay full pensions to the wounded and killed soldiers according to the previous standards.

Chigutai breathed a sigh of relief, and reported to him the results of the battle, capturing countless amounts of food, armaments, and armor, and capturing 2,000 soldiers of the Han and Eight Banners, and 1,000 soldiers who surrendered under the Eight Banners, all of whom were stripped naked and guarded in the barracks.

How to deal with these captives, whether to kill them all or not, everything is left to Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan thought about it for a while, and ordered the Chigutai soldiers to identify the identities of these captives in batches, and all the clothed minions were taken away, and the rest of the bannermen were escorted to the city wall as a meat shield to resist Huang Taiji's attack.

The coated slave was just the lowliest slave in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and he had no sense of belonging to the Manchu Qing Dynasty at all. If Fang Yuan incorporated them into the Xuanjia Army, he also gave them a chance to be human beings, and I believe that these people would be grateful and grateful to Dade.

And those banner people with status will enjoy the support of the imperial court every year, and their loyalty will be greatly reduced, and they are not trustworthy at all, and can only be used as cannon fodder.

Fang Yuan estimated the battle losses of this expedition into Liaodong, when he entered Liaodong, it was 8,000 elites, and when he returned, only 5,000 or 6,000 people remained, and at least 2 or 3,000 soldiers were buried in the land of Liaodong forever.

He sighed deeply, and ordered Chigutai to take off all the valuable explosion-proof equipment on the dead sergeants, and the corpses were concentrated in the military camp outside Dongcheng, dug a large pit, and carried out a simple burial, so that the soldiers who buried their bones in Liaodong were buried in the ground.

After doing this, Fang Yuan was already drowsy, but now he was still not out of danger, so he could only continue to come to the Yalu River with Chigutai, staring at the Yalu River in front of him that was thirty or forty zhang wide, but no warship came to meet him.

Fang Yuan was secretly frightened when he saw it, could it be that Shi Lang's side had an accident? If Shi Lang can't come on time to answer, this time it will really be more than lucky.

Chigutai looked at the empty river, frowned and said, "For a day in a row, there is not even a ghost shadow in the estuary, Fang Junmen, is Shi Lang a mutiny?" ”

Shi Lang is newly attached, his loyalty Fang Yuan is very uncertain, if Shi Lang and Fang Yuan settle the old account of being slaughtered at this critical time, then everything will be over.

Thousands of calculations, one wrong son will lose all the games!

Fang Yuanqiang hid the horror in his heart, his face was still calm, and he said lightly, "Whether Shi Lang defects or not, we must be prepared for emergencies." Chigutai, you said that if we evacuate to the west and return via Liaoxi, can we avoid the pursuit of Huang Taiji? ”

Chigutai is a burst of scalp numbness, this to Liaoxi at least thousands of miles away, along the way I don't know how many heavily guarded checkpoints. In the face of encirclement, pursuit, and interception, there is no confidence that he can reach Liaoxi safely, "Fang Junmen, this is a joke!" If we encounter a sniper town, we will be annihilated. ”

Fang Yuan nodded and agreed with his statement, since Huang Taiji had laid a net of heaven and earth, how could he not arrange heavy guards in several important towns in western Liaoxi?

Westbound can only be self-defeating.

Fang Yuan stared at the Yalu River in front of him, and his thoughts suddenly returned to the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea before he crossed over, and said to himself, "Chigutai, what if we cross the river and take refuge in Korea?" ”

Chigutai was greatly shocked by his whimsical idea, and said in a lost voice, "The Korean state has surrendered to the Manchus, how dare you take us in?" I'm afraid it's not a self-defeating net! ”

His concern was not unreasonable, North Korea was now nominally a subject state of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, how could it contain Fang Yuan and his party? However, Fang Yuan knew the history after that, although Korea surrendered to the Manchus, his gratitude to the Ming Dynasty lasted at least until the end of the Qing Dynasty.

In addition to diplomatic letters, the official and private use of the Chongzhen era name of the Ming Dynasty was used by the Korean State until it was occupied by Japan at the end of the Qing Dynasty. There have also been several times when the whole country has sacrificed Wanli who had resisted the Japanese and aided the dynasty, and the last Chongzhen Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who regarded himself as the inheritance of the Ming Dynasty's clothes, but sneered at the culture of the Manchu Dynasty.

Moreover, Fang Yuan did not pin his hopes solely on North Korean assistance.

Fleeing to Korea is indeed a bold adventure, and it is best if North Korea can take it in. Even if they don't take it in, then the two sides will tear their faces, with the combat power of the Korean tofu soldiers, and the Ming army are a pair of difficult brothers, how can they resist the impact of the Xuanjia Iron Cavalry?

As long as the port of the Korean naval division is captured, the warships and ships can be snatched, and they can reach Phi Dao safely, and then return to the west.

Without further ado, Fang Yuan immediately ordered Chigutai to arrange for the sergeants to go and build a pontoon bridge and prepare for the transfer to Korea.

At the same time, he also told Chigutai to send scouts to reconnoiter along the upper and lower reaches of the Yalu River, where there should be narrower estuaries from which it might be faster and easier to cross the river.

This military order surprised Chigutai, and he was stunned and asked, "Fang Junmen, the first time you went to Dandongkou, how did you know that there was a narrower crossing?" ”

Fang Yuan secretly laughed, the width of the Yalu River varied, before the crossing, the mouth of the Yalu River that had passed through the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea was only more than ten meters wide. On weekdays, many of the people-to-people exchanges between Dandong and North Korea are also wading through the water on foot, and there is no need for bridges at all, which shows that there must be narrower crossings in the upstream and downstream of Dandong Pass.

Fang Yuan yawned and said, "Chigutai, I'll go rest first, and if there is an emergency military situation, or if the Huang Taiji pursuers arrive, come and wake me up." ”

Chigutai hurriedly arranged a place for him to rest, and according to his instructions, he sent a spout to explore the mouth of the upper and lower reaches of the Yalu River.