Dolgon had been watching the battle from a hillside near the main camp.

On the battlefield, there was a smoke of gunpowder everywhere, obscuring the rising sun, and Dolgon did not have a telescope, so the specific situation could not be seen clearly. However, he could roughly judge the situation on the battlefield from the movement of his own side.

There were also sergeants who kept running over, and they also kept him informed of the progress of the attacks of the various units.

Originally, Dorgon thought that today's all-out counterattack could wipe out the sneak attack of the Ming army, but he didn't expect that things were far more complicated than he thought. Cao Yue made careful arrangements, not only sending men and horses to attack the camp, but also sending the most elite musket battalion out of the city to respond.

After the musket battalion left the city, it also arranged a well-defended camp, even a chariot formation, and a large number of rejecting horses.

It is impossible for the Ming army to spend a lot of time arranging these formations, otherwise they would have been detected by his subordinates. It can only be said that the Ming army was set up in a very short period of time, and from this point, Dolgon could judge that the combat strength of the Datong army was far from being comparable to other Ming armies.

Judging from the situation on the battlefield, Dolgon already knew that his previous judgment was wrong, and there was not only one battalion of musket battalions in the Datong army, but at least two battalions, with more than 10,000 guns.

From the analysis of the continuous firing of the muskets, Dolgon also knew that the battlefield effect of the Ming army's muskets was far better than he imagined. The Mongols and Han troops who attacked head-on did not make any progress, and the heavy casualties made him completely incredulous.

Dolgon thought that all the muskets of the Ming army were concentrated in the front, and only the cavalry was guarding the flanks. So he ordered the Mongol Eight Banners and the Han army to attack from the front at all costs, and ordered the Mongols to attack the flanks of the Ming army with the Zhu Li Xi and the Jurchen elite cavalry. Dolgon originally thought that no matter how desperately the Ming cavalry and pikemen fought, they would not be able to withstand the impact of the Qing elite cavalry.

But unexpectedly, the battle was still not going well, and he was hesitating whether to attack with all his strength.

And soon, the latest situation on the battlefield reached him. The situation on the battlefield was even worse than he thought of the worst outcome, and the most elite Jurchen cavalry threw themselves on the battlefield, still unable to break through the Ming army's musket array. There were a large number of Ming musket fire in several directions, and the Qing cavalry, which was rapidly impacting, had no way to break through the line of death formed by musket shooting.

Dolgon also knew that as long as he crossed the death line and fought the Ming army at close range, then his men and horses would be able to defeat the Ming army with full strength, gain the initiative on the battlefield, and even annihilate the Ming army outside the city.

But the attacks from several directions, after paying a heavy price, still could not reach the front of the Ming army's musket array.

The Ming army's ammunition never seemed to run out, and their muskets didn't seem to break. The artillery of the Ming army also bombarded a few times from time to time, and the huge power of the artillery caused great casualties to the Qing soldiers. Dolgon wondered if the Ming army had developed the latest muskets and stored very sufficient ammunition before Cao Yue dared to go out of the city to confront the elite cavalry of the Qing Dynasty.

Dolgon also found his mistake, if Duoduo did not lead 20,000 Jurchen elite cavalry to protect the artillery, then throwing those 20,000 elite cavalry on the battlefield should be able to break through the Ming army's musket array, after all, the combat effectiveness of the Jurchen elite cavalry is far from being comparable to the Mongols and the Han army.

"Master, this battle can't be fought like this!" Fan Wencheng, who was standing on the side of Dolgon, was also anxious after understanding the situation on the battlefield clearly, and he hurriedly suggested to Dolgon, "Master, the slave feels that he can't continue to attack today, Cao Yue must be fully prepared, and the purpose is to use the musket battalion as a bait to lure our Qing army to attack." The muskets were so powerful that as long as they maintained this position, our troops would not be able to break through their defenses. ”

"What good advice does the gentleman have?" Although Dorgon was anxious, the expression on his face was still calm, and his tone of voice was calm.

After Fan Wencheng thought about it seriously for a while, he said: "Master, the slave thinks that the number of muskets in the Ming army is definitely not unlimited, and it will definitely break if it is used too much, and the gunpowder is the same, there will always be a day when it will be consumed." We can launch frequent attacks, consume the gunpowder of the Ming army, let their muskets run out early, and then fully attack the city after our artillery arrives, so that we can win!"

"There is some truth to that, but today's battle is like this, we ended the battle with a heavy defeat, and the impact on morale is very great," Dolgon couldn't help but sigh, "We have suffered two consecutive defeats, and morale will definitely continue to be low, how can we fight in the future?" ”

"Master, if you continue to fight like this, the losses will be even heavier, and the morale will be even more affected!" Fan Wencheng had changed his mind, believing that only by besieging Datong for a long time and depleting the gunpowder in Datong City could it be possible to defeat the Datong army.

"Hmm," Dolgon replied, not speaking again.

After a while, he finally made a decision and shouted: "Pass on the king's order, retreat on all fronts, and retreat to the big camp!"

Soon, the clarion call for Jiannu's retreat sounded on the battlefield, and the Jiannu army, which continued to attack but did not achieve much effect, quickly stopped attacking and slowly retreated. The discipline of the Jiannu army was good, and although they suffered a heavy defeat, their retreat was still quite orderly, including the Mongol soldiers and the Han army.

Seeing the retreat of the Jiannu army, Cao Yue also breathed a sigh of relief, he knew that if Jiannu attacked again with such a situation, the musket battalion would not hold out until the afternoon. With the continuous shooting, a large number of muskets have been scrapped, and the consumption of gunpowder is also very fast, he has sent all the backup sergeants, and all the muskets in stock have also been put into the battlefield, but now there are less than 9,000 muskets that can be used on the battlefield.

The intensity of the firing of 9,000 muskets has decreased compared to the previous time, and the loss rate will be even higher if it continues to be used. If Jiannu attacks again with the tactics of crowds, regardless of losses, then it will definitely be the Datong army that will not support in the end, after all, the Jiannu army has an advantage in numbers.

In the event of a serious decline in the combat strength of the musket battalion, the nearly 10,000 cavalry troops and pikemen who went out of the city to guard the city will inevitably join the war group again. Losing the powerful lethality of the musket, Cao Yue did not dare to imagine that he could repel Jiannu's attack with the cavalry and other infantry alone.

All the dependence of the Datong Army is on firearms, and if this is weakened, the combat effectiveness of the Datong Army will be reduced by several levels.

After seeing Jiannu slowly retreating, Cao Yue also ordered the musket battalion to withdraw from its position first, and then the cavalry and infantry withdrew to the city in batches.

The smoke of gunpowder on the battlefield is the best cover, and the artillery on the head of the city is still firing non-stop, creating a bigger bang. Soon Jiannu withdrew without a trace, and tens of thousands of Ming troops outside the city also took advantage of the smoke of gunpowder to retreat into the city in batches.

Fortunately, in the process of retreating from the city to fight, Jiannu did not take the opportunity to attack.

The last group of men and horses retreated into the city, the city gate was closed, and when the suspension bridge was hanging high, Cao Yue's hanging heart was relaxed.

"Dolgon, isn't he as brave and invincible as the legend says, haha!" This is what Cao Yue said when he laughed at Sun Chuanting after seeing everyone retreat into the city.

The battle was like this, Cao Yue didn't expect it himself.