The camp of Jiannu is the big tent of the Chinese army.

Dolgon and Yueto sat in the middle, although the two were both second regents, but there was still a slight difference in status, whether it was ability or prestige, Yueto obviously could not be compared with Dolgon, not to mention that Dolgon was still Yueto's elder, so Dolgon was able to sit on the left.

The rest of the nobles such as Abatai, Babutai, Shuoto, Sakhalian, Dudu, Tanggu, Azig, Duoduo, and Haoge were divided into two classes, and although they were all princes and princes of the county, they were also Belle and Beizi at the worst, but in front of Dorgon and Yueto, there was no seat for them.

This is a typical Eight Banners common meeting, except for the blue flag of Jierharang, almost all the nobles in the Eight Banners of Jiannu came, such a standard of the Eight Banners is very high, only when dealing with major affairs will be convened, and in fact, Jiannu is indeed facing a serious problem now.

The question is whether to continue the siege of Datong or not.

Dolgon originally hoped that the strong attack at any cost would work, and if Datong could be captured in one fell swoop, it would be completely worth losing some men and horses, because the capture of Datong and the capture of Wang Pu would greatly improve the morale and morale of the Jiannu army, and would also greatly enhance Dolgon's prestige in the Jiannu.

But the end result surprised Dolgon!

The losses were indeed a lot, Dolgon invested a total of 70,000 troops, including 30,000 people each in the eight banners of the Han army and the eight banners of the Mongols, plus 5,000 elite soldiers in the Zhenghuang and inlaid yellow banners, and as a result, after a fierce battle, the eight banners of the 30,000 Han army were almost killed and wounded, and the three thousand Mongolian eight banners also suffered more than half of the casualties.

In fact, there were not so many Jiannu who were really killed, and many more Jiannu were only injured, and they died of blood loss because they did not receive timely treatment.

Dolgon sighed softly and said, "This king has just received the news that our Qing army has killed more than 46,000 people in today's battle, including more than 29,000 people in the eight banners of the Han army, more than 16,000 people in the eight banners of Mongolia, and more than 1,000 people in the elite of the two yellow banners. ”

Although they realized that the casualties in today's battle would definitely not be less, they never expected to lose more than 46,000 people, although the Qing Dynasty dispatched an unprecedented 170,000 troops this time, but if they fought like today, there would be no hair left in four days.

This is really unprecedented in the history of the war between Jiannu and the Ming Dynasty, and the Qing army has never suffered such a crushing defeat in the history of the previous war between the two armies.

"What's there?" Azig said disapprerovingly, "Didn't you lose more than 20,000 Han people, Aha and more than 10,000 Mongols?" Didn't our Eight Banners elite just lose more than a thousand people? It's just a scratch of the skin. ”

"Yes." Abatai, who also has the surname Grug, echoed, "Aha who killed more than 20,000 Han people, why don't you just take more people back from the Central Plains this time?" More than 10,000 Mongolians are even more nothing, more than a dozen Mongolian tribes in the south and north of the desert, there are more than 400,000 in Qiding, what is the death of more than 10,000 people? ”

Dolgon's brows furrowed for a moment, what Azig and Abatai said was obviously, the loss of 20,000 Han soldiers and eight banners was not Han Ahha, far from being able to fill it by capturing tens of thousands of strong men from the Central Plains and going to Liaodong, and the death of more than 10,000 Mongols was not a trivial matter.

The Mongols are now only subservient to the Qing Dynasty, and they are far from truly integrating into the Qing Dynasty, which means that the Mongolian Eight Banners are now only a servant army of the Qing Army.

If the Mongols betrayed the Qing Dynasty because of this war, it would be more than worth the loss.

Dolgon already had the idea of retiring from the army in his heart, if he buried all the elites of the Eight Banners of the Great Qing Kingdom under Datong City for the sake of a Wang Pu, it would be too worthless, and he Dolgon would not be able to bear this responsibility.

However, as the regent, Dolgon couldn't say this idea directly, because if he said the words of retreating at this time, although he kept the elite of the Eight Banners and the vitality of the Great Qing Kingdom, the responsibility for the defeat of the attack on Datong had to be borne by him, Dolgon.

Dolgon's political goal was more than just a second regent, and he certainly didn't want to take on that responsibility.

Dorgon sneaked a glance at Dorgon.

Duoduo was clever, and quickly figured out what Dolgon meant, and said: "The loss of more than 20,000 Han Army Eight Banners and more than 10,000 Mongolian Eight Banners is indeed not enough to make our Qing Army's army break their bones, however, Seventh Brother and Twelfth Brother, have you ever thought about it, today we have the Eight Banners of the Han Army and the Eight Banners of Mongolia to send and serve, but what about tomorrow and the day after tomorrow?" When the Eight Banners of the Han Army and the Eight Banners of Mongolia are lost, can our elite of the Eight Banners still be left alone? ”

Azig said unhappily: "Old fifteen, according to your meaning, Datong will not fight?" ”

"Datong can't be attacked anymore." Without hesitation, Dordor said, "At least we can't storm it again." ”

It doesn't matter if the words of withdrawal come out of Dord's mouth, because Dordor is not the regent, he is not the one who finally makes the decision, so he does not have to take responsibility.

Sakhalian said: "Yes, if we continue to attack, the loss will be too great, even if we can finally defeat Datong, our Qing army will lose a lot of strength, in my opinion, it is better to give up the difficult bone of Datong and fight Yanjing directly!" Wang Pu is difficult, I don't believe that Chongzhen in Yanjing City is as difficult as Xiaoer. ”

"Nope." Haoge hurriedly stepped out and shouted, "You can't just let Wang Pu go!" ”

Seeing Haug jump out, a hint of coldness suddenly flashed in Dorgon's eyes.

Because of the failure of the battle for the throne, Hauge was demoted from Prince Su to King Sujun, but in any case, he is the king of one word, and he is the eldest son of Huang Taiji, and the power in the two yellow flags and the blue flag can also be said to be deep-rooted.

But if there is an opportunity to kill Hauge, Dorgon will never give up easily.

Suddenly, Dolgon had a great idea in his head to kill two birds with one stone, a good idea to both shirk his own responsibility and kill Haug with a sword!

Haoge's voice fell, and Dolgon got up and echoed: "What King Sujun said is not unreasonable, Wang Pu is the enemy of life and death in our Great Qing Kingdom, and we must not let him go like this, but what Prince Yu and Prince Ying said is also reasonable, the main targets of this army are Yanjing and Chongzhen Xiao'er." ”

Hauge frowned and asked, "What exactly does the regent mean?" ”

Dolgon said indifferently: "This king suggested that the troops be divided into two routes, with the 10,000 elites of the two yellow banners led by King Haoge of Sujun and the 20,000 Mongolian eight banners of Zasak and Tushetu, staying to continue to besiege Datong, and the king and the regent of Li led the main force of the Qing army to approach Yanjing, what do you think?" ”

"Okay." Yue Tuo immediately nodded and said, "Uncle Fourteen's proposal is very good, according to this king, then that's it, right?" ”

Everyone nodded, and the two regents agreed, what else did they, the princes, the princes, and the Baylors, have to say?

Hauge didn't say anything, in fact, he was happy in his heart, rather than suffering under Dolgon's tent, it was better to lead an army alone, although 30,000 troops were a little less, and it was definitely not enough to storm Datong, but it was more than enough to besiege it, and if he could break Datongsheng and capture Wang Pu this time, this credit would not be robbed by Dolgon.

Seeing that everyone agreed, Hauge had no opinion, and the matter was decided.

■■■

In Datong City, the total army is marching.

Zhen Youcai went forward worriedly and said to Wang Pu: "General, the results are out." ”

Wang Pu asked without raising his head, "How many casualties have you suffered?" ”

Zhen Youcai said: "Nine hundred and ninety-seven people were killed, one hundred and three people were seriously injured, and more than four hundred people were slightly injured. ”

Wang Pu's brows furrowed for a moment, although he had been mentally prepared, but he couldn't help but be taken aback when he suddenly heard such a large number of casualties, after a day of fierce fighting, his musket team had suffered more than 1,500 casualties, at this rate, he would have been killed and wounded in less than three days with his musket.

At that time, Jiannu didn't need to use knives and guns at all, and he could enter the city on foot.

"Where's the ammunition?" Wang Pu asked again, "How much did it consume?" ”

Zhen Youcai said: "The Dragon King Cannon has almost been hit, there are still more than 100 boxes left, that is, more than 2,000, and the consumption of paper shell shells has not been counted for the time being, but with the intensity of today's battle situation and the firing speed of the firearms battalion, I am sure that the remaining paper shell shells will never exceed 20,000 rounds." ”

Wang Pu sighed and did not speak.

The intensity of the battle today was far greater than he expected, although the number of Jiannu killed and wounded was far beyond his expectations, and the amount of ammunition that could be consumed was also staggering.

"General." Zhen Youcai smiled bitterly, "If Jiannu still attacks like this tomorrow, we will sing the empty city plan." ”

(To be continued)