Seeing the death of the main general, the Manchu cavalry did not collapse, but launched an attack on the Datong army without life.

These cavalrymen who sacrificed their lives to charge were all Niu Lu under Babutai.

In addition, the Eight Banners of the Manchu Dynasty, the Eight Banners of the Mongols, and the Mongolian Banners of the Outer Domains that were not Babutai Niulu all became frightened and demoralized. In particular, those Mongolian banners of foreign vassals, although they were still shooting arrows at the Datong army, gradually went around to the north and prepared to flee, and took the initiative to lift the encirclement of the Datong cavalry.

When Babutai's Niu Lu was killed and wounded, the rest of the cavalry fled the battlefield, leaving these desperate allies to cover their retreat.

Finally, Babutai's Niu Lu also escaped, but it was not a complete collapse.

The Manchu cavalry often spread out their habit of fighting, making it difficult for them to completely lose their organization. The middle and low-ranking officers automatically commanded the remnants of the army and began to fight and flee with the Datong army, although they still could not escape the end of annihilation, but greatly delayed the Datong cavalry to pursue the main force of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Of the more than 12,000 cavalry used to block the attack, only about 9,000 fled back, which frightened Dolgon's vest into sweat.

"Where's Lao Jiu?" Dorgon no longer called Babutai the office.

Covered in blood, Nikan replied, "Dead in battle." ”

At this time, Nikan was not a famous king, and he was only named Dorobelle when he broke through the Shanhai Pass.

Dorgon was furious: "How could more than 12,000 horsemen be so defeated? ”

Nikan pointed to the Mongol cavalry of the outer domain: "These people are cowardly and dare not engage in battle, surround the enemy army without attacking, sit back and watch the friendly army be attacked but do not rescue!" ”

The Karaqin Mongol tribe Taiji (prince) Gulu Siqibu immediately defended himself: "Your Highness, this is a slander against our Mongolian warriors. We received orders from the commander-in-chief to outflank and besiege the enemy's flank and rear, but as soon as the encirclement was completed, the enemy launched a fierce attack on Mel Ezhen (Babutai). Before we could come to the rescue, Gushan Ezhen had already died. The army's spirit was fluctuating, and he could only flee with Nikambel. ”

"Nonsense!"

Nikan was so angry that he blushed and his neck was thick: "It was you who surrounded and did not attack, which caused Meler's death in battle!" ”

Gulu Siqibu roared, "You are framing us Mongol warriors! ”

"I didn't!" Nikan roared along.

Next, the generals of the two sides also joined the ranks of the dispute and quarreled on the way to withdraw their troops.

"Shut up!"

Dorgon rebuked, "How can the retreat of the great army be delayed? Who's right and wrong, withdraw it first. ”

When the lords heard the news, they rode to see Dolgon, discussing in low voices as they marched.

For them, this is not only a question of war, but also a very serious political issue!

The Karaqin Mongols were one of the first Mongolian tribes to be attached to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the Gulu Siqibu father and son were the first foreign vassal forces to be attached to the Karaqin Mongols.

This tribe, which now grazes in the grasslands of northwestern Liao, is very close to the core of Manchu rule.

In this battle, the Karaqin Mongols fought and released water, and a message has been exposed: the outer Mongolian domain is no longer united with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, if the Manchu Eight Banners continue to lose troops and generals, I am afraid that the Mongolian tribes in the northwest of Liaoning will fall to the Datong army!

"Except for military rations, weapons and armor, the rest of the baggage is all abandoned!" Dorgon gave the order anxiously.

The men who transported these burdens were also gone, and were driven to the south, perhaps to stop the pursuers for a moment.

At the same time, Dolgon sent all his cavalry, one to cover the direction of the coastline and the other to cover the direction of the pursuing troops in Gaizhou.

"Your Highness, there are enemy troops ahead!"

"The whole army is in formation!"

Dorgon was already in a state of rage, and he felt that the Southbarbarians were too deceitful.

Yaozhou is less than 50 miles away from Gaizhou, and it was built by the Manchu Qing Dynasty to attack the Ming army in Gaizhou.

In a state of rapid march, the main force of the Eight Banners quickly walked half the way, and it had already entered the Manchu sphere of influence. The Datong Army actually dared to intercept it, is this bullying the Eight Banners warriors who can't lift a knife?

Seeing that the Manchu army began to line up, Lu Xiangsheng smiled and said to Li Zheng: "Withdraw!" ”

If you don't withdraw, you can't do it, the first batch of troops to intercept by boat, the number of Datong troops has not yet exceeded 10,000, and the fortifications have not been repaired. Dolgon's army numbered tens of thousands, and all of them were the elite of the Eight Banners, and it was purely a death to fight it.

Even if the main force of the Manchu Qing Dynasty is dragged out, it is nothing more than turning the Gaizhou battlefield into a peripheral battlefield in Yaozhou. Moreover, the Datong army has also lost the protection of the city wall, so it is better to fight directly in Gaizhou.

Fearing that the Datong army would withdraw to the ship, thousands of Manchu cavalry swarmed to kill them.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The naval ships immediately shelled to cover the boarding of the Datong Army, and the naval non-commissioned officers also raised their guns on the side of the ship.

The Manchu cavalry did not dare to approach at all, watching as the Datong army withdrew to the ship, while they themselves were killed by artillery shelling dozens of people.

Just as all the foot soldiers were withdrawn to the ship, Li Dingguo, Wang Tingchen, and Wu Huapu also chased after them with cavalry, and they only divided two hundred cavalry to collect the people that Dolgon had thrown down halfway.

No one thought about annihilating the main force of the Eight Banners, but only planned to take advantage of Dolgon's withdrawal and chase a few more pieces of meat along the way.

The population of the Manchu Qing is so large, and if you die, there will be one less!

Dolgon ordered 20,000 cavalry, including Han army flags, spears and horse armor, and rushed towards Li Dingguo's thousands of cavalry.

Li Dingguo, Wang Tingchen, and Wu Huapu ran away, this is a fart, slippery.

The main reason is that they chased all the way, and the people were sleepy and tired, and they couldn't fight directly at all. People can rely on perseverance to persevere, you can't let the war horse also understand the spirit of Datong.

After the occupation of Liaodong, the proportion of cavalry in the Manchu Eight Banners was as high as 40%.

Even the Eight Banners of the Han Army also have shotgun vests, similar to the dragoons of the Datong Army. There were also many Manchu cavalry, riding horses to rush to the road, and after the horses were tired, they could only become infantry and fight immediately. There were also some heavy infantry, who used horses to carry armor on fast marches.

It is estimated that the Manchus themselves could not figure out how many cavalry they had and how many infantry they had, because many of their soldiers were both infantry and cavalry.

Under the repeated losses, tens of thousands of the main forces of the Eight Banners could easily pull out 20,000 cavalry to fight.

Seeing that the pursuers from the west had retreated to their ships, and that the pursuers from the south had fled on horseback, Dolgon ordered the whole army to move on. All the soldiers were armoured, and all the horses were leading the war horses to hurry, ready to get on their horses and charge the pursuers at any time.

In this way, Dolgon withdrew to Yaozhou with a large army.

The Datong generals also returned to Gaizhou, counted the battle losses and gains, and all smiled happily.

Including the enemy who defended the fortress, more than 11,000 Manchu elites were killed and captured—some of the wounded who had difficulty moving were abandoned outside the city of Gaizhou when Dolgon withdrew his troops.

Killed more than 4,000 people and people - most of them were siege cannon fodder.

Including the raided and plundered population by boat, capturing Baoyi, people's husbands, and serfs, more than 30,000 people!

In addition, more than 20 serviceable artillery pieces were captured and more than 60 destroyed artillery pieces were captured. Among them, there are a lot of copper cannons, a cannon is two or three thousand catties, which can be pulled back to the south to mint copper coins.

As for the battle damage of the Datong army, 681 foot soldiers defending the city were killed, 176 peasants and civilians defending the city were killed, and more than 2,000 people were injured in the defending troops. In the attack and harassment battle in Jinzhou and the pursuit battle in Gaizhou, the Datong cavalry killed 1,923 people and wounded more than 3,000 people.

At the post-war summary meeting, Li Zheng said: "The puppet Qing cavalry is still very brave, and the biggest loss of our army in this battle is the cavalry pursuit battle. Although 3,000 enemy cavalry were annihilated, more than 1,000 cavalry of our army were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded. In the future, avoid melee combat with enemy cavalry, and rely on firearms and artillery to annihilate the enemy! ”

Lu Xiangsheng added: "Although our cavalry suffered heavy casualties, the results were still very good. During the pursuit, the beheaded puppet Qing commander was the ninth son of Nurhachi, and captured more than 3,000 horses, forcing Dolgon to continue to abandon his baggage and people. As for the hundreds of cavalry casualties during the attack on Jinzhou, it was to drag the enemy in Jinzhou to rush to the aid of Shanhaiguan. The sudden withdrawal of the puppet Qing army this time is estimated to have received the news that Shanhaiguan was besieged. ”

Li Zheng nodded and said, "General Lu is right, we should fight a tough battle, we still have to fight a tough battle." Li Dingguo slammed into battle and beheaded his chief general, which greatly boosted the morale of the whole army, and after discussing with the military judges and missionary officers, I will reward you for your merits. ”

"Report ...... Shanhaiguan is coming! ”

"Ask him to come in."

A messenger quickly rushed into the conference room: "Generals, our army has raided and occupied Weiyuantai, and the enemy's army is likely to withdraw its troops and return to help. ”

Everyone looked at each other and laughed.

Xiao Zongxian asked, "When did it happen?" ”

The messenger replied: "Seven days ago we captured Weiyuantai, and there was a storm at sea, and the ships could not sail, so we have not come to announce until now. ”

Li Zheng sent someone to arrange for the messenger to rest, opened the military intelligence document, and after reading it, he said: "What Shanhaiguan means is that if the Manchu army goes to the rescue, they will immediately withdraw their troops and leave." The military rations in Shandong and Beizhili are very scarce, and it is impossible to continue to consume them with the puppet Qing, at least two or three months after the autumn grain harvest before they dare to fight a big battle with the real puppet Qing. ”

From the harvest of autumn grain to the collection and then the transfer from the south to Shandong, two or three months have been very fast.

At this time, Fei Ruhe and Zhang Tieniu's army was attacking Shanhaiguan with two meals a day, and if they continued, they would have to eat one meal a day. The military rations consumed in the war are different from those in the local area, and they need to be consumed for transportation on the way, and the civilians and craftsmen accompanying the army also need to consume.

Lu Xiangsheng sighed: "Alas, the military food is still not enough, and the military food in Liaodong will not last long." Fortunately, this time, Jinzhou and Fuzhou harvested wheat, otherwise His Majesty would have to raise more grain and grass to transport it. ”

This is too similar to the situation in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to recover Liaodong, but there was no army and no grain and grass, so he could only silently stay in Tuntian in Liaodong for several years.

Xiao Zongxian suddenly said in a daze: "This pseudo-Qing sent a large army to rescue Shanhaiguan, and could only leave troops to guard against Haizhou and Yaozhou. The enemies of Haizhou and Yaozhou will definitely not dare to go out of the city without authorization, should we take the opportunity to do something? ”

Lu Xiangsheng said: "Taking advantage of the enemy's main force to go to Shanhaiguan, our army can plunder the countryside of Haizhou and Yaozhou with one person and two horses. When you see the crops of the Pseudo-Qing Dynasty, they destroy them, when they see the Pseudo-Qing houses, they burn them, and when you see the population and livestock, they loot them back! With such a method of warfare, in less than a year or two, those Tartars will starve to death if they are hungry! ”

The offensive and defensive battles of Gaizhou were fought indestructively, but the real war had just begun.

The Manchus will definitely be short of grain this winter, and both Korea and Mongolia have grabbed it, so let's see where they go to grab grain when the time comes.