I don't know how long I was unconscious, but Dolgon woke up in a faint state.

Looking around, Dorgon found himself lying on the kang, which had been burned so warm that he didn't want to move.

But his chest still felt like a big stone had been crushed.

Dolgon couldn't breathe.

"Master, are you awake?" Cao Eryu came in with a basin of hot water.

"Where is this?" Dorgon snorted, struggling to sit up.

But his body had just sat up a little before he fell back onto the kang again.

Only then did Dorgon realize that his arms were limp and lacklustre.

"Master, don't move." Cao Eryu hurriedly stepped forward, "Don't break your body." ”

Dolgon frowned and asked, "What about Hong Chengchou, Fan Wencheng, Ning Wan and Hou Fangyu?" ”

"Master, several gentlemen and Hou Fangyu are waiting outside." Cao Eryu wiped Dolgon's feet with a hot towel, and asked, "Do you want the minions to summon them in?" ”

"Call them in." Dorgon thought for a moment, then said, "Then call Heluohui, Sukh Saha, and Esen, all of them. ”

"Huh." Cao Eryu bowed and withdrew.

Soon, Hong Chengchou and the others walked in first.

Immediately afterwards, He Luohui, Suke Saha, Esen and others also walked in.

Dolgon's gaze fell on He Luohui first, and asked, "How many casualties are there in total?" ”

"Master, all the 10,000 warriors of the Eight Banners of Manchuria died, and none of them came back alive." He Luohui's face showed an indescribable look of regret, the Jurchens were really beaten miserably this time.

Rao was mentally prepared for Dolgon, but after he really heard the news, he couldn't help but feel angry again, and his face instantly turned red.

"Master?" Cao Eryu was anxious and heartbroken, "You can't be angry anymore." ”

Dolgon shook his head, forcibly suppressed his restless blood, and asked, "How many casualties are there among the Eight Banners Han Army and the Eight Banners Mongols?" ”

He Luohui replied: "In total, the Eight Banners Han Army only fled back to more than 7,000 people, and even if the other 12,000 people did not die on the spot, I am afraid that they would not be able to escape death in the end." ”

Dolgon let out another long sigh.

The losses of the Eight Banners Han Army were also so heavy.

He Luohui said again: "The Eight Banners Mongolia is fine, more than 500 horsemen died. ”

On the other side, Esen continued: "About a thousand of our Horqin banners have died. ”

"Esen, thanks to having you here." Dolgon sighed lightly and said, "If it weren't for you, the tens of thousands of troops and 40,000 coats that went out to Liaodong would have been wiped out." ”

"Shame on the minion." Esen said busily.

Looking at the Manchu and Han ministers with different expressions, Dolgon was a little happy and a little worried at the same time.

Fortunately, before he set out to conquer Liaodong, he had already cut off all the clan threats, including his fifteenth brother Duoduo, who was also deprived of all military rights, so even if Liaodong suffered such a big defeat, no clan nobles would make a fuss about it and take the opportunity to seize his military power.

What worries Dolgon is that after this defeat, the strength of the Jurchens has been greatly weakened, and what worries Dolgon even more is that the image of the Jurchens who are invincible in field battles has also been shattered by this defeat on the Hunhe River.

And the green camp will become more difficult to control, I'm afraid I'll have to think of a way.

It's just that these are all things in the future, and what needs to be considered now is where the battle of Liaodong will go?

At that moment, Dolgon sighed lightly and asked: "Let's talk about it, should my Qing troops continue to fight, or should they withdraw and let the Ming army control Liaodong and even the Liaoxi Corridor?" ”

When Hong Chengchou heard this, he immediately sighed lightly.

It seems that Dolgon has a desire to retreat.

But in the battle of Liaodong, the Qing Dynasty had no way to retreat.

This retreat is not only as simple as losing Liaodong, but also North Korea, and the Ten Banners of Horqin Mongols, as the most staunch ally of the Qing Dynasty, will also be completely exposed to the Ming army.

And once the Ming army defeated or even annexed the Ten Banners of the Horqin Division,

Then the Qing Dynasty is not just as simple as losing a staunch ally from now on,

What's even more worrying is that the Ming army will be able to rely on the horses of the Horqin Department to form a huge cavalry, when the Ming Dynasty has a large cavalry, the end of the Qing Dynasty will come.

None of this will happen immediately, but that's what the trend is.

It is precisely because of this that Chongzhen chose to fight this war of attrition with the Qing Dynasty in Liaodong.

"Hyung-koo." Dolgon's gaze turned to Hong Chengchou, "What do you think?" ”

Hong Chengchou understood what Dolgon meant, that is, to help him make up a few reasons to withdraw his troops.

But Hong Chengchou couldn't convince his "conscience", and said at the moment: "Master, the battle of Liaodong, I'm afraid that the Qing Dynasty has no retreat at all, although the Battle of Hunhe was lost, but this is just a small setback, the master can draw more troops from Beijing to Liaodong, as long as there are enough troops, my Qing soldiers still have a chance to defeat the Ming army." ”

"That's a nod to it." He Luohui obviously didn't want to continue fighting in Liaodong.

"My Qing Dynasty can increase troops to Liaodong, won't Nanming increase troops to Liaodong?"

"Yes." Suke Saha echoed, "Nanming to Liaodong to increase troops or transport grain can go by sea, saving time and effort and the loss is also very low, on the contrary, if I want to increase troops or transfer grain to Liaodong, because the road is muddy and difficult to travel, not only time-consuming and laborious, but also ten or even a hundred times the loss of Nanming." ”

The loss of land transportation is really incomparable to that of sea transportation.

Once the land transportation exceeds 1,000 miles, there can only be one bucket of rice left at most.

And if sea transportation does not encounter typhoons, one stone of rice can basically be left more than nine buckets, how can this be compared?

Bai Yintu continued: "Chongzhen, the dog emperor, chose to fight a decisive battle with my Qing soldiers in Liaodong, just to drag down my Qing Dynasty through the difficulties of land transfer, and we can't fall for Chongzhen, the dog emperor." ”

"It's not hard to solve." Hou Fangyu suddenly said, "I can also take the sea in the Qing Dynasty." ”

"Hou Fangyu, what nonsense are you talking about?" He Luohui scolded, "My Qing Dynasty sailors have exhausted their ink, how can I ensure the safety of the fleet if I go by sea?" ”

Hong Chengchou had already reacted, turned his head and asked, "Brother Chaozong means ice luck, right?" ”

"Mr. Hengjiu Mingjian." Hou Fangyu bowed slightly, and said to Dolgon, "Master, it is now the middle of October, and the Beihai Sea has been frozen. ”

"Ice plow?" Dorgon's face finally looked better.

If you use an ice plow to transport it by sea, it is really time-saving and labor-saving.

Hearing this, He Luohui and other Manchu generals didn't say anything more.

In this defeat, the most aggrieved person was, of course, He Luohui and other Manchu generals.

Therefore, if it can really solve the difficulties of grain and baggage and the transportation of the army, especially if the red-coated cannons can be transported to the Liaodong battlefield in time, He Luohui and they don't mind fighting another battle to save face.

Dolgon thought about it, and he really couldn't afford to lose Liaodong.

At that moment, Dolgon shouted: "Spread my will, and send another 20,000 Manchuria, 20,000 Han troops of the Eight Banners, plus 40,000 Baoyi Nikan to Liaodong, and another 200 camel cannons and 500,000 stone military rations." ”

】

"Huh!" He Luo would get down on one knee and then get up and send the heralds.

Seeing that He Luo would go out, Dolgon motioned for Cao Eryu to step forward and help him up.

Hou Fangyu also stepped forward, followed Cao Eryu to help Dolgon sit up, and very thoughtfully put a cushion on Dolgon's back, so that Dolgon could lie as comfortably as possible.

Dolgon breathed a sigh of relief and said faintly: "Ladies and gentlemen, my Qing soldiers have been defeated in the Battle of the Hunhe River, but how they lost this battle, I haven't figured it out until now, you say, where did my Qing soldiers lose?" ”

"Slaves have the same confusion as their masters." Bai Yintu scratched his head and said, "Where did my Qing soldiers lose?" ”

"If it is about courage, my 10,000 warriors of Eight Banners Manchuria can fight on the battlefield to the last pawn without taking half a step back, if it is about weapons, the camel cannons and tiger squat cannons of my green battalion are not under the Ming Dog, if it is about the strength of troops, the number of my Qing Dynasty soldiers is several times that of the Ming Dog, but why did they lose in the end? Why? ”

There was silence in the room, and no one could answer Bai Yintu's questions.

Even the well-informed Hong Chengchou and Hou Fangyu have no clue about this.

If Chongzhen is here, he will definitely sneer, weapons and equipment can be imitated, but the progress of tactical thinking is not an overnight achievement, if the Qing army wants to evolve from a cold weapon army to a firearms army, there is still a long way to go!

In fact, at this time, the Ming army only mastered the most basic infantry and artillery coordination.

For example, in this battle of the Hunhe River, the artillery of the Ming army did not have the ability to accompany the infantry to advance.

Some people will ask, is it so difficult to get the field artillery and the Tiger squat artillery to follow the infantry forward?

Yes, it is so difficult, which not only has extremely high requirements for artillery, but also has super high requirements for the tacit understanding between infantry and artillery, all of which need to be achieved through a lot of training or actual combat, and there is no shortcut.

Because of this, Jiannu's infantry and artillery failed to form a linkage, and were finally broken by the Ming army.

But this question was clearly beyond the scope of Dolgon's and the Manchu ministers present.

After a long time, Hong Chengchou said: "Master, the slave thinks that there is still no good cooperation between the Eight Banners Manchuria, the Eight Banners Han Army and the Green Battalion, which gave the Ming army a chance to break through, resulting in the defeat of the Hunhe." ”

Although Hong Chengchou doesn't know the principle, he still has basic cognition.

"It's a good thing to say, but the cooperation is not tacit enough." "But how do you cooperate?" ”