The news of the defeat in the Battle of Qiancang Mountain quickly reached the ears of Chen Tai outside Pingyang City.

After listening to the whole battle, Chen Tai was speechless for a long time, and finally could only ask the scout about Li Shutai's whereabouts, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Li Shutai was not captured alive or killed in battle, but gathered the routed troops and drove here.

Then, he looked at the city wall of Pingyang County, and knew that they could not lose their precious troops here, and they had to bypass Pingyang County and withdraw to the north, so he left only the Baoyi army to monitor the county seat, and he led two Manchurian cavalry of Niu Lu to leave the camp and go to meet Li Shutai.

When he saw Li Shutai again, he was really taken aback by the embarrassed appearance of the soldiers and horses under the latter's command, only to see that most of the soldiers who followed Li Shutai looked exhausted, and their armor was stained with mud and blood in many places, and some of the wounded soldiers had to be supported by robes and marched with difficulty.

When they saw that the soldiers and horses in front of them were approaching this side, the remnants of the Qing army were all nervous subconsciously, but after seeing that it was the flag of the Qing Dynasty held high, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Chen Tai rode his horse and came to Li Shutai, he glanced at the defeated soldiers in surprise, and then hugged his fist at Li Shutai and asked, "Lord Governor, how are the casualties of our army?" ”

"Heavy losses." Li Shutai smiled bitterly and said: "The more than 5,000 people under the Zhumala Department were all wiped out, and I am afraid that most of them became prisoners of the Ming people, and the partial division commanded by Ma Degong also lost contact, and only these less than 5,000 soldiers and horses were collected by following me all the way to retreat. ”

"The casualties are so heavy." Chen Tai chuckled in his heart, he remembered the strategy he proposed three days ago, and hurriedly asked, "Our plan has failed?" ”

"Probably so." Li Shutai sighed and said, "It seems that the morale of the Ming army has not been shaken by this, on the contrary, their offensive has become much fiercer because of this. ”

After speaking, he paused, his eyes showed a little fear, and said: "This Ming army also has a team equipped with sharp firearms, although they are no more than a thousand people, but they can face the charge of the Manchurian iron cavalry, and defeat the cavalry with the imperial banner in a dignified manner, and it is precisely because of their existence that our army's foot soldiers will be defeated so quickly." ”

Chen Tai took the fear in his eyes into his eyes, and he couldn't help but worry in his heart, but he still pretended to be calm and said, "Let's go back to the camp first, and then discuss the next countermeasures after returning to the camp." ”

Li Shutai followed Chen Tai's advice and led the rout all the way back to the camp outside Pingyang City, and their arrival also attracted the attention of the sentinels who had been monitoring the Qing army camp at the head of the city, and quickly reported the news to Su Yan.

After learning from the sentry that a group of Qing troops who looked embarrassed had withdrawn into the camp, Su Yan immediately speculated that the Qing army must have fought a fierce battle with Su Dingyuan's army in the south, and was not surprisingly defeated by Su Dingyuan.

If you guess correctly, then Su Dingyuan will be able to kill outside Pingyang City tomorrow at the latest, and the Qing army will definitely not sit still during this time, and it is very likely that they will choose to bypass the county seat and retreat north, If they are let go north like this, his plan will not be in vain.

Considering the new defeat of the Qing army and the unstable morale of the army, Su Yan decided to take a risk and go out of the city to fight a decisive battle when the Qing army intended to withdraw from the north.

As Su Yan guessed, in the camp of the Qing army, Chen Tai also proposed to Li Shutai to withdraw his troops north.

"Your Excellency the Governor, this time our army was defeated in southern Zhejiang, and continuing to stay in Pingyang will only lead to the annihilation of the whole army, so the last general suggested that it is better to bypass Pingyang County, withdraw to Hangzhou, and wait for reinforcements from the imperial court."

"But if I retreat north like this, the court will definitely not let us go, Your Majesty's pro-government is in need of victory to boost his majesty, but we were defeated by the Ming army in southern Zhejiang, I am afraid that not only the black yarn hat, but even the future future can not be saved." Li Shutai let out a long sigh and said with a wry smile.

"You don't have to worry so much." Chen Tai said with relief: "Today's saint knows people and makes good use of them, not a person who is rigid and self-serving, you have repeatedly made military exploits, and you are the most suitable general in the court, and the saint will not dismiss you just because of a defeat." ”

"I hope so." Li Shutai said.

However, Chen Tai's relief still made him much more excited, and he immediately ordered the soldiers and horses to be counted, preparing to bypass Pingyang County and withdraw north to Hangzhou before the Ming army could catch up.

However, just when the Qing army began to gather troops and horses, the Ming army in Pingyang City also began to act, in the surprised eyes of the Qing army sentry, the city gate was opened, and the Ming army in the city poured out under the leadership of Su Yan, and set up a position with its back to the county seat.

Almost at the same time as the Ming army opened the city gate, the Qing army camp sounded the warning gong, and a sentry quickly broke into the main tent to report the news of the Ming army leaving the city to the two main generals.

Li Shutai and Chen Tai glanced at each other, and they both saw a bit of solemnity on each other's faces, it was impossible for the Ming army to go out of the city to meet for no reason, especially the strength of the Ming army in the city was far lower than that of the Qing army besieging the city, they must have found something.

Thinking of the retreat of the Qing army not long after the retreat into the camp, Li Shutai smiled bitterly and said: "It seems that this Su Yan is preparing to go out of the city and fight with our army in a dignified manner." ”

"If you want to bypass Pingyang County, you must defeat the Ming army, this Su Yan really seized a good opportunity, our army's new defeat, it is the time when the army's heart is unstable, at this time with our army, with that sharp firearm, our army has little chance of winning." Chen Tai said sharply.

If he was still very confident before today, thinking that the Eight Banners Iron Cavalry could easily defeat the Ming army in a field battle, but after today's Battle of Qiancang Mountain, the 800 Manchurian cavalry he sent told him with a bloody lesson that the era of the Manchurian Iron Cavalry being invincible in the field battle is likely to be over.

"Today's plan is to fight with the Ming army."

After Li Shutai finished speaking, he ordered the whole army to leave the camp and prepare to fight with the other party as Su Yan's wish.

Most of the artillery of the Qing army fell into the hands of the Ming army in the battle of Qiancang Mountain, so in addition to the light artillery such as the tiger squat cannon carried by Chen Tai, there was no other heavy firepower, on the other hand, the Ming army, Su Yan in order to be able to give full play to his greatest advantages, the 12-pounder infantry gun, Hongyi cannon and Furang machine gun were all transported, and set up in front of the army formation openly, aiming at the Qing army camp with the black hole muzzle.

Even if the Qing army was ready to be a shrinking turtle and refused to fight, Su Yan could use heavy firepower to force the Qing army out of the camp for a decisive battle.

Seeing that the Qing army really opened the gate of the camp and left the camp in an orderly manner, Su Yan didn't tell them the idea of martial virtues, and with a wave of his hand, the fuses of various artillery pieces were ignited, and dozens of shells were fired at the Qing army camp with a roar.

For a while, the Qing troops in the camp were blown up, and before they could engage in battle, their morale fell very badly under Su Yan's shelling.

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