The Green Battalion to the west of the Qing army was the first to collapse, then the Chinese battalion of the Manchurian soldiers, and finally the eastern battalion of Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming.

Taking advantage of the great opportunity of the rout of the Qing army, the morale of the Ming army also reached a high point, and the various units, under the leadership of the officers, began to pursue the victory.

Zhang Dong held a spear in his hand, and took advantage of the momentum to stab forward, and the head of the spear stabbed on the chain mail of the Eight Banners he was pursuing.

Although the armor on the Eight Banners was not pierced, his back was so impacted that he stumbled and fell directly to the ground. Before he could get up, five or six Ming soldiers swarmed up, and several spears quickly stabbed him in the neck and head.

At this time, there is no need to use heavy axes and hammers, otherwise you will waste such two good pairs of armor in vain, and the intact armor is expensive, but it is a first-class trophy on the battlefield.

After killing this Eight Banners, Zhang Dong, Chen Yu, and Huang Fa immediately followed the more than 20 soldiers led by Zhuang Lidong and continued to pursue the Qing army.

On the head of Fengyang City, soldiers, townspeople, and miscellaneous servants are all looking forward to it, and the miscellaneous servants of the people have stopped carrying the wood and stones, and the earth-shaking shouts of killing are continuous, and on the plains in the north, countless flames are burning.

Zhuang Lidong quickly received an order, stopped the pursuit, and then led his troops back, cleaned up the battlefield, and sent some soldiers and horses to be responsible for guarding against any possible accidents.

Although Xue Lao Er sent cavalry to pursue, he did not take the enemy lightly, and he did not relax at all because of his vigilance.

Zhou Shixian's night attack was successful, the Qing army lost more than half of it, and fled in the desert, and the main generals of the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion were either collecting the routed troops or still on the way to flee in panic, and they could not organize a counterattack at all.

Zhuang Lidong led his soldiers to clean up the battlefield, harvest the heads, and from time to time replenish the knives of the Qing soldiers who were lying on the ground and could still move.

They cut off the heads of the Qing soldiers, distinguished the Manchus and Hans, and after stacking them separately, they would also pay special attention to removing the well-preserved armor, muskets, and other weapons and equipment on the Qing soldiers, piling them on the ground, and then planting the flag of the whole hundred generals, waiting for the military judge to come to test the merits.

The equipment on each elite soldier is very expensive, and the total value may be more than forty taels of silver, and if it can be replenished by capture, it will greatly relieve the financial pressure.

After all, after every big battle, it is the victorious side, and the loss of various equipment is also very amazing, just the replenishment of the attrition weapons and equipment of the new army under Zhou Shixian may reach hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

By the time the Ming army had basically cleaned up the battlefield and withdrawn to the camp, the sky was already bright. Zhou Shixian was already surrounded by guards at this time and came to the north bank of the Huai River.

Looking at the overturned Qing army camp, as well as a steady stream of people, soldiers counting and carrying the spoils, Zhou Shixian was naturally excited in his heart.

In addition to the burned tents and quilts, there were also many baggage loads stored in the Qing army camp, and even more than 20 Hongyi artillery guns needed for the siege, as well as lead bullet gunpowder, and even all kinds of siege equipment that had been built.

These materials were not transferred by the Qing army in time, and many of the war horses released by the Qing army before they ran away had also been recovered by the cavalry of the Ming army when they were pursuing.

Soon, the battalion officers and generals who had originally commanded the army to pursue the Qing army's rout gathered again in the new tent that Zhou Shixian had specially erected on the north bank of the Huai River.

At this time, the generals of the battalions who returned from a great victory naturally stepped forward one after another, flattering and praising Zhou Shixian, and no one was far behind.

Zhou Shixian listened to these flattering words, although he was happy in his heart, he was not the kind of person who got carried away.

However, the Ming Dynasty designed to retreat from the enemy, attacked the Qing army at night, and won a complete victory, which is indeed the public opinion offensive that Zhou Shixian needs at present. He needs this matter to be known by all the soldiers of the army and the world, so as to accumulate greater political prestige.

On weekdays, Zhou Shixian attaches great importance to the construction of his prestige and the creation of his image, coupled with the planning of Lu Jiude and Wang Chaodong, many mysterious rumors around him are rendered, in this era of strict hierarchy, he has already become the god of war in the hearts of many people.

And these are all necessary for Zhou Shixian, who wants to take the "bird position" of Emperor Chongzhen, and it is not even enough.

After listening to the praise of the generals, Zhou Shixian immediately announced the start of military discussions. Although the big battle has been decisively won, now is not the time to take it lightly.

The generals also knew that although the main force of the Qing army was defeated in this battle, it did not achieve the goal of completely annihilating the Qing army outside the city, and the Qing army retreating north even organized several slightly large-scale blockades in the end.

"The military newspaper has already read the horses, this battle is very good, last night was still entrenched here, the elite of the Qing army, which is invincible, has now lost more than half, and there is no possibility of gathering south in a short time. All of you in the tent are my great heroes. ”

Zhou Shixian sat at the top, looked around, and then stopped his gaze on Xue Laoer, and said: "The most difficult of them is General Xue, who is facing the main force of the Manchu Eight Banners alone. ”

When Xue Lao Er heard this, although he was surprised in his heart, he didn't show it, but pretended to be surprised and said: "Don't you dare to do it." ”

Zhou Shixian naturally understands that this veteran who has been in the army for many years is delicate, but those who have meritorious services must be rewarded, and those who have faults must be punished, and he will not change because of the other party's smoothness.

At this time, the generals in the tent were also happy, and Zhou Shixian's words obviously meant to reward them greatly. After all, after such a victory, everyone is actually waiting for a reward.

After this battle, Zhou Shixian had full confidence in the army under his command and the military ability of Xue Laoer, and with the prestige he gained in this great battle that defeated the main force of the Qing army, it would be easy to expand the army in the future, and those military leaders would no longer have any more domineering people.

And these generals in the tent, on the stage built by Zhou Shixian, will also be promoted faster with the expansion of the new army.

However, although the battle soon ended in the victory of the Ming army, it was not easy to win in reality.

In the end, the Ming army suffered nearly 5,000 casualties, of which Huang Degong's department suffered more than 1,000 casualties and annihilated more than 15,000 Qing troops, but the Manchurian Eight Banners only killed less than 6,000 and more than 1,000 vassal soldiers, and most of the rest were weak green battalion soldiers.

This casualty exchange ratio, still on the basis of the night attack, is very revealing-the combat effectiveness of the elite of the Ming army and the Qing army's Eight Banners, on the whole, can only be regarded as equal, at most slightly superior.

In other words, the current combat effectiveness of the Ming army is still quite far from Zhou Shixian's requirements, and perhaps it is necessary to wait until these recruits have experienced a few more battles and accumulated enough battlefield experience before they can truly achieve the state of invincibility in the field.

Therefore, as soon as the military work ended, Zhou Shixian did not stop, and immediately took advantage of this military discussion to study the post-war deployment.

"After this battle, the Qing army will not be able to fight again unless reinforcements come from the north, and this is an opportunity to go north to recover the lost territory."

However, after Zhou Shixian finished speaking, he paused, and frowned slightly: "But the Qing army still has tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and after rectification, the combat power is still there. At present, there are less than 20,000 soldiers in our army who can fight, and if the Qing troops in Shaanxi, Gansu, Beizhili and other places come to help when our army pursues northward, I am afraid that the situation will be very unfavorable. ”

Such worries are not groundless, after all, Dolgon is in the capital, and there is an army of about 20,000 people, and there are also Wu Sangui and Gao Di in Liaoxi, with a total of more than 30,000.

As soon as Zhou Shixian's voice fell, there was a lot of discussion in the big tent.

After some whispered discussions, it was Zhang Huangyan who took the lead and hugged his fists and said: "Horses, although the Qing army in the north still has a certain strength, but the Azig department in Shaanxi and Gansu in the west is pinned down by thieves, and the only soldiers and horses left behind by the North Zhili can be sent to help in the battle.

However, Xia Guan felt that it would be impossible for the Tartars to take risks and send a large army. And the Eight Banners of Beizhili are thousands of miles apart, and the whip is beyond reach. Our army can take the opportunity to recover Huaibei, which is absolutely possible. ”

Zhang Huangyan was naturally inclined to take the opportunity to send troops to recover Huaibei. Moreover, what he said is actually in line with Zhou Shixian's thoughts.

It's just that Zhou Shixian, as a leader, naturally can't say his thoughts from the beginning, and if there is any omission or negligence, it will be a great blow to his prestige.

Therefore, he has to let his subordinates say everything he thought and didn't expect, and then make a summary to be far-sighted.

Of course, if there is something he thought of, but his subordinates didn't say it, it was naturally excellent, so that Zhou Shixian's wisdom and martial arts could be more revealed.

Sure enough, after Zhang Huangyan, the generals no longer had too many scruples, and began to speak one after another, most of them supported what Zhang Huangyan said, and they wanted to send troops to the north, at least to recover the states and counties in the Huaibei and Nanzhili regions.

However, there are also a few who say that they should be cautious, fearing that the Qing army will move south again and the garrisons will be broken one by one.

But Zhou Shixian weighed the pros and cons, analyzed the situation, and finally agreed to the suggestion of Zhang Huangyan's faction. The land in the Nanzhili domain could not be lost in the hands of Zhou Shixian, so it was not only a military issue, but also a political issue.

Moreover, with the topography of Huaibei, Zhou Shixian's 20,000 soldiers and horses, Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, Huang Degong, Ma Shiying, and Lu Zhenfei have nearly 20,000 armored soldiers, plus the rest of the soldiers and horses who are weak in combat but enough to defend the city, relying on the topography of the city to defend, and resist the attack of the Qing army, which is already a grasshopper after the autumn, is still enough.

As for the active attack, at this time, it was impossible for the Ming army, and for the Qing army, it was actually impossible.

Both sides are exhausted.