The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 85 Hong Chengchou's Four Strategies
"I understand, then Wu Sangui must have taken the sea route, alas! A wise man travels a thousand miles, and there is bound to be a loss, and there is bound to be a loss!"

Hong Chengchou said suddenly.

Then he slumped down on the chair and muttered to himself, as if his whole body was drained of strength.

This appearance was more traumatic than when he was defeated and captured in the Battle of Songjin, because he was actually mentally prepared at the beginning, he could not win, and he had the intention of resigning himself to his fate and serving the country with himself.

But this time it was his miscalculation. He thought of all the possibilities, but he never thought that the Ming army could take the sea route to attack Shanhaiguan.

"Sir, Shanhaiguan is now lost, and the millions of military rations hoarded in the city have all fallen into the hands of the Ming army. Our military rations can last for another two months at most. What should we do?"

Dorgon also calmed down, looking at Hong Chengchou's appearance, he couldn't sit still and panicked.

Originally, the army could still eat food and grass for more than three months, but the [-] Mongolian cavalry that could be transferred were all one man and three horses, which was too much consumption.

If it wasn't for Hong Chengchou's persuasion, he would not have sent these Mongolian cavalry south to help.

After all, this time is no different than before, not looting, but consumption. However, Hong Chengchou insisted on adding [-] cavalry to be safe.

"My lord doesn't need to worry too much. Now that Shanhaiguan is lost, I have four strategies for my lord to choose from."

Hong Chengchou also recovered, and said slowly.

"Oh! Tell me quickly, sir." Dorgon's eyes lit up.

Secretly thought that this old thing really has a few tricks, and now his head is still in a daze, but this old thing can instantly think of four countermeasures.

"Is this the best strategy? Naturally, we should retreat immediately. The army will retreat from Xifengkou to Liaodong, and we will slowly plan it in the future!"

"Old man, you fart, I have spent so long with tens of thousands of people and consumed so much food, and now you want us to return to Liaodong, I see that you have bad intentions..."

As soon as Hong Chengchou finished speaking, Duoduo on the side exploded, and quickly pulled out the long knife at his waist as if he was going to eat people.

"Fifteenth brother, don't be rude!" Dorgon frowned and shouted, then looked at Hong Chengchou: "Sir, what about the other three strategies?" Obviously he was not very satisfied with this so-called best strategy.

Hong Chengchou seemed to have expected this kind of reaction from them, his expression did not fluctuate at all, and he continued: "The best strategy is to return the army immediately and retake Shanhaiguan. This raid on Wu Sangui must not bring many soldiers and horses. Our army has at least six days to attack the city."

Dorgon stood up and paced, lost in thought.

As soon as they retreat, the 30 troops in Tongzhou will surely come up.

Obai said that there would not be more than [-] people in the sneak attack, but they must be elites. In addition to those who surrendered and attacked directly, it might not be easy to capture Shanhaiguan. At most, they could capture Yicheng on both sides.

Unable to attack for a long time at that time, the Tongzhou army arrived again. At least they fled back to the north of the Great Wall in embarrassment, and at worst they were blocked at the Shanhaiguan Pass, and the entire army might be wiped out.

Thinking of this, he sat back on the main seat and looked at Hong Chengchou: "Sir, what are the remaining two strategies?"

"The next strategy is that our army will continue to stand still and kill a thousand horses every day. With the remaining food and grass, it will be enough to last for another four or five months."

"Sir, do you mean to continue to fight for consumption? But is the risk too great?"

"What if the Ming army does not run out of food and grass in four or five months, or if they bring food from the south again, and our army kills more than half of the horses and runs out of food and grass, wouldn't we be in a desperate situation?"

After hearing this, Dorgon's expression changed drastically. He has also read a lot of Han Chinese books, and he knows that this kind of gambling style of play is not something a wise man would do.

It is good to win the bet, but once you lose the bet, you have to lose completely, and there is no way to turn around.

"Then there is only the last strategy, which is to march immediately, and the army will go straight to Tongzhou, and fight the Ming army decisively, and retreat if it wins!"

"But now that Shanhaiguan has been taken back by Wu Sangui, the red lady may not go out to fight the king, and most likely she will be unable to shrink back. What can I do?"

Dorgon said in a low voice.

He was not afraid of the fact that the two sides were fighting openly and squarely.

But the opponent's 30 people are huddled in the camp, and if he is asked to take the initiative to attack, the Han Eight Banners alone will never be able to attack.

It is necessary for the cavalry to dismount and join the battle. Even if it is captured in the end, I am afraid that they will suffer heavy casualties and be unable to attack the capital again.

"Sir, isn't there a perfect solution?"

Obviously, Dorgon was not satisfied with any of these four strategies.

"My lord, once Shanhaiguan is lost, our army's general situation is broken. Except for retreating, any choice is risky. It depends on the lord's choice."

Hong Chengchou shook his head, and sighed helplessly, the perfect strategy is to subdue the enemy without fighting, which has already been defeated by the opponent's surprise attack. If he wants to find another perfect strategy, even if the gods come, he will be helpless.

If he were to be the coach, he would definitely choose the 36 strategy as the best strategy, retreat immediately, and save his strength for future planning.

But he knew that with the temperament of Duo Ergun and these arrogant soldiers of the Eight Banners, they would never choose to retreat without a fight.

Dorgon indeed ruled out the first one. It took more than three months, and his old foundation was almost exhausted, so he retreated like this. With the little emperor's means, he will have no chance in the future.

For a while, Dorgon was also caught in a tangle, unable to make up his mind, not to mention playing chess, he didn't even think about eating and sleeping.

And Zhu Cihong in the capital also couldn't eat and couldn't sleep at night.

I am anxiously waiting for the news every day. If this continues, I am afraid that my hair will start to grow old before the age of 20.

"Mother, from today onwards, the daily serving of porridge in the outer city will be halved, and the rest of the inner city will also be halved except for combatants and law enforcement officers. Change it to one meal a day!"

"Lang'er, this outer city already has a bowl of rice bran and wheat bran every day, and many old and weak are on the verge of dying. If this is halved, how many people will starve to death every day?"

"There are also those wives and ladies in the inner city who are weak in physique. They are about to fall ill after two bowls of porridge a day. If it is changed to one bowl a day, they will starve to death?"

When Queen Zhou and Zhang Yan heard that he was going to reduce the supply again, their faces changed drastically.

"Hey! My son also knows that the Queen Mother and Auntie Zhai are kind-hearted, but there is no way to do it. There is not much food left in Tongzhou, and the army must never run out of food, so we can only abandon those old and weak first. Of course If anyone wants to find another way out, they can leave the city at any time."

Zhu Cihong got up helplessly and said.

Tongzhou Daying only has half a month's food, which is already extremely dangerous for an army of 30 horses.

It is not known whether Wu Sangui and Huang Degong succeeded in the sneak attack, so he had to save some more food to prepare for Tongzhou.

If there is no news after three days, and the Tartars do not move, let alone the old and the weak, even the one million refugees in the outer city will have no choice but to give up.

(End of this chapter)