Ming Empire

Chapter 248 The New Decision of the Dorgon Brothers

Guide Mansion, Dorgon's temporary residence.

Dorgon, who looked haggard with a full beard, was conciliating with Duduo, who was also haggard but looked relatively better.

In order to avoid more troubles, Dorgon led his army to retreat to Daming Mansion after being defeated in Liaocheng.However, after discovering that Cao Yue sent troops to capture Linqing and Dezhou, the other two prefectural cities on the canal, and prepared to attack Cangzhou, he was taken aback and immediately took countermeasures. With great courage, he abandoned Damingfu, an important military town, and retreated. Guide Mansion, and sent an army to reinforce Cangzhou, to ensure that the gates of these northern Zhili were not lost.

Air has the superior force, but is at a disadvantage in the war, and is always passive. Dorgon will be as depressed as he is.This was something he had never imagined in his dreams. In previous wars, the Qing army, which was at a disadvantage in terms of strength, always defeated the Ming army, which was far more numerous than its own.But the situation is completely different now. The Qing army has the upper hand, but it suffered a disastrous defeat in the battle with the Ming army. The degree of defeat was also undreamed of.

How did things become like this?Dorgon was puzzled.

Could it be that the Ming army was equipped with a large number of firearms, which could really directly change the situation between the enemy and ourselves and gain an absolute upper hand in the war?
Although Dorgon realized the power of firearms, the arrogance in his bones made him still refuse to admit that cavalry and archery were outdated. He still believed that wars should ultimately be resolved by cavalry and archery, and that arrows, knives, and knives could finally eliminate opponents and win the war .

In the war with the rogues, Duduo, who had won an absolute victory, couldn't understand that his most admired fourteenth brother would lose so tragically when he had an absolute advantage in troops.

If the situation of the war hadn't come from Dorgon's mouth, Duoduo wouldn't have believed that the battle of Liaocheng would have been defeated so badly.

"Brother Fourteen, Cao Yue is really so powerful that he defeated our Qing army with inferior forces?" But after hearing what Dorgon said, Duoduo still had doubts and couldn't help asking.

"Could Brother Fourteen still lie to you?" Dorgon didn't ask Duo Duo angrily. I didn't fight in the trenches, and when our army rushed to kill, I counterattacked with firearms and planted a large amount of explosives in front of the formation. The attacks of the Han army and the Korean army were defeated by their artillery bombardment. After finally rushing to the front of the formation, The Ming army ignited the gunpowder buried in front of the formation, and buried nearly [-] Qing elites at once. The Ming army fired very intensively with muskets. The Ming army still does not take the initiative to attack, but advances slowly, and continues to meet the active attacking Qing army in the same way until it launches a general attack on Liaocheng."

After being stunned, Dorgon shook his head and sighed: "This defeat is too useless. Our Qing soldiers were defeated by the Ming army without showing their strength. The fifteenth brother and the fourteenth brother also know that the Ming army's Northern Expedition , they didn’t really want to recover the North, they just wanted to save the bandits, and forced me to recall you and Azig’s troops to give the bandits a break. But in the end, Brother Fourteen had to make a decision to recall you , because the situation is too critical, the morale of our Qing army has been destroyed in Liaocheng. If no more reinforcements arrive, not only the morale of the Han army and the Korean army will collapse quickly, but even the morale of our most important Jurchen cavalry will be low. Even if there is a chance to fight the Ming army one day, there is no way to use all the strength to win the final victory."

"Brother Fourteen, my younger brother feels that we were defeated by the firearms of the Ming army, not because of how powerful the Ming army was. The newly established new army led by Cao Yue is far from being able to compete with our Qing army. For example, if they run out of ammunition and their firearms cannot be used, then my Qing army can wipe them out with only half the men and horses." Duoduo also immediately grasped the essence of the Battle of Liaocheng, and immediately gave a solution The enemy's strategy, "Brother Fourteen, I feel that as long as the ammunition of the Bright Army is consumed, they will definitely be defeated."

"Brother Fourteen also thinks so, but the ammunition of the Ming army seems to be exhausted. It consumes so much every day, and it can still be sustained. More importantly, the logistics supplies of our Qing army can't keep up, and there is no way to fight the Ming army. A war of attrition. However, Cao Yue’s command of operations is not conservative, just like this battle of Liaocheng, he took a defensive position and then launched a counterattack, and blasted the city gate with a huge amount of gunpowder, and finally broke through Liaocheng. We have never had such a tactics like him before. I have encountered it before. I thought that after leaving the city, the Ming army was far from being the opponent of my Qing army in the field battle, but the battle of Liaocheng proved that without the attachment of the strong city, the fighting power of the Ming army has not weakened at all, but has been strengthened." Dorgon looked at Duoduo with a headache on his face and said, "Fourteenth brother, I called you here today to discuss with you how to defeat the enemy. If this continues, our Qing Dynasty can only withdraw from the pass, and even There is no way to stay outside the customs.”

Duoduo has always looked down on the Han people and the mob Ming army, but he was defeated twice by Cao Yue, and his fourteenth brother Dorgon, who he respected as a god, was also defeated by Cao Yue. He no longer dared to despise the Ming army.For Cao Yue, while he has fear, he also has more respect.However, although Cao Yue is worthy of respect, he is still their opponent and their biggest enemy.If you want to conquer the world, you must defeat Cao Yue, the greatest enemy, otherwise it is impossible to talk about taking over the Central Plains.

"Brother Fourteen, if you find a way to destroy the gunpowder of the Ming army, then the firearms of the Ming army will no longer be usable, and they can only be slaughtered by the Qing Dynasty!" In an instant, Duoduo thought of a countermeasure, "Ten Brother [-], I and Brother [-] have already returned to Zhili in the north. My Qing army is several times larger than the Ming army led by Cao Yue. The younger brother thinks that we can use our superiority in strength to fight against the troops led by Cao Yue. The Ming army attacked separately, and the goal was to destroy its ammunition. As long as one of the troops attacked successfully and destroyed the ammunition of the Ming army, the Ming army would surely collapse. Even if they did not collapse, without ammunition, the firearms would not be able to cause damage to our Qing army. Injury, we can take the opportunity to counterattack aggressively."

As soon as Duo Duo finished speaking, Dorgon couldn't help raising his eyebrows, and approved what Duo Duo said.

In fact, it is not that Dorgon did not think of the method proposed by Duoduo, and used it in the Battle of Liaocheng. He wanted to destroy the logistics supply of the Ming army, especially the transportation of gunpowder, but he did not achieve much success.However, Duo Duo's words made Dorgon think of another strategy, that is to use the huge advantage in military strength, use a group of troops as bait, slowly introduce the Ming army into the territory of Beizhili, and then organize several groups of troops, Launched a surprise attack on the Ming army from the flank.The sneak attack on the flank is not to completely defeat the Ming army, but the point is to destroy the gunpowder of the Ming army.

As long as the ammunition carried by the Ming army is destroyed, even at a heavy price, it is still a success.

Next, the Ming army, which did not have enough ammunition, could only be slaughtered by the Qing army.

Dorgon immediately made a decision to lure the Ming army into Beizhili with Cangzhou as a bait, and let Duoduo and Azige each lead a powerful force to detour to attack the rear of the Ming army, and tried every means to destroy the Ming army. The army's ammunition, destruction and logistics transportation, and then give Cao Yue a deadly week with all his strength.

(End of this chapter)