Ming Empire

Chapter 249 The Situation Has Changed Again
But something happened that surprised Dorgon.

After several secret talks with Duduo, he finally formulated a new strategy and was about to put it into action. Suddenly, a Ming army appeared far away from Guide Mansion, and after defeating a Qing army, he quickly headed south get away.

The Ming army, which numbered at least 4 to [-] people, was not equipped with very large-scale firearms, but they were all cavalry, and their combat effectiveness was very strong.After easily defeating the Han army and a part of the Korean army of the Qing army that were confronted head-on, they left calmly and marched in the direction of Henan and Shandong.

Dorgon was shocked when he heard the news, and immediately organized his troops to pursue him, but he was a step too late, and was escaped by the Ming army that suddenly appeared in the south of Beizhili.

Dorgon was afraid that this was a surprise attack by the Ming army, and he knew that the cavalry in Cao Yue's hands had not been well utilized.He also believed that the combat effectiveness of the cavalry in Cao Yue's hands was not bad, and he might be waiting for an opportunity if he hadn't used it.It is not ruled out that Cao Yue has other arrangements, so that the cavalry will take advantage of the opportunity of the battle on the main battlefield to launch another large-scale sneak attack.

The fact that Cao Yue led his army through the dense defense of the Qing army and succeeded in attacking Shengjing was a shadow that Dorgon could never shake off for the rest of his life.

However, after personally interrogating a few captured Ming army prisoners, Dorgon, who was extremely frustrated, finally learned that this Ming army severely damaged the Qing army outside Datong City, and finally disappeared on the way to attack Beijing. Cao Bianjiao of people.This result made Dorgon a little relieved. Cao Yue didn't use any more tricks, and didn't send elite troops to launch a sneak attack, so the sense of crisis didn't need to be so strong.

After figuring out the specific situation of this Ming army, Dorgon also knew that Cao Bianjiao's leaving Datong and preparing to attack Beijing was a bluff.

Cao Bianjiao's men and horses moved very quickly, and the advance route was very difficult to grasp.After Dorgon knew that Cao Bianjiao's men had defeated the Qing army in the outskirts of Datong City, he was afraid that his troops would attack Beijing, so he strictly ordered the defenders in Beijing to prepare for the attack, and sent a team back to the division to rescue and prepare to intercept the attack. Cao changed to Jiaobu.It's just that Cao Bianjiao's tens of thousands of troops soon disappeared, and there was no way to detect their whereabouts.The intercepted troops did not encounter Cao Bianjiao's tribe, and this tens of thousands of troops seemed to disappear from the horizon.

Of course, this is all due to the special guard soldiers Cao Yue sent to support Cao Bianjiao's tribe. By attacking and killing Jiannu's scouts, they successfully blocked the news of Cao Bianjiao's tribe, making it difficult for Jiannu to detect.

Dorgon has been guessing where Cao Bianjiao's men ended up going after they didn't show up in Beijing.Dorgon originally estimated that Cao Bianjiao's men might cross the Great Wall and attack Liaodong in the name of attacking Beijing, just like Cao Yue led his army to attack Shengjing back then.He was afraid that Shengjing would be attacked by the Ming army again, and he also strictly ordered the Qing army outside the pass to strengthen their guard.

But in the end Cao Bianjiao's men chose to break out of the siege and go south to join Cao Yue in the Northern Expedition, which was somewhat unexpected by Dorgon.

Although Dorgon has already thought about this possibility, Dorgon believes that the troops defending Datong and causing headaches for the Qing army have good combat effectiveness.Both Cao Yue and Cao Bianjiao like to take risks. Since they both like to take risks, Cao Bianjiao is likely to lead this team with good combat effectiveness to attack Beijing or Shengjing to reap miraculous effects.If it were him, it would be possible to do the same. After all, most of the Qing army's strength is now concentrated on the Yellow River, and there are not many left behind in Beijing and Shengjing, so the surprise attack may be successful.

Even if it doesn't succeed, at least it can deter the Qing army and contain a part of the Qing army.Or return to Datong and defend the strong city of Datong, which also constitutes a strategic containment of Datong, which can also cooperate well with Cao Yue's Northern Expedition.In Dorgon's mind, it should be a bad strategy for the Ming army led by Cao Bianjiao to break through the encirclement and go south. He couldn't understand why Cao Bianjiao did this.

However, Dorgon was very annoyed and blamed himself for not being on guard against Cao Bianjiao going south, allowing him to come and go freely. He also knew that with the addition of this new force, Cao Yue's Northern Expedition army was even stronger.Although Duduo and Azig's troops returned to aid, if the Ming army continued to fight steadily, it would be difficult to win.

Cao Bianjiao's troops can easily break through from the defense range of the Qing army, which shows that this team's mobility is very good.The current strategy formulated by the Qing army is a roundabout and outflanking, which cut off the ammunition supply of the Ming army and made the firearms of the Ming army unable to function. Shaded.

And at this time, Dorgon received another bad news, that is, Li Zicheng, who was beaten by Doduo and Azig and was unable to fight back, returned to rescue Beizhili and Shandong after the Qing army returned to rescue him. , making a comeback again.

The scale of the rogues, which had dropped sharply, expanded rapidly again, and Li Zicheng's men and horses became hundreds of thousands again.These 10 people were not reconciled to the previous failures. After the reorganization of Shaanxi, they once again vowed to march eastward, preparing to recapture the lost Shaanxi, Henan and other places, and avenge their previous revenge.

"Could it be that Cao Yue and the bandits colluded and they joined forces to attack our Qing army?" Dorgon frowned and muttered to himself after receiving that Li Zicheng's troops were about to launch a counterattack.If the Ming army and the rogue bandits put aside their suspicions and join forces to deal with the Qing army, then the Qing army will continue to fight on two fronts, and it is still unknown whether it will have the strength to deal with it.

Dorgon suffered from headaches, and his self-confidence dropped drastically after the defeat in the Battle of Liaocheng. He doubted whether the Qing army could withstand the attacks of the Ming army and the rogue bandits.It's just that things have become like this, and the Qing army can only deal with it with all its strength, at least to ensure that Beijing and the entire Northern Zhili are not lost, and then find a way to defeat the Ming army and the rogues one by one.

Cao Yue naturally also received the bandits led by Li Zicheng, and turned from a big defeat to a strategic counterattack.The situation of Li Zicheng's troops has become like this, and the main purpose of the Ming army's Northern Expedition has basically been achieved.Cao Yue also issued a secret order immediately, and all actions were slowed down. If Jiannu increased troops to Cangzhou, the attack on Cangzhou would be delayed, and he was not in a hurry to attack.

Cao Bianjiao's tribe traveled southward from the west of Guide Mansion at a fast speed, defeated the Jiannu they encountered along the way, and finally rushed out of the sphere of influence of Jiannu's heavy troops and entered the territory of Henan. Cao Yue was overjoyed when the news came.

He also immediately sent troops to the west to meet Cao Bianjiao's troops and join his army in Shandong.

At the end of July when the heat was fading away, Cao Bianjiao's troops arrived near Liaocheng, and Cao Yue personally took a team to meet them.

(End of this chapter)