For an ugly moment, the surroundings of Zhenbeiguan finally slowly became quiet.

Dorgon was slumped on the ground with a look of despair. The guards and personal guards around him were holding torches in their hands and looking at their exhausted commander. Not far away were a large number of soldiers of the Eight Banners Army who had retreated. Few of them were

Some people were holding torches, and most of them lay directly on the ground. The expressions on these people's faces were numb.

Dorgon's carefully organized large-scale, non-stop attack on Zhenbeiguan finally came to a halt, but Zhenbeiguan was still firmly under the control of the Denglai New Army. From this perspective, Dorgon failed.

The messengers were still busy counting the casualties. Dorgon was not in the mood to care about this. He had already sent dozens of scouts to the direction of Tieling, urging Duduo and Azig to arrive as soon as possible. There was only one hope at the moment.

That is, the army led by Duduo and Azig combined with the existing sergeants to launch the final attack on Zhenbeiguan.

...

The exhausted Qiao Mingjun and Hong Chengchou also sat on the ground, and the messenger quickly reported the casualties.

This fighting, which lasted for most of a day, resulted in nearly 20,000 casualties of the Denglai New Army. In addition to the more than 20,000 early casualties, the army stationed at Zhenbeiguan lost a total of nearly 40,000 people, occupying the total number of troops.

More than 30% of the casualties. Such a number of casualties is very rare among the Denglai New Army. This shows the cruelty of the battle.

There are still 70,000 Denglai New Army soldiers stationed at Zhenbeiguan, and their combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated. As the commanders, Qiao Mingjun and Hong Chengchou have long made up their minds to defend Zhenbei to the last man.

Pass, they will never let Dorgon and the Eight Banners Army escape from here. Of course, they all understand that determination and confidence alone are not enough. If they want to completely annihilate the Eight Banners Army, the army from the direction of Shenyang must arrive as soon as possible.

Qiao Mingjun had already sent scouts to the direction of Shenyang to detect when the army from the direction of Shenyang would arrive.

This is a decisive battle against time. If the army from Shenyang arrives as soon as possible and forms a complete encirclement of the Eight Banners Army, the decisive battle to completely annihilate the Eight Banners Army will be achieved within a short time. If the Eight Banners Army stationed in Tieling arrives

If Zhenbeiguan launches another forceful attack, the Denglai New Army stationed at Zhenbeiguan will most likely pay an extremely heavy price, and a small number of the Eight Banners Army may even withdraw from Zhenbeiguan.

...

The 30,000 Denglai New Army cavalry led by Niu Ben were the vanguard, with Zu Dabi, Li Guohan and Jin Li as his deputies, followed closely by 20,000 soldiers led by Zu Dashou and Zu Dale. These 50,000 were the front army.

, Liao Wenru personally led the 50,000 soldiers as the Chinese army, a total of 100,000 people pressed towards Tieling and Zhenbeiguan.

The Denglai New Army soldiers left in Shenyang City were led by Luo Dianming, whose main responsibility was to stabilize the situation in Shenyang City. Liao Wenru gave Luo Dianming enough power. If there were Manchus in Shenyang City who tried to cause trouble, they could be killed directly.

No need to ask for instructions.

After only one night of repairs and one morning, all the soldiers of the Denglai New Army were still very tired, but they could not rest. The battle at Zhenbeiguan at this moment must be very fierce, because Dorgon and the Eight Banners Army were very tired.

It is clear that taking Zhenbeiguan is their only hope, otherwise the entire army will be annihilated, so the Eight Banners Army will attack desperately.

When setting off from Shenyang, Zu Dashou issued an order for a forced march. The cavalry was equipped with two horses. The horses rested and the men did not rest, marching at full speed in the direction of Tieling and Zhenbeiguan. Not long after the army set off from Shenyang, the scouts reported According to the news, the Eight Banners Army stationed in Tieling has very few troops, and most of the Eight Banners Army sergeants have gone to attack Zhenbeiguan.

This made Zu Dashou feel nervous. He once again ordered the vanguard commander Niu Ben to leave one day's rations for all the soldiers, throw away the rest, and march as quickly as possible.

Niu Ben finally got his wish this time. Since the Battle of Liaodong, he had hardly won any battles. Watching other brothers fight to the death with the Eight Banners Army, he had always been a little depressed. He never expected that when the entire campaign reached the final stage, , actually became the vanguard officer who encircled Dorgon and the Eight Banners Army.

There was the whine of the wind beside my ears, and the war horse under my crotch was galloping forward.

"Report, General Zu ordered to speed up the march and march as fast as possible..."

Niu Ben did not slow down his march.

"Understood, you and the messengers will pass on General Zu's order. The fierce fighting has begun at Zhenbeiguan. We must encircle the Eight Banners Army as quickly as possible and must not let the Eight Banners Army escape from Zhenbeiguan. ..”

The whistling wind carried Niu Ben's words far away.

Liao Wenru, Zu Dashou and others were as anxious as Niu Ben. Just as they were marching rapidly towards Tieling, the fierce fighting at Zhenbeiguan was already in full swing, even though there were 110,000 Denglai New Army soldiers in Zhenbeiguan. The soldiers are stationed, but the total strength of the Eight Banners Army that can attack Zhenbeiguan exceeds 150,000, and Dorgon and others are desperate to capture Zhenbeiguan, so the pressure on Hong Chengchou and Qiao Mingjun is huge .

The emperor's original decree was to have Hong Chengchou, the cabinet minister and Minister of War, lead an army of 50,000 to assist Shenyang. Liao Wenru then transferred 50,000 people from the army attacking Shenyang to assist Zhenbeiguan. This could save time. As the commander-in-chief, Liao Wenru Considering that the deployment to attack Shenyang was fully rolled out, Hong Chengchou was asked to lead the army directly to Zhenbeiguan and send all the supplies and ammunition to Zhenbeiguan. The emperor acquiesced to Liao Wenru's adjustment.

Now it seems that Liao Wenru's adjustment is undoubtedly wise and correct. Qiao Mingjun, who is stationed at Zhenbeiguan, has received sufficient supplies and can give it a go and guard Zhenbeiguan with all his strength.

The Battle of Zhenbeiguan is the final battle of the entire campaign in Liaodong. If the battle is successful, the north will be completely stabilized. If the battle is not successful, the court will have to spend a lot of energy to eliminate the remaining enemies in the north. It is no wonder that the emperor and the court They all paid special attention to the Battle of Zhenbeiguan.

It is less than two hundred miles from Shenyang to Tieling. According to the normal marching speed, it will take about three days for a hundred thousand troops. If they are all cavalry, it will also take about a day. But the emergency march is different and can arrive faster. .

The devilish training of the Denglai New Army played an important role at the critical moment. The training plan formulated by Wu Zongrui personally put a lot of effort into the emergency march. One of the most eye-catching requirements is that the infantry should march lightly. At that time, we marched about one hundred and fifty miles in one day and one night. When we were carrying heavy loads, we marched one hundred and fifty miles in one day and one night.

In other words, it only took two days for a hundred thousand troops to arrive from Shenyang to Tieling. As for the 30,000 elite cavalry of the former army led by Niu Ben, the speed was much faster. As for how fast, That depends on what kind of situation you are facing.

The official road from Shenyang to Tieling is not easy to walk, and many places are full of potholes. This is completely different from the pass, and it is hugely different from the Shanhaiguan area. The Great Wu court paid special attention to the construction and maintenance of roads, ditches and rivers, and the official roads in the north and south The roads were all open, including the Grand Canal, and two large-scale dredgings were carried out. However, the Jin Dynasty was different. They were obsessed with the military and continued to strengthen the Eight Banners Army. As for the construction of people's livelihood, they were indifferent. .

During the march, Niu Ben sometimes had to order to slow down to prevent the horse from being injured. If the horse's hoof hit the rocks, it would not be able to run. If you blindly pursue speed, you may end up losing more than you gain.

Niu Ben didn't know how many times he had scolded his mother. He even believed that the small imperial court of the Later Jin Dynasty should perish. Even if the imperial court did not conduct a large-scale conquest, such a imperial court would not be able to last long.

When we were still fifty miles away from Tieling, it was already midnight.

The scouts came quickly to report that there were no Eight Banners Army sergeants left in Tieling City.

Niu Ben was stunned for a moment. The order he received was to go straight to Tieling, completely defeat the Eight Banners Army stationed at Tieling, and then lead troops to Zhenbeiguan to encircle the Eight Banners Army. Niu Ben didn't understand this order very well at first. Zhenbeiguan was under tremendous pressure. Why did they attack Tieling when the army rushed to help? Liao Wenru personally explained. He said that in this battle of Zhenbeiguan, the purpose of the Denglai New Army was to completely annihilate the Eight Banners Army. If the army Bypassing Tieling and heading straight for Zhenbeiguan, the Eight Banners Army attacking Zhenbeiguan will most likely cooperate with the Eight Banners Army stationed at Tieling, causing some trouble for the Denglai New Army. Moreover, the Denglai New Army will definitely besiege Tieling. Completely disrupted the Eight Banners Army attacking Zhenbeiguan.

Before Niu Ben set off, Liao Wenru also expressed his concern, that is, the Eight Banners Army would abandon Tieling and all move towards Zhenbeiguan, so the pressure on Hong Chengchou and Qiao Mingjun would suddenly increase.

Dorgon, Duduo, Azige and others were indeed experienced in many battles and were not mediocre people. They completely abandoned Tieling and concentrated all their forces at Zhenbeiguan.

Niu Ben's face turned gloomy, and he quickly issued an order to the messenger. The army bypassed Tieling and headed straight for Zhenbeiguan.

The messengers and scouts simultaneously issued the order to run like a bull, and the army galloped along the official road in the direction of Zhenbeiguan.

Oxen ran in the middle of the team, marching in the dark, a distance of fifty miles, and it would take more than an hour for an army of 30,000 to move forward at full speed, and the road was rugged, so you had to pay attention at all times to avoid injury to the horses.

"Master Hong, General Qiao, you must hold on, we will be there soon..."

After conveying the order, the messengers and scouts rode up to Niu Ben's side.

After thinking for a while, Niu Ben looked at the scout and spoke.

"Immediately report the news that all the Eight Banners Army is heading to Tieling to the Marshal and General Zu. At the same time, report that we have bypassed Tieling and headed directly towards Zhenbeiguan. We will do our best to surround the Eight Banners Army. Let them escape..."

The scout turned his horse's head and galloped away in the opposite direction.
Chapter completed!