Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1103 Fan Wencheng's Concerns
Not long after, the eunuch came back, and not only him, but also Wu Liangfu, the chief eunuch beside Bumbutai.

"Mr. Fan, please come with us." Wu Liangfu said politely when he saw Fan Wencheng.

"Sorry to trouble you, Eunuch Wu..." Fan Wencheng bowed, then followed Wu Liangfu inside and soon arrived at a side hall.

Wu Liangfu asked Fan Wencheng to wait here for a while and then left. After a while, footsteps were heard outside. Fan Wencheng got up quickly and saw Bumbutai walking in accompanied by Wu Liangfu.

"Your servant Fan Wencheng greets the master..." Upon seeing Bumbutai, Fan Wencheng hurriedly stepped forward, bowed, and knelt down to kowtow.

"Mr. Fan is here, please get up." Bumbutai said with a smile. She sat down first and then raised her hand. Only then did Fan Wencheng get up from the ground.

"I heard from Wu Liangfu that Mr. Fan wanted to see me? What's the matter?" Bumbutai asked directly.

"This..." Fan Wencheng opened his mouth but did not speak immediately, looking around.

Bumbutai immediately understood what he meant and said to Wu Liangfu, "Go wait outside."

"Yeah!" Wu Liangfu responded quickly and walked out of the hall. When he was outside, he considerately closed the door and then stood guard to the side.

"Okay, there are no outsiders here, Mr. Fan, please sit down and talk."

"Thank you, Queen Mother!" Fan Wencheng responded, and then sat down on a stool nearby. He didn't dare sit down too hard, so he only sat on it halfway.

"If you have anything to say to me, Mr. Fan, just tell me."

"Empress Dowager, I have been thinking a lot during today's court meeting. I think the sudden war this time may be a long-term plan. Right now, the Liao army, Guanning cavalry and new army of the Ming Dynasty are attacking Panshan fiercely. Our Qing Dynasty is short of troops in Panshan. Sony led troops to reinforce before, and the entire Panshan only has 5,000 people."

"Today, the Queen Mother sent Oboi to lead troops to reinforce Panshan. With Oboi's 3,800 banners and the mobilized Han army, the total strength of Panshan is only more than 10,000. In addition, since the start of the war, Panshan has been fighting fiercely for several days, and there have been many casualties. Only about half of the soldiers can really fight..."

"What exactly does Mr. Fan mean by this?" Bumbutai was completely confused. She knew nothing about military affairs and had never encountered such a situation before, so she had no idea what these words meant.

"Empress Dowager, I think the battle of Panshan was intentional by the Ming army. You must be on guard!" Fan Wencheng smiled bitterly. He had followed Huang Taiji for many years. If it was Huang Taiji, he would have thought of this long ago. Even Dorgon would have seen through the Ming army's intentions. However, even though he had explained it so clearly, Bumbutai still didn't know it. Even the eight banners nobles in the court couldn't see it.

"Did you do it on purpose? Mr. Fan, please explain it more clearly." Although Bumbutai didn't understand what Fan Wencheng said, she felt something was wrong. Fan Wencheng didn't mention it in the court meeting, but he asked for a private meeting with her after the meeting and said these things to her. It was definitely not without purpose. Although she didn't understand military affairs, she knew Fan Wencheng's ability. He was the number one civil official in the Qing Dynasty and also the number one Han official!
Fan Wencheng organized his words and explained to Bumbutai. He told Bumbutai that in his opinion, the Ming army had the ability to directly capture Panshan, but it never tried its best to attack. These things were very strange.

According to the strength of the Ming army, it is much stronger than the Eight Banners in terms of both quantity and firearms. Moreover, the combat effectiveness of the Ming army is now different from the past. In particular, the new army of the Ming army is no less than the elite of the Eight Banners. Huang Taiji suffered a great loss in this new army back then, let alone others?
According to the previous report, the Ming army in Liaodong was almost out in full force. The Liao army, Guanning Iron Cavalry and the new army totaled more than 70,000 people. Could such a large army not take down a small Panshan? When the Ming army attacked Panshan, how many people were stationed in the entire Panshan? In addition to the 1,000-man Eight Banners Army, there were some Han Army Banners.

With dozens of times more troops and the power of firearms, to put it bluntly, one person's urine could drown the defenders of Panshan. Moreover, the Eight Banners soldiers were not good at defending the city, and Panshan was not a big city, but just a fortress.

With the strength of the Ming army, it would not be difficult to capture Panshan, even if the defenders resisted stubbornly. But the defenders of Panshan held on, and they held on to Panshan even when their field cavalry was beaten back by the Guanning Iron Cavalry and the New Army. This is really strange.

When Sony's reinforcements arrived at Panshan, the situation in Panshan did not improve, but it also did not deteriorate. It remained at a shaky but unbreakable level, but at the same time, the casualties of the Eight Banners remained high, forcing Panshan to ask for help from Shengjing many times, which led to the situation today where Oboi led the reinforcements.

Hearing this, Bumbutai also vaguely sensed a problem. According to Fan Wencheng's judgment, the Ming army already had the ability to capture Panshan, but why did they do this?
"I think the Ming Dynasty wants to use Panshan as bait, so that the Qing Dynasty can continue to send reinforcements to Panshan to fight against consumption!" Fan Wencheng said seriously. Bumbutai was a little puzzled and asked Fan Wencheng what he meant and why the Ming army did this.

Fan Wencheng continued to explain, telling Bumbutai that the Qing Dynasty was far inferior to the Ming Dynasty in terms of population and strength, but why was the Qing Dynasty able to rise after the Battle of Sarhu and continue to suppress the Ming Dynasty? In addition to the Eight Banners' bravery and good fighting skills, the Qing Dynasty won the war by adopting the tactics of avoiding the Ming army's sharp edge and defeating it one by one with absolute military superiority, or using the tactics of besieging and attacking the Ming army.

The key reason for using these tactics is that the Qing Dynasty had a weak foundation and was not absolutely sure of defeating the Ming Dynasty. Both Nurhaci and Huang Taiji clearly understood this point. The entire Qing Dynasty now only had a population of several million, and the total number of combat troops was only 150,000.

These troops included the Eight Banners, the Han Army Banner, and the Mongolian Eight Banners. If a nationwide mobilization was carried out, perhaps tens of thousands of people could be recruited. But the Ming army had a million troops, and the population of the Ming Dynasty was not comparable to that of the Qing Dynasty in Liaodong. The Ming Dynasty could withstand multiple defeats, but the Qing Dynasty could not afford a single defeat.

The strengths and weaknesses of both sides are obvious. The key to fighting is to play to one's strengths and avoid one's weaknesses, and to use one's strengths to attack the other's weaknesses. The Eight Banners have always done this, and have achieved excellent results, but now it is different. With the increase in the strength of the Ming army, especially the sharpness of firearms, the gap between the two sides in field battles has gradually narrowed.

Even though the Ming army's combat effectiveness had increased, the Eight Banners still had the upper hand in field battles. Moreover, the Eight Banners relied on horseback archery, and the army was mainly composed of cavalry. However, most of the Ming army was infantry, and only the Guanning Iron Cavalry was a cavalry that could compete head-on with the Eight Banners. Even so, the number of Guanning Iron Cavalry was not large, at most only two or three thousand.

Now the Ming army set up the battlefield in Panshan, deliberately attacking but not breaking through. The purpose is to attract Qing reinforcements to Panshan, trap the power of the Eight Banners in Panshan, and thus fight to consume each other.

If this is the case, the most suitable tactics for the Eight Banners to win the war will change from field battles to offensive and defensive battles, which is extremely disadvantageous to the Qing Dynasty. Moreover, if the war continues like this, the Eight Banners will continue to invest, just like a wounded person, they will continue to bleed and become weaker.

"Empress Dowager, I think the Ming Dynasty's move is extremely vicious. They use this tactic to maximize their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. They know very well that if they fight with our Eight Banners in the field, it would be more cost-effective than pinning the Eight Banners to Panshan. If they continue like this, no matter how many troops our Great Qing has, they will not be able to fill this hole!"

"Ah!" Bumbutai was shocked and finally understood what Fan Wencheng meant. She was a smart person and she became nervous after she figured it out.

"Why didn't Mr. Fan say anything at the meeting just now?"

"Slave..." Fan Wencheng smiled bitterly, stood up, knelt down and kowtowed to Bumbutai without making any excuses.

Seeing this, Bumbutai immediately understood what the other party meant. Although Fan Wencheng guessed the intention of the Ming army, he could not guarantee it 100%, and his identity was rather awkward. Although he was deeply trusted by Huang Taiji in the past, and now he and Dorgon also valued him a lot, he was not a Manchu but a Han minister. The Qing Dynasty was founded on the Eight Banners. No matter how high the official position of a Han minister was, he was just a slave among the nobles of the Eight Banners. Once Fan Wencheng made this suggestion in the court meeting, he would inevitably be attacked by everyone, especially now that Dorgon was away, no one could protect him.

"I understand." Bumbutai sighed, thought for a moment, asked Fan Wencheng to get up, and then asked, "According to Mr. Fan, what should we do now? Should we abandon Panshan and withdraw our troops, and then fight the Ming army with the Eight Banners in the field?"

"This is not appropriate." Fan Wencheng said helplessly, "The Ming army has already made plans. Even if they give up Panshan, they still have countermeasures. Once Panshan is lost, the Ming army will be close to Shengjing from Liaoxi. Even if our elite Eight Banners intend to fight the Ming army in the field, as long as the Ming army is steady, they can still advance to Shengjing. Once the troops arrive in Shengjing, the trouble will be even greater. The flames of war will spread to Shengjing, and Shengjing will be in danger. At that time, will the Queen Mother and the Emperor leave or stay?"

"This..." Bumbutai was stunned, feeling extremely anxious. She subconsciously grasped her clothes and asked Fan Wencheng anxiously, "Mr. Fan, do you have any good ideas to break this situation?"

"I don't have a good solution. If Mongolia is fine, the Khorchin tribe can come to reinforce. Once the Khorchin cavalry arrives, all problems will be solved. But now the Khorchin side has also started fighting. Khorchin can't protect itself, so how can it care about the Qing Dynasty?"

Sighing, Fan Wencheng continued, "For now, we can only defend Panshan temporarily, but we must not continue to send more troops to Panshan. According to the tactics of the Ming army, continuing to send more troops is just adding fuel to the fire and causing the Ming army to consume more. As for Panshan, it is still under the control of the Qing Dynasty. In addition, the regent in Korea must come back as soon as possible. Only when the regent comes back can the strength of both sides be reversed. The regent's ability will surely solve this dilemma."

"Then let the Regent come back as soon as possible." Bumbutai blurted out, "Hauge is one of us after all. He is the eldest son of the late emperor. Can we just watch the late emperor's foundation destroyed? I plan to send a letter to Hauge in the name of the Queen Mother, urging him to make peace with the Regent and stop fighting. If they can shake hands and unite with the Regent to repel the Ming army, I can promise to write off the previous things and never regret it!"

"That's great! Your Majesty, you can give it a try." Fan Wencheng said quickly, feeling relieved. But then he said something else that made Bumbutai nervous again.

(End of this chapter)