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

Chapter 1105: Sauron Goes South
Dorgon judged that the Ming army must not be holding back, and perhaps had set an ambush on his way back, waiting for him to slip into it.

This possibility is not impossible. Let's not talk about the fact that the Ming army in Pi Island will definitely be dispatched. Don't forget that the Ming army also has a powerful navy. When Jinzhou was besieged before, wasn't it because the Ming army sent out the navy to cross the sea and attack northward, causing great upheaval in the hinterland of Liaodong, that forced Huang Taiji to finally abandon Jinzhou and withdraw his troops?
The Ming army would definitely repeat the same trick at this moment, so Dorgon was extremely careful on his way back after evacuating Pyongyang. For safety reasons, he deliberately changed his itinerary. He did not take the Fengcheng-Benxi route that would go directly back to Shengjing, but instead went around Jianzhou Wei from the north and then turned back west to return to Shengjing.

As soon as he left Korea, Dorgon met an envoy who had hurried over from Shengjing. After reading the reminder letter sent by Bumbutai, Dorgon was more convinced that the Ming army would set an ambush on his way back.

While changing the route of his return, Dorgon deliberately sent a small force to advance along the previous route. This was done to confuse the Ming army in case they discovered that he had changed his route. In addition, Dorgon also intended to use this method to confirm his judgment and see if the Ming army would really set an ambush on his way back.

A few days later, the news came that this small army had really encountered a Ming army. After the battle between the two sides, the small army lost hundreds of people, and the remaining soldiers relied on the mobility of war horses to escape with great difficulty. This shows that Dorgon and Fan Wencheng's judgment was correct. The Ming army did make such an arrangement, waiting for them to fall into the trap.

After hearing the news, Dorgon was completely relieved and at the same time felt a little proud. In his opinion, every move of the Ming army was within his prediction. Although the Ming army was much stronger than before, it was also limited. The Yongming Emperor was indeed more capable than the Chongzhen Emperor, but that was the extent of his real ability.

Now that he had predicted and judged the intentions and plans of the Ming army, and had made corresponding responses, the next battle would be easy to fight. As long as he arrived in Shengjing, with the elite main forces of the Eight Banners in his hands and the war potential of the Qing Dynasty, the Ming army in Panshan would not be a threat.

After defeating the Ming army in Panshan, he would lead his troops to rescue Khorchin. After the two tribes merged, they would repel the Mongols and the Ming army in Chahar, and then they would attack Chahar and control the Mongolian tribes again, which would completely reverse the previous situation of the war.

Dorgon's calculations went smoothly, but he never expected that he would be hit hard. Just when he thought he had bypassed the Ming army's obstruction and would have no problems on the way back, when he had just reached the north of Jianzhouwei near Gule Village, a cavalry unit suddenly appeared and caught Dorgon off guard.

Dorgon had no idea where this army came from, as if it suddenly appeared from the sky. Just when Dorgon's army was about to cross the Suzi River, they suddenly appeared from behind. Before Dorgon's rear army could react, the enemy's cavalry fired thousands of arrows and attacked from both sides.

Dorgon's rear army fought hastily and managed to stabilize their position with great difficulty. When they were ready to launch a counterattack, the cavalry turned around and ran away as soon as they made contact, leaving behind a mess and dozens of wounded Eight Banner soldiers rolling and howling on the ground, and disappeared in an instant.

"Your Majesty!"

Dorgon's face turned pale as he stared at his deputy general. This deputy general was the commander of the rear army and it was his troops who had just fought in the battle.

The deputy general looked embarrassed and wounded. He knelt in front of Dorgon and said, "I deserve to die. I failed to stop those people..."

With a "crackling" sound, Dorgon raised his hand and whipped him hard, shouting, "That's not what I'm asking. I'm asking if you're from the Ming army?"

The deputy general felt the pain but dared not avoid it. He took the blow and replied while enduring the pain: "Your Highness, I just fought with the enemy. From what I saw, those people are skilled in archery and horse riding. They are definitely not Ming soldiers."

"If it's not the Ming army, then who is it?"

"Minion...Minion thinks these people should be Sauron..."

"Bomubogor's men?" Dorgon was stunned and asked hurriedly, "Did you leave the enemy cavalry behind?"

"Yes!" The deputy general hurriedly said that although his side suffered heavy losses in the previous battle, he was lucky enough to leave one enemy alive, but he was dead, not alive. After hearing what the deputy general said, Dorgon asked the deputy general to take him to see without hesitation. A moment later, a corpse was placed in front of Dorgon. Dorgon didn't care about anything else and went forward to take a closer look. The other party was shot by a bow and arrow and fell off his horse and died. He was wearing the armor of the Ming army. From the perspective of dressing, he was no different from the Ming army. However, this did not mean that the other party was the Ming army. Dorgon knew this because the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty were also equipped with the standard armor of the Ming army, with only slight changes in details.

Dorgon said nothing, first he took off the man's helmet, then he stretched out his hands to pinch the face of the corpse and looked at it carefully, especially he deliberately opened the man's teeth to take a closer look. Then he asked someone to take off the armor of the corpse and take a closer look at the clothes inside, as well as the hands and feet.

After a careful inspection, Dorgon's face became extremely gloomy. The deputy general was right. These people were indeed not Ming troops. Judging from their facial features, hairstyles and physical details, these people were clearly barbarians who had lived in Liaodong for a long time. And judging from their fighting methods and their familiarity with archery and horsemanship, it was very likely that they were from the Solon tribe.

"Bomubogor!" Dorgon gnashed his teeth. If Bomubogor stood in front of him now, he would want to eat him alive. The Solon tribe has always been a major concern for the Qing Dynasty. As early as the time of Huang Taiji, the Qing Dynasty had been suppressing the Solon tribe and driving them northward from their previous place, far away to the Nurgan area.

Even so, he was not satisfied. The Solon tribe was famous for its bravery and fighting skills. Huang Taiji not only wanted to suppress the Solon tribe, but also wanted to recapture the Solon tribe and annex it into the Eight Banners. Unfortunately, the leader of the Solon tribe, Bomuboguer, was a stubborn person. He would rather flee with his people and fight with the Qing Dynasty many times but refused to surrender.

In order to deal with the Solon tribe, Huang Taiji sent troops to the north several times, the most recent one was to send Hauge to conquer the Solon tribe. In that northern expedition to the Solon tribe, Hauge had the upper hand at the beginning, and the Solon tribe retreated step by step. Originally, according to the situation of the battle, Hauge had a good chance of conquering the Solon tribe, but Huang Taiji suddenly passed away at that time.

Due to the death of Huang Taiji, Hauge led his troops back to fight for the throne, leaving the unresolved Solon tribe behind. The next step was the fight for the throne of the Qing Dynasty, which ended with Hauge losing the throne and Fulin ascending the throne. The northern expedition to Solon tribe also ended in failure.

After that, the Qing Dynasty was always busy with internal affairs and failed to take care of the Solon tribe in the north. In this way, the Qing Dynasty almost forgot about the Solon tribe, but Dorgon did not forget. If it were not for the rebellion of Hauge, he must first solve the Hauge problem and pacify Korea. Otherwise, according to Dorgon's idea, he might have started to use military force against the Solon tribe and completely solve the Solon problem like Huang Taiji did in the past.

But who would have thought that before Dorgon could make a move, the Solon tribe in the north would appear at this moment. Although the number of Solon tribes attacking the rear was not large, only a few thousand people, they were no match for Dorgon's army.

But the problem was that these Solon people did not fight desperately like the Eight Banners, but instead adopted a tactic of constant harassment and sneak attacks. Under normal circumstances, Dorgon was not afraid of them at all. He could just keep his footing and mobilize his troops to counterattack them, or even deploy tactics to encircle and annihilate them. No matter how good the Solon people were at fighting, they were no match for the elite Eight Banners.

But the situation is different now. Dorgon is eager to return to Shengjing. How can he have time to tangle with these Solon people? Once he is entangled by the other party, even if he wins in the end, Dorgon will lose time.

Time waits for no one. The Ming army in Panshan is still attacking. Panshan may be breached by the Ming army at any time. Once Panshan is lost, the gate of Shengjing will be wide open. The number of Eight Banners in Shengjing is insufficient. It is not easy to defend Shengjing in front of the Ming army with powerful firearms. Dorgon must rush back to Shengjing as soon as possible. Where is the time to toss with these Solon people?

After thinking about it, Dorgon gave an order to let the main force continue to cross the river, and the rear army was on high alert to prevent the Sauron people from attacking again. At the same time, a large number of scouts were sent to find out the traces of the Sauron people in order to take precautions.

In the next two days, the Solon people launched sneak attacks on Dorgon's troops many times, and each time they hit and ran away. Although Dorgon's troops did not suffer heavy losses after taking precautions, and even left dozens of Solon people in the counterattack, such a battle was really uncomfortable. They could only be beaten without being able to pursue, and were led by the nose by the enemy. When has the Eight Banners fought such a cowardly battle since its establishment?
However, Dorgon didn't care about all these. He hurried to cross the river. After all the troops had crossed the river, he led the main force directly westward, all the way to Shengjing.

But just two days later, when Dorgon arrived at Sarhu, the Solons showed up again. This time, the Solons did not just launch a sneak attack, but split into two groups. One group attacked the middle of Dorgon's army from the flank, and the other group relied on horsepower to go around in front of Dorgon. While Dorgon's army was dealing with the attack of the Solons in the middle, they rushed out and ran into Dorgon's front army.

Dorgon suffered a great loss in this battle. He did not expect the Solons to change their tactics and fight him for real. You should know that although the Solons are good at fighting, their numbers are not large. After years of war, the three Solon tribes only have more than 3,000 soldiers who can fight. But this time, the Solons almost pulled out all their forces. The 3,000 Solon tribes, plus they are equipped with sophisticated Ming army armor, bows and arrows, swords, etc., their combat effectiveness is self-evident.

After the battle, Dorgon lost more than 600 people, most of whom were elite soldiers from the Eight Banners. Although the Solon tribe also suffered losses, it was only about 300 people. The 1:2 ratio of casualties was enough to prove that the Solon people were good at fighting.

Looking at this loss, Dorgon's face turned pale. He didn't expect the Solon people to fight so hard. Weren't they afraid of angering him and fighting to the death with the Eight Banners? Compared with his army, how many people were there in the three Solon tribes? Was such a sacrifice worth it?
(End of this chapter)