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

Chapter 670 Well-deserved reputation
Wu Sangui nodded as he listened. There was nothing wrong with the reasons Wang Jinwu gave. However, judging from Wang Jinwu's arrangements, if the war was started north of Xifengkou, the terrain would not be advantageous. After all, if the battle was based on Xifengkou, although Xifengkou had been destroyed by Huang Taiji, the foundation was still there. Even if it was not so easy to defend, it would be much more certain than fighting in the north.

Since Wang Jinwu knew the situation of Xifengkou so well, why did he choose this? Could it be that Wang Jinwu did this for some other reason? Thinking of this, Wu Sangui looked at the sand table intently, and couldn't help but cast his eyes to the area north of Xifengkou. He looked for a long time, then gradually moved to the northwest, looking towards Baimachuan, and then moved back. After a moment, he suddenly looked up, as if he had thought of something.

"General Wang! Are you planning not only to move the battlefield forward, but also to outflank Huang Taiji?"

"Hahaha!" Wang Jinwu laughed, and at the same time, he looked up to Wu Sangui in his heart. This Wu Sangui really lived up to his reputation! He had figured out his plan based on just a sand table and his few words.

Yes, it is inconvenient to start a war north of Xifengkou, but it also has advantages. In fact, defending Xifengkou is the same as defending a city. The art of war says that you cannot defend a city alone. You must place a troop outside the city to cooperate with the army in the city to defend the city. If you defend the city alone, you will inevitably lose.

Although many Ming generals defending the city knew this truth, when they were really faced with this situation, they often adopted a desperate defense attitude.

There are many reasons for this, the most important of which is that the Ming generals had no confidence in the combat effectiveness of their own troops, and were even more worried that if they did not defend to the death, the Jiannu would defeat them one by one. Just like Yuan Chonghuan defending Ningyuan and Zu Dashou defending Dalinghe, they all fought to the death, relying on cities and firearms to fight and repel the enemy.

But the problem is that the enemy is not a fool. They clearly know that they are far inferior to the Ming army in terms of firearms. The Ming army not only has the protection of the city walls, but also has extremely lethal artillery and muskets. In this case, they will attack the city regardless of casualties? Only a fool would do that.

Was Nurhaci stupid? Of course not! Was Huang Taiji stupid? Of course not either. Therefore, the Later Jin did not sacrifice human lives when attacking Ningyuan or Dalinghe. Only an idiot would rely on human lives to fight against the Ming army and break through the city.

Their siege was basically just a test, and most of the troops they used were not the elite Eight Banners. Instead, they used vassal baoyi or the Mongolian Eight Banners and Han Army Banners to take the lead in the attack.

Once they found that they could not take the city, they would withdraw from the Ming army's firepower range without hesitation to ensure that they would not suffer too much damage. As for the next action, they would often besiege the city on the one hand, and on the other hand, they would pay attention to the Ming army's reinforcements and implement the tactic of attacking the reinforcements, or even send troops to plunder and destroy the surrounding areas to weaken the Ming's control over Liaodong, while relying on plundering resources to make up for their own shortcomings.

This is how Juehua Island fell during the Battle of Ningyuan. Nurhaci did not take Ningyuan because Yuan Chonghuan was so powerful, nor was he afraid of the cannons on the top of Ningyuan City. Taking advantage of the opportunity that Ningyuan was defending, Nurhaci turned his guns and raided Juehua Island, which caused the Juehua Island Massacre. The entire Ming army on Juehua Island was almost massacred, and a large amount of supplies stored on Juehua Island were either looted by Nurhaci or burned clean.

Others may not know the true situation of the Ningyuan victory, but how could Wu Sangui not know it? The rumor that Nurhaci was wounded by artillery fire and eventually died is even more absurd. If Nurhaci was really wounded by artillery fire, would he still lead his troops to Juehua Island? And even a few months later, would he personally lead his troops to fight the Mongols?

In the entire Ningyuan Battle, the losses of the Later Jin were not great, with casualties totaling no more than a hundred people, not even broken bones. On the other hand, although Ningyuan was saved, the military and civilians on Juehua Island suffered extremely serious losses, including a large amount of supplies. From this, it can be seen that the so-called Ningyuan victory was just Yuan Chonghuan's boasting.

Not to mention Zu Dashou's Battle of Dalinghhe. Dalinghhe was not even as good as Ningyuan. Seeing that the situation was not right, Zu Dashou hurriedly withdrew all the troops back to the city. However, there was not enough food in the city. When he was surrounded by Huang Taiji, how long could Zu Dashou hold out without any reinforcements?

When the food in the city was gone, if they didn't break out, they would starve to death. This was the main reason why Zu Dashou finally ordered a breakout. But it was too late to break out at that time. Huang Taiji was on high alert outside, and the Ming army, which had lost its fighting spirit, was even more vulnerable. In the end, Zu Dashou had no choice but to pretend to surrender, and then took advantage of Huang Taiji's relaxed vigilance to escape the encirclement alone. Although he escaped by chance, his nephews and subordinates were not so lucky and were all captured by Huang Taiji.

Wang Jinwu wanted to defend Xifengkou. It was not impossible for him to do so alone, but there was not much point in doing so.

Firstly, the Great Wall at Xifengkou was severely damaged. The entire section of the Great Wall had been almost demolished by Huang Taiji last time. Except for a few places that could still be barely maintained, most of the city walls were gone.

Even with the geographical advantage, and the fact that Wang Jinwu had people repair the area in the past few days, it is impossible to restore the original defensive capabilities.

Moreover, the cost of manpower and material resources to repair this section of the Great Wall is not insignificant. The court is now financially bankrupt. The mess left by Emperor Chongzhen is simply unable to come up with the money. From the current situation, there is no time for this. Therefore, the temporary repair is just to make up for the original damage to the Great Wall. Wang Jinwu knows very well how much effect it will have once the war breaks out.

As for the second reason, it is the terrain problem of Xifengkou. Although Xifengkou Pass is dangerous and easy to defend but difficult to attack, the problem is that not many troops can be stationed at Xifengkou. Wang Jinwu has visited it on the spot. According to his observation, at most more than a thousand people can be stationed at Xifengkou. If Xifengkou has not been destroyed, there will be no problem if these troops go up, but it is very difficult to garrison there now.

Once Huang Taiji attacked repeatedly with heavy troops, it was hard to predict whether these 1,000 men could hold off the enemy. Moreover, if they were broken through, the troops behind them could not block them in time, and Xifengkou would fall into the hands of the enemy. If Huang Taiji took Xifengkou, the Eight Banners would have the geographical advantage and could rush directly into the Great Wall from high above, which would be even more difficult to stop.

So Wang Jinwu thought that he must not defend Xifengkou alone and must not give Huang Taiji the opportunity to concentrate his forces to attack Xifengkou without any worries. Therefore, he must extend the battlefield to the north and deploy a troop north of the Great Wall to cooperate with the defenders of Xifengkou to contain Huang Taiji's army and reduce the pressure on the garrison at Xifengkou.

In this way, Wang Jinwu set his sights on the high ground located in the northeast of Xifengkou. This area is north of the Great Wall, not far from Xifengkou, and it belongs to the Yanshan Mountains. To the southeast is Xiongwotou, which is also part of the Great Wall defense line. There are beacon towers for garrisoning. If it can't be resisted, it can be directly retreated to Xiongwotou. If Huang Taiji attacks Xiongwotou, he can rely on the Great Wall for defense. If Huang Taiji withdraws and continues to attack Xifengkou, then the army of Xiongwotou can continue to return to its original position and cooperate with the defenders of Xifengkou to fight.

The convenience of this place lies in that it can attack when advancing and defend when retreating. In addition, Wang Jinwu has a large number of firearms troops and many artillery pieces. He is in a high position to defend, and the firearms have a great advantage. However, Huang Taiji's Eight Banners are fighting on their backs, and the power of the cavalry cannot be fully exerted.

After listening to Wang Jinwu's explanation, Wu Sangui looked at the terrain carefully for a while and immediately applauded. In this way, the disadvantage of Xifengkou was compensated by the high ground in the northeast, and the two sides cooperated in combat and supported each other, which made the garrison more secure.

"But General Wang, how are you going to cut off Huang Taiji's retreat? Are you going to send troops from other passes?"

"Haha, that's right. If you agree with Changbo, where do you think it would be more appropriate to send troops from?" Wang Jinwu asked with a smile.

Wu Sangui did not answer immediately, but continued to ask: "May I ask, Marshal Wang, if you send troops north of the Great Wall, do you plan to use cavalry or infantry? Do you want to harass Huang Taiji's rear army or annihilate part of it?"

"I'm not sure we can annihilate all of them, so as to use troops..." Wang Jinwu thought for a moment and said, "To harass the rear army, we need to be flexible and maneuverable, so naturally we will use cavalry as the main force."

Wu Sangui laughed loudly. Wang Jinwu's words touched his heart directly. The reason why he asked this question just now was that he wanted to hear what Wang Jinwu was thinking. If Wang Jinwu was planning to use both infantry and cavalry and annihilate part of the Eight Banners, Wu Sangui would probably have dissuaded him directly.

As the deputy general of the Guanning Army, Wu Sangui followed his father to fight against the Jiannu at the age of sixteen. After more than ten years, the young Wu Sangui knew the fighting effectiveness of the Jiannu better than anyone else. Although he admitted that Wang Jinwu was very different from the generals he had seen, and that Wang Jinwu's subordinates he had seen since entering the city were more elite than the Ming army, he was worried that Wang Jinwu would be too arrogant in his first battle with the Eight Banners. The Eight Banners were not so easy to beat, and this time the opponent was Huang Taiji. Nurhaci was not easy to deal with back then, not to mention that Huang Taiji was even more difficult to deal with than his father. If he underestimated the enemy, let alone defending Jizhou Town, it would even lead to a great defeat.

Now Wang Jinwu directly told Wu Sangui his plan, and emphasized that he would only use cavalry to harass the enemy's rear, and did not seek to annihilate part of the enemy. This showed that Wang Jinwu was very clear-headed and not impulsive. As a result, Wu Sangui felt relieved and admired Wang Jinwu even more.

"In this case, I suggest going through Gubeikou, and after exiting the Great Wall, directly attack Baimachuan to harass Huang Taiji. We can strike once and then leave, and never fight to the end. If the Eight Banners send troops to pursue us, we can quickly retreat, or go around Jiangjunshiguan. The key is to attack them by surprise! Be flexible and maneuverable," Wu Sangui said without hesitation, pointing to the position on the sand table, and at the same time expressed his opinion.

Wang Jinwu listened carefully and nodded slightly from time to time. Wu Sangui was indeed a leader in the Guanning Army and was proficient in cavalry tactics. His tactics were very simple, which was to constantly harass Huang Taiji's rear. Didn't you, Huang Taiji, plan to gather in Baimachuan? Aren't you planning to use Xifengkou as a breakthrough point? Then I will use cavalry to harass and sneak attack your rear, so that you can't concentrate your troops to attack Xifengkou.

(End of this chapter)