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

Chapter 673 Stalemate
Although Wang Jinwu's actions were cruel, as a general, he was not a merciful person. Besides, which elite soldiers were not trained through hundreds of times? Moreover, when leaving Beijing, Zhu Shenzhui told Wang Jinwu that he must use this war to integrate these troops while blocking Huang Taiji's invasion and make them completely his own.

Although Zhu Shenzhui is now the regent and nominally in control of the government, in reality Zhu Shenzhui is still far from truly commanding the Ming Dynasty, otherwise he would not have used the identity of regent as a cover.

Although Zhu Shenzhui's new army and cavalry are capable of fighting, their number is too small after all. If he wants to secure this position, he must have a strong military force to back him up. With such a vast territory and hundreds of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty, it is necessary to expand its strength quickly. The best way to expand its strength at the moment is to train troops through war and integrate the army on this basis.

This is also the reason why Wang Jinwu made such arrangements. From the beginning of the war to now, Wang Jinwu has not used any of his trump cards. Both his new army and cavalry are placed in the back. He will never take out these trump cards unless it is necessary.

Although Wu Sangui gave him a thousand cavalrymen, this was a completely different concept from a frontal battle. Wu Sangui's task was to carry out a raid, and Wu Sangui himself brought a thousand Guanning Iron Cavalrymen, which were the ace troops in Guanning. With Wu Sangui's intelligence, he would naturally not let these cavalrymen fight the Eight Banners head-on. This was why Wang Jinwu was so generous in handing over the cavalrymen to him.

As for the Shuntian Army led by Wang Jinwu, which was originally the Beijing Camp, he had to do this naturally. In fact, not only the Shuntian Army, but also the Shandong Army, the Dongjiang Town Army and Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army, Wang Jinwu was not polite and directly let these three forces garrison the high ground northeast of Xifengkou, and let them take turns to block Huang Taiji's attack.

From the current point of view, the effect of this arrangement is very good. Although the casualties on our side are not small, the overall loss is completely acceptable, and Wang Jinwu is very satisfied with the current level of these troops.

The first day's battle began in the early morning and lasted until sunset.

In the two battlefields of Xifengkou and Northeast Highlands, both sides deployed three to four thousand troops respectively. The positions were fought repeatedly and the fighting was extremely fierce.

According to statistics after the war, the Ming army suffered more than 1,100 casualties at Xifengkou, including 771 direct deaths in battle, 32 seriously injured, and the rest slightly injured.

There were 829 casualties in the Northeast Highlands, half of whom were killed in action. The casualties were less than those in Xifengkou. That was because the Dongjiang Town was the main defense force in the Northeast Highlands today. The people of Dongjiang Town had an irreconcilable feud with the Jiannu, and they had been holding a grudge for a long time. In addition, the combat effectiveness of Dongjiang Town was not weak. In this battle, they had the advantage of geographical location and the support of artillery, especially the cooperation of the Shandong Army. Sun Yuanhua, as the Ming Dynasty's leading firearms expert, personally commanded the artillery in the battle, which led to the current results.

As for the casualties on Huang Taiji's side, it is impossible to accurately count them. Judging from the situation on the battlefield, the Qing army's casualties on the two battlefields combined should be considerable, no less than that of the Ming army. However, not many heads were actually taken, only 205 in total. Moreover, among these heads, there were only a few heads from the real Eight Banners of Manchuria. Most of them were from the Eight Banners of Mongolia and the Han Army. But even so, it was a remarkable result.

The Ming Dynasty and the Jiannu had been fighting for many years, with more defeats than victories. Although the Ming Dynasty regarded enemy heads as military merit, not many enemy heads were actually obtained during the years of fighting. The authenticity of most of the heads was very questionable, especially since most of the Ming troops had the bad habit of killing innocent people to claim credit. In order to cover up the consequences of defeat, many Ming troops killed Liao civilians to claim credit.

At that time, Mao Wenlong opened Dongjiang Town and personally led his troops to attack the rear of the Later Jin Dynasty. He crossed the Yalu River from Changcheng and launched guerrilla warfare in Dongguzhai, Niumaozhai, Yanwangzhai and other places near Hetuala. He reportedly beheaded 209 people, captured four alive, and seized 283 horses.

It was because of this great achievement that Mao Wenlong was promoted to the position of vice governor and greatly pleased the then Emperor Tianqi. With such military achievements, the number of beheadings was only 209. In this battle, the Ming army obtained 205 heads, which was only four less than what Mao Wenlong had obtained that year.

As for the Ningyuan victory that was later exaggerated, Yuan Chonghuan reported that he cut off 269 heads. This number was considered a great achievement at the time, but the problem was that Yuan Chonghuan defended Ningyuan to the death and did not leave the city. Nurhaci did not attack Ningyuan at all costs, but besieged the city and did not climb the city. So where did Yuan Chonghuan get the heads? Could it be that he could cut off the enemy's heads out of thin air by relying on the cannons on the city walls? Therefore, the authenticity of the 269 heads should be greatly discounted, and the real number is probably much less.

In this battle, both sides suffered injuries, but these injuries were far from serious enough to cause any major injuries to either side.

Wang Jinwu's side has a total of more than 50,000 troops. Xuan Da's Black Cloud Dragon did not participate in the battle because he was stationed in the northwest. From an overall perspective, the casualties of less than 2,000 are completely tolerable, not to mention that Wang Jinwu's main force has not been mobilized.

As for Huang Taiji, although the casualties were slightly greater than those of the Ming army because they were the main attackers, they were not worth mentioning compared to the 150,000 troops of Huang Taiji. Moreover, the troops Huang Taiji deployed to the battlefield were not the elite of the Eight Banners. The Eight Banners of Manchuria accounted for a very small proportion of them, and most of them were the Eight Banners of Mongolia and the Han Army.

As long as the foundation of the Eight Banners was not damaged, these losses would not be a big deal to Huang Taiji, but this battle made Huang Taiji feel a little tricky. After the war, Huang Taiji had been frowning. The unfavorable start of the war made his plan to break through the defense line in one fell swoop fail, especially the tenacious resistance of the Ming army today was unexpected. Huang Taiji could not help but reflect on whether this time the troops were too hasty, or whether he chose the wrong direction to break through?
"Is Dorgon still in Baimachuan?" In the camp, Huang Taiji thought for a long time and suddenly asked the people around him. "Your Majesty, the Ninth Prince is in Baimachuan."

"Baimachuan..." Huang Taiji was silent for a moment, then suddenly clapped his hands: "Sony!"

"Your servant is here!" Niulu Zhangjing Soni was Huang Taiji's guard, serving in the big tent. When he heard Huang Taiji calling him, he hurried forward and saluted.

"Go to Baimachuan quickly and convey my order to Dorgon, ordering his troops to seize the opportunity and attack Ming from Baimachuan!"

"I obey your order!" Sony responded quickly, but he hesitated and asked Huang Taiji whether there was a specific goal for Dorgon to attack Ming from Baimachuan. Huang Taiji shook his head and said, "Where to attack, where to attack, and how to attack, let Dorgon decide for himself. What I want is the result!"

"I understand!" Sony was a smart man. He immediately understood Huang Taiji's thoughts and hurriedly took the order and left.

After Sony left, Huang Taiji thought for a while and called his eldest son Hauge, Beile Abatai, Prince Zheng Jirgalang, Ebilun and others into the tent to discuss matters. When the discussion reached midnight, everyone left and made preparations separately.

When the sun rose the next day, Huang Taiji once again launched an attack on Xifengkou and the Northeast Highlands, but this attack was different from the last time. In addition to continuing to use the Eight Banners of Mongolia and the Han Army Banners, Huang Taiji also increased the investment of a part of the elite of the Eight Banners of Manchuria, including even the elite of the Eight Banners - the white-armored soldiers.

The deployment of the white-armored soldiers put great pressure on the front line. Relying on the protection of their heavy armor and their bravery, the Ming army on the front line could not resist soon after the attack began. These white-armored soldiers led the way, not afraid of the Ming army's arrows at all. They lowered their heads and rushed forward waving their long swords. Ordinary Ming army could hardly reach them, and they were soon outnumbered by the enemy.

Seeing that the situation was not right, the Ming army rushed forward to stop them, but three or four Ming soldiers were no match for the fierce attack of a white-armored soldier and were beaten back step by step. In a moment, more than a dozen white-armored soldiers broke through the gap in the Ming army's defense as the spearhead and charged directly into the front line, leading the ordinary Eight Banners who followed closely behind to howl and slash with their swords, with unstoppable force.

The battle line was in danger, and seeing more and more enemy troops rushing in, the Ming army was about to collapse. Li You, who was commanding the battle, had no time to mobilize the troops in the rear to support. Li You gritted his teeth and led the supervision team to meet the enemy directly.

As soon as they met, Li You drew out the musket from his waist and fired directly at the nearest enemy. After the gunshot, the white-armored soldier in front of him just staggered, but instead of falling down, he came straight towards him with a long sword, his body full of murderous aura, his eyes under the mask were ferocious, and he was extremely fierce.

Li You was slightly stunned, but his hands kept moving and he continued to pull the trigger. After two gunshots, the white-armored soldier finally fell down. But even so, he still threw the long knife in his hand towards Li You the moment he fell to the ground, intending to kill his opponent with the final blow. Unfortunately, Li You did not give him this opportunity. He turned his body to let his opponent miss. Then he did not even look at the fallen white-armored soldier and continued to pull the trigger at another white-armored soldier.

After firing ten bullets from the two plum blossom spears, Li You only managed to knock down three white-armored soldiers. He had to admit that the white-armored soldiers had strong protection and combat effectiveness. Even if they were shot and wounded, as long as they were not dead, these white-armored soldiers would still struggle to kill their opponents.

Although the result was not satisfactory, it was his quick reaction that curbed the momentum of the white-armored soldiers' charge, and the supervision team behind him also took this opportunity to prepare for battle. The supervision team was composed of new troops, and the fifty-man supervision team formed a formation with the cooperation of others. Although the battle was hasty, the experienced supervision team quickly gained the upper hand.

Relying on the coordination of the battle formation, the white-armored soldiers were able to fight and their combat effectiveness was not weak, but their individual bravery was ultimately no match for the battle formation as a whole. Within a few rounds, several white-armored soldiers fell. Seeing that the situation was not right, the remaining white-armored soldiers led the Eight Banners and shouted, intending to break out from both sides, avoiding the front and allowing the friendly forces in the rear to pour in through the opened gap, thus breaking through the counterattack of the supervision team.

Unfortunately, Li You would never give them this opportunity. The battle-hardened Li You had already prepared for this move, and did not give the opponent a chance to break through on both sides. Not only that, he continued to suppress the opponent's attack and pushed back. After a few breaths, as the last two white-armored soldiers were killed, the enemy troops pouring in from the gap could no longer move forward, and were beaten back step by step.

(End of this chapter)