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

Chapter 683 Withdrawal
Tumed's cavalry set out and headed straight for Chahar, causing the Chahar tribes to be terrified.

Previously, Zhu Shenzhui led his troops in a battle at Chahar Right Banner, in which Dorgon and the coalition forces of the Chahar tribes were badly defeated. After the war, many leaders, taijis and nobles of the Chahar tribes were captured. Although they were later released, they not only demanded hostages from the other side, but also took the opportunity to sow discord among the tribes.

In the past two years, Tumed had suppressed and influenced the various tribes of Chahar. Now that Tumed's cavalry suddenly set out to Chahar, how could the tribes not be terrified? However, Wang Hai did not attack these tribes directly after sending out his troops. Instead, he informed them in the name of Guihua City that this time he was not going to destroy their tribes in one fell swoop, but to join forces with the Ming army to fight Huang Taiji.

Wang Hai told these tribes that now was the time for them to choose: would they stand on the side of Tumed and the Ming Dynasty? Or would they follow Huang Taiji to the end? If it was the former, each tribe must dispatch cavalry to join the Tumed army to go on the expedition together. If it was the latter, then don't blame Wang Hai for taking direct action.

There were two choices, and there was no third way to go. These tribal leaders and Taiji were not stupid, and they naturally knew what to do. Moreover, there were many people in their tribes who were inclined to Tumed, and there was also a hostage in Tenger's hands.

Once they said no, Wang Hai's cavalry would be able to trample their tribes, and it would be easy to kill these leaders and Taijis. Anyway, Tengger held their hostages in his hands. Wouldn't it be better to release these hostages and let them serve as leaders and Taijis? Maybe these hostages have been waiting for this opportunity.

In this way, Wang Hai was almost unstoppable all the way, and encountered little resistance at all. When Wang Hai's army arrived at Wuweidi, Wang Hai gathered the cavalry from various units of Chahar Right Banner, and the total force had exceeded 60,000.

Sixty thousand troops, all of them Mongolian cavalry, are considered extremely powerful on the Mongolian grasslands. At the peak of his power, Lin Danhan only mobilized 100,000 troops at a time. From this point of view, the Tumed is undoubtedly the most powerful force on the Mongolian grasslands and should not be underestimated.

When Wang Hai's army appeared in Wuwei, the Eight Banners troops who were busy chasing Wu Sangui's cavalry were shocked to hear the news. Upon learning that such a powerful cavalry had suddenly arrived, the leader Jirgalang immediately changed color and hurriedly gathered the scattered troops and regrouped to prevent being attacked from both sides.

Just when Jirgalang was gathering his troops to guard against Wang Hai's cavalry, Wu Sangui received the news. Especially when he learned that this cavalry was coming to help him, Wu Sangui was overjoyed.

Faced with the increasingly tense war situation, Wu Sangui had planned to withdraw from the battlefield and return directly to the Ming Dynasty. Although this was somewhat helpless, it was also the best choice. After all, the ordinary Mongolians in Wu Sangui's cavalry were fine, as they were drawn from various tribes anyway, but his Guanning Iron Cavalry and the elite cavalry given to him by Wang Jinwu could not be lost.

As a general of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Sangui knew too well the importance of the Ming cavalry. If these two elite cavalry units were lost on the grassland, not only would Wang Jinwu not forgive him, but even Wu Sangui himself would not be spared.

Knowing that he could not win, he still insisted on fighting. This was not bravery but stupidity. Cavalry was not used in this way, and Wu Sangui could not use his old skills to fight Jirgalang and his men. Since there was no chance, it would be better to leave directly, avoid the sharp edge and wait for the opportunity later. Who would have thought that before Wu Sangui left, Wang Hai's cavalry arrived. After receiving the news, how could Wu Sangui not be extremely excited?
The appearance of Wang Hai directly broke the original situation of the battle, especially when Wang Hai arrived at Wuwei land, he immediately launched a surprise attack on an Eight Banners army in the southeast direction that had not yet reacted.

In this surprise attack, Wang Hai concentrated his forces to fight with more people against fewer, and divided his troops into two groups, one to attack head-on and the other to attack from the side. The two-pronged attack made the Eight Banners flee in embarrassment. After this battle, the morale of the Tumed cavalry was greatly boosted. Jirgalang and others, who had originally gathered their troops, saw that the situation was not good and did not dare to go north, and hurriedly led their troops to the southeast. At this time, Wu Sangui's troops were not idle either, and took the opportunity to send troops to harass the enemy continuously, further exerting pressure on the opponent.

When the news of Tumed's dispatch of troops reached Huang Taiji, his face changed drastically and he immediately knew that he was in big trouble.

Since Nurhaci started his rebellion, the then Later Jin and Ming armies have fought many times, but the battlefields have always been in Liaodong. Although Nurhaci's Eight Banners were fierce and beat the Ming army back step by step, and even annihilated hundreds of thousands of elite troops of the Ming army in a few battles, the Ming Dynasty suffered heavy losses.

But the problem was that the Ming army suffered such a great defeat but still firmly held the Shanhaiguan line. Nurhaci could not break the Ming army's Shanhaiguan defense line no matter what, let alone attack the heartland of the Ming Dynasty.

This situation continued until Nurhaci's death. In addition, due to Sun Chengzong's comprehensive blockade of Liaodong, the Eight Banners, which were short of food and suffered from natural disasters, almost collapsed. If it were not for the Emperor Chongzhen's appointment of Yuan Chonghuan, the ambitious and incompetent Yuan Chonghuan would have been smart, and the Liaodong issue would have been solved long ago. With Yuan Chonghuan's "support", Nurhaci finally got a breath. Later, Huang Taiji got a lot of food from Yuan Chonghuan in the name of peace talks, thus completely solving the food shortage problem of the Later Jin Dynasty. After that, Huang Taiji decided to break the blockade of the Ming Dynasty through Mongolia, which led to the military action of sending troops to expel Lin Danhan.

Although Lindan Khan was nominally the leader of Mongolia at that time, he was actually deserted by his friends and relatives. In addition, Lindan Khan was short-sighted and had no political vision. Not only did he offend the Mongolian tribes by attacking everywhere, but he also offended his ally, the Ming Dynasty, by breaking contracts several times. When he was jointly attacked by the Eight Banners and the Mongolian tribes that opposed him, no one came out to help. Faced with such a dilemma, Lindan Khan had to abandon his Chahar headquarters under the powerful military pressure of the Eight Banners and move westward.

After Lin Danhan moved westward, Chahar lost its headquarters and became the sphere of influence of Huang Taiji. It was for this reason that Huang Taiji directly broke the blockade of the Ming army in Liaodong by attacking Lin Danhan, thus creating a route to bypass Mongolia and attack the Ming Dynasty directly.

The reason why the previous Ji Si Incident happened was because Chahar was controlled by Huang Taiji, otherwise Huang Taiji would not have been able to attack the heartland of the Ming Dynasty and approach the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

The same is true now. This time, Huang Taiji repeated his old tricks and led his army to attack the Ming Dynasty again. The key reason was that Chahar was under Huang Taiji's control. Otherwise, how could Huang Taiji have such confidence? But Huang Taiji never expected that he would run into a hard nail in the fight against the Ming Dynasty this time. First of all, the battle of Xifengkou made him feel the tenacity of the Ming army's resistance.

For nearly half a month, Huang Taiji's main force repeatedly attacked Xifengkou and the highlands northeast of Xifengkou, but he could not take down this line of defense no matter what he did. Moreover, the resistance of the Ming army on the opposite side became stronger and stronger, and the combat quality became higher and higher with the passage of time. The two sides fought back and forth, and the battle was extremely fierce. Since the beginning of the war, Huang Taiji has paid the price of thousands of people but still failed to break through the Ming army's defense line.

Not only did he fail to capture Xifengkou, but Dorgon in the west was also unable to take down the Ming army's defense line from Jiangjunshiguan to Malanyu. Not only that, a group of Ming cavalry emerged from behind. Although this cavalry was small in number, their combat effectiveness was not weak. After taking down the Kharchin and Ongniud tribes, they continued to fight eastward to the Chahan Hetao, posing a threat to Huang Taiji's retreat.

Then Wu Sangui made a feint and took advantage of Nikan's carelessness to defeat Nikan's troops in one fell swoop, causing heavy losses. After receiving the news, Huang Taiji decided to dispatch Jirgalang and others to lead troops to the north to sweep and annihilate Wu Sangui's troops. However, not long after the troops were sent out, just when it was thought that Jirgalang could quickly solve the problem of Wu Sangui's cavalry, Tumed suddenly sent troops, and they came so quickly and suddenly that Jirgalang was caught off guard. Facing the Tumed army, Jirgalang hurriedly gathered his troops to break out to the southeast, and quickly reported the news to Huang Taiji.

Faced with more than 60,000 Mongolian cavalry, plus Wu Sangui's elite cavalry whose whereabouts were erratic, and the main force of the Ming army stationed on the front line of the Great Wall defense line, Huang Taiji began to feel uneasy.

If the fight continued, Huang Taiji was not completely sure that he could break the Ming defense line. If he turned around to deal with the Tumed cavalry, would the main force of the Ming army on the Great Wall defense line sit idly by and watch Huang Taiji do this?
Now, Huang Taiji has felt the pressure of being attacked from both sides. He knows clearly that this war can no longer be won. Even if he barely breaks into the Great Wall, what will happen? Once the retreat is cut off, his troops will be caught in the crossfire between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia. At that time, it will be impossible to withdraw to Liaodong.

Huang Taiji has always been a decisive person. Faced with this situation, he did not dare to take risks. Although he was unwilling, it was meaningless to continue attacking the Ming Dynasty. Preserving strength was the most important thing. The army in his hands was the foundation of the Qing Dynasty and the guarantee of his own rights. He would never allow too much loss. Otherwise, let alone defeat, even his position as the emperor of the Qing Dynasty would be unstable. You must know that Huang Taiji has not had a smooth journey since he ascended the throne. There are many people among the Eight Banners nobles who oppose Huang Taiji, and many people are respectful on the surface but don’t know what they are thinking secretly. If there is no absolute military force that can completely suppress, Huang Taiji dare not imagine what will happen.

Faced with the current changes, Huang Taiji quickly decided to withdraw his troops. He immediately ordered Dorgon in Baimachuan to abandon the attack, gather all the troops and retreat to the northeast, first merging with Jirgalang's troops to prevent Tumed's cavalry from cutting off the army's retreat.

At the same time, Huang Taiji once again organized his troops to attack Xifengkou. The purpose of this attack was not to capture Xifengkou, but to put pressure on the Ming army on the Great Wall defense line with an offensive posture, paralyze the opponent, and prevent the Ming army from adjusting its tactics after learning of changes in the north, which would cause trouble for his own withdrawal.

During the intervals of the fierce attack on Xifengkou, Huang Taiji was ready to withdraw his troops at any time. When the battle ended that day, Huang Taiji's army quietly gathered and withdrew to the north during the dark hours, but his camp remained where it was. Before leaving, he even lit a number of bonfires to make it look like there were still people in the camp.

When the next day dawned, the Ming army at Xifengkou was on high alert, waiting for the upcoming new day of battle, but they were surprised to find that the Qing army on the opposite side did not send troops to attack as usual. There was silence in Huang Taiji's camp, and there seemed to be no one there. When the news reached Wang Jinwu, Wang Jinwu immediately understood what had happened. He hurriedly sent people to check, and as expected, Huang Taiji's army had evacuated last night, and now the entire camp was empty, with no one in sight. Except for the debris that had not been cleaned up in time and the empty tents, Huang Taiji's army had disappeared.

(End of this chapter)