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

Chapter 868 Repel
Xitku and Jixiha looked at each other. They both thought of this possibility. If this was really the case, the consequences would be extremely serious.

They knew too well how powerful the Solons were. In the past, the Solons fought against the Qing Dynasty for so long with weapons made of stone, and even set up an ambush that caused the Eight Banners Army to suffer a lot of losses. Now the Solons have made up for the shortcoming of insufficient military equipment. After receiving military equipment support from the Ming Dynasty, the Solons' equipment is comparable to that of the Eight Banners' elite. With the same equipment, it is unimaginable how much combat power the Solons will exert.

The defeat of the Western Army proved this point. It seems that Suohai did not lie. The fact is indeed that with sophisticated equipment, the Solon people are even more powerful and are no longer the tribe that was suppressed and bullied by the Eight Banners. Now the Western Army is gone. Although their Southern Army is still there, the Southern Army is stronger than the Western Army, but it is also limited. Once the Solon people take advantage of the victory and attack their Southern Army directly to the south, it is still unclear whether they can stop them.

Another key issue is that the Solons actually have artillery, which makes the two men even more worried. An army with artillery and an army without artillery are two completely different concepts. The role of artillery in war is extremely powerful. The Zhejiang Army, which almost made Nurhaci doubt his life by fighting with fewer troops, was extremely strong. If Nurhaci had not captured the artillery unit of the Ming Army and forced the Ming Army gunners to turn their guns and continuously bombard the Zhejiang Army, it would be hard to say who would win or lose in the Battle of Hunhe.

Now the Saurons not only have sophisticated weapons and equipment, but also have powerful weapons such as artillery. As the god of war, artillery can play a decisive factor in many cases. It is already not easy to fight against the Saurons who have changed their equipment. If they fight against the Saurons who still have artillery, they will have no confidence at all.

What to do? Should they fight or flee? The two men didn't know what to do for a while. If they fought head-on and were defeated, how could they explain to Huang Taiji? In the case of the defeat of the Western Route Army, if the Southern Route Army was also defeated, the Qing Dynasty could not afford such a huge loss. But if they didn't fight and just fled in disgrace? Then Huang Taiji would have no way to explain. Since the rebellion of the Zhenghong Banner, Huang Taiji's paranoia has become more and more serious in the past year or so. He has purged many people within the Eight Banners. They don't want to end up in a miserable situation.

The situation was far more serious than previously thought, and Xitku and Jixiha were suddenly in a dilemma. According to Jixiha's suggestion, the southern army should withdraw first, send scouts to the north to investigate the situation of the Lun tribe, and at the same time use fast horses to send this news back to Shengjing to report to Huang Taiji.

However, Xitku disagreed. Their target this time was the Solon tribe. If the Southern Army retreated without fighting a battle, it would not only bring shame to the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty, but would also make the Solon tribe even more arrogant. Moreover, it was too late to report to Huang Taiji. It would take at least seven or eight days to go from here to Shengjing even with a fast horse. After so much time, the Solon people would have already moved south.

The elite troops of the Eight Banners retreated without fighting. How could this be the style of the Eight Banners? After all, the situation of the Solons was only what those who had retreated from the Western Route Army had said, and the true situation was not completely certain. In addition, they had a duty to perform, so they had to fight. Even if they knew that the Solons had obtained the weapons of the Ming Dynasty, they had to fight. Otherwise, they would not be able to explain to Huang Taiji.

Facing Xitku's statement, Ji Xiha frowned and finally agreed. After discussing, the two decided to adjust their tactics and fight the Solons first. They immediately sent scouts to the north to gather information about the Solons in the north, and also sent the news of the defeat of the Western Route Army to Shengjing by fast horses.

In addition, the Southern Army did not retreat, but made preparations for the upcoming war and fought against the Solon Tribe in Kaolangwuwei. It would be great if they could win, but if the Solon Tribe was as powerful as Suohai said, they could also retreat at any time to protect the main force of the Southern Army.

Shortly after Xitku and Jixiha made the decision, Dular Bomubogor, who defeated the Western Army, quickly arrived near Kaolangwuwei, not far from their Southern Army.

As the scouts sent out reported, countless pieces of information came to Xitku one after another. Listening to the reports from several scouts, Xitku's face looked very ugly. He learned from the scouts that the current Sauron people were indeed different from before. In the past, when the Sauron people heard that the Eight Banners were coming to attack, they would take the initiative to retreat to avoid fighting. However, it was the first time that they took the initiative to go south to fight like now.

Moreover, the Solon tribe also sent a large number of scouts to the south, who had actual contact and small-scale battles with the scouts of the Eight Banners. The scouts of the Eight Banners reported to Xitku that the Solon scouts they encountered were indeed well-equipped, in no way inferior to the elite of the Eight Banners, and had extremely strong combat effectiveness. Instead of gaining the upper hand, the two sides suffered a bit of loss. This shows that what Sohai said was all true.

Faced with this situation, Sitku became more cautious. He knew that the next battle would be a tough one, and if he was not careful, his army would suffer defeat. For this reason, Sitku once again adjusted the deployment of the southern army, deployed the formation and prepared for the battle. On the morning of the third day, Dular Bomubogor's Sauron army arrived at the battlefield, and a battle broke out between the two armies.

After learning the lesson that the Western Army was defeated because of underestimating the enemy, Xitku led the Eight Banners elite as the main force to fight directly, and the attached Mongolian army used the Mongolian horse archery tactics as the flank to cooperate with the main force to fight, while guarding against the artillery attacks of the Solon army. This battle was extremely fierce from the beginning. The high-spirited Solons launched several consecutive charges against the Southern Army. Because the Solons' equipment had been greatly improved, their combat effectiveness was different from the past. Although the Eight Banners were brave and good at fighting, and in order to stabilize the position, Xitku deliberately put the most capable white-armored soldiers on the front, they were still unable to withstand the crazy attack of the Solons and suffered heavy losses.

Moreover, the warlike Solon people were not stupid. Not only did they suppress the main force of the Eight Banners head-on, they also sent out cavalry to outflank and engage in battle with the Mongolian troops on both wings. The Solon people's war horses were no worse than those of the Mongols, and the bows and arrows they possessed were superior to those of the Mongols in terms of range and accuracy.

By the afternoon, the Mongolian troops on the left and right wings were exhausted. Fortunately, Sitku had made preparations in advance, so the Mongolian troops on the western route did not collapse first. But even so, the Mongolians could not withstand the repeated attacks of the Solons, and there were signs of retreat.

Although the Eight Banners on the front could still fight back and forth with the Sauron army, once the two wings were lost, not only would the battle be lost, but the main force of the Eight Banners might also be annihilated. In addition, the artillery of the Sauron army began to work. Although these artillery were not as powerful as the Red Cannon, dozens of artillery pieces continuously bombarded their side, which brought a great threat and deterrence to the army.

Under such circumstances, Sitku knew that it was no longer necessary to continue fighting like this. The result of continuing to fight would be more defeats than victories. Moreover, the Saurons became more and more courageous as the battle went on, and each of them was fearless of death. Even Sitku, who had been through many battles, could not help but be secretly frightened when he saw their desperate fighting style.

Xitku decisively issued an order, and he sent out his last mobile force to stabilize the position of the central army and launched a fierce counterattack. The Solon army, which was fighting happily, did not expect that the Eight Banners Army still had the power to counterattack under such circumstances, and was beaten back by Xitku for a while. Seeing that the situation was not good, Dular. Bomubogor quickly reorganized the army and personally ordered the attacking troops in front to withdraw, and then launched the attack after the team was reorganized.

But who would have thought that Xitku was so cunning. His desperate purpose was not to defeat the Sauron army, but to buy time for evacuation. While the Sauron army was retreating and reorganizing, Xitku's army also began to retreat decisively, and the entire army quickly left the battlefield. By the time Dural Bomubogor realized the opponent's intention, it was too late. Xitku ran too fast. In the blink of an eye, his main force of the Eight Banners retreated, and then ran directly south without looking back. At this time, Dural Bomubogor, who suddenly realized the situation, had lost the opportunity to pursue him again. After his retreating army reorganized, Xitku's main force had all left the battlefield.

Moreover, it was getting dark by then, and with the arrival of night, continuing the fighting became a luxury. Dural Bomubogor had no choice but to order his troops to pursue the Mongolian troops on both wings that had not yet evacuated. After killing hundreds of Mongols, the war came to an end. After counting the losses, the Solon army suffered more than 800 casualties, and Sitku's army suffered much greater losses than the Solon people. The Eight Banners alone lost nearly a thousand people, not including the Mongols who suffered even greater losses.

After leaving the battlefield, Xitku led his troops to retreat, taking advantage of the night to march south along the route that had been arranged long ago, and his march was neat and tidy. When the next day dawned, Dular Bomubogor looked for the enemy's traces and found that the enemy had already run away.

Although this battle was not as exciting as the one with the Western Route Army, it was still won after all. After winning two battles in a row, the Solon tribe won a complete victory against the elite Eight Banners for the first time, and the two enemy armies were defeated along the way, and the main general of the Western Route Army was killed. Although they did not win a big victory in the battle with the Southern Route Army, they also repelled Xitku and forced the enemy to retreat. Such a result was unprecedented for the Solon people. In this battle alone, Dular. Bomubogor once again won the support of all Solon people and inspired the Solon people's confidence to continue to resist Huang Taiji.

After the war, Dulal Bomubogor did not stay in Kaolangwuwei for long. After confirming that Xitku's southern army had retreated, Dulal Bomubogor led his troops back to Nurgan. Although the battle was won, Dulal Bomubogor was also clearly aware that it was impossible to completely defeat Huang Taiji with the ability of the Solon tribe.

Although with the support of the Ming Dynasty, the combat effectiveness of the Sauron army has undergone earth-shaking changes, after all, compared with the Qing Dynasty, the population of the Sauron tribe is too small, and the number of warriors that the entire tribe can mobilize is far less than that of the Qing Dynasty.

Based on Dular. Bomubogor's understanding of Huang Taiji, Huang Taiji would never accept defeat. Once Huang Taiji personally led his army to come, no matter how good the Solon tribe was, they would not be Huang Taiji's opponent in the face of absolute power. For the survival of the tribe, Dular. Bomubogor sent an envoy to Shengjing after returning to Nurgan, and once again expressed his "submission" to Huang Taiji and sent gifts. At the same time, he also used this method to warn Huang Taiji of his determination. If the Qing Dynasty could accommodate the Solon tribe, the Solon people would not take the initiative to provoke a war, but if Huang Taiji continued to intend to annex the Solon tribe, then even if the Solon people fought to the last man, they would fight Huang Taiji to the end and would never surrender.

(End of this chapter)