Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 230 Blocking Ajige

The Qing army's tens of thousands of troops retreated north very quickly and were well prepared. Ajige's army had originally marched south with light equipment, and on the way of evacuation from Lumen Mountain, there was almost no abandonment of soldiers, armor, or baggage.

However, it was obvious that the Qing army's deployment was to guard against the main force under Zhu Cilang's command following and pursuing, especially after he led the troops across Lumen Mountain, the southern army he led did not dare to take the official road along the river.

Although this section of the journey was only thirty or forty miles, it was the most dangerous for the Qing army. There were no crisscrossing rivers to hinder the movement of cavalry, and there were no towering mountains, at least no rolling hills and slopes to provide cover. This made Ajige's army vulnerable to sudden attacks from all directions by the Ming army at any time.

After all, the main force of the Dongting Lake Navy, thousands of large and small warships, had already been prepared. Among them, there were thousands of small boats that were collected to deal with the Qing army's fire attack, and they were now ready for battle.

Logically speaking, the Qing army only needed to guard the north and east when the army retreated north and moved along the river, and it would be safe. However, due to the presence of the Dongting Lake Navy, those large and small boats, and even several "giant ships", were equipped with more than a dozen cannons with a range of several miles. Ajige did not dare to let his troops get close to the river bank.

You have to know that he and Dorgon had painstakingly planned for so long, deploying so many troops over the past ten days, all with the goal of stabilizing the army's morale. If the retreating army was bombarded by artillery, even a god would not be able to prevent the rout.

Zhu Cilang was not worried about Dorgon in the north. Although he did not want to directly confront the Qing army, he was also prepared for a tough battle. Facing the main force of the Qing army, he did not dare to take it lightly.

The Tianqi Army caught up with Ajige's army about five miles northeast of Lumen Mountain. Lin Changfeng used the most elite cavalry battalion of the Tianqi Army as the vanguard, directly demonstrating the momentum of a strong army, forcing Ajige to personally lead his troops back to block the Ming army.

However, after so many battles, the Tianqi Army was no longer the cavalry infantry it once was. These most elite cavalry of the Ming Dynasty were not afraid of Ajige's Eight Banners Cavalry at all. Moreover, Ajige was the first to turn back and did not have an advantage in terms of military strength.

The two sides fought for several rounds until the thousand Eight Banners horsemen following behind Ajige joined the battlefield and forced them to retreat. But at this time, Lin Changfeng also led the rest of the Tianqi Army to arrive.

Zhu Cilang's target was Ajige, and he knew very well that retreating from Lumen Mountain to Xiangyang and Nanyang was not far away. He had to gain an advantage in the first round of confrontation, otherwise the opportunity would be lost.

This is the battlefield. When it's time to fight with all your might, you must do so at all costs until the enemy's core combat power is completely consumed. And when it's time to preserve the army's vitality and achieve strategic goals, you must also maintain strategic focus and resist the enemy's temptations.

Ajige had just breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the Ming cavalry was temporarily forced to retreat. He was about to send Tangma to contact Dorgon in the north, asking the other side to withdraw quickly and arrange an ambush at the same time, when Lin Changfeng had already charged up with his cavalry again.

In the Qing army's original plan, the confluence of the Baihe River and the Han River, all the way to Shuanggoukou, were good places to set up ambushes, especially the latter. Once the Ming army's pursuers crossed the river, it would not be so easy to retreat.

But Ajige never expected that the Ming cavalry would catch up with him at this time. If so, he must ask Dorgon for help, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous.

Meanwhile, Zhu Cilang had already launched a new offensive near Xiangyang City. He not only dispatched the Heavenly Cavalry, but also two battalions of the Xiaoqi Army, and sent troops to the north to support the attack, covering the flank of the attacking army, forcing Dorgon to send troops, and thus making it impossible for him to move south.

On the Han River plain, the Qing cavalry naturally had the advantage of mobility, but the Ming cavalry's mobile combat capability was not so vulnerable, not to mention that the Ming cavalry also had the cover of the navy, which allowed them to attack when advancing and defend when retreating.

Faced with the equally mobile Ming soldiers on horseback, the Qing cavalry had no way of gaining an advantage in a short period of time. In addition, the army was retreating, and the area near Xiangyang City was not the pre-set main battlefield, so the Qing army's fighting spirit was very unstable.

Dorgon naturally noticed this, and he had to start arranging cavalry to take turns to provide cover, fighting and retreating. Fortunately, the Eight Banners cavalry under his command had been recuperating for a long time and had quite strong combat power.

In addition, he had to risk increased casualties and directly repel the attack of the Ming army at the cost of hundreds of horsemen. He then ordered Chen Tai to lead a troop south to reinforce Ajige, and he personally led the rest of the army to retreat.

Under such circumstances, he naturally did not dare to let Nan Yikui, Dong Xueli and other Green Camp generals lead the charge. If these guys led the troops into battle, they might immediately reveal their true colors or even rebel.

Chang Denggui was personally in charge of the containment operation in the north. His battlefield insight was already extraordinary. From the deployment of Dorgon personally leading the charge and the fierce offensive of the Eight Banners, he could see the hidden strangeness in it.

He was now deliberately intensifying his offensive according to Zhu Cilang's orders in order to spread fear among the Qing army. If the Qing army in the south suffered a major defeat, the main force of the Qing army here would also fall into chaos.

After all, at this time, Dorgon did not dare to retreat directly, but he also did not dare to go south with all his strength, otherwise the morale of the army would become even more chaotic with the back and forth.

What Chang Denggui had to do was to find ways to make it more difficult for Dorgon to make a decision, so as to miss the opportunity to fight.

In the north and east of the Han River, the Dongting Lake navy continued to bombard, and Chang Denggui also commanded the Ming cavalry to launch a simultaneous raid. This caused chaos in part of the Qing army that had rushed more than 40 miles from Lumen Mountain and retreated north to Xiangyang.

The military intelligence coming from the south, and the main cavalry of the Ming army that was still closely following and blocking the troops from behind, intensified the panic and anxiety in the hearts of the retreating Qing soldiers, and chaos broke out.

Dorgon had naturally sent people to scout the army's retreat route long ago. After this period of field investigation, he was very familiar with the nearby terrain, but in the end he was still defeated by the chaotic army.

Zhu Cilang in the south also quickly received the military report from the scouts, and learned that Dorgon was temporarily unable to send reinforcements. He then made a prompt decision and ordered all troops, except for the artillery, to immediately launch a fierce attack on the Qing army north of Lumen Mountain.

As most of the Qing army cavalry left in the north by Ajige had already moved south to join the battlefield, the mounted musketeers trained by the Cavalry Corps according to the new method performed brilliantly on the battlefield with combat methods that the Qing army had not expected.

The Cavalry Corps was established late. Although Zhu Cilang drew a lot of backbone reinforcements from the Heavenly Cavalry Corps, the strength of the cavalry could not be easily enhanced overnight. During the watershed battle, its performance was far inferior to that of the Heavenly Cavalry Corps.

However, with the Palace Army's now surplus of muskets, the Cavalry, after more than half a year of training, finally established the first professional, fully-organized mounted musket battalion in the Ming army. Their muskets far surpassed bows in both power and range, and their armor was sufficient to withstand the Qing army's cavalry bows. With a few volleys, they easily disrupted the Qing army's already disorganized formation, and then quickly shifted, providing ample space for the Heavenly Cavalry's assault.

The cavalry of the Ming and Qing armies immediately engaged in a fierce battle on the plains on the east bank of the Han River. When Ajige saw that Zhu Cilang had deployed such a large number of cavalry, he naturally realized that the situation was not good, and immediately ordered all the cavalry to be deployed, leaving only more than a thousand Eight Banners cavalry as a reserve.

He had to repel the enemy and then retreat quickly, so as to lure the enemy deep into his territory and create an opportunity for Dorgon to ambush him in the north.

However, because the cavalry did not play by the rules, the previous few rounds of musket fire had already thrown some of Ajige's troops into chaos. The Qing army did not have an advantage in terms of manpower at this time and quickly fell into a disadvantage in the battle.

But Ajige was already adept at commanding such a large-scale war, and his Eight Banners cavalry were masters of reckless fighting. Most of them were not afraid of the Ming army. With only two or three hundred men, they withstood two rounds of attacks launched by the Tianqi Army.

As both sides had almost deployed most of their troops, a brutal fight broke out on the plains like a whirlwind. The troops sent by both sides began to engage in full-scale warfare, and casualties were constantly exchanged on the plains.

Under such circumstances, Ajige never deployed the last cavalry. Although he successfully blocked the Ming army's offensive, he was unable to effectively counterattack.

Lin Changfeng was always looking for loopholes in the Qing army, but Ajige's deployment was very tight, and he even relied on mobile warfare to temporarily make up for the loopholes caused by the surprise attack of the cavalry and the heavy casualties.

Ajige was extremely anxious as he watched his soldiers falling one after another. He could only hope that Dorgon would not seek revenge for personal reasons, or even not hesitate to send troops south to launch an attack immediately, otherwise his casualties would be further increased, because those among them were all his direct subordinates.

Zhu Cilang also hoped that Dorgon would not hesitate. The longer the time was delayed, the easier it would be for the Western Army to capture Hanzhong, and the Tianqi Army could easily withdraw under the cover of the navy.

However, even if Dorgon did not fall for the trick and gave up the southward reinforcement and led his troops north, Zhu Cilang would not be worried. If Dorgon still wanted to escape unscathed at this time, he would be overestimating himself.

However, in that case, he would have to suffer greater casualties in order to achieve the maximum results originally planned, which was something Zhu Cilang did not want to see.

Now, a considerable part of the main force of the Qing army in the north has fallen into chaos and is temporarily unable to organize a counterattack. It is difficult for them to immediately join the battlefield in the south. Lin Changfeng will still have a certain advantage in the local battlefield.

Ajige looked at the two armies in front of him that were already engaged in a melee. His original confidence had long disappeared. Whenever he thought of Dorgon and Dodo being defeated by Emperor Ming, he couldn't help but worry that he would end up like that.

Many times, people are like this. They won't cry until they see the coffin. Ajige's so-called confidence was also built on the battlefield, so it would naturally collapse on the battlefield. He now even suspects that this is a trap set by Emperor Ming.

"Father, Dorgon's Tangma haven't arrived yet. Let's continue fighting, or..." Lao Qin was obviously more timid than Ajige. He rolled his eyes and continued:

"With the battle situation so intense now, the Ming Emperor must have other troops at his disposal. The Ming generals in the south alone have thousands of cavalry that haven't been deployed to the battlefield. It's very likely that they are planning to outflank us and cut off our retreat at a critical moment. The Ming Emperor is so cunning, I'm afraid there's some conspiracy here."

"Conspiracy?" Ajige narrowed his eyes upon hearing this, then raised his telescope and glanced southward, towards where Lin Changfeng's banner was, but he saw nothing unusual. "This shouldn't be a conspiracy. The Ming army always fights this way. Moreover, in this terrain, if the Ming army were to launch a flanking attack, we would immediately discover it."

However, Ajige had just finished speaking when, for some reason, he changed the subject and said:

"But things may not be that simple. Tell me, what conspiracy does Emperor Ming have?"

"Well..." Lao Qin paused for a moment before continuing, "Father, I think the Ming Emperor has noticed our plan and may be using it to annihilate us."

Lao Qin was originally just timid and didn't want to continue fighting, so he made up an excuse to retreat. However, he himself didn't expect that he would accidentally reveal Zhu Cilang's strategic purpose.

When Ajige heard this and looked at the battle situation in front of him, he couldn't help but frown. He immediately thought that Zhu Cilang was very likely trying to take advantage of Dorgon's need to conserve his strength and fear of fighting, and directly defeat him one by one.

After all, if Emperor Ming had been prepared, he would have known that he would be in charge of the southern route himself, and Emperor Ming should also have known about the conflict between him and Dorgon.

If this is the case, the situation will become complicated, and he will not be able to fight completely according to the rules of the battlefield.

"You have some truth in what you said." Ajige actually knew very well that Lao Qin was afraid, but after listening to his advice, he finally made up his mind based on his own interests.

The thousands of cavalrymen under his command were all his political capital. If he staked them all here, it would be too easy for Dorgon. Moreover, if there really was a conspiracy by Zhu Cilang, then the situation on the battlefield was already hopeless.

But no matter what, he and Dorgon still have the advantage in military strength. As long as he can get rid of the pursuit of the Ming army and at least ensure that the main force withdraws to Nanyang City, there is no need to worry.

"Laoqin, you take the troops and go first. I will go meet these Nikan cavalrymen. I want to try it myself to see whether the troops under Emperor Ming are really so strong!" After Ajige said this, without waiting for Laoqin to say anything, he immediately waved to his Bayara leader, asking him to gather troops and prepare to fight again.

(End of this chapter)