Please call me the Emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty

Man Gui listened but disagreed: "Lord Yuan, you don't need to boost Dorgon's prestige and dampen our own people's spirit."

What's so great about Dorgon?

"Yue Tuo is in our hands, and we have thousands of prisoners. If we push them too far, we'll kill them all."

Yuan Chonghuan shook his head: "Killing prisoners is not our goal."

Our ultimate goal is to prevent Dorgon from breaking through the Guan-Ning-Jin defense line.

Moreover, prevent them from entering Shanhaiguan.

Their goal was to storm Shanhaiguan, besiege Beijing, and force the emperor to abdicate in favor of Huang Taiji.

Upon hearing this, Man Gui snorted, "They've got a pretty clever plan."

Yuan Chonghuan stroked his beard: "Dorgon brought 5 troops with him this time."

We must do everything in our power to wipe out their 5 troops in one fell swoop!

Everyone was taken aback, for they had not expected Yuan Chonghuan to have such great ambitions.

Man Gui said, "Lord Yuan, you're not joking, are you?"

Right now, we're just trying to hold onto Ningyuan City, that would be good enough. How can we possibly have the strength to fight others?

"We only have a few thousand men in Ningyuan, and our food supplies are about to run out. Many of our weapons and armor are already rusted. If we can hold Ningyuan, that will be a miracle. How can we possibly repel Dorgon's tens of thousands of elite troops?"

Yuan Chonghuan smiled slightly: "Have you ever heard the saying that the quality of an army is more important than its quantity?"

Throughout history, there have been countless examples of battles where the few defeated the many. For instance, Xiang Yu once used 30,000 cavalry to defeat Liu Bang's 560,000-strong allied army of feudal lords. What does 30,000 against 560,000 mean?

Furthermore, consider the Battle of Guandu, the Battle of Red Cliffs, and the Battle of Fei River, which of these battles were fought with fewer troops winning against a larger force.

The most famous of these was the battle fought during the reign of Emperor Jianwen of this dynasty.

Zhu Di launched the Jingnan Campaign under the banner of "Purge the court of corrupt officials and punish the villains," leading his troops to attack the imperial court.

Emperor Jianwen dispatched General Li Jinglong with 50 troops to besiege Beiping.

then,

The commander defending Beiping was Zhu Gaochi, and there were only 1 troops in the city.

A troop ratio of 50 to 1 is unprecedented in history.

Think about it.

Was the pressure Zhu Gaochi faced back then much greater than it is now?

At that time, there were 50 troops outside Beiping, while Dorgon's troops outside our city now number less than 5.

If Zhu Gaochi had lost his fighting spirit, could he have defeated Li Jinglong?

Will we be able to wait for reinforcements?

Zhu Gaochi, accompanied by his son Zhu Zhanji, climbed to the top of the city wall and said to the crowd, "If Beiping falls, my son and I will die here."

The soldiers were deeply moved upon hearing this.

They also had Yao Guangxiao to help them devise strategies, and Zhu Gaochi's mother, Xu Miaoyun, to help organize female soldiers to defend the city.

The people were united in their hatred of the enemy and worked together as one.

Ultimately, Li Jinglong's 500,000-strong army failed to capture Beiping.

Finally, Zhu Gaofan received reinforcements and defeated Li Jinglong.

If Zhu Gaochi had relaxed his vigilance even slightly, would history have had to be rewritten?

so,

We should learn from Zhu Gaochi.

Man Gui frowned: "My lord, Zhu Gaochi has reinforcements."

But we have no reinforcements. Who will be our reinforcements?

Yuan Chonghuan walked back and forth with his hands behind his back, then suddenly stopped: "Gentlemen, I believe that our imperial reinforcements will arrive soon."

The generals whispered among themselves, "Where are the reinforcements? There are only about 2000 men at Shanhaiguan, barely enough to defend it."

How could they possibly come to our aid?

"It seems that Lord Yuan sometimes speaks in a somewhat unrealistic way."

Yuan Chonghuan asked, "Where is Mao Wenlong now?"

"Report, Lord Yuan, he is training the navy on Pi Island."