Is this reasonable?
Whether it is reasonable or not, the Emperor has made his decision, no one can oppose it.
The Jinyi Guard brought by Zhu Ci also numbered only a little over ten thousand; while that sounded like a significant number, the pressure on food and fodder was not that great.
If Dorgon did not split his forces, Zhu Ci would let him attack Yanmen Pass and lead his own troops in a direct charge; if Dorgon split his forces..
Sorry, but that was to deliver grain and fodder to him.
Zhu Ci was never one to drag his feet; the very next day, he led his troops straight for Shanyin.
At this time, the person defending Shanyin City was Meile E Zhen, who had previously been defeated by him.
Upon hearing that the Emperor of Great Ming was leading an army toward him, Meile E Zhen was struck with terror. He immediately arranged for someone to send word to Datong as quickly as possible while simultaneously struggling to defend the city.
Under the onslaught of the Dongfeng Bronze Cannon, Shanyin City simply could not be held.
Dorgon, far away in Datong, did not panic upon receiving the news. He turned to Ajige beside him and said, "The Emperor of the Ming Kingdom is indeed as radical as before. Pass down the order: prepare for expedition."
Ajige responded, touching his eye patch, feeling a hint of regret in his heart.
When he heard that the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom intended to personally lead the expedition, he felt a strong desire to avenge his blindness, but despite his thoughts, he still did not dare to be insolent before the Regent Dorgon and could only obediently follow orders.
Of course, deep down, he still felt a certain amount of fear toward Zhu Ci. Back then, he had not been his opponent, even if one used the excuse that his firearms were inferior to those of the Ming Kingdom. The problem was that even now, their firearms were still no match for those of the Ming Kingdom.
The Imperial Court was indeed building firearms factories, but the information they obtained was all outdated. Nowadays, it is difficult to obtain firearms from the Ming Kingdom; even if they went to great lengths to acquire some, they wouldn't be able to replicate them without the blueprints.
Even if they found some people who knew how to manufacture firearms, even if they took the Ming Kingdom's firearms apart to examine them, those people still wouldn't be able to understand them.
At first, the Imperial Court thought it was because the Han people were not working with full effort. After executing wave after wave of them, they found that the weapons still could not be reproduced; only then did they believe that the current firearms of the Ming Kingdom had reached a level of development that many people could no longer understand.
This point was very difficult for the Qing Court to understand, as if the opposition suddenly had the help of gods.
Ajige led his troops to raid toward the direction of Jingping Post, but Dorgon did not play a game of Tianji Racing as Zhang Huangyan and the others had feared.
Dorgon did not lack the desire, but he lacked the ability.
He had always been known for his flexible and ever-changing tactics and did not like head-on confrontations, yet this time he had to face Zhu Ci head-on.
Just as the news of Zhu Ci's personal expedition reaching Yanmen Pass greatly boosted the morale of the Ming army, the Qing Army was filled with an air of restlessness from top to bottom upon hearing the news.
The Emperor of the Ming Kingdom was said to be invincible in every battle, which still exerted a certain amount of pressure on the soldiers below.
Dorgon had to shatter the opponent's myth of being invincible in every battle to boost morale.
If he chose to campaign against Zhang Huangyan, he might win, but even if he did, people would still wonder if he was also afraid of the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom and dared not confront him directly.
Zhu Ci cannot be defeated, Dorgon actually cannot be defeated either, because in reality, the Qing Dynasty chose "Personal Expedition" even earlier than the Ming Kingdom.
Although Dorgon did not become the emperor, he is now the de facto emperor of the Qing Dynasty. What use would it be if the child sitting on the throne went on a personal expedition? If Fulin were truly forced to come out, it would only mean that the Qing Dynasty has reached the end of its rope.
Similarly, if Dorgon were to suffer a defeat, the blow to morale would also be immense.
Therefore, Dorgon had been studying Zhu Ci for a long time, attempting to analyze the decisions he might make from his past wars.
Unfortunately, the Ming Kingdom Emperor has participated in too few wars, each situation was different, making it impossible to summarize any patterns.
The only thing that could be certain was that this Emperor of the Ming Kingdom was extremely radical.
At that time, Dorgon had already judged that Zhu Ci would eventually take the initiative to attack, so he did not sit idly by in Datong waiting for death, but instead led his troops out to strike.
Thus, the two sides met in battle at Pianlingkou.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Go about your business, I'm going to find Dorgon to play with by myself. A kitty carrying a machine gun, walking proudly. jpg
Next update at 6:00 PM~
Chapter 241
According to Dorgon's original plan, he and Zhu Ci were supposed to have met in Guangwu or Shanyin.
As it turned out, the Jinyi Guard under Zhu Ci were simply too fierce; they swept through the two cities of Guangwu and Shanyin in a short amount of time. Even after Dorgon prepared to lead his troops to battle immediately upon hearing the news of the Ming Kingdom Emperor's personal expedition, he still failed to hold these two cities.
Dorgon was wary in his heart; previously, he had always felt that every victory of this Ming Kingdom Emperor contained a hint of luck.
Therefore, he also placed importance on Zhu Ci, but only to a limited extent.
Looking at it now, it is unknown how the Ming Kingdom Emperor's ability to march and deploy troops is, but the armies under his command are definitely elite soldiers and capable generals.
Not only were the two cities of Guangwu and Shanyin swept clean, but even more news failed to be transmitted out, so the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom must have emerged victorious with an overwhelming advantage.
After analyzing the situation with his subordinates, Dorgon felt it might be due to the Dongfeng Bronze Cannons.
Since the Emperor was leading the personal expedition, the military supplies were certainly the best. Dorgon knew the Dongfeng Bronze Cannon was formidable, but previously the Ming army did not possess many Dongfeng Bronze Cannons, so the impact was not that significant. Now, the Ming Kingdom's Emperor would certainly have many Dongfeng Bronze Cannons.
Therefore, Dorgon made a decisive move and headed straight for Pianlingkou.
Pianlingkou is the strategic throat to the Datong Basin; it must be held. If Pianlingkou cannot be held, then defending Datong will not be an easy task.
Dorgon was closer to Pianlingkou after all, he would not encounter any resistance from the enemy along the way. Moreover, Pianlingkou was already occupied by the Qing Army, so once he arrived at Pianlingkou, he would be able to make some arrangements with ease.
Dorgon adopted a relatively conservative plan, using the watchtowers and beacon towers atop Xishan as his core. From these high vantage points, he could blockade the Nankou Valley. The mountain paths here were narrow and could be defended with nothing more than rolling logs and stones; no matter how many firearms the Ming army possessed, they would be unable to stop the logs and stones rolling down from the mountain.
In addition, he also stationed a small number of garrison troops on the North Slope; the mountain paths there are extremely steep and difficult for men and horses to traverse, so it does not require many people.
When Zhu Ci arrived near Pianlingkou with his men, he did not rush into the attack; instead, he took a look at the terrain through a single-lens telescope and then consulted the sand table.
Jiang Quan frowned deeply and said, "Your Majesty, I am afraid we must win a swift victory at Pianlingkou. Otherwise, if reinforcements arrive from the surrounding Dayukou, Xiaoyukou, Emao Kou, being drawn into a protracted battle will inevitably be disadvantageous to our army."
Zhu Ci gave an affirmative response: "Proceed according to the previous plan. Bring out all the weapons that should be brought out; there is no need to hold anything back anymore."
Previously, whether it was taking the initiative to leave the city at Yanmen Pass or fighting in Guangwu and Shanyin, the Jinyi Guard had only used the types of firearms that the Qing Army was very familiar with; not a single new firearm had been brought out.
On one hand, it wasn't necessary, but on the other hand, he wanted to keep something hidden to create an information advantage.
Facing Dorgon, Zhu Ci would not dare to be careless even if he had elite troops and more powerful firearms in his hands; he had to meticulously scrutinize every single detail.
Previously, the battles at Guangwu and Shanyin had been relatively easy, but the battle at Pianlingkou could be considered a quite difficult one.
Just as Jiang Quan had said, Pianlingkou was not a solitary struggle; they had reinforcements to help one another.
Jiang Quan had previously suggested either to fight a decisive battle quickly or to arrange for people to intercept the reinforcements.
However, the first plan was directly rejected by Zhu Ci.
Of course, he knew that a swift victory was best.
However, the problem was that the terrain at Pianlingkou made it extremely difficult to achieve a swift victory. This place was naturally easy to defend but difficult to attack, with the enemy holding the advantage of the high ground, how could a swift victory be achieved?
Unless Zhu Ci suddenly pulled out an airplane or a hot air balloon right now, then it might be possible.
However, the same problem remained: to take flight, one required sufficient power, power came from energy. Where could one find energy capable of providing such power now?
Since a quick victory was impossible, Zhu Ci decided to take an unconventional approach and split his forces!
Aren't your four passes positioned to support one another? Then I shall sever your reinforcements.
At the same time, attacking these four passes would allow an advance on Datong regardless of which one was taken; it wouldn't necessarily require a decisive battle with Dorgon at Pianlingkou.
Unlike Dorgon, Zhu Ci did not need to fight to the death against his opponent to stabilize the morale of his troops; or rather, he simply faced no pressure at all.
Having reached the stage of a desperate last stand, things had actually become much easier. Victory was certainly good, but even if he lost one or two battles, it would be acceptable as long as the losses weren't catastrophic.
Zhu Ci was stationed at Pianlingkou, specifically to pin down Dorgon and prevent him from having the time to reinforce other passes.
Although Nankou Gorge was easy to defend but difficult to attack, it could not be completely neglected. He directly ordered the infantry to form a square formation, shielding their sides and heads with shields, while leaving gaps in the middle to position long-range gunners to fire volleys at the Qing Army on the mountain.
At the same time, he also arranged for agile people to climb the North Slope to reach the summit. The terrain there is quite treacherous, with cliffs that are almost vertical, making rolling stones ineffective; the defenders there are most likely archers.
That makes things much easier. We can simply have the climbers carry light-range guns. These guns don't require a wooden frame, while their effective range is slightly shorter, they should be more than sufficient to handle the situation on the North Slope.
In any case, the climbers don't need to land precise headshots; they just need to be able to hit the opponent.
During the first wave of the offensive, the soldiers at Nankou Gorge were in no hurry to use the long-range guns.
This was an order issued by Zhu Ci; unless news arrived from the North Slope that the climb had been successful, it was not appropriate to expose the long-range guns too early. If Dorgon were to become wary, the climb at the North Slope would surely fail.
Fortunately, the news from the North Slope arrived quickly. In just about a day and a night, Zhu Ci saw the signal flare rise from the North Slope.
The brightness of the signal flare was not sufficient, the sound was not that loud, but because someone had been watching constantly, this urgent military intelligence was not missed.
Upon seeing this, Zhu Ci turned and instructed Nie Wu and Ding Qi, "It is your turn. Go."
Nie Wu and Ding Qi were instantly excited and immediately set off to carry out the order.
This time, they had obtained the opportunity they had dreamed of, leading a squad forward to charge.
They were able to have this opportunity mainly because attacking Nankou Gorge did not require flag signals for command, as there was little opportunity for formation changes there, the only usable formation was the Single-line Long Snake Formation.
If it weren't for that, they wouldn't have had the chance to take the field. Those flag signals were still top secret and could not be shared with them, they wouldn't have dared to ask to learn them.
After Nie Wu and Ding Qi left, Zhu Ci stood outside the tent looking at the distant, towering mountains, lost in thought amidst the dense gunfire, he did not know what expression Dorgon was wearing at that moment.
Dorgon.. Dorgon was almost unable to maintain his expression.
What did you say? The North Slope garrison has been completely wiped out? And the garrison at the gorge has also suffered heavy losses?
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Don't be surprised just yet; there will be even more surprising things to come. Evil kitty pushes up her sunglasses. jpg
Next update tomorrow morning at 6:00 AM~
Chapter 242
Previously, regarding the matter of holding Pianlingkou, Dorgon did not feel much pressure.
They held every advantage of the terrain; unless the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom was willing to sacrifice lives in massive numbers, the enemy's Single-shot Rocket Launchers would be useless, no matter how many they had. How far could the range of a Single-shot Rocket Launcher even reach?
Moreover, the ambushes they arranged on the ridges on both sides were all various types of mechanical traps; as soon as they spotted the enemy, they would simply cut the ropes, the boulders and rolling logs would naturally come crashing down.
It wouldn't matter if these things failed to hit the Ming army; as long as the boulders fell, they would block the gorge and make it difficult for the Ming army to advance, allowing the defenders to repel them with bows and arrows or firearms.
Initially, this strategy did indeed work, Dorgon was also waiting for the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom to respond.
As it turned out, unexpectedly, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse in just a single night.
The North Slope was occupied. Although the Nankou Gorge was blocked by boulders and rolling logs, the archers and musketeers he had arranged were unable to inflict much damage on the Ming army; instead, his side suffered heavy losses, with almost all of his archers and musketeers being shot dead by the enemy.