The Green Army camp in the west of the Qing army collapsed first, followed by the Chinese camp of the Manchurian soldiers, and finally the east camp of Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming.

Taking advantage of the golden opportunity of the Qing army's defeat, the Ming army's morale reached a high point, and each unit, led by officers, began to pursue the victory.

Zhang Dong held a spear in his hand and took advantage of the momentum to thrust forward. The spear tip struck the chainmail armor of the Eight Banners soldier he was chasing with a "clang" sound.

Although the armor of the Eight Banners soldier was not pierced, his back was hit by such an impact that he staggered and fell directly to the ground. Before he could get up, five or six Ming soldiers swarmed up and fired several spears at them.

Stab him in the neck and head.

At this time, there is no need to use heavy axes and hammers, otherwise it will be a waste of two pairs of such good armors. The intact armor is expensive, but it is a first-class trophy on the battlefield.

After killing the Eight Banners soldier, Zhang Dong, Chen Yu, and Huang Fa immediately followed the more than 20 soldiers led by Zhuang Lidong and continued to pursue the defeated Qing army. At this time, there were countless Ming troops beside them.

The infantry and cavalry rushed through.

On the top of Fengyang City, soldiers, village warriors, and civilian servants were all looking eagerly. The civilian servants even stopped carrying wood and stones, and the earth-shattering shouts of killing continued. To the north,

On the plains, countless flames are burning.

Zhuang Lidong quickly received the order, stopped the pursuit, and then led his troops back to clean the battlefield and sent some troops to be on guard to guard against any possible accidents.

Although Xue Laoer sent cavalry to pursue him, he did not underestimate the enemy and did not relax his vigilance at all.

Zhou Shixian's night attack was successful, and the Qing army lost more than half and fled. The generals of the Eight Banners and Green Camp troops were either gathering up their defeated troops, or were still on their way to flee in panic, unable to organize a counterattack at all.

Zhuang Lidong and his soldiers began to clean up the battlefield, harvesting the heads, and from time to time he would touch up those clear soldiers lying on the ground who could still move.

They cut off the heads of the Qing soldiers, separated the Manchus from the Han, and after stacking them separately, they also paid special attention to removing the better-preserved armor, muskets, and other weapons and equipment from the Qing soldiers, piled them on the ground, and then inserted them into the

The flag of General Bai is waiting for the military judge to come and verify the merit.

The equipment carried by each elite soldier is very expensive, and the total value may be more than forty taels of silver. If it can be replenished through capture, it will greatly alleviate financial pressure.

After all, after every battle, the victorious side is the winner, and the loss of various equipment is also very staggering. Just the replacement of the lost weapons and equipment of Zhou Shixian's new army may reach hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

After the Ming army basically finished cleaning up the battlefield and all retreated to the main camp, it was already dark. Zhou Shixian, surrounded by his personal guards, had arrived at the north bank of the Huaihe River.

Seeing the overturned Qing army camp, as well as a steady stream of civilians and soldiers counting and carrying the loot, Zhou Shixian was naturally very excited.

In addition to the burned tents, clothes and quilts, the Qing army camp also stored a lot of baggage, and even more than twenty Hongyi artillery pieces needed for siege, as well as lead bullets and gunpowder, and even various siege equipment that had been built.

instrument.

These supplies were all that the Qing army had no time to move away. Many of the war horses released by the Qing army before fleeing had already been recovered by the Ming army's cavalry during the pursuit.

Soon, the officers and generals of each battalion who originally commanded the army to pursue the defeated Qing army gathered again in the new tent specially set up by Zhou Shixian on the north bank of the Huaihe River.

At this time, the generals of each battalion who had returned from the victory naturally stepped forward one after another and flattered Zhou Shixian. No one was willing to lag behind.

Although Zhou Shixian felt happy after hearing these flattering words, he was not the kind of person who gets carried away.

However, the Prince Consort of the Ming Dynasty planned to retreat the enemy, attack the Qing army at night, and achieve a complete victory. This is indeed the public opinion offensive Zhou Shixian needs now. He also needs this matter to be known to the entire army and the world, so as to accumulate more information.

great political prestige.

On weekdays, Zhou Shixian pays great attention to the construction of his own prestige and image. In addition, under the planning of Lu Jiude and Wang Chaodong, many mysterious rumors surrounding him have been exaggerated. In this era of strict hierarchy, he has already

He became the god of war in the hearts of many people.

And these are all necessary, if not far enough, for Zhou Shixian who wants to seize the "bird position" of Emperor Chongzhen.

After Zhou Shixian listened to the generals' praise, he immediately announced the start of military deliberations. Although this war had achieved a decisive victory, it was not the time to take it lightly.

The generals also knew that although the main force of the Qing army was defeated in this battle, it did not achieve the goal of annihilating the Qing army outside the city. The Qing army retreating north even organized several small-scale blockades in the end.

"I have already read the military newspaper. This battle was fought very well. They were still entrenched here last night. The arrogant Qing army has now lost more than half of its elite troops. There is no possibility of gathering southward in a short time."

Everyone among them is a great contributor to our Ming Dynasty."

Zhou Shixian sat at the top, looked around, and then stopped at Xue Lao'er, saying: "The most difficult thing among them is General Xue, facing the main force of the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty alone."

Hearing this, Xue Laoer was pleasantly surprised, but he did not show it. Instead, he pretended to be surprised and said: "My consort, I will not dare."

Zhou Shixian naturally understands that this veteran who has been in the army for many years has a delicate mind, but those who have made merit must be rewarded, and those who have made mistakes must be punished. He will not change because of the other party's tact.

At this time, all the generals in the tent also looked happy. Zhou Shixian's words obviously meant a big reward. After all, after such a victorious battle, everyone was actually waiting for a reward.

After this battle, Zhou Shixian had complete trust in his army and Xue Laoer's military capabilities. With the reputation he gained in this battle that defeated the main force of the Qing army, it would be easy for him to expand his army in the future.

Those military leaders will no longer be domineering.

The generals in the account, on the stage set up by Zhou Shixian, will also be promoted faster with the expansion of the new army.

However, although this battle ended quickly with the victory of the Ming army, in fact it was not easy to win.

In the end, the Ming army suffered nearly 5,000 casualties, including more than 1,000 casualties from Huang Degong's troops, and annihilated more than 15,000 Qing troops. However, the Manchu Eight Banners soldiers only killed less than 6,000, and more than 1,000 vassal soldiers, and the rest.

Most of them are green soldiers with weak fighting strength.

This casualty exchange ratio is still based on a night attack, which is very illustrative of the problem - the combat effectiveness of the elite Eight Banners of the Ming Army and the Qing Army can only be considered to be equally matched, or at most slightly superior.

In other words, the current combat effectiveness of the Ming army is still far from Zhou Shixian's requirements. It may be necessary to wait until these recruits have experienced a few more battles and accumulated enough battlefield experience before they can truly achieve a state of invincibility in the field.

Therefore, as soon as the victory ceremony was over, Zhou Shixian did not stop and immediately used this military meeting to study the post-war deployment.

"After this battle, the Qing army will not be able to fight again unless reinforcements arrive from the north. This is an opportunity to go north to regain the lost territory."

However, after Zhou Shixian finished speaking, he paused, then frowned slightly and said: "But the Qing army still has tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. After reorganization, it still has fighting strength. The number of soldiers that our army can fight is currently less than 20,000. If Shaanxi

If the Qing troops from Gansu, North Zhili and other places come to our aid when our army is chasing northward, I am afraid the situation will be very unfavorable."

Such worries are not unfounded. After all, Dorgon still has an army of about 20,000 people in the capital, and there are also Wu Sangui and Gao Di in western Liaoning, with a total of more than 30,000 troops.

As soon as Zhou Shixian finished speaking, there was a lot of discussion in the big tent.

After some low-spirited discussion, it was Zhang Huangyan who took the lead, cupped his hands and said: "My lord, although the Qing army in the north still has a certain strength, the Azige troops in Shaanxi and Gansu in the west have been restrained by the intruders, and the Tatars

Perhaps the only soldiers and horses left behind in Beizhili can be sent to assist in the battle.

However, I feel that it is impossible for the Tatars to take risks and send a large army here. However, the Eight Banners soldiers in North Zhili are thousands of miles apart and out of reach. It is absolutely possible for our army to take advantage of the opportunity to recover Huaibei."

Zhang Huangyan was naturally inclined to take the opportunity to send troops to regain Huaibei. Moreover, what he said was actually in line with Zhou Shixian's thoughts.

However, as a leader, Zhou Shixian naturally cannot speak out his thoughts from the beginning. If there is any omission or oversight, it will be a huge blow to his prestige.

Therefore, he needs to let his subordinates tell him everything he has thought of and what he has not thought of, and then give some advice and summary, so that he can appear far-sighted.

Of course, if there is something that he thought of but that his subordinates didn't mention, it would be great, so that it can better demonstrate Zhou Shixian's wisdom and prowess.

Sure enough, after Zhang Huangyan spoke, the generals no longer had too many scruples and began to speak one after another. Most of them supported Zhang Huangyan's statement that he would send troops northward to at least recover the states and counties within the direct jurisdiction of Huaibei and South.

However, there are also a few who say that they should proceed with caution, fearing that the Qing army will move south again and divide their troops to garrison in various places and be defeated one by one.

But after Zhou Shixian weighed the pros and cons and analyzed the situation, he finally agreed to the suggestion of Zhang Huangyan's group. The land in the southern Zhili region could not be lost to Zhou Shixian. This would not only be a military issue, but also a political issue.

Moreover, given the terrain of Huaibei, Zhou Shixian had 20,000 soldiers and horses under his command, and Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, Huang Degong, Ma Shiying, and Lu Zhenfei each had nearly 20,000 armored soldiers, plus the rest of the soldiers and horses who were weak but strong enough to defend the city.

, relying on the city's terrain for defense was enough to withstand the Qing army's attack, which was already a grasshopper after autumn.

As for taking the initiative to attack, at this time, it was impossible for the Ming army, and it was actually impossible for the Qing army.
Chapter completed!