"I understand, then Wu Sangui must have taken the sea route. Alas! A wise man must miss something when he travels a thousand miles!"
Hong Chengchou said suddenly.
Then he fell down on the chair and muttered to himself, as if all his strength had been drained from his body.
In this look, it was a greater blow when he was defeated and captured than when he was defeated and captured in the Battle of Songjin, because at the beginning, he had actually been mentally prepared that he would never win, and he had the intention of resigning himself to fate and serving his country.
But this time it was his miscalculation. He thought of all the possibilities, but he never thought that the Ming army could take the sea route to attack Shanhaiguan.
"Sir, now that Shanhaiguan is lost, millions of military rations stored in the city have all fallen into the hands of the Ming army. Our army's rations can only last for another two months at most. What should we do?"
Dorgon also calmed down, and looking at Hong Chengchou's appearance, he couldn't sit still and panicked.
Originally, the army's food and grass could last for more than three months, but the 50,000 Mongolian cavalry that could be mobilized were one man and three horses, which was too much consumption.
If Hong Chengchou had not persuaded him hard, he would not have sent these Mongolian cavalry south to help the battle.
After all, this time was no different than before. It was not robbery, but consumption. However, Hong Chengchou insisted on adding 50,000 cavalry to ensure that everything was safe.
"Your Majesty, there is no need to worry too much. Now that Shanhaiguan is lost, I have four strategies here for Your Majesty to choose from."
Hong Chengchou also recovered and spoke slowly.
"Oh! Sir, tell me quickly." Dorgon's eyes lit up.
He secretly said that this old guy really has a few brushes. Now his head is still confused, but this old guy can think of four corresponding strategies in an instant.
"Is this the best policy? Naturally, it is to retreat immediately. The army will return from Xifengkou to Liaodong, and we will plan for it slowly in the future!"
"Old man, you're farting. I've spent hundreds of thousands of people working hard for so long and consumed so much food. Now you want us to return to Liaodong. I think you clearly have bad intentions..."
As soon as Hong Chengchou finished speaking, Duduo beside him went crazy and pulled out the long knife from his waist as if he wanted to eat someone.
"Fifteenth brother, you must be polite!" Dorgon frowned and shouted, then looked at Hong Chengchou: "Sir, what about the other three strategies?" Obviously he was not very satisfied with this so-called best strategy.
Hong Chengchou seemed to have expected this kind of reaction from them, his expression did not waver at all, and he continued: "The best strategy is to return the army immediately to retake Shanhaiguan. Wu Sangui must not have brought many troops with him in this raid.
Our army has at least six days to attack the city."
Dorgon stood up and paced, lost in thought.
As soon as they retreat, Tongzhou's 300,000 troops will definitely press forward.
Obai said that the number of people who attacked would not exceed 10,000, but they must all be elites. In addition, with those who surrendered their troops and attacked from the front, it would not be easy to capture Shanhaiguan. At most, they could capture the Yicheng on both sides.
When the attack failed for a long time, the Tongzhou army arrived again. At best, they fled back to the north of the Great Wall in embarrassment, or at worst, they were blocked at the Shanhaiguan Pass, fearing that the entire army would be annihilated.
Thinking of this, he sat back on the main seat and looked at Hong Chengchou: "Sir, what are the remaining two strategies?"
"The next strategy is that our army will continue to stand still and kill a thousand horses every day. With the remaining grain and grass, it will be enough to last for more than four or five months."
"Sir, do you mean to continue to work hard? But is this too risky?"
"What if the Ming army does not run out of food and grass after four or five months, or if food is shipped from the south, and our army kills most of the horses and uses up the food and grass, wouldn't it be a desperate situation?"
Dorgon's expression suddenly changed after hearing this. He had also read a lot of Han Chinese books and knew that this kind of gambling style was not something a wise man would do.
It's good to win a bet, but once you lose a bet, you have to lose completely and never have a chance to make a comeback.
"Then there is only one last resort, which is to march immediately. The army will rush straight to Tongzhou and fight the Ming army decisively. If we fail to win, we will retreat!"
"But now that Shanhaiguan has been recaptured by Wu Sangui, the red lady may not come out of the camp to fight the king. She will probably be unable to get out. What can I do?"
Dorgon said in a deep voice.
The two sides were openly engaged in a field battle, and he was not afraid at all.
But the opponent's 300,000 people were huddled in the camp. If he were to take the initiative to attack, it would be impossible to attack the Eight Han Banners alone.
The cavalry will definitely need to dismount and join the battle. Even if they are captured in the end, they will probably suffer heavy casualties and be unable to attack the capital again.
"Sir, isn't there a perfect solution?"
Obviously, Dorgon was not satisfied with any of these four strategies.
"Your Majesty, once Shanhaiguan is lost, our army's situation has been shattered. Apart from retreating, any choice is risky. It depends on your choice, Your Majesty."
Hong Chengchou shook his head and sighed helplessly. The perfect strategy, which is to defeat the enemy without fighting, has been defeated by the opponent's surprise attack. If he wants to find a perfect strategy, even if the gods come, he will be helpless.
If he were the commander-in-chief, he would definitely choose Thirty-Six Stratagems as the best strategy, withdraw his troops immediately, and conserve his strength for planning later.
But he knew that with the temperament of Dorgun and these Eight Banners arrogant generals, they would never choose to retreat without a fight.
Dorgon indeed excluded the first one. After spending more than three months, his old foundation was almost exhausted, so he just retreated. With the little emperor's methods, there will be no chance in the future.
For a while, Dorgon was also caught in a tangle, and he couldn't make up his mind. Let alone playing chess, he didn't even think about eating or sleeping.
Zhu Cihong in the capital also couldn't eat and couldn't sleep at night.
I am anxiously waiting for news every day. If this continues, I am afraid that my hair will start to grow old before I turn twenty.
"Mother, from today onwards, the daily serving of porridge in the outer city will be halved. In the inner city, except for combat personnel and law enforcement personnel, the rest will also be halved. It will be changed to one meal a day!"
"Hong'er, this outer city already has a bowl of rice bran and wheat bran every day, and many old and weak people are on the verge of death. If this is reduced by half, how many people will starve to death every day?"
"And those ladies and ladies in the inner city with weak constitutions will soon fall ill if they eat two bowls of porridge a day. How about they starve to death if they switch to one bowl a day?"
When Queen Zhou and Zhang Yan heard that he was going to reduce supplies again, their faces changed drastically.
"Alas! I also know that my mother and uncle are kind-hearted, but there is nothing I can do about it. There is not much food left in Tongzhou, and the army must not run out of food, so we can only abandon the old and weak first. Of course
If anyone wants to find another way out, they can leave the city at any time."
Zhu Cixi stood up helplessly and said.
The Tongzhou camp only had half a month's worth of food, which was already extremely dangerous for an army of 300,000 troops.
It is still unknown whether Wu Sangui and Huang Degong succeeded in the sneak attack, so he must save some more food to prepare for Tongzhou.
If there is no news after three days and the Tatars make no move, not to mention the old and the weak, even the one million refugees in the outer city will have no choice but to give up.