In order to avoid being attacked from both the north and the south by Wang Yongji and Li Dingguo, Dorgon fled northwards.

Shi Tingzhu, leader of the Han army of the Zhengbai Banner, followed closely behind and also fled northward.

Li Dingguo was twenty miles west of them, traveling day and night.

Li Xianzhong and Liu Zhaoji had already crossed the Liao River and discovered Shi Tingzhu's whereabouts. They each led their cavalry to pursue him closely.

What the two sides are competing for now is neither the individual combat capability of soldiers, nor the overall strength, nor the command ability of generals.

It's the marching speed.

Whoever marches faster will arrive at Weijialing Pass first.

Whoever wins will have the upper hand in the next battle.

......

Guangning City.

Liu Wenxiu convened a meeting of all the generals on the day Dorgon went south.

"Everyone, how much food and grass are left in the city?" Liu Wenxiu asked.

"There is plenty of food in the city, enough for our army to use for one and a half months!" replied the quartermaster.

"Where are the gunpowder and shells?" Liu Wenxiu asked again.

"Twenty thousand kilograms of gunpowder, about a thousand large solid bullets, and countless hundred-bullet chain bullets."

"Okay!" Liu Wenxiu nodded. "Order everyone to bring all the food, artillery, gunpowder and bullets, and prepare to recapture Zhen'an Fort, Weijialing Pass and Huaerying City."

Everyone was stunned after hearing this.

A general stammered, "What about Guangning City..."

"Abandon!" Liu Wenxiu replied calmly, "The Jiannu have now entered the trap set by the general (Li Dingguo). Our task is to tighten the trap before the Jiannu find out."

"If we don't abandon Guangning, we won't be able to stop the Jiannu with our existing forces!"

The generals looked at each other and clasped their hands together, saying, "I will let you command me, sir."

"Okay!" Liu Wenxiu put his hands behind his back and calculated the existing military strength in his mind.

There were originally 20,000 soldiers and horses in Guangning City.

Among them, there were 10,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry.

Later, Dorgon suddenly invaded and captured Zhenjing Fort.

In order to reduce unnecessary losses, Li Dingguo withdrew all the defenders of nearby castles back to Guangning.

There were more than 3,500 defenders in the nine nearby castles.

That adds up to 23,500 people.

Gao Wengui went north and took two thousand cavalry with him, and Li Dingguo went south and took eight thousand cavalry with him.

The remaining force was 13,500.

Except for a small number of scouts, the rest were all infantry and artillery.

If it is to defend the city, these troops are more than enough.

But these troops would not be enough to block the Jiannu’s retreat.

Because we have to set up camp outside the city.

The number of troops required is several times that of defending the city.

After calculating the strength of the troops, Liu Wenxiu began to issue orders: "Zhang Qi, Ren Qi!"

"I will be here in the end."

"You are to lead 4,000 soldiers to quickly head north to recapture Huaerying City. In addition to a small number of soldiers guarding the city, the rest of the soldiers are to camp on the main road between Huaerying and Weijialing Pass."

"I obey your orders." Former Yuyuan Army leaders Zhang Qi and Ren Qi left with the command arrows.

"Liang Min, Huang Zhenshan!"

"I will be here in the end."

"You are to lead 4,000 troops to quickly head north to recapture Zhen'an Fort. In addition to a small number of troops guarding the city, the rest of the troops are to camp on the main road between Zhen'an Fort and Weijialing Pass."

"I obey your command." Liang Min, the former leader of Yuyuan, turned and left.

"The rest of you, follow me and send troops to Weijialing Pass! Recover the lost territory and cut off Dorgon's food supply once again!"

Weijialing Pass is less than 40 miles away from Guangning City, so infantry can march back and arrive the next day.

When Liu Wenxiu led his troops to arrive, the Jiannu who remained in the city immediately abandoned the city and fled.

They had only a few hundred cavalrymen, one-tenth of Liu Wenxiu's strength.

If we go back three or four hundred years, to the Song and Yuan dynasties when firearms were still immature.

They could use the encirclement formation tactics in the field to resist the advance of Liu Wenxiu's infantry.

After all, a hundred cavalrymen can defeat ten thousand troops.

But...

Times have changed.

The cavalry's proud wrap-around tactics became vulnerable due to the range advantage of the Ming army's Rumi guns.

After their defeat, they quickly came to the grassland and informed Tan Tai of the movements of the Ming army.

In order to ensure the safety of the grain route, Dorgon left Tan Tai behind before going south.

This move was not to guard against Liu Wenxiu, but to guard against Gao Wengui.

Although Dorgon drove Gao Wengui away, it does not mean that Gao Wengui will not come back.

To this end, Tan Tai patrols the grassland every day.

When he learned that Liu Wenxiu suddenly sent troops from Guangning, he was shocked.

He quickly gathered troops and headed to Weijialing Pass, intending to repel Liu Wenxiu.

But when he led his troops from the grassland and arrived at Weijialing Pass.

Liu Wenxiu had entered the city without a fight and set up camp outside the city.

Tan Tai originally wanted to take the opportunity to rush into the camp.

But after seeing the black muzzles pointing outward, Tan Tai gave up the idea.

Even though the cavalry under his command were all iron men riding iron horses.

It would also be destroyed by the Ming army's artillery.

I couldn't attack, and I couldn't retreat.

It wouldn't matter to him if he continued to delay.

It would be a disaster for Dorgon.

Just when Tan Tai was extremely anxious, a scout suddenly came to report: "A large number of Ming army infantry were found near Zhen'an Fort, and the garrison in the fort requested support!"

"Let's go!" Without any hesitation, Tan Tai led his troops to Zhen'an Fort.

The generals in charge of recapture Zhen'an Fort on the Ming army side were former Yuyuan Army leaders Liang Min and Huang Zhenshan.

In the three cities of Huaerying, Weijialingguan and Zhen'anbao.

Zhen'an Fort is the farthest from Guangning.

So they arrived the latest.

It was already noon on the tenth day of August when we arrived at Zhen'an Fort.

Although the defenders in the fort wanted to resist, they chose to flee before the Ming army surrounded the city.

Liang Min ordered people to transport supplies into the city, while arranging for the army to set up camp on the main road outside the city.

"Report!" The scout hurried to Liang Min's side: "Thousands of Jiannu are coming from the direction of Weijialing Pass."

"Where are the Jiannu?" Liang Min asked hurriedly.

Before the scout could answer, noisy shouts and screams were heard in the distance.

"Hurry up and meet the enemy!" Liang Min gave a loud order, then strode out of the tent.

When he walked out of the tent and came to the west of the city, he saw the scene he least wanted to see.

The Ming army, which was camping in the west of the city, had not yet established a firm foothold and was caught off guard by the Jiannu cavalry.

At first, the Ming army was able to fight desperately.

But a hole was soon torn in the camp.

Countless Jiannu cavalry poured in from the gap and rapidly widened the gap.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, some Ming army soldiers turned around and fled.

There were also some Ming troops who were very determined and refused to retreat.

But the formation was in disarray and it was impossible to organize an effective attack.

In an instant, the Ming army camp west of Zhen'an Fort was in chaos.

The situation is critical.