Li Dingguo sighed: "It's easy to create an opportunity for a switch, as long as the loss is big enough."

"How much loss is considered a big loss?" Liu Wenxiu asked.

"If 50% doesn't work, then 60%. If 60% doesn't work, then 70%! As long as enough soldiers die, Wu Sangui will be able to get a chance to change his defense."

"Wu Sangui, who has his own army and is very powerful, would let his soldiers die in vain?" Liu Wenxiu found it hard to believe.

He believed that Wu Sangui would betray his allies, but he didn't believe that he would do so in this way.

After all...the loss was too great.

Li Dingguo sneered: "The Guanning Army has seven camps, namely the Town Flag Front Camp, the Town Flag Rear Camp, the Town Flag Middle Camp, the Town Flag Left Camp, the Town Flag Right Camp, the Town Flag Da Bo Camp and the Town Flag Neiding Camp."

"The troops that can really fight are the Ding Battalion in the town flag and the elite troops of each battalion. As long as they survive, the combat effectiveness of the Guanning Army will not be damaged."

"Will the rest of the people just die at will?"

After listening to Li Dingguo's analysis, Liu Wenxiu and the other two fell silent again.

If that were the case, the rest of the Northern Army, except Wu Sangui, would be in danger of being wiped out.

The Northern Army was the main force of the army that pacified Liao.

Now the Southern Army has been defeated, what if the Northern Army also suffers a defeat.

Their central army could not escape unscathed either.

"Second brother," Liu Wenxiu said worriedly, "Should we remind Governor Wang?"

"What reminder?" Li Dingguo asked back.

Liu Wenxiu said seriously and solemnly: "Remind him that Wu Sangui will betray our allies! If the Northern Army is defeated, we will suffer as well."

"It's not as simple as you think!" Li Dingguo said earnestly.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm afraid Wang Yongji and Wu Sangui are in cahoots!"

"Isn't this... unlikely?"

"Unlikely does not mean impossible. When Wang Yongji first entered Liaodong, he teamed up with Wu Sangui. It is hard not to be suspicious."

Liu Wenxiu felt a chill on his back. He shrank his neck and asked, "If Governor Wang cannot be trusted, who else can be trusted?"

"There are many trustworthy people in the Ping Liao army," Li Dingguo pinched his fingers, "Huang Degong is one, and there are also Li Xianzhong and Liu Zhaoji. The other surrendered generals are relatively reliable. The least reliable is Wu Sangui, followed by Gao Di, and Wang Yongji is somewhere in between reliable and unreliable!"

Everyone fell silent again.

This time the silence was long.

After an unknown amount of time, Liu Wenxiu asked anxiously, "Second brother, what should we do next? Should we continue to attack or retreat? Should we alert Huang Degong and the others?"

Li Dingguo thought for a long time and said: "We can't attack! Our army is alone and deep in the enemy's territory. If the northern army is defeated, we will not have time to retreat and will be entangled by the main force of the Jiannu."

"But we can't retreat. Retreating before encountering a strong enemy will only affect morale. Others will impeach us if they find out."

"So...we have to stop!"

"What should we do if Governor Wang asks more questions?" Gao Wengui asked.

"Easy to handle!" Li Dingguo was not worried at all: "Shuo Sai said in person that Dorgon is coming. When the two armies confront each other, we will just make a small-scale test and not send the main force to attack. If they ask, just answer that we have not found the enemy's weakness and cannot defeat the enemy and continue to advance."

"What about the Northern Army? Are they just going to watch Wu Sangui betray them? Should we find a way to stop Wu Sangui?" Liu Wenxiu said with an unbearable heart.

"Hmm..." Li Dingguo pondered for a moment, "We can't stop it. Only by letting this happen can we prove Wu Sangui's crime. But we can't just sit back and do nothing, otherwise the advantage we have worked so hard to build in Liaodong will be gone."

Several people discussed until midnight and finally finalized the plan.

That night.

Li Dingguo wrote two handwritten letters.

One was a secret letter to Chongzhen, and the other was a secret letter to Huang Degong.

After writing it, he immediately sent someone to deliver it.

Dozens of miles away at Yagu Pass, Dorgon was also writing a letter.

He was writing a reply to Wu Sangui.

After writing, he handed the letter to Tunqi and instructed: "Tell Wu Sangui to wait a little longer. It won't be too late to change defense after I have dealt with Li Dingguo."

"Your Highness," Tunqi asked, "Wu Sangui can't wait any longer. In order to cooperate with us, he loses hundreds of lives every day."

Dorgon glared and said, "You have to wait even if you can't wait. If you don't get rid of Li Dingguo, I won't feel confident."

Dorgon was afraid that Li Dingguo would attack the city again.

In order to deal with Li Dingguo, Dorgon used the same old trick again.

He first ordered an ambush force to lie in ambush in the mountains and forests, and then sent troops to lure Li Dingguo forward.

As long as Li Dingguo advanced rashly, he would be attacked from both sides.

Li Dingguo only sent out small troops to launch exploratory attacks every day, and retreated immediately once they encountered the enemy. It didn't look like a war at all.

The two sides fought from March 5th to March 7th.

During this period, Li Dingguo not only did not advance, but also retreated several miles.

Dorgon was almost angry to death.

The most unlucky ones were the ambushers hiding in the mountains and forests.

In such freezing weather, not only could we not have hot meals, we couldn't even get a sip of hot water.

When Dorgon ordered them to return to the camp to rest on March 8, almost everyone had frostbite.

Some people even froze to death on the spot.

Seeing that Li Dingguo was hesitant to move forward, Dorgon could only leave Hauge behind and use the old method of cutting wood and chiseling stones to block the road and delay Li Dingguo's progress.

He personally led the main force back to Hetuala, and then rushed to Sarhu in the west.

At this time, the area around Sarhu had become a living hell.

Especially the main battlefield, Jiefan Village.

From the top of the mountain to the foot, there were broken limbs and corpses everywhere.

The red blood seeped into the ice and snow, dyeing the originally white ground into a shocking dark red.

Sarhu, the Ming army camp.

Wu Sangui walked to Wang Yongji's central military tent with heavy steps: "Governor, I have something to say."

Wang Yongji put down the brush in his hand and said, "General Wu, please speak."

Wu Sangui said with tears in his eyes: "I led 40,000 soldiers and horses when I went to Liaodong, and there were still more than 30,000 soldiers before the attack on Jiefan Village! Nearly 4,000 people were killed in just over ten days. The loss is really heavy. Please allow me to retreat five miles to rest!"