The middle reaches of Ningyuan River.

Huang Degong's troops were pretending to cross the river.

Seeing Bolo leading the Eight Banners cavalry rushing towards them, they immediately retreated calmly and orderly.

The rear army became the front army, and the front army became the rear army.

While retreating, he kept throwing grenades behind him to stop the Eight Banners Cavalry from advancing.

As there were not many troops crossing the landing point, the retreat was orderly, and they also had grenades to stop the enemy.

When Bolo led the Eight Banners soldiers to the scene, not only did they gain nothing, but several people were injured by grenades.

Looking at the earthen hills on the other side of the river and the artillery on them, Bolo shouted, "Retreat!"

If you miss the first strike, you must retreat.

If they don’t leave now, the Ming army’s artillery will be reloaded and they can fire.

Amid the rumbling sound of horses' hooves, the Eight Banners soldiers came and went like the wind, as if they had never been there.

First try.

Huang Degong and Bolo had neither loss nor gain.

On the other hand, Wu Sangui's situation was much worse.

Zu Zepu, a subordinate of his, was attacked by the Eight Banners troops halfway across the river and suffered heavy losses.

Fortunately, the Eight Banners soldiers were frightened by the power of the Ming army's artillery and did not dare to stay for too long. They rushed into the Guanning army's formation, killed some people, and then left in a hurry.

At the beginning of the afternoon, Zu Zepu came to Wu Sangui's tent.

He did not dare to look at Wu Sangui, but bowed his head and saluted, saying: "Your Excellency the General, our troops were blocked from crossing the river today. A total of 176 people were killed, drowned, or missing, and 387 were injured."

After saying this, Zu Zepu lowered his head deeply and confessed his guilt.

Wu Sangui was very angry.

Although he intended to take the opportunity to weaken Zu Zepu, he would also be implicated if Zu Zepu failed to complete the task of crossing the river.

Wu Sangui asked solemnly, "I saw many people drowning by the river today. You are not deliberately hiding the losses, are you?"

"Nothing is hidden!" Zu Zepu answered seriously: "Although the Ningyuan River is deep, the current is gentle, and with the timely rescue, the actual loss is not great."

"That's fine," Wu Sangui stood up and walked out. "The Governor of Ping Liao was very anxious when he heard about this. I have to explain it to him in person."

"Please forgive me, General. I am the one who has implicated you!" Zu Zepu looked apologetic.

Wu Sangui didn't say anything, just sighed, then turned and left.

In the headquarters of the Ping Liao army, Wu Sangui explained to Wang Yongji: "Governor, although today's defeat has damaged morale, it has also been a gain."

"What did you gain?" Wang Yongji asked calmly.

He was not afraid that Wu Sangui would suffer one or two defeats.

After all, the early stage is mainly about probing, and the main force will be sent to attack only when both sides have completed the probing.

Wang Yongji did this, and Wu Sangui would do the same.

"I have tested the Jiannu's tactics. They are intimidated by the threat of our artillery and dare not send infantry to the battlefield. They can only send cavalry to launch a quick surprise attack! When we cross the river another day, I will order the infantry and cavalry to advance together, so that the Jiannu cavalry will not be able to exert their strength."

Wang Yongji said nothing and looked at the other people present.

Although he was the governor-general of Ping Liao, he still had to rely on these generals and commanders to fight the war.

As a pioneer, Wu Sangui cannot decide alone whether his performance today is satisfactory.

The others were all experienced people, and their words and actions conveyed only one meaning: they shared the same idea as Wang Yongji.

After rearranging the tasks, the generals left.

The next morning, the Guanning Army gathered again and crossed the river.

The scale of this time is much larger than last time.

The general in charge of crossing the river was still Zu Zepu.

Having learned from the last lesson, he decided to advance both on foot and on horseback.

There are six pontoon bridges, half for infantry and half for cavalry.

Not long.

Two thousand Guanning cavalry and one thousand Guanning infantry walked across the pontoon bridge to the north bank of the Ningyuan River.

"Report!" Three miles away, a scout came to Man Dahai and said, "Prince Heshuo Li, the Ming army is crossing the river, with both infantry and cavalry advancing!"

The Heshuo Prince of the Qing Dynasty was simply called Prince.

In history, the eight iron-hat princes of the Qing Dynasty were Prince Li, Prince Rui, Prince Yu, Prince Zheng, Prince Su, Prince Zhuang, Prince Keqin and Prince Shuncheng.

Both princes and dukes can inherit the title without interruption and have the same rank of nobility.

The difference is that the descendants of a prince are treated well after inheriting the title, while the descendants of a prince are treated slightly worse after inheriting the title.

Hearing that the Guanning Army was advancing with both infantry and cavalry, Man Dahai looked at Wu Shoujin with a smile and said, "According to the plan."

"Yes!" Wu Shoujin took the order and left.

After receiving the order, Wu Shoujin still used cavalry to harass and look for weaknesses in the Guanning Army.

Zu Zepu used cavalry to protect both wings, and the infantry formed a formation and advanced slowly.

Wu Shoujin returned empty-handed after leaving behind several bodies.

The Guanning Army crossed the river smoothly and set up camp on the other side of the river.

From the beginning of crossing the river to the end of setting up camp, Wang Yongji's main force did not move, and Hauge's main force did not move either.

The reason why Wang Yongji did not move was that he did not really trust Wu Sangui. To put it bluntly, he was afraid of being killed by him.

Therefore, only the Guanning Army and Huang Degong's troops were dispatched.

Hauge was intimidated by the Ming army's artillery on the other side of the river, and because of the narrow terrain, he dared not and could not send out his main force.

There is another most important reason why neither side sent out their main forces for the decisive battle: politics.

War and politics are inseparable.

Politics is power internally and interests externally.

If the two sides engage in a decisive battle, regardless of victory or defeat, the internal and external situation will change.

For the Ming Dynasty, if they won the Battle of Ningyuan, they would be able to recapture the Liaoxi Corridor and advance the front line to Liaodong and Liaonan.

If they lose, Wang Yongji and all those who support him will be implicated.

Is it okay not to hold people accountable?

Tens of thousands of lives were lost to the enemy. Even if Chongzhen did not pursue the matter, the officials in the court and the common people of the world would not let the parties involved go!

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