After listening to Liu Wenxiu's speculation, Li Dingguo was silent for a while, "What you said does make sense."
"Of course it makes sense!" Liu Wenxiu shook his head somewhat proudly, and then asked: "Do you think the Governor knows about this?"
“You should know.”
"Since you know about this, why don't you kill him?"
"How do we solve this?" Li Dingguo spread his hands. "He neither disobeyed orders nor backed down from the battlefield. We can't put him in jail on trumped-up charges, right?"
"If he really does this, not only Wu Sangui, but even you and I will have to consider whether to continue to obey his orders."
"Hmm...it seems to be the case." Liu Wenxiu said this with a bit of reluctance, "Isn't it possible for the Governor to do something?"
Li Dingguo thought for a moment and said, "If I'm not mistaken, the Governor-General has already taken precautions."
"How do you know?"
Li Dingguo replied: "Since entering Liao, the Governor-General has always let Wu Sangui serve as the vanguard, rather than letting him serve as the central army or the rear army, right?"
Liu Wenxiu nodded.
Although he entered Liao late, he had already known about the previous wars and the deployment of troops through various channels.
Li Dingguo continued, "If Wu Sangui makes any unusual moves, the Governor's central army can rush forward at any time to cut off Wu Sangui's retreat, and the left and right wings can attack or defend. But this is all the Governor can do, after all, everything is just speculation."
"Oh," Liu Wenxiu sighed, "It's so damn tiring. In a war, you not only have to guard against the enemy, but also your own people!"
"There's nothing we can do," Li Dingguo sighed, "Liaodong has been plagued by problems for a long time, and it's not something you and I can solve."
Liu Wenxiu put away his resentment and asked Li Dingguo: "Second brother, what should we do next?"
"Eat and drink and go to sleep!"
......
The lower reaches of Liaohe River.
Wu Sangui was commanding his troops to cross the river.
"Report!" The scout came running over, "A cavalry of several thousand Jiannu is galloping over here, and it seems they are going to attack us halfway across the river."
"Order those who have already crossed the river to form a defensive formation on the spot, and those behind to hurry up and cross the river." Wu Sangui gave the order.
Amid the rumbling sound of horse hooves, the Jiannu army charged forward.
First there was a hail of arrows.
The Guanning Army's formation remained unmoved.
Then they surrounded the Guanning Army that had already crossed the river, and waited for opportunities to shoot arrows to continue disrupting the Guanning Army's formation.
The Guanning Army took the damage and created time for the friendly forces behind them to cross the river.
Soon, the number of Guanning Army infantrymen crossing the river reached several thousand.
They moved forward slowly, creating space for friendly forces to cross the river.
As the position expanded, the Guanning Army cavalry arrived at the east bank of the Liaohe River.
With the addition of cavalry, the Guanning Army began to organize a counterattack.
The two sides rushed back and forth on the battlefield, and the sound of bowstrings and weapons colliding filled the air.
By the time Wu Sangui personally led his elite troops across the river, the Jiannu cavalry had already retreated.
The Jiannu only retracted their defense line but did not abandon it.
They would try their best to create trouble for the Ming army when they crossed the river.
Wu Sangui ordered his men to speed up the crossing of the river while guarding and cleaning up the battlefield.
"Report," a confidant came to Wu Sangui, "Sir, we captured a few prisoners while cleaning up the battlefield."
"Bring him here. I want to interrogate him personally." Wu Sangui said with ease.
This was the method he and the Jiannu had agreed upon in advance.
As long as the prisoner can say the secret code and take out the token, it means that he is the person sent by the Jiannu to deliver the letter.
After interrogation, one of the captives revealed his identity.
After confirming that the code and token were correct, Wu Sangui took him to a remote place.
"Tell me, who sent you here?" Wu Sangui's trusted general Hu Xinshui asked beside him.
"It's Prince Rui." The Jiannu messenger replied.
"What did he send you for?"
"Uh..." The messenger first looked at Hu Xinshui, and then at Wu Sangui, wondering if he could say it to his face.
"Go ahead," Wu Sangui nodded.
"Prince Rui wants to know the deployment of the Ping Liao army."
"Dorgon has a big appetite," Hu Xinshui drew his sword and was ready to kill.
Upon seeing this, the messenger immediately knelt down and kowtowed: "Please spare my life! Although Prince Rui has regained power, the Qing Dynasty is no longer the Qing Dynasty of a few years ago. If it continues like this, the Qing Dynasty will be completely driven out of Liaodong."
"Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty has often done things like putting away the bow after the bird is dead and discarding the bow after the rabbit is dead, so please think twice, Lord Wu!"
Wu Sangui kept silent.
Although he was not sure that Chongzhen would abandon him.
But one thing is certain.
If the Jiannu disappeared, Wu Sangui would never have a good ending.
"I want to ask you," Wu Sangui said to the messenger, "Does Dorgon know about my uncle's affairs?"
"This matter was handled by Prince Rui alone."
"Doesn't he know the impact my uncle's return will have on the Guanning Army?" Wu Sangui said angrily.
"Prince Rui certainly knows this, but this is also a helpless move... The Qing Dynasty is short of soldiers and food, and has no fighting spirit. If this method is not used to delay the attack, the capital of the Qing Dynasty may have been lost." The messenger bowed again while speaking.
Wu Sangui frowned and thought for a while, then whispered to Hu Xinshui: "What should we do?"
Hu Xinshui had no idea for a moment, so he could only suggest: "Why not ask Mr. Fang to come up with some advice?"
"That's all we can do."
Not long after, Fang Guangchen came over under the protection of several personal soldiers.
After explaining the whole story, Fang Guangchen shook his head and said, "With Dorgon's current military strength, it is impossible to stop the advance of the Ping Liao army from the front."
"What should we do then?" asked Wu Sangui.
"Let him gather his forces and march south from the grassland to attack Guangning. As long as Guangning is in chaos, the Ping Liao army will be forced to stop advancing or even return to support. In this way, the Jian Nu will have a chance to catch their breath."
"No way?" Wu Sangui was very worried. "If Guangning is lost, the entire Ping Liao army will face the possibility of having its retreat cut off."
He was indeed afraid that the Jiannu would be destroyed by the Ming army, which would lead to the failure of his idea of keeping the enemy at bay.
But at the same time, he was also afraid that the main force of the Ming army would be defeated, leading to his own destruction by the Jiannu in the chaos.
"It doesn't matter if it's cut off. As long as the food supply is unbroken, the main force of the Ping Liao army will not be in chaos." Fang Guangchen comforted.
"How is it possible that the food supply is not interrupted?" Wu Sangui was a little puzzled.
Fang Guangchen laughed: "My Lord, have you forgotten that we still have a navy? If I'm not mistaken, the navy has already landed in southern Liaoning. Next, a large amount of food and grass will be shipped from Dengzhou to the sea and then to southern Liaoning by sea."
"If it really doesn't work, the main force of the Ping Liao army can retreat to southern Liaoning. There are mostly mountainous roads there, with few plains, and it will be difficult for the Jiannu cavalry to exert their due strength. Even if they can't win, they can still take a boat to the sea and return to Dengzhou."
Wu Sangui thought about it for a long time and finally made up his mind.
After receiving instructions from Wu Sangui, Hu Xinshui came to the Jiannu messenger and said, "Go back and tell Dorgon that Li Dingguo is in Guangning. He has 10,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry under his command. We should take revenge as soon as possible. If we go too late, he may not be there anymore."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
