On May 11, Subai made a comeback.
Liu Wenxiu still used the old method to deal with it.
He first used his bird-gun soldiers to force the Jiannu to retreat, and then arranged soldiers to clear the road.
Ten miles south of Abudaligang.
Following Dorgon's orders, Xihan set up various obstacles on the mountain roads along the way.
After Zeng Ying received the news, he immediately led his troops to rush over.
The two sides first competed in archery.
Seeing that the bows and arrows in the hands of the Eight Banners soldiers were no match for the Ming army's bird guns, Xihan was immediately furious and ordered: "Charge forward and fight them with knives!"
At that time, archers were much stronger than ordinary soldiers.
He thought he could easily defeat this group of Ming troops.
But after the fight, he realized that he was overthinking.
The Ming army's bird guns were equipped with bayonets, and the longer the bayonet, the stronger it was on the battlefield.
The Eight Banners soldiers' swords could not reach the bodies of the Ming soldiers.
After fighting for a while, the armor of many Eight Banner soldiers was pierced by bayonets and blood kept oozing out.
He can't win in long-range shooting, and he can't win in close combat with a knife.
Xihan ordered a retreat with a deathly pale face.
Twenty miles west of Sarhu, Mandahai encountered the same situation.
As soon as he sent people to block the road, the Ming army immediately dispatched a small force to launch an attack.
With their troop strength being almost the same, the Eight Banners soldiers were no match for the Ming army.
After the news from the three routes was passed back to Hetuala, Dorgon could no longer sit still.
He first asked Hong Chengchou, but Hong Chengchou had no better solution.
He then asked other generals and got the same answer.
He had no choice but to send someone to find Fan Wencheng and ask him to help him with advice.
When Fan Wencheng came in front of Dorgon, Dorgon was shocked.
Fan Wencheng's face was covered with bruises and swellings, and he looked very miserable.
He learned the news on the day Fan Wencheng was beaten.
I just didn't expect to be beaten so badly.
"Mr. Fan, who beat you?" Dorgon asked, pretending to be ignorant.
"Your Highness, the Emperor had him beaten."
"Why did the emperor hit you?" Dorgon asked sincerely.
He only knew that Fan Wencheng was beaten, but he didn't know why he was beaten.
Fan Wencheng hesitated for a moment and smiled: "My words have angered the emperor, so it is inevitable that I will be beaten."
Dorgon asked, "What did Mr. Fan say?"
"Ahem," Fan Wencheng coughed softly a few times, "I ask Your Majesty to reconsider."
"Think twice?" Dorgon was even more surprised: "Think twice about what?"
"Uh...I only said 'think twice', but didn't say what to think about."
Seeing that Fan Wencheng was unwilling to speak, Dorgon did not ask any more questions and could only get back to the point: "Mr. Fan, the Ming army attacked in three directions at the same time, but all three directions stopped at the same time. I tried to slow down the Ming army by blocking the roads, but they easily resolved the situation."
After Fan Wencheng asked about some specific details with a frown, his brows furrowed even more.
The Eight Banners soldiers encountered a problem of combat effectiveness, which could only be solved through fighting on the battlefield.
In other words, he had no other choice but to let the Eight Banners soldiers fight to the death.
"Your Highness, I am guilty!" Fan Wencheng took the initiative to admit his mistake.
"Alas," Dorgon sighed, "Mr. Fan is not guilty. It's the Eight Banners soldiers' fault."
Fan Wencheng didn't know how to answer, so he just lowered his head and remained silent.
The two chatted for a while, and then Fan Wencheng stood up and said goodbye.
Over the next two days, the Eight Banners soldiers set up obstacles on the route that the Ming army had to take every morning.
After being discovered by the Ming army, they did not dare to fight and retreated immediately.
The Ming army cleared the obstacles in the afternoon.
The two sides engaged in a physical contest.
Early in the morning of the third day, an Eight Banners soldier came to a tree with an axe.
As he was chopping down trees, he asked his companions nearby: "Fuck, why do I feel like I've seen this before?"
“I feel the same way.”
"This is weird, what's going on?"
A group of soldiers simultaneously raised questions from the bottom of their hearts.
Keep chopping and chopping.
An Eight Banners soldier suddenly stopped chopping trees and stared at the tree in front of him.
The people around also stopped when they saw this, and one of the soldiers asked, "What's wrong?"
"There's something in this tree."
"What?"
"It's a piece of paper."
"Paper?"
"right."
"What does it say?"
"It should be a word, but I don't know the words."
As he spoke, the soldier took the paper in his hand.
The literate little leader came forward to take a look and his face suddenly changed.
"Head, what's written on it?"
The little leader said with trembling lips: "It says to chop quickly, waiting for the fire to cook!"
......
Everyone was surprised at first, then angry.
"This is too much! The Ming army is too much!"
"This is so infuriating. I want to fight the Ming army to the death!"
"No wonder it feels familiar," said the soldier who found the note. "During the Battle of Ningyuan, we dug trenches and the Ming army filled them. At that time, the Ming army left a note asking us to dig faster. Now we are chopping trees and the Ming army wants us to chop them faster!"
"The Ming army simply doesn't treat us as human beings!"
"So that's it!" Others who had similar feelings finally realized it.
Amidst cursing, they had to pick up tools again and cut down trees.
At noon, scouts brought news: thousands of Ming troops were attacking!
They packed up hastily and left quickly.
The Ming army was divided into two teams, front and back.
The front team crossed the obstacles to guard the front, while the rear team drove ox carts and horse carts to drag the trees on the road back to the camp for other use.
It was already evening when the road was cleared, and the Ming army returned to the camp in the cover of night.
On the morning of May 15th, just as Man Dahai was about to send people to cut wood as usual.
A scout suddenly came to report: "Your Majesty, the Ming army is making a move."
"Is there any noise?" Man Dahai jumped up from the stool as if by reflex: "What noise?"
"The Ming army sent out a large number of scouts, and drove our scouts away ten miles away."
"Investigate again and report back!"
"Yes." The scout left.
Man Dahai then said, "Order all units to gather all their troops and prepare for a tough battle. Also, send a message to Prince Rui immediately that the Ming army in the north has taken action, but the details are still unknown."
After a busy period, Man Dahai's troops were assembled.
At this time, the scouts brought another news: the vanguard of the Ming army was discovered, but the number of people was unknown.
Man Dahai didn't dare to take the initiative to attack and could only wait on Jiefan Mountain.
Before noon.
The latest news from scouts: the vanguard of the Ming army has arrived at Sarhu, with a strength of about 10,000 soldiers, all of whom are cavalry.
After noon, the scouts reported that the main force of the Ming army had arrived at Sarhu and had begun to set up camp. Since it was impossible to conduct close reconnaissance, the exact strength of the Ming army was unknown. However, based on the density of the flags and the length of the team, it was estimated that the total strength of the Ming army was between 40,000 and 50,000.
Man Dahai did not dare to be careless and sent people to ask Dorgon for support again.
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