"Bao'an Prefecture, Yanqing Prefecture..." Hauge repeated the two place names in a low voice with an expressionless face.
He is thinking.
Is it really necessary to attack these two places?
Not to mention whether it can be successfully captured, what the cost of capturing it will be.
In terms of money and grain alone, the silver and grain of the two cities combined were not as much as that of Xuanfu Town.
and.
They had besieged Xuanfu Town for nearly ten days and suffered thousands of casualties.
Is it realistic to propose giving up Xuanfu Town now?
Obviously unrealistic!
Duoduo glanced at the others and guessed what they were thinking from their expressions.
But what can he do?
The attack failed and continuing would only result in more casualties.
Instead of wasting time here, it is better to attack other cities, which can not only replenish food and gunpowder, but also boost morale.
The Eight Banners Army had been attacking for a long time without success and their morale was low. They urgently needed a victory to boost their morale.
"We will hold a meeting in the central army tent in an hour!" Duoduo said this and left.
Under the cover of night, the fire flickered in the central military tent.
Duoduo of the Bordered White Banner, Haoge of the Plain Blue Banner, Tulai of the Plain Yellow Banner, and Oboi of the Bordered Yellow Banner sat opposite each other.
In addition to these four seated people, there was another person standing in the central military tent.
"Reporting to the Tenth Prince, Prince Su, and all the others, in the siege of Xuanfu Town today, 22 people from the Bordered White Banner died, 41 were seriously injured, and 89 were slightly injured."
"Forty-nine people from the Zhenglan Banner were killed, thirty-three were seriously injured, and sixty-six were slightly injured."
"The Eight Banners of Han..." Speaking of the Eight Banners of Han, the general paused, took a deep breath and continued: "Nine hundred and sixty-one people of the Eight Banners of Han were killed, two hundred and eighty-nine were seriously injured, and about five hundred were slightly injured."
Haoge breathed a sigh of relief: "Fortunately, the casualties of the Manchu Eight Banners were not great, and most of the dead were from the Han Eight Banners. In fact, it doesn't matter how many Han Eight Banners died, right?"
Inside the central military tent, several people looked at each other and no one responded.
Although Hauge's words were harsh, every word made sense.
The Eight Banners of Han are not the Eight Banners of the Han Army, but the Eight Banners of the Han Army, which are the captains of the Han Army among the Eight Banners.
The Han Army's Plain Yellow Banner was a branch of the Manchu Army's Plain Yellow Banner, the Han Army's Bordered Yellow Banner was a branch of the Manchu Army's Bordered Yellow Banner, and so on for other banners.
The Eight Han Banners were mainly composed of Han people from Liaodong, surrendered Ming troops and Han people abducted by them from the interior.
The troops entering the pass were divided into three groups. Why did Duoduo's group have the largest number of troops?
Because his troops included four flags: the Plain Yellow, Bordered Yellow, Bordered White and Plain Blue.
Together with the troops of the Eight Banners of Mongolia and the Outer Mongolians, the total number was only 60,000.
In the eyes of the Jiannu, the Eight Banners of Han were just their slaves.
They charge into the front during wars and farm and hunt when there is no fighting.
That is to say, in war, you serve as a soldier, and in peace, you serve the people.
Historically, the Jiannu used the lives of these Eight Banner Han soldiers to defeat the Ming army, which was short of pay and food, several times. They first encroached on Liaodong and then moved south to the Central Plains.
What did the Jiannu pay?
Almost none.
They simply gave the stolen silver to these people, and used their lives to steal the silver.
That's all!
Duoduo was a prince after all. Although there were no Han Eight Banners generals at the scene, it was better to say less of such words at this time, so he coughed lightly: "Ahem, don't say anything that is not conducive to unity."
"What were the casualties of the Ming army?" Duoduo asked.
"The number of casualties on the defenders' side was about 40% to 50% of our army's casualties, but most of them were civilians."
"I understand. Go ahead!" Duoduo waved his hand, signaling the general to leave.
After that person left, the central military tent fell silent again.
"Uncle Tenth Prince, what should we do next?" Haoge reached out and poured himself a cup of tea.
Duoduo is the commander-in-chief and he has the final say over all the troops.
Duoduo did not rush to answer. He looked at Aobai and Tulai and asked, "Do you have any ideas?"
Aobai and Tulai looked at each other and shook their heads at the same time: "We all obey the orders of the Tenth Prince!"
These two are old foxes and will not be fooled by Duoduo.
Duoduo was the commander-in-chief, and he had the final say on whether to continue attacking Xuanfu Town or to turn eastward to attack Bao'an Prefecture and Yanqing Prefecture.
Why even ask for their opinions?
To put it bluntly, he wants to pass the buck.
Xuanfu Town has been under siege for a long time, and there are two options left.
One is to continue attacking Xuanfu Town, and the other is to switch to attacking other cities.
The problem is that if other cities are also difficult to capture like Xuanfu Town, then it would be a wrong decision to switch to attacking other cities.
As a coach, you must take responsibility for wrong decisions.
If they spoke out their thoughts, Dodo could then argue that he made the decision because of their instigation.
In this way, Tudor could share the responsibility with them.
With the help of the regent Dorgon, Dodo was able to reduce his punishment or even get away with it.
Seeing that Oboi and Tulai did not take the bait, Duoduo looked at Haoge and asked, "What does Prince Su think?"
Haoge didn't think too much and said, "I think we shouldn't give up Xuanfu Town."
"Oh?" Duoduo deliberately showed a surprised expression, "Tell me in detail."
General Haoge took a sip of tea to moisten his throat. "Today is already the ninth day of the siege of Xuanfu Town! Not only did the Ming court not send a single soldier to support us, we didn't even see a single scout."
"What does it mean?"
"Please give us some advice, Prince Su!" Tulai and Aobai were holding back their evil intentions and bowed at the same time.
It only took them a moment to decide to let Hauge help Dodo share some of the responsibility.
After all, there are two regents now, one is Jirgalang and the other is Dorgon.
If Duoduo was stripped of his prince title because of this incident, Dorgon's power would be greatly affected, and he might even lose power.
By then, Jirgalang will be the only one in power.
This is not the situation they want to see.
As for Hauge's fate, they did not take it to heart. After all, he had also fought for the throne and still posed a threat to Fulin.
Haoge was very proud. He shook his head and continued, "It means that the Ming court has no more soldiers to use. As long as we continue the siege, it is only a matter of time before the city falls."
Duoduo smiled knowingly and asked, "The Ming court has hundreds of thousands of dan of grain in Xuanfu Town, which cannot be eaten up in a few months! Although our tens of thousands of troops have obtained tens of thousands of dan of grain from Longmen Guard, the military rations need to be transported from Shengjing to Kaiping Guard, and then from Kaiping Guard to here."
"I can't afford to waste time!"
Haoge smiled faintly: "Uncle Tenth Prince, don't worry, I haven't finished speaking! It is indeed a bit redundant to have tens of thousands of troops just to surround Xuanfu Town. What I mean is to split the troops into two groups!"
"We will surround Xuanfu Town and then go east to attack Bao'an Prefecture and Yanqing Prefecture."
"I wonder what you think?"
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