Li Zicheng said calmly, "General Li, if you disagree, then of course I have no choice but to listen to you."
Li Ruolian hesitated for a while, but ultimately did not make a decision.
"Let's send someone to ask General Qin."
At this point, he still wanted to hear Qin Liangyu's thoughts.
However, since he said so, the remaining dozen or so cannons do not need to be fired until Qin Liangyu's reply arrives.
Thus, beneath the walls of Guangning City lay mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
While Li Ruolian outside the city felt sorry for the Jingying garrison she had trained, Mangultai inside the city felt even worse.
The Plain Blue Banner troops under his command were not just ordinary soldiers.
It is also the foundation of his livelihood.
Mangultai stood on the city wall, looking at the newly tallied casualty figures, his heart bleeding.
He turned around and asked, "Is there any news from Shengjing?"
"When exactly will Hauge's reinforcements arrive?"
At this point, Mangultai no longer cared about any honorifics.
They have started calling Haug by his first name.
When the officers of Zhenglan Banner heard this, they all shook their heads.
There's still no news from Shengjing.
"However, there has been some movement on Ao Bai's side."
Mangultai was overjoyed: "Is he going to lead his troops into the city?"
The Ejenmen sighed: "That's not it."
"Instead, Ao Bai built many camps on the east bank of the Liao River."
"I don't know what he's up to."
Mangultai stomped his foot angrily.
"What else could he want? He just wants to watch us sit here and wait to die!"
"In just one day today, over a thousand people have been killed or injured in Zhenglan Banner."
"If we keep fighting like this, we can only hold out for ten more days at most before the city falls and everyone dies!"
It's no wonder Mangultai was in such a hurry.
He was indeed under immense pressure.
Mangultai originally thought that even if the Ming army was powerful, its strength was only limited.
He could always hold out for a month or two by relying on this fortified city.
However, he forgot that the current Beijing garrison was mainly composed of soldiers from the Northwest.
Even though they had only trained for a little over six months, they were still comparable to ordinary Ming soldiers.
In addition, the generous rewards offered by Zhu Youjian completely boosted the morale of the Beijing garrison.
Despite suffering far more casualties than the defending Eight Banners troops during their siege, the morale of the Beijing garrison remained high.
This is what made Mangultai lose his composure.
Seeing their banner leader's expression, the banner leaders sighed inwardly, "If you had thought of this earlier, you wouldn't have led your men to raid the Ming army in the first place!"
"If those thousand-plus brothers survive, we can hold out for another day or two, and maybe we'll get reinforcements!"
But these thoughts, of course, cannot be spoken aloud.
One of the banner leaders sighed and said, "Banner leader, please don't worry too much."
"Although both Daishan and Hauge Khan had their own selfish motives, it was impossible for them to have actually seen our Guangning City fall to the Ming army so quickly."
"The Khan's reinforcements should already be on their way."
Hearing this comforting remark, Mangultai could only nod and say, whether he believed it or not, "I hope so!"
But Mangultai was unaware that Hauge's side was far from coming to his aid.
Hauge even sent a message to Shengjing, asking Daishan to send him reinforcements.
Dai Shan looked at the two reports on the table, his brows furrowed, and he even seemed somewhat incredulous.
One of the letters was from Mangultai.
The report stated that the Ming army was launching a strong attack on the city, and he was urged to send troops immediately.
Daishan didn't seem to care about this report.
His feelings were quite complicated regarding the other report.
"Could this be a trick by the Ming army?"
Dai Shan asked Yue Tuo, "Do you think the Ming Dynasty's Embroidered Uniform Guard has infiltrated Hauge's military camp?"
"Did they forge this letter to make us suspicious?"
This wasn't Daishan being delusional; he simply couldn't fathom how Hauge had managed to get things into this state.
According to Daishan, Hauge led more than 20,000 Eight Banner troops to invade Goryeo, and he was also assisted by people like Jirgalang.
On the Ming side, they dispatched over ten thousand canal workers.
Even though he was holding Hauge back, the advantage was still on Hauge's side.
No matter what, Haug always managed to bring the army back intact.
However, the contents of Hauge's letter made Jirhalang rebellious.
Under Jirhalang's management, in addition to the Eight Banners stationed in major cities of Goryeo,
The rest of the troops were lost at the Imjin River.
By this time, Yue Tuo had also finished reading Hauge's letter.
He asked in confusion, "Father, didn't the letter say that when the Ming army caught up with them to the riverbank, half of the army had already crossed the river?"
"Even if all 10,000 men in Jiangnan are wiped out, there are still 10,000 men in Jiangbei!"
Dai Shan sneered, "Yes, there are indeed still ten thousand people."
"If it weren't for these 10,000 men, I'm afraid our Khan wouldn't have asked us for reinforcements!"
Yue Tuo was stunned for a moment, then understood.
"At this point, Hauge must have felt that those ten thousand people were also suspicious, and he not only dared not let them into the city, but was even on guard against them!"
"This is simply..."
Yue Tuo didn't even know how to describe it, and in the end, he was so angry that he laughed.
He then asked Daishan, "Father, I'm afraid the situation in Goryeo is completely ruined."
"Even if Hauge regains his senses now and leads the remaining 10,000-plus people back to Shengjing, these people will not be able to go to the battlefield in the short term."
What should we do now?
Daishan did not answer directly, but fell into deep thought.
Yue Tuo was right. After such a huge upheaval, even if Hauge returned with more than 10,000 men, the Eight Banners soldiers would surely be demoralized.
If we force them to fight against the Ming Dynasty, they will probably collapse on the spot.
However, without the troops from Goryeo, the Later Jin side now only had 10,000 men left.
Using these people to support Guangning would be like throwing good money after bad.
They were going to deliver heads to Li Ruolian's Beijing garrison.
However, ignoring Guangning City is also not an option.
"Mangultai may not be smart, but he's not stupid either."
“If I make it clear that I am going to abandon him, he might just surrender to the Ming Dynasty.”
At this time, the Jurchens had already been in rebellion for more than a decade.
However, the hatred between them and the Ming Dynasty has not yet reached the point of being irreconcilable.
"If the Ming Dynasty sends troops from Ningjin and Shanhaiguan to besiege Guangning, then Mangultai will have no choice but to grit his teeth and hold on."
"After all, the old Khan killed too many people in Liaodong back then."
"The people of Liaodong will not let us go."
"But Li Ruolian's Beijing garrison is all from Shaanxi and Gansu, and they have no deep-seated hatred for the Eight Banners."
As Dai Shan pondered the matter, he gradually came up with a plan.
He looked up at Yue Tuo and said, "Write a letter now and tell Mangultai in Guangning that reinforcements will arrive soon."
"Let him hold on for another ten days... no, let him hold on for another eight days."
"Reinforcements will definitely arrive in eight days!"
Upon hearing this, Yue Tuo's eyes showed a hint of surprise.
"Father, are you really going to lead the troops there? That's suicide!"
Dai Shan sneered.
"You child, how dare you talk to your father like that? Who said I was going to my death!"
"I'm going to make one last use of Mangultai!"
Seeing that Yue Tuo still looked blank, he continued to explain.
“Mangultai’s letter already said that the Ming Dynasty is now attacking the city with all its might, and he can only hold out for five more days at most.”
"But I know that this kid has definitely laid an ambush. Even if the Ming army keeps attacking the city like this, he should be able to hold out for another ten days or so."
"That's why I had you write him this way, so he would hold on to the end and not give up halfway!"
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