Translator: ryangohsff Editor: Nora
Chapter 1090 – Zhang Xianzhong Takes the Bait
He would decide on how many troops to send based on how many enemies there were in the old Qing land. If they sent too little, it would be of no use, and if they sent too many, it would directly affect the battlefield.
However, the problem was that he was unable to confirm the number of enemies attacking the old Qing Dynasty land.
Reports from Shenyang stated that the enemies had entered and left like ghosts with three territories being attacked within a day. There was no way to know the overall enemy numbers, but conservatively, there would be above 50 thousand.
“Moreover, they are all elite forces.” The officials left in Shenyang swore.
Although they had never seen the Divine Martial Guards, they had to exaggerate the enemy’s skill. If not, wouldn’t it mean that they were useless?
Furthermore, since there was no way to confirm it, they were not exaggerating it blindly.
“50 thousand elites?”
If Di Chen was together with Dorgon, he would be able to see through this lie. With the strength of the Southern Alliance Army, there was no way they could send 50 thousand men up north.
However, Dorgon was unable to make such a judgement.
Logically speaking, to take down Shanhai Pass and massacre the eight thousand defending troops while also creating so much noise in the old Qing land, 50 thousand elites was not a large number.
“Now this is problematic.”
Assuming the enemy had 50 thousand troops, in order to take back Shanhai Pass and go back into their old land to crush the enemy, they had to send 150 thousand troops back to be safe.
There were 50 thousand Qing troops left in Yanjing, and one could not send them all up north.
This also meant that he need to send at least 130 thousand of his forces up, leaving only 370 thousand troops on the main battlefield. Compared to the 330 thousand southern alliance troops on the east and middle fronts, their advantage was not so evident anymore.
With such numbers, crushing the Southern Alliance Army was totally impossible. Dorgon was not arrogant, and since the player forces in the enemy camp could crush Dodo’s forces, they had to be skilled.
After thinking about it, Dorgon could only choose the safest solution.
Out of the two armies, they each sent 70 thousand along with 40 thousand from Yanjing to go up north to attack Shanhai Pass.
He planned to use an army that held an absolute numerical advantage to solve the problems in their back garden within a week.
As for the main battlefield, the Qing armies would halt their advance down south. Once the north army took back Shanhai Pass, they would make further plans.
Dorgon was still really confident if they stayed where they were and defended.
Strictly speaking, Dorgon’s plan was not wrong. However, when Di Chen received the news, he could not help but feel a chill run down his spine as uneasiness rose up in his heart.
Di Chen felt that things definitely would not be so simple.
…
In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.
The 140 thousand Qing troops had returned to Yanjing. After gathering with the 40 thousand troops there, they went up north to Shanhai Pass. If things went smoothly, they would arrive near the pass the next morning.
The ones in charge of defending the Shanhai Pass was the Emperor Squadron, 15 thousand gunners, and 12 thousand sword-shield soldiers.
Helping them defend were hundreds of P1 Type Cannons.
With such a defensive lineup, even if the Qing army sent out 180 thousand men, they would still be able to defend for more than three days. Hence, in this battle, one could see that Ouyang Shuo had used the resources of the South Ming camp to the extreme.
Even so, with the current development, the Qing army would only take a little longer than the week that Dorgon had expected.
In terms of the big picture, it would not be much.
However, the problem was that the development of the situation would be a total nightmare for the Qing army. In just a week, the situation had turned on its head.
The change happened in a direction that Dorgon had disregarded – Great Xi.
Based on Dorgon’s analysis, as long as the Qing army did not attack, Great Xi would be happy with their current position and stay in Shaanxi and Shanxi.
This was originally a correct judgement.
The premise would be that Ouyang Shuo did not send a secret letter over to Zhang Xianzhong.
“A person’s greed knows no bounds.”
After occupying Xi An, wiping out Great Shun, taking over Shaanxi and subsequently Shanxi, Great Xi and Zhang Xianzhong had already achieved a huge victory.
It was enough to make them proud for their entire life.
Luckily, he still had the ambition to rule the world, which was how he was baited by Ouyang Shuo. His plan was actually really simple and did not look like much.
He only told Zhang Xianzhong, “Yanjing city will have a period where they lack troops, and the defenses will be really weak. If you want to rule the world, you need to take down Yanjing. Moreover, this period will be your only chance. If you miss it then too bad.”
When Zhang Xianzhong received the letter, he was naturally filled with doubts. With his personal experiences and life journey, he could not imagine that there would be someone who would do things for free without expecting returns.
The Southern Alliance Army had spent so much effort to restrict the Qing army, attacking Shanhai Pass to make them throw in the Qing army defending Yanjing. As a result, they created a defensive vacuum. And now, they would allow Great Xi to reap the rewards?
“That did not make sense!”
Although Zhang Xianzhong doubted the letter, he still took the bait in the end. Such free things were better to just believe in rather than not.
On the surface, Zhang Xianzhong did not reply Ouyang Shuo. However, in the dark, he had gathered up Great Xi troops and arranged them near Yanjing.
The moment Yanjing became truly empty, Zhang Xianzhong would not hesitate.
Just as Ouyang Shuo had said, be it due to influence or other considerations, occupying Yanjing was of irreplaceable value and meaning for a regime that wanted to rule the world.
Zhang Xianzhong had no way to resist such temptations.
39th day of the Battle Map, not long after the 180 thousand Qing troops left Yanjing, the 120 thousand Great Xi troops suddenly charged right at Yanjing.
As one of the most famous leaders of the end Ming peasant uprising, at the crucial moment, he did not mind going all out in a gamble. As long as he took down Yanjing, he was not afraid to bet the fate of Great Xi.
Facing enemy troops 12 times their number, even if Yanjing had the strongest defense in the world, it would still be in danger.
After the 120 thousand Great Xi troops arrived on the outskirts, they did not rest and attacked overnight. They wanted to take down Yanjing in the shortest amount of time possible.
Zhang Xianzhong was filled with confidence.
When Dorgon received the emergency letter sent by Yanjing through a pigeon, his expression changed for the first time, and he could not keep calm anymore.
“Was this the trump card of the enemy?”
The actions of the Alliance Army totally exceeded his expectations and broke his plan. Throughout the entire process, he was led around by Ouyang Shuo.
Ouyang Shuo had designed a series of battle plans that were all interconnected. Each step did not look like much and did not look like they were planned. However, when pieced together, it could shake the foundations of the Qing Dynasty.
