Chapter 446: Huang Taiji's reluctance and Emperor Chongzhen's numbness
"Li Dingguo's attack using his own divine weapon is too powerful and cannot be defeated!"
"The entire army will immediately secure its defenses and have the soldiers fight and retreat!"
Seeing that the soldiers of the three flags of the Later Jin Dynasty suffered heavy losses, although the army commander Yuetuo was shocked and angry, he still remained rational and ordered the soldiers of the three armies to activate the military defense while covering each other's retreat.
Their army of million soldiers composed of three flags did not have any of the talented generals who possessed their own divine weapon.
Even if they counterattacked with all their strength, they could stop the surprise attack launched by Li Dingguo's army, but at most they could remain undefeated.
As an outstanding commander, Yuetuo realized that the situation had obviously changed. After losing the three level six dragon beasts, his side had completely lost its air superiority. He would evacuate the battlefield first and then contact Huang Taiji.
Since Li Dingguo has appeared on the battlefield in Ningyuan City, it means that there is a high possibility of a shocking change in Jinzhou. If Yuetuo does not take some measures, he will most likely be surrounded by the enemy's reinforcements outside Ningyuan City.
Unlike Jinzhou City, the terrain around Ningyuan City is more dangerous.
Ningyuan City is firmly located on the east-west artery of the Liaoxi Corridor. If a large army appears behind the Tartar camp outside the east city of Ningyuan City at this time, the Tartars' retreat route can be completely blocked, forming a situation of catching a turtle in a jar.
The current battle situation shows that it is obviously impossible for the soldiers of the three banners of the Later Jin Dynasty to capture Ningyuan City again. Timely evacuation of the valley area here is the only way to win a safe victory.
Yuetuo, who had suffered repeated losses at the hands of Li Dingguo, had now become extremely cautious.
If one wants to contend against the army led by Li Dingguo, one must wait for the arrival of Huang Taiji or the brothers Dorgon and Duoduo and use their own divine weapons.
"Humph!"
Li Dingguo took advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness and launched the first wave of attacks. After the attack was successful, he saw that the three flags of the Tartar soldiers promptly activated the military killing formation, blocking the loophole for his side to continue to penetrate the enemy's formation, and then they were retreating steadily.
He snorted coldly and led his soldiers to stabilize the formation. After launching several tentative attacks in succession, they were easily blocked by the Tatar's tight formation. So he stopped the momentum of his army's rapid advance and watched coldly as the Tatar's million-strong army slowly and orderly withdrew.
What annoyed him was that his own troops were insufficient at the moment to launch an active attack against the Tatars and truly defeat them.
This is the sequelae of the Renaissance Army expanding too fast. Even though the warriors and soldiers of all the legions of the Renaissance Army added up to more than four million people at this time, they are still unable to take care of such a large territory and seem a little stretched.
There is no way. The stall is too big and there are too many things to take into account.
Even though he could no longer inflict heavy damage on the Tartar army, he did not let them have an easy time. Together with the soldiers of the two legions led by the brothers You Shilu and You Shiwei, he pursued Yuetuo's army at a steady pace.
As long as there is a mistake in the opponent's formation, that is the opportunity for battle.
It was not until Yuetuo led his troops to retreat three thousand miles east of Ningyuan City that Li Dingguo ordered to stop the pursuit and led the army back to Ningyuan City.
On the battlefield here in Liaodong, the enemy's military strength has the upper hand, and now is not the time to pursue the enemy relentlessly.
It will take until Wan'er leads the Renaissance Navy to arrive before we can deal with the Later Jin Tartars.
But no matter what, although this battle started off strong but ended badly, it still achieved good results.
Not only did he completely eliminate all of the Tartar's national guardian beasts, the dragons, but he also killed more than 100,000 Tartar soldiers in one surprise attack.
This was enough to teach the Later Jin Tartars a lesson.
……
"puff!"
In the main camp of the Later Jin outside Jinzhou City, Huang Taiji had just woken up, his face suddenly changed, and he raised his head and spat out a mouthful of blood again!
He almost fainted again, but the imperial physician beside him fed him a piece of thousand-year-old ginseng, and his condition was stabilized.
Huang Taiji knew very well that the three dragons, the guardian beasts of the Ningyuan City, had also met with danger.
He was so angry that his face turned red. He forced himself to suppress the urge to vomit blood again. He just felt weak all over and felt very aggrieved.
He really couldn't have imagined that the strongest trump card he had worked so hard to create didn't even play the slightest role and was easily broken by Li Dingguo.
It's not just as simple as causing serious damage to your own vitality.
Huang Taiji, who was connected to the Black Dragon of National Destiny, could clearly sense that the national destiny of the Qing Dynasty had suffered a severe blow, and it would take at least three to five years to recover.
Even the backlash of luck that he had suffered would, under normal circumstances, take at least three to five years to recover from.
After all, his natal artifact is not an exclusive artifact of luck, and it cannot truly suppress the destiny of the country and the clan.
Good luck is magical and mysterious. A cultivator who suffers the backlash of good luck will suffer much more serious injuries than ordinary people.
Unless you can obtain great luck in a short period of time and quickly make up for your foundation, you can truly eliminate the sequelae.
With injuries like the one Huang Taiji suffered, until the fortunes of the Qing Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty recovered, his own cultivation level could not advance even a single step. It would be quite good enough if he could maintain his current cultivation level and not regress.
"Your Majesty, the soldiers from the four flags here have joined forces while you were unconscious. The Fuxing Army saw that it was impossible to do anything, so they temporarily stopped the counterattack."
Seeing Huang Taiji wake up, Aobai was overjoyed and hurried forward to report, "However, after our army lost those spiritual beasts and dragons, the fifth-level spiritual birds of the Fuxing Army occupied the sky again and blocked our external communications. It's really abominable!"
The aura emanating from Aobai was also somewhat weak and powerless.
If the owner loses his natal spirit beast, he will also suffer backlash.
Fortunately, this was a guardian beast of the country, and most of the backlash caused was borne by the country's destiny, so the leaders of the Eight Banners and core generals did not suffer real heavy losses.
This can be considered a blessing in disguise.
The brothers Dorgon and Dodo were the least injured among them.
Because they both had innate top-grade magical artifacts to suppress their luck, the backlash of luck they suffered was minimal and almost negligible.
"Ah."
Huang Taiji took a deep breath and said with a complicated expression, "This time we seriously underestimated the strength of Li Dingguo's Fuxing Army."
"They actually have a dragon-type artifact in their hands that can easily restrain the Jiaolong clan, making the Jiaolong, the national guardian bird that we worked so hard to create, a complete joke."
Not surprisingly, Huang Taiji regarded the means used by the Fuxing Army to break the deadlock as the power of the dragon artifact.
Although this type of artifact has great limitations, at least when no powerful Spirit Refining Realm experts appear, this is also another trump card of the Renaissance Army.
Including Huang Taiji, no enemy could associate Li Dingguo's method of breaking the impasse with the real dragon.
After all, that situation is too outrageous and no normal person would think about it in that way.
"But no matter what, in this Liaodong region, our Qing Dynasty still has a great advantage."
"The forces of the Restoration Army are too dispersed now, and they are unable to gather together to fight us to the death. This is our advantage."
Huang Taiji was in urgent need of stabilizing the army, and immediately issued an order, "Order Yue Tuo to lead the army back and gather together to attack Jinzhou City!" "Without the help of the Black Dragon Clan, our current strength can still overwhelm Li Dingguo!"
"This is the best opportunity that comes once in a century. It is the opportunity to capture the Liaoxi Corridor in one fell swoop."
"If we don't seize the Liaoxi Corridor while the Fuxing Army is stretched to its limits, it will be too late for the Qing Dynasty to enter the pass and take the initiative in the war when the Fuxing Army recovers."
Huang Taiji knew better than anyone that the Fuxing Army, which originally occupied Qin territory, had grown and developed at a speed that surpassed that of the Qing Dynasty.
The Fuxing Army is now about to take over half of the Ming Dynasty's territory north of the Yellow River. Its future development momentum is far beyond our reach.
If they fail to seize the Liaoxi Corridor or even enter the pass and capture cities in one fell swoop while the Fuxing Army is too busy, the Later Jin clan will never be able to enter the pass again in the future.
At least during the reign of Li Dingguo, it was impossible to even think about it.
As one side gains strength while the other loses strength, the future fate of the Later Jin clan is worrying.
After all, what the Qing Dynasty would soon face head-on was not just the extremely corrupt and declining Ming Dynasty, but Li Dingguo and the Fuxing Army, a new and rapidly developing force.
When it comes to rapid development, no force in the world today can compare to the Fusion Army.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
When Oboi heard this, his heart trembled, a sense of urgency surged in his mind, and he quickly took the order and left.
As long as Huang Taiji is fine, the Qing Dynasty will have a backbone and will not be in chaos.
If something happened to Huang Taiji himself, the consequences...Aobai didn't dare to think about it.
Completely different from the Ming Dynasty, Li Dingguo has always been ruthless in exterminating all foreigners and leaving no way out for the enemy.
If the Later Jin clan was defeated, they would most likely be exterminated by Li Dingguo!
……
At this time, countless treasure ships of various levels gathered at the canal wharf outside Linqing City.
All the officials, gentry, and noble families in the entire north who had the ability to leave have basically gathered here.
The most eye-catching one is a top-quality dragon boat.
This huge dragon boat is taller and more luxurious than any other top-grade treasure ship. From a distance, it looks like a huge mobile palace fortress.
This is the Yongle Treasure Ship, the only acquired divine artifact-level ship left to future generations by the Yongle Emperor, the most fantastic emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
The power of a super-large treasure ship of this level is naturally more than just being able to sail on the water. It's just that due to its huge size, no cultivator in the Qi Refining Realm can refine it and make it fly into the sky like controlling their own divine weapon.
This is also one of the strongest trump cards of the Ming Dynasty that has survived to this day.
Thousands of years ago, the Ming Dynasty royal family had three treasures: the national artifact Haotian Pagoda, the national treasure ship Chilong Boat, and the national divine bird Chihuang.
The Haotian Tower, the national treasure, mysteriously disappeared during the Tumu Incident.
The national guardian bird, the Chihuang, also fled and disappeared after the death of Emperor Yongle.
Today, the only national treasure ship left of the Ming Dynasty imperial family is the Red Dragon Boat.
According to historical records, Emperor Yongle, who had already reached the peak of level six cultivation at that time, chose to fight to the death before the end of his life. He died after failing to break through the spirit refining realm. Before his death, he used his own lifeblood to imprint the mark of bloodline inheritance on the formation core of this dragon boat.
This is why this national treasure ship can be operated by future generations with the help of national destiny, without having to rely on their own profound cultivation to control it.
At this time, on the Red Dragon Treasure Ship, in a tower several dozen feet in radius, dozens of high-ranking court officials were sitting on both sides. Emperor Chongzhen was sitting high on the dragon throne, convening an impromptu small court meeting.
The new Prime Minister Zhou Yanru stepped out, bowed, and reported, "Your Majesty, the traitor Li Dingguo did not send the navy to intercept us. This is cause for celebration!"
"According to reports from the special agents sent by various parties, Li Dingguo has already dispatched the main force of the navy to the north and is engaging in a major battle with Huang Taiji's army in the Jinzhou area. This is the best time for us to march south to Nanjing."
"This is your Majesty's great fortune, which indicates that after our Ming Dynasty survives this crisis, it will surely rise again and bring peace to the world!"
These civil and military ministers, officials, gentry, and aristocratic families have been extremely frightened in the past few months, and now they can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
For people like them who lived a life of luxury, it would be a real suffering if they could not use the Grand Canal to quickly travel south to Nanjing.
What they were most worried about was that the Restoration Army would send a large fleet to intercept them and block their escape route to the south.
In that case, not only would the Ming Dynasty be destroyed, but all these officials, gentry, and aristocratic families would also be destroyed.
In many ways, the fate of these civil and military ministers is tied to that of the Ming Dynasty this time.
Ever since the officials of the Ming court and the Ming royal family went south, a large number of fleets of northern officials, gentry and wealthy families gathered here every day, making the team heading south to Nanjing rapidly larger.
Today, the number of people in this super-large fleet is estimated to be close to 20 million!
Thousands of treasure ships of various levels were loaded with large amounts of wealth and supplies. The total number of warriors, soldiers, servants and guards who had gathered from various families alone exceeded four million!
Normally, everyone is scattered and you don't notice it, but once these forces gather together, the scale of their existence is enough to make people tremble with fear.
This also shows the complexity of the Ming Dynasty's officials, gentry, and aristocratic families, whose profound background is beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
"Humph!"
"Li Dingguo!"
The prematurely aged and gray-haired Emperor Chongzhen cursed the traitor Li Dingguo in his heart after hearing this, and said expressionlessly, "Since the opportunity is rare, you can do whatever you want."
"I originally disagreed with moving the capital south, but since all the civil and military officials in the court insist on doing so, we should stop dragging our feet on the road."
"If we continue to delay like this, the size of this fleet may double!"
"By then, will we be able to travel a thousand miles a day?"
"I guess all the officials and noble families don't want their families and money to be robbed by the Restoration Army, right?"
It was not until now that Emperor Chongzhen finally figured out how wealthy his officials were.
Such a huge fleet, which belongs to the royal property, only has less than a hundred treasure ships!
And on these treasure ships, which were less than a hundred in number, most of the people on board were palace maids and eunuchs!
Who dares to believe this?
Any official or gentry has more wealth than the royal family!
Even with the move of the capital to the south, Emperor Chongzhen had no say in all matters. The entire royal family was like a puppet, being led by the nose by these officials and gentry families!
If it weren't for the military force in his hands, he would have been unable to defeat them at all. Emperor Chongzhen would have been so angry that he would have ordered the confiscation of these bastards' property and the extermination of their clans!
It turns out that in the entire Ming Dynasty, only the royal family was the poorest.
Each of these officials, gentry, and noble families who migrated south was much richer than the royal family!
Anyway, Emperor Chongzhen was already numb with anger.
If he hadn't had the firm belief in his heart to support him, he might have been angry to death long ago.
(End of this chapter)
