Cheng Xiaolian led the army to camp ten miles away from Tongguan City, and made it clear that he wanted to drive Tuhai out of Shaanxi in one fell swoop.

Tu Hai wrote to the imperial court while reorganizing the army, asking for the mobilization of troops to fight to the death with the former Ming, and made a military order in the letter, if the battle is not won, he is willing to be dealt with by military law.

Emperor Kangxi naturally agreed to this request, and now the situation in Shaanxi can only rely on Tuhai, and there may not be a more suitable general in Shaanxi than him in the imperial court.

No, Xiaolian does not plan to give Tuhai time to recover, what he needs most now is time, as long as he takes Tongguan, he can rest and recuperate, even if Daniel Zhang comes again, there is the danger of Tongguan, and he cannot form a pinching force with Tuhai.

It's just that siege warfare is the most difficult to fight, unless one side has no morale, otherwise the two sides must be entangled with each other until one side can no longer bear it and becomes a rout.

In the process of fierce fighting, the soldiers of the Northern Sweeping Army slowly discovered a situation, put aside the fear in their hearts, the Manchu soldiers were not so terrible, they would cry out in pain when they were stabbed, and they would fall to the ground and die if the knife hit the vital point, and the rumors of the invincibility of the Manchu Qing Dynasty slowly dissipated from the bottom of their hearts.

Tu Hai at the head of the city was very aggrieved in his heart, if he went out of the city to fight to the death, he could also kill and lose both, but he couldn't go out of the city, because he had to wait for the army to come, so it would be safer.

But the natural dangers of Tongguan are on the front, and the back is no different from the ordinary city, and there are suddenly so many soldiers in the city, and the food has become very tight, and the morale has been slowly suppressed.

Since ancient times, the morale of the party defending the city is not high, and the effect of letting the soldiers go out with knives to cut people is naturally different from letting them hide in the city and wait for someone to cut them. Moreover, the Manchu soldiers felt that they were the most ferocious warriors in the world, and of course they should go out of the city to defeat the enemy. Now Tuhai only let them hold the city, doesn't that mean that they are not the opponent of the defenders outside the city? Dealing with the countless tricks of the rebels of the former Ming Dynasty every day made them tired, so their morale slowly fell.

Several staff members around Tu Hai gathered around Tu Hai: "Dashuai, I'm afraid it won't work like this, if we continue like this, we will definitely not be able to hold Tongguan." ”

"Marshal, it's not that we are discouraged, on the first day of our defense of the city, the casualties of the rebels in the former Ming Dynasty were twice as many as ours, and now they have slowly become the same as us, and if this continues, the besieging side will have an advantage over the defenders, once the soldiers are defeated, this Tongguan City will be over."

Tuhai glanced at them: "What do you mean?" ”

"What we mean is that we should fight out of the city, who are the Manchu warriors afraid of in the battlefield? As long as they are given the battlefield, they can defeat those enemy troops in the early Ming Dynasty, only the offensive can boost morale, and if we continue to defend like this, our army will be finished. ”

Cheng Xiaolian's side was not very comfortable, and the casualties were finally tied today, but in the past, it was only two Ming soldiers who could exchange the lives of a Manchu soldier, and now, the sweeping army under him does not have a surplus of 5,000 men and horses, and now it depends on whether they are defeated first or Tuhai is defeated first.

At this time, Wang Jiyong walked into the camp: "Your Highness, let me recruit troops and buy horses, not to mention anything else, Xi'an Mansion and Fengxiang Mansion can attract a large number of people and horses with a wave of my hand." ”

Cheng Xiaolian smiled bitterly: "What time is it?" ”

"Autumn."

"The people are harvesting the last wave of grain and sowing it again, and they will have food to eat in the spring of the next year, and it will be easy to pull them over to fight, but what will they eat next year? Besides, how many of those people will fight? By the time they have learned the military formation, the matter of Tongguan should have been resolved. Even if it is to recruit troops and buy horses, it will be winter, and the farm work in the fields will not be able to be done, and we can still give them a military ration to eat, and then we will respond to all calls. ”

Wang Jiyong was stunned for a moment, and immediately gave his hand: "It's the last general who is shallow in his knowledge, and he almost missed a big thing." ”

Cheng Xiaolian waved his hand: "We have now fought with Tuhai to the last season, what we see is who can stand it, if you have the heart, go and encourage your soldiers more, if we can win Tongguan in one fell swoop tomorrow, we don't have to work so hard." ”

At this time, Chen Chengan and Jia Xu walked in: "Your Highness, the two of us have something important to report. ”

Cheng Xiaolian motioned for them to sit down: "What's the matter, didn't you two come up with any ideas to harm people?" ”

Jia Xu smiled bitterly: "I don't have the idea of harming people, but I have the idea of saving people, I don't know if Your Highness wants to hear it?" ”

Cheng Xiaolian was stunned: "Don't sell lawsuits, if you have something to say, say it quickly." ”

"From the point of view of His Highness, who is stronger and who is weaker between Tuhai and us?"

"Ten days ago, I couldn't say for sure, but now we have absolutely suppressed Tuhai, and you can see the morale of the soldiers in his city, as the side defending the city, the number of casualties on the side defending the city is almost the same as that of the besieging side, and I don't think this Tongguan can be held for a few days."

Chen Chengan laughed: "His Royal Highness also commented on Tu Hai, he is a first-class military general in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, in the opinion of His Highness, will he be restrained?" ”

Cheng Xiaolian was stunned for a moment: "Are you saying that he is going to die and struggle?" ”

"If it was two days ago, Tuhai would definitely continue to hold on to the city, but after today's battle, he will definitely change his strategy. As long as anyone with a discerning eye can see it, the morale of the Tongguan soldiers has been exhausted, and according to the intelligence of Jinyiwei, their reinforcements will not be able to rush here for a while and a half. ”

Cheng Xiaolian nodded: "What you said is right, but our soldiers are also exhausted, even if Tuhai wants to steal the camp, we can't let the army stay awake all night, if Tuhai doesn't come, our soldiers will be defeated." ”

If the soldiers in the battalion sleep at night, they will definitely have to take off their armor, if they don't take off their armor, they won't be able to rest, if they just start the first day of the war, it's okay to say, but it's been ten days of fighting, everyone is tired, let them not sleep all night at this time, tomorrow will definitely not be able to fight, then give Tuhai time to breathe. 、

At this time, Jia Xu suddenly asked, "I don't know where General Yuan led the army?" ”

As early as before, they suggested that Yuan Zonghao's sweeping army be pulled out of Sichuan and defeated Tuhai in one fell swoop, and now that the day is almost up, Yang Youcai raised his head at this time: "According to the intelligence of Jinyiwei three days ago, they have just arrived in Xi'an City, and it is estimated that it will take two or three days to get here." ”

Chen Chengan nodded: "In this case, Your Highness, we can only bet on this, don't sleep tonight, attack the city tomorrow, as long as the soldiers under our command survive these two days, our reinforcements will arrive, and even if Tuhai has great ability, it will be difficult for a woman to cook without rice." ”