The progress of the Ming army was quite smooth. The Mongol Eight Banners, which were suddenly attacked, were beaten from the beginning, and the Ming army not only had a huge advantage in being familiar with the terrain, but also had a three-to-one superiority in troops, especially in various key locations, where the attacking side had an advantage over the defenders by more than ten to one.

"What lessons can we learn from this war?" After learning that the Ming army had controlled the periphery of the camp and that Shunzhi had not yet begun to break through, Deng Ming joked to Ren Tang beside him: "No matter how busy we are in the future, our army will have to set up its own camp." ”

The armor of the 8,000 Ming army has formed an encirclement on the periphery of the camp, and the follow-up auxiliaries are also coming, but the auxiliaries will not be of great help to the combat troops in the dark. Ren Tang said to Deng Ming: "Let the troops go on the defensive, there is no need for us to attack the Tartar chieftains immediately, if we attack again after dawn, the casualties will be much smaller." If our army suffers too many casualties, those governors in Jiangnan may have other ideas, and maybe they will take the initiative to attack our army to invite favor from the court. ”

"Major Ren is right." In Deng Ming's original plan, the Ming army would launch a series of attacks until Shunzhi was killed. But the premise of implementing this plan was that Shunzhi tried to break through, so that the Ming army would attack the emperor's imperial guards and the Chinese army camp, contain the strength of the Qing army that broke through, and at the same time subdue the resistance as much as possible, so as to make the situation simple and clear, so as to prevent the Shunzhi golden cicada from breaking out of its shell.

Since the Qing army now adopted more conservative tactics, Deng Ming also tended to fight steadily in order to reduce the damage of the Ming army. Several governors of Jiangnan were only cooperating with the Ming army, they were enemies rather than allies, and the only thing that could stop them from attacking the Ming army was the difference in strength, and Deng Ming knew this very well.

When the Ming army turned to the defense, Shunzhi also felt that the pressure was reduced, and the rebels did not continue to attack the imperial camp, giving the imperial guards time to deploy calmly.

"Just hold on until dawn." Many of the officers of the imperial camp loudly boosted their morale and cheered up the guards who were entering the battle for the first time: "Once it is dawn, a large number of reinforcements will come to escort them!" ”

Until now, Shunzhi's guards still believe that this is a rebellion of the Green Battalion, and although it is not known who instigated this rebellion, they are convinced that the rebellion will not be able to completely control the army. Some officers also believed that some of the rebels might have been deceived at this time, not knowing that they were attacking the imperial camp. As long as we wait until dawn, put up the imperial banner of Shunzhi high, and declare that we will not blame the past for coercion, and reward the officers and soldiers who have defected to the past, we can shake the morale and will to fight of the rebels.

After the three thousand Mongol Eight Banners on the periphery were defeated, some of them approached the imperial camp, and the Praetorian Guards, who had already climbed the camp wall and started to defend, did not hesitate to attack them, preventing anyone from approaching the walls of the imperial camp.

"Don't get close, otherwise it will be regarded as a chaotic party." The Praetorian Guard officer shouted to the rout at the top of the wall: "If you are the emperor's officers and soldiers, turn around and go outward to defend the camp gate for the emperor to prove your identity." ”

Under the ruthless attack of the Praetorian Guards, the scattered Mengbaqi had no choice but to stop and turn towards the periphery, becoming the first line of defense outside the walls of the imperial camp. Fortunately, the Ming army did not follow the pursuit, and these people were not subjected to continuous attacks, and the chaos was controlled by a certain amount of Chengdù, and they no longer shouted and continued to rush towards the imperial camp.

"Your Majesty," an imperial officer ran over to report the good news to Shunzhi: "The imperial front is heavily guarded, and the chaotic party cannot take advantage of the situation." ”

"Okay." Shunzhi's mood was also a little relaxed at this time, and the shouting and killing around him was much smaller than before, which in his opinion was a sign that the situation was constantly improving.

Even those officers of the Eight Banners who had combat experience, most of them were happy that the situation had calmed down, and in their opinion, the enemy did not mix in the chaotic army and storm the imperial camp together, which was a huge mistake made by the chaotic party. But it's no wonder, after all, in the darkness, it is difficult for the rebels to detect the location of the imperial camp in a short period of time; At the moment of chaos, no matter how capable the commander is, he cannot control the whole army and launch a coordinated offensive.

Only a handful of people were a little uneasy. Under normal circumstances, the rebels will definitely launch an attack on the imperial camp as much as possible, because the emperor's prestige has a great impact on the small soldiers, and if the imperial camp cannot be annihilated as much as possible, the situation can easily be reversed.

"Are the rebels sure that there won't be an army of King Qin around?" There was a person who couldn't help but have such a thought in his heart, but he didn't dare to say it.

There was also an officer who was also unsure that it was normal for the rebels to not be well organized, but the best way for the rebel leaders to solve this problem was to storm the royal camp in order to create a fait accompli, rather than stop in the dark and reorganize the troops. Of course, this could also be a serious mistake made by the unknown rebel commander. But in line with the principle of leniency for the enemy, the imperial battalion officer was more worried that the rebel commander had another plan—something he could not have imagined now.

"Your Majesty," several former imperial officers who had such worries successively made suggestions to Shunzhi, advocating sending envoys for help, and asking Gaoyou and Yangzhou to send Qinwang troops. These emissaries could also gather every Qing army they encountered on the way, allowing them to rush to defend the emperor. A former imperial officer recalled the geography around the camp and said to Shunzhi: "The minions dare to ask the emperor to let the minions break through and ask for help, there are gaps between the several camps on the periphery, and the traitors came to take advantage of the darkness and were busy attacking the surrounding camps, and now there should be gaps everywhere." The minions are now breaking through, and they will be able to bring back Gaoyou's Qinwang army after dawn. ”

"Go ahead." Shunzhi thought about it for a while and agreed to the request of these officers.

"Wow." The Praetorian Guard officers who were ordered to be in danger did not hesitate and left one after another, each ordering a few of his subordinates. After carefully explaining the task, the messengers who had gone to find reinforcements came to the camp gate. Under the nervous gaze of countless Praetorian Guard officers and soldiers, the door of the camp was opened a crack, allowing these people to leave the camp at full speed. When the camp gate was closed behind them again, the Praetorian Guard officers had already rushed out of the way, shouting to disperse the surrounding Mengbaqi routs, and hurried towards the night.

The leader who went to Gaoyou galloped his horse and carefully recalled the geography around the imperial camp. He has been in the army for more than 20 years, and when he set up camp this evening, many of his colleagues were busy going to eat, but this officer meticulously trampled the entire imperial camp. The arrangement of the various camps, the trenches between the camps, and the antlers was roughly well understood.

At this moment, Zuo Ling led his men around in two circles, avoiding places where there were fires and human voices. The camp gates and tents of the outlying camps were certainly the places that attracted the attention of the rebels the most, but the gaps between the camps were easy to overlook.

In the dark night of deep winter, people can hardly see anything far away, and Zuo Ling leads the way in the first place, and the guards will not fall behind him until they follow him closely. However, such a night sè is also a good cover for the breakouts, and a dozen cavalry will not make a big noise and will not attract the attention of the rebel army.

"This is it." Zuo Ling thought silently in his heart. He roughly remembered that there was an open flat land in front of him, without trenches and antlers, and it was far from the positions of the camps on both sides, and it was not close to important targets such as the camp gate, and as long as he rushed over, he could set foot on the road to the county seat of Gaoyou.

The speed of the horses had been raised to the highest level, and even if there were rebel soldiers nearby, they would not have time to stop them, let alone call out to the rebels around them to intercept them—by the time they arrived, the dozen or so cavalrymen had already rushed through the danger. At this time, Zuo Ling couldn't help but begin to be grateful for his years of military life, and it was precisely because of these rich experiences that he still seriously stepped on the terrain during today's seemingly tourist-like march, which helped him a lot at a critical moment.

Suddenly, the mount under his crotch seemed to lose his balance, and with the neighing of the warhorse, Salead involuntarily flew forward, flying towards the dark earth in front of him.

Hit his head on the hard and cold ground, and Salead collapsed on the ground and couldn't move, and the bones in his whole body seemed to be shaken loose. There were continuous exclamations and neighing of horses from behind, and the dozen or so cavalrymen who followed him were already on their backs.

"Tripping?" Zuo Ling shook his swollen head, and his heart was shocked: "The rebels actually perceive this gap, and they still have the strength to deploy the tripwire!" ”

The sound of clanging armor and hurried footsteps could be heard all around. Zuo Ling rose up and jumped up from the ground, drew his waist knife and threw himself forward. He knew that there was absolutely no delay at this time, let alone those subordinates, and he only hoped that the enemy's strength was limited, and his subordinates could also buy a little time, so that he would have the opportunity to run out and complete the task.

A flash of fire suddenly flashed in front of him, and Saling knew that it was the enemy who was igniting the fire.

"Run, there's going to be a torch coming up soon, and maybe there's going to be more." Regardless of the pain in his body, Sagar ran forward.

But to Zuo Ling's surprise, a large ball of fire suddenly appeared, illuminating the surroundings all at once.

"It's ......" Sagar looked into the light and saw that there was a large straw there, probably drenched with oil, and it was burning.

Before Zuo Ling could react, several bonfires were lit around him, illuminating more than a dozen Qing soldiers with nowhere to hide. In the firelight, the leader saw that the front was densely packed with enemy soldiers in armor, and the number of them was too large to count......

"I knew someone was coming." After killing more than a dozen Qing soldiers, Wu Yuewang first made sure that no one had missed the net, and then commanded his subordinates to rearrange the stumbling horses, lead the captured war horses to the rear, and slaughter the wounded war horses on the spot. A large number of Ming soldiers wiped the blood from their weapons and retreated behind their rejecting lines. If Zuo Ling saw this line of defense, he would definitely be even more desperate, because even if there were not a dozen Qing soldiers but more people who came just now, they would not be able to rush past the Ming army's horse rejection fortifications.

Straw was removed from the cart and greased, and the bonfire in front of him was almost extinguished, and Wu Yuewang stepped on the embers that were still emitting a red glow, and re-hid himself in the darkness, ready to ambush the next batch of prey, if there was any more.