When Zhu Ci heard that Shang Kexi was also coming, he felt a momentary sense of strangeness. With the famous Three Feudatories now reduced to only Geng Jingzhong, he wondered if he would have the chance to encounter him.
However, setting everything else aside, there can be no more "acting" or "letting things slide" at Dayu and Xiaoyu Mouth from now on.
Wu Sangui might still have intentions of defecting to Southern Ming, but for Shang Kexi, it was absolutely impossible.
After all, there were over a hundred lives from the Shang family in the balance; back then, Shang Kexi had been forced to surrender to the Qing Army.
Both Wu Sangui and Geng Jingzhong could potentially be won over, but Shang Kexi would never agree.
However, Zhu Ci had no intention of winning over these surrendered generals at all. As the saying goes, if someone is disloyal once, they cannot be trusted a hundred times. His current cooperation with Wu Sangui was merely to follow the trend and sow discord.
If Wu Sangui truly intended to surrender, he would refuse.
Of course, he might also agree on the surface and then prepare to find a way to cause his unexpected death.
Wu Sangui was the last to know the news that Shang Kexi was coming.
Dorgon had blocked the news early on, not wanting to alert the enemy.
However, if Fu's subordinates happened to get the news, Shang Kexi arrived with reinforcements, it would be difficult to keep so many people passing by a secret.
Zhu Ci's joy was so evident that it prompted him to tell Wu Sangui, which immediately gave Wu Sangui a sense of crisis. At this moment, Wu Sangui could not concern himself with negotiating terms; he only hoped to preserve his own life.
Anyway, as long as he remained alive and still had troops under his command, whether the Southern Ming Emperor feared him or sought to win him over, he would have to give him the treatment he deserved.
Otherwise, he wouldn't be incapable of rebelling; besides the Qing Army and the Ming Army, are there not still the Mongols in this world?
The latest Khan of the Dzungar Mongols seemed to be quite formidable.
If all else fails, he can still go to sea; how things will proceed in the future can be set aside for now, as preserving his own life is what truly matters right now.
After receiving Wu Sangui's plea for help, Zhu Ci tossed the letter aside and said coldly, "Pass the order: tell Nie Wu and Ding Qi to launch a full-scale assault on Dayukou and strive to capture the Beacon Tower before Shang Kexi arrives."
The previous cooperation was merely a matter of mutual benefit to minimize losses, but he would never accept the surrender of a fickle scoundrel like Wu Sangui.
Nie Wu and Ding Qi had been somewhat hesitant lately; the Emperor's attitude toward Wu Sangui left them also feeling indecisive.
Given the troops under Wu Sangui's command and his seniority, if he surrendered, he would at least be a Prince of the Commandery. If they were to take harsh measures now and he held a grudge, his life would likely be difficult in the future.
It was just that His Majesty had already clearly expressed his dislike for Wu Sangui; how exactly were they to handle him? Many people felt that Wu Sangui's surrender was only a matter of time, that the Emperor would certainly accept it.
But Nie Wu and Ding Qi had been by the Emperor's side for quite some time, they felt that His Majesty would not let Wu Sangui off so easily.
Therefore, the two of them had never given up their attacks on Wu Sangui.
It was merely a pretense to get Wu Sangui to send more Tartars over.
Now that the orders had been issued from above, the two of them finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was all well and good; they had not misread His Majesty's intentions.
In that case, the two of them fought with newfound confidence and boldness.
Meanwhile, Wu Sangui, who was stationed at Dayukou, was still waiting for news from the Hongguang Emperor.
In his view, as long as he was willing to show intentions of surrender, the other side would surely accept with joy.
As it turned out, instead of news from the Southern Ming Emperor, he received a wave of attacks.
At this moment, Wu Sangui had not yet realized the gravity of the situation; after all, although he was in secret communication with the Southern Ming, there had only been small-scale skirmishes on the surface.
With both sides intent on maintaining control, every skirmish appeared intense, but in reality, the casualties and losses were not significant.
Wu Sangui had originally thought this time would be the same, even felt that before confirming his surrender, it wouldn't be impossible to first mislead Dorgon.
As a result, when he learned that the Ming Army had been advancing triumphantly, defeating Xiaoyukou and then turning to strike Dayukou, Wu Sangui nearly jumped out of his skin.
At this moment, even the most foolish person could see that Zhu Ci had no intention of accepting his surrender.
Wu Sangui couldn't help but slap the sand table and said resentfully, "How dare this brat insult me!"
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Don't slander me, when have I ever lied to you? I never even agreed to it! *Cat lying on a carriage with legs crossed. jpg*
Where did all my dears go for fun on the first day of the holidays? (A holiday red envelope is being dropped in this chapter~)
Next update at noon~
Chapter 246
By the time Wu Sangui began ordering a full-scale counteroffensive, it was actually already somewhat too late.
Even Dorgon's subordinates could not afford even a moment of carelessness when facing the current Ming Army, let alone Wu Sangui, who was far inferior to Dorgon.
By this time, he had already lost the initiative, it was becoming too late to begin arranging defensive lines for a counterattack.
In reality, given Wu Sangui's personality, he would never truly trust either side, so he had also been arranging defensive lines to guard against Southern Ming.
He simply hadn't expected that something he thought was a sure thing would run into trouble; the sudden attack from the opposition left him completely bewildered.
Not to mention that the long-range matchlock is incredibly accurate during sieges, such beacon towers and mountains wouldn't typically see large-scale cavalry charges anyway.
Therefore, even though Wu Sangui held the advantage of terrain, he suffered heavy losses and was ultimately forced to flee in panic.
Zhu Ci looked at the battle report and said with some regret, "To think we actually let that fellow escape."
Your Majesty," Bai Zhuo said hesitantly, "Lord Fu has ordered me to send men to spread some news; I ask that Your Majesty review it.
Zhu Ci was somewhat surprised: "What news?"
As he asked, he reached out and took a piece of paper from Bai Zhu's hand. It turned out to be filled with various doggerels, all of which spoke of Wu Sangui's fickleness—how he had clearly surrendered to the Ming Kingdom, yet rebelled at the critical moment to attempt to assassinate the Emperor.
Zhu Ci stared in a daze; he had already considered what kind of consequences accepting Wu Sangui's surrender would bring.
There was a high probability that those Ming generals and officials who had previously surrendered to the Qing Army would work even harder for the Qing Court; as long as the Qing Court was preserved, their lives and property could be saved.
At the same time, they would also wage a war of public opinion; after all, many of those who had defected to the Qing Court were renowned scholars of that era, they held an advantage in this regard due to the vast number of their family members and disciples.
However, even so, Zhu Ci still did not compromise.
In his view, surrendering was nothing; a person only has one life, so compromising to stay alive was understandable.
But to act as a henchman for the enemy after surrendering, turning his blade against his own people, was something he could not tolerate.
Zhu Ci was already prepared to be branded a tyrant once again.
Alas, it is a pity that Fu and Zhu Ci had exerted so much effort to quell the previous public outcry, only for him to ruin it all again now.
As it turned out, when Fu learned that Dorgon had sent Wu Sangui, he seemed to have anticipated this outcome, so he had already laid out his moves in advance, merely waiting for the right moment to launch a massive propaganda campaign.
Zhu Ci blinked and handed the paper to Bai Zhu, saying, "Let's do it according to the Grand Secretary's wishes."
Although he also had many ways to manipulate public opinion, those methods from later generations might not be suitable for the current era.
In the internet age, information travels too quickly, some methods were developed on this very basis.
Right now.. anyway, Fu will take care of it, so let him go.
Zhu Ci turned and put on his armor, preparing to set out for war.
Although Dayukou and Xiaoyukou have already been occupied, no one knows what the situation will be once the fleeing Wu Sangui joins up with Shang Kexi.
It was possible that Shang Kexi would capture Wu Sangui directly, or it was also possible that Wu Sangui's silver-tongued lies would convince Shang Kexi that he was loyal to the Great Ming.
Regardless, Zhu Ci would generally predict the worst-case scenario, which was that after Wu Sangui and Shang Kexi joined forces, they would turn and attack Dayu and Xiaoyu Mouth.
Zhu Ci was not certain whether Nie Wu and Ding Qi could hold Dayukou, so he would assume they could not.
In this situation, Pianlingkou must be taken as quickly as possible to deny Shang Kexi the opportunity to reinforce Dorgon.
Therefore, he decided to personally lead the troops into battle.
He sat on his horse, gazing from a distance at the beacon tower at Pianlingkou.
Although he couldn't see clearly who was on the beacon tower, Dorgon must have known he was being watched, he must have been watching him as well.
After looking a few times, Zhu Ci ordered a full-scale offensive.
During this period, the intensity of the warfare at Pianlingkou was not very high. The Ming Army's primary tactic was to sever the connections between Pianlingkou and other locations, attempting to besiege Pianlingkou to ensure their supplies did not arrive too easily.
However, the Qing Army's supplies all came via the Datong-Huairen line, it was not easy for the Ming Army to cut them off; they could only arrange for some squads to carry out raids.
The raids were effective; recently, the grain and water supplies at Pianlingkou have begun to become somewhat strained.
This was also one of the reasons why Zhu Ci chose to charge only now.
Dorgon had also previously received battle reports stating that Wu Sangui had lost his position. In that moment, even Dorgon began to doubt whether he had made a mistake in judgment, or if someone had sent him false information for the purpose of driving a wedge between him and Wu Sangui.
Otherwise, if Wu Sangui had surrendered, why would the Ming Kingdom have dealt him such a lethal blow?
As for the possibility of Wu Sangui resorting to a self-inflicted injury tactic, it was non-existent.
Even if the Ming Kingdom had such a thought, Wu Sangui would never agree.
Dorgon had a certain understanding of Wu Sangui; he was a petty man who feared death and would not risk his life for anyone.
However, even if the previous news was false, Dorgon would still find it hard to believe.
At that time, he had verified the information through multiple channels; Wu Sangui had indeed been in contact with the Ming Kingdom.
So.. what exactly is going on?
For a moment, even Dorgon was somewhat bewildered; he had never even considered the possibility that the Emperor of Ming would not accept Wu Sangui's surrender.
After all, from a politician's perspective, accepting Wu Sangui's surrender would bring more benefits than drawbacks in every respect; he never imagined that Zhu Ci would be so impulsive.
A person capable of successfully securing the throne and winning over Emperor Longwu Zhu Yujian, the Prince of Lu Zhu Yihai, Chuangwang Li Zicheng should not be an impetuous youngster, no matter how young he might be.
Dorgon still harbored doubts about Wu Sangui, but at this moment, the Ming Army had suddenly increased its offensive, so he could only let Shang Kexi decide for himself; if any signs of disloyalty were detected in Wu Sangui, he was to be killed on the spot.
At this moment, he no longer cared to analyze whether Wu Sangui was loyal or not.
Whether he is loyal or not no longer matters; Wu Sangui is not an indispensable talent for the Qing Dynasty, so if he is killed, he is killed.
Dorgon had to focus more of his energy on the Ming Army.
However, the Qing Army stationed at Pianlingkou was currently exhausted and undersupplied, making it no easy feat to hold the position.
Most importantly, once the Ming Army brought out the long-range matchlocks, the tactical advantage of the terrain at Pianlingkou was diminished by more than half.
After Dorgon tried, he found that even if he could hold Pianlingkou, the losses would be heavy, yet the blow to the Ming Army would not be significant.
So he decisively decided to retreat to Huairen.
The fall of Pianlingkou led to the fall of both Dayukou and Emao Kou.