Tong Tulai couldn't answer because what Shang Kexi said was indeed very reasonable.

But there is one thing he thinks is bluffing. Zhou Xian cannot have the ability to completely encircle Gaizhou at present, and Shang Kexi is not without the extra troops to rescue Shimen Pass.

In the past three hours of fighting, Shang Kexi had only invested half of the troops at the most, and most of the cavalry did not move at all.

But Tong Tulai couldn't say something directly. After all, he just led two thousand cavalry to the battlefield for a while, and then withdrew directly after being blocked.

Shang Kexi doesn’t want to lose too much military strength, why is Tong Tulai the same?

Whether it was Dorgon or Daishan, the orders given to Tong Tulai were to keep him under the control of Shang Kexi, rather than replace him. Most of the time, he could only put forward his own opinions, and the final decision-making power was still there.

If the pressure is too tight, Shang Kexi will completely attack Zhou Xian. It is not even a complete target, but just maintaining neutrality in the battle between the two ministers. This is a burden that the Qing Dynasty cannot bear.

Because there are too few troops left in Liaodong at present, even if the people have been recruited from all over the place to join the army, it will take a long time for the newly recruited soldiers to form combat power.

In this case, the nearly 20,000 old soldiers in Shang Kexi's hands became very important.

Although Tong Tulai hopes that Shang Kexi and Zhou Xian will fight to the death, he also knows that everything must not be against Shang Kexi at this moment.

Seeing that Tong Tulai said nothing, Shang Kexi turned around and said, "Let's do this! If General Tong disagrees with what I said, you can lead the troops to Shimen Pass to reinforce. Your troops are all cavalrymen, and they act quickly. If you find something wrong, you can withdraw to Gaizhou at any time."

Tong Tulai raised his eyebrows, thinking that Shang Kexi wanted to drive him away! He laughed dryly, "The enemy situation is not clear, so be careful. I will listen to Prince Shang. What do you say? I will follow the order. My troops have just retreated from the battlefield. The soldiers are tired and are not suitable to rush to Shimen Pass!"

Shang Kexi sneered in his heart, "Then let's send some scouts to Shimenguan to see the situation there, and at the same time, we will inform the three Beile of Abai in Liaoyang about the current situation and let him make the decision."

Abai was Nurhaci's third son, but because his mother was born in a low state, he was also affected and the internal struggles in the Qing Dynasty were gradually marginalized.

Not to mention that he cannot compare with his brothers, even compared with some nephews in his later life, his official position and power are far inferior to that in his hands.

If Dorgon hadn't led the main force of the Qing army into the Central Plains, he would not have even been able to make it to the Liaoyang general.

The long-term incompetence has developed Abai's cautious character. Faced with such a situation, he will definitely not dare to make decisions and report it to Daishan in Shenyang.

This way, it will be reported layer by layer.

By the time Dai Shan responded, it was probably a few days later, and Shimen Pass had probably been taken down by Zhou Xian long ago.

Tong Tulai knew in his heart that Shang Kexi was preparing to completely abandon Shimen Pass. But such a decision was not completely wrong. After all, Shimen Pass was under the jurisdiction of Xiuyan City. Even if it was lost, it was still the responsibility of Hunta. Tong Tulai was silent for a moment and said, "Then it depends on Prince Shang's wishes."

Shang Kexi nodded, "Then I will ask someone to write a letter, sign your and my names, and send someone to Liaoyang immediately. We will stay here, work together to repel Zhou Xian and guard Gaizhou."

With a loud bang, Gaizhou Nancheng Arrow Tower was shot. Suddenly, bricks and stones flew away, and then collapsed because they could not bear their own weight.

Zhao Xusheng stood on the high platform with Zhou Xian, looking at the battlefield in the distance.

During the continuous fighting in the middle of the night, the soldiers had already shown obvious fatigue. They gathered together and used long spears and large shields to protect the outer circle, muskets, and bows and arrows to shoot inside, and from time to time, Tiger Cannons were fired.

The entire battlefield is divided into a large battlefield in the east and several small battlefields around it, all of which are defensive and no longer have the aura of previous attacks.

Moreover, if you push forward, you will have to leave the cover range of the Fran machine cannon, and you will also be bombarded by the Qing army at the top of the city and attacked by the Qing army outside the city.

The only success was that the soldiers had successfully dug a trench leading to the southern city of Gaizhou, blocking the possibility of Qing cavalry raiding in the south.

Seeing that Zhou Xian had no intention of retreating his troops on his face, Zhao Xusheng couldn't help but say, "General, let the brothers retreat first! Slowly attack."

Zhou Xian was silent for a moment and said slowly: "Brothers are a little tired. They ordered Xie Qian to lead their troops to stay in place and not move forward any further. Let Gao Yi withdraw the injured brothers and give him immediate treatment. At the same time, let Zalari lead the reserve troops of the first battalion to protect Sakhana through the trench and go directly to the south gate. Sakhana shouted to the Qing army in the city and persuaded them to surrender."

Sakhana was the son of Mangurtai. After Mangurtai's death, he was pursued by Huang Taiji and became a slave. Later Zhou Xian captured Jinzhou, and he was captured and surrendered to Zhou Xian completely.

Considering Sakhana's identity, Zhou Xianben intends to reuse him to set an example to attract more Jurchens to vote.

But Sakhana himself has a timid personality and has no talent to lead a soldier. Moreover, his body is very weak because of his experience as a slave, so he should not charge into battle.

In the end, Zhou Xian had to give up.

But Sakhana was not useless, at least he was very eloquent. The latter, who scolded Haoge, couldn't raise his head and even sent assassins to assassinate him.

After discovering the strengths of Sakhana, he would ask him to attack or persuade the Qing army whenever he was in battle. And it did achieve some good results.

The Qing army gave him a nickname for this, called Menber.

Zhou Xian gave him a guerrilla general's official position, but it was just a false position. He did not lead troops, but only received wages. Moreover, Zhou Xian also sent a soldier from a 100-man team to specifically protect his safety.

Zhao Xusheng's eyes were a little dazed, "Will it be useful to persuade surrender now?"

"It's definitely useless." Zhou Xian said bluntly. "This is for Shang Kexi to show him, so that he knows that I really have plans to attack Gaizhou."

Neither Zhou Xian nor Shang Kexi invested all his troops.

Zhou Xian has about four battalions, less than 15,000 people. Shang Kexi has a small number of people, but there are nearly 10,000 people. However, Shang Kexi has invested more cavalry, which can play a good role in hindrance.

Both sides have enough reserve forces and leave room for each other. This war is more like a war of attrition, just to see who can't stand it and retreat first.

Zarari waited for a long time and received Zhou Xian's order. He immediately led his troops to rush forward.

They walked along the trench, with other battalions guarding the flanks on both sides, and soon went straight to the city of Gaizhou.
Chapter completed!