Zhou Xian was not very clear about the overall retreat plan of Lu Xiangsheng and Hong Chengchou. He only knew that his mission was to receive the Songshan defenders who were ordered to retreat here. Seeing that the Qing cavalry retreated, but sent more infantry to pursue and search, he felt very strange.

What must have happened behind them, but Zhou Xian can't know at the moment.

Zhou Xian ordered the investigation of the rescued personnel on the ship. Only then did he realize how heavy the Ming army suffered in this battle.

The nearly 20,000 soldiers in the city finally successfully boarded the ship. And nearly 10,000 people who followed the city were only more than 3,000 people. In addition to them, there must be other people who took advantage of the chaos to escape into the mountains and forests. However, under such a rigorous search by the Qing army, how many people could finally escape?

Among the rescued personnel, the highest-ranking military officer should be the military supervisor Zhang Ruolin. He, a civil servant, ran around with several slaves, and finally touched the beach and was rescued on the boat. Even Zhou Xian felt incredible about such a thing, and he could only say that he was so lucky.

In addition, among the military generals, Jiang Hui and another deputy general named Li Jianji also fled onto the ship. Although Jiang Hui was seriously injured, there should be no big problem in recuperation for a while.

All of them are lucky.

However, headed by Hong Chengchou, the governor of Ji Liao, and Wang Tingchen, the general, nearly ten deputy generals, dozens of participating generals, guerrillas and various civil and military officials were either captured, killed, or disappeared. When it comes to previous wars with the Qing Dynasty, it is probably only the losses of the Battle of Sarhu can be compared with it.

When Zhou Xian breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Cao Bianjiao was walking on another road. Although the situation is not clear now, it shouldn't be more miserable than this one!

I hope he can escape successfully! Zhou Xian sighed in his heart.

Zhou Xian gathered all the people with officials in the same boat and asked for their opinions. Most of them wanted to leave immediately. Zhou Xian thought about how to place the people in front of him and asked Zhang Ruolin and the two deputy generals. Finally, he decided to transport all the people to Lushun to resettle, and all the soldiers were transported to Tashan.

Zhang Ruolin and the ship transporting soldiers went first, and Zhou Xian stayed behind, waiting for Shen Tingyang to set off before he set off.

Xia Shu got on the boat through the ropes. He was worried that Xia Chengde would travel back and forth on all the ships carrying soldiers on a small boat, asking about all the situations about him.

Zhou Xian saw his face look ugly, frowned and said, "Is there any bad news, or..."

Xia Shu shook his head and said, "I found a few soldiers under my father, but they said that he led his troops to take charge of the palace rear at that time, but was defeated by the Qing army and the entire army collapsed. Some people saw him leading some people to retreat south, but then there was no news at all. I hope the military gate could send me some soldiers and let me go ashore to find him."

Zhou Xian frowned and said, "You don't know where he is now, and you don't even know whether he is still alive. Even if you really get ashore, where can you find him? The search for the Qing army is still going on, and it is not a wise approach to put yourself and your soldiers in danger."

Xia Shu looked ugly and said anxiously: "But..."

Zhou Xian waved his hand to stop him and said, "I know you are worried about your father, but the more you are at this time, the more calm you will be. Your father knows the place where our army evacuated. If he is still alive, he will definitely do his best to come to the mouth of Daling River. I will leave three big ships and some small boats for you to erect the Ming flag and move along the coast. If your father is still alive and arrives at the beach and sees our army's ships, he will definitely send a distress signal, and you can save him on the boat. Doing this is at least much more useful than finding randomly as you go ashore!"

Xia Shu thought about it and finally bowed slightly to Zhou Xian and said, "I thank you for the military."

Zhou Xian nodded and said, "I'm leaving soon for Tashan. Don't get ashore easily. This is the last order I'll give you here."

Xia Shu nodded and said, "I understand."

After Cao Bianjiao came out of Songshan City, he first traveled westward with great fanfare and then galloped northward.

Such a move was completely beyond Ajige's expectations, and the interception he had set up before was basically completely invalidated. The Ming army retreated north and had to cross the Daughter River and then cross several mountains, which was extremely difficult for its cavalry.

Although I don't know why the Ming army made such a stupid decision, this did not affect Ajige's leadership of all his cavalry to pursue him as soon as possible after receiving the news.

It was learned in advance that Hong Chengchou led his troops to break through, and Lu Xiangsheng was likely to respond on the west side. In order to prevent accidental discovery, Dorgon gave Ajige 5,000 cavalry and command power stationed in the forts between Songxing and Xing, and the number of soldiers was even no less than those who blocked Hong Chengchou on the east side.

In this case, if Cao Bianjiao cannot be dealt with, let alone others, Ajige himself would not be able to overcome this hurdle. Fortunately, he sent a lot of whistle cavalry, and since Cao Bianjiao left the city, he has been following the Ming army and knowing in time the change of their direction. It is not too late to catch up at this time.

When traveling at night when fire cannot be made, everything depends on the stars in the sky to guide the direction. Three thousand cavalrymen can pull out three or four miles long queues on the road. In the dark, the front and back commands are not conveyed smoothly, and soldiers can easily lose their direction during running, thus falling into the team, especially on those mountain paths.

In order to prevent this from happening, Cao Bianjiao ordered all soldiers to move quickly along the avenue. He also sent out mail cavalry to send orders back and forth, trying not to let anyone fall into the team. At the same time, he also sent out mail cavalry and moved forward and backward. In order to find the Ming army to meet, and in order to control the movements of the Qing army at any time.

After walking dozens of miles in such a dark night, no soldier was left behind. Such a skill is really not something that ordinary people can do.

The scout came to report that the Qing army was less than twenty miles away from the self-defense army.

Cao Bianjiao's face was calm, he pondered for a moment, and ordered: "Try again!"

A close deputy general next to him urged him to come forward and whispered: "General Cao, what is the Commander Lu doing? We asked us to evacuate from the direction of the Daughter River, but we were reluctant to see his whereabouts of helping us. The Qing cavalry will come to the scene immediately. Isn't he going to kill us?"

Cao Bianjiao rebuked coldly: "Shut up, other people may be like this, but Master Lu will never. When I was exterminated by the bandits, I personally saw him willing to fall into danger in order to save a small soldier. How could he ignore my three thousand soldiers?"

The general's face changed slightly and bowed, "It's my subordinate who has lost his words."
Chapter completed!