The video takes us to ancient times; Li Er transforms into the Tongtian Emperor of Shu Han.

"You want the Qing Dynasty to return to its former glory?"

"Heh, you'd never even dream of doing that, would you?"

"Putting everything else aside, the one currently guarding the border is none other than Emperor Gaozu."

"If Xiang Yu could defeat them, why couldn't Emperor Gaozu do the same?"

Looking at Dorgon's confident expression on the sky, Zhu Yuanzhang just laughed mockingly.

It's normal that they couldn't defeat Xiang Yu.

After all, Yu's bravery was unparalleled throughout history, and no second Xiang Yu, the Hegemon of Western Chu, has emerged in the thousands of years since.

But even if they couldn't defeat Xiang Yu, they thought they could break through the border guarded by Liu Bang.

That's really quite nonsensical.

During the late Qin and early Han dynasties, Liu Bang personally led troops to guard the pass, and even Xiang Yu was unable to forcibly capture it.

"Do they think that they can't defeat Xiang Yu, but they can force their way through Shanhaiguan, which is guarded by Emperor Gaozu?"

"Are they crazy? Or is it that they only have Xiang Ji in their eyes?"

"Does Dorgon really think that the annihilation of the Qing army inside Shanhaiguan was entirely Xiang Yu's doing?"

Li Er scratched his head, genuinely unable to understand where Dorgon's confidence came from.

The encirclement and suppression of the Qing army inside Shanhaiguan seemed to be going very smoothly, and they even almost wiped out the entire army.

Could it be that Xiang Yu accomplished all of this with only a few thousand Jiangdong soldiers under his command?

Those were tens of thousands of elite Qing cavalry, not tens of thousands of pigs!

Even if we take a step back and assume there were 80,000 pigs, it would be impossible for Xiang Yu to annihilate them all with only a few thousand men.

Without the arrangements left by Han Xin, Xiang Yu alone could at most defeat the Qing army, but he could not stop their rout.

Without the troops that Liu Bang had won over, the Qing army could easily enter and exit the border, and could withdraw from danger at any time if things went wrong.

Even if Wu Sangui's Guan Ning cavalry had not been contained, the outcome would have been obvious.

One hundred thousand Qing troops, plus tens of thousands of elite Guan Ning cavalry, and their weapons and armor that even Xiang Yu coveted.

The outcome of this war is obvious.

Clearly, all three parties are indispensable, and each of them plays a crucial role.

But in Dorgon's eyes, he only saw how terrifying Xiang Yu was.

"If we hold this mindset, then barring any unforeseen circumstances, Emperor Gaozu should not need to deliberately target the Qing army."

"The worst-case scenario is that after this group of Tartars plundered the Central Plains for a period of time, they tried to break through the pass, and were then defeated by Emperor Gaozu, resulting in the annihilation of the entire army."

"Although we cannot stop the people from suffering, we can at least help them avenge themselves."

No one believed that, given the current situation, anyone could stop Dorgon.

And it turned out exactly as they expected.

The looting began around the capital and quickly spread outwards.

Even Li Zicheng did not expect Dorgon to act so quickly.

And he never expected that these Tartars, who numbered only a thousand or so, would be able to spread so rapidly!

Within just half a month, dozens of towns were in dire need of attention, and even prefectures and counties with troops stationed there could not withstand the pressure!

"Are these people made of clay?"

"The Qing army numbered less than two thousand men in total, and when I saw them before, they were all skin and bones from hunger."

"How could someone like this be able to win battle after battle within my Central Plains territory, and even a prefecture garrisoned by 5,000 troops couldn't withstand the attack for more than three days?"

Upon seeing these numerous battle reports, Li Zicheng was completely dumbfounded.

At that moment, he realized some of the problems.

It seems the Qing army wasn't as incompetent as he thought.

On the contrary, the fighting power of Dorgon's elite troops far exceeded his expectations!

To defeat an enemy force several times their size seems like an easy task for them!

So what kind of monsters were the rebels who defeated them, and even almost wiped them out?

He still didn't think Dorgon could cause much trouble, after all, he only had less than two thousand soldiers.

But the rebel army that seized Shanhaiguan Pass truly caught his eye and became a major concern for him!

After thinking it over, Li Zicheng decided to test Dorgon's abilities again.

"Issue my decree: mobilize 10,000 troops to encircle and annihilate them!"

"If we can win and capture their general alive, I will not hesitate to reward him with higher rank and titles!"

Ten thousand soldiers!

Ten times the number to suppress.

In Li Zicheng's view, capturing Dorgon and his small number of men should be more than enough.

His purpose was to test the Qing army's strength and thus estimate the power of the rebels on the border.

What should happen after Dorgon takes control?

Either let him redeploy troops from the Qing court and continue his mission.

Alternatively, treat the previous promises and conversations as if they never happened, and just kill Suanqiu directly.

Anyway, Li Yan and the others didn't say they wanted Dorgon to make a big fuss. If he had the ability, he could make a big fuss; if he didn't, the current situation would be just fine.

Although he failed to achieve his goal of killing two birds with one stone, at least he was able to figure out the strength of the rebels at the border!

Imagination is beautiful.

But often, things don't go as he imagined.

About half a month passed after the 10,000 troops were dispatched.

Just as Li Zicheng was getting impatient, news arrived.

But this was not the news he had expected; in fact, none of the 10,000 troops returned.

The battle report that came back contained only a few lines.

The vanguard was completely wiped out, the central command tent was attacked, the main force was scattered, more than 2,000 were killed in battle, more than 5,000 surrendered, and the remaining 3,000 soldiers fled and their whereabouts are still unknown.

After carefully reading the battle report, Li Zicheng's hands began to tremble uncontrollably.

More than a thousand Qing cavalrymen defeated his ten thousand troops.

To ensure that this battle would reveal the Qing army's true strength, he even dispatched his most elite troops.

But now it seems that not only did they fail to find out the Qing army's strength, they also exposed their own weaknesses!

Ten times the number of troops!

They ended up being almost completely wiped out!

The five thousand soldiers who surrendered were not even as good as those who were annihilated!

It's possible that those people will turn against us and become enemies soon!

"Somebody come!"

"Issue my decree: spare no expense in suppressing and annihilating this band of bandits and rebels currently plundering the Central Plains!"

"Whoever defeats the rebel army will be granted the title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households!"

"Whoever slays the bandit leader will be made a king!"

"I have three months. Within three months, I want to see the head of the bandit leader, or all the generals will be punished!"

"Furthermore, summon Li Yan to see me!"

"I need to ask him carefully. I followed his advice, so how does he plan to deal with the current problems?"

……

"You mean, Li Zicheng not only accepted Dorgon, but also allowed him to plunder the Central Plains under your name?"

“I can understand this matter, but what do you mean by saying they’re fighting amongst themselves?”

"What kind of idiots were Li Zicheng or his advisors to do such a thing?"