Zhang Xianzhong, who seems to be upright, has completed the task assigned by Chongzhen very well. Although these Mongol sentinels did not fully believe what he said, they did not attack the three of them either.

Regarding their proposal to ransom Shimenzhai, the leading Mongols did not categorically refuse, and only said that they would bring the news back to Engeldel, the queen who was stationed in Shimenzhai. In addition, the Mongols had captured some of the population and were willing to sell it to the Ming army, but they did not want silver dollars, but demanded cloth and silk to settle the bill.

After listening to the report of Zhang Xianzhong and others, when Zhu Youzhen was about to wave them down, Zhang Xianzhong suddenly said: "When the minister just talked to these Mongols, he also promised to send each of them a piece of wine and meat, does this agreement need to be continued?" ”

Zuo Liangyu interjected disapprerovingly and said: "What is there to mention about this kind of trivial matter, you can go directly to Jin Shengheng to get it in a while, and now it's not time to turn your face with these Tartars, just let them enjoy a meal first." ”

Zhu Youzhen asked with interest: "How many copies did they ask you for?" ”

Zhang Xianzhong replied cautiously: "They asked for 54 copies." ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded and said, "You go down and make arrangements, and tell them by the way when we deliver wine and food, we plan to set up a camp in Hexi and let them retreat farther." In the past two days, your task is to deal with these Mongols, and if they want to know about the general soldiers of Cui who set up camp in Hexi, you don't have to hide it. As for the rest, you just pretend not to know. ”

After letting Zhang Xianzhong and the others go down, Zhu Youzhen said to the generals around him: "After the general army of Cui comes, let him lead the team to directly cross the river and set up camp, and after driving these Houjin sentinels away from the east bank of the opposite side, gather the soldiers and civilians in the Mashen Bridge and announce the news that I am here, so as to appease the military here."

Now, let's find a place to meet and discuss the next battle plan..."

On the open ground on the east bank of the Lin River on the east side of Mashenqiao, more than 2,000 Ming troops are busy building, a very spacious camp, which almost covers the front of Mashenqiao Town in the west.

On a small hill about 800 meters north of the camp that the Ming army is building, there are 4 or 50 horsemen who are stopping to watch the camp of the Ming army.

At the heart of these horses were the three commanders of the Zoshi Ku, including Batu Zayan, and the reserve officer of this outpost Niu Lu.

His father and two brothers did not participate in the battle to avoid Huang Taiji's suspicions.

However, he was only in his early 20s, and he had only a few previous records of conquest, and he did not have a name for martial arts, so he was able to participate in this battle.

Ming An sent his three sons on the expedition, firstly, to show that he was still loyal to the Houjin and was not dissatisfied with Huang Taiji's division of the Ulut Mongol Banner. The tribe was known for his penchant for medicine, and sending him on the expedition had already shown that the Ulut tribe had only sought no fault and not meritorious service in this war.

The second is that in a group like Houjin Kingdom, blindly showing weakness will not dispel others' eyeing of you. Ming An could accept Huang Taiji's weakening and differentiation of the power of the Ulut Mongol Banner, but it did not mean that he could accept it, and the others took this opportunity to annex the entire Ulut tribe.

The expedition of Qiuerji means that Ming'an does not mean to let go of the Ulut soldiers who went on the expedition. Avoiding Engdel, Vunag and other Mongol nobles, he took the opportunity of this expedition to draw the soldiers of the Ulut tribe over.

He was ordinary-looking, but his body was much thinner than the Mongols around him, and he looked more like a Han Chinese than a herdsman who grew up on the steppe.

The proposal that the Ming army would not come up with a knife to fight with them, but planned to use the money to redeem the city, suddenly made the Ming army a little confused about what the Ming army wanted to do.

However, Erji still gathered the men and horses of the headquarters near the left, and all of them concentrated on the Mashen Bridge to observe the enemy situation to see if these Ming people were fooling themselves or really had this whimsical idea.

As far as Erji's heart is concerned, he hopes that these Mingren are fooling him. Originally, with his identity, he didn't have to take the pro-lead Niu Lu out to do the tiring and hard work of sentry.

However, the new Mongolian Left Battalion Gushan Ezhen Engdel, for the exclusion of the personnel of the Left Battalion Ulut Division, the young Qiuerji really couldn't stand it, and simply accepted a sentry mission, far avoiding Engdel and other newly powerful Mongolian relatives.

The wine and food sent by the Ming army and the large construction site with a crowd of people not far away undoubtedly proved that what the Ming army said was very likely to be true. The family next to Deputy Chief Cui is even more honest, basically asking and answering.

Now Qiu Erji knows the situation of this deputy general soldier Cui well, the younger brother of the former Ming military department Shangshu, who resigned from his official position because he returned to his hometown to guard filial piety. Now that the filial piety period is about to expire, it has encountered the critical moment of the Houjin invasion, so it was recovered by the imperial court.

This deputy chief soldier Cui knew that his subordinates could not fight, but he was forced by the imperial court to lead troops to rescue Zunhua, so he thought about buying Shimen Village from the Houjin army and going back to fool the imperial court with a victory.

The Ming army could not fight, and these Mongols did not believe it until they broke through the pass, after all, the Ming were a powerful force to drive the Mongols back to the steppe from the rich and prosperous Central Plains.

For more than 200 years, the Mongols and the Ming army have been entangled on the northern border, although both sides have their own victories and defeats, but the Mongols have never thought that the Ming army can not fight. The losses suffered at the hands of the Ming army have long been deeply remembered by the Mongolian tribes.

But after this breakthrough, those Jurchen remarks that people can't fight were proved by the Jurchens one by one. In the eyes of the Mongols, the towering and insurmountable fortress of the Great Wall was breached by the Houjin in less than a day.

Under the leadership of Yue Tuo and other Jurchen left wings, the Mongolian left battalion defeated several Ming reinforcements in one day and captured five Ming army forts.

The image of the Ming army in the legend of the old man of the tribe and the Ming army that these Mongolian knights saw with their own eyes are not the same kind of people at all.

At times, he wondered if his ancestors were too cowardly, or if the Ming army was corrupting too quickly, or if the Jurchens were too strong.

However, in any case, the Houjin broke through this time, which not only made the soldiers of the Mongolian left flank despise the Ming army, but also deepened their fear of the Jurchen soldiers and horses. The invincible image of the Jurchens was also deeply implanted in the hearts of these Mongolian soldiers.

In such a situation, although Engedel was dissatisfied with the Jurchen power to suppress his own tribe, he did not think of any resistance at all. After all, in the face of the Jurchens' force, their own family has no strength to resist at all.

Qiu Erji just wants to act according to his father's instructions before he went on the expedition, don't fight for any limelight this time, save his own strength, and go home after the war in peace.

However, he didn't want to go looking for trouble, and trouble came its way. The sentinel tasks assigned to him by Engdel were: first, to clean up all the villages east of the Lin River, and to collect grain and young people; The second is to closely monitor Ma Shenqiao to observe whether the Ming army has any reinforcements and whether there are any moves to the east.

The first task, Qiu Erji felt that he had completed so-so, at this time, all the villages near the official road could run, only the villages far away from the official road still had about the population who had not fled.

Qiuerji urged several other Niu Lu to search up and down the Lin River, but also broke four or five villages, and sent four or five hundred people to Shimenzhai.

But for the second task, Urji has a bit of a headache. He should have completed the task assigned by Engdel, and the deputy chief soldier Cui who led the troops north had no secret at all for Qiuerji.

He even figured out what the name of the concubine in the ninth room of Deputy Chief Cui was, and as for the number of people who were ready to rescue the Zunhua troops and the name of the general who led the team, he almost inquired clearly from the mouth of the big-mouthed family.

It stands to reason that having heard such detailed information and not having to work hard for his subordinates to spy on them was really a thing that made them feel elated.

But Erji was faintly a little empty-hearted, he always felt that Ming Jun was too crazy to do this. The two armies were fighting, and there was a general who told the enemy all about his family's strength and marching intentions, what conspiracy did they want to do? This is one of the things that Urji has been thinking about over and over again.

When Qiuerji was still looking at the faintly formed camp of the Ming army in front of him, a Mongolian knight with thick limbs and a big head and short neck said uncontrollably: "Qiuerji Taiji, why should we pay attention to the intrigues and tricks of those Ming people, they send wine and food, and we will enjoy it."

They demanded money in exchange for their own people, and we traded the captives in our hands to them.

If they want to swing a knife with us, we just pick up the knife and fight them. As for taking money to redeem Shimenzhai or something, let's just listen to it, why bother with this news.

When the Great Khan conquers Zunhua City, he will definitely take us to continue the attack to the west. The belongings in these Ming camps will eventually be our spoils, so why do we need to exchange them for Shimenzhai? ”

Another fierce Mongolian knight pouted and said, "Namtso, do you have muscles in your brain?"

He is now looking for trouble with us every day, just to get the soldiers in the hands of our Ulut tribe into the hands of his tribal cronies.

Whether or not to promise the Ming people to redeem Shimenzhai is the right of the forehead. Our task is to get the news back, and we don't bother to care what we like to do. ”

Qiuerji turned his head to Batu Zayan, who had been silent, and asked, "Brother Batu Zayan, you haven't spoken, but do you have any ideas?" ”

Batu Zayan looked around before cautiously replying: "If we truthfully pass this news back, will it be regarded as evidence that our Ulut Department colluded with the Ming army to try to buy him?"

If he distorted the facts and reported it to the Great Khan, not only would Erji Taiji not end up, but the leader of Ming'an would probably be implicated. ”

Batu Zayan's words suddenly made the faces of Qiuerji and the others change slightly, and the stout Mongolian knight just now immediately gritted his teeth and said: "Otherwise, when that Cui Zongbing comes again, we will cut him, without this person, who knows what we said to the Ming people."