The Liaoxi generals who confronted the Later Jin army were in disbelief about the victory in the Battle of Shimen, and they really didn't believe that the Jingying, which had always been considered to be rotten, could defeat a Later Jin army.

What shocked them even more was that the emperor dared to rush to the battlefield with such an army in ignorance and fearlessness, fortunately this war was still won, otherwise they would not have to fight the next battle.

After the news of the victory in the Battle of Shimen came, the king of Shangshu in the military department who was sitting in Qian'an, finally couldn't help but recall Man Gui and other generals back to Qian'an, and reprimanded these generals sharply.

Whether it was because of the shame of hearing the news of the victory in Jingying, or because of the dissatisfaction of the emperor, the Liaodong army's offensive finally picked up some light in the next few days. Man Gui finally made up his mind, transferred the two demoralized battalion heads, replaced them with two new battalion heads, and increased the rewards.

Man Gui commanded four battalions with 10,000 troops, divided into two teams, and attacked the roads blocked by the Houjin army alternately at one-day intervals, which finally opened the original stalemate between the two sides.

On the 15th, the Ming army fought for a day and repelled the Houjin army for more than 3 miles. On the 16th, the Ming army advanced another 7 miles, and on the 17th, the Ming army finally recaptured Malanzhuang, which was nearly 40 miles northwest of Qian'an County.

Malanzhuang is a valley plain surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the Luan River runs from northwest to south, dividing this place into two parts: southwest and northeast. Due to the abundant water and grass here, and easy to defend and difficult to attack, it used to be the place where Jizhou Wei raised horses. After Wanli, because of the breeding relationship of the Ming people, Malanzhuang was slowly developed into a farming area.

And last year, after the prospectors sent by the imperial court to explore the rich reserves of iron ore in this place, the iron ore mine was built in the territory of Malanzhuang, and the nearby villagers and the Liao people recruited from outside the Guan, about 2,000 people gathered in Malanzhuang, although it was only a year, Malanzhuang has changed from a large village of hundreds of households to a small town of nearly 1,000 households, and the prosperity and liveliness here are even about to catch up with the county seat of Qian'an.

However, after the invasion of the Houjin army, this newly prosperous town suddenly suffered a serious blow, not only the property of the people in the town was looted by these Houjin soldiers, but some people in the town who did not have time to escape were also detained by the Houjin army and rushed to Zunhua City to be cannon fodder.

Of course, what made local officials most anxious was that because the Later Jin army occupied Malanzhuang, the amount of iron ore supplied by Qian'an to Tangshan Iron Works was reduced by two-thirds, and even local officials and large iron ore business owners lost a lot of profits.

Because of this, the local officials and gentry in Qian'an were the most active supporters of the rebellion against the invasion of the Later Jin army. Originally, local officials and gentry had never allowed foreign soldiers to enter the city, but in this war, the Liaodong army was actively and enthusiastically welcomed into the county by the people of Qian'an County, and the local gentry not only vacated a block in the city for garrison, but also raised a batch of grain, pigs and sheep to reward the Liaodong army that arrived in Qian'an first.

Because of the warm welcome of the people of Qian'an, the Ming army of Liaodong, which had always been not very strict in military discipline, paid attention to its own image for the first time, and Man Gui also specially issued an order asking the army not to disturb the people.

However, although the Liaodong Ming army maintained military discipline in Qian'an City, it was unable to repel the Houjin army outside the city and recapture Malanzhuang, which made the local gentry officials slowly complain. Especially when the emperor won a victory after his personal expedition and recaptured Shimen Village, the people of Qian'an even dared to openly ridicule the Liaodong Ming army who could not open the situation.

However, when Man Gui and his subordinates finally recaptured Malanzhuang, the people of Qian'an finally smiled and began to praise these Liaodong Ming troops incessantly. Some anxious gentry rushed to Malanzhuang on the same day, trying to resume the production of iron ore as soon as possible, so as to recover the losses of these days.

For Man Gui, taking Ma Lanzhuang finally ensured the safety of Qian'an County behind him. There are two roads from Santunying to Qian'an, one is to pass through Malanzhuang and go down the Luan River; The other runs parallel to the Great Wall north of Malanzhuang to the east and then turns back to the southwest.

The former road only needs to take the pass of Malanzhuang, and you can go all the way to the south. The latter road was surrounded by mountains and hills, and the Ming army only needed to arrange a few people to control that road.

However, from Malanzhuang to Santunying, there are two more difficult difficulties to pass along the way, one is Wuzhong'an in the north of Malanzhuang, Hongyu Mountain in the north and Wuhu Mountain in the south form a large gap here. The Houjin army guarded here, and the Ming army could attack for several days.

The other place is the Shinobi Pass to the west of Gojuan, and the terrain of that mountain pass is even more dangerous. With the terrain of these two places, the Houjin army was enough to hold them for ten days and half a month.

Therefore, after laying down Malanzhuang, Man Gui tried to repair for a day, and inherited from the rear to transfer people, due to the news of the victory in the Battle of Shimen, the original slow march of the Liaodong Ming army support, finally accelerated.

Among them, Zhang Chun, Wu Xiang and others with 3 battalions of men and horses have already marched from Qian'an to Malanzhuang, and Zu Dashou with 4 battalions of reinforcements is also on the way from Shanhaiguan to Qian'an.

Man Gui originally wanted to wait for Zu Dashou's men and horses to arrive in Qian'an, and then launch an attack on the Wuchong'an Pass, and then rely on the advantage in numbers to capture the Ninja Pass in one go, not giving the Houjin army a chance to breathe.

But whether it is Wang Zaijin or the local gentry officials, they can't wait. They asked Man Gui to take advantage of the victory to pursue, not to stop at Malanzhuang for repairs, and to give the Houjin army a chance to consolidate the defensive line.

While Wang Zaijin did not want the emperor to continue to venture eastward, his own people were still delaying on the road. If the emperor's side is frustrated, he, who is already a relatively controversial military secretary, will not be able to continue.

What worries him the most is that the people led by Chongzhen are only frustrated, if even the emperor himself is trapped, he has the strongest troops in the border town of the Ming Dynasty all the way without merit, I am afraid that he will become a scapegoat for the defeat of this war at that time.

Therefore, Wang Zaijin ignored Mangui's explanation of the reason for repair, and forced him to continue to attack northward, even if it was hard, he demanded to arrive at the city of Santunying within five days. As long as he could attract part of the strength of the Later Jin army, Wang Zaijin felt that the enemy army encountered by the emperor in the west would be much easier to deal with.

In addition to ordering Man Gui to speed up his attack, Wang Zaijin also ordered Zhang Chun, Wu Xiang and other three battalions to be transferred to Man Gui's command to strengthen the strength of Man Gui's forward force.

On the morning of the 18th, Man Gui personally led two battalions of 5,000 men to attack Wuchong'an, and the Ming army took the Wuchong'an area at 1 p.m. after four hours of fierce fighting. Zhang Chun and Wu Xiang led two battalions of fresh troops with a total of 6,000 people, and then crossed the Wuchong'an Pass and attacked the Ninzikou more than 20 miles to the west.

At noon on the 19th, on the way to Renzikou with his army, Man Gui received a good news from Zhang Chun and Wu Xiang, saying that the two had captured Renzikou, and the Houjin army was retreating to the Santun camp.

Man Gui was overjoyed at the good news sent back by Zhang Chun and Wu Xiang, so he left the team and rushed to the mouth of the forbearance with his own guards. After arriving at the gate of the small village in front of the mouth of the ninja, Man Gui, who was sitting on a horse and watching, found that only Zhang Chun, the supervisor of Huazhou, and the deputy generals Zhang Hongmo and Liu Tianlu stood at the entrance of the village to greet him.

In the old military system of the Ming Dynasty, the military supervisor was an official who directly obeyed the superintendent and supervised the generals' operations. If it weren't for the change of the military system after the new emperor ascended the throne, as long as there was an order from the governor, Zhang Chun could even command him, the general soldier, to fight.

Before he reached the entrance of the village, Man Gui had already dismounted, and then stepped forward to greet Zhang Chun for a while, and then asked Zhang Chun: "Why didn't you see Vice General Wu, could it be that he still pursued the rear army of the Tartars?" ”

Zhang Chun arched his hand at Man Gui before shaking his head and said: "Vice General Wu suggested to the lower officials that while the Tartars are defeated and retreat, they will first take back the Qianxi county town in the southwest, and then the two places can use each other's horns to defend against the counterattack of the Tartars." Xia Guan thought this was a good idea, so he asked him to take his headquarters to recover Qianxi County. However, the general soldier, the subordinate felt that something seemed to be wrong with this matter. ”

Man Gui suddenly stopped, and asked with some worry: "Zhang Daotai thinks something is wrong?" ”

Zhang Chun pointed to the mountain pass to the west and said: "In such a precipitous and critical place, the Tartars gave up and fled without much resistance, which seems to be different from the style of the Tartars in the past.

Xia Guan originally thought that it would be necessary to fight here for a day or two, and hundreds of dead and wounded people would be able to shake the military spirit of the Tartars. But the attack began this morning, and before the hour was halfway through, the Tartars had already retreated. Xia Guan felt that this was too abnormal. Xia Guan felt that it was better to be careful in the next battle. ”

Man Gui frowned and thought for a long time, and finally spoke: "What Zhang Daotai said is right, it is only a day's journey from Santun Camp to this place. Let's just repair for a few days first, and then let General Zu and his troops catch up with the reinforcements as soon as possible.

As long as we join forces with the men and horses of General Zu's army, there will be nearly 30,000 people in eleven battalions, and even if the main force of the Tartars in front of us is exhausted, he will not be able to swallow so many of us. ”

Zhang Chun nodded, arched his hand again and said: "General Man is right, as long as we join forces with the ancestor general soldier, even if these Tartars have any conspiracies, it will be difficult to display them." ”

However, when Man Gui had just sent someone to report to the rear and captured the Ninja Pass, and asked Zu Dashou to bring troops up as soon as possible, Wu Xiang, who had led the troops to recover the county seat of Qianxi, ran back to the Ninja Pass with a few Mongolian prisoners.