"It's funny, do they come every day to graze the horses on the other side?" Zhu Youzhen put down the binoculars and asked Jin Shengheng on the side.

Jin Shengheng replied respectfully: "That's not it, at the beginning, Xia Guan also sent some cavalry to drive them farther away, so as not to let them press to such a close distance to observe our army."

However, the cavalry of this battalion was not as good as these Mongols, and after losing more than 10 people, they had to shrink to the west of the river. However, these Mongol spies did not continue westward, but stayed east of the river. As of today, it's the third day. ”

Zhu Youzhen immediately asked the generals on both sides: "You have been observing for so long, what do you think of the actions of these Houjin sentinels?" ”

Hongguang Xian and Lian Shanxiang didn't see anything, so they simply remained silent. After all, Zuo Liangyu and Wu Huai were people who had been on the battlefield, and after the two put down their binoculars, they both said with some hesitation: "These Houjin sentinels don't seem to be in a state at all, they don't look like they are on the front line at all, but like they are on an outing." ”

However, Wu Huai then said: "These Houjin sentinels are so lazy, it is better to let the last general take a cavalry out and arrest a few people to come back for questioning." ”

But Zuo Liangyu said: "These sentry agents are so pretending, isn't there a fraud in them?" Although the character of the Mongol Tatars is relatively honest, those Jurchen Tatars have always been treacherous and cunning. Maybe these people are just some bait, trying to lure us into attacking, so that we can catch a few live mouths to find out the truth inside the Mashen Bridge. ”

Wu Huai said disapprehantly: "Although these Mongols are brave in battle, they have always acted rudely, and they have never had any discipline at all. I've seen a lot outside Datong Pass, and it's not something to be suspicious. ”

"Those are the soldiers and horses of the left and right flanks of Mongolia, how can they be compared with the Mongolian soldiers under the name of Hou Jin?" Zuo Liangyu immediately retorted dissatisfied.

Chongzhen, who listened to it for a long time, finally waved his hand to stop the argument between the two, and said casually: "Why continue to argue, since these Houjin sentinel detectives don't have any fighting intentions, why don't you find two people to talk to them and see how they react?" ”

Several generals on the side looked at the emperor in surprise, not knowing what the emperor meant by his words. Zhu Youzhen pointed to the Mongolian sentry in the distance and said: "They appeared here, but they were no more than river sentry, and it was clear that they were ordered to monitor Ma Shenqiao's actions, but they didn't want to do their best.

Otherwise, they would have made a detour across the river and run to the west side of the Mashen Bridge to sentry. Since they are perfunctory about their tasks, it is not necessary that they cannot get some news from them. And we can also use their mouths to send some information. ”

Zuo Liangyu asked with some surprise: "Deliver information?" What message are we going to send to them? ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled and said: "Go find two people who can speak Mongolian, and call Zhang Xianzhong from the reserve non-commissioned officer to come over, and let them test these Mongolians." ”

Zhang Xianzhong and two officers and soldiers who could speak Mongolian were quickly brought to Chongzhen, and Zhu Youzhen asked the three of them to look at the Mongolian sentry on the other side of the river before saying to the three of them: "I have a task for the three of you to do, and if you can complete it, I will allow you to take the lead in this battle." Of course, this task is also very risky, you can choose for yourself, whether to accept this task or not? ”

Zhang Xianzhong looked at the expressions of the two people on the side, and first said loudly: "The minister is willing to die for His Majesty." The other two officers and soldiers hesitated slightly, and like Zhang Xianzhong, they were willing to accept the order issued by the emperor.

was able to be brought to the emperor for questioning, and the three of them also knew that if they did not accept the emperor's order now, they might not end well when they went back. Therefore, whether he wanted it in his heart or not, he verbally showed that he was willing to serve the emperor.

Zhu Youzhen didn't delve into the thoughts of the three of them, but quickly continued: "You have also seen those Mongolian Tatars on the other side of the river.

Now I want you to make contact with them, so that these Mongols will not misunderstand them, and flee directly, and only the three of you will come forward, and no one will support you. Of course, if these Mongols make a move as soon as they see you, you can also flee back immediately, and you don't have to continue to force it.

If they don't do it immediately after seeing you, then you tell them that you are the family of the deputy general of Jizhou Wei Cui Ningxiu, and you are under the order of the deputy general Cui of the general army, hoping to negotiate a deal with the general stationed in Shimen Village.

Cui deputy general army by the imperial court, with 4,000 troops to rescue Zunhua, heard that Shimen Zhai in the hands of the Houjin army, in order to avoid the two families between the reckless fighting, resulting in more injuries, so want to negotiate a deal with the general stationed in Shimen. Deputy General Cui is willing to pay a sum of money to redeem Shimen Village.

If there are the people of my Ming Dynasty in Shimen Village, Deputy General Cui is also willing to redeem them. Whether it is the elderly, the weak, the woman or the child, they are willing to redeem it at a price of 5 yuan per person.

As for the rest of the words, it is up to you to do whatever you want. It doesn't matter how much information can be used, Jizhou Wei sent a deputy general soldier to lead troops to support Zunhua, and this deputy general soldier is willing to spend money to ransom Shimen Village, and these two news are enough to convey truthfully. ”

Zhang Xianzhong and the two officers and soldiers who were summoned were ready to go into battle desperately, but after hearing the task assigned by the emperor, they were a little stunned. It took a while for them to react and accept the emperor's orders.

After Zhang Xianzhong and the others left, Zhu Youzhen immediately ordered the generals around him: "General Cui's soldiers immediately return to the camp, bring out the auxiliary soldiers in the camp, put up a banner to enter the Mashen Bridge, and prepare to establish a camp in Hexi."

After Wu Huai returned, he assigned sentry cavalry to block the perimeter of the camp. If the Houjin Sentinel has crossed the Mashen Bridge, he will never let anyone go. The rest will be talked about after Zhang Xianzhong and the others come back. ”

After Zhang Xianzhong got off the city, someone sent horses. Zhang Xianzhong looked at the weapons hanging on the horses, shook his head and said, "Since you are here to show goodwill, you don't need to bring weapons." ”

The soldiers on the side immediately removed their weapons from the saddles, and the three of them turned on their horses and rushed out through the open east gate. On a gentle slope near the river to the east of the river, Wenerdu lay on horseback and looked at the sky in a daze with an acrobatic technique.

Neither can they plunder around, nor can they rely on risks to gain credit, and the Ming army on the opposite side is cowering and dare not come out, Wen Erdu feels a little bored. What annoyed him the most was that the weather was getting colder and colder, and there were no beasts to be found in the wild, and the place where they were camping had been ruined and cleaned, and they could only eat some dry food that they had brought with them.

While Wen'er was staring at the sky in a daze, an alarm had already sounded from the nearby sentry riders. In a matter of moments, Wenerdu and the two Mongolian knights who were resting immediately returned to their state of readiness.

Batu Zayan also ran over from the north with three people, and watched as three unarmed Ming knights slowly ran over from the other side of the river, shouting something.

Wen Du said to Batu Zayan eagerly: "Let me take two people down and arrest them, only three of them dare to come out, isn't this to send us horses." ”

Batu Zayan ignored this over-energetic subordinate, but listened attentively, "They are shouting, don't release arrows?

It seems that these brutes want to say something to us, let them come first, and hear what they have to say. ”

After Zhang Xianzhong and the other three crossed the river, they were faintly surrounded by the group of Mongolian Tatars. Chongzhen and the others, who were standing at the head of Ma Shenqiao City, also looked at Zhang Xianzhong nervously, and they negotiated with those Mongolian Tatars.

This negotiation lasted more than half an hour, and it was not until Zhang Xianzhong and the other three people crossed the river safely that Zhu Youzhen put down the binoculars with peace of mind and said to the people around him: "Okay, since they can return safely, at least our plan is half successful." It depends on what Zhang Xianzhong said to them. ”

Wu Huai finally couldn't help frowning and said, "Your Majesty, do we really want to take the money to redeem Shimen Village?" ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at the puzzled eyes of the generals, and couldn't help but smile and said, "It's just to find a reason to talk to them."

If the main force of Houjin really went west, do you think these sentinels will pass back such ridiculous conditions?

I'm willing to bet that even if there are a few Jurchen Niulu in Shimen Village, these Mongols will not dare to talk to the people we sent out easily.

Although these Jurchens talk about Zhushen and the Mongolian family, they can be wary of the Mongols. If we had known that these Mongols had been in private contact with us and had brought back such ridiculous information, it is estimated that the Jurchens would have been the first to cut off their heads.

Zhang Xianzhong After they finished talking with these Mongolian Tatars, they were able to return safely. Then we can roughly determine that the current main force of Houjin has not yet gone west. The defenders of Shimenzhai still only have some Mongols. ”

Although Zhu Youzhen did not know that Huang Taiji was dividing within the Ulut Banner, he was very clear about the vigilance of the Jianzhou Jurchens against the Mongols.

Not to mention, if a small tribe like the Jurchens wants to override the huge steppe nation of Mongolia, they can only constantly weaken the centrifugal force between the various tribes of Mongolia and prevent this unity from uniting.

Even according to the historical materials he knew in later generations, after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the Qing royal family, which put the Manchu and Mongolian families on their lips, implemented the policy of reducing the number of people and the policy of religious ignorance of the Mongolian tribes, so that by the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Mongols had become a nation that was about to decline.

Therefore, he asked Zhang Xianzhong and others to contact these Mongolian sentinels, and did not care what they said. The important thing is whether these Mongolian sentinels dare to contact Zhang Xianzhong and others.

With this move, he was already eighty percent sure that the situation in Shimen Village had not changed much. Then, after listening to the reports of Zhang Xianzhong and others, we can discuss the next battle plan.

As for the reason given by the emperor, the generals were a little skeptical. However, their confidence in recovering Shimenzhai has inexplicably increased a little.