Hearing that his brother Cui Chengxiu arrived at Mashenqiao with the reinforcements, Cui Ningxiu, who returned to Mashenqiao with the remnants of the army to repair, hurriedly went out of the town to greet his brother.

Cui Chengxiu, who was sitting in the carriage, didn't get out of the car, he glanced at Cui Ningxiu from the window, and asked him to get in the car to talk. After Cui Ningxiu got in the car, Cui Chengxiu's face suddenly became gloomy, "What are you thinking in your head?" Your Majesty is still in Shimen Village, but you are hiding in Mashen Bridge, is this the way to be a minister?"

Cui Ningxiu hurriedly explained for herself: "Brother doesn't know... His Majesty saw that I was born and died, and nearly half of the casualties were lost, so he asked the younger brother to take them down, stop at Mashen Bridge for a while, and wait for the vehicle to come up, and then withdraw the wounded to Jizhou to recuperate. The younger brother is also acting on orders..."

Cui Ningxiu didn't explain, but with his explanation, Cui Chengxiu's tone became even colder, "Your Majesty will withdraw if you want to withdraw?" Let me ask you, when do you think the next battle will be fought after this battle? ”

Cui Ningxiu frowned and thought for a long time before saying: "Our army is not strong enough, the grain is uneven, and His Majesty seems to be intending to wait for the main force of the new army to arrive before heading east."

And according to those captured Mongols, the real Jurchen Tartars are now under the city of Zunhua, and the siege has been almost half a month, if they turn around and go west now, I am afraid that the previous efforts to besiege Zunhua will be in vain.

Therefore, the younger brother thinks that our army will not advance eastward for the time being, and the Jin army will probably not go west in a short time, and I am afraid that the next battle will have to wait for a long time. ”

Cui Chengxiu slapped his thigh, and then said with hatred: "Yes, since I don't know when the next battle will start, wouldn't it be safe to be by Your Majesty's side now?" Why don't you stay by Your Majesty's side, let Your Majesty remember what you look like, and run back to Mashen Bridge to sit? If Your Majesty hadn't remembered your appearance, wouldn't your exploits in life and death be in vain? ”

Cui Ningxiu originally had a little resentment in his stomach, he fought with his life on the battlefield, and finally survived. As soon as the brother arrived, he scolded him, and he didn't say hello if he was hurt, which was too indifferent. But after listening to his brother's words, he finally came to his senses.

Indeed, as my brother said, he went up when he was most adventurous, but now His Majesty's side is very peaceful, but he ran to the rear, maybe what the emperor thinks of him in his heart? If he really sees him as a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death, Cui Ningxiu feels as if she has been wronged.

After getting off his brother's carriage, Cui Ningxiu immediately called his lieutenant, and then handed over the defense of Ma Shenqiao and the rest of the troops to him, and then he himself led a group of family members to follow his brother's carriage to Shimen Village.

On 14 November, Mao Yuanyi and Cui Chengxiu rushed to Shimenzhai with a large contingent of more than 8,000 people, of whom 5,000 were auxiliary troops, who had come to build the camp at the mouth of Shimenxia.

After putting Du Du and the others back, Zhu Youzhen let Zuo Liangyu's chariot camp pass through Shimenxia, and at a distance of 500 meters from the exit of Shimenxia, a small village was set up on the left and right of the exit to cover the east exit of Shimenxia.

However, if it is necessary to extend the camp to the east, it is obviously not enough to rely on the men and horses of the camp on chariots alone. So he ordered Jizhou City to transfer an auxiliary army to prepare to build a semi-permanent fortified camp east of Shimenxia.

The main role of this camp is to serve as a sortie and logistics transit camp for the rescue of Zunhua troops, of course, in view of the fact that the Later Jin army heard the news of the arrival of the Ming Emperor in Shimenxia, there is a possibility of a surprise attack by cavalry troops, so the camp on the east side of Shimenxia has also added a lot of defensive facilities.

The camp will be built on both sides of a small river, and a large open space will have to be cleared in and around the camp, so it will require a lot of manpower. However, for Mao Yuanyi and Cui Chengxiu, after the emperor achieved the victory, he did not rush eastward and ran directly to rescue Zunhua City, which can be regarded as a blessing from God.

When Mao Yuanyi, Cui Chengxiu and other officials in Jizhou City received the report, everyone was a little unconvinced that the emperor actually went to attack Shimenzhai with such a small army, and won the battle.

If it weren't for the emperor being in the front army, they almost thought that someone in the front army wanted to falsify the news of the victory and reap a reward for themselves.

With the Mongol captives who were brought back after the report, the soldiers and civilians in Jizhou finally believed that the emperor had won a battle and recaptured Shimenzhai.

But Mao Yuanyi and Cui Chengxiu didn't think this was a good thing, they were worried that Chongzhen, who won the victory easily for the first time, would be carried away by this victory and continue to march east with the army. After interrogating the Mongol captives, they learned that the emperor had defeated no more than 2,000 Mongols, half of whom were Mongol vassals who did not wear much armor.

They were afraid that Chongzhen would be young and vigorous, and after defeating these Mongols, they looked down on the strength of the real Jurchen Tartars, and rushed to Zunhua City rashly. If the emperor is lost to those Jurchen Tartars, they will be the culprits.

As soon as Mao Yuanyi and Cui Chengxiu heard the news, they wanted to rush over immediately, ready to see the situation to stop the emperor's impulse. But they soon received new orders from the emperor to build a railway, transport supplies, and bring up an auxiliary, which reassured them.

After arriving at Shimen Village, the auxiliary soldiers were led to the other end of Shimen Gorge, while Mao Yuanyi, Cui Chengxiu and others were welcomed into Shimen Village, and Li Hongyuan, who originally stayed at Ma Shen Bridge to recuperate, also followed the team to Shimen Village.

With the arrival of Mao Yuanyi and other personnel, the central command organization of the headquarters was also transferred from Jizhou to Shimenzhai. Information about the third theater of war also came, and the king of Shangshu of the military department was in Jin, and the governor of Jiliao, Wang Zhichen, one was in Shanhaiguan and the other was in Qian'an to supervise the battle.

Originally, there were more than 30 battalion heads, each battalion head was about 2-4,000 people, after more than a year of reorganization, it was reduced to 29 battalion heads, about 57,000 people, of which 13 battalion heads belonged to the Mangui commander, 12 battalion heads were in the hands of Zu Dashou, these Liaoxi generals, and four battalion heads belonged to the guest army.

After receiving the news of the Houjin invasion, Wang Zaijin immediately urged Man Gui to take six battalions out of the pass, two of which were transferred to the second war zone, and the remaining four battalions were used to defend the front line of Qian'an and Shanhaiguan.

And the minister of Jiliao Governor Wang Zhichen also urged Zu Dashou and other Liaoxi generals to rush to Qian'an with five battalion heads, and now three battalion heads have arrived in Qian'an, two battalion heads are on the way, and there are three battalion heads outside the pass are being mobilized.

Previously, the military meeting held by the base camp in Jizhou discussed that Jizhou and Qian'an should be the main combat areas of the first and third war zones, so as to block the Houjin army from moving west out of Jizhou and entering the Gyeonggi area, or entering Shanhaiguan in the east to threaten the passage from Liaoxi Town to Guannai.

This strategy was planned on the basis that Hou Jin had basically captured Zunhua City, and now that it has been learned that Zunhua City has not yet fallen and is still being held, the strategic layout of the base camp that was originally biased towards defense will naturally have to be reviewed again.

After Mao Yuanyi and other members of the staff headquarters of the base camp arrived at Shimen Village, Zhu Youzhen summoned everyone to hold a military meeting in the afternoon of the same day.

The time of this meeting was much shorter than the last Jizhou meeting, after all, everyone does not rely entirely on speculation about the situation on the battlefield now, but can see part of the real situation.

Although the loss of the Santun camp made the Houjin army obtain some military supplements, the news that Zunhua City was still in the hands of the Ming army made everyone feel relieved.

The Ming army is now in a situation of heavy attack from the east and west, and with Zunhua City in the center, as long as the Houjin army makes a mistake in dealing with it, it will be an unprecedented defeat.

Since the current operational situation is favorable to the Ming Dynasty, the members of the General Staff Headquarters and the generals of the New Army have quickly changed from the original mentality of not seeking merit but seeking no faults to being enterprising and wanting to win victory.

The new army and the Liaoxi army outside the Guanxi are the most effective armies of the Ming Dynasty, and now the number of troops invaded by the Later Jin is far less than that of the Ming army, plus the terrain near Zunhua, except for the vicinity of Baozizhai, there are few areas suitable for the cavalry to carry out operations. Especially in the third war zone, the area from Santun Camp to Qian'an, there are many hills and mountains, once the camp is established, the cavalry advantage of Houjin is greatly limited.

Therefore, a new strategy was quickly drawn at the meeting, that is, the first theater of operations to attract the Houjin army to attack the built camp, and erect a banner representing the great tomorrow in the camp to see if the Houjin army would be fooled.

If the Houjin were not deceived, then they would use the camp established at the eastern exit of Shimenxia as a base to carry out a diversionary attack in the direction of Zunhua and attract a part of the Houjin army to the front line of the first theater.

The Third Theater undertook the task of the main attack, gathering six to eight battalions, building a camp every 15 miles from Qian'an to Santun Camp, and then relying on the camp to fight an offensive defensive battle with the Houjin army. It was less than 140 miles to Santunying, which means that as long as nine camps were built, they would be able to see the walls of Santunying.

Let the Liaoxi Army engage in a field battle with the Houjin Army, whether the Ming Army can win or not, whether it is Zhu Youzhen or the members of the General Staff Headquarters are not sure. However, if the village is stubbornly defended, it mainly depends on whether the process and design of the construction camp are up to standard.

The barricades and fortresses in the street battles of Zunhua City proved their worth, so the members of the General Staff Headquarters redesigned a field camp format map after referring to the experience of the street battles in Zunhua City and at the suggestion of several staff officers who had studied military engineering.

At the end of the meeting, it was decided that a special person should go to the Third War Zone with the drawings and build a field camp on the basis of the drawings. Zhu Youzhen summed up this tactic, that is: harden the village and fight in a daze.

From noon on the 14th, the Ming army marched out of Shimenxia to Zunhua, and began to encounter strong interception by the Houjin Sentinel Cavalry.

These Houjin Whistle Riders basically won all the battles with less than five people. If the cavalry of more than five people fights, if the battle is about four or six open, the Ming army will win four and lose six. If it's a sudden scuffle, it's almost three or seven. On the afternoon of the 14th alone, the Ming army lost more than ten Ming sentinel cavalry.