On the evening of November 22, the garrison of the original Shimen Village, the current emperor's palace and the base camp of the Ming army were still brightly lit, and one team after another of guards patrolled the palace, and it seemed that the atmosphere tonight was particularly tense.

After receiving the information from Qian'an, the emperor summoned the generals stationed on both sides of Shimenxia to come back for a meeting, and now it is almost an hour, and the meeting still does not see an end.

In the hall where the meeting was held, Chongzhen listened to the arguments for nearly an hour, and he didn't pay attention to it thoroughly. Although it has been discussed before, once Houjin really transfers the main force to the east, then their side will take the opportunity to seize Baozizhai with all their might, so as to seize a favorable terrain.

However, the original idea of the base camp was based on the main force of the Tartars taking the initiative to launch an attack on the Ming army on the East Road, and the Ming army of Liaodong, which relied on the camp to defend it, could hold off the main force of the Tartars for a few days no matter what, so as to give the base camp enough time to seize the fort village and open up the passage to Zunhua City.

But if the Ming army in the east had crashed into the trap of the Tartars themselves, the battle would not have dragged on for long, and the distance between Santun Camp and Baozizhai made it the shortest distance for the Later Jin army to mobilize troops.

Excluding the one-day marching time, if the Ming army on the Western Road could not capture Baozizhai within two days, it was very likely to be attacked by the Houjin army that came back. The Houjin army with the fort village held on, and the main Houjin army with reinforcements outside, and the attacking Ming army on the west road was in danger of being wiped out.

It took three days to build the fort, and the generals, including Mao Yuanyi and Zuo Liangyu, did not have this confidence. There is a large plain terrain between Dongdaying and Baozizhai, and even if Houjin left in Baozizhai only a partial division, the cavalry he has is enough to delay the march of the Ming army.

This is a trap against the Ming army, but this trap may have been used against the Ming army on the eastern route, and it is also possible that it was used against the Ming army on the western route. Before the movement of the main force of the Tartars was determined, the Ming army on the Western Route naturally did not dare to act rashly, but after the movements of the main force of the Tartars were determined, the time that could be used for safe operations was insufficient.

At the military meeting, it was natural to form two opposing propositions, one was to advocate an all-out attack, directly when the main force of the Tartars had been transferred to the east, and then take the fort in the shortest possible time.

On the other hand, it is believed that the previous mode of defensive operations should be maintained until the situation becomes uncertain. For the Ming army on the east road, one is to send personnel to warn them, and the other is to wait for the Ming army on the east road to send more accurate news of the ambush and the loss.

Those who advocated an all-out attack were young staff officers such as Wu Huai and Li Hongyuan; Those who advocated a serious attitude and waited for definite news before acting were generals such as Mao Yuanyi and Zuo Liangyu.

Wu Huai believed that since it had been judged that the main force of the Tartars was not in person, he should quickly dispatch troops and not give the Tartars time to react. Li Hongyuan, on the other hand, felt that according to most of the information in his hands now, it could be proved that the Ming army on the East Road had been fooled and rushed headlong towards the problematic Santun Camp City, so they could not continue to hesitate now and waste precious time by staying where they were.

As for Mao Yuanyi and others, they believe that in the unclear situation, any rash action will lead to unnecessary losses. If the Ming army on the eastern road is really ambushed, then their current army is the only force that can fight against the Tartars going west, and they can't easily risk it at this time.

What's more, Mao Yuanyi also felt that if the main force of the Tartars was still somewhere between Baozizhai and Santun Camp, once their side launched an attack first, the main force of the Tartars was likely to turn around and attack their side, so the plan of the whole army to attack was too reckless.

In the midst of everyone's gossip, Zhu Youzhen thought that he had made up his mind, but now he found that this was not the case. When he could decide the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers with a single word, he suddenly felt that his previous determination seemed to be too rash.

It's like when he gambled with his colleagues in his previous life, even if he had a good deck of cards in his hand, if he wanted to press all the bets in front of him, he was a little frightened. Gambling money is still like this, not to mention that it is now tens of thousands of lives.

Zhu Youzhen finally interrupted the quarrel between everyone, "I have already heard your opinions, I don't think there will be anything to discuss in tonight's meeting, so let's stop here, let me think about it." Tomorrow at seven o'clock in the morning, I will inform you of my final decision. ”

Shortly after the meeting, Jinyiwei, who was serving by Chongzhen's side, came to report to him, saying that Wu Huai and Mao Yuanyi had asked to see him separately.

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while and said, "Let them go back, they want to see me, but they just want to persuade me to support their ideas." I had heard enough of what they wanted to say at the meeting, so I didn't have to continue to listen to them fry cold rice. ”

After driving back a few generals who wanted to continue to persuade him after the meeting, Zhu Youzhen did not go back to his dormitory, but turned into a study not far from his dormitory.

Although the general stationed in Shimenzhai was a martial artist, he also set up a study room in his own house, but the books in the study were not the Four Books and Five Classics, nor were they military classics, but some dramas. After the Mongols occupied this mansion, they were not interested in books, so the facilities in this room were the most well-preserved, and after the Ming army recovered Shimenzhai, it became Chongzhen's daily office.

In the current study, in addition to stacks of official documents, there are several military maps hanging on the wall, and there are no other utensils. After Zhu Youzhen entered the room, he waved his hand to let the two guards exit the room.

The lights in the study were not extinguished all night, and Zhu Youzhen, who had some dark circles in his eyes, walked out of the room at dawn, although he only took a nap at dawn, but his spirit still looked very good.

After washing up and having a brief breakfast, Chongzhen ordered the congregation to continue last night's meeting. Under the escort of Lian Shanxiang, Zhu Youzhen walked into the hall, and after he glanced at the generals who saluted to him in the hall, he sat down on the main seat in the hall.

"After careful consideration last night, I have decided that this army will not move, and will continue to act in accordance with the battle strategy agreed upon before, and garrison the eastern camp with the main force, waiting for the Jinfa troops to attack. The others can go back to the army separately, Mao Yuanyi and Wu Huai will stay, and I still have something to explain to you. As soon as the meeting began, Zhu Youzhen unceremoniously interrupted several generals who wanted to speak, and the cadres arbitrarily stated their decision.

This meeting was undoubtedly the shortest meeting held after Chongzhen arrived at the front line, although some of the generals who supported the troops were still reluctant to leave, but looking at the emperor's uncompromising posture, these generals finally swallowed back what they had to say. They comforted themselves, at least the emperor left Wu Huai and Li Hongyuan, who advocated sending troops, and the two of them should be able to persuade the emperor to withdraw the current order.

If Wu Huai and Li Hongyuan, who had always been trusted by the emperor, could not persuade the emperor to change his decision not to send troops, then no matter how much they said, they might not be able to change the emperor's mind.

After leaving Mao Yuanyi and the other three in the hall, Zhu Youzhen didn't wait for Mao Yuanyi and Wu Huai to speak, and said quickly: "I plan to return to Jizhou today, and then transfer from Jizhou to Qian'an." If the Eastern Route Army has not yet entered the ambush, I will stop them from entering.

If the Eastern Route Army has been ambushed by the Houjin Tartars, I will also collect the defeated army of the Eastern Route Army, mobilize backups, restore the morale of the Eastern Route Army as soon as possible, and then personally supervise the battle in Qian'an.

After I left, the military affairs here were presided over by Chief of Staff Mao, and after Mr. Sun arrived at Shimen, they were handed over to him. Although I am gone, I must continue to carry the banner of me in the camp, and take care to keep it secret from the soldiers below, so that they do not know that I have left.

After Wu Huai went down, he picked five cavalry battalions, and then selected some cavalry from my imperial camp to serve as my escort. As for the outpost battle with Houjin, it is still the same scale as before, but the pace of the attack can be slower, just don't let Houjin notice. ”

Wu Huai was nothing, although the emperor asked him to accompany the escort and leave his own troops, but he didn't have much trouble. As long as he can fight the Tartars, whether it is in the Ming army in the east or the Ming army in the west, he doesn't mind. In fact, Wu Huai felt that leading an army of 500 people to fight was more convenient for him than to fight with an army of several thousand.

Mao Yuanyi was a little flustered, whether it was under Sun Chengzong or under the emperor, as long as there was a person in charge of decision-making above his head, he would still be in good order. But to let him be in charge of one aspect of the military alone, he was a little undecided.

So Mao Yuanyi couldn't help but persuade: "Your Majesty, the Eastern Route Army still doesn't know what the situation is, if it is really ambushed by the main force of Houjin, I'm afraid that even the defense of Qian'an will be crumbling." Your Majesty is going at this moment, it is too risky.

It is better to wait until the news of whether the Eastern Route Army has been ambushed is confirmed, if the strength of the Liaodong Army still exists, it is not too late for His Majesty to set off for Qian'an.

What's more, if our army can wait for a favorable opportunity to attack, and then His Majesty will personally come forward to encourage the soldiers, the morale of our army will definitely rise. Why did Your Majesty run to join those remnants of the defeated army now, and give those generals of the Eastern Route Army a chance to escape their responsibilities in vain. ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said: "This time it was our mistake, if we capture Shimenxia, we will send the main force of the new army to the east to join the Ming army in Liaodong, and gather a large army to attack in the direction of Santun camp."

Even if the Tartars had concentrated their forces, they would not have been able to design an ambush for any of our armies. At that time, they could only obediently withdraw from the Great Wall.

However, I got carried away by a small victory, and figured out a strategy to attack from the east and west, which allowed the Houjin Tartars to find an opportunity to ambush us.

The most important thing now is not to let the morale of the Liaodong army collapse, nor let them start infighting because of a defeat. Therefore, I will personally rush to Qian'an, hoping to stabilize the mood of the Eastern Route Army as much as possible, so that they can finish this battle well.

In addition, the New Army is the foundation of the New Deal. If we exhaust the strength of the new army here, what will the General Staff do to suppress the border towns from obeying the military reform?

Therefore, I must rush to the side of the Eastern Route Army, let them regroup, and continue to attack Houjin. to reduce the pressure on the Forces nouvelles. ”