Since the Ming army degenerated into a family as the main force in the army, whether ordinary soldiers can fight on the battlefield mainly depends on the performance of the generals who lead the troops. If the main general is brave and dares to fight, and is willing to take the lead, then this army can still fight a dozen. If the main general is greedy for life and afraid of death, and only supervises the battle in the rear army when he goes to the battlefield, then most of the troops he leads will be crossed by a rush.

Because the performance of a general is so important to the morale of an army, once a general is killed or flees, even if the situation on the battlefield is not very bad, the whole army will suddenly collapse. This characteristic of the Ming army, after being mastered by Nurhachi, the Jurchens developed a habit, and after going to the battlefield, they concentrated on attacking the generals of the Ming army, no matter how inferior the Jurchens' strength was, as long as they could surprise the generals of the Ming army, even if the Ming army had surrounded the Jurchen army, they would lose the will to fight and flee.

Wu Xiang and Song Wei were not brave generals, and the sergeants under them were selected from the defeated army, and the Ming soldiers who could escape back in the battle of Santun Camp were nothing, but the sergeants who could escape back unscathed were obviously the first batch of soldiers to flee.

Although the Ming army now seems to have an advantage on the battlefield, this group of people has been looking ahead and backward in the past, charging behind, and inviting merit to the front, and now let them attack the Tartar camp in the high place as the vanguard, which is obviously a little difficult for them.

Wu Xiang and Song Wei, the two generals of the defeated army, urged a group of soldiers who were dragging their feet and refusing to come forward to charge, so they naturally saw an opportunity for Ebendui, who was originally a little anxious.

The Mongols have never had a tradition of building defensive camps, and even if Ebendui was once from the Ming army, it was just a breastwork outside the camp. In order to facilitate the attack of the all-cavalry Mongol army, the camp site chosen by Obuntui was also relatively close to the foot of the mountain, but there was a gentle slope of 2 to 300 meters in front of the camp.

This gentle slope made it very convenient for the cavalry in the battalion to attack, but for the attacking Ming army, it was not a good terrain. Coupled with the fact that the Ming soldiers who had no will to fight, dragged their advance speed on this gentle slope, and finally discharged an uneven formation, when Ebendui rushed out of the camp with 300 cavalry, with a condescending advantage, he quickly crushed the Ming troops attacking the camp.

The attacking Ming soldiers were like fish leaving the water, and they quickly fled to the rear without even splashing a single splash. These soldiers dragged out of formation when they attacked, but when they fled, they were in a neat formation and seemed to be very skilled in their business.

Seeing these Ming soldiers retreating like a low tide, Zhu Youzhen still had time to comment on Zu Dashou beside him: "I used to read books, but I have read military books, and in the final analysis, governing the army is nothing more than clear rewards and punishments, and strict military discipline."

I used to think that clear rewards and punishments and strict military discipline were just trivial matters. Only today did I know that it is really not easy to achieve these eight words in the army. ”

didn't understand what Chongzhen meant, Zu Dashou could only echo a few words. Seeing that the defeated Ming soldiers couldn't stop all the way and rushed directly to their own home, Zhu Youzhen made a gesture to Lian Shanxiang and said, "Give them a chance, warn them first." ”

Zu Dashou hadn't yet figured out what the emperor was warning about, but he saw an artillery position not far away, and the shell crashed directly into the group of defeated Ming soldiers running at the front, knocking down one of the horses and two people, one of whom was killed on the spot, while the other was missing a leg.

These defeated soldiers of the Ming army, who were suddenly bombarded, subconsciously stopped, and it took a while to react that they were attacked by their own artillery. Some of them were extremely angry and shouted something to their positions, some waved flags and tried to communicate with the Ming army in the rear, and some retreated silently in the direction of Jinshan.

Soon Zhang Xianzhong led a group of cavalry to meet these stopped defeated troops, and while he had several red flags planted in front of the defeated army, he rode his horse alone and ran in front of the small group standing at the front of the defeated army.

This small group consisted of 3 or 40 cavalrymen, and the rest of the defeated army did not dare to approach this small group, apparently there was a certain general in this group. Sure enough, when Zhang Xianzhong stopped his mount, these gathered cavalry suddenly separated, revealing the figure of the deputy general Song Wei.

Song Wei, who was frightened enough by the cannonball just now, looked at Zhang Xianzhong, who was just wearing an ordinary military uniform, and couldn't help but ask in a somewhat unkind tone: "Who is lighting the fire indiscriminately?" Shelling his own soldiers, is this trying to be dealt with by military law? ”

Zhang Xianzhong ignored Song Wei's questioning, he looked at Song Wei's appearance, and then asked politely: "Are you Vice General Song or Vice General Wu?" Vice General He was ordered by His Majesty to preside over this operation, and he asked the last general to come and ask, why did you withdraw from the army before the formation was announced? It is also reasonable to ask the general to lead people back, take down the Tartar camp, and atone for their sins. ”

A personal guard beside Song Wei immediately shouted at Zhang Xianzhong: "Bold, do you dare not get off the horse and salute when you see Shangguan?" This is Deputy General Song in the Jinzhou Zu General Army..."

Song Wei stopped the guard from continuing, he knew that this was not a good time to show off his authority. He turned his head to look at the defeated army gathered behind him, who had lost their organization in groups of three or five, and wanted to drive them back to fight with those Tartars, Song Wei felt that this was really a too difficult task.

He continued to glance at the audience, and did not find Wu Xiang's shadow in the crowd, so he had to turn around and plead with Zhang Xianzhong in a low voice: "This Zhang Baihu, in this situation, it is probably impossible for these brothers to go back to attack the camp of the Tartars."

I also asked Zhang Baihu to make it convenient, and go back to bring a message to Vice General He, everyone is eating in a horse spoon, and ask him to pull his brother. Either let the brother lead people back to repair, or give the brother some reinforcements. As long as the current difficulty is passed, Song will definitely repay him in the future.

Your Majesty is in the army now, presumably Adjutant General He will not want Your Majesty to see that these soldiers are making trouble in front of the battle and greatly demoralizing our army, right? ”

Zhang Xianzhong looked at Song Wei and the defeated army around him, and after confirming that they really didn't have any intention to turn around, he turned his horse's head and moved out of the way, and then said with a smile: "Don't you dare to bring this, why don't you choose two deputies from Vice General Song and go back with the last general, and you personally talk to Vice General He?" ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at Song Wei and the others who were brought to him by Zhang Xianzhong, and couldn't help but turn his head to Zu Dashou and asked: "Chief Zu, they are your subordinates, do you think these people should be punished?" ”

Zu Dashou, who had recovered from the shelling just now, hurriedly said to Chongzhen: "Flee first before the battle, they should be punished, and the minister thinks that they should be punished..."

Zhu Youzhen had already quickly interrupted his words, and said to Zhang Xianzhong on the side: "Since General Zu also said that he should be punished, Zhang Baihu, you take this Deputy General Song down, cut off his head and give it to Vice General Wu in front of them to see, so that they can know what will happen if they do not follow the military order and retreat without authorization."

As for the two of you, I will spare you this time, go back and divide the men and horses under the name of Vice General Song, and give you half an hour to reorganize your team.

In addition, by the way, send someone to inform Wu Xiang that I will give him another hour, and after an hour, either he will give me the camp of the Tartars, or he will give me his head. ”

Hearing the emperor's decision, Song Wei immediately wanted to distinguish a few words for himself, but the brocade guard next to him had already skillfully blocked his mouth, and then tied him up and took him down. A staff officer and a guerrilla who came back with him were prostrate on the ground and trembling, not even daring to make a sound.

A moment later, Zhang Xianzhong returned with a bloody head to pay the order. Glancing at the head that Zhang Xianzhong was holding in his hand, and then looking at Zhang Xianzhong's indifferent expression, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but casually order: "Zhang Baihu, you can take the head and the two of them to the front." ”

Zhang Xianzhong had just agreed, and suddenly a general walked out of the team on the side, knelt down on one knee towards Chongzhen from a distance and said, "Your Majesty, Minister Wu Sangui has something to report." ”

This is the first time Chongzhen has seen this Manchu Pingxi King who later led Qing soldiers into the customs. In the eyes of others, Wu Sangui, who is now the same age as him, can be described as a young hero. No matter how much water he rescued his father from the Tatar encirclement with dozens of family members, at least it shows that Wu Sangui is still a young brave general who dares to rush into battle.

As far as Su Changqing, a later generation, is concerned, he can understand Wu Sangui's preference to defect to the Manchu Qing Dynasty rather than surrender Li Zicheng, after all, the Manchu Qing Dynasty's long-term national policy of attracting Han landlords and big bureaucrats has been implemented very well, and as soon as Li Zicheng arrived in the capital, he tortured and plundered the family property of those big landlords and big bureaucrats, how could a warlord like Wu Sangui be willing to hand over his net worth and life to Li Zicheng. In the final analysis, Wu Sangui's introduction of the Qing troops into the customs was nothing more than the class contradiction between the Liaoxi Jiangmen and the peasant rebel army exceeding the national contradiction between the Han and the Jurchens.

However, Wu Sangui's character is indeed too inferior, as a Ming courtier, he betrayed the Ming Dynasty, not to mention, in order to show loyalty to the Manchu Qing, he actually personally strangled Emperor Yongli. Whether in this era or in future generations, this action has gone beyond the lower limit of human nature.

In the eyes of everyone, the young hero who "bravely crowned the three armies and heard the nine sides of filial piety", in the eyes of Zhu Youzhen at this moment, was just a careerist who made him vigilant.

After Zhu Youzhen waved his hand to let the Jinyi guard who stopped Wu Sangui get out of the way, he said gently: "It turned out to be the filial son of the Wu family, what do you want to say to me?" ”

Wu Sangui sincerely begged Chongzhen with trepidation: "Please allow Your Majesty to allow your ministers to fight for your father and seize the Tartar camp for Your Majesty." ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at him for a long time before he nodded and said: "It's naturally good that you have this filial piety, but now it's wartime, and everything is spoken in military law."

If you go to the front, if you can't capture the Tartar camp within the time limit, you will also be dealt with by military law. So, do you want to keep going? ”

Wu Sangui gritted his teeth and said, "If you don't win, the minister is willing to be dealt with by military law." ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled, then turned his head to Zu Dashou, who had been bowing his head and being silent, and said: "I heard that the filial son of the Wu family is also the nephew of the ancestor general, you can arrange some manpower for him, so as to help your nephew succeed in the first battle." ”

Zu Dashou hurriedly said: "The minister receives the order." ”