On the afternoon of the 27th, Zhu Youzhen returned to Fengrun County, and Zhao Minghua, a thousand households stationed in Liaodong, received the emperor's order, and immediately set off to come to Fengrun, and arrived at the county seat almost at the same time as Chongzhen.

From the mouth of this thousand households, Zhu Youzhen has a basic understanding of the current situation of the Ming Army on the East Road. On the 21st, the front army led by Man Gui attacked the Santun camp in ambush, and the three battalions of the Dominic army led by Man Gui only fled back to one and a half battalions of men and horses, and the three battalion commanders, including Man Gui, did not return to the Ming camp in the ninja pass that night.

It was also on this night that the Houjin army pursued the Ming army to the Ninja Pass and captured the county seat of Qianxi. On the night when the Houjin army arrived at the Ninja Pass, they immediately launched an attack, and the Ming army, which was already panicked because of the ambush of the former army, lost three camps in a row in a sudden situation, and only kept the last two camps.

22 days later, the Jin army launched another fierce attack, and Zhang Chun's troops stationed at the Ninja Pass finally abandoned the camp. On the 23rd, the Houjin army captured Wuzhong'an and launched several tentative attacks on Malanzhuang, because the camp built by Zu Dashou was too strong, and the morale of the Ming army stationed in Malanzhuang did not collapse, so that the Houjin army's overwhelming offensive was finally blocked.

Although the Later Jin army stopped attacking, the Ming army also completely lost the courage to attack the Later Jin army. On the 24th, Wu Xiang returned to Malanzhuang with a defeated army of hundreds of people over the mountains and mountains, according to the accusations of Wu Xiang, who fled and returned, the reason why the Ming army was ambushed this time was completely due to the improper command of Mangui, and did not thoroughly reconnoiter the vicinity of the Santun camp city, resulting in the hidden Houjin army ambushing the Ming army that was attacking the city.

Although Zhang Chun, the supervisor of the defeated army, did not agree with Wu Xiang's statement, he who was stationed in the rear could not know exactly what happened in front of him, and the rank of the Ming army soldiers who were defeated from the front line was too low, and there was no candidate who could confront Wu Xiang face to face, and many of them did not understand what happened at that time, but they just heard a shout of "defeated" and began to flee, and many people were Wu Xiang's subordinates at all.

Coupled with the support of Wu Xiang's proposition by Zu Dashou and other generals of Liaoxi Town, Zhang Chun, who defended Man Gui alone, suddenly became a little independent, and even Wang Zaijin and Wang Zhichen were a little uncertain. As the commander of the forward, Man Gui should have taken more responsibility, but now with Wu Xiang's evidence, Man Gui's charge of underestimating the enemy's rash advance cannot be avoided, and the responsibility for the failure of the Ming army's attack on the Santun camp will also fall on Man Gui.

Just when the situation was heading towards Mangui, a day later, dozens of Ming soldiers protected the seriously wounded Mangui and crossed the mountain to Malanzhuang.

Previously, because there was no news about Man Gui, everyone thought that he had died on the battlefield, so even the generals who did not think that Man Gui was responsible for the defeat were unwilling to offend the colluded Liaoxi generals for a dead man. After the defeat of Mangui, Wang Zaijin and other civil officials, the only army that can be relied on now is Zu Dashou's department, so they also have a somewhat tacit attitude towards Wu Xiang's proposition.

But with the return of Man Gui, there were more voices willing to stand up and speak for him, and considering the emperor's attitude towards Man Gui, Wang Zaijin also began to speak out to protect Man Gui and try to maintain Man Gui's reputation.

Whether it was the generals who supported Mangui or the generals who supported Wu Xiang, they all intentionally or unintentionally ignored the fact that the Houjin army was still stationed in the Wuzhong'an area not far from Malanzhuang. They debated fiercely among themselves, desperately trying to prove who was responsible for the defeat of the Ming army in Santun Camp, but none of them proposed to restore the situation of attacking northward. It seems that by doing so, they will be able to avoid the task of continuing to fight Houjin.

After listening to the news brought by Jinyi Wei Qianhu, Zhu Youzhen summed up and said: "That is to say, now the Eastern Route Army has not considered how to counterattack the Tartars, nor has it pacified and rectified the defeated soldiers, just sitting in the camp and arguing about who is responsible for the failure of the Santun camp?" ”

Zhao Minghua hesitated for a while and replied softly "yes". Wu Huai, who used to be a member of the Mangui family, although he has now broken away from the personal dependence between the family and the head of the family with Mangui, he still does not want the head of the family he once served to be framed like this, he couldn't help but say to Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, the minister is willing to guarantee with his life, Man Shuai will definitely not be such a person, and there must be another reason for the ambush in the Santun camp."

That Wu Xiang used to be just a Gaoyou horse dealer, who bribed the examiner to get the identity of a martial artist, and later sent it to the Liaodong Army, but he has always been afraid of the enemy and avoided war, if he hadn't married Zu Shuai's widowed sister, he would not have had the opportunity to lead an army alone.

In Yichen's view, it is more credible not so much the defeat caused by the mistake of the Manchu Marshal as the collapse of the whole army caused by Wu Xiang's escape. ”

Zhu Youzhen glanced at Wu Huai coldly, and reprimanded unceremoniously: "Why, the Eastern Route Army is arguing about who will bear the responsibility for failure, aren't you messy enough?" Want to get in on the fun? Why don't I remove you from your military position and let you serve as the imperial historian, and you can go and quarrel with them. ”

Wu Huai immediately shut his mouth, although his personality was relatively indifferent, but in less than two years, he was promoted from a general's family to his current status, and he also knew how deeply the emperor took care of him. In this situation, Wu Huai's loyalty to Chongzhen has gone beyond the ordinary relationship between monarchs and ministers, so he did not take the emperor's reprimand to heart.

Zhu Youzhen sat there and pondered for a long time before continuing to ask Zhao Minghua: "You have been in Liaodong for almost a year and a half, I want to consult your opinion, if Zu Dashou is no longer in Liaodong, Zhu Mei, He Kegang and Zhang Chun, can they replace Zu Dashou and control the Liaodong Army?" ”

Zhao Minghua thought for a while, and then said cautiously: "Zhu Mei is old and frail, and her personality is too loyal, I am afraid it will be difficult to control the generals from the Jiangmen of Liaoxi." Although Zhang Chun is loyal to His Majesty and is still honest in governing the army, he is a civilian after all, and I am afraid it will be difficult to gain the sincere support of the soldiers.

Only the deputy general He Kegang was also born in the general gate of western Liaoning, benevolent and brave, honest and diligent, good at soothing soldiers, but he can share the power of his ancestral family. However, He Kegang's shortcomings are that he is too young and his qualifications are too shallow, even if General Zu leaves Liaodong, it seems that it is more difficult for him to take the throne. ”

Zhu Youzhen said disapprerovingly: "Don't be afraid if you have less qualifications, let Chang Wanchun go with the money and win over a group of unambitious and neutral military attaches for him." There are many in-laws between the ancestral family and the Liaoxi Jiangmen, and the relationship in the Liaodong Army is intertwined, so the children of their family can occupy a large number of good positions.

But only in this way, there must be people who are dissatisfied with the position occupied by the ancestral family. They want official positions, and I give them official positions. They want money, and I give it to them. However, they must then support whatever claims Ho makes in the future. Of course, before that, I want to meet this Adjutant General He first.

I also need a guarantee, before I summon the generals of Liaoxi, what He Kegang and Chang Wanchun did, can't let Zu Dashou get the news, can Jinyiwei do it? ”

Zhao Minghua thought nervously for a while, and then said: "If it is within 2 or 3 days, the ministers can still do it, but if the time drags on, I'm afraid the ministers will not be able to do anything." ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded at him and said, "It's enough, I won't give Chang Wanchun more than 2 days." Today is the 27th, Lian Shanxiang, you are ready to get off the carriage, and we will set off in an hour. Don't entour more than one battalion, don't use my banner, and bring Chang Wanchun and his money.

As for Wu Huai, if the rear army has not arrived tonight, tomorrow you will set off with the rest of the Guards Division first, and you must arrive in Qian'an on the 29th, is there a problem? ”

Wu Huai hurriedly said: "There is no problem here, but there are too few people with Your Majesty." Qian'an is now the front line, and in order to avoid accidents, His Majesty should still bring more people by his side. ”

Zhu Youzhen smiled and said: "If Houjin really takes attacking Shanhaiguan and cutting off the back road of the Ming army outside the pass as the next goal, how can he stop the offensive after capturing Wuzhong'an?"

Moreover, the Ming army outside the Guanwai occupies most of the western Liaoxi corridor, even if it is attacked by the Houjin to the Shanhai Pass for a while, and wants to attack the Ming army outside the Guanwai in the north and south, at least the invading Houjin army and the Liaodong army have to get in touch, and it will take more than half a year to do it.

But before that, the rear army that attacked under the Shanhai Pass was a lone army surrounded by us. Will a lone army that can't get effective supplies last longer than the support of the Ming army outside the Guanwai, which has the Liaoxi Corridor as a base?

As long as we can be clear about this, we can roughly conclude that the purpose of the Later Jin army's attack on the Eastern Route Army is to destroy the morale of the Eastern Route Army and make it impossible for them to attack the rear of the Later Jin Army from the east for a short time, so that they can free up their hands to deal with our Western Route Army with all their might.

If the main force of the Houjin army on the East Road began to retreat from the 24th, then it would have arrived near Baozizhai today.

The date I had asked the soldiers and civilians in Zunhua City to hold on to it now seemed to be exceeded, and if we didn't resume the offensive from the east as soon as possible, I always felt that something bad would happen.

The immediate priority now is to gain control of the Eastern Route Army as soon as possible, and I don't have time to argue with them about the responsibility for the defeat. Therefore, it would not be a surprise for me to go to Qian'an in a small team, and it would make a big splash, but it would destroy my plan to control the Eastern Route Army.

If you really want to ensure my safety, you might as well speed up the integration and organization of the 1st Guards Division. The sooner the 1st Guards Division forms combat effectiveness, the more confident I will be in speaking in the Eastern Route Army. ”

Chongzhen's stubbornness was obviously not something that the few generals present could stop, and more than an hour later, Chongzhen, who had changed into an ordinary soldier's uniform, was tightly sandwiched in the middle of the team by dozens of cavalrymen and rushed towards Qian'an.

Approaching midnight, the team rushed to Shaheyi, rested at the station for a few hours, and arrived at Qian'an City at noon the next day.