When Zhu Youzhen entered the camp of the Ninja Pass, the Ming troops along the way were cheering for him. For these Ming troops, they have not tasted real victory for a long time.

Although there were the so-called Ningyuan Victory and Ningjin Victory before, the former was just a great victory for the imperial court to cover its face and fool the people of the world, while the latter repelled the Houjin army, but the fortresses on the periphery of Jinzhou were captured by the Houjin, which can only be said to be a draw.

An army that cannot win, even if it is better treated, cannot be an army that rejoices in war. Even when they heard the news of the Houjin army's attack, they would be terrified and inexplicable.

However, when they won the Battle of Luanhe and forced the Houjin army to retreat without a fight in front of them, although the Houjin army on the opposite side was only dominated by Mongols, the Ming army had initially established self-confidence in the Houjin army.

When Chongzhen walked into the camp, he also felt that the soldiers of the Ming army standing in front of him seemed to have a more optimistic and positive attitude, and the lifeless army he had seen when he had just arrived in Malanzhuang seemed to be two completely different armies.

What Chongzhen can vaguely feel, and the generals of the Liaodong Army, such as Zu Dashou, who gets along with the Ming army day and night, will undoubtedly feel more profoundly.

The cheers of these Ming troops, listened to the ears of these generals, not only because of the victory and elation, but behind this cheer, there is also a hidden fanatical mood. Surrounded by this emotion, the face of this army also began to become a little different.

In the opinion of Zu Dashou and others, this army no longer looks like a mess of scattered sand as before, but gradually condenses into a whole. It's just a pity for them that it's not them who condense the soul of this army, but the boy who stands before them.

Before the Houjin army retreated, it was obvious that it did not intend to leave a complete camp for the Ming army, so they set a fire in the camp. Therefore, when the Ming army found out that the Houjin army had all withdrawn from the camp, they immediately began to extinguish the fire.

When Chongzhen entered the camp with his entourage, the fire lit by the Houjin evacuees had almost been controlled, and after confirming that the Houjin army had completely withdrawn, in a wooden house that had been cleared out of the camp, the generals of the Ming Army on the East Road began to hold a military meeting to discuss the next battle plan.

After capturing the Ninja Pass, there is basically no dangerous pass from here to Santun Camp City, but there are two ways to Santun Camp City, one is to go north from Luanhe, and the other is to go south from Luanhe River through Qianxi.

The north side of the Luan River is basically an uninhabited wilderness area, and there are only a few small mountain villages near the Santun camp city, so there is no official road, and it is difficult for the army to pass through this place.

On the south bank of the Luan River, because there is an official road leading to Shanhaiguan in Qianxi City and Zunhua, it is conducive to the movement of the army, but it is obvious that the Houjin army will also be mainly fortified in this area, delaying the attack of the Ming army.

The war has reached this point, and even the generals of Liaodong such as Zu Dashou seem to have seen the dawn of victory on the Ming army. They couldn't help but have the desire to win, and they wanted to work hard to win this war.

If you want to further establish the victory of this war, there is no better way to occupy the city of Santun as soon as possible. As long as this city was occupied, the Ming army would have a solid starting position in the east of Zunhua City, and the activity area of the Houjin army would be further compressed. The smaller the area of activity of the Later Jin army, the fewer tactics the Later Jin army could choose, and the more the Ming army could concentrate its resources on the choices of the Later Jin army.

However, this is no longer the time when Chongzhen has just arrived at the Ming Army on the Eastern Road, whether it is his arrival or the reinforcements obtained by the Ming Army on the Eastern Road, at this moment, for the Houjin Army, it has lost its suddenness. It is conceivable that in the next battle, the Houjin army opposite them will definitely not show any more paralyzing carelessness.

Then the Jin army retreated from Malanzhuang to Qianxi, and it was getting closer and closer to its own main force on the West Road. It takes about 2-3 days from the Ninja Pass to Santun Camp City, and it is almost 3 days from Baozizhai to Santun Camp City.

What they can fight, or the time they have to fight, is the time when the Houjin East Route Army transmits the news to the main force in the west, plus the time when the main force of the Houjin Army in the west decides to send troops.

According to the calculations of the staff officers, the time they were able to safely attack the Santun camp city was 5-6 days. Every day that passes, the risk of Houjin's main force returning to help will increase exponentially.

Therefore, the generals who participated in the meeting were mainly divided into two factions, and most of them believed that from the battle of the Luanhe River to today's battle of seizing the camp, it showed that the main force of the Later Jin had indeed moved westward, and the current Later Jin army on the east road was just a partial division of thousands of people, or a partial division dominated by the Mongols.

It was precisely because the main force of the Later Jin was not in front of them that it was difficult for the enemy in front of the Ming army on the east road to divide his troops on both sides of the Luan River when his strength was insufficient, completely blocking the westward advance of the Ming army. The Houjin East Road Division, which was short of troops, could only focus on one road, which also gave the Ming army the opportunity to break through the blockade of the Houjin East Road Army and directly attack the Santun camp city.

Zu Dashou said to Chongzhen: "... Along the way, the minister has been with His Majesty, unable to go into battle to kill the enemy to repay His Majesty's kindness, and the minister is really ashamed of this.

Now, the enemy army in front of me has revealed such flaws, and I, as a military minister, dare not not fight hard to fight for the Ming Dynasty and His Majesty. Our army is now several times the number of the enemy, and the enemy is divided on both sides of the Luan River, so we will attack in two directions.

The south of the Luanhe River is suitable for the operation of the large army, so it is better to arrange the main force to attack from here, as long as the main force of our army can give full play to its combat effectiveness step by step, it can attract most of the strength of the Houjin army.

Although the road to the north of the Luan River is difficult, it will not cause much obstacle for the first and second battalions. Therefore, the Ming army south of the Luan River fought steadily and steadily, advancing step by step; The Ming army, which was marching on the north bank of the Luan River, quickly broke through the interception of the Houjin army and directly pounced on the Santun camp city.

The minister is willing to take the men and horses of the headquarters and the men and horses led by Zu Dale to attack from the north of the Luan River, and recapture the Santun camp city for His Majesty within five days. ”

There were many generals of the Ming army who had similar ideas to Zu Dashou, and even Wu Huai couldn't hold back, and took the initiative to ask Chongzhen to lead the Second Guards Division to raid Santun Yingcheng.

Different from the thoughts of Zu Dashou and other military ministers, Wang Zaijin and a few other civil officials did not think that a raid on Santun Camp City was a good idea, and Wang Zaijin objected: "Although the raid on Santun Camp City can bring a great turn to the battle situation, everyone should see that using cavalry to carry out a raid will make it difficult to capture Santun Camp City because of the lack of siege equipment."

And if we use infantry, then we will lose the suddenness of the surprise attack, and the Houjin army in front of us can completely rush back to help our infantry before it arrives at Santun Camp City.

If the raided army encounters another defeat at Santun Camp City, it will not only greatly demoralize our army, but also may expose a gap in the north of the Luan River, giving the Houjin army an opportunity to take advantage of.

Therefore, the minister thinks that now he does not seek merit, but seeks no fault. As long as we advance steadily and steadily, even if the main force of Houjin comes back to help again, it will be impossible to ambush our army again. In a big deal, we will retreat to Qianxi or the Ninja Pass, and take advantage of the opportunity when the main force of Houjin is attracted by us to urge the Western Route Army to move forward.

Rescuing Zunhua and expelling the Houjin army from the customs is not only the task of our third war zone, but the other three war zones can also give full play to their abilities..."

Zhu You listened to the opinions of both sides for a while, and put most of his energy on the maps of Zunhua, Santunying, and Qianxi on the table in front of him.

Although the number of generals who supported the raid on Santun Yingcheng was relatively large, in the face of the opposition of the military department Shang Wang Zaijin, these generals did not dare to argue too much, after all, in the past, this kind of tactical decision-making has always been made by civilian officials, and the military generals are only responsible for implementation.

Even if the emperor changed the deliberative principles of the military council and believed that all members of the military council had the right to express their opinions, these generals were still a little short of breath under the authority of Wang Zaijin. So at the end of the meeting, these generals turned their attention to Chongzhen, who was at the top, thinking that it would be better for the emperor to decide whose proposition to adopt in the end, so as not to completely offend Da Sima.

When the argument in the room became quieter and quieter, Zhu Youzhen finally took his eyes off the map in front of him, and after glancing at the generals and officials in the room, he said: "If you can raid and capture Santun Camp City, it will naturally be a great turning point for the current battle situation.

The Houjin army was attacked on both sides of the east and west, and there was another Zunhua city in the heart that had not yet been captured, if Huang Taiji did not give up the purpose of this time to go out of the pass, then at least half of the invading army would be left behind by us.

However, judging from the Ningjin victory the year before last, Huang Taiji was not a stubborn person, and when the losses of the Houjin army exceeded his expectations, he would also admit defeat and withdraw his troops, and then return to Shenyang to wait for the next attack.

Therefore, in this regard, if we give up this opportunity, it will undoubtedly be tantamount to prolonging the war in disguise. For this war, we have invested at least millions of yuan, and every day the war lasts, we still need to spend tens of thousands of yuan, which is a great burden for the current Ming Dynasty.

If we can shorten the duration of war by taking a risk, we should also take that risk just to reduce the burden on the people. Whether it was General Zu or Division Commander Wu, the surprise attack proposal they put forward was in line with the requirements of the people.

Of course, even if it is an adventure, we cannot afford to repeat the heavy losses similar to the defeat of the Santun camp. Therefore, Da Sima thinks that it is necessary to be cautious, and I think it is also reasonable.

However, I have studied the process of Huang Taiji's ambush of our army under the Santun camp city, and I think it is quite interesting..."

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