The big camp at the east exit of Shimen Gorge was finally planned on the 15th, it was a rectangular camp facing northeast, about 3 li wide and about 2 li long, and there were 4 diamond-shaped small camps 300 meters away from the four corners of the camp, so that the five camps constituted a new type of big fortress.

In the next five days, thousands of auxiliaries and many craftsmen from the chariot and cavalry battalion cut down the woods and bushes within 500 meters of the camp as if by magic, and then dug out a trench around the outer perimeter of the camp, and used the cut wood and excavated soil to build a solid wall filled with soil in the middle of the double row of wooden fences, and the prototype of a huge fortress was built in just five days.

While the auxiliaries and craftsmen were building the barracks hidden in the woods, the Ming and Later Jin armies were also not idle. The Houjin sentinels desperately wanted to expand the sentinel range to the entrance of Shimenxia, while the Ming army's vigilantes tried their best to prevent the Houjin sentinels from crossing the position where the camp was being built.

The 1st and 5th Cavalry Divisions, together with Ye Bushu and other small cavalry teams, assembled a total of 24 battalions of men and horses on the Shimenxia front, which was a new military system of 250 men per battalion. In these five days, the loss of more than a dozen or twenty horsemen at the beginning quickly increased to the size of nearly one cavalry battalion in two days.

Originally, the guard posts of the Ming army were only placed within 3 miles of the construction camp and no more than 5 miles wide. By the 20th, the Ming army had expanded the guard post to a depth of five miles from the east camp of Shimenxia, and the frontal width was more than 20 miles. The number of guards released every day has also been expanded from half a battalion to three battalions in front and one battalion in the rear.

In the past five days of fierce fighting at the outpost, the Ming army has lost a full battalion and a half. Although the results obtained by the Ming army were no less than the number of their own losses, Wu Huai and Hongguangxian, who presided over the outpost battle, were also heartbroken by the losses of their troops.

On the evening of the 20th, at a military meeting held in Shimen Village, Wu Huai first proposed: "If we continue to stalemate with those Tartars, we may not be able to support such a war of attrition."

Our cavalry training is not easy, but the Tartars can come into contact with horses almost from an early age, especially those Mongolian Tartars have grown up on horseback since childhood, and they can become a cavalryman with a little training. If we continue to fight such a war of attrition with the Tartars, I am afraid that we will be the ones who will suffer. ”

Mao Yuanyi immediately said to Chongzhen: "It will take about 3 days for the defense facilities of the battalion to be preliminarily completed, and the outpost battle of the cavalry will need to support at least another 3 days. After that, the cavalry blockade can be released, allowing the Houjin army to directly attack the barracks. ”

However, as soon as Mao Yuanyi's words fell, Li Hongyuan continued: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the movements of the Tartars in the past few days do not seem to be normal. According to the news returned from Zunhua before, there were at least nearly 40,000 horses in the Tartars who invaded this time.

Even if we remove the forces guarding the rear road, monitoring the Zunhua defenders, and blocking the third theater of operations, the main force of the Tartars faced by our army will not be less than 20,000. If the opposite side of our army is the main force of the Tartars, even if the 1st Cavalry Division and the 5th Cavalry Division can fight again, it is impossible to press the Tartar sentry cavalry on the opposite side to retreat continuously?

Now the retreat distance of the Tartar sentry cavalry, it is said that they want to lure our army deeper, and it seems that the retreat distance is too little. It is said that the opposite side of our army is the main force of the Tartars, and it is impossible to fight a situation in which the losses of both sides are equal, and our army still has a slight advantage.

Xiaochen thought that if the main force of the Tartars was not in front of our army, if only one of the Tartars' partial divisions was fighting against our army now, he would be able to barely explain the results of the past few days. ”

"If our army is not the main force of the Tartars in person? So where did the main forces of the Tartars go? The second and third war zones have not heard of any news of being counterattacked by the Tartars. A general asked Li Hongyuan suspiciously.

The general's question immediately stopped Li Hongyuan, and he hesitated for a while and said: "There is still too little information now, and the lower officials can't guess the movement of the main force of the Tartars, but if we can strengthen contact with the second and third war zones, maybe we will soon be able to understand where the main forces of the Tartars are." ”

Mao Yuanyi retorted dissatisfiedly: "The distance between Dongdaying and Baozizhai is about 28 li, the distance between Baozizhai and Zunhua City is about 27 li, Zunhua City is about 50 li from Santunying City, and Santunying is close to 140 li from Qian'an.

The Tartars moved their armies back and forth between Baozizhai and Santun Yingcheng, and even if it was cavalry, it would take at least 2 days, let alone cross Santun Yingcheng to attack Qian'an City. The information sent from Qian'an to Shimenzhai only took 2 days, and our army is now only a day's journey away from Baozizhai.

If the Tartars use the main force on the east road, after receiving the news, our army can go all out to attack the fort village, with our army now in Shimen Zhai to assemble 30,000 horses that can be used for maneuverability, the fort village garrisoned by the Tartar division will not be guaranteed, and the loss of the plain terrain near the fort village that is conducive to cavalry combat, the Tartars will no longer be able to prevent our army from breaking the siege of Zunhua.

Besides, on the way from Qian'an to Santun Camp, the terrain was either hills or valleys surrounded by mountains, which was conducive to infantry and not to cavalry. As long as the leader of the Tartars did not get dizzy, he would not give up blocking our army with cavalry in the fort village, but went to the east of the mountain road to fight against the Liaodong army. ”

Mao Yuanyi used data to prove that it was impossible for the main force of the Houjin army to be transferred to other directions, or if the Houjin transferred the main force to other directions, it would allow them to find the best time to march here.

At this moment, the garrisons on both sides of Shimenxia, in addition to the two cavalry divisions of the new army of about 5,000 people, there are also two chariot and cavalry divisions of more than 11,000 people, an infantry division of 7,600 people, an artillery regiment with 18 artillery pieces, and a battalion of the imperial battalion and two battalions of the old army of about 7,000 people. Not counting the auxiliaries, the garrisons on both sides of Shimen Gorge are already close to 35,000 people.

It was precisely with such a powerful army in hand, so the generals of the base camp, including Mao Yuanyi, did not think that the commander of the Houjin on the opposite side dared to use a partial division against him, and used the main force elsewhere. What's more, no matter whether the Houjin army captures Zunhua City or defeats the Liaodong Army in the east, it can't end this war.

Only by defeating the army led by Chongzhen himself could these Tartars reap the greatest reward for their risky detour and invasion of the Guannai, and completely defeat the Ming army's will to resist. Therefore, Li Hongyuan's worries were quickly ignored.

is basically Chongzhen, and he also thinks that Mao Yuanyi said well, even if Huang Taiji has military talent, it is impossible to violate the objective law and move the army regardless of the distance between the east and west. However, he was worried that Houjin would send a force to intercept his back route from the mountain pass to the south, or simply make a detour to Fengrun and break into the area south of Jizhou.

Although this attack that ignores the rear is a bit contrary to common sense, Zhu Youzhen understands very well that the most effective army in the north of the Ming Dynasty is in Qian'an and by his side, and it is basically an undefended area from Jizhou to the capital.

If Huang Taiji really went crazy and led the main army to detour from Fengrun into the Gyeonggi Plain, then he really didn't have time to return to the army, and he would have to suffer a big loss.

Therefore, at the meeting, Zhu Youzhen finally demanded that contacts with the Second War Zone be strengthened, and an army should be sent to inspect several mountain passes south of Shimenxia to prevent a sneak attack by the Houjin army. In addition, he also ordered Hongguang to be personally responsible for the encirclement and suppression of several Mongolian sentinels southeast of Mashen Bridge.

After Shimenzhai was captured by the Ming army, some of these sentry spies returned to Zunhua over the mountain, and some accepted the surrender of the Ming army, but there were nearly 100 people hiding in the nearby mountains and forests to continue to resist.

Because of Li Hongyuan's reminder, Zhu Youzhen felt that these were also unstable factors and should be resolved as soon as possible. Therefore, it is better to let the red light go and sweep away these hidden dangers in the rear first.

Subsequently, Zhu Youzhen was concerned about the construction of the railway between Jizhou City and Shimenzhai, and the daily material consumption of more than 40,000 auxiliary soldiers was an extremely huge number. Therefore, what he is most concerned about these days is the construction of this railway.

Cui Chengxiu, who was in charge of building the railway, gave him a surprise, and under his constant urging, the rails and sleepers for the construction of the railway were quickly transported to Jizhou, and now the railway has been extended to the east of Mashen Bridge, and it will be repaired to Shimenzhai in about 4 days.

On the 21st, news came from Jizhou that Yang Shaoji, the general soldier of Shandong, had arrived in Fengrun with more than 5,000 people. The 1,142 communes in Shunyi, Pinggu and other places, with a total of 2,944 troops, arrived in Jizhou under the leadership of a team of cadets from the Army Military Academy sent by Sun Chengzong to strengthen Jizhou's defensive forces.

Sun Chengzong, Huang Liji and other ministers left behind in the capital were not overjoyed when they learned the news of the Battle of Shimen, but instead sent envoys to advise the emperor not to continue to take risks. After Sun Chengzong urgently settled the defense of the capital, he would also arrive in Jizhou within two or three days to take over the emperor's command at the front.

Regarding the advice of Huang Liji, Sun Chengzong and others, Chongzhen did not care. But to this extent, he also felt that the defense line from Huangya Pass to Shanhaiguan was quite stable, and the Houjin army was forced by the Ming army to move step by step from the east and west, and only chose to return to Shenyang when the heavy snow had not closed the mountain, otherwise the Ming army could grind down these Houjin invasion troops little by little.

This is not Liaodong, there is no stable logistics base, and the terrain with very little room for maneuver is very small, if the Houjin army really dares to continue to stay in the pass, Zhu Youzhen feels that he is pouring all the strength in his hands, and he must also deal with this army before the arrival of next spring.

Being able to leave behind the three major Baylors, including Huang Taiji, in one fell swoop, and an Amin who can't convince the public can't support the survival of the Houjin Kingdom. In this way, he has solved a confidant's problem, and he can focus on solving domestic problems.

Zhu Youzhen's dream was shattered in less than a day, and on November 22, Man Gui and Wang Zaijin received news from the east that their troops had reached the Santun camp and were about to recapture the Santun camp city. Man Gui also wrote in the intelligence that it was reported that the Tartars had begun to withdraw their troops outside the pass.

The information sent by Man Gui and Wang Zaijin suddenly made the officials in the base camp silent. The Eastern Route Army, which had been unable to break the situation for a long time, actually seized several passes within a few days, and also sent the news that the Tartars had withdrawn their troops. The generals didn't even discuss it much, and they already decided that the Ming army in the east had probably fallen for the Tartars' tricks. Because, the Tartar army in front of them did not show half a point of retreat.