Although Chongzhen set off later than the troops led by Zuo Liangyu, after leaving Jizhou City, he broke away from the main army again, and only took the 2nd battalion of cavalry of the imperial camp to chase Zuo Liangyu's troops in front, while the troops behind him were handed over to Wu Huai and Cui Ningxiu to manage.

Since the emperor must run to Mashen Bridge, Wu Huai is naturally reluctant to stay in Jizhou City. However, before Chongzhen arrived, most of the officials in Jizhou City regarded Ma Shenqiao as a frontier ready to give up at any time, and even most of the grain stored in Ma Shenqiao's original granary was rushed back.

In such a situation, the transportation capacity has been exhausted just by transporting the food and straw of the 4th Cavalry Division and the 5th Cavalry Division, as well as the consumption of the imperial camp and auxiliary troops. Therefore, Wu Huai could only follow with a cavalry battalion of 250 people.

However, Wu Huai did not expect that he was still left in the rearguard by the emperor and led the rearguard troops forward with Cui Ningxiu.

Not to mention how depressed Wu Huai, who was left in the rearguard by the emperor, Chongzhen, who was advancing quickly with the cavalry, caught up with the main force led by Zuo Liangyu and Hongguang on the way.

Both of them were a little surprised by the arrival of the emperor, they originally thought that they would have to wait for the arrival of the emperor after arriving at the Mashen Bridge, but they didn't expect the emperor to chase after him with some cavalry.

Now that Chongzhen arrived in the army, Zuo Liangyu and Hongguangxian immediately ran to the emperor and handed over the command of the army. Compared with the members of the staff headquarters of the Jizhou base camp, these new army generals have little independence in front of the emperor. Although the more than 200-year-old tradition of using literature to control military force in the Ming Dynasty greatly weakened the combat effectiveness of the army, it also cultivated a high degree of obedience of these generals to the center of the imperial court.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty had not yet risen up all over the place, and the Houjin army had just broken through the barrier, and had not completed their feat of armed parade in the Gyeonggi area, so the prestige of the imperial court center had not yet gone bankrupt, and the generals of the Ming Dynasty had not yet shown signs of supporting the army and respecting themselves.

When the emperor personally arrived in the army, the officers and soldiers naturally expressed their obedience to the emperor. In particular, this unit was composed of the new army, and the military attachés of the middle and lower ranks had been received by the emperor during their training at the military academy, and their first object of allegiance was the emperor, not the chief general who led the two new armies.

Regarding Zuo Liangyu and Hongguangxian's actions, Zhu Youzhen did not refuse, but except for asking to camp in a place 2 miles away from Ma Shenqiao today, he maintained all the orders issued by the two of them before, and did not make other changes.

At about 4 p.m., the unit arrived at the camp. Zuo Liangyu arranged for his subordinates to start building a camp, and at the same time asked the emperor for instructions on whether to send someone to contact the defenders of Mashenqiao.

Chongzhen quickly gave Zuo Liangyu and Hongguangxian an order, not to contact the defenders of Mashenqiao for the time being, and sent men and horses to guard Mashenqiao to block the news of the arrival of reinforcements at Mashenqiao, and hold a military meeting of the former enemy tonight after the arrival of the rearguard troops.

After receiving this order, Zuo Liangyu and Hongguangxian were faintly uneasy, they felt that this did not seem to be a good sign. But the matter has come to this, and I can only go down according to the emperor's orders.

Sure enough, at the military meeting of the former enemy held in the evening, the emperor who sat at the top said without hesitation: "Although we have a plan drawn up by the General Staff Headquarters for this dispatch, I have been thinking about it for a long time along the way, and I feel that something is still inappropriate.

After all, the General Staff Headquarters did not go to the front in person, and it was not very clear about some of the situations ahead. So what I mean is that we should let the main force rest here first, and tomorrow we will take a small team of men and horses to Mashen Bridge to observe the specific situation of the front line, and make certain adjustments to the battle plan. ”

Under the illumination of several whale oil candles, the entire big tent was as bright as day, Wu Huai and Lian Shanxiang looked like they obeyed the emperor's orders, Zuo Liangyu was still hesitating, and the red light sitting next to him had quickly spoken out in support of the emperor's proposition.

After finding that all the generals in the big tent turned their eyes to him, Zuo Liangyu immediately threw away the last bit of hesitation in his heart, and said to the emperor in the same loud voice: "What Your Majesty said is extremely true, as the so-called soldiers are impermanent, and water is impermanent. It is only natural to understand the situation at the front before making changes to the battle plan, and His Majesty's words can be said to be the essence of the art of war. ”

Zhu Youzhen glanced at Zuo Liangyu, and couldn't help but smile and said: "Division Commander Zuo is really a talent, since everyone thinks that it is necessary to understand the situation on the front line first and then decide whether to implement this plan of the General Staff Headquarters, then I will listen to everyone's opinions and postpone the implementation of the plan for attacking Shimenzhai drawn up by the General Staff Headquarters."

Tomorrow, Zuo Liangyu, Wu Huai, Hongguangxian, Cui Ningxiu and several staff officers, together with me, will enter the Mashen Bridge under the banner of the general soldier of Jizhou Wei Cui. Those who enter the Mashen Bridge tomorrow must give an account in advance, and they must not disclose the source of the new army, the number of reinforcements, or the reinforcements..."

Jin Shengheng got up early in the morning, and after washing up under the service of his own soldiers, he first went to inspect the city defense of Mashen Bridge, although this short low wall may not be able to play any defensive role, but for the soldiers of the Ming army, whether there is this earthen wall or not, it is very different psychologically.

With more than one foot of earthen walls, the cavalry can even directly charge the city on horseback, and there is no need to make any siege equipment. But for the soldiers of the Ming army, with this earthen wall, they felt that they were still protected by the city wall, and they could summon up a little courage to fight against the Jiannu wall.

Jin Shengheng, who came up step by step from the bottom soldiers, still understands this mentality very well. Therefore, after arriving at the Mashen Bridge, he raised the earthen wall to more than one zhang, and ordered the defeated Ming army to build three wooden villages outside the east gate. With these fortifications, the hearts of the people in the Mashen Bridge were calmed down a little, and they did not continue to flee westward.

However, as the post-Jin Tartar cavalry sentries approached the east bank of the Lin River, the morale of the soldiers and civilians in the Mashen Bridge fell again. The defeated army, which had little morale, began to communicate privately again, and seemed to want to continue to flee westward.

Jin Shengheng was helpless about this, these defeated troops were almost frightened by the slave soldiers, and if they didn't retreat and rebuild and restore their morale, it would be difficult to appear on the battlefield again.

He can only arrange his subordinates at various points in the town to prevent large-scale desertion, and I am afraid that even his own subordinates will be shaken by the time.

Inspecting the work of city defense three times a day, Jin Shengheng did not dare to fall behind. It took about an hour to make a tour of the town, and by the time he returned to his quarters in the center of town, the sun had already risen.

Jin Shengheng had just sat down in the hall, wiped his hands and face with a hot towel, and his soldiers had already brought his breakfast. Inside the wooden plate were a plate of white-flour steamed buns, a plate of pickles, a bowl of gruel, and a small bowl of heated canned whale meat. The aroma of braised whale meat and steaming steamed buns suddenly made Jin Shengheng feel a little hungry.

He picked up the steamed bun and took a bite, but he didn't swallow it yet. I heard a voice coming over, "It smells so good, it seems that the food here is still good." ”

Jin Shengheng was suddenly choked, he hurriedly drank a sip of millet porridge, swallowed the steamed bun in his throat, and then shouted angrily: "Who, who is so unruly..."

"Camp Commander Jin is so powerful." A man suddenly walked into the hall and said with some sarcasm.

After Jin Shengheng saw the person who came, he immediately dropped the steamed bun in his hand, and hurriedly got up and saluted: "The lower official doesn't know that the division commander is coming, and I ask the division commander to forgive the lower official for being reckless." ”

Zuo Liangyu glared at Jin Shengheng fiercely, and then stepped aside, revealing a few people behind him. Jin Shengheng glanced at these people, feeling that he seemed to be dazzled, he looked at it again, only to realize that it was the Ming Emperor himself who was guarded by several senior generals of the new army.

Jin Shengheng suddenly wanted to kneel down and pay homage with some trepidation, but Zhu Youzhen stepped forward and said, "Excuse me, I'm just a personal guard next to Cui Zongbing, don't poke it."

We came early in the morning, but we didn't eat breakfast. It's just that I'm going to bother Camp Chief Jin, I don't know if it's convenient or not? ”

"Convenient, convenient." Jin Shengheng replied as he hurriedly ordered his guards to go down and arrange food. In terms of food, Zhu Youjian was not picky, and whether he went to the barracks or military academies before, he advocated that officers and soldiers, teachers and students eat together, and should not engage in any specialization. Jin Shengheng naturally knew this, so he arranged it according to his diet.

After breakfast, Zhu Youzhen and several generals also learned from Jin Shengheng about the situation here in Ma Shenqiao. I heard that Houjin Sentinel had appeared on the east bank of the Lin River unscrupulously, directly resisting the east gate of Ma Shen Bridge, so that the Ming army could not even get out of the east gate, which suddenly made Wu Huai, Zuo Liangyu and other generals pull down their faces.

Although Mao Yuanyi's plan was for the army to press all the way from Mashen Bridge to force the defenders of Shimenzhai to abandon the city and flee by scaring the snakes. But this plan was based on the fact that the defenders of Shimenzhai were only about 2,000 Mongolian cavalry, and now these Mongolian Tartars put the sentry in front of the Mashenqiao Gate, which means that everyone knows what the situation of Shimenzhai is now.

If the Houjin army had already moved west, wouldn't they have thrown themselves into the net if they ran headlong into it. Wu Huai couldn't help but say, "Did you let the ministers take people to disperse these Houjin sentinels?" lest they continue to watch over our army in this land. ”

Zuo Liangyu suddenly replied: "This seems to be a bit inappropriate, it is better to wait for the new battle plan to be determined, and then decide whether to expel these sentinels."

Shimen to Zunhua is only 60 miles, assuming that the main force of Houjin has not yet gone west, after getting the news, you can reach Shimen within a day. Now that we have driven away the sentinels, we must immediately decide whether or not to go east to Shimen. But we don't know anything about the current situation of Shimen, how can we make a decision so easily?

The minister thought that it would be better to send someone to make a detour to the sentry to find out if there was any change in the strength of Shimen Village, and then make a plan. ”

Several generals immediately quarreled, only Jin Shengheng and Chongzhen did not speak. The former is because the official position is too low to dare to talk nonsense, while the latter simply wants to listen to the thoughts of the audience.

It was only after the opinions of several generals were expressed that he spoke: "Since Camp Commander Jin said that those Houjin sentinel detectives must come every day, then we might as well go and see together, what kind of three heads and six arms these Tartars have, and they dare to run in front of us to show off their might..."