Although Chongzhen went to Qian'an this time to hide from the generals of the Eastern Route Army, he didn't think that even Wang Zaijin would hide the news of his arrival.

Although Wang Zaijin can be regarded as one of the few people who can do things in the Ming Dynasty, he still does not have the courage to go to the front line in person, even if it is only half a day's journey from Qian'an to Malanzhuang, he is still sitting in Qian'an and has not moved, even if the front-line generals are now arguing, he just let Wang Zhichen go to Malanzhuang to mediate.

It was precisely because they saw the timidity of the civil officials that Zu Dashou and other Liaodong generals felt that after the defeat of Mangui, the imperial court could only rely on them to resist the attack of the Houjin army in the direction of Shanhaiguan, so they dared to shield Wu Xiang and refused to make concessions.

Zhu Youzhen can only turn a blind eye to Wang Zaijin's behavior, after all, this is not a real army commander. It is already very good to be able to let him stay in Shanhaiguan for more than a year to rectify the establishment of the Ming army outside the Guanhaiguan, and it is undoubtedly a bit nitpicking to force him to go to the battlefield again.

What's more, it's not just a random civil official who can become Yu Qian and Hu Zongxian. To some extent, Wang Zaijin did not go to Malanzhuang, perhaps to avoid the worst.

Wang Zaijin was indeed very surprised by the arrival of the emperor's concealed identity, and when he saw Chongzhen for the first time, he also tried to persuade the emperor to return to Jizhou. In his opinion, even if the Houjin army is allowed to defeat the Shanhaiguan, it will not be more important than Chongzhen's safety.

The former is just a matter of partial defeat, and with the size of the Ming Dynasty, this kind of failure can only be regarded as hurting the hands and siblings at best. However, as the object of unanimous allegiance of the subjects of the Ming Dynasty, if Chongzhen has a problem on the front line, with the current situation that Chongzhen has no heir behind him, it will easily turn into a civil strife.

There are external troubles such as Houjin and Chahar, and there will be another battle for the throne within the Ming Dynasty, so maybe the Ming Dynasty will really encounter something unbearable. It was Wang Zaijin who resolutely opposed Chongzhen's stay in Qian'an, and even went to Malanzhuang further ahead.

Chongzhen, who couldn't convince Wang Zaijin, finally had to reveal to Wang Zaijin that he went to Qian'an not just to supervise the war, but to take this opportunity to rectify the Liaodong Army and prevent this border army from getting out of the control of the imperial court.

Chongzhen also told Wang Zaijin that if he could not accept his orders, then he would remove Wang Zaijin from his position as commander of the third theater of operations and let him return to the capital to organize the defense of the capital.

Only then did Wang Zaijin realize that under the system of the base camp, he, the secretary of the military department, could not question the emperor's orders. Naturally, he would not let Chongzhen remove him from his position, and then send someone to escort him back to the capital, in which case his reputation would really be ruined.

Under Chongzhen's unreasonable style, Wang Zaijin chose to compromise and expressed his willingness to obey the emperor's arrangement. However, he soon wrote a letter to the cabinet left behind in the capital to report the emperor's whereabouts, hoping that the cabinet could send personnel to persuade Chongzhen to leave the front.

However, Wang Zaijin also knows very well that the effect of his letter is almost nothing, and when the cabinet receives the news and then discusses a plan, God knows what will become of this place. The only thing he could do now was to stay by the emperor's side and avoid the worst.

On the afternoon of the 28th, King Zaijin, the king of the military department who had been sitting in Qian'an City without moving, suddenly set off and rushed to Malanzhuang. Wang Zhichen brought Zu Dashou, Zhang Chun and other Liaodong generals to meet Wang Zaijin, and Mangui, who suffered a heavy blow to the chest and abdomen but refused to retreat to Qian'an, was carried by the guards to see Wang Zaijin.

Man Gui, who had been angry since he fled back to Ma Lanzhuang, was a lot more relieved after being picked up from the big tent by Wang Zaijin after being received by Wang Zaijin alone.

Zu Dashou and other generals were originally ready, and in front of Wang Zaijin, they continued to quarrel with the generals of the Mangui and Zhang Chun lines, and it was best to let this military secretary forget the existence of the Houjin army in the north and be trapped in the lawsuit of the defeat of the Santun camp.

If when they heard the news of the victory in the Battle of Shimen before, these Liaodong generals still wanted to fight for credit, so as to prove that the millions of liao salaries they spent every year were not taken for nothing. At that time, they thought that most of the troops used by Jin after this trip were Mongols, so the poor combat effectiveness could not even defeat the new army reorganized from the Beijing camp.

However, when the three battalions of the Mangui commander crashed headlong under the Santun camp city, and learned from Wu Xiang that it was the army of the true Female Tartars who ambushed the Mangui army, these generals suddenly lost the ** to continue the attack. Even the two people who were the most capable of fighting in the ancestral family, Zu Dabi and Zu Kuan, lost the momentum of desperately marching forward before after seeing with their own eyes the banner of the True Girl and Zhen Tartar fluttering in the Houjin Tartars that attacked Wuzhong'an.

However, to Zu Dashou's surprise, no matter how they quarreled this time, Wang Zaijin, who was sitting behind the handsome case, did not show an angry look, and listened to them arguing in front of him for two days.

On the afternoon of 30 November, the 1st Guards Division, except for the artillery regiment, had already arrived at Malanzhuang, and the 1st Guards Division arrived in Malanzhuang, together with the two battalions of the Liaodong Army drawn from Yongping, plus the men and horses of the 5th battalion originally stationed in Malanzhuang, and the more than 1 battalion of officers and men who had retreated from the front, the strength of the Ming army in Malanzhuang once again exceeded 30,000.

For the arrival of reinforcements, Zu Dashou and other generals were not happy, with their current strength is enough to hold Malanzhuang, but the arrival of reinforcements shows that Wang Zaijin and Wang Zhichen, who commanded the Eastern Route Army, have not given up and want to wave their divisions to counterattack the Houjin army in the west.

Zu Dashou was discussing with several close generals how to dispel the idea of the Jin army after Wang Zaijin's counterattack, when he heard the Chinese army sent by Wang Zaijin to pass on a few of them to discuss military affairs. Zu Dashou asked the Chinese soldier a few words without asking any useful news, so he sent him out of his big tent.

When Zu Dashou returned to the tent again, his generals said to him in a gossipy manner: "Dashuai, if Wang Dasima really summons you to discuss the matter of sending troops, you must not agree."

Even the family that can fight like Man Shuai was almost wiped out by the Tartars, our family is not as many as the Man Shuai's family, and it is not as good as the Man Shuai's family can fight, if Meng Lang rushes up, isn't it to send food to the Tartar? If our soldiers are gone, even Malanzhuang will not be able to hold it.

Now that the weather is getting colder and colder, it seems that it is about to be the season of heavy snowfall, and as long as the snow falls, I believe that those Tartars are not cattle, and they will not be able to cross the mountains and forests to beat us. We will consume it with them, and after the beginning of spring, these Tartars will not continue to have grain and grass, and they will always have to retreat. ”

There are also those who are more dark-minded and said: "If Wang Dasima must fight, let the first guard division fight, how many places they can fight, we can also fight as many places." If the First Guards Division refuses to step forward, why should we be allowed to gnaw hard bones on the outside of the Guan..."

Zu Dashou waved his hand to stop these cronies and generals from admonishing him, and after glancing at the people in the tent, he frowned and said, "What you mean, Ben Shuai has already understood, there is no need to say more." But why haven't they arrived yet? What is he up to. ”

Several generals in the tent looked at each other, and someone explained for He Kegang: "Deputy General He heard that the Tartars in the north were building a camp in the past two days, and he was afraid that these Tartars had some conspiracy, so he went to the front line to inspect the defense line and observe the movements of the Tartars. ”

Zu Dashou nodded and said to the generals in the tent with satisfaction: "If you have the mind to govern the army, why should this commander stay here and not move, I can't say that I will take you to touch the reality of the northern Tartar in person a long time ago." When Kegang returns, I will let him come to me, and I will discuss some matters with him. ”

The generals who used to always say something about He Kegang in front of Zu Dashou honestly obeyed Zu Dashou's orders this time and didn't say much. The performance of these cronies surprised Zu Dashou, who felt that these cronies had finally grown a little, and knew that at this time, they had to let go of the idea of fighting for power and profit, and let go of talents who could fight.

This time, only Zu Dashou, Zhu Mei, Ma Dengyun, and Wang Zhichen, Zhang Chun and other civilian officials who were summoned by Wang Zaijin to discuss military affairs were the only ones who sat empty.

Although Zu Dashou is only one of the five general soldiers outside the Guanwai, he has now faintly become the leader of the Liaoxi Generals, and the strength under his command is originally stronger than that of Man Gui.

Zhu Mei, Ma Dengyun and others, in the past few days' meetings, did not dare to go-for-tat with Zu Dashou too much, and supported Zhang Chun's responsibility for Wu Xiang's escape, but they just made a few distinctions for Man Gui and played the role of a peacemaker.

In the past few days, after finding out the attitude of Wang Zaijin and Wang Zhichen towards the defeat of the Santun Battalion, although Zu Dashou was still humble in front of these ministers, when talking about Wu Xiang's guilt, he never gave an inch, and tried his best to exonerate his brother-in-law on the grounds that disposing of Wu Xiang would completely chill the Liaodong army.

After the king sat down in Jin, Zu Dashou preemptively said: "Da Sima, the battle of Santun Camp has passed for a long time, and now there should be a conclusion, right?" The army is now in a state of panic because of this incident, and even the generals are arguing with each other, as if they have become enemies.

If this continues, without waiting for the Tartars to attack, the morale of the army will already be shaken and it will be difficult to fight. The lower officials thought that Da Sima should make a decision as soon as possible to calm the army's heart. ”

Zhang Chun immediately retorted dissatisfiedly: "General Zu, what do you mean by shaking the hearts of the army? Do you still want to coerce Da Sima? Wu Lianghuan escaped from the battle, he is the culprit of this battle, don't you feel ashamed to shield him and frame General Man because of your own selfishness? ”

Zu Dashou looked at Zhang Chun and said-for-tat: "The last general knows that Zhang Daotai is good friends with General Man, but if Zhang Daotai wants to exonerate General Man, he can't listen to and believe it, right?"

Now the one who advocates that the two rings take the lead in fleeing is just the personal soldiers around General Man, and the other soldiers who fled back did not see that the two rings were the culprits who abandoned the army and fled. We've been arguing about this for so long, so it's hard to keep arguing today