After Zhuo Erbi went down, Zhu Youzhen turned back to Wu Huai again and asked, "Has the identity of the Houjin reinforcements been confirmed?" ”

Wu Huai subconsciously looked outside the hall before saying to the emperor: "The minister's subordinates haven't come to report yet, it seems that they should still be interrogated." ”

Chongzhen leaned on the back of his chair and thought for a while, then got up and said, "Since this is the case, let's take a look together to see who they are, and actually hit a battalion of my First Cavalry Division." ”

The Shimenzhai area was not large, and the original small prison could not hold many prisoners, so Wu Huai temporarily set up a place to interrogate prisoners in the back garden of the command yamen.

Shimen Village is not big, and the command of this village makes the Yamen also inferior to other places, and the back garden is about one acre in size. Under the ravages of the Mongols, it became a stable for the Mongols, and after the Ming army recaptured Shimenzhai, some of the remaining rockeries were also bulldozed and used by the Ming army to settle prisoners.

When Zhu Youzhen arrived at the back garden, he saw two or three wooden stakes erected on a vacant field, which were about half a person high, and a person was tied to each stake.

Because of the height of the stakes, these people were tied in a kneeling position. Wooden stakes were erected between their legs, making it impossible for the captives to exert their strength at all, and some of the overly tall captives had to bend down and be bound in a more difficult position.

Next to each captive were two or three soldiers, mostly with horsewhips and a few with sticks. The soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division were obviously still resentful of the losses they had just lost in the battle, and they did not take it lightly, and many of the prisoners had already passed out.

Zhu Youzhen looked at these bloodstained captives and shook his head, turned to Lian Shanxiang behind him and ordered: "Go and transfer the officers and soldiers from Jinyiwei to take over the interrogation of these Jiannu captives, and find out the dead Jurchen corpses one by one."

The prisoners were treated for their wounds, then washed and fed, and then interrogated separately. If you are willing to speak, let them identify the dead people and see if there are any important people. What I need is their confessions, not a pile of corpses. ”

Lian Shanxiang bent down and replied to the emperor: "The minister obeys." ”

Wu Huai, who was standing next to him, also had a little red on his face after hearing the emperor's instructions. He quickly ordered his subordinates to stop the torture of these Jurchen captives, and let them leave a few people to hand over the Jiannu captives and corpses with Lian Shanxiang, while the others returned to the camp to rest.

Seeing that he would not get any information from these Jiannu for a while, Zhu Youzhen took people back to the lobby and convened a meeting of the generals of each army and the staff officers around him.

The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss how to establish a defense line based on Shimenzhai and Shimenxia, and send people to reconnoiter between Shimenxia and Baozizhai.

In addition, it is a rough count of the captures and losses of each army in this battle, and a preliminary discussion of the merits of each army in this battle. And the detailed reports of the losses of the various armies, as well as the meritorious service of the officers and men of each army, were required to report to the front-line staff at the emperor's side as soon as possible.

The first merit of this battle was naturally to paralyze the Mongols Zhang Xianzhong and the auxiliary troops of the Mongolian left battalion, which basically no one objected to. After all, the former were the people on the emperor's side, while the latter suffered more casualties than nearly half of the troops.

Next, according to the old practice in the army, it should be the Fifth Cavalry Division that made the greatest contribution in this battle, after all, the Fifth Cavalry Division was the first to attack, and it was they who quickly responded to the First Cavalry Division, thus finally intercepting the rout of the Mongolian Left Battalion and the Houjin reinforcements.

However, under the intervention of the emperor, the second merit of this battle fell on the First Cavalry Division, the reason is that the self-sacrifice spirit of the third battalion of the First Cavalry Division made this battle complete the pre-war predetermined goal, and did not let the main force of Shimenzhai escape.

Now that the emperor had made his decision, the generals of the new army stopped talking about it, and wisely did not continue to dwell on the issue.

Although theoretically, the command of this battle was entrusted to Zuo Liangyu by Chongzhen, after the battle, he also stayed in the rearguard unit. However, the officers and soldiers of the new army still regarded the victory in this battle as being won under the leadership of the emperor.

As for the titular coach Zuo Liangyu, he was automatically ignored by these officers. The defeat of a Houjin army in a field battle, although mostly Mongol, except for the last reinforcements of less than a hundred, was an exciting feat for the officers and men of the new army.

Before the start of this battle, whether it was Chongzhen, the generals of the new army, or the soldiers below, there was a kind of anxiety about whether they could fight the Houjin army in the field. After all, the opposite side has the merit of destroying more than 100,000 Liaodong Ming troops, and is known as the invincible existence in the field.

There were already many officers and soldiers from the Liao people in the new army, and they knew better about the field combat capabilities of the Later Jin army than the soldiers in Guannei. These sergeants, who have always been strong in the new army, all looked a little distorted when they heard that they were going to fight in the field with the Houjin army, and the others naturally had even more doubts in their hearts.

However, at the emperor's insistence, the new army quickly advanced to Mashenqiao and fought a field battle with the Houjin army in Shimenzhai.

No matter how many casualties the Ming army suffered in this war, this was the first time in more than ten years that the Ming army annihilated a Houjin unit, not a Houjin army, or in the situation of a field battle.

This victory immediately dispelled the fear of the New Army for a field battle with the Houjin army. And for the soldiers, whoever can lead them to victory is naturally the commander they agree with.

Since it was the emperor who advocated the field battle with this Houjin army before the war, and the emperor was in the army at the beginning of the battle, the only object of loyalty of the soldiers because of the victory was naturally the emperor himself.

After this battle, Chongzhen was no longer a simple emperor image in this new army, but also the commander of the army recognized by the soldiers. Under this dual authority, Chongzhen's distribution of military merits naturally did not arouse the objections of the generals of various armies.

And when Chongzhen achieved the first victory of his own personal conquest, in the Xuanhua City General Military Officer's Mansion, the military and political officials of Xuanhua Town gathered in the General Military Mansion today to discuss matters.

At the top of the lobby of the General Military Mansion was not Zheng Erpin, who hung the seal of General Zhenshuo, and Hei Yunlong, the chief military officer of Xuanfu Town, but Cao Wenzhao, the newly established right governor of the Shanxi Governor's Mansion.

On the left side of the hall sat several civil officials, and the first in line was Shen Qi, the governor of Xuanfu and the military capital. On the right are more than a dozen military ministers, the first is Hei Yunlong, the chief military officer of Xuanfu Town, and the second is Luo Yangxing, the deputy chief military officer and commander of the Jinyi Guard.

Cao Wenzhao glanced at Shen Qi, the governor of Xuanhua who had an ugly face on the left side of the hall, and then looked at the several military ministers on the right who were obviously a little flustered, although he was a little tired of his current errand, he still cleared his throat and said to everyone.

"This official summoned the civil and military officials of Xuanfu Town to come here because the Houjin Tatars invaded our Ming border some time ago, and His Majesty personally recruited to meet the enemy, there were still people who fornicated with the Houjin Tatars and sold grain and information about our Ming border to the Tatars.

What is this behavior? This is colluding with foreign enemies and plotting to kill His Majesty, and it is a great crime of rebellion without a monarch.

As far as this official knows, the person who sold grain and information about our Ming border pass to the Tartars is in this Xuanfu town. This official is now under the order to thoroughly investigate this case and arrest all those involved in this case.

Whether it is an ordinary businessman or an official in Xuanfu Town, they must be arrested today as a whole, and it is better to catch them by mistake than to misplace. This official now demands that all the officials of Xuanfu Town, big and small, are now restrained by me and investigate and handle this case.

Do you have any objections? ”

Shen Qi, who replaced Li Yangxing as governor of Xuanhua for less than half a year, although he didn't care much about the case of someone colluding with Houjin in Xuanfu Town, this case definitely had nothing to do with him.

But for letting a military minister handle this case, he suddenly became a little disgusted. However, when it comes to the big hat of Jin plotting to kill the monarch's father after collusion, he doesn't dare to touch it, lest he let himself fall into it.

Shen Qi cleared his throat and replied to Cao Wenzhao: "Since General Cao has an edict, why do you have to ask us again, please show the edict, and we will naturally follow the order." ”

Cao Wenzhao didn't say much, so he got up and gave way to the main seat and shouted to the back hall: "Please give an order." Soon, four pro-soldiers escorted a brocade guard commander out.

The commander of the Jinyi guard stood in the hall and read Chongzhen's will to everyone, and asked the two civil and military officials of Xuanfu Town to come up to check the holy decree.

After Shen Qi confirmed the seal of the cabinet, he stepped aside without saying a word. Seeing that the governor was speechless, the chief military officer Hei Yunlong didn't dare to say anything, he could only pray in his heart that this case would not be implicated too much.

However, his idea was obviously in vain, and after seeing that the two civil and military officials in Xuanfu Town had admitted their right to handle the case, Cao Wenzhao unceremoniously named the names of Luo Yangxing, the deputy chief military officer, and Wu Cheng, the commander of the Wanquan Division.

"Those people in Xuanfu Town colluded with Houjin, and it was the two of you who reported to the top, now you should talk about how this person should be arrested."

Luo Yangxing glanced at Wu Cheng, and then came out and said: "The army first and then the people, the military and then the culture, first clear the hidden dangers in the army, and the rest of the things will be easy to do." ”

Wu Cheng also stepped forward and said, "The lower official seconded the proposal." ”

Cao Wenzhao glanced at the two of them and said: "Okay, just do what you two said, all the generals in this army have been summoned here by their own officials, and which of these people do you say were arrested?" ”

Luo Yangxing replied without hesitation: "Dong Jishu, the deputy general of the assistant guard, and the general of Yuanbao..., these people colluded with the eight firms in Zhangjiakou to smuggle grain, iron, and herbs out of the customs.

According to the investigation of the lower officials, Xuanfu Town has not been in war for many years, and the troops have not practiced all year round, but the losses of ordnance and armor reported by them over the years far exceed those of the Xuanda armies. The lower officials thought that they had smuggled weapons and armor out. ”

Dong Jishu and several named generals immediately knelt down and cried loudly to Cao Wenzhao, saying that they were wronged and had no intention of colluding with Houjin.

Seeing these generals slumped on the ground, Cao Wenzhao frowned in disgust, and asked them to be taken down and imprisoned. After receiving the order, he specially brought an infantry division over, just because he was worried that these officers would take risks.

But looking at the appearance of these people, where is there a trace of courage to take risks. After ordering people to take away these officials involved in the case, Cao Wenzhao said to the rest of the people again: "In case of accidents, Chief Hei and Governor Shen are sitting here with me.

Luo Yangxing took a team of people to arrest the people involved in Xuanfu Town and Zhangjiakou, and Wu Cheng led another team of people to clean up the people involved in the city and various health centers. Others are waiting here for orders, and they are not allowed to go out without permission..."

When Cao Wenzhao was still giving a lecture in the lobby of the front mansion, a subordinate in the kitchen of the General Soldier's Mansion made an excuse and sneaked out of the General Soldier's Mansion through the back door and went to a Fan's ginseng shop on the next street.

After the servant entered, within a quarter of an hour the shopkeeper of the firm hurried out of the city on horseback and hurried towards Zhangjiabao to the west.