After the 2nd and 3rd Regiments of the Guards Division crossed the river, Zhu Youzhen did not let Wu Xiang and Song Wei's battalion leaders cross the river first, but ordered Zu Dabi and Zu Dale to cross the river first with their own troops.

Seeing that there were many Mongolians in the two battalions led by the two, Zhu Youzhen, who was standing on the hill west of the bridge, couldn't help but ask Zu Dashou beside him curiously.

After Zu Dashou glanced at the troops walking under the mountain, he said respectfully to Chongzhen: "These are the people who are sandwiched, originally living in the north of the mountain near Liaoyang, the Mongolian tribe outside China, because of the oppression of the Houjin, surrendered to my Ming Dynasty in March last year.

The ministers selected 3,000 strong soldiers from among them to form the left and right battalions, the left battalion was led by Sang'ang, and the right battalion was led by Nomuqi and Chataiji. What His Majesty sees now is the Jinzhou soldiers including the Zuo Battalion. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at the troops passing by at the foot of the mountain, and couldn't help but smile and said: "Only two of them were given guerrilla official positions, which is too stingy. ”

As soon as half of the two battalions of the Liaodong Army had passed, Zhu Youzhen and the others saw the Tatar cavalry who had fled eastward, and not only stopped, but also turned around and killed the bridgehead again. And Jinshan, north of the bridgehead, also sent a force again to attack the bridge, as if it wanted to cooperate with the Tartar cavalry who counterattacked from the east.

What made Zhu Youzhen feel a little surprised was that the Tartars guarding the west entrance still only sent thirty or fifty horsemen, and they rushed over slowly, as if they were just perfunctory.

He then said to the guards behind him: "Zhang Xianzhong, you take a group of people, capture a few cavalry from the west, and bring them to me, I have something to ask them." ”

Zhang Xianzhong glanced at the situation on the other side, agreed, turned around and went down the hill, and gathered the cavalry of the first regiment of the Guards Division. This counterattack of the opposite Tartars, with the support of the Liaodong Army led by Zu Dabi and Zu Dale, was soon driven back by the second and third regiments of the Guards Division.

After the cavalry led by Zhang Xianzhong shot down more than a dozen Mongolian Tartars and dismounted, the remaining Mongolian cavalry quickly turned around and ran back to the position of Ximenkouzi.

When Zhang Xianzhong returned to the west bank of the Luan River with three captives and put them before the emperor, the Ming army that had crossed the river had exceeded 7,000 men. The Ming army, having crossed the river, completely occupied the Tartar camp on the east bank of the stone bridge and began to repair the camp's defenses.

More than 5,000 Ming troops led by Zu Dabi and Zu Dale, and more than 3,000 cavalry who had crossed the river, relied on the camp on the east bank of the stone bridge and firmly guarded this humble camp. The Tartar cavalry on the opposite bank kept compressing the positions of the Ming army from the north and east, trying to compress the Ming army in a small area at the head of the bridge, so that the follow-up troops of the Ming army would not have room to expand their ranks.

Zhu Youzhen, Zu Dashou and other Ming generals also observed that the Tatar cavalry on the east side of the opposite bank was constantly mobilizing and gathering, apparently preparing to launch a large-scale counterattack in an attempt to drive the Ming army back on the opposite bank. The only thing that made them feel fortunate was that the Tartars guarding the western entrance did not seem to have any will to fight, but gave the Ming army across the river a place to assemble and reorganize.

After Zhang Xianzhong returned with the three captives, Zhu Youzhen ordered the ropes on their bodies to be untied, and then questioned the three in person. Although these three Mongolians didn't know who Zhu Youzhen was, they also knew that this must be a noble man of the Ming Kingdom when they looked at him so young and was surrounded by a group of Ming army generals.

These three people obviously had no intention of dying for the Hou Jin Kingdom, they honestly confessed their identities, and also confided all the information they knew.

It turned out that they were herdsmen from the Horqin tribe, and now the general stationed at the western mouth is the leader of the Horqin tribe, Oba. The army of the western mouth was not not 500, but 1,500.

According to them, when the old chieftain of the Korqin tribe formed an alliance with Nurhachi, the two sides concluded an equal covenant, and the Korqin tribe only wanted to use the power of the Jianzhou Jurchens to resist the annexation of the Chahar tribe.

But after Nurhachi unified the Jurchen tribes and established the Houjin state, the power of the two sides was out of balance. The Houjin State, whose strength had grown rapidly, seemed to regard the Horqin Department as his subordinates.

When Nurhachi was alive, the Korqin tribe was under his authority and did not dare to resist. After Huang Taiji ascended to the throne, the new leader of the Korqin tribe, Oba tried to restore the equal alliance between the two sides, and Oba even took the initiative to make overtures to Lin Dan Khan.

However, Oba's resistance to Houjin quickly collapsed with Lin Dan Khan's initiative to move west. The westward migration of the Chahar tribe forced the Horqin tribe to face the Houjin state alone, which had gained control of the Liaodong region, and the pro-Houjin forces within Horqin also had to make Oba make a compromise, and finally let him personally rush to Shenyang to admit his mistake to Huang Taiji.

With Oba's compromise, the covenant between Houjin and Korqin officially became a covenant of vassalage. The Horqin tribe was included under the rule of the Later Jin State, although because of the marriage relationship between the Horqin tribe and the Jurchen nobles for many years, the Horqin tribe became a relatively special existence in the Later Jin country, but this still could not hide the fact that they became the vassals of the Later Jin.

Oba who carried 5,000 men and horses to respond to Huang Taiji's call for troops, but still did not gain Huang Taiji's trust, since the army of the Horqin tribe merged with the Houjin army, the leader of the Horqin tribe Oba was equivalent to being placed under house arrest by Huang Taiji, and his 5,000 men and horses were also dismantled by Huang Taiji and distributed to each banner.

Huang Taiji's approach is obviously to divide and win over the people of the Horqin Division, and Oba is naturally angry about this, but he is helpless. As long as the Later Jin army continued to win, no one in the scattered Mongol tribes would be willing to challenge the authority of the Jurchens on the steppe.

Although limited to the need to win over the Horqin Ministry, Huang Taiji will not do anything to him, but it is also unlikely that Oba wants to make the Korqin Ministry rise up against Hou Jin's arrogance and unreasonableness.

After understanding this, Oba has little interest in this war after Jin Zhengming, and he has nothing to boast of if he wins, and he is firmly imprisoned by Huang Taiji's side, and it is unlikely that he will make war exploits. On the contrary, the Horqin men and horses assigned to the banners, and the exploits and booties they obtained under the command of the Jurchen generals only made them closer to the Jurchens, and they forgot about him, the leader of the Horqin tribe.

After the Jin army encountered a setback under the city of Zunhua and suffered a small defeat at Shimen, Huang Taiji relaxed his suppression of him slightly. The way the Ming army attacked from the east and west made it impossible for Huang Taiji, who was short of troops, to use the last men and horses around him. After all, Oba was the leader of the Korqin tribe, and Huang Taiji didn't plan to officially tear his face with him, so he didn't deprive him of all the horses and put him under house arrest.

Therefore, Oba and his men were placed on the left flank to monitor and block the Ming army of the Eastern Road, which had been defeated once, from advancing west into Zunhua City. However, the commander of the left flank troops was not the high-ranking Tushetu Khan Oba, but the Mongol Wunag, whom the Jurchens trusted more, and in order to prevent Oba from interfering with Wunag's command, Huang Taiji also left Dudu and 5 Niu Lu's Jurchen armor soldiers to supervise the battle.

Although Huang Taiji's political balance among the left-wing troops was reasonable, it also completely destroyed Oba's aggressiveness. For example, when the Ming army counterattacked, Oba sent a small team of less than 100 people, and sat on the flood land and did not move. With such an attitude of the main general, the Horqin tribes below naturally have no fighting will.

Zhu Youzhen also learned from these Mongol captives that the main commander stationed on Jinshan would be Ebendui, and the main camp stationed in the east was Wunag and Dudu Beyler.

He couldn't help but smile and said to Lian Shanxiang beside him: "I didn't expect to meet Du Du here again, this one is really destined for me." You go to a few more people to ask what is the origin of this Ebendui and Wunag. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty... My lord. Lian Shanxiang almost revealed Chongzhen's identity, but he quickly changed his words to cover it up, and then stepped aside and ordered a few words to the guards beside him.

Only then did Zhu Youzhen say to the three captives: "If I let you go back now, will you still fight against my Daming?" ”

The three captives looked at each other, and immediately replied: "If the nobles let us go back, the little ones will definitely not dare to be enemies of the Ming Dynasty again." ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded, and said to the left and right: "Go and get 30 silver dollars, and reward the three of them, which can be regarded as a reward for them to reply honestly."

When you go back, bring me a few words for Obadeiji. First, Da Ming and Horqin have no grudges, but Obataiji assisted Hou Jin to invade my Da Ming, is this to make a feud with my Da Ming?

Second, the Later Jin State was very ambitious, and since the old slave raised his army, not only the Liaodong tribes have suffered greatly, but the Mongolian tribes have also suffered a lot from it. As the leader of the Horqin tribe, Obataiji should think more about the future of his own tribe, and don't wait until the Houjin State attacks the Horqin tribe to regret his mistakes;

Thirdly, if Obadagi is willing to retreat, then the Korqin men and horses captured by our army will be released back at that time, so as to make the old friendship between the two families.

Our army will later send men to receive Obadeiji's garrison at the western pass, and it will be friend or foe at that time, only in the spur of Obataiji's thoughts. ”

After the more than a dozen herdsmen of the Horqin tribe captured by Zhang Xianzhong were ordered by Chongzhen to return the horses and release them together, Zhu Youzhen ordered He Kegang to take a battalion of men and horses to the west later to seize the western entrance of the Oba garrison.

By noon, the men and horses of the Ming army crossing the river already had 3 Liaodong battalions, 2 regiments of guards divisions, and five Franc machine guns, totaling more than 11,000 people.

The Tartars on the east bank launched three attacks, but were always stopped by the Ming army. The cavalry led by Zu Dabi and Sang Ang was particularly outstanding, and on several occasions at critical moments they made up for the Ming defense line that had been rushed from the east by the Tartar generals, forcing the Tartar cavalry to retreat.

Zhu Youzhen saw through the binoculars that the middle-aged general in the eastern Tartar army was wearing a black painted iron armor, and every charge was bound to be in front, and several times he broke through the Ming army's defense line in the east.

Zhu Youzhen put down his binoculars and said to the generals beside him: "Let the battalion heads of Wu Xiang and Song Wei start to cross the river, and after them, I and the first regiment of the Guards Division will cross the river." ”