At present, the imperial court has a total of 200,000 troops in Jizhen, including 40,000 Guan Ning troops of Yuan Governor's division, 10,000 Datong troops, Changping troops, and Xuanfu armies, as well as the original 130,000 local guards in Jizhen (note: it is commonly known as the Tuntian army). Sun Chengzong pointed to the map and said, "In Zunhua City, there were originally a total of 70,000 troops, including 30,000 Guanning troops and 40,000 guards, but until now, according to the latest Tang newspaper, there are still about 50,000 troops left. In terms of Jiannu, there were originally 70,000 elites besieging the city, but after this month, it is estimated that there are still 50,000 elites left. ”

Qin Shuhuai bowed slightly, thinking that Yuan Chonghuan's ability to defend the city was indeed good, and when the quality of the officers and soldiers was not as good as that of the Tartar soldiers, he had to fight a one-to-one battle loss ratio, and Zunhua did not lose it.

After thinking about it, he asked, "Where are the other troops of Jiannu?"

Sun Chengzong pointed to the Santun camp and said, "Jiannu has 30,000 elites deployed near the Santun camp, but they did not attack. Another 20,000 troops had just captured Qian'an south of Santunying, and continued to attack Yongping City south of Qian'an. By the way, Yongping City and Qian'an are only more than 200 miles away from Shanhaiguan. ”

Qin Shuhuai immediately said, "Who is guarding Shanhaiguan now?"

"Liaodong General Soldier Wu Xiang. Sun Chengzong said.

Qin Shuhuai blurted out, "Wu Sangui and his father?!"

To tell the truth, Wu Xiang guarded the mountain customs, and Qin Shuhuai was very uneasy. Wu Xiang in history, in the battle of Dalinghe in the fourth year of Chongzhen, was ordered by Zu Dashou to reinforce him, but he ran away halfway and was imprisoned. Later, I don't know why, Chongzhen reused him again, until Li Zicheng's troops came to the Forbidden City, and Wu Xiang served as the commander of the Beijing camp, but he was defeated and captured alive by Li Zicheng. Such a person, even if he puts aside his son Wu Sangui, is not a reliable person.

But he couldn't say it now. Do you want him to tell Chongzhen that he pinched his fingers and calculated that Wu Xiang was not a good thing?

"Master Hou knows him, who is this Wu Sangui?" asked Sun Chengzong.

"This ......" Qin Shuhuai laughed dryly, and then said vaguely, "I heard a little, Sun Ge Lao, you will continue." ”

Sun Chengzong stopped asking questions and continued, "In addition to these, Jiannu probably has one or two thousand main forces and tens of thousands of soldiers scattered in Hanerzhuang and other places that have been occupied. On the other hand, in addition to the 50,000 troops in Zunhua, there are also 60,000 or 70,000 troops in Jizhou and Santun Camp. The situation in Jizhen is probably like this. ”

At this time, Chongzhen interjected, "Brother Qin, to put it simply, it is that Jiannu besieged Zunhua City, and then went east to Qian'an and Yongping, do you think they will go to Shanhaiguan and then turn around and attack Jinning with the Duoyan Department?

The Ningjin Defense Line is a long and narrow strip of land, geographically sandwiched between the Duoyan Department and Houjin. If Shanhaiguan is broken, Houjin will send troops from Shanhaiguan and Shenyang to attack from both sides, while the Duoyan Department will attack from west to east, forming a three-sided attack, but the Ningjin defense line is very dangerous.

Qin Shuhuai thought for a while and said, "It shouldn't be." Jiannu is currently short of money and food, and entered the Central Plains only for plunder, not for territory. And if they want to take Shanhaiguan, Jinzhou, Ningyuan and other places, their price is bound to be no smaller. You must know that Jiannu has already gathered the strength of the whole country this time, and if more than half of these hundreds of thousands of soldiers are lost, most of their deterrent power in front of the Mongol tribes will also be lost. ”

Sun Chengzong asked, "How can Master Hou be sure that the Jiannu who came to attack this time is already the strength of their whole country? How did the old man hear that they still have 100,000 elite soldiers in Shenyang? Having said that, in recent years, Jiannu has not only occupied most of Liaodong, but also conquered the Mongolian tribes and Korea.

Chongzhen also expressed surprise, and after listening to Sun Chengzong's words, he said, "Brother Qin, is Jiannu really all this kind of?"

And no wonder they. The Ming Dynasty did not have high-tech such as satellites, and the blockage of news is certain. Although the Ming Dynasty also sent Xizuo to mix in Shenyang City for a long time, Xizuo could not count the population of Houjin, right? Even if a few Xizuo were mixed into the Houjin army, he could only know how many soldiers he was in the battalion at most, and it was impossible to know how many soldiers there were in the whole country of Houjin, right? Moreover, in the territory of Jiannu, the Han people could not move around at will, and Xizuo might be able to guess how many soldiers there were in his area through some appearances, but whether there were soldiers in other places, how many, how could you let him calculate them?

In this way, it is not surprising that Chongzhen and Sun Chengzong did not know how many troops Houjin actually had. In addition, military generals from all over the country always like to falsely report the number of enemy troops, so they think that there are at least 100,000 troops in Houjin now.

Qin Shuhuai said categorically, "Jiannu still has a maximum of twenty or thirty thousand soldiers in the old nest, which is the limit. The emperor and the elder of the pavilion believe that I is, I put Neiying in Shenyang City a long time ago, and I can't be wrong. ”

Chongzhen said, "Since Brother Qin said so, then it must be like this." In that case, what is the meaning of their attack on Qian'an and other places? Could it be that they want to bypass Jizhen and come to Beijing along the line of Fengrun, Yutian, and Xianghe?"

Without waiting for Qin Shuhuai to speak, Sun Chengzong said, "The emperor can rest assured, before they take Zunhua and Jizhou, they will not dare to come to Beijing." Because they also know that Marquis Qin's army has already arrived in Beijing, and if there is no way to retreat, how dare they dare to fight rashly?"

Qin Shuhuai answered, "What Elder Sun Ge said is right. If Hwang Tae-gil wants to come to the rich land of Gyeonggi to plunder, he must leave a way out. If they don't take Zunhua and Jizhou, they won't be able to retreat from a few broken passes, and then we will be able to grind them to death. ”

Chongzhen nodded thoughtfully, "So they attacked Qian'an and Yongping just to plunder?"

Qin Shuhuai said with great conviction, "That's right, the minister thought it was so. The food and grass in Jiannu are not good, and this labor expedition must be in short supply, so it is necessary to feed the war with war. However, the villages and county towns near Daankou and Malanyu had already withered in population after the battle of Jisi, and there was little food left, so they were in a hurry to raise food everywhere. From this point of view, if we can drag them in Jizhen, it won't be long before Huang Taiji himself has to retreat!"

Chongzhen couldn't help but say, "Brother Qin has really done enough homework! So, Brother Qin is confident now, right? Hehe, I just said, with Brother Qin on the horse, what is that little Huang Taiji!"

Qin Shuhuai smiled faintly, "Your Majesty, this is just the minister's conjecture, and the specific situation will not be known until after arriving in Jizhen." Last time, Huang Taiji only brought 30,000 or 40,000 troops to us and fought in a mess, this time he brought a full 100,000 troops, so we need to be more cautious. ”

"What Brother Qin said is. However, our Daming is not the Ming of a year ago! We have Brother Qin's 60,000 strong soldiers, and we also have 40,000 Guan Ning troops in the hands of Inspector Yuan, we are not afraid of him this time!" Chongzhen said with great ambition, "Brother Qin, as you said, this moment is the critical moment for us to realize the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, as long as we can defeat Huang Taiji, my Ming will have no external troubles, and from then on, Vientiane will be innovated, and the Ming Dynasty will definitely be able to return to the prosperous era!"

Qin Shuhuai smiled slightly, "The emperor can rest assured, the ministers must go all out." ”

At this time, the scholar shouted childishly outside the door, "Teacher Sun, it's time to eat!"

Sun Chengzong smiled and said, "Your Majesty, Marquis Qin, let's have a light meal in the academy, shall we talk after eating." ”

So the three of them had a light meal at the academy, and then returned to the Yinfeng Book House to discuss ways to relieve the siege of Zunhua.

Before you know it, it's dark.

Suddenly, the scholar came to report that there was a request for a meeting outside named "Meng Wei".