On November 4, the Tatars changed their previous strategy of attacking the nine gates of the capital and instead focused on the Desheng Gate in the north of the city. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 More than 30,000 soldiers and horses were dispatched, and the most advanced watchtowers, bridge-erecting vehicles, chariots, and composite vehicle ladders were used to attack the city walls on both sides of Desheng Gate in turn.

After the battle of Deshengmen was carried out on the second day, the number of soldiers and horses invested by the Tatars in the front line of Deshengmen suddenly increased from the initial 30,000 to 60,000, and the intensity of the war escalated again.

The Ming army used the urn city and the city wall as the defense line, using bows and crossbows and stone throwers to fire arrows and stone bullets at the Tartar army, smashing the Tartar men and horses, and trying to destroy the opponent's various siege equipment.

On the one hand, they dug the city foundation, drilled the city wall, and hit the city gate with the impact of the wood, and at the same time set up a ladder to climb the city wall, and used the compound car ladder such as the Lu bus and the opposite building to directly enter the city.

The Ming army pushed out the supporting poles and resisted the fence from the city, and supported the ladders and opposite buildings of the Tartars, so that they could not be attached to the city wall. At the same time, they smashed the rolling wooden stones and sprayed the flaming iron juice under the city, killing and wounding the siege soldiers and destroying the siege equipment.

The war was unusually anxious and cruel, and the Tatar soldiers and horses failed to dig tunnels, because the north side of the city was close to the pond, and every time the Tartars dug the tunnels two or three meters deep, they suddenly seeped water, and soon flooded the tunnels.

In desperation, the Tartars could only storm the city and fight to the death with the Ming army on the wall of the first line of Deshengmen.

In the Wenyuan Pavilion, several ministers of the Prime Minister's Military Affairs Yamen were extremely anxious, in their imagination, although the Tatars were powerful in cavalry and invincible on the plains, they were not good at attacking cities, and they were in vain for a long time, and the food and grass were in a hurry, coupled with the continuous arrival of King Qin's soldiers and horses, they could only retreat in the end.

Therefore, it was only necessary to guard the city gate to ensure the stability of the capital, but the Tatars did not expect that the Tatars had so many advanced siege equipment, which directly attacked the city walls, causing danger.

Because of the cabinet's planned city-wide search and military self-inspection action, the soldiers stationed at the city gates at this time were panicked, and many soldiers paid more attention to things outside the battlefield, and the soldiers had no fighting spirit, so that the section of Deshengmen was actually in danger.

Perhaps with a little more effort, the Tartar will be able to do the whole thing.

Liu Jian and others were not yet aware of this serious problem, thinking that the Tatars had accurately grasped the weakness of the Ming army's defense.

Liu Jian took the battle report from Deshengmen on the third day and asked: "...... Desheng Gate has been built year after year, spending two million silver dollars, using the people's soap to subordinate no less than 10,000 people, and it is in danger in Di Yijin, how many silver taels have been lost in recent years, should it be thoroughly investigated? ”

Li Dongyang frowned: "Young Master Liu, is it too late to investigate thoroughly at this time?" ”

Liu Jian's eyebrows revealed a trace of murderous aura, and he said categorically: "It's not too late to make amends, and all the major gates of the capital must be thoroughly investigated." The walls of the capital are high and deep, and as long as the gates are not opened from the inside, Di Yi will not attack the city. Moreover, even if the city gate is lost, with the imperial city as the foundation, you can still fight with Diyi! ”

Li Dongyang didn't express any opinions, but Xie Qian thought indignantly: "Seeing that the city gate is about to be lost, you still think that the imperial city can be defended, how confident do you have to be, and you actually want to fight with Beikou in the streets?" The streets of the capital are open, and once the soldiers and horses of the Northern Invaders pour into the city, the various departments can only fight in the neighborhood, and they cannot last at all......"

"In the current situation, once there is a mistake in one link of the Jingshi, the entire defense will collapse in the blink of an eye!"

Just when Liu Jian advocated a thorough investigation of the deficit of the household department and the military department in the previous few years, Xiong Xiu hurriedly entered the Wenyuan Pavilion, and he held the battle report that the Zhengyangmen defenders had just sent in his hand.

Xiong Xiu said anxiously: "Several pavilion elders, Tatars launched a surprise attack on the front line of Zhengyangmen half an hour ago, and once again used a large number of siege equipment!" ”

"Huh!?"

Including Xie Qian, several military ministers present were stunned.

Zhengyang Gate is the south gate of the capital, but also the main gate of the capital, before the Beijing division built the outer city, has been as the door of the Ming Dynasty Jingshi and exists, because it is not far from the main gate of the palace Daming Gate, the defense of Zhengyang Gate has always been the top priority of the nine gates of the capital.

Perhaps Liu Jian and others felt that the defense of Zhengyangmen would not be a big problem, so they would be more lax in the defense of Zhengyangmen.

Liu Jian was a little puzzled: "The Tartars attacked Deshengmen for three days before, why did they suddenly turn their target to Zhengyangmen?" I don't know how many troops are stationed in Zhengyangmen at this moment? After that, Liu Jian looked sideways at Li Dongyang, who didn't know about it, and looked at Xiong Xiu again.

Xiong Xiu recalled for a moment and replied with some hesitation: "About three thousand soldiers and horses!" ”

Xie Qian immediately corrected it: "There were more than 3,000 troops stationed before, but now there are only 1,500 troops stationed, and the total strength of the people is less than 2,000!" ”

Liu Jian was a little shocked, and asked again: "How many Tatar siege soldiers and horses?" ”

Xiong Xiu still couldn't answer.

It is not that Xiong Xiu is incompetent in command and dispatch, but because of the passivity and conservatism of Liu Jian and others, the Ming army retreated into the city, resulting in the intelligence system of the capital outside the city almost paralyzed.

Xie Qian analyzed with a solemn expression: "Judging from the situation of the Northern Kou's soldiers and horses attacking Deshengmen, this time attacking Zhengyangmen, there are at least 10,000 soldiers and horses dispatched...... At this time, if you can send a cavalry from the rest of the city gate of the capital, go around the enemy's flank, and cooperate with the defenders of Zhengyangmen, you may be able to frustrate the enemy's edge! ”

Li Dongyang was sensitive when he heard the "dispatch of troops", and immediately questioned it: "I can't agree with what Yu Qiao said, if the troops and horses are victorious on this road, if the troops are defeated, where to withdraw the Beijing division?" Don't follow in the footsteps of Jing Kang's shame, the city gate was not overcome by the enemy and fell into it. ”

Xie Qian glanced at Li Dongyang, his expression was not good.

Li Dongyang's "city gate was not conquered by the enemy and fell into itself" is an allusion to the "Liujia Formation" in the "Shame of Jingkang" in the previous dynasty, in which the god stick Guo Jing set up the "Liujia Formation" in a vain attempt to break the Jin army, but the result was defeated by the Jin army, and then took advantage of the chaos to attack the outer city of Kaifeng Mansion.

Xie Qianxin said: "I advocate sending troops, mainly because I want to take the Tatars ......off guard."

"The Tatars are attacking the city, their attention is on the Zhengyang Gate in front, there must not be many cavalry following, if the attack is done in one fell swoop, on the one hand, it can destroy the opponent's siege equipment, reduce the pressure on the defenders, on the other hand, it can kill and wound the enemy, so that it does not dare to be unscrupulous, and at the same time can also boost the morale of my Ming army, even if the battle is defeated, it will not end up in the fall of the city, but the result is said to be a disaster to the country and the people, so how can I speak about this battle in the future?"

Liu Jian didn't seem to hear the argument between the two, pondered for a while, and waved his big hand: "You should immediately ask Your Majesty to send 5,000 soldiers and horses to guard Zhengyangmen to ensure that Zhengyangmen is not lost!" ”

Xie Qian couldn't help but ask, if the Tatars suddenly withdrew their troops from Zhengyangmen, would the Zhengyangmen soldiers stay behind or return to their original units? If other city gates are attacked by Tartars again, will they send Zhengyangmen defenders to deal with it, or will they send soldiers and horses from other city gates again?

However, because of Li Dongyang's groundless accusations before, as well as Xie Qian's negative psychology about Shen Xi's "tragic encounter" in this battle, coupled with his strong dissatisfaction with Liu Jian's arbitrary behavior on the issue of urban defense, he did not want to comment too much.

Even Xie Qian, who was the third person in the cabinet, refused to speak, and Xiong Xiu would not make a casual comment, and the final result was to play according to the strategy expressed by Liu Jian and report to Emperor Hongzhi for Zhu approval.

At this time, although Zhu Youji's condition has improved, but he is still unable to personally review the transcript, Zhu Pi's responsibility is in the celebrant supervisor, the eunuch Bingbi has a resigned attitude to the cabinet's resolutions, Liu Jian has become the mainstay of the Ming Dynasty, and his power is unmatched for a while.