Zhu Houzhao had heard of Wang Shouren, not because his ability was so great that even everyone in the palace knew it, but because Wang Shouren was a jinshi in the same year as Shen Xi, and his father was Wang Hua, a young Zhan Shi of Zhan Shifu and a bachelor of Hanlin. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Wang Hua had the future of his son, and he said some things about Wang Shouren in front of the prince many times.

Because Wang Hua has always belonged to the good-tempered type among the lecturers in the East Palace, Zhu Houzhao has a good impression of Wang Hua, so he also remembered the name Wang Shouren, and now when he sees me, he thinks: "Wang Shouren is worthy of being admitted to the Jinshi with Mr. Shen, and he is very capable at first glance, maybe I can use him more in the future!" ”

Zhu Houzhao's careful thinking only turned around, and immediately thought of the current situation, and his face changed: "Wang Shouren, right?" Hongu knows you have what it takes. Since you don't agree to the palace to lead the troops out, the palace now orders you to take over the defense of Zhengyangmen and drive the Tartars off the city for the palace! Did you hear that? ”

Wang Shouren looked at Xie Qian, not daring to make a decision, but Xie Qian immediately made a decision, and said, "Bo'an, didn't you hear the prince's orders?" Since the crown prince is in charge of the state, then you can accept the order and show your strength! ”

Wang Shouren's expression was awe-inspiring, obviously he didn't expect Xie Qian to say the same, but he was worthy of being one of the most outstanding military strategists in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, he quickly calmed down and saluted Zhu Houzhao respectfully: "The minister receives the order!" ”

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Wang Shouren is a fifth-rank officer of the military department among the Beijing officials, and if he is delegated to a locality, he can receive a third-rank rank, so this appointment is also in line with the rules.

At this time, the battle of Zhengyangmen has reached an important juncture, and no one is willing to take responsibility for the defeat, coupled with the chaotic scheduling of Zhengyangmen itself, it is very necessary for a strong person to come out to coordinate and regain the lost territory.

Wang Shouren was ordered to be in danger, not that the emperor appointed him to take over the defense of Zhengyangmen, and even before he came, he only accompanied Xie Qian to supervise military affairs as a representative of the Ministry of War, and was ready to go back to play, but as soon as he came, he was put on the responsibility of supervising the defense of Zhengyangmen.

Zhu Houzhao saw that after Wang Shouren received the order, he went to the lookout to look carefully, and he didn't move for a long time, and suddenly became anxious: "Wang Qing's family, didn't you hear the words of this palace?" Bengu asked you to lead the troops for Bengu, why are you still here? ”

Wang Shouren continued to observe the following situation, and replied: "Back to the prince, the Tatar soldiers and horses attacked fiercely, trying to defeat Zhengyangmen in a battle, but now the Tatar follow-up troops and horses do not seem to be timely, it should be our cavalry outside the city that has played a role." This cavalry, according to Xie Gelao, was the cavalry led by Shen to aid the Beijing Division in the same year. ”

"However, the number of cavalry on this road is always limited, if you can't take advantage of the situation to fight back before the end of the raid and recapture the city in one fell swoop, then the Tatar follow-up soldiers and horses will be overwhelmed, conquer Zhengyang Gate, and the Beijing division is also afraid of being lost!"

Zhu Houzhao thought about it carefully and asked, "What you said makes some sense, but ...... How to fight back? ”

Xie Qian looked at Wang Shouren, for some reason, because of Shen Xi's existence, he always looked at Wang Shouren a little unpleasantly, and reminded: "Bo'an, you must act carefully, and you can't act willfully!" ”

Wang Shouren looked at Xie Qian, nodded solemnly, and said, "The words of the elder pavilion are remembered by the students. In this battle, it is necessary to contain the Tatar soldiers, and in the light view of the students, they should take fire as the top! ”

Xie Qian frowned: "Fire attack? ”

Wang Shouren said: "Before, the Tatars used the Franc cannon to bombard the city indiscriminately, causing a lot of losses to our soldiers. As the saying goes, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, if our army uses a trebuchet erected at the head of the urn city to throw a clay pot filled with tung oil, supplemented by a fierce fire oil tank and a golden fire pot, etc., the city can be burned in a short time...... Once the Tatar garrison was caught in flames, their follow-up siege soldiers and horses would not be able to reach the city! ”

Xie Qian was terrified when he heard this, and stammered, "Uncle...... Boan, you ...... You're not kidding, are you? Now that the enemy and I are fighting together, throwing tung oil cans with trebuchets and then igniting them, how many people will die? ”

Wang Shouren's expression was grim, and he said: "In the opinion of the students, once the city is broken, the people will be ruined, and if a small number of soldiers are sacrificed, tens of thousands of Tatar soldiers can be stopped, and this kind of effort is worth it." Please allow the prince! ”

Zhu Houzhao didn't understand at first, but at this time, he suddenly understood that Wang Shouren's opinion was to throw tung oil cans, set fire to both the enemy and us, and use the fire to hinder the Tatars from going to the city.

Zhu Houzhao hesitated a little: "Wang Qing's words, let Bengong think about it, what you said...... Although it has the effect of breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat, but it is too cruel, after this war, the soldiers are afraid that I will be separated from the Ming court! ”

Wang Shouren said: "Although the prince is benevolent, but now the situation is in danger, the prince should put his family and country first!" ”

Zhu Houzhao looked at Xie Qian, obviously he didn't have this kind of assertive opinion, seeing Xie Qian bowing his head and being silent, Zhu Houzhao agreed: "Just follow the will of Wang Qing's family, let Old Man Zhang fully cooperate!" But before we can do that, we have to remove the tower, or we may damage the fish in the pond. ”

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When the fire broke out at the head of the city, Shen Xi's headquarters was still three miles away from Zhengyang Gate.

Shen Xi's infantry phalanx, due to the difficulty of transporting artillery in the formation, the pace of the march slowed down significantly, but fortunately, Shen Xi brought a double-sided trench bridge car from Juyong Pass, and there were no problems when crossing the trenches dug by the Tatars, the only thing was that it took some time.

At this time, there were certain changes in the Tatars' use of troops, and the Tatars had previously focused their defense on the west of the city, but after Lin Heng and Wang Lingzhi's cavalry came out of Chongwenmen, they had to mobilize a large number of cavalry to support to ensure that siege vehicles and ladders continuously transported soldiers and horses to the city, so as to form a continuous pressure on Zhengyangmen.

Immediately, a fire broke out.

This fire started very strangely, it seemed to be a fire caused by the indiscriminate artillery bombardment of the Tatars, but as a large number of clay pots fell from the sky, they burst in the air and sprinkled tung oil, and then the high temperature and high heat of the golden fire pot smashed down, the city was full of burning people, many Ming soldiers and Tatar soldiers screamed and fell off the city, and then a lot of firewood fell, fueling the fire, the Tatar generals realized that the fire was intentionally done by the Ming army.

The head of Zhengyangmen City was originally congested, in the smoke and fire, many soldiers wanted to escape from this place, but found that there were people all around, and they couldn't see the situation clearly in the dizziness, so they could only rush left and right, and soon there was a stampede, and in the end it was almost a person trampling people.

Shen Xi saw the black smoke rising from Zhengyangmen on the carriage frame, and at first thought similar to everyone's thoughts, thinking that it was a beacon fire from the Zhengyangmen defenders calling for help, but soon Shen Xi realized that the situation was wrong.

The city of Zhengyangmen was on fire, and people with fire kept falling from the city walls, and Shen Xi couldn't even tell whether those people were defenders or Tatar soldiers.

"Lord Shen, the city is on fire, it seems that Zhengyangmen is in danger, do you want to speed up the march?"

The infantry phalanx led by Hu Songyue was the Chinese army of Shen Xi's department, and at this time, Hu Songyue asked for instructions less than two zhang away from Shen Xi.

In Hu Songyue's view, the fire at the head of the city must have been done by the Tatars, which is the embodiment of their capture of the city, and it is likely that the defenders of the city head have been defeated like a mountain.

But Shen Xi could see that the fire on the head of the city was too beneficial to the defenders, not a matter of how many people were burned, but that the fire would block the Lu bus and the ladder from transporting troops to the city, giving the Ming army time to counterattack.

Shen Xi looked puzzled, he didn't understand whether this fire started unintentionally, or whether the Ming army deliberately set it on fire, and finally he shook his head and said: "The fire at the head of the city is beneficial and harmless to the defenders, the marching plan must not be changed, and it will advance steadily!" ”

Although Hu Songyue didn't understand Shen Xi's words, he still hurriedly conveyed Shen Xi's military order.

The infantry phalanx gradually approached the Tatar position in the south of the city, and at this time, Shen Xi's headquarters was less than four miles away from the Tatar army, and the cavalry could kill back and forth in an instant.

"Prepare for war!"

Although the Tatar cavalry had not yet rushed in large numbers, and only scattered soldiers and horses attacked the Shenxi Department, even this small group of soldiers and horses posed a great threat to the infantry phalanx. Fortunately, the defensive network formed by shield arrays and spear formations, coupled with the long-range attacks of firearms and bows, was a good way to block the onslaught of the scattered Tatar cavalry.

"Hey! Hey! ”

The trumpets shouted by the officers and soldiers under Shen Xi's command were neatly aligned, and the soldiers were very calm in every step according to the trumpet, and the pace was not big or small, but it could ensure that the shield array and spear array advanced in an orderly manner.

Encouraged by the trumpet, every officer and soldier felt that their blood was expanding, and their hearts were filled with indefinite hopes for military exploits.

If you follow Shen Xi to fight, you can eat and drink spicy food, you can get merits, and you can glorify your ancestors......

"Kill!"

The spearmen in the front row, according to the frequency of the Tatar cavalry's impact, according to the step point, stabbed their spears, so that the Tatar cavalry who were lucky enough to break through the fire guns and crossbow strikes rushed to the front could not break the formation directly by the impact force.