Sheng Yong's sudden outburst made all parties miscalculate, even including Sheng Yong himself. He set out from Zhigu on April 4 and arrived at Tongzhou on April 7, and spent a day building a strong camp to put himself in a position where he could attack and retreat. However, the siege battle on April 8 was too smooth, which not only shocked the defenders of Tongzhou, but also shocked Sheng Yong himself. For this unexpected situation, Sheng Yong decided to strike while the iron was hot, break through Tongzhou, and reach Beiping.

Zhu Gaochi, who was stationed in Beiping, received a report on the battle of Tongzhou on the afternoon of the 8th and immediately sent a letter to Zhu Di asking for help. But at night, he heard the sound of artillery in Tongzhou, and there was a faint firelight, Zhu Gaochi could not rest assured, and sent reconnaissance cavalry to Tongzhou, according to the reconnaissance cavalry report, Sheng Yong's army was attacking the city at night, and the sound of killing in the city and under the city shook the sky, and the explosions continued, but the specific situation was not known, because the cavalry of the soap flag was patrolling around, and the reconnaissance cavalry could not approach. Zhu Gaochi almost didn't sleep all night, because he had an ominous premonition, he ordered the scout to return once in half an hour, and after dawn, he got the exact news that the city of Tongzhou was broken, and the head of the city had already floated the banner of Sheng Yong.

After Zhu Gaochi heard the report, his eyes were dark and he almost fainted. However, he quickly came to his senses, looked at Zhang Wu, Ru Yu, Chen Ying, Guo Zi and others who were sitting at the bottom, and said slowly: "General Zhang, now that the city of Tongzhou is broken, Sheng Yong's army will soon be in Beiping, how to deal with it, I hope the general will teach me!" ”

Zhang Wu injured his arm in the Battle of Baoding, and the doctor said that he had injured his bones and needed to recuperate, so Zhang Wu stayed in Beiping to recuperate. After a while, Zhang Wu said: "Now that the situation is critical, the prince should immediately order the closure of the nine gates, mobilize the strong men of the city, and go to the city wall with the soldiers to defend, and at the same time impose martial law in the city, no one is allowed to go to the streets, and violators will be beheaded immediately." ”

Zhu Gaochi nodded and said, "Well, do you have any opinions?" ”

"This official does not understand military affairs, and everything obeys the orders of the prince." Ru Yu, Chen Ying and others arched their hands.

"Okay then, your lords, just follow what General Zhang said, and arrange it immediately."

"Yes, the next official will retire."

After everyone withdrew, Zhu Gaochi stared at Zhang Wu and said in a deep voice: "General Zhang, Tongzhou is broken in one day and one night, can Beiping be defended?" ”

"Beiping is not Tongzhou, this situation will not occur," Zhang Wu shook his head: "But in just two months, Sheng Yong has changed so much, and the last general doesn't understand the reason." For now, I can only wait for the prince to come back. ”

"Hmm," Zhu Gaochi nodded, as if relieved.

After Zhang Wu left, Zhu Gaochi immediately called Jin Zhong and ordered the "shadow" to monitor the people, officials and generals in the city to avoid an unpredictable situation.

Jin Zhong also knew that the situation was critical, so he immediately went down to make arrangements.

On the morning of the same day, Sheng Yong's forward cavalry arrived at the city of Beiping, they brought the news of the destruction of Tongzhou City, and also shot a lot of leaflets into the city, calling on the hundred officials of Beiping to wake up, surrender as soon as possible, and not to die for Yan Rebellion. Zhu Gaochi immediately asked people to collect leaflets, but some of them were still hidden.

When it was almost dark, Sheng Yong's army arrived at the city of Beiping, but Sheng Yong did not attack the city, or even besiege the city, but set up a large camp outside the Qihua Gate (Chaoyang Gate), backed by the Tonghui River, and put on a posture of holding on to the city and waiting for reinforcements.

The sound of cannons outside the city was endless, making the people in the city panic, Zhang Wu and others patrolled the city all night, Zhu Gaoxu also almost stayed awake all night, and other civil servants such as Ru Yu, Chen Ying, Guo Zi and others were busy recruiting strong men and rectifying public order, but when no one was around, they secretly sighed and wept.

This situation was not contained until the afternoon of the 10th, Zhu Di led more than 50,000 cavalry back to Beiping, he personally went to see Sheng Yong's camp, did not attack, because he received Zhu Gaochi's military report, day and night rushed back, the soldiers were very tired. But he only brought 20,000 cavalry into the city, and the remaining 30,000 cavalry were handed over to Zhu Neng and Chen Xuan, who were ordered to monitor Sheng Yong's camp outside the city.

And Zhu Di arrived with reinforcements from Zhigu, and Guo Jian ordered the sailors to go north along the canal and sent 20,000 reinforcements to Sheng Yong, as well as food and gunpowder. Zhu Di saw the sailboat covering the sky and the sun from the top of the city, his face was pale, but he didn't say a word.

On the morning of the 11th, Li Yuan's Guards Cavalry Corps arrived at the outskirts of Beiping, connected with Sheng Yong, and asked for orders. Sheng Yong ordered him to cruise outside and monitor Zhu Neng, but not to engage in battle easily, and Sheng Yong was responsible for the supply.

Zhang Fu and Jiang Yu received a military order on the morning of the 9th, ordering them to reinforce Tongzhou, but their troops were insufficient, so they had to ask Eseku to go south together, and the other party had 30,000 Mongolian cavalry in their hands. Since the two sides had signed an agreement, Eseku happily agreed. The next morning, Zhang Fu, Jiang Yu, and Eseku led 35,000 cavalry and 5,000 infantry to the south to rescue Tongzhou.

When they arrived in Tongzhou, they found that Tongzhou had been lost. Zhang Fu and others were shocked, did not dare to attack the city, immediately withdrew ten miles away, discussed countermeasures, Zhang Fu and Jiang Yu advocated reinforcement of Beiping, but Eseku did not agree, his reason was that the reinforcement of Tongzhou was agreed in advance, and the reinforcement of Beiping needed to wait for the order of the Great Khan. Zhang Fu and Jiang Yu persuaded to no avail, so they had to decide that Zhang Fu led 5,000 cavalry to return to Beiping and report the matter to the prince, while Jiang Yu stayed behind to continue to discuss with Eseku, the actual reason was that without the protection of Eseku's cavalry, Jiang Yu's infantry did not dare to go north.

Zhang Fu's cavalry did not dare to go north along the canal, but made a big bend and entered the city from the north of Beiping City. When he heard Zhang Fu say that Eseku was unwilling to go north, Zhu Di did not get angry, but carefully inquired about Zhu Gaoxu's negotiations with Mongolia, and Zhang Fu described it in 1510. Zhu Di pondered for a while, then comforted Zhang Fu and asked him to go home to rest, and Zhang Fu took the order and left.

Since the city of Tongzhou was broken and Sheng Yong's soldiers came to the city, the city of Beiping was shocked every day, and the people in the city were also different, plus martial law, everyone was staying at home except for the necessary outings, even those dignitaries and nobles were no exception.

Zhang Fu's mother, Wang, is the same, and now when she sees her son coming back safely, she can't help but smile and be overjoyed, and immediately ordered someone to prepare wine and food, and to wash the dust for her son in person. Due to the war, the meal was not rich, but Zhang Fu ate happily, which may be related to his state of mind. Zunhua and his party, he has already made a choice, then he is surrounded by enemies, this feeling makes Zhang Fu very uncomfortable and a little nervous, only in front of his mother, he can open his heart.

After the meal, Wang asked Zhang Fu to go to the inner room to drink tea with him, but still sent Li to guard the door.

After Li left, Wang immediately asked in a low voice, "Wen Bi, did you contact you over there?" ”

"Contacted, the day after my son arrived in Zunhua, someone contacted my son, mother, do you know who the contact person is?"

"Who?"

"Shao Yun, Shao Yixiang!"

"Huh?" Wang was also shocked, and hurriedly asked, "He, what did he say?" ”

"That is to say, I want my son to wait for the opportunity to seize the Xifeng Pass and prevent the Mongols from entering the Pass."

"Oh, anything else?" Wang asked suddenly.

"Something else?"

"Did he ever ask about Jinse?" Wang said in a low voice.

"This," Zhang Fu recalled, shook his head and said, "He asked, but his son didn't know how to answer, so he was vague." ”

"Alas, too, Jin Se has children," Wang said with some disappointment.

"Yes, let's talk about this kind of thing until we get through this hurdle," Zhang Fu thought for a moment and said, "Now my son is worried about something else." ”

"What's the matter?"

"Originally, Shao Yun and his son said that they were going to seize the Xifeng Pass, but before his son began to plan, Sheng Yong broke through Tongzhou and approached the city of Beiping.

"A decisive battle?" Wang was stunned for a moment and said, "Does my son think that the prince still has a chance to win?" ”

"It's very difficult, Sheng Yong and Ping'an have a combined strength of nearly 300,000, and the imperial court will continue to reinforce, so the disadvantage of the prince is too obvious, even if the Mongolian army is added, it will not help. Even," Zhang Fu hesitated for a moment and said, "My son suspects that the Mongols will change their minds. ”

"How do you know?"

"When he was in Tongzhou, Eseku refused to go north, he was the son of the Mongolian Taishi Ugqi, and now the Mongolian golden family is declining, Ugqi is the Cao Cao of Mongolia, and the status of Eseku is very important, and the son is afraid that the Mongols will not want to enter the customs, so the prince will have little hope."

"Isn't that good? What are you worried about? Wang didn't understand what Zhang Fu meant.

"Mother, that's not how things matter," Zhang Fu said with a wry smile: "My father is the prince's hardcore confidant, and the court will inevitably be held accountable at that time, how will our family deal with itself?" Now that his son has returned to Beiping, he can't start if he wants to make meritorious contributions? ”

"That's not easy, just open the city gates."

"It's very difficult, my son doesn't have the prestige of his father, and if he rebels in the city, I'm afraid no one will listen to me."

"Hehe," Wang smiled disapprerovingly: "Look at it, if you really come to that time, as long as you ascend to the heights, you will inevitably gather, but you still have to contact the people of the court first, otherwise, if you open the city gate, you will be killed by Sheng Yong and Ping'an." ”

"How so?"

"How not? The emperor gave a reward for Yan Yan, the peace is good, Sheng Yong probably wants to make a contribution in his dreams, if the greatest credit is made by you, then you will wait for death. Wang sneered.

"Well, my son understands." Zhang Fu sighed and said slowly.