The Tartar on the head of the Xizhimen City, in the absence of follow-up, had to retreat to a corner of the city wall, and quickly turned around and retreated back to the siege ladder or a simple flying ladder to escape a life, and the slow reaction was quickly besieged by the Ming army, or fell from the city, or was dismantled in eight pieces. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Half an hour passed, and the head of the city was occupied again by the Ming army.

And three or four miles outside the city gate, the soldiers and horses of the Ming Dynasty returning to Beijing were storming the rear flank of the Tartars.

The 5,000 cavalry of the border army rushed to the front, and the tens of thousands of infantry at Tumubao and Juyong Pass were strong backing, and the Ming army was in a neat battle formation, with enough gunners, gunners and crossbowmen, and the two sides launched a fierce attack, and the Ming army, which was obviously inferior in strength, had the upper hand in momentum.

In this battle, there was no chance for a single hero, even if Wang Lingzhi was skilled in bows and horses, he still stayed in the cavalry formation honestly. Five thousand cavalry, divided into two roads, of which Wang Lingzhi is the arrow of the west road, and the blocker is invincible.

Because the Ming cavalry were all light cavalry, and their cavalry and archery skills were inferior to those of the Tatar soldiers, even if they could establish a certain advantage through artillery suppression, they could not turn the advantage into victory.

"Ulala!"

The cavalry behind the Tartar palace had been lost, but its first wave of reinforcements had galloped in from the direction of Fengtai in the south to join the battle circle.

There were many Tartar cavalry, and after the forward came into contact with the Ming army, the Tartar generals who led the troops found that the Ming army's artillery was powerful, and immediately changed formations, and some of them continued to entangle with the Ming army, and the follow-up cavalry bypassed Yuyuantan and prepared to attack from the flank of the Ming army.

The Ming army was attacked on both sides, and it was difficult for the artillery to turn around in a short period of time, and it was impossible to effectively suppress the enemy on the flank.

The Tartars were known for their superb horsemanship, and in this head-to-head battle, even in the case of a defeat at the beginning, they gradually stabilized their decline through their extremely high individual quality, launched a fierce confrontation with the Ming army, and relied on mounted archery and flexible tactics to contain the Ming army's offensive.

As a last resort, the Ming cavalry temporarily withdrew to within 100 paces of the infantry phalanx, relying on artillery, firearms and crossbows to hold the defensive line.

At the head of the city, in addition to cleaning the battlefield and killing the stubborn Tartars one by one, the rest of the Ming officers and soldiers turned their eyes to the outside of the city and observed the spectacular scene of tens of thousands of soldiers and horses.

On the fourth floor of the city tower, Zhu Houzhao was excited, raised his arms and shouted, as if he wanted to greet the reinforcements outside the city, but at this time, no one paid attention to the city gate tower, Zhu Houzhao was completely entertaining himself.

"It's Mr. Shen, look, that's my Daming Dragon Banner, ...... Send troops out of the city, and join forces with Mr. Shen's soldiers and horses, and we will win this battle! ”

Zhu Houzhao was so excited that he simply climbed up to the crumbling attic on the top of the city tower after being bombarded by the wooden ladder.

Although it is not as high as the city wall below, if you fall from the fourth or fifth floor, there are still thick masonry walls below, and if you don't die, you will fall half-broken.

Xie Qian and Li Dongyang hurriedly went up to pull Zhu Houzhaoqiang down, Xie Qian said: "The prince must not be in a hurry, you might as well recruit the generals and discuss them in detail!" ”

Regarding the prince's proposal to send troops to cooperate with the outside world, Xie Qianda agreed from the bottom of his heart...... There is no way, the reinforcements outside are under the command of his grandson-in-law Shen Xi, even if he knows that sending troops is not the best choice, he will still choose to do so, and he feels that sending troops to attack the rear flank of the Tatars at this time will get twice the result with half the effort, and it is likely to reverse the current unfavorable situation of the capital's defense in one fell swoop.

Li Dongyang stopped: "Never!" ”

Zhu Houzhao didn't have the heart to refute, his eyes fell on the battle outside the city, and asked casually: "Scholar Li, why not?" Isn't that the best opportunity to send troops? Taking advantage of the new defeat of the Tartar siege, we can completely pour out of the nest and cooperate with the reinforcements to destroy the Tartar infantry and their siege equipment in one fell swoop, and achieve a great victory. The opportunity is fleeting, and the will of the main palace is immediately transmitted......"

"No!"

Li Dongyang's attitude was resolute, with undoubted majesty in his voice, "The battle of the city gate has just ended, everything in the city is still unstable, and at the same time, Di Yi's main force has not broken his muscles and bones, if he rashly opens the city gate to send troops, if it is slightly improper, the city gate will be lost, even if it is closed in time, I am afraid that the soldiers of the three armies will not be able to return to the city, and Di Yi will launch an attack on the city again, and the Beijing division will be in danger at that time!" ”

Zhu Houzhao was so angry that he pointed at Li Dongyang and said, "What kind of danger, I think you are a coward!" Before the battle with the Tartars, I said that I was cautious and cautious, and I was careful and careful, and what was the result, the Tartars still killed the city, and finally almost broke through the Xizhi Gate. Now pass on the order of the main palace and send troops immediately! ”

The few generals of the Beijing camp who came to listen to the orders in the city tower didn't know who to listen to, and some people were about to act according to Zhu Houzhao's words, Li Dongyang glared and shouted angrily: "I see who dares!" ”

In a word, Li Dongyang put himself on the opposite side of the prince.

Zhu Houzhao was so angry that he couldn't even speak, at this time, the city's diplomatic soldiers and Tatars had reversed their decline, and the two sides were killed in the dark.

At this time, the disadvantage of the Ming cavalry and the gap in individual combat ability began to appear, and the Tartars counterattacked in an orderly manner, forcing the Ming cavalry and infantry phalanx to gradually retreat, so that the reinforcements gradually moved away from the Xizhimen city wall.

Zhu Houzhao was anxious: "If it goes on like this, it will not be easy to bring reinforcements, and it will be buried in a blink of an eye!" There are more than 100,000 soldiers and horses outside the city, and Mr. Shen has 30,000 soldiers and horses at most! ”

At this time, Zhu Houzhao had figured out that Shen Xi was not leading an army of 50,000, but he still overestimated the number of soldiers and horses under Shen Xi's command.

Li Dongyang saw that the generals were in a dilemma, and said sharply: "Without His Majesty's holy decree and the order of the military department, no one is allowed to send troops privately, otherwise he will be punished as a major crime of collusion, and he will be beheaded all over the house!" ”

Zhu Houzhao raised his saber angrily, looked around, and asked, "Who wants to fight with the palace out of the city?" ”

Although the generals present were very cowardly on weekdays, they did not dare to have the slightest ambiguity at this life-and-death juncture, although some people were watching, but most of them knew that this was the last chance for the Ming army to turn the tide of the war, and were ready to respond to the prince's call to go on the expedition, and at this moment the horn sounded again outside the city.

The Tatar follow-up cavalry continued to rush to the battlefield, not only from the south and west of Xizhimen, but even from the north and east, a large number of Tatar elite cavalry rushed to try to encircle and eliminate the Ming reinforcements outside the city.

"The Tartars have fought back!"

The soldiers of the Ming army, who were greatly encouraged at the head of the city, suddenly became nervous.

Previously, because of the arrival of reinforcements, the danger of losing the city gate was lifted, but at this time, the reinforcements were surrounded by Tartars, and the officers and soldiers had the heart to go out of the city to rescue, but because there was no order to convey from the peak, they could only do it in a hurry.

Zhu Houzhao roared in a hoarse voice: "What are you waiting for, send troops!" ”

Li Dongyang continued to emphasize: "No troops! ”

One was the crown prince and the other was a cabinet scholar, and the two formed a serious confrontation in the castle tower, and the generals had always acted according to orders, and did not dare to react until further instructions from the military department.

"Senior Li, you don't agree with sending troops, go to the palace in person, Mr. Xie, the city will be handed over to you...... Soldiers, those who are willing to send troops with the main palace will follow the city wall of the main palace to rectify the soldiers and horses! ”

After Zhu Houzhao finished speaking, he went straight down to the city tower, and several generals glanced at each other and hurriedly followed...... But he didn't help Zhu Houzhao transfer troops, but he was afraid that the prince would have an accident and would not be able to explain to the court.