Since the loss of the three guards in the north in the era of Ming Chengzu, the depth of the defense line of the entire Beijing city has been greatly reduced. In addition, the northern border defense was weakened to a certain extent, and the main cavalry group of about 20,000 people, composed of more than 10,000 Manchurian armor and even 10,000 servants, soon approached under the head of Beijing. The troops led by Zhao Shujiao and Lu Xiangsheng were not easily defeated by the elite of Jianzhou as in history, but they also fell into a bitter battle with the heavy troops and artillery teams left behind in Manchuria.

Unlike the history of Jianzhou before the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, mainly for the purpose of plundering population wealth or avoiding disasters and food, this time Jianzhou Hun Tai Jihei also Bo Lie's goal is very clear: that is, to give a decisive blow to the new emperor of the Ming court and the elite led by him who went out at this time.

Although Chongzhen in history is not a faint monarch in a typical sense, he is not an outstanding character. The pressure on the state-building was not as great as some people advocate, and although it also suffered a lot of casualties, it was more of a casualty loss in the active expansion. For the upper echelons of Manchuria, it can be said that the history after the Later Jin army was a history of defeating the Ming army in Liaodong step by step, subduing Korea, completely conquering Mongolia, and finally unifying the Central Plains after several raids and plunders. I have never experienced a real danger and an existential strategic crisis. It can be seen from the fact that the Jianzhou army can carry hundreds of thousands of people with huge logistical pressure out of the customs even in the case of many obstacles.

However, this "King of Letters", which is very different from the previous intelligence information, has made many people, including Hei Huan Bolie and Fan Wencheng, feel pressure and fear in the real sense. Today's Jianzhou is not the Jurchen people of the past, and many people have strategists and talents with sufficient ability to analyze problems, and they are very aware of what an emperor will bring in the age of firearms.

Therefore, only 10,000 of the 15,000 armor and 30,000 horses, including auxiliaries, were used to stay behind the rear road and even break the Ming army in other directions one by one. With 20,000 men mobilizing the cavalry and spare horses, he quickly maneuvered, and tried to intercept the Ming Emperor, who was out on patrol, outside the capital.

However, when the Jianzhou army arrived at the foot of Beijing and saw the tall and completely repaired city wall made of brick and stone, many people with rich combat experience were silent.

"Yue Tuo, look at this city wall that is close to four zhang, can our elite guards accurately suppress the people who dare to rise above the city at a direct distance of five or six zhang...

"Short artillery firearms should work, but the strain and rate of fire are too slow. This requires a special Turkic bow. It is also necessary to use very good arrow shafts to ensure that even at a distance of ten paces, the attackers will suffer huge losses. But this will definitely cost the elite of our army too much when covering the siege... ”

"And it is said that there are also red-coated cannons in the capital, as well as various firearms for defending the city that our army has seen in Ningjin. I'm afraid it will cost too much to attack the city and even the building and car siege. . . ”

Hun Tai Jihei also thought about it for a moment, and felt that with the current family background and even the limited army of Jianzhou, it was not the time to fight the idea of the capital. And referring to the past history, Hei Huan Bolie was also worried that once the capital was really breached, it would make many Manchurian elites who were once brave and good at fighting lose their courage and motivation in the past.

However, when they came to the capital, many Jianzhou generals also understood: there is no reason not to do at least deterrence. At least let the defenders at the head of the city know that the Jianzhou army outside the city is not easy to mess with.

When the night gradually darkened, the fire was lit above the head of the capital, and a lot of incendiary objects were thrown under the city, which seemed to make the night not so terrible, so as to avoid the collapse of Ding Zhuang, who was defending the city, if he encountered a few casualties.

However, the sound of horses' hooves and the locust-like arrows that suddenly struck from the night sky made the tens of thousands of defenders in the entire city feel uncomfortable.

In addition to killing and injuring more than 100 people with thousands of arrows in the dark night, so that the defenders understood that the portable wooden shield could not block those heavy arrows at all, the main force of Jianzhou under the city did not launch a major offensive.

Taking advantage of the fact that the army of King Qin led by Liaodong had not yet arrived at this time, the main forces of Jianzhou, which were gathered under the capital, also diverged in the direction of the subsequent attack. Amin, Mang Gurtai and others advocated "encircling and sending reinforcements" around the capital to maximize the killing and consumption of the bones of the Ming army that dared to fight a little, so that they could plunder enough population and wealth, and they could also gather under the capital for a longer time. At the same time, the North China Plain is also conducive to the superiority of the Jianzhou army in terms of mobility.

However, Hei Huanbolie's words made the opinions of Amin, Mang Gurtai and others, who originally had the upper hand, begin to waver: "Now there are all kinds of signs that the new emperor of the Ming Dynasty is not in the capital, will the so-called Qin Wang's division actively fight with me?" ”

Unlike Mang Gurtai, Amin is also a person with some brains: "What if you don't have it? Could it be that our army continued to go deep into the mountains of Guanzhong or Taihang Mountain to find the trace of the new emperor? I bet that if our army put on such a strong posture, the new emperor of the Ming court would definitely take the opportunity to flee south to Ying Tianfu. Could it be that our army is now planning to cross the Yangtze River? ”

Amin's statement also made Hun Tai Jihei and Bolie hesitate a little, and finally Yue Tuo took the initiative to say: "It should be better for the army to surround the capital and send reinforcements." I judge: the emperor who has just ascended the throne is not the core of all the interests of the Ming court. Many officials and dignitaries in Beijing, and even the huge wealth they have accumulated are enough to be used as targets for blackmail. Our army can gather the main forces in the capital or even in the border pass area to wait for the opportunity, just repel those Ming troops, and don't scare the new emperor to flee south. Draw out about 5,000 elite soldiers to search day and night in five ways, and they will definitely be able to intercept the Lord, at least track the Lord and the new emperor of the Ming Court... ”

"Five thousand ordinary armor that has not been selected, and the troops are divided into five routes, is it too thin for some troops?" Some people are skeptical because of this.

Yue Tuo said confidently: "Our army has not dealt with the Ming army for a year or two. Even if you encounter an opponent like the one on the bank of the Hunhe River back then, a thousand armor may not be able to confront those Ming troops head-on, but it should be no problem to track and contain them... ”

Hearing this, Hun Tai Ji Hei and Bo Lie finally agreed with Yue Tuo's opinion. Just worried that there would be any more mistakes, he said: "This kind of risky thing can be done by some lieutenants and commanders... ”

(End of chapter)