On December 14, Yue Tuo led more than 1,000 people with yellow and white flags to set up an ambush a few miles outside the west gate of Zunhua, and defeated hundreds of Chahar cavalry who wanted to seize the first merit of rescuing Zunhua City in one fell swoop, but did not listen to the order to cross the river.

In this skirmish cavalry battle, the Houjin army killed 7 or 80 Chahar cavalry and captured more than 100 people, and only a hundred cavalry escaped back to Hexi.

After hearing the news that part of the Chahar cavalry acting as the vanguard was ambushed, Gui Yingcha and Lu Xiangsheng, who were behind the Chahar cavalry, immediately rushed up with nearly 2,000 cavalry.

But by the time they arrived at Hedong, the war was over. Houjin pursued the rout of the Chahar army, and did not cross the north-south river in front of them that joined the Shahe River.

The Houjin cavalry, who stayed on the opposite bank to monitor, saw the arrival of reinforcements from the Ming army, so they reorganized their ranks, and then slowly retreated, giving way to the open space by the river on the opposite bank, and finally stopped on the hills hundreds of steps away from the river. Nearly 1,000 cavalry looked like a frozen tide, standing on the high place of the hill and silently watching the Ming army, as if waiting for the Ming army to cross the river and fight them.

Lu Xiangsheng really wanted to cross the river to try the skills of these Houjin cavalry, but the leader of the personal soldiers sent to him by Sun Chuanting hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed the reins of his horse and said: "Lu Futai can't, Sun and Yuan have ordered before sending the troops, and they are not allowed to cross the river without permission before they arrive." It's a military order, my lord. ”

Lu Xiangsheng, who was stopped, looked at him and said quite sternly: "This official just wants to try, is the Houjin Nu Cavalry really so powerful, we are more numerous than the other party, and the terrain on the other side can be said to be clear at a glance, are you still afraid that we don't even have the ability to protect ourselves?" ”

The leader of the pro-soldiers hurriedly said: "My lord's skills, even if I wait for these old soldiers, I am convinced. However, adults have also been on the battlefield, and they should know that the battle between the two armies does not depend on individual bravery, but ultimately depends on the ability and courage of the two soldiers.

Although the number of our troops seems to be more than that of the other side, the new defeat of those Chahar cavalry has already dampened the spirit of our army. If you rush across the river regardless of the situation, once the battle situation is unfavorable to us, these Mongols may not flee, and the morale of our army will be greatly weakened, and there may not be the possibility of a rout of the whole army.

Besides, the opposite slave rider won a new victory, and the morale was at the time of the boom. And with the villain's observation, these slave riders are not only fully armored, but also very neat, but quite a tendency to wait for work, our army ran for a morning, horsepower is also a little exhausted, and now rush across the river, I'm afraid it is not good for me, so the villain thinks it is better to avoid the edge of the opposite slave horse.

If even our army is defeated, where will the soldiers in the rear still have the heart to fight again today? Even if the two adults, Sun and Yuan, arrived here with their rear army, they would probably only be able to take us back to the fort. For the sake of the safety of the whole army and His Majesty, the villain implores the adults to be patient. ”

After listening to the persuasion of the leader of the personal army, Lu Xiangsheng couldn't help but turn his head to observe the expressions of his subordinates on the left and right and those Mongolian friendly troops, just as the leader of the personal soldiers in front of him said, those Chahar cavalry had lost the leisurely and relaxed appearance on the road before, and many people looked a little nervous, and unconsciously stayed away from the small river in front of them.

And these Ming cavalry around him are also the first time to encounter the rumored almost invincible Jurchen cavalry, to say that they are not afraid is obviously lying, but although they are not scared and tremble, they look like they are facing a great enemy, which also makes Lu Xiangsheng know that it is not necessarily a good thing to drive these people into battle now.

After a moment of silence, Lu Xiangsheng knew that what the leader of the pro-soldiers said was right. He had now rushed across the river, and no one else was enough to rely on except for the soldiers around him.

Lu Xiangsheng thought about it, and then beckoned the guards around him to dismount and recuperate, looking like he didn't take the Houjin cavalry lined up on the other side in his eyes. Although the Ming cavalry on the side focused their attention on the enemy troops on the opposite bank, Lu Xiangsheng's performance finally made them slowly begin to relax.

Yue Tuo, who had been standing on the hill and watching the cavalry of the Ming army on the other side, watched the general of the Ming army dismount and rest without any scruples, and openly raised the horsepower in front of him, and subconsciously pinched the reins in his hand.

One of the people beside him, Jia La'ezhen, was quite angry and suggested to him: "Yue Tobel, these Ming troops are so slack in front of our army, this is humiliating us. Why don't you let me lead someone across the river to rush and teach them a lesson. ”

Yue Tuo turned his head and stared at him, before he said coldly: "Although the current river is frozen, we can directly pass over the river, but such a smooth ice surface must slow down the speed of the cavalry to cross the river, how can the armored cavalry that has lost its speed fight with those flexible Mongolian light cavalry?" It's okay if you want to die yourself, but don't want to take my Eight Banners warrior to the funeral. ”

Yue Tuo looked at the Ming army on the opposite side again, and finally shook his head, turned his horse's head and ordered the whole army to return to the Zunhua camp.

Yue Tuo's ambush by the river finally sobered up the soldiers of the Ming Army on the Western Road, who had repelled the Houjin cavalry in the field battle and began to become a little proud.

It was only then that they came to their senses, and the victory they had won yesterday was only because their opponents were only a group of Mongols with little armor. Those real Jurchen cavalry were obviously not comparable to the poorly equipped Mongol herdsmen.

Therefore, although Yue Tuo took the initiative to expose his back to the Ming army, Lu Xiangsheng and Gui Yingcha did not order their subordinates to attack, but let Yue Tuo leave with this army.

Yue Tuo's design to ambush the Ming army outside the west gate of Zunhua was not only to delay the advance of the Ming army on the western route, but also to use this ambush battle to defeat the field courage of the Ming army because of victory, and force them to stay away from the broken Houjin rear guard troops in the next withdrawal operation, so that he could calmly lead his subordinates to evacuate.

Yue Tuo's plan was very successful, and the Ming army of the Western Road, which he had ambushed, began to become cautious and conservative. Originally, the cavalry of the Ming army, which was about to stick to the Houjin army, finally slowed down, and there was no more temptation to step forward when they encountered the Jurchen knights.

This change in the Ming army on the Western Road naturally lost the plan to catch the tail of the Houjin army. Although they still contacted the defenders of Zunhua City on the evening of the 14th, the main force of the Ming Army on the West Road officially arrived in Zunhua City at noon on the 15th. Before that, a cavalry unit led by Du Du and Zhang Cunren had arrived at the fortress outside the east gate of Zunhua.

Because of the leg injury Du Du who was sitting in the carriage and assisted his lieutenant Zhang Cunren, neither of them thought about winning the honor of rescuing Zunhua City, they talked with the defenders in the fortress for a while, Du Du suggested that Zhang Cunren directly test the Houjin camp attacking the north of the city, he thought that the Houjin army that had abandoned the camp in the east of the city could not continue to stay in the camp in the north of the city.

Zhang Cunren, who wanted to show himself in front of Chongzhen, accepted this seemingly risky suggestion without hesitation, and after Zhang Cunren led 300 cavalry to attack the northern camp of Houjincheng, dozens of Jurchen cavalry scattered outside the camp turned around and retreated.

On December 15, after besieging Zunhua, the Jin army withdrew, and the soldiers and civilians of Zunhua City, who had been trapped for more than a month, finally won the victory.

On the 16th, Sun Chengzong arrived in Zunhua City and took over the military and political power of Zunhua, while ordering Yuan Chonghuan and Zhang Cunren to continue to pursue the Houjin army, he mobilized all his troops to recover the fallen passes of the Great Wall one by one. In addition, he also sent someone to report to Chongzhen in Santun Camp City, asking him to go to Zunhua as soon as possible to end the war.

Before Sun Chengzong's envoy arrived, Zhu Youzhen, who had already received Zhang Cunren's report, already knew the news that the siege of Zunhua had been lifted. At this time, he was not in a hurry to go to Zunhua, but stayed in Santun Camp City to discuss various aftermath affairs with King Shangshu of the Military Department in Jin.

On December 18, after confirming that all the Houjin troops had withdrawn from Guannei, Zhu Youzhen finally decided to go to Zunhua City to put the finishing touches on ending the war.

Zhu Youzhen, who was standing on the front steps of the Governor's Mansion, looked at the heavy snow that had not abated for more than a day outside, and guessed in his heart that even if Huang Taiji's army withdrew from the Great Wall, it would be enough for him to stand it on the way back to Liaodong.

However, whether it is the Houjin army or the Mongols, the area where they live is colder than that of Guannei, and their understanding of keeping warm in the snow is much deeper than that of the Ming army.

When Zhu Youzhen was in a daze in the face of the heavy snow, Lian Shanxiang behind him finally couldn't help but step forward and said: "Your Majesty, your body is just getting better, it's cold here, it's better not to stay for a long time." ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at the mink fur on his body, and couldn't help but smile and said, "Am I so weak that I can't help it?" Wearing mink fur is still afraid of this cold, how can the soldiers fight in this weather?

You go and inform the Wang's military department, and say that I will go to Zunhua tomorrow, ask him to go with me, and the affairs here will be handled by Wang Zhichen and Zu Dashou. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Lian Shanxiang was about to go down, but Zhu Youzhen stopped him again, "Let Li Hongyuan come here, I want to ask how the intelligence collection of the Horqin Department is." ”

Li Hongyuan came to the flower hall of Chongzhen's office with a thick stack of papers, and after he saluted the emperor, he explained in detail to Chongzhen, and after asking the prisoners of the Horqin Department one by one these days, he re-summarized the information of the Horqin Department.

After Zhu Youzhen finished listening, he said to him: "The data collection is good, but the General Staff Headquarters should further analyze and sort out these materials.

For example, we can first establish personal files for the various leaders, prestige elders, satsumas, and warriors of the Horqin tribe, and write hundreds to thousands of words of biographies for the important people among them, so that we can have a rough framework for the power structure and interpersonal relationships of the Horqin tribe.

In the future, when facing the Horqin Ministry, I will know that those people can be co-opted, those people need to be attacked, and those people can be used. ”

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help pausing when he said this, and said to Li Hongyuan thoughtfully: "I think that the General Staff should set up a military intelligence collection department to collect military intelligence from the hostile forces and surrounding forces of the Ming Dynasty, so as to facilitate the General Staff to formulate strategies..."