Chongzhen's words were like a basin of cold water, which extinguished the hearts of Yuan Chonghuan and Cao Wenzhao a lot. The emperor's words were not bad, and the more than 40,000 men and horses they said could not be assembled in a moment and a half. Even if they were gathered and surrounded and annihilated by 40,000 horses, it would not be an easy task, after all, the Houjin-Mongol coalition army on the opposite side was not a dead tiger.

Zhu Youzhen touched the desktop in front of him, sighed again and said: "In the past, Cao Mengde said: Vested Long, look back at Shu. That's about where we are now. Having defeated the enemy once and treating the enemy as a toothless tiger is a jump from a conservative stance to a risky stance, which in my opinion is opportunism, and is not a good choice for the king of a country and the commander of an army.

What's more, is it really a good thing for me to fight with Houjin at this time? As superiors, we must not only understand what is the purpose of our war? It is also necessary to understand what the enemy is fighting with us for. Both of them are the highest military and political commanders in the local area, why don't you tell me what is the purpose of Houjin's expedition this time? ”

In response to the emperor's question, Cao Wenzhao subconsciously replied: "The minister thinks that this Houjin expedition should be to eliminate the Chahar tribe." ”

Under the emperor's gaze, Yuan Chonghuan also had to reluctantly speak: "After Guan, Jin first sent an army to attack Lin Dan Khan, and hurriedly sent troops to attack the Chahar Department. ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded at the two of them and said, "What the two of you think is similar to what I think, so do you think that after such a failure, is it possible for Houjin to replace the Chahar Department as the lord of the Mongolian tribes?" ”

As a military minister, hearing such a political topic, Cao Wenzhao chose to remain silent. Yuan Chonghuan replied thoughtfully: "The Mongols have always admired strength, and now that the Chahar Department and my Ming Dynasty have joined forces to defeat the Houjin, even if Lin Dan Khan really disappears, the Mongolian tribes may not fall to the Houjin..."

Yuan Chonghuan seemed to think of something when he said this, and he couldn't help but stop. But Zhu Youzhen didn't wait for him to think it out on his own, so he continued his words and said: "Yuan Qing is right, if after the disappearance of Lin Dan Khan, the Later Jin will eliminate the Chahar tribe, or force the Chahar tribe to submit to him, then with the great martial arts of the Later Jin, the Mongolian tribes on the grassland will naturally fall to the Later Jin and recognize that the Great Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty will replace Lin Dan Khan and become the new master of the Mongolian tribes."

However, in today's battle, since the Later Jin and Mongolian coalition forces were defeated under the joint efforts of our Ming Dynasty and the Chahar Army, the superstition of the Mongolian tribes about the invincibility of the Later Jin army has also been eliminated. With the vastness of the grasslands in the south and north of the desert, the population of the Houjin has lost the sincere submission of those Mongolian tribes, and it is difficult for the Houjin to truly rule the entire Mongolian nation. Without the assistance of the Mongols, the Jianzhou Jurchens were nothing more than a separatist force in eastern Liaodong, and it was difficult for them to become the leaders of the ethnic minorities in the north.

If we use all the wealth here now to fight with the Houjin-Mongol coalition on the other side, even if we leave the three major Houjin Baylors here, who will benefit? Do we really have the strength to control the Monan, Mobei and Liaodong regions today? ”

Cao Wenzhao felt that the emperor's words made a lot of sense, and couldn't help nodding and saying: "Your Majesty is right, if we fight with Houjin here, I'm afraid we will benefit the Mongols." These Mongols are now subjugating to my Ming Dynasty entirely because of the threat of the Houjin, and once the threat of the Houjin is removed, I am afraid they will not be so honest.

In today's battle, it is said that my Ming Dynasty joined forces with the left and right wings of Mongolia, but it was not my Ming army that really went all out on the battlefield? I'm afraid that the Mongolian tribes would like me to die together with the Houjin, so that they can rise again on the steppe. ”

Zhu Youzhen then continued: "Since there have been written records in China, the nomads on the northern grasslands have been a great problem in our Central Plains. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were the Huns, in the Qin and Han dynasties, there were the Xiongnu, and then there were Xianbei, Rouran, Turkic, Khitan, Jurchen and Mongolian.

Just like the rise and fall of the Central Plains dynasty in our country, there are also constant changes of political power of ethnic minorities in the northern grasslands, and every change of political power of ethnic minorities in the north is the birth of a powerful enemy for our Central Plains.

The Jianzhou Jurchens are just one of the rising ethnic minorities in the north, and in my opinion, the Jianzhou Jurchens, who are constrained by the number of people, are actually far less threatening to the Central Plains than the Mongols and Jurchens in the past. The reason why the Jianzhou Jurchen has today's prestige is that it depends on the several great victories over our Ming Dynasty that Nurhachi won under his painstaking efforts in the past; The second is to be able to drive the Mongols to their own use.

Now that I, the Ming Dynasty, have begun to reorganize our armaments, it is probably impossible for the Jurchens to repeat the miracle of invincibility in Liaodong in the past. In addition, today's battle has shattered the illusion that Hou Jin wants to replace the Chahar tribe and become the head of the Mongol tribes, and it is difficult for Hou Jin to drive the Mongols for his own use as before.

Therefore, I believe that now is the best time for China to solve the thousand-year-old border troubles in the north once and for all. Lin Dan Khan disappeared, and the Mongol tribes were leaderless; Later Jin Xin suffered a defeat and found it difficult to control the Mongol tribes; This is a good opportunity for me to go deep into the steppe and turn Mongolia into China.

However, with the current strength of my Ming Dynasty, the area that we can swallow now, that is, half of the Monan grassland, as for other places, there is still no strength. Therefore, we cannot completely expel the forces of the Houjin from the grassland, leaving a power vacuum in such a large area, and God knows what kind of enemy will appear here.

A known enemy is always easier to deal with than an unknown enemy, and instead of waiting for a decisive battle with the Houjin, I thought it would be better to make peace with the Houjin for the time being, digest the legacy left by Lin Dan Khan, and let the Houjin guard the Mongolian tribes in other regions for us. ”

Cao Wenzhao hadn't come back to his senses yet, and Yuan Chonghuan had already woken up and said, "What does Your Majesty mean is that you plan to make peace with Houjin?" ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded and said: "Let the prisoners go back and tell Huang Taiji that as long as they give up their intention to continue to destroy the peaceful life of the Mongolian people, then we are willing to negotiate with them to end this war and return the prisoners and wounded to them." ”

Cao Wenzhao suddenly said with some unhappiness: "Your Majesty, forget about those wounded soldiers, those captured Mongols are all good young and strong, even if they are not used to supplement our army, it is good to use them as labor." ”

Zhu Youzhen disagreed and said: "These Mongol tribes are all under the rule of the Houjin, even if these captives are left, it is difficult for them to return to their hearts, but it will provoke the resentment of the tribes where those captives are located, which is not conducive to us and Houjin to compete for the hearts of the people, it is better to put them back."

Besides, the Mongols are good at grazing on horseback, but letting them work will probably only bring damage to others. Regarding the matter of negotiating peace with Houjin, Yuan Qing was responsible. As for Cao Dudu, let's go with me to inspect the field hospital and see our wounded. ”

Although the ideals depicted by the emperor were very tempting, Yuan Chonghuan still had some hesitation in his heart, and when Chongzhen was about to walk to the back tent to change clothes, he finally couldn't help but ask again, "Your Majesty, in the previous battle, you rejected Hou Jin's proposal for peace. Now that we have the upper hand, and we are asking for a truce from Houjin, will the Mongol chiefs not misunderstand this? Shouldn't we talk to the leaders first? ”

Zhu Youzhen stopped, turned around and looked at Yuan Chonghuan and said, "The two of you also said just now, our army still has 3 cavalry divisions and 2 field infantry divisions that have not been used, what is this force used for?" Wasn't it used to convince the Mongol chiefs?

The reason why I want to make peace with Hou Jin Yan is precisely to preserve the deterrence of this power against these Mongol tribal leaders. The reason why I opposed the peace proposed by the Jin before and after the war was because the Later Jin regarded peace as a gift to the Ming Dynasty, and intended to use it to demonstrate the military superiority of the Later Jin over the Ming Dynasty in front of the Mongol tribes.

And now I propose peace, which is a gift from the Ming Dynasty to the Houjin, and it is also to let the Mongolian tribes know that in today's grassland, only I am the Ming Dynasty who can decide war and peace. What the Ming Dynasty wants to protect is the Mongolian people, not the Mongolian state, which Yuan Qing should know, and the Mongolian tribes should know even more..."

Unlike the fierce battles on the middle and east roads, the Daishansuo Division, which was stationed on the front line of the Ulanqab River in the west, was basically engaged in a reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance struggle with the Ming army on the opposite bank. This section of the east-west Ulanqab River valley is mostly hilly on both sides, and it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, so both sides have maintained a certain degree of restraint and do not attack across the river without finding out the opponent's defensive line.

Therefore, when Yongshan received the news of the successive setbacks of the two armies on the East and Middle Routes, he was still a little unconvinced. After all, the Ming army opposite him was too restrained. However, when Huang Taiji sent an envoy to ask him to shrink his front and return to the camp to discuss the military situation, Dai Shancai did believe that the two armies had indeed been frustrated.

The defeat of the Houjin in the field battle was still a battle of tens of thousands of people commanded by their three major Baylors, which has not happened since the founding of the Houjin Dynasty. Not to mention, they are now thousands of miles away from Liaodong, and after this defeat, it is important to say whether the Mongols in the army are reliable or not.

Dai Shan realized that if they were a little careless, whether they could return to Liaodong safely had really become an unknown thing. After Dai Shan ordered his subordinates to gather the front, he hurriedly returned to the camp with dozens of horsemen.

When Dai Shan approached the outside of the big tent of the Chinese army, he found that many of the relatives and nobles of Manchu were standing outside the big tent with strange expressions, and Dai Shan stopped to listen carefully, and found that there was a fierce quarrel inside the big tent. Dai Shan's face changed slightly, because he heard who the two sides were arguing about.

Dai Shan immediately ordered the guards around him to drive the Manmeng relatives and nobles outside the tent 20 steps away from the big tent, and he himself hesitated outside, and finally opened the curtain and walked into the big tent.