If you want to win the hearts and minds of Mongolians, it is certainly not enough to give benefits. Although the people who grew up in the grasslands with harsh natural conditions envy a prosperous and healthy life, they have a greater sense of crisis than the farming peoples. After all, a white plague or a black plague can bring their entire tribe to extinction.

Therefore, for nomads, in addition to showing them what a happy life is, they also need to let them witness with their own eyes that the strength of the Ming Dynasty is enough to defend such a happy life, so that they can follow you with sincerity. Showing them the power of artillery, naturally, is indispensable. The construction of a bungalow for talks between the two sides in three days is also a declaration of strength.

During these seemingly peaceful three days, Chahar Zhutaiji and Mobei's Qiuketu Taiji and others not only saw the dazzling market of Zhangjiakou's goods, but also saw the level of the Ming army's armed forces. Except for Lin Dan Khan, who entered the customs for half a day on the first day, and then used the excuse to stay inside and outside the camp, the others took advantage of these three days to walk through Zhangjiakou Fort.

The talks between the Chahar Ministry and the Ming Dynasty have not officially begun, but several Taiji from the Chahar and from Mobei have already turned to the Ming Dynasty, believing that this alliance should be reached no matter what. Otherwise, Chahar would have no safe rear to speak of, and would not be able to resist Houjin's attack.

Just when Lin Dan Khan and his subordinates were discussing the affairs of the alliance with the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen's side was connected to several bad news. When he left Chengde, the Later Jin sent troops on the border between Yiju and Jinzhou to harass the Ming fortresses. Chongzhen originally thought that this was not a big problem, with Sun Chengzong sitting outside the Guan, and the military exercise plan had already mobilized the troops outside the Guan, and the Houjin army naturally retreated if it could not take advantage.

However, after he left Chengde, the war, which seemed to be only a local conflict, quickly expanded, and first the Later Jin army suddenly descended the Daling River and pounced directly on the old site of the original Dalinghe City, cutting off the connection between Jinzhou and the fortress near the Daling River.

Then the Houjin army cut off the connection between Jinzhou and Ningyuan, and it seemed that the Houjin side had already come out with a large army and was ready to take Jinzhou City. The actions of the Later Jin army naturally attracted great attention from Sun Chengzong, Wang Zaijin and others.

Sun Chengzong asked Wang Zaijin to sit in Shanhaiguan and be responsible for logistics scheduling. He also ordered Mao Yuanyi to mobilize the men and horses of Jizhou to Yongping, ready to reinforce Guanwai at any time. As for himself, he is preparing to move the military exercise headquarters from Quang Ninh Qiantun to Quang Ninh Zhonghou Station, intending to have closer ties with the front line.

However, at this time, another news came from Ningyuan City, because Jinzhou asked for help, Man Gui transferred 4,000 men and horses from Ningyuan City and left Ningyuan to aid Jinzhou City. This news immediately made Sun Chengzong smell the danger, because there were at least eight or nine thousand soldiers in Jinzhou City, and three or four thousand garrison troops, even if the Houjin troops were dispatched, it would not be possible to capture Jinzhou in two or three months.

Now that Jinzhou City has just been besieged, it is not even clear how many troops Houjin has dispatched, how could the city immediately send people to Ning Yuan for help. He Kegang and Zhang Chun, the two general soldiers guarding Jinzhou City, and Sun Chengzong have also seen them with their own eyes, and they are not such reckless and cowardly people, so there must be some problems with this request for help.

In the past two years, Ningyuan City has been expanded as a first-line castle, but there are more than 12,000 garrisons in and outside the city, and Mangui has transferred one-third of his troops at once, and there will inevitably be flaws in the defense of Ningyuan's first line. And the deputy he left behind, Zhu Mei, although loyal to the imperial court, has a relatively weak personality and may not be able to support Ning Yuan's overall situation.

Sun Chengzong urgently transferred Mao Yuanyi out of the customs to take over his responsibility as the commander-in-chief of the dispatch of the armies outside the customs; On the other hand, he personally led an army to Ningyuan, preparing to personally control the command of the front-line armies. And sent personnel to try to chase the Mangui army back.

In addition, Sun Chengzong also sent a letter of love to the emperor, reporting the situation outside the gate to the emperor, hoping that Chongzhen could prepare for the bad situation outside the gate.

Another piece of bad news came from Wednesday, because Wu Huai was not worried about Chongzhen going to Zhangjiakou alone, so he insisted on escorting the emperor to Zhangjiakou before returning to preside over the Central Route Army. Therefore, the Middle Route Army, which was supposed to be led by Wu Huai, is now being driven to Qingcheng in the Laoha River under the command of Zhou Wei.

In this march, the Western Route Army has always maintained contact with the Central Route Army, and the progress has been quite smooth. But there was a problem with the Eastern Route Army, after Du Du broke up with half of the Eastern Route Army and the other half of the Eastern Route Army in Kuancheng, except for some contact at the beginning, there was no news after that. Wednesday was afraid that he couldn't tell whether Du Du's army had been annihilated or simply surrendered to the enemy, so he could only order the other half of the Eastern Route Army to move closer to him, send a small force to search in the direction of Longshan, looking for Du Du's traces, and then report to Chongzhen.

After Chongzhen heard the bad news, he kept himself locked in his study, looked at the map and thought, and didn't even come out to eat dinner. After Hai Lanzhu heated the meal a few times, he finally couldn't help knocking on the door of the study, brought a bowl of millet porridge for Chongzhen, and persuaded him: "Your Majesty, why is it so worried, didn't General Wu Huai return to Chengde a long time ago, and when he returns to the Middle Route Army, he will definitely know where Du Du went."

The concubine believes that His Majesty takes him like this, as long as Du Du is a conscientious person, he will not defect to the enemy, and His Majesty please wait patiently for a few days, there will definitely be good news coming. What's more, if there is really any bad news, Your Majesty is anxious at the moment, and it will not help except to damage your own body. ”

Under Hai Lanzhu's gentle persuasion, Zhu Youzhen finally let go of the psychology of gaining and losing, he took the millet porridge in Hai Lanzhu's hand and said, "Yes, I still can't let it go." In fact, with Mr. Sun and the General Staff dispatching the troops outside the Guan, even if I myself were outside the Guan, it would not be possible to do a better job than them. Thinking about it now, it really doesn't make sense, it hurts my mood, and it wouldn't be a good thing if the Chahars see that something is wrong..."

Zhu Youzhen chatted with Hai Lanzhu while drinking millet porridge to soothe his nerves. However, he did not have long to relax, when he heard a report from the guards outside the door that Yuan Chonghuan, the governor of Fengda, had arrived in Zhangjiakou and wanted to ask to see the emperor.

Zhu Youzhen paused for a moment, put down the unfinished porridge bowl in his hand, and said to Hai Lanzhu with a pleasant face: "You go down to rest first, I will meet this Governor Yuan, and we may have to talk for a long time tonight." ”

Hai Lanzhu agreed, then packed up the dishes and chopsticks and walked out of the door. As she was leaving, she happened to see a thin man with a goatee, led by a guard, walking towards the study.

After Yuan Chonghuan entered the study, he bowed to Chongzhen respectfully, and Chongzhen, who was standing at the desk, hurriedly stepped forward to support him, and said with a smile: "Governor Yuan doesn't have to be polite, let's sit down and talk." ”

As soon as he sat down, Zhu Youzhen looked at him and asked, "Governor Yuan, you are not in Datong to deal with government affairs, and you came to see me overnight, but is there something important?" ”

Yuan Chonghuan first looked at the left and right people, and then cautiously and cautiously said to Chongzhen: "Back to Your Majesty, there is indeed an important matter. The minister rushed to meet His Majesty overnight, and there is really an important task to write to His Majesty, if Your Majesty can allow it, then the foreign enemy who has been entangled with my Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years can be destroyed today. ”

Zhu Youzhen glanced at Yuan Chonghuan, he thought that he had transferred Yuan Chonghuan from Liaoxi to Shanxi, this unrecognizable figure in history, should always stop. Unexpectedly, not long after it stopped, the other party was unwilling to be lonely and ran in front of him to brag.

This kind of big talk that will raise your hand to destroy it at every turn may make people in this era can't help but want to listen to what the other party has insightful opinions. But for a person who has been bombarded by advertising and sales pitches in later generations, as soon as he hears that someone has drawn a big pie for himself, he subconsciously wants to get up and end the conversation.

However, Zhu Youzhen finally remembered that he was not facing a door-to-door salesman, so he still suppressed his emotions and asked Yuan Chonghuan with interest: "Who is the so-called foreign enemy that Governor Yuan raised his hand to destroy and how did he raise his hand to destroy it?" ”

Seeing that the emperor didn't seem to have much curiosity, Yuan Chonghuan didn't dare to sell anything more, so he honestly reported: "Your Majesty, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the biggest foreign enemy of our dynasty is not the Tartar on the grassland."

In recent decades, the most ferocious people in our Ming frontier have indeed been the Jurchen Tartars. But no matter how vicious the Jurchen Tartars are, they have never crossed the border of the Great Wall, and threatened my Daming Shenjing. On the contrary, the Mongolian Tatars, who were driven out of the Central Plains by my Ming Dynasty, have been revived several times over the past few hundred years, and have attacked near Shenjing several times.

It can be seen that although the Jurchen Tartars are vicious, they are only scabies. Although the Mongolian Tartars are now in decline, once they become strong, they can threaten my Shenjing, which is the trouble of the Ming Dynasty.

Thanks to the blessing of His Majesty and the blessing of heaven, the Mongolian tribes are now divided, and the Mongolian right-wing tribes are attached to our Ming Dynasty, while the left-wing tribes have lost the foundation of Liaodong, which is the time when the people's hearts are panicking.

Lin Dan Khan brought the left-wing Zhutaiji, but thousands of people came to join the alliance with His Majesty, which was the best opportunity given by God to the Ming Dynasty. As long as Lin Dan Khan and the Taiji of the left wing are wiped out, and His Majesty sends troops to attack them again, the left wing of the dragons will not be wiped out by our army without a leader, but will also flee in all directions and suffer heavy losses.

The minister thought that after this battle, Monan Mongolia would not be in trouble from now on, and my Ming Dynasty could not only recover the land of the Hetao, but also the grassland area west of the Great Xing'an Mountains, which would also be included in the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at Yuan Chonghuan and was speechless, he was sometimes curious, he was also reading the Four Books and Five Classics, why Yuan Chonghuan was so far away from those Qingliu ministers in the court. In Yuan Chonghuan, Zhu Youzhen did not see any pedantic side, on the contrary, he had given full play to the four words of Tongquan Dachang.

Zhu Youzhen finally determined that Yuan Chonghuan was neither a loyal minister nor a traitor, he was just a rule-breaker, as long as there was interest.

If it weren't for Sun Chengzong's family standing behind him, Zhu Youzhen would have driven him home long ago. Regarding Yuan Chonghuan's statement, Zhu Youzhen naturally would not agree. It was not easy for him to pull the Mongols to the side of the Ming Dynasty, how could he be so easily destroyed.

So Zhu Youzhen cleared his throat and said, "Governor Yuan, your proposition is not in line with my current interests at all. Destroying foreign enemies is not only a way to destroy them, but also a way to destroy the enemy by turning them into us..."