In later generations, a marshal once said: The five elements are uncertain, and the loss is clean. For a veteran like Wunag, once confidence in his own judgment is shaken, the consequences are simply catastrophic.

Although both intellectually and from his past experience in the battle formation, Wu Nag knew that the best choice now was to recall the rangers who had been released, and then gather the main force of the whole army to go to the Santun camp city to deal with the Ming cavalry first, and then find a way to hold the Santun camp city.

But there were always some inexplicable expectations that made Wu Nag unable to make such a decision, and he always felt in his heart that the main general of the Ming army, who dared to divide his troops into two ways to attack, might let the main force of the Ming army, which was dominated by infantry, show flaws in the march under the mood of overly eager pursuit of victory.

As long as he could seize the flaws exposed by the Ming army and give them a hard blow, then he could turn around and deal with the Ming cavalry without any care, and the frustrated main force of the Ming army could not launch a second attack on Santun Yingcheng in a short time. Then they will be able to block the Ming army to the east of Santun Camp City before Huang Taiji reacts, leaving Huang Taiji a time to respond.

However, Wunag has clearly forgotten one thing, for the past few decades on the battlefield, he has relied on his own hands and the bravery of his men to win victories. Today, however, he abandoned this principle and instead pinned his hopes on the Ming army to make mistakes and wait for victory to come to his door.

When a person begins to abandon his principles, it is often the beginning of making mistakes. Wu Nag hoped that the main force of the Ming army marching on the west bank of the Luan River would be exposed, so he hesitated not to recall the rangers and give a clear instruction to his subordinates.

The half-heartedness of the commander naturally made the Mongols, who were originally not highly motivated, even more confused, and Wu Nag did not wait for the good news he hoped for.

Unlike the cavalry of the Ming army on the east bank of the Luan River, the main force of the Ming army on the west bank of the Luan River acted like a slow turtle. The rangers released by Wunag were of little use, because the cavalry released by the Ming army on the march had a search range beyond his estimates, causing Houjin's rangers to lose their best raid distance.

Moreover, the main force of the Ming army set up a small village every 3 miles, and also placed a small army to defend the back road. Although this greatly slowed down the marching speed of the Ming army, it allowed the Ming army to stabilize the rear. It was only ten miles from the camp at the Ninja Pass to the west, but the Ming army walked for a day.

That night, Wunag finally came to his senses, and if he continued to wait like this, he was afraid that it would cause a situation in which both ends would be disappointed. Not only will the Santun camp city behind him fall into the hands of the Ming army, but he will not be able to ambush the main force of the Ming army on the opposite side. Perhaps, the army he led will fall into the worst-case situation of the Ming army being flanked in front and back.

After the Ming cavalry arrived at the Santun camp city, they began to build barracks, make siege equipment, and also cover the surroundings of Santun camp, obviously intending to attack the city, rather than attacking their army by a detour.

Wu Nag realized that because of his hesitation, the Ming cavalry had gained a firm foothold under the Santun camp and missed the best opportunity to deal with the Ming cavalry. At this time, he felt that the main force of the Ming army was deliberately holding back their army today, so that the Ming cavalry that rushed to the city of Santun Camp would take the opportunity to attack the city.

At this moment, Wu Nag really wanted to find someone to discuss with him, but at this moment, the only person who could discuss things with him was Tushetu Khan Oba, who was still in the camp. Even if Wunag couldn't think about it anymore, he wouldn't discuss it with the disgruntled Oba at this time.

In the early morning of December 6, Wunag finally made up his mind and began to recall the various rangers assigned to him, and called back Chahara and Dudu.

After listening to Wu Nag's briefing, Chahara agreed with his opinion, recalled the rangers assigned to him, and first relieved the siege of Santun Camp City.

As for Du Du, he was a little suspicious that the Ming army's plan would not be limited to these, and he suggested that it would be more appropriate to increase the number of sentinels near the Santun camp city and confirm the detailed information of the Ming cavalry before making a move.

Wu Nag and Chahara believed that the Ming army sent a partial division to attack the city of Santun Camp in order to take the city and cut off the back road of their army.

The longer it drags on now, the more likely it is that Santun Camp City will fall. Moreover, the news obtained by yesterday's sentinel has proved enough that these Ming cavalry are indeed building siege equipment to prepare for the siege, and have also set up a blockade around the city.

Therefore, both Wu Nag and Chahara believed that there was no need to continue to waste time, and that they should move their troops to the other side of the Luan River in Santun Camp today, and then raid the back of the Ming army when the Ming army attacked the city tomorrow, and crush this Ming cavalry as quickly as possible.

Dudu was unable to convince Wunag and Chahara, so he had to accept their battle plan. And just in case, after discussion, the three decided to let Du Du lead 1,000 cavalry disguised as the main force to block the main force of the Ming army, and the 1,000 Horqin cavalry led by Budaqi were transferred to the Wunag army, and followed Wunag and Chahara to attack the Ming army under the Santun camp.

On December 6, the Ming army advanced 12 miles from Qianxi to the direction of Santun Camp, and encountered several groups of Houjin troops wandering around the left and right, and the Ming army immediately stopped and built a camp. At this time, the place where the Ming army stopped was less than 20 miles away from the Santun camp city.

On the evening of the same day, Zhu Youzhen once again convened a meeting of the battalion generals and members of the staff headquarters. The reason for this meeting was that the Later Jin army strengthened its control over the east bank of the Luan River and cut off the connection between Wu Huaibu and Daying, who had raided the city of Santun Ying.

According to the original agreement, if the Houjin army in front of them tomorrow does not return to the reinforcement of Santun Yingcheng, then they will attack forward with all their might, thus creating an opportunity for Wu Huaibu to surprise the Houjin army from behind.

Now that the contact between the two sides has been severed, Zhu Youzhen has to convene everyone to discuss whether to maintain the original agreement or revise the original plan.

Wang Zaijin and Zu Dashou both believed that they should act according to the original agreement, and now sending additional men to break through the blockade of the Houjin would only startle the snake, so that the Houjin army on the opposite side would abandon the Santun camp city and retreat directly to Zunhua.

Li Hongyuan believed that the blockade of the Houjin Dynasty to cut off the connection between Wu Huaibu and the camp was obviously intended to return to the Santun camp city. At this moment, we should not waste any more time contacting Wu Huaibu, but should determine a time for our army to attack in order to deal with Wu Huaibu's ambush of the Houjin reinforcement troops.

“… I think that since Houjin has decided to return to the Santun camp city, it will definitely be tomorrow, beyond this time, and they cannot guarantee that the Santun camp city will not be captured by our army.

But what time it will be tomorrow, it's hard to tell. However, if we attack too early, we may let the Houjin army turn back, thus ruining Wu Huaibu's ambush plan.

But we can't attack too late, if it's too late, we may not be able to support Wu Huai's troops, so that the Houjin army has time to calmly evacuate..."After Li Hongyuan finished speaking, he sat down again.

After listening to the opinions of staff officer Li Hongyuan, Zhu Youzhen said: "This decision, because the intelligence is not complete, it is difficult to say which combat plan is better.

In my opinion, there is a corresponding risk in choosing either option, so we might as well vote this time.

I suggest that the plan with the largest number of people in favor should be the final course of action. I personally support Staff Officer Lee's battle plan, and those who are willing to support this plan can raise their hands. ”

Although Chongzhen said that he would vote on the battle plan, but when the emperor first expressed his attitude, no one wanted to disagree with the emperor. Except for Wang Zaijin and a few others, including Zu Dashou, they all raised their hands in favor of Li Hongyuan's battle plan.

Li Hongyuan was also excited that his battle plan could be approved by the emperor again, but he still cautiously asked Chongzhen: "Since the battle plan for tomorrow's main attack has been set at the meeting, does Your Majesty have any designation for the time of attack?" ”

Zhu Youzhen casually asked Li Hongyuan when the General Staff Headquarters thought it was appropriate to send troops. Li Hongyuan lowered his head and thought about it, so he said three times for Chongzhen.

Zhu Youzhen thought about it and said: "I will choose to send troops at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning, tomorrow the cavalry battalion will be in front, the infantry will be in the center, and the cavalry will protect the two wings, and the staff headquarters will draw up a marching sequence..."

At 10 a.m. on December 7, after going out of the tent to observe the sky, Wunag and Chahara gathered the generals of the battalion and began to assign tasks.

Zhuo Erbi, who fled back from the Ming army, assisted the leader of the Naiman tribe, Ochir, and led 1,200 men and horses mixed with various departments as the vanguard, controlling the surrounding area after crossing the river and protecting the safety of the main force in the rear.

Wu Nag himself led 3,500 Chinese troops to cross the river behind the front, while Chahara and the Oba brothers, the leaders of the Korqin tribe, finally crossed the river with the remaining nearly 2,000 men.

The Houjin army had moved to the area opposite the city of Santun Camp at dusk yesterday, and camped in a mountain col for the night. This col was less than 2 miles from the place where the river was crossed, and the two men of Ochir and Zhuoerbi crossed the Luan River at about 11 o'clock and expelled a small group of Ming cavalry guarding the east bank of the stone bridge here.

On the east bank of this stone bridge is a small village called Balipu, and from Balipu to the northwest Bali is the east gate of Santunying. Walking from Balipu to Santunying, there is a spacious official road, which can accommodate three carriages in parallel.

The north side of Balipu is a gentle slope hill, the east side is an impassable hill, and the west side is a forest, and the official road needs to go west for about a mile, bypassing the hill to the north, before going straight to Santun Camp City.

This area is also between Balipu and the stone bridge, and has a relatively flat terrain.

After inspecting the terrain, Okir asked Zhuo Erbi to garrison the hill north of the official road with 600 men and horses of the 36th Division, while he himself stationed the rest of the men and horses in the village south of the official road, and sent people to cross the river to inform Wunag that he could cross the river.