Zhu Youzhen and the others hurriedly climbed the highest drum tower in Ningyuan City and looked to the north and south.

I saw that south of Ningyuan, tens of thousands of Ming troops were forming a phalanx and slowly advancing northward. At the front of the phalanx were several columns of infantry armed with spears, the tips of thousands of spears reflecting the cold light of the bright moon, like dotted stars.

The pikemen were followed by archers with longbows and gunners with bird's guns on their backs. Further back, ordinary infantry armed with single knives surrounded the baggage convoy.

Among the hundreds of baggage convoys composed of two-wheeled or four-** vehicles, the most conspicuous is the ten Hongyi cannons. These cannons were all made of cast iron, about a zhang long, and gradually thickened from the muzzle to the tail of the cannon, and the thickest part was a foot long. The whole cannon weighed thousands of catties, and it took more than a dozen soldiers to push it together to push the gun cart forward slowly.

On the left and right flanks of the phalanx, there were a few cavalry in the Ming army, only about 2,000 horsemen, all of whom hung broadswords or spears on bird wing rings at this time, and bows in their hands.

Zhu Youzhen saw that the Ming army was advancing very slowly, and said anxiously: "Why don't they hurry up and enter the city?" ”

Zu Dashou explained: "Your Highness, there is too much baggage in the army, and the Tartars are too close. If the army is in a hurry to enter the city, the formation will be chaotic; If the Tartars went around the walls and rushed straight over, the consequences would be unimaginable. ”

Zhu Youzhen looked north again, and felt even more frightened. I saw that the dust on the horizon was big, and the rumbling and rumbling sound of horses' hooves was like a muffled thunder rolling in the sky, which shook people's hearts wildly.

After a while, the boundless Jurchen cavalry seemed to emerge from the darkness all at once. At this time, they did not ride their horses at a gallop, but everyone dismounted and led their horses to slowly press towards Ningyuan City.

"Why don't they get on the horse?" Zhu Youzhen asked.

"They cherish horsepower and are a precursor to battle." Zu Dashou said, "Only when the Tartar commander gives the order to attack, they will get on their horses and charge." ”

At this time, the Ming army had advanced to less than one mile away from the southern city wall of Ningyuan, and the Jurchen cavalry was only two miles north of the city.

Suddenly, there were several earth-shattering loud noises in the south, and the Hongyi cannon in the Ming army's array spewed out angry tongues of fire, throwing a large iron ball weighing more than ten catties into the sky.

Zhu Youzhen was shocked, and thought that the Ming army had opened fire on Ningyuan City.

But the iron balls did not fall into the city, but pierced the night sky as fast as lightning, and smashed straight towards the Jurchen cavalry brigade several miles away. A few seconds later, with the roar of death, they slammed into the ground, and with their strong inertia, they jumped forward dozens of steps. Unfortunately, due to the distance, these shells did not hit the enemy, but only stirred up large clouds of earth.

Despite this, the Jurchen cavalry was intimidated by the tremendous power of the Hongyi cannons and immediately stopped advancing. After a while, many foot soldiers came from behind, looking like Han Chinese. They did not advance further, but set up camp and tents, and were busy with great pleasure.

It seems that the Jurchens did not intend to attack immediately, but to start a confrontation with the Ming army.

At this time, the Ming army in the south of the city also accelerated the speed of its advance, and 2,000 cavalry took the lead, rushing to the east and west of the city, blocking the road around the Jurchens. The rest of the foot soldiers began to run forward, especially the soldiers who pushed the Hongyi cannons, desperately shouting the trumpet, sweating like rain for a while.

Zhu Youzhen hurriedly said: "Miss, General Zu, let's hurry up and take the reinforcements into the city!" ”

Zu Dashou agreed, but bowed to Li Chongyao and said, "Miss, look..."

Li Chongyao said with tears in his eyes: "Ancestor Dashou, my uncle has passed away, and Ning Yuan no longer has any city lords." All the children of the Li family are all subjects of the Ming Dynasty! You are a general in the army, so you are in command! ”

Zu Dashou's heart was hot, and he yelled: "Obey!" Then he left in a hurry with He Kegang, Wu Sangui and others.

After a short time, the south gate of Ningyuan was opened, and the defenders in the city, in fact, were the children of the Li family, about 100 people, carrying long wooden planks and rushing out of the city, laying these wooden planks on the moat and moat.

With the help of these planks, the speed at which reinforcements could cross these obstacles was greatly accelerated. Especially those bulky Hongyi cannons, thanks to the help of these wooden planks, they were able to enter the city smoothly.

When the Ming army entered the city, several fast horses galloped from the city gate to the foot of the drum tower. The leader was Ning Qiandao and Yuan Chonghuan, who went upstairs in three steps and two steps, and bowed to Zhu Youzhen: "The criminal minister Yuan Chonghuan sees His Royal Highness!" The guilty minister is frightened by His Highness, and the crime deserves death, please punish His Highness heavily! ”

It turned out that after the Qiantun mutiny last night, Yuan Chonghuan found that Zhu Youzhen had been robbed, and he knew that something was wrong. If Zhu Youzhen is killed, or if the rebels give it to the Jurchens, this is called "losing the feudal town", and the crime is extremely serious. Not to mention him Yuan Chonghuan, even the superintendent Sun Chengzong, as well as all the border generals, all had to be headed.

So Yuan Chonghuan first sent Zu Dashou to chase quickly, and then flew a horse to report to Sun Chengzong, the governor of Shanhaiguan. After Zu Dashou left, he waited impatiently, so he simply exhausted his troops and chased after Ning Yuan. If you can't catch up, it's a death anyway, so it's better to die on the battlefield.

Fortunately, Zhu Youzhen broke through the Jurchens' interception and retreated into Ningyuan City. Yuan Chonghuan received the news of Zu Dashou, and was overjoyed, thinking that he was also going to Ningyuan to build a city and defend it, so he urged the Ming army to march at full speed to arrive in Ningyuan before the Jurchens. Fortunately, the Ming army entered the city one step faster than the Jurchens.

After listening to his introduction, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but think of the thrilling experience of more than a day, and secretly hated Yuan Chonghuan for not thinking about it, not only failed to stop Tong Yanghao's mutiny, but also almost put himself in.

But at this time, Yuan Chonghuan personally led a large army to save Ning Yuan, and Zhu Youzhen was not easy to reprimand. I had to put on a smiling face and said, "Lord Yuan has worked hard!" What are you guilty of, let's hurry up and arrange to meet the enemy. ”

At this time, Zu Dashou and other generals of the Ming army also ascended the drum tower, and a brief and tense military meeting immediately began.

The first thing, naturally, is to determine the military commander-in-chief. Since Zhu Youzhen only went out on behalf of the Son of Heaven, he had neither the right to command troops nor the experience of leading troops, so of course he could not serve as the supreme commander.

The Ming army has always been based on civilian officials as commanders and military attaches as generals. At this time, the biggest civil official in the city was Yuan Chonghuan, and he happened to be the supervisor of the Zu Dashou Department, so he took charge of the commander-in-chief.

The second thing is to determine the movements and goals of the enemy's forces, as well as the comparison of the strength of the enemy and the enemy.

Because the Jurchens were camped far away, and it was late at night, it was impossible to accurately estimate the strength of the enemy army for a while. But Zu Dashou and the others are experienced, and from the rumbling hooves alone, they can guess that the other party has at least 30,000 cavalry, and the infantry composed of Han people is probably not a few, and the follow-up men and horses are still coming. Looking at this posture, Nurhachi is pouring out again this time, so he can only have one purpose, that is, to capture Ningyuan!

The strength of the Ming army was much smaller. The cavalry led by Zu Dashou and He Kegang suffered heavy casualties before, which were almost negligible. In the previous Qiantun mutiny, more than 3,000 people of Tong Yanghao's troops not only rebelled, but also killed hundreds of Ming soldiers in the melee. Although Yuan Chonghuan exhausted the troops of Qiantun, there were only about 15,000 people, and the cavalry was only 2,000.

Even if you add the children of the Li family in Ningyuan City, there are only 17,000 people, obviously the enemy is outnumbered, and the situation is extremely critical.

The third thing is to agree on a strategy against the enemy. At this time, there was a disagreement among the generals of the Ming army, and the Li generals, led by Zu Dashou, advocated holding on to Ningyuan until the enemy retreated or Shanhaiguan sent troops to help.

The rest of the Liaodong generals strongly said that the disparity between the strength of the enemy and us was too great, and they should give up Ningyuan and retreat to Qiantun first, and if they couldn't do it, they would return to Shanhaiguan.

Yuan Chonghuan listened to everyone's words, and said: "The art of war has advanced and retreated, and since this prison army has come to Ningyuan from Qiantun, how can there be any reason to retreat without a fight!" As Ning Qiandao, this prison army should live and die with Ning Yuan and Qiantun! If anyone wants to return to Shanhaiguan, please go by yourself, this prison army is willing to lie alone in the lonely city, in order to block the captives! ”

As soon as he said this, although the other generals were reluctant, no one dared to say anything. The generals of the Li family were in great spirits and expressed their willingness to defend Ningyuan to the death with Yuan Chonghuan.

Zhu Youjian also secretly praised Yuan Chonghuan in his heart, thinking that although this guy has an arrogant personality and acts recklessly, he is always an iron-boned Chinese, and he dares to fight bloody battles in the face of murderous foreign invaders! For this alone, he is already much better than those civil officials who can only chant the wind and the moon, or specialize in attacking!

The fourth thing is to study specific combat strategies.

Yuan Chonghuan said eloquently: "At present, the enemy is outnumbered, the strong enemy has arrived, and the reinforcements have not been continued, so the only way to stick to the city is the best policy." Ten Hongyi cannons were brought in the army, plus the original two in Ningyuan City, and the firepower was fierce, which would definitely frustrate the spirit of Jianyu. ”

Seeing that the generals praised him one after another, Yuan Chonghuan divided his troops and sent generals. He ordered Zu Dashou to guard the north gate, He Kegang to guard the east gate, the general Zuo Fu to guard the west gate, and the deputy general Zhu Mei to guard the south gate. Each general led 3,000 soldiers, and the rest of the soldiers were personally controlled by Yuan Chonghuan in the center, and which side of the battle situation was tight would be supported.

The Hongyi cannon was also transported to the outer city wall, two were placed at each of the four corners, and the remaining four were used as mobile weapons. In this way, no matter which direction the Jurchens attacked the city, there were eight Hongyi cannons to fight.

After the arrangement was completed, Yuan Chonghuan wanted the generals to go to the city immediately. Zhu Youzhen thought of an extremely important question, frowned, and said, "Lord Yuan, what if the Jurchens are not in a hurry to attack the city, but besiege us?" How long can the grain and grass in the city last? ”

Yuan Chonghuan said with a smile: "Your Highness, rest assured, Ning Yuan doesn't have to worry about the problem of grain and grass. ”

"But why?"

"Not far from the east gate of Ningyuan is the sea." Yuan Chonghuan said proudly, "There is an island in the sea, called Juehua Island, and Ningyuan's grain storage is on the island. Although Jianlu is good at cavalry warfare, he does not have sea ships at all, and our army's grain and grass can be continuously transported from the sea! ”

Zhu Youzhen didn't want to ask again, but he always felt a little worried, and he couldn't say why, so he had to say: "Since Lord Yuan has made all the arrangements, I don't know what this king should do?" ”

Yuan Chonghuan said respectfully: "Your Highness only needs to sit here and watch the soldiers kill the enemy." ”

At this time, a soldier suddenly came to report: "There is an enemy general outside the north city gate!" ”

Zhu Youzhen suddenly came to his senses and said: "This king can't do anything else, if you want to scold, that's a bit of a experience!" Yesterday he scolded Hauge and vomited blood, and tonight the king wants to see who is looking for him again, and strive to scold him half-body! ”