When the news of Songshan's defeat came back to Beijing, the whole country was shocked, and the Manchu civil and military forces no longer had a jumping spirit for a while, and at the same time closed their chattering mouths. It has been less than four months since the defeat of Henan, Fu Zonglong's bones are not cold, but the 130,000 troops outside the gate have been broken and sunk in the sand, and Hong Chengchou has been "martyred". There was no victory in the war inside and outside the gates.

"Da Ming, can you still hold on?" This is a question that haunts everyone's mind.

Emperor Chongzhen was particularly depressed and sad, Fu Zonglong's death was just a feudal official for him, and there were generals such as Wang Qiaonian, Sun Chuanting, and He Renlong on the battlefield in the pass, and Tongguan still had tens of thousands of soldiers, and there was still hope.

But Hong Chengchou is different, since the death of Yang Sichang, there are very few all-rounders in the court who can be alone, and Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of the cabinet, is good at political affairs, but he has never reversed the embarrassment of the imperial court's revenue and expenditure, which makes Emperor Chongzhen lose confidence in it little by little.

It can be said that Emperor Chongzhen's expectations for Hong Chengchou are great, and similarly, the defeat of Songshan is incomparable to his blow. Songshan was defeated, and Jinzhou and Songshan, which were left with only one inner city, could not hold it, and then Ningyuan, it was obvious that it was extremely unrealistic to use this lonely city to reproduce the miracle of Yuan Chonghuan's creation of Zào. The most important thing is that more than half of the 130,000 army has been lost, and if you want to launch an offensive outside the pass and turn the tide of the battle, it will become a moon in the mirror and a flower in the water. The Manchu Tatars became more accessible, and the northern border of the Ming Dynasty had become an area where they could come and go freely.

The two defeats that cannot be lost have pushed the Ming Dynasty to the edge of the cliff, and Emperor Chongzhen himself realized that the situation was irretrievable.

Du Xun, who went to the front line of Songshan to deliver the message, miraculously ran back to Beijing, and from his mouth, Chongzhen not only got some specific news about the Battle of Songshan, but also knew the news that Zhu Ping'an's Denglai Naval Division supported the defenders of Songshan and Tashan. Although Emperor Chongzhen was very angry about Zhu Ping'an's unauthorized actions, he no longer had the courage and courage to move Zhu Ping'an.

Although he was very dissatisfied with some of Zhu Ping'an's actions, Chongzhen at this time no longer had the courage and courage to move Zhu Ping'an, in order to preserve a trace of vitality, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't care about what would happen to the war in Henan and Shanxi, and couldn't wait to urge Chen Xinjia and the celebrant to transfer Zhu Ping'an's troops back to Shandong.

But Chen Xinjia is extremely opposed, now the army of Liukou is besieging Nanyang, Nanyang is the land of the Tang Domain, if there is a mistake, it will reproduce the tragedy of King Fu of Luoyang and King Xiang of Xiangyang that day, and Chongzhen will also bear greater pressure. Wang Qiaonian is actively recruiting soldiers, expanding military strength, and integrating the original troops, seeing that he is about to send troops to Tongguan again, Chongzhen will withdraw the Shandong army at this time, which will have a great impact on Wang Qiaonian's generals and military morale.

Therefore, Chen Xinjia expressed his resolute opposition to Emperor Chongzhen's intentions, and the military department did not need to be sealed, and this transfer of troops could not be completed.

However, at this moment, there was another change in the Manchu Qing outside the Guan. With the assistance of the Denglai Naval Division, Cao Bianjiao led 5,000 remnants of the army to withdraw from Tashan and went to Shandong by boat, while Qiu Minyang still led 30,000 participating troops to stick to the small city of Songshan, and the documents asking for help were sent to Shanhaiguan and Jingshi without stopping, but the imperial court was powerless, and the soldiers and horses of Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan did not dare to act rashly.

In this case, the commander of the Qing army, Dolgon, also knew that the Ming army lacked supplies, so he adopted the strategy of dividing the troops for a long-term siege, and on the other hand, he mobilized the men and horses of Azig, the king of Wuying County, to go south, intending to fight and plunder Hebei, Gyeonggi and even Shandong again.

As soon as this news came out, Chen Xinjia had no more excuses, and Emperor Chongzhen personally issued an edict, ordering Chen Xinjia to immediately transfer Zhu Ping'an's troops back to Shandong. At this time, the king of Lu in Shandong also united with Fang Yuegong, the governor of Shandong, to go to the imperial court, and asked to be transferred back to Zhu Ping'an to guard Shandong to avoid the land of Qilu being poisoned by the Tartars again.

After finally getting the news from Jingshi, Zhu Ping'an's heart was full of sadness. Thinking that today, he has also learned to use this means to achieve his goal, to be honest, what is the difference between himself and He Renlong, Wu Sangui and others, Yang Tinglin's evaluation of himself that day was not wrong, he just became another feudal town!

After Fu Zonglong's soldiers were defeated and died, the defeated soldiers from all walks of life withdrew to Tongguan one after another, and Wang Qiaonian distributed the assets of the eight families on the right side of the mountain to distribute the army, among which the Shaanxi army with the largest number of troops He Renlong was the most allotted. Fu Zonglong's death was due to He Renlong's escape, but Wang Qiaonian was trapped in his hands and had no soldiers, so he could only hope to overhead He Renlong, so he secretly bribed his subordinates Li Guoqi, Gao Jie and others. After receiving the imperial court's will to send troops to rescue Nanyang, Wang Qiaonian integrated more than 40,000 troops, went east out of Tongguan, and marched towards Nanyang.

Li Guoqi and Gao Jie and others were instructed by He Renlong, pretending to obey his dispatch, rectifying the people and horses with He Renlong, Yang Wenyue, Hu Dawei and other generals also joined the expedition, Zhu Ping'an and Sun Chuanting because of repeated advice, Wang Qiaonian did not like, so they were left in the back camp, Zhu Ping'an supervised the transportation of grain and grass, and Sun Chuanting led the regiment to train the army after the break.

The raid on the eight families on the right side of the mountain allowed the Tongguan defenders to temporarily get a certain amount of supplies, which was also the reason why Wang Qiaonian dared to send troops again immediately after Fu Zonglong's defeat. However, Zhu Ping'an, Sun Chuanting, Yang Wenyue, Hu Dawei and others knew in their hearts that although Wang Qiaonian's approach could temporarily bring all the departments together, once they had a showdown with the hostile body, it was not reassuring how long the foundation of this relationship could be revealed.

Wang Qiaonian's main force went first, Zhu Ping'an's department escorted grain and grass to ensure the smooth flow of grain roads, and Sun Chuanting led his 5,000 regiments to train troops to guard on both wings.

Talking about the current war, Sun Chuanting is full of complaints, and now he can only spit out bitterness in front of Zhu Ping'an. Sun Chuanting has led the army in Shanxi for many years, if it weren't for offending Yang Sichang, he would not be just a regimental training defense envoy from the second grade, and in terms of official position, his position in the army of Shanxi and Henan is a little embarrassing. He Renlong, Li Guoqi, Gao Jie and other generals were his subordinates before, but now, they can only watch his subordinates show off their might.

Ding Qirui's governors of the three provinces have been removed because of the disadvantage of suppressing thieves, but the imperial court and Emperor Chongzhen have no intention of succeeding Sun Chuanting, and even Wang Qiaonian, a genuine civil official, has been given the position of governor of Shaanxi, but Sun Chuanting still plays a secondary role in the army. Although the generals of the Shaanxi army maintained a respectful attitude towards Sun Chuanting in front of others, because there was no official position recognized by the imperial court, Sun Chuanting could not command and interfere in the affairs of the Shaanxi army.

"Sun Gong's worries are indeed public loyalty to the country, and General Wang's dispatch of troops this time is indeed a great risk. To put it mildly, the Liukou are becoming more and more powerful, and now they are using troops quite methodically, and they are attacking Nanyang, I am afraid that it is to attract the Tongguan defenders to go east. ”

Sun Chuanting slapped his thigh suddenly, "Ping'an's words have won my heart, who said that it wasn't the truth!" The various departments of the imperial court are now fighting less and less, and this time the Henan general Chen Yongfu also led thousands of troops, and Zuo Liangyu and Zhu Dadian's troops also moved closer to Nanyang, but the disparity in troops was huge, and the thief's move was clearly a strategy to encircle the point and send reinforcements. General Wang doesn't know the soldiers, but he wants to lead the troops to fight a decisive battle with the rogues, and there is no reason to be invincible! ”

Zhu Ping'an sighed, raised his head and glanced at Shen Ke next to him, Shen Ke understood that he would immediately leave the account and retreat left and right.

The wind was fierce at night, and a pile of firewood was also lit in the big tent to keep out the cold, Zhu Ping'an added some firewood to the fire, and the fire suddenly became vigorous, and the temperature in the tent also increased.

"Once General Wang is defeated, it will be Sun Gong who will take over......!" Zhu Ping'an said a sentence seemingly inadvertently.

Sun Chuanting's body trembled, "Will the Holy Lord still use me?" ”

Zhu Ping'an didn't speak again, just stared at Sun Chuanting.

After Sun Chuanting finished asking this sentence, he was speechless for a long time, and then sighed faintly after a while: "Yes, I don't need to clean up the mess, who else?" ”

"Shanxi, Henan have become dead chess!" Zhu Ping'an said coldly.

Sun Chuanting was speechless for a while, although he didn't want to admit this reality, he still nodded.

"There is news in the Beijing Division, the Tartars intend to take advantage of the victory in Koubian, and the imperial court intends to transfer my Shandong army back to the division! In the future, the situation in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan will depend on Sun Gong! ”

Sun Chuanting knew Zhu Ping'an's ability well, and he was naturally convinced of the news he said. "If that day really comes, the old man can only shrink on the front line of Tongguan to guard, one side of the field, the other side of the recruitment, slowly plot!"

"Will the imperial court give Sun Gong such a long time?"

Sun Chuanting sighed angrily, "Do your best to obey the destiny of heaven!" ”

"Sun Gong is an understanding person, and he is straightforward. Sun Gong wants to stick to Tongguan, the court may not let you get your wish, when there is a change, Ping An does not want Sun Gong to fight to the death with the enemy, loyal to the country! ”

"Why?"

"Charging into battle and shrouding the body of horse leather is of course the righteousness of the courtiers, but now that the stars of the Ming Dynasty have fallen, the talents have withered, and the Tongguan has been lost, there will be no barrier for the Beijing Division, and the rogue can drive straight in. The northern border may not be guaranteed, but Daming still has half of the south of the Yangtze River, and big things are still possible. When the time comes, if there are empty soldiers, horses, grain and grass, but there are no officials of the country, how can this be good? ”

Zhu Ping'an's words had a great impact on Sun Chuanting, perhaps deep in his heart, he had already buried the idea of dying, but after Zhu Ping'an said this, Sun Chuanting couldn't help but be a little shaken.

After galloping on the field for so many years, he has never been able to give full play to his talents, which is indeed a lingering regret in Sun Chuanting's heart. For so many years of career in the field, but he has never fought a few hearty battles, as Sun Chuanting, who has always regarded himself as a minister of the Ming Dynasty, the depression and grievances in his heart can be imagined.

"You just said that Tongguan is the last barrier of the Jingshi, if my Sun Chuanting can't live and die with Tongguan, then how will the court and the saint look at me?"

"Endure the humiliation of the moment, wait for the opportunity, and ride the wind! At this point, Sun Gong has had several ups and downs, can't he still do it? Zhu Ping'an asked rhetorically.

Sun Chuanting was silent. R1152