In late October, Shanhaiguan.

The commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan, Chengyong Bo Xue Yi, discussed the current military situation with his generals in the council hall with a solemn expression, and Shanhaiguan was now being attacked by the Mongol army from the north and south, which can be said to be in a desperate situation.

Among them, to the north of Shanhaiguan were 50,000 Uliangha soldiers, while to the south were 30,000 Tatar and Warat combined troops.

As the most important pass of the Ming Dynasty, Shanhaiguan Chen has 80,000 soldiers, if it is enough to simply defend the pass, but if you want to defeat the Uliangha soldiers and the Tatar and Warat coalition forces besieging the pass, it will be very difficult.

Even though there were only 20,000 Tatar and Warat troops south of Shanhaiguan, Xue Yi still did not dare to send troops to raid, he was afraid that if he fell for the other party's tricks, it would be worth the loss.

Zhou Zheng had already given Xue Yi a death order before going to Xuanfu City, telling him to guard the Shanhaiguan Pass no matter what, and not let the Mongolian soldiers outside the pass take a step south.

Xue Yi remembered Zhou Zheng's instructions, strengthened the city defense in Shanhaiguan, and practiced day and night, but who would have thought that before the Mongol army outside the pass attacked, the Guanxi Qiwei unexpectedly entered Beizhili from the Reverse Horse Pass, and then made Juyong Pass fall.

Arutai had already sent a Ming general to persuade Xue Yi to surrender, but Xue Yi scolded a bloody squirt, if it weren't for the two armies fighting and not killing the envoys, Xue Yi would have killed the general who had taken refuge in the Mongols.

In less than two months, more than two-thirds of the prefectures and counties in Beizhili had fallen, some of which had been broken by the Kansai Seven Guards and the combined forces of Tatar and Warat, some had surrendered, and some had been handed over because the defenders had fled.

Like the Mongol army that year went south to destroy the Song Dynasty, the soldiers and civilians in the territory of Beizhili had a great panic, and many defenders of the city surrendered or fled, after all, the Mongol Yuan ruled the Central Plains for more than 100 years, and many people were still afraid of the Mongol army.

However, fortunately, because the commanders of Shandong, Henan and Shanxi were under the orders of Zhou Zheng and mobilized heavy troops at the junction with Beizhili to defend the city, it was difficult for the Mongol army, which was short of troops, to advance for a while.

Although there were 200,000 Mongol soldiers under Arutai, the troops were relatively scattered, 40,000 were stationed in Shanxi Xingdusi, 20,000 were stationed in Juyongguan, 70,000 were stationed in Tongzhou City, 20,000 were placed in front of Shanhaiguan, plus 30,000 horses scattered in various places, and the troops that were really used to attack the state capitals of Beizhili were around 20,000.

It is worth mentioning that there were nearly 100,000 servant troops who followed the 20,000 Mongol soldiers who attacked the capitals of the northern Zhili prefectures, some of whom were surrendered Ming troops, and some were forcibly recruited strong men who were used as cannon fodder during the siege.

For the Ming Dynasty, it was not the Mongol soldiers who threatened, the Mongol soldiers were at most 200,000, and the Ming Dynasty had a territory of thousands of miles, and it was impossible for the Mongols to occupy the Ming Dynasty.

When Meng Yuan attacked the Southern Song Dynasty, he relied on those vassals of the Southern Song Dynasty, and with the help of those vassals, he successfully captured the Southern Song Dynasty.

Among all the civil and military officials of the Southern Song Dynasty who surrendered to the Mongol Yuan, the most famous were Fan Wenhu, the former deputy commander of the Southern Song Dynasty, and Lü Wenhuan, the commander of Xiangyang, especially Lü Wenhuan, whose surrender not only led the Southern Song Dynasty to lose its strategic position to compete with the Mong Yuan, but also accelerated the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty.

But to be honest, Lu Wenhuan held on to Xiangyang City for six years and was regarded as an anti-Yuan hero of the Southern Song Dynasty, but unfortunately Xiangyang City and Fancheng as a horn were trapped for a long time, coupled with the slaughter of the city after the Mongolian army broke through Fancheng, and finally made Lu Wenhuan surrender to the Mongolian army, and the people of Xiangyang City were spared.

Kublai Khan obtained the treasure after Lü Wenhuan's surrender, not only because of the strategic importance of Xiangyang City, but also because of the pivotal position of the Lü family in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Therefore, Kublai Khan decided to give preferential treatment to Lü Wenhuan and recruit Lü's children and subordinates, and Lü Wenhuan took the initiative to plan an attack on Ezhou in the Southern Song Dynasty for the Yuan Dynasty after he descended to the Yuan Dynasty, and invited himself to be the vanguard.

Lu Wenhuan paid homage to the governor and governor of Jinghu, followed the commander of the Yuan army, Boyan, to conquer the Southern Song Dynasty, and surrendered along the Jiangzhou County all the way, trapping Shayang, Xincheng, Ezhou and other cities.

Kublai Khan ordered Lü Wenhuan to lead his subordinates to meet the holy decree of the generals, and summoned the states and counties that the Yuan army had not yet captured.

The Southern Song Dynasty sent people to ask for peace many times, but Lu Wenhuan ignored it, and the Yuan army marched all the way to Lin'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty. The Empress Dowager Xie of the Southern Song Dynasty once issued an edict to Lu Wenhuan and others, and Lu Wenhuan was unmoved by the reply, so the Southern Song Dynasty court ordered that Lu Wenhuan and others should not be registered.

After the Southern Song Dynasty surrendered after the army of Boyan marched into Lin'an, Lu Wenhuan took the lead in entering the city, holding the yellow list to proclaim the military and the people, and visited the empress dowager of the two palaces with Fan Wenhu.

The following year, Lü Wenhuan was appointed as Zhongshu Zuocheng, and he still comforted Jiangdong, responsible for recruiting and pacifying the soldiers and civilians of the Song Dynasty, and made great contributions to the annexation of the Southern Song Dynasty by Meng Yuan.

As for Fan Wenhu, when the Yuan army Boyan Department entered Jiangzhou, Fan Wenhu sent people to ask for surrender from afar, so that Anqing, which had enough food and many soldiers and horses, surrendered to the enemy without letting go of an arrow, and Fan Wenhu also changed from the prefect of Anqing in the Great Song Dynasty to the governor of Zhejiang and Zhejiang in the Great Yuan Dynasty.

It can be seen that those Southern Song generals who surrendered to Meng Yuan played a crucial role in the demise of the Southern Song Dynasty.

In the face of the menacing momentum of the Mongol army, reminiscent of the annexation of the Great Song Dynasty by the Mongol Yuan, some local officials and people in Beizhili were terrified that the Ming Dynasty would be destroyed like the Southern Song Dynasty this time, at least the area north of the Yellow River or north of the Yangtze River could not be held, so in order to survive or take advantage of the opportunity to profit, they surrendered Tatar and Warat, after all, not everyone can resist to the death in the face of the Mongol army.

It was the Ming vassals who defected to the Mongolian army in Beizhili that made the Mongolian army quickly gain a foothold in Beizhili, and also made the situation in Beizhili more complicated.

Xue Yi knew that the Beizhi Lixing was severe, and he also knew that the capital was surrounded by the Mongol army, so he did not want to be trapped in Shanhaiguan, and wanted to wage a war against the 20,000 Mongol troops south of Shanhaiguan to relieve the pressure on the Jingshi.

However, it is not easy to attack the 20,000 Mongol army, because in addition to the 20,000 Mongol army, there are also 20,000 servant troops, and those servant armies are likely to bring big trouble to the Ming army under the supervision of the Mongol army.

What is particularly important is that many of the soldiers stationed at Shanhaiguan are rookies who have recently been recruited from military and civilian households, and if they are allowed to fight the Mongol army, they will undoubtedly be sent to death.

"Report, the Uliangha soldiers outside the gate are retreating, and they are shooting up a letter!"

Therefore, the generals present discussed and discussed, and did not think of a good way to engage the Mongol army south of Shanhaiguan, and just when everyone in the council hall fell silent, a guard suddenly rushed into the room, holding a sealed letter in his hand and walked towards Xue Yi, who was frowning.

The generals in the council hall all showed surprised expressions when they heard this, and they all looked at the letter that the guard handed over to Xue Yi, and they didn't know why the Wuliang soldiers wanted to withdraw, even if they wanted to recruit Xue Yi, they shouldn't withdraw their troops!

Xue Yi also felt a little puzzled, so he opened the envelope with a stern expression and took out the letter inside, and looked at it expressionlessly.

"How so!" Looking at it, Xue Yi's eyes showed a look of astonishment, and he couldn't help but clench the letter in his hand hard, with a look of disbelief on his face, and then muttered to himself.

"Lord Commander, what happened?" Seeing this, the deputy chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, who was sitting on Xue Yi's left hand, couldn't help but ask, he was very curious about what was written in that letter, which made Xue Yi have such a strange expression.

"This letter was written by the Duke of Yiguo and the Marquis of Zhenwu, my Ming army in Liaodong has eliminated the Mongol army in Liaodong, and Marquis Zhenwu will lead the army to arrive in front of the pass tomorrow, let me wait and prepare to meet it!" Xue Yi raised his head when he heard this, looked around at the Ming army generals present, took a deep breath and said in a deep voice.

"What?" As soon as these words came out, the generals at the scene were suddenly shocked, and they all looked at Xue Yi in surprise, and no one could believe what he said for a while.

"Lord Commander, this must be a trick of the Mongols, although Zhenwuhou has achieved three great victories in Liaodong, there are still more than 100,000 Mongolian troops in Liaodong, even if Zhenwuhou is a god, he can't destroy so many enemy troops in a short time."

The deputy chief soldier of Shanhaiguan who spoke before groaned for a moment, and looked at Xue Yi with a solemn expression, "Besides, those Wuliang soldiers in front of the pass retreated with their whole bodies, how could they let the Marquis of Zhenwu come to Shanhaiguan!" ”

"Lord Commander, this must be a trick of the Mongols, and you must not be fooled."

"Even if the Duke of Yiguo and the Marquis of Zhenwu want to come to the Divine Customs, how can they let the Mongols know?"

"Lord General Soldier, how can those Wuliang soldiers deliver news to the Duke of Yiguo and the Marquis of Zhenwu, unless they take refuge in our Daming, but how is this possible!"

……

Subsequently, all the generals present began to talk about it, and they all agreed that this official document was fraudulent.

Xue Yi's mood was also very chaotic, although it was difficult for him to believe what was said in the letter, but the big seal of the Liaodong General Army covered on it was real, could it be that the official seal of the Liaodong General Army fell into the hands of the Mongolian army.

Facing the excited generals, Xue Yi's brows furrowed, he stretched out his hands and pressed down, and people's voices gradually stopped.

"Whether this matter is true or not, we will see tomorrow, and when you go back, you will strengthen your vigilance in case of accidents." After glancing around at everyone, Xue Yi instructed with a stern expression, "This matter is very important, only you know about it, and you can't spread it out, so as not to make a mistake!" ”

"Yes!" Hearing this, all the generals present got up and bowed their hands to Xue Yiyi, and replied in a deep voice, although Xue Yi did not say what he meant by "misconduct", but everyone knew that if it was Li Yuntian who came tomorrow, if they talked nonsense, they would leak military secrets.