Zhu Hui, a hundred miles away, when the sunset was approaching in the afternoon, Zhu Hui's camp had already been set up, the men and horses sent out to inspect had already set off, and the preparations for the withdrawal of troops were also made...... Then an explosive message came, so that Zhu Hui almost held on to the table and didn't collapse on the ground.

"Again...... That's right!"

Zhu Hui was extremely annoyed.

The first battle of Huamachi, watching others take credit under their noses has just passed, and now Shigou City has painted a scoop according to the gourd in the first battle, and then Zhu Hui has become an outsider again.

The guerrilla general Cheng Hu said: "Grandpa, this time *** ran fast, and I didn't lose many people. If we step up our pursuit now, it may be too late."

Zhu Hui glared at him and said, "Is Ben Shuai the kind of person who is jealous of the merits of others? What does it mean not to lose many people? Of course, the commander hopes that the more losses the better, and our army should win a big victory...... Ben Shuai had already sent men and horses to cooperate with Yang Yiqing, the governor of Ningxia, to use troops, but Ben Shuai was only observing with the Chinese army, ready to cut off the back road of Tatar at any time."

"Yes, yes, grandpa, you are wise." What else can Cheng Hu say in the face of such a shameless Baoguo Gong?

Anyway, you are a big official, you are thick-skinned, I am not as good as you in official positions, and I can't fight with you, whatever you like.

Zhu Hui said that he was not jealous, but his demeanor had already betrayed his inner thoughts, and he said, "In this way, with cavalry...... Don't rest tonight, march in the direction of Shigou City."

Cheng Hu said: "*** may no longer be in Shigou City, it is said that he has retreated to the north."

"Then let's go to Shigou City first!" Zhu Hui was a little annoyed and said, "This marshal is ordered to coordinate all the people in the northwest, and even the governor of Ningxia has to listen to Ben Shuai."

Cheng Huxin said yes?

You are a prince with troops, and you are qualified to dispatch the governor of Ningxia? If it was said that before this war, you belonged to the two systems, and you were considered equal, but now it is strange that the governor of Ningxia takes care of you, and he still listens to your dispatch? Dream on.

Zhu Hui saw Cheng Hu's expression was strange and asked, "Do you think there is a problem?"

Cheng Hu said: "Grandpa is calm, and he admires his humble duties very much, and I ask you to show me that my humble duties must serve before and after the saddle, and protect my grandfather."

"Phew! The credit goes to someone else, and now I think of a hasty march?"

When Cheng Hu brought the news out, a group of generals scolded and cursed.

They usually respect Zhu Hui, after all, Zhu Hui is the boss and has the power to kill and kill, but now they see that the credit has become someone else's, and their own side is cowering and has no credit, and now they have to work hard to march urgently...... It is likely that he will be held accountable by the emperor or the imperial court afterwards.

For soldiers, it doesn't matter if they are afraid of death, but after missing the fighter, they must find someone to take the blame.

Don't even think about it.

It must be the whole pot of Zhu Hui, who is in charge of commanding.

Cheng Hu said: "The rest of the people are also on the road, I heard that Jianchangbo's men and horses have made contributions in this battle, so we have to hurry up." I guess there will be no pre-army meeting tonight, so you should hurry back and straighten out your men, and when the military order is given, the three armies will march."

"Scattered, scattered!"

Everyone was sullen, and they didn't seem to be able to walk steadily.

Before, they were still discussing how to withdraw their troops, or which was safer, but now they only hate that in the past few days, because Zhu Hui has delayed their opportunity to achieve military exploits, they have scolded Zhu Hui's ancestors for the eighteenth generation in their hearts.

This will stare at the eyes and rush for life, and it is estimated that it will be too late.

On the night after the end of the battle in Shigou City, only forty miles away from Huamachi, there was another person who was shocked when he heard the news, and he quickly gathered all the soldiers in his department, and then began to chase after the rapid march.

And this man ...... It was Chen Rui who was sent by Qin Hong as the commander of the reinforcements.

Chen Rui is called a hate.

Didn't I just catch up a little slower, and you actually won one after another? Why not give it a chance?

What?

Even Zhang Yanling, a relative who was boundless, rushed forward with troops? This kid's brain is a little bad, he doesn't know how to write dead words?

"Uncle, let's show up

There are still more than two hundred miles away from Shigou City, so I am afraid that it will be too late, so it is better to follow the road to the north. Now that the war is over for seven or eight hours, if we can judge the route of the withdrawal of our troops, we can set up an ambush, and then we can decide the outcome of the war!"

The general came to Chen Rui to make a speech, and his words were quite sincere.

With the Ming army defeating the main force of the little Tatar prince twice in just a few days, the morale of all the men and horses who were ordered to fight the Tatars was now unprecedentedly high.

It seems that everyone thinks that as long as their own people can rush forward, military merit will be at their fingertips.

Chen Rui said, "Blocking tens of thousands of cavalry? Just rely on this little bit of people? Or do you rely on the cannons and guns in our hands? Are they all targets, and you are allowed to bully?"

The surrounding generals stopped talking.

"Just go to Shigou City, only by finding out the situation of the Tatars can we make the next arrangement." Chen Rui's thoughts are unprecedentedly consistent with Zhu Hui, or they are all the same people, they both want to get credit, but they are also afraid of death, they don't want to be the vanguard at a critical time, and they want others to go up and die first.

Therefore, their first goal was not to block the route of the Tatars' northward retreat, but to think of joining up with the main army first.

This idea is actually not fundamentally different from Li Yan and Zheng Ying.

Chen Rui said: "Remember, as long as you can keep up, you and I will have a share of the credit, if you can't keep up, no one can run away from the guilt you have suffered!" Pass the order! March!"

In the northwest, because of the dispersion of people from all walks of life in the Ming Dynasty, it has become a pot of porridge.

In the capital, this news is still unknown, and it takes almost three days to spread the news from Ningxia to the capital in this year, and it is still a situation of fast horses.

However, the news that the Tatars advanced to Shigou City before came back early, so that Zhu Youzhu knew that the Tatars were wreaking havoc in the Ming Dynasty, and he was a little restless, as if he only hated himself for not having a personal expedition, and he liked to take out a map to study when he had nothing to do.

Even the number of summons to Zhang Zhou has increased, summoning Zhang Zhou three times in four days.

"Your Majesty doesn't have to worry, with the previous trilateral general system of Qin Butang, the experienced Yansui deputy commander-in-chief Ping Jiangbo has been sent to lead the troops to reinforce, and the men and horses led by the Baoguo Gongqin to the Hetao have also entered the pass from Huamachi, and the rest of the people and horses are moving closer to Shigou City, and the Tatars have only one way to retreat north."

Zhang Zhou gave Zhu Youzhi a reassuring pill.

Zhu Youzhu said, "If this battle is led by Bingkuan, or even Xinjian Bo and Zhijie are leading the troops, I don't have to worry so much. Even if Wang Bo'an and Zhu Zhijie don't win, they won't be defeated, and they will also have a deterrent effect on the Tatars, but look at these people who are leading the troops now...... I really can't ...... Alas!"

It's really not reassuring.

Zhang Zhou heard that Zhu Youzhu had little confidence in Yang Yiqing and others.

Zhang Zhoudao: "Your Majesty, in the opinion of the ministers, the key to this battle is still on the governor of Ningxia, the general soldier and others, after all, what the Tatars are attacking is the area they are responsible for defending, on the other hand, Baoguo Gong and others are afraid that they do not have the heart to fight to the death."

Zhu Youzhu looked up at Zhang Zhou with confusion in his eyes.

Li Rong asked from the side, "Then Mr. Zhang, so you still agree to let the Duke of Baoguo lead the troops?" He ......"

When Li Rong said this, he suddenly felt that something was wrong, he thought that the candidate for the leader of the troops this time did not seem to be determined by Zhang Zhou, the secretary of the military department, but it was actually Zhu Youji's own decision, but how the two monarchs and ministers discussed it behind the scenes, it was not known to him Li Rong.

"Although Bao Guogong does not have the heart to fight to the death, this person has one good thing, that is, he will seek profit, which is the same as the temperament of the soldiers in many places in the northwest, which requires that in this battle, someone will play the prestige of the first battle to ensure that they can fight bravely to kill the enemy, so that the generals who seek advantage and avoid harm such as Baoguo Gong have to lead troops forward, so ...... It's all right."

Zhang Zhou analyzed the situation.

To put it bluntly, relying on Zhu Hui, Chen Rui, Li Yan, and Zhang Yanling is far less reliable than relying on Yang Yiqing.

At a critical time, it still depends on some well-known literati, although this group of people usually hate it, but when it comes to family and country affairs, they are big

I also know that retreating will be responsible, and sometimes I have to go up.

In history, the Koubian of the little Tatar prince in this year was completed by Wang Xun, the governor of Ningxia, Guo Jun, the chief soldier, and Zhang Yan, the eunuch of the town guard.

Now he just replaced Wang Xun with Yang Yiqing, Zhang Zhou felt that Yang Yiqing was at least a little stronger than Wang Xun in terms of military literacy.

What's more, there is a good news from Huamachi, as well as the improvement of firearms, if Yang Yiqing has to avoid the war, then he simply doesn't have to mix, let alone go back to raise chickens, and it is not too much to ask for a capital crime in prison.

Yang Yiqing hasn't shined in Daming yet, so he is killing himself?

"Bingkuan, I've figured it out." Zhu Youzhu didn't analyze the situation anymore, he sighed, "Next time I won't take such a risk, let your people go, or I will go with you, so I can rest assured." I don't want to think about it here, I've been anxious lately, and I don't know how to solve it."

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "As long as there is a good news in the northwest, it is a good medicine for His Majesty's heart disease. Your Majesty, you don't have to worry, this battle is not about a decisive victory, and there will be more time to wait for the results of the battle in the future, and Your Majesty should take care of yourself and wait for the good news to come again and again."

"Haha." After listening to this, Zhu Youzhu was in a much better mood.

Even Li Rong and several other eunuchs admired it very much.

They are all thinking, what good news is good medicine, you Zhang Bingkuan's words are a good cure, if you are not here, Your Majesty does not know how nervous you will be.

"By the way, Your Majesty, recently the minister has figured out some small improvements, involving artillery and firecrackers, and at the same time has experience in making these two things, it will be much more convenient and easier to cast cannons outside the city in the future, and when the northwest border army is equipped with hundreds or thousands of guns, it will be easier to start a war in the future." Zhang Zhou painted cakes for Zhu Youzhu again.

"Okay, it seems that you still have to wait, you can't be too anxious, I'm already looking forward to the day when I will step on the grassland with you side by side."

Zhu Youji's heart is full of pride, this is the time when he seems to have the most confidence of a king since he ascended the throne, and this confidence was completely brought to him by Zhang Zhou.

Inside the East Palace.

After nightfall, Zhu Houzhao didn't need to study, so he asked a few eunuchs to sit in front of the sand table and staff the military intelligence with him.

Liu Jin doesn't have a high sense of existence in the Yanwu Hall, but he studies very hard, mainly because he knows that the prince of the Ming Dynasty is good, and he wants to make up for the shortcomings with learning.

And the actual proof is that Liu Jin is not low in intelligence, and he has an enterprising mind, which is related to his reform mentality, and also because he knows that it is difficult for him to integrate into the traditional eunuch and civil official system, and only by seeking change can he survive.

"Tell me, how do you fight this? The Tatars are said to have thirty or forty thousand, and if you want to estimate the enemy, you must first estimate the enemy as much as possible, even if he is forty thousand."

"Look at the local defenders of Ningxia again, when Zhu Feng led the troops to deal with the little Tatar prince last year, there were only four or five thousand men and horses, and there were not many cannons and guns.

"According to the estimation of the main palace, they have a chance to ambush, they must have used almost all the heavenly gunpowder, artillery, gunners, and their cannonballs that they can use, and this is a lonely city like Shigou City, and the Tatars will capture the city at any time, what should I do then? Do you want to blow up the city again?"

Zhu Houzhao is like a military strategist who thinks about life, and he thinks about the changes in the war situation.

For the surrounding eunuchs who didn't know anything about military affairs, they were similar to listening to the Book of Heaven, what kind of artillery and firearms, they hadn't really seen it, and Daming also had this thing before, and they didn't understand why Zhang Zhou's research was different from others.

Gao Feng persuaded him: "His Royal Highness the Prince, it's not too early, it's time for you to rest, tomorrow morning you have to go to greet the Queen Mother, and you have to go to see the Queen Mother and the Queen Mother......

Zhu Houzhao said, "This palace didn't figure it out, and I couldn't sleep."

Gao Feng said: "

Why don't you wait for tomorrow and see if you can invite Cai Guogong and let him tell you in detail?"

Professional things, ask professional people, Gao Feng felt that it was better to find Zhang Zhou for this matter, maybe only Zhang Zhou could satisfy Zhu Houzhao's appetite in military affairs.

Zhu Houzhao scolded and said: "That Zhang Bingkuan, he has refused to come recently, obviously his father asked him to come to the palace to give a lecture, but he always pushes and says that there is an important military situation, you want to suffocate the palace, right?" Let's say so, I don't know how to fight, I can't sleep, or you will stay up with him!"

Gao Feng looked at the group of colleagues around him, and finally could only focus on Liu Jin.

wants the prince to go to bed early, and at the same time, let them change shifts and rest early, maybe only let Liu Jin, who knows a little bit about it, come out and talk about it, although they are reluctant to let Liu Jin come out to perform, but who made this guy win the prince, and even a little bit of Zhang Zhou's "appreciation"?

"Back to His Royal Highness the Prince." Liu Jin finally came out and said with a smile, "The slave maid is in the Yanwu Hall, but I have listened to the discussion of some generals on this matter, and the conclusion I have come to seems to say that most of the Tatars will not capture Shigou Post as their stronghold, because this city cannot be defended, but it will cause them to fall into a heavy siege."

"Really?"

Zhu Houzhao took a good look at the map, suddenly thought of something, and asked, "How big is this city?"

Liu Jin said: "The length and width are no more than one mile, and the highest part of the city wall is only seven or eight meters. The low place may be only three or four meters, and there is not even an urn city, but there is an inner wall on the north side, which is slightly higher than the outer wall, but *** is not from the north this time, and it doesn't have much defense against ***."

Zhu Houzhao said: "Damn, don't say it earlier, this palace still thinks this is a big city, and said how important it is here, feelings are like a soil fort!" If that cannon goes down, the south can hit the north, as long as Zhu Hui's men and horses ...... No, as soon as his artillery arrived, he first surrounded it and then bombarded it, and none of them could escape!"

After Liu Jin looked at a few eunuchs with triumphant eyes, he smiled again and said, "So the main choice of the Tatars is to withdraw."

"Withdraw?" Zhu Houzhao pondered for a moment, "Then what is the purpose of their coming?" Since this city is not good to look at and useless, there is no reason why they would choose to come here."

Qiu Ju grabbed Bai and said, "Maybe the Tatars have no way to escape."

Qiu Ju is already relatively knowledgeable among several eunuchs in the East Palace, but because he has not studied systematically, and his so-called knowledge is only compared with ordinary eunuchs who only know a few words.

"Humph!" Zhu Houzhao obviously didn't accept this statement, looked at Liu Jin and said, "Old Liu, you say."

As soon as Liu Jin heard the prince call himself "Lao Liu", this title ...... Why don't you pinch this? But the degree of intimacy was also reflected, and Liu Jin instantly felt that he was a lot harder.

Liu Jin held his head high and said: "There are as many as 30,000 or 40,000 cavalry in the Tatars, and they could have withdrawn from the Ming Dynasty after being defeated by the ambush of Huamachi, but in this way, the five-way army dispatched by the Baoguo Gong behind them will easily be cut off, and this will ruin the reputation of the little Tatar prince, forcing them to march into the army."

"And they want to rob people, animals and goods, so they will follow a road where the Ming Dynasty has lax defense, and the road of Shigou City, in the past ten years, the Ming Dynasty has had a lot of tuntian, and there are villages and towns along the way, and there is little wind and sand, they went to Shigou City, but it was just to stagger with the Ningxia defenders, and then come to loot."

Zhu Houzhao nodded and said, "That makes sense. And then?"

Liu Jin said: "The Tatars have no foothold in the Ming Dynasty, as long as the soldiers can fight a tough battle with them, they can only withdraw their troops! At that time, Da Ming will be able to take advantage of firearms with a longer attack range...... Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince, do you think it makes sense?"

"Hey, hey." Zhu Houzhao smiled, "You can do it, a few days after leaving the East Palace, you learned quite smoothly, let's say, who taught you?"

Liu Jin hurriedly said: "The slaves and maids have not been taught by anyone, they are all self-taught, if you want to say who is the husband of the slave and maid, everyone in the Yanwu Hall is all, and the slaves and maids are also humbly seeking advice, in fact, the slaves and maids also know, since."

His talent is shallow, and he can rely on the tips of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Cai Guogong in the Yanwu Hall, and the slave must study more with a humble heart in order to live up to the expectations of the prince and Cai Guogong. At some point in the future, I will be able to serve in front of the crown prince in front of him."

"Hmm." After listening to this, Zhu Houzhao just smiled and nodded.

With Zhu Houzhao's age, everyone can hear that this is completely sycophancy, and this kind of talk is heard by Gao Feng and other eunuchs...... It's disgusting.

It's really said that you are fat, you are still panting, you Liu Jin is really shameless.

Zhu Houzhao said: "By what you said, the palace thought about it, Zhu Hui's road should not be fast, when he entered the army in Hetao, he dragged his feet, and the one to count on was Yang Yiqing, the governor of Ningxia, alas! The big problem is that his firearms are still not enough, if Zhu Hui can kill him, then *** must have to withdraw his troops in a hurry! Zhu Hui, what was he thinking?"

Liu Jin said: "The movements of Baoguo Gong are still uncertain."

"Leave him alone." Zhu Houzhao said, "Now it's up to who can break the deadlock, the Tatars have miscalculated when they go to Shigou City, this palace has asked Zhang Bingkuan a long time ago, and he said that the Tatars will go this way, since he has calculated it, the Tatars will not be far from falling into the pit."

Gao Feng smiled, "Now that the doubts in the prince's heart have been relieved, is it time to rest?"

"There's no hurry." Zhu Houzhao said, "Let this palace study and study again, looking at this situation, this palace feels that there should be variables, if you want to swallow *** by these scattered people alone, it will be too difficult." If you are in the palace, you will definitely gather all the horses to rush together, whoever has the courage to rush to the palace and let whoever leads the troops, you must fight with *** to the end! When the little Tatar prince dies, the Mongolian dragons will be leaderless, and the Ming Dynasty will be able to occupy the steppe, and there will be no Tatar hidden danger from now on!"

When Zhang Zhou arrived home in the evening, it was already late.

Originally, I planned to come back early to reunite with my wife and children, or even eat together, and make a baby or something, but because I came back after the second watch, and people in this era generally slept earlier, Zhang Zhou was a little disappointed.

Fortunately, after he arrived in the inner courtyard, he found that Jiang Pingyu had not slept yet.

Zhang Zhou does not have a personal guest, and he does not raise idlers at home, so that the cleaning and sorting of his usual study is done by the woman in the inner house, and it is also because there are many things in his study that he does not want to be seen by outsiders.

"Master, there is a letter from the south, saying that it was sent by the governor Mr. Tang, and it is very important to come, so I will put it here for you, and I am afraid that you will not see it when you come back, so the concubine will wait for you to return."

Jiang Pingyu is still very responsible.

Knowing that Tang Yin's letter might be related to a major event, he specially waited.

Zhang Zhou sighed with emotion: "The official is getting bigger and bigger, and it has become inevitable to go out early and late, and the entanglement of things cannot be untied, and Mrs. Hard is hard."

went to the study and brought Tang Yin's letter, it was just an ordinary letter, and it didn't seem to be sent from the official station.

The governor outside wrote a letter to the military department Shangshu directly in his private capacity, and Zhang Zhou felt that Tang Yin was a little unreliable...... As he had always thought before, Tang Yin was a prodigal who had no experience as an official and went his own way, if it hadn't forced Tang Yin to fight a beautiful war between Liaodong and North Korea, maybe Tang Yin would not have been able to come to the stage by now.

"If you want money, food, and power, you don't have to think about it, you know what he wants to do. If you don't come to the court, you want to mention it to me in private, as if I asked him to do this errand, and I must be responsible. He doesn't know about this kind of errand, and he has to try to show it to the above?"