Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 20
As soon as Li Yan returned to the camp, Li Nian and Li Mou surrounded him.

Li Nian said: "Brother, does the Chongzhen old man agree to surrender?"

"No." Li Yan shook his head and said, "Chongzhen is very stubborn."

"Look." Li Mou spread his hands and said, "I just said it was unnecessary."

Li Yan smiled and said, "I didn't expect Chongzhen to surrender."

"Ah?" Li Mou said, "Brother, why do you still go to see Chongzhen?"

Li Yan waved his hand and said, "Because my original intention was not to persuade Chongzhen to surrender, but just to tell him that the Mongol army will soon be here."

"How do you say that?" Li Mou was confused.

But Li Nian suddenly said: "Well, I understand, brother, this is to startle the snake!"

"Yes, scare the snake!" Li Yan nodded and said, "The Ming army's camp is surrounded by rivers on three sides, and the front is surrounded by ditches and protective walls. If you attack by force, the losses may not be small, not to mention that there are two thousand cavalry from the Gongtu Department watching over the side. , if the cavalry of the Gongtu Department suddenly launched an attack during the fierce battle between our army and the Ming army, the consequences would be disastrous."

Li Nian and Li Mou nodded, they both understood this truth.

After a pause, Li Yan said again: "But we can't wait for a long time, because this is Chahar, and it is in the territory of the Mongols. If we delay the arrival of the Mongolian army in Chahar, we will have no chance. It was General Li You and General Gu Kecheng who arrived, and we only had about [-] cavalry, so it was still difficult to defeat the Mongols."

"That's why brother wants to startle the snake." Li Nian said solemnly.

"Yes, to force Chongzhen to break out tonight." Li Yan nodded and said, "If nothing else happens, the Ming army will cross the river tonight and break out from the east or south. With the cavalry on the side, there is a high probability that the Ming army will use the main cavalry as bait to lure away the pursuers, and then use a small number of servants to protect Chongzhen and break out in the opposite direction."

As expected of Li Yan, Li Yan predicted the Ming army's reaction, and he really predicted the enemy's opportunity first.

Li Mou tightened his expression and said: "If this is the case, the main force of the Ming army's cavalry will definitely break out to the north, and Chongzhen and the few accompanying servants will definitely flee to the south!"

"I'm afraid it's just the opposite," Li Nian said.

"I think Chongzhen will do the opposite and go north instead!"

Li Yan smiled slightly and said: "It's getting dark soon, pass the order, the whole army hastened to bury the pot and cook food, after a full meal, they waded across the river at night, and went to the northeast of the other side of the river to ambush!"

"Yes!" Li Nian and Li Mou agreed in unison.

……

Smoke billowed from the bandit camp in the north.

Boritiechena looked back from the bandit camp, and said in a deep voice: "Let the sons hurry up to boil mare's milk and roast mutton, have a full meal before dark, and then cross the river at night to ambush in the southeast."

"Ah?" A minor boy asked, "Abba, why is this?"

Boritiechi lovingly touched his son's little head, and said: "The eagle on the grassland is destined to soar in the sky, and the hare without fangs is also destined to be eaten by the grassland wolf. The tribe of hunters chosen by heaven, so no prey can escape our hunting."

"I already smell the prey's restlessness in the air."

"If there is no accident, the prey will escape tonight."

Speaking of this pause, he said: "And the direction of escape is most likely to be in the southeast direction. As long as we guard the southeast direction of Hara Hetao, we can catch the prey."

The boy's eyes lit up.

……

There was already a commotion in the Ming army camp.

As soon as Wang Jiayan finished speaking, Meng Zhaoxiang, Wu Linzheng and other civil officials all seconded their proposals.

After a little hesitation, Wei Shichun and Zhang Qingzhen, the two nobles, also expressed their support.

Of the dozen or so noble officials who broke out following Chongzhen, only Jin Xuan and Gong Yonggu remained silent.

Chongzhen's face completely collapsed. Sure enough, when he was winning the battle, hello, hello, hello, everyone, but when the situation was slightly frustrated, the honorable officials immediately rebounded.

You Chongzhen can't do it, you can't command blindly.

We gotta go back, get back on track, don't mess around!
It is said that the human heart is like water, but the most difficult thing to control in this world is the human heart.

There is still a long way to go to make these honorable officials obedient and command them like arms, and it may never be possible to do so.

How does the old saying go?

Honest officials do bad things more terrible than corrupt officials.

By the same token, loyal ministers who are not afraid of imperial power are more difficult to surrender than treacherous ministers.

But now, they need to think in one place and use their strength in one place. Ten people with ten mouths can't do it. They have to teach these guys a lesson and unify their thoughts first.

In other words, he "Chongzhen" must establish absolute authority.

And it must be the kind of authority that the officials respect from the heart.

It's like Huaixi Xungui is to Zhu Yuanzhang, just like Jingnan hero is to Zhu Di.

Immediately Chongzhen turned his gaze to Jin Xuan and asked, "Jin Qing, why don't you speak?"

Jin Xuan said: "The reason why I don't speak is because I don't agree with what You Sima Shicai said. I think that there may be a chance of breaking through with the main force to protect the saint. It's like a sheep entering the tiger's mouth, if so, the Holy One will be in danger, and my Great Ming will be in danger!"

"Shut up!" Wang Jiayan said angrily.

"You are a humble official from the fifth rank, what do you know?"

Jin Xuan did not give in, and said: "Although the official position is humble, I have read several books on the art of war. I know that there is a difference between master and slave in soldiers, and there is a distinction between master and guest on the battlefield. I also know that Mongolian cavalry have a large number of scattered nights when fighting." The habit of not accepting, You Sima would not think that the Holy Majesty’s trip to Tibet can fool the Mongols’ night not accepting?”

"So what if you find it?" Wei Shichun said, "Just kill it."

"Then Uncle Xuancheng, are you going to kill him?" Jin Xuan was not so polite to Xungui.

"You?" Wei Shichun was at a loss for words, he had already lost the bravery of his ancestors.

In a word, the noble group of the Ming Dynasty has been completely rotten.

As for the civil servants, they are generally rotten, but there are still a few seeds.

But Wang Jiayan said in dismay: "In any case, there is still a chance to break through at this time. When the Mongolian army arrives, everyone here will undoubtedly die!"

Kim Hyun was also silent now.

Because what Wang Jiayan said was indeed true.

When the Mongolian army arrived, they were really dead.

Although Jin Xuan opposed the breakout and felt that the breakout would inevitably fail, he also had a lot of opinions on Chongzhen's way of bringing them from Yanshan to this military jeopardy.

In fact, Yanshan is very good.

Why do you have to go deep into the grassland?

Are you cornered now?

Chongzhen seemed to see what Jin Xuan was thinking, and asked, "Jin Qing, do you think it is impossible to break through the encirclement, we are desperate and hopeless?"

"Isn't it?" Kim Hyun snorted.

"Of course not." Chongzhen said, "There is still a chance to break through."

Wang Jiayan was overjoyed when he heard the words: "So, the Holy Majesty has agreed to break out?"

"Wang Qing, don't be too happy too soon." Chongzhen said, "I agree to break through, but it's not the breakout method you just mentioned. Your method can only be to die!"

Wang Jiayan frowned and said displeasedly: "Then how should we break through?"

Chongzhen snorted softly and said: "Just now Li Yan came to persuade you to surrender. On the surface, he was trying to persuade you to surrender. In fact, he was trying to scare you and my monarch and ministers, and wanted to force you and my monarch and ministers to break out of the encirclement at night."

Wang Jiayan said: "I can see this too, but we have to break through."

Chongzhen said: "If there is no accident, the bandit cavalry and Mongolian cavalry will wade across the river after dark and set up ambushes on the northeast and southeast of the opposite bank. Li Yan and the Mongols are betting that I will lead a small number of elite cavalry to follow them. Abscond over there, and the main force of the Ming army, who is a suspicious soldier, will break out from the other direction."

"But I, it's not as good as they want."

After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "I can't cross the river!"

"Huh? Break out from the front?" Jin Xuan and Wang Jiayan's eyes lit up instantly.

Meng Zhaoxiang, Wu Linzheng and other civil officials, as well as Gong Yonggu and other dignitaries, still looked dumbfounded.

After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "Pass the decree, let the cook make the most of the time to make a good meal, the whole army will have a good meal and then sleep well, and break out from the front at midnight!"

……

Just after You Hour, the sky gradually darkened.

At this time, the cavalry of the Gongtu Department had already had a full meal and were ready.

But Boritiechena did not rush to cross the river, but waited until the end of Xushi (9 o'clock in the evening).

Guessing that it was almost time, Bori Tiechi called Hai Rigu to him, and told him: "Hai Rigu, I will leave you three hundred warriors, you have to take good care of our home, don't let the Dashun army Burned our food and baggage."

Boritie China was not worried about the Ming army in the river bend, but the two thousand Dashun troops in the northwest.

"Don't worry, leader." Hai Rigu patted his chest and said, "Just take your sons across the river."

Bori Tiechina gave Hai Rigu a few more words, and then he ordered more than 1500 riders to quietly cross the Baihe River, which is more than [-] meters deep, from the downstream to the east bank under the cover of night.

There was no sound during the whole process.

The horse has a bit in his mouth, the person has a grass in his mouth, and the horse's hooves are all wrapped in cloth.

After crossing the river, the cavalry of Gongtu's troops put on their armor, put their horses down on the ground, and then began to wait quietly, waiting for the thousand or so Ming troops at the bend of the river to come forward and throw themselves into the net.

Time passed slowly in the boring waiting, and finally it was Haishi.

Boritiechina tilted his head and looked north from the knee-deep grass, but saw dozens of bonfires in the Ming army camp on the river bend were still lit, and the Ming army seemed to have no movement?
Bori Tie China's brows were suddenly furrowed.

This situation doesn't look right.

(End of this chapter)