Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 491 Urging a Decisive Battle
Although Sun Chengzong had concluded that there was no danger in Tongzhou, he did not go to Emperor Chongzhen to clarify. After contacting Emperor Chongzhen, the politically sophisticated Sun Chengzong understood Emperor Chongzhen's personality. He knew very well that once he went to Emperor Chongzhen to express his judgment and rejected Emperor Chongzhen's will, then given Emperor Chongzhen's character, not only would Emperor Chongzhen not listen to his advice, but would instead doubt him.

It is not easy to work under a suspicious emperor. If he does this, Sun Chengzong will immediately lose the trust of Emperor Chongzhen, and the emperor may even suspect that there is something wrong with him.

In desperation, Sun Chengzong could only accept the order and express his willingness to go to Tongzhou. In this way, he was ready to leave for Tongzhou with the imperial edict, flags, seals and other tokens given to him by Emperor Chongzhen before he even had time to warm up to his position as the "Grand Marshal of the Army of the World".

Emperor Chongzhen was also very capable. He ordered Sun Chengzong to go to Tongzhou for rescue, but did not let Sun Chengzong lead his troops to Tongzhou. In addition to giving Sun Chengzong a bunch of tokens, Emperor Chongzhen only gave Sun Chengzong 24 Jinyiwei as guards. These Jinyiwei plus Sun Chengzong himself only had 25 people in total. In this way, Sun Chengzong took these 24 riders out of the capital, and the group risked their lives to cross the war zone and headed for Tongzhou.

After Sun Chengzong left, Emperor Chongzhen once again adjusted the troops defending the capital. In name, these troops were still under the control of Datong General Man Gui, but he was worried that Man Gui could not suppress the troops, and he was also worried about Man Gui. After thinking about it, Emperor Chongzhen directly sent eunuchs to supervise the army and let the eunuch Lu Zhi stationed in Man Gui's army as the emperor's representative.

This series of operations was like a revolving lantern, dazzling people. Not to mention that the troops below could not understand, even the generals in the army could not figure out the purpose of Emperor Chongzhen's arrangements.

When Man Gui received the imperial edict, he was overwhelmed when he learned that he had inexplicably become the commander-in-chief of all the armies again.

Man Gui was very happy when he learned that Sun Chengzong was recalled to the capital and entrusted with an important task. He had always been convinced by his old superior. Being able to continue working under his old leader, Man Gui was full of confidence in guarding the capital.

But in the blink of an eye, Sun Chengzong was sent to Tongzhou by Emperor Chongzhen, and the hat of commander-in-chief of all the armies fell on his head again, which made Man Gui surprised and at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

Man Gui was honest but not stupid. He knew very well that he was not up to the task in terms of qualifications or ability. The Xuan and Da armies were better, but the Guanning Army was not on good terms with him. Would Zu Dashou listen to his orders? It was simply a joke.

If it were Sun Chengzong, the situation would naturally be different. Zu Dashou dared to show his displeasure to others, but he dared not even breathe in front of Sun Chengzong. You must know that Sun Chengzong had been the commander-in-chief of Ji and Liao for many years, and all of them were Sun Chengzong's old subordinates. Even Yuan Chonghuan who was imprisoned was promoted by Sun Chengzong. How dare they disobey Sun Chengzong's orders?
"Eunuch, this..." Looking at the imperial sword and the royal flag sent by Lu Zhi, Man Gui looked embarrassed.

"Marshal Man, the Emperor values ​​you so much, I am so envious of you! Marshal Man, why don't you accept the order quickly?" Lu Zhi said to Man Gui with a smile.

"I... obey your order..." Man Gui had a bitter taste in his mouth, but he had no choice but to accept the imperial edict and the token brought by Lu Zhi, and kowtowed towards the direction of the capital to thank the emperor for his grace.

After getting up from the ground, Lu Zhi stepped forward, took Man Gui's hand and said kindly: "Now all the troops are under the control of Marshal Man, I want to talk to Marshal Man in private."

"Father-in-law, please speak."

"The capital has been in danger for more than a month since the Jiannu entered the Great Wall. The emperor has not been eating or sleeping well in the palace these days. We have seen it with our own eyes and are very worried. Now that the emperor has entrusted an important task to Marshal Man, Marshal Man must not let the emperor and the court down, and should help the emperor solve his problems!"

Man Gui nodded and said, "I understand. Please report back to His Majesty. Man Gui will definitely live up to His Majesty's trust!"

"Good! Good!" Lu Zhi laughed and stroked his hands. He came to the army this time to serve as a military supervisor. His purpose was to urge Man Gui to fight against the Jiannu as soon as possible and repel them to save the capital from danger.

Now Man Gui's answer made Lu Zhi very satisfied. Lu Zhi continued to ask directly: "I wonder when Marshal Man will dispatch troops to repel the Jiannu and relieve the emperor's worries?"

"Damn it!" Man Gui was immediately furious when he saw that Lu Zhiqian had just finished speaking and then asked about the specific time of sending troops without even giving him a breath.

Send out troops? Send out whatsoever troops! This is a war, not a game of family, how can we just send out troops as we wish?

Lu Zhi, this useless eunuch, knows nothing. He only knows how to flatter the emperor and has no idea how to fight. This time, Man Gui led 5,000 Datong troops to the emperor's camp day and night. They were called 5,000 elite cavalry, but in fact they were not real cavalry at all. At best, they were just infantry on horseback. Among them, the only ones who could fight were Man Gui's 500 personal guards, and the remaining 4,500 were ordinary soldiers with poor combat effectiveness.

After Man Gui arrived in the capital, Xuanfu and the subsequent troops arriving to support the king also arrived one after another soon. The total strength of the two forces now added up to about 30,000. This number sounds like a lot, but the combat effectiveness is uneven. Even the tallest among the short people would have less than 3,000 people at most, and this still included Man Gui's personal guards (house servants). As for the other troops, they were purely there to make up the numbers.

The combat capability of these troops was worrying. If they only defended, they might be able to fight against the Jiannu with the help of the city walls and artillery behind them, but it was impossible to attack. Man Gui had fought against the Jiannu Eight Banners before, and he was well aware of their ferocity. With such a small force, he would not be able to win. If he was not careful, he would be beaten by the enemy in a short time.

Even the stronger Guanning Iron Cavalry was the same. Yuan Chonghuan had tried it before, and everyone saw how it ended. Now Man Gui was stationed outside the capital, and all he could think about was how to stop the attack of the Eight Banners. As for taking the initiative to attack and repel the Eight Banners, it was simply a fantasy in Man Gui's mind.

Now that Lü Zhi had just arrived at the army, he was urged to start a war with the Eight Banners as soon as possible. Isn't this sending himself to death? It was good enough to be able to hold on when the enemy and we had such a huge disparity in strength, how could he take the initiative to fight?

However, Man Gui knew that he could not say these words. Lu Zhi was the military supervisor sent by the emperor, and behind him was Emperor Chongzhen. If he said the wrong thing, he would be in trouble. Although he and Yuan Chonghuan did not get along well, Man Gui could not help feeling a little sad after Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned, and he became more cautious.

"Eunuch, it will take time to mobilize the troops and prepare for war. Please wait patiently until I have properly arranged the troops and discussed with the generals. Then we can fight back against the Jiannu together. This way we will have a better chance of success."

"Very good! Marshal Man is indeed a great general that the Emperor values. Since Marshal Man has made up his mind, I will naturally listen to him. I don't understand military affairs, and the Emperor sent me here to assist Marshal Man. Military affairs will naturally be decided by Marshal Man, and I will definitely cooperate with him to the fullest."

Man Gui heaved a sigh of relief, a smile appeared on his face, and he patted his chest to assure Lu Zhi that he would live up to the emperor's grace and defeat the Jian Nu. However, preparations were needed for the war, so he asked Lu Zhi to report to Emperor Chongzhen and give him some time to prepare.

After seeing Lu Zhi off, Man Gui's smile faded away, replaced by a sad look.

Although he sent Lu Zhi away on the pretext of preparation, the matter was not over yet. Emperor Chongzhen was still watching in the capital. If he kept delaying, he might have a bad opinion of him. Given his master's temper, if he didn't see him take any action, he might get angry and cause trouble for him on the grounds of fearing the enemy and avoiding fighting. He might even be stripped of his position and thrown into prison like Yuan Chonghuan. Wouldn't Man Gui die unjustly in that case?
Of course he had to fight, but he had to think carefully about how to fight Mangui. He couldn't just lead his troops to fight the Jiannu without any preparation, right? This wasn't a fight, it was a suicide mission!
After thinking it over, Man Gui couldn't come up with any good solution. As a military general, he had no problem charging into battle, but he couldn't use his brain. He had no choice but to call his subordinates to discuss the matter. At the same time, he wrote a letter to Zu Dashou, who was nearby, to inform him of the matter. He hoped that the Guanning Army would put aside their personal grudges and fight the enemy together when facing a powerful enemy. After defeating the Jiannu, he would do whatever he wanted, even if he had to kowtow to Yuan Chonghuan to apologize, and Man Gui would not frown.

Soon, all the generals under his command rushed to the commander's tent for a meeting. Man Gui did not hide anything from them and immediately told everyone the current situation and mentioned Emperor Chongzhen's request to urge him to take the initiative to go to war.

Hearing this, everyone was shocked, because everyone knew that the Xuanda army alone was no match for the Eight Banners. It was already very difficult to defend, and there was no guarantee if they took the initiative to start a war. Everyone said something, all of them disagreed with taking the initiative to start a war, hoping that Man Gui and Emperor Chongzhen would explain it and give up this idea.

In response to everyone's opposition, Man Gui gave a bitter smile. He frankly told everyone that whether to go to war or not was not up to him, and he certainly could not persuade the emperor.

Man Gui's idea was to delay the time as much as possible and wait for the troops from other places to arrive in the capital, so that his own strength would be stronger. If the combat power was not as good, he would make up for it with numbers. When the number of people was sufficient, he would take the initiative to attack, even if he could not defeat the Eight Banners, he could still fight with the opponent.

Now Man Gui asked everyone to go back and prepare, waiting for his order at any time, because he was not sure when the troops from various places would arrive. But no matter what, he could delay for one day, and he had no other choice but to do this.

After hearing Man Gui's frank confession, everyone was speechless. They looked at each other, and no one said anything, but there was helplessness in their eyes.

Seeing this, Man Gui said no more. He waved his hand and asked everyone to go back and prepare. In this way, the meeting was hastily ended. Xuanfu attendee Hei Yunlong followed the others and left the general's tent and returned to their own base.

(End of this chapter)