On November 4, the Tatars changed their previous strategy of harassing the nine gates of the capital and instead specialized in the Deshengmen north of the city. The Tatars dispatched more than 30,000 troops and used the most advanced watchtower, bridge chariots, chariots, composite tramways, etc. to attack the city walls on both wings of Deshengmen.

The second day after the Battle of Deshengmen, the Tatars' troops who were throwing the Deshengmen line suddenly increased from the initial 30,000 to 60,000, and the intensity of the war escalated again.

The Ming army used the urn city and the city wall as defense lines, and used crossbows and stone throwers to fire arrowheads and stone bullets at the Tatar army, smashing the Tatars' men and horses, trying to destroy the opponent's various siege equipment.

However, the Tartars were numerous and powerful, and soon approached the northern city wall under the cover of siege tools. On the one hand, they dug the city foundation under the cover of chariots, drilled the city wall, and used wood to hit the city gate. At the same time, they also set up cloud ladders to climb the city wall, and used composite ladders such as Lu Gongbu and opposite buildings to climb the city directly.

The Ming army pushed the pole from the city, pressed the pole, and held the ladders of the Tartars, and turned to the building so that they could not be attached to the city wall. At the same time, they smashed the rolling wooden stones under the city, sprayed the flaming iron juice, killed the soldiers who attacked the city, and destroyed the siege equipment.

The war was extremely anxious and cruel, and the Tatar soldiers' attempt to dig tunnels failed. Because the north side of the city was close to Jishui Pond, the Tatars suddenly seeped out water and quickly submerged the tunnels.

At no cost, the Tatars could only attack the city head and fight with the Ming army on the city wall on the Deshengmen line. Fortunately, Zhang Mao personally came to the front line to command the battle, which made the Tatars return in vain.

In Wenyuan Pavilion, several ministers from the Prime Minister's Military Affairs Office were extremely anxious. In their imagination, although the Tatars were powerful cavalry and invincible on the plains, they were not good at siegeing the city. They fought for a long time and had no success in food and grass. In addition, the arrival of the king's troops continued to arrive, so they could only retreat.

Therefore, it is only necessary to guard the city gate to ensure the stability of the capital. However, unexpectedly, the Tatars actually had so many advanced siege equipment that directly impacted the city walls of the capital, causing danger.

Because of the cabinet's large-scale search and self-inspection operations, the soldiers stationed in the city gates were panicked at this time. Many soldiers focused more on things outside the battlefield, and the soldiers had no fighting spirit, so that the Deshengmen section was actually in danger.

The Tartars may have a little more effort to achieve their full results.

Liu Jian and others had not yet realized this serious problem, and thought that the Tatars accurately grasped the weaknesses of the Ming army in defense.

Liu Jian took the battle report from Deshengmen for three days and asked: "... Deshengmen has been building for many years, spending 20,000 yuan in silver and using 10,000 people to impose 10,000 people. He was in danger of Diyi's invasion. The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War have lost so much silver in recent years. Should we thoroughly investigate it?"

Li Dongyang frowned: "Shaofu Liu, is it too late to investigate thoroughly at this time?"

Liu Jian revealed a trace of murderous aura between his eyebrows, and he cut off the railway line: "It's not too late to repair the sheep. All major city gates in the capital must be thoroughly investigated. The walls of the capital are high and deep. As long as the city gates are not opened from the inside, Di Yi will not attack the city. Moreover, even if the city gate is lost, and the imperial city is the foundation, you can still fight Di Yi!"

Li Dongyang did not express any opinions, Xie Qianze thought angrily: "When the city gates are about to be lost, he still thinks that the imperial city can hold it. How confident is this? He actually wants to fight the streets with the northern enemy? The streets of the capital are open. Once the northern enemy soldiers and horses flock into the city, each unit can only fight with the neighbors and cannot last long..."

"In the current situation, once a link in the capital makes mistakes, the entire defense will collapse in a blink of an eye!"

Just when Liu Jian advocated a thorough investigation of the deficits of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War in the past few years, Xiong Xiu hurried into Wenyuan Pavilion, holding the battle report just sent by the defenders of Zhengyangmen.

Xiong Xiu said anxiously: "Several masters, the Tatars launched a sudden attack on the Zhengyang Gate line half an hour ago, and used a large number of siege equipment again!"

"ah!?"

Several military ministers present were shocked, including Xie Qian.

Zhengyang Gate is the south gate of the capital and the main gate of the capital. Before the outer city of the capital was built, it has always existed as the gateway of the Ming Dynasty's capital, because not far from it is the main gate of the imperial palace. The defense of Zhengyang Gate has always been the top priority of the defense of the nine gates of the capital.

Perhaps it was because Liu Jian and others felt that Zhengyang Gate's defense would not have any major problems, so they would be more relaxed in the defense of Zhengyang Gate. Before, Desheng Gate was besieged, and the rest of the city gates mobilized troops to support, and Zhengyang Gate drew the most troops.

Liu Jian was a little puzzled: "The Tartars attacked Deshengmen three days ago, but now they are in a different direction and suddenly turn their target to Zhengyangmen? I wonder how many troops stationed in Zhengyangmen at this moment?" After that, Liu Jian turned his head and looked at Li Dongyang. Li Dongyang was not aware of this, and looked at Xiong Xiu again.

Xiong Xiu recalled for a moment and replied hesitantly: "About three thousand soldiers!"

Xie Qian immediately corrected it: "There were more than 3,000 troops stationed before, but now there are only 1,500 troops stationed, and the total military force of the civilians is less than 2,000!"

Liu Jian was a little shocked and asked again: "How many soldiers and horses are there in the Tatars siege?"

Xiong Xiu still couldn't answer.

It was not Xiong Xiu who was foolish and incompetent in command and dispatch, but because of the passive conservativeness of Liu Jian and others, the Ming army retreated into the city, causing the intelligence system outside the city to almost paralyze. The battle reports obtained in the city were basically obtained from the city gate tower and directly observed through the observation hole, and many of them were inaccurate.

Xie Qian analyzed with a serious expression: "From the situation of the northern enemy attacking Deshengmen, this time the attack on Zhengyangmen, he dispatched at least 10,000 troops... If he could send cavalry from the other city gates of the capital, around the enemy's flanks, and cooperate with the defenders of Zhengyangmen inside and outside, he might be able to defeat the enemy's edge!"

When Li Dongyang heard the "sending troops", he was sensitive and immediately questioned: "I cannot agree with what Yu Qiao said. If the troops were to fight on this road, it would be better to win. If the troops were defeated, where would you withdraw from the capital? Don't follow the footsteps of the Jingkang shame, the city gate was trapped without being defeated by the enemy."

Xie Qian looked at Li Dongyang with a bad look.

What Li Dongyang said about "the city gate was trapped without being defeated by the enemy" refers to the allusion that Guo Jing, the charlatan in the "Jingkang Shame" of the previous dynasty, set up a "Liujia Formation" to defeat the Jin army, but was defeated by the Jin army, and then took advantage of the chaos to break the outer city of Kaifeng Prefecture.

Xie Qian said in his heart: "I advocate sending troops, mainly to attack the Tatars and catch them off guard..."

"The Tatars are sieging the city, and their attention is on the Zhengyang Gate ahead. There must be not many cavalry following. If they attack in one fell swoop, they can destroy the opponent's siege equipment and reduce the pressure of the defenders. On the other hand, they can kill the enemy, making them afraid to be unscrupulous. At the same time, they can also encourage the morale of the Ming army. Even if they are defeated, they will never end up in the city. As a result, they are said to be a disaster to the country and the people. How can I make any comments on this battle in the future?"

Liu Jian seemed not to hear the argument between the two. He thought for a while and waved his hand: "Your Majesty should be asked immediately to send 5,000 troops to station Zhengyang Gate to ensure that Zhengyang Gate is not lost!"

Xie Qian couldn't help but want to ask, if the Tatars suddenly withdraw their troops from Zhengyang Gate, will the troops of Zhengyang Gate remain behind or return to their original units? If other city gates are attacked by Tatars, should they send the defenders of Zhengyang Gate to deal with it, or should they draw troops of other city gates be drawn again?

However, because of Li Dongyang's previous groundless accusations and Xie Qian's negative mentality about Chen Xi's "tragic experience" in this battle, coupled with his strong dissatisfaction with Liu Jian's behavior of not understanding military affairs but arbitrary behavior on the issue of city defense, he did not want to comment too much.

Even Xie Qian, the third person in the cabinet, refused to speak, and Xiong Xiu would not make any comments casually. The final result was to submit a memorial according to the strategy stated by Liu Jian and submit it to Emperor Hongzhi for red criticism.

Although Zhu Youting's condition improved, he was still unable to review the memorials in person. Zhu Ci's responsibilities were in the Silijian. The eunuch of the Silijian held a pen to take the initiative toward the cabinet's resolutions. Liu Jian became the mainstay of the Ming Dynasty and had an unparalleled power.
Chapter completed!