prosperous age

Chapter 204 203 Called in?

"I can't see clearly, it's probably four or five."

Wei Guangde could only answer truthfully at this time, the sound of the cannons was indistinct and echoed by the mountains, it was difficult to distinguish exactly how many shots were fired.

At this time, everyone in the city gate was standing behind the battlements, looking at the beacon fire that was spreading to this place in the distance, and another beacon tower was lit.

With the rumble of cannons coming from his ears, Wei Guangde could see and hear clearly this time, "Five beacons and five cannons."

"map."

Hearing what Wei Guangde said, everyone in Chengguan felt a chill in their hearts, of course they knew what it meant.

A guard immediately took off the bamboo tube from behind and poured out a scroll, and then another person went up to unfold it with him, one left and one right, it was a map.

When patrolling the border, it is natural to bring a map as a reference.

Weng Pu quickly found the location of General Shiguan on the map, and then followed the winding Great Wall to the north. At the most prominent location, there was a ground that Wei Guangde also knew, Gubeikou.

"Could it be Gubeikou again?"

Weng Pu's finger moved here and stopped, and said casually.

"My lord, if it is Gubeikou, messengers will come over soon."

The guard of General Shiguan clasped his fists and said.

Wei Guangde also heard what he said. It was a rule set by Jizhen himself. When the Tartars attacked the city along the Great Wall, they should not only set off beacons to warn them immediately, but also send someone to explain the situation clearly in concise words. Every few miles, the enemy towers relayed the news to the General Military Mansion of Ji Town, Santun Camp.

After seeing the beacon fire warning, the sergeants of Santunying will naturally start to assemble and move towards the beacon fire, and the General Military Office will confirm the final marching route according to the information sent.

The whole process is similar to the fastest express delivery shop in the Ming Dynasty.

The main task of the express delivery shop is to deliver urgent official documents, and there are no carriages and horses in the express delivery shop, and the journey depends on personal footwork.

"Ming Hui Dian" contains: "In 26 years, there will be a shop every ten miles, and there will be one shop leader for each shop, ten soldiers on the main roads of the shop, and there will be Dingli Tianliang nearby with one stone and five buckets, and two buckets below. You need to be young and healthy."

The name of the express delivery shop is ten miles and one shop, but it actually depends on the financial and material resources of the county, but there is at least one shop in each county. exchange.

Therefore, each county (prefecture or province) has a main shop, and then extends several branch shops along the main road of the county seat.

A store consists of a store manager and several store soldiers, and each store must have a sundial - to determine the time, there must be a signboard door in front of the store door, and a pair of candles must be lit at night, so that visitors can easily distinguish .

Once the official documents are received, the store leader must confirm the number of pieces received and the destination, and send a store soldier. At this time, the store soldier must send out the documents in time regardless of day and night.

"A shop is made every three quarters, and you have to travel three hundred miles day and night. There is no difference between day and night, and you ring the bell to deliver it. But when official documents arrive at the shop, they must be delivered immediately, regardless of the number of corners. , so those who make mistakes will be punished."

At this time, the pubbing must set off immediately and determine the location. If it is within [-] miles, the pubbing must arrive within a day and night; if it is [-] miles away, it will be delivered according to the above destination until the next express delivery. shop.

When delivering official documents, "each put a pair of splints, a pair of bells, a pair of tasseled guns, and a copy of the Islamic calendar", "wear a leather belt around the waist, hang a bell to hold a gun, carry a raincoat, and walk quickly with the documents."

Traveling day and night, rain or shine, the vehicles, horses and pedestrians along the way, when they heard the bell, immediately gave way to the side of the road.

When the soldiers at the next station heard the bell, they immediately got ready and waited for the official document to arrive at the shop, and continued to pass it on like a relay race.

The transmission of official documents and military information in the Ming Dynasty mainly consisted of express shops and post stations, and the express shops were dedicated to "delivery of official documents".

The post station welcomes and sees off envoys, transfers military supplies, and flies to report military information.

The two have overlap in business, but still belong to two different systems, each performing its own duties and not affiliated to each other.

The Ming court stipulated: "The important things are delivered to the post, and the usual things are delivered", which means that important and urgent military affairs are handed over to the post, and ordinary official documents and letters are delivered by the post. The two complement each other and together constitute a complete and fast post post delivery system. .

The reason why express shops outside the post stations are established separately is also because of the limitations of post stations. The distance between post stations is relatively long, with one station every 60 miles, and the distance between express shops is relatively short, with one station set up every 10-20 miles.

In fact, affected by the terrain, the radiation range of the post station is not as wide as the express delivery shop. In many areas where stations cannot be set up, the express delivery shop can be used.

In the Ming Dynasty, it was still relatively rare to deliver by pegasus at the post station, that is, the Great Wall of Jizhen would use the pegasus to report urgent military information when something happened, and the distance was relatively limited, and the distance was only one or two hundred miles.

For the wider south, most of them used courier shops instead of horse stations, because the Ming Dynasty couldn't get enough horses for messengers.

But at this time, Weng Pu didn't stop there, he was still staring at the map, guessing the possible detainment location of the Ministry of Answers.

Going forward from Gubeikou, there are Chaohe Station, Bohai Station, and Sihai Station. There are many passes under their jurisdiction, all of which may be breached by Alda.

Well, the Great Wall seems to be a fortification placed in the north of the empire to stop the grassland cavalry from going south, but in fact the existence of the Great Wall also makes it difficult for the empire to defend, because the Great Wall stretches for thousands of miles and has countless passes along the way. The weak point of defense in the sneak attack can be said to be completely like a sieve.

"Master Weng, it's time for lunch, let's eat first, I think there will be news soon."

At this time, the beacon fire has passed the general Shiguan and continues to extend eastward, and will spread the news of the Tartar invasion all the way to the General Military Mansion of Ji Town, Santunying.

Even though he said that, Weng Pu didn't end there, but continued to stare at the map, and suddenly said: "Guangde, what do you think?"

"what?"

Wei Guangde wondered, he was also looking at the map, but he had given up at the moment, because there are too many passes along the Great Wall, breaking through a random point can shake the entire defense line.

"Where do you think I will choose to enter the customs?"

Weng Pu added and asked.

Now Wei Guangde understood what Weng Pu meant, and asked him to guess the location where I answered the checkpoint. When the beacon came, naturally he had already called.

Wei Guangde does not intend to continue looking at the Great Wall as he did before, but instead puts himself into Alda, looking at the war from his perspective, and what choice he will make.

It's just a guessing game, you guess I guess everyone guesses, it's okay to guess wrong.

Wei Guangde first cast his sights on Wanquan Right Guard, then gradually shifted to Xuan Mansion, and then bypassed Longmen Guard's defense zone
Not only did he keep his eyes on the map to move, it didn't feel intuitive enough, he even slid from Xuan Mansion to the protrusion of Longmenwei.

General Shiguan is in the southeast corner of the Miyun defense area, very close to it.

The last time I answered that the invaders entered from Gubeikou where the guards of Miyun were stationed. It should be said that they are familiar with the road, and it seems reasonable to walk again.

Wei Guangde's thinking at the moment was a bit similar to Weng Pu's, but soon he realized that something was wrong.

How many days has it been since the Anda Department moved eastward? It’s been about twenty days. Most of the opponents are riding on horseback. It stands to reason that they should have reached Gubeikou long ago. They have been hiding and preparing for such a long time to attack Guancheng?
You must know that ten days ago, the guards at all the passes received warnings that the Tartars might invade.

The timing is very wrong, this is what Wei Guangde thought of at this time, and I don't know if Weng Pu noticed it.

Soon, his sight fell on the Bohai Sea, which is the place north of Huairou. The Great Wall here is very special, because the area defended by Ji Town is divided into two here, and a wall extends northward to Xuanfu, replacing it. The defenders are Longmenwei, then Xuanfu and Wanquan.

The other part continues to extend southwest to Shanxi, which are Juyong Pass defended by Yanqing Guards, Zijing Pass and Daoma Pass behind the Great Wall.

Wei Guangde is not familiar with this man, so naturally he doesn't know his real purpose of invading the Ming country this time, whether he wants to rob things or attack the capital, so as to establish greater prestige for him outside the pass.

Altan Khan, also known as Soduo Khan, whose real name is Borjijin Altan, is also called by Altan. He is the leader of the Mongolian Tumed tribe, statesman, and military strategist in the Ming Dynasty, and the golden family of Genghis Khan. Descendants, Dayan Khan grandson.

Wei Guangde didn't know about this, but the official records of the Ming Dynasty did record his relationship with the Golden Family of Genghis Khan. That is to say, such a person should have the purpose of unifying the Mongolian tribes and going south to herd horses again, and reproduce the prosperity of the Yuan Empire. scene.

Well, at this time, Wei Guangde still accepted Weng Pu's initial judgment, and I said that he might choose to make a breakthrough in the Miyun defense area and go south to threaten the safety of the capital again.

Then, he had a creepy feeling that the Alta Department broke through here, and looking at the map, the straight-line distance between them and the Alta Department was less than a hundred miles, only a few tens of miles away.

Although it is said that Wangshan ran to death, people really want to know that there is a third-rank official of the imperial court here, and maybe they really came to catch Weng Pu. Yes know.

The reason why the news is released is to make these people more conscious, so as not to be caught. At least at this moment, Weng Pu doesn't want to make troubles and make troubles. After all, the purpose of their trip is to strengthen the defense against the attack of the IDA Ministry.

However, they waited for a whole day, and the news came at night, but the result surprised him and Weng Pu, because the actual result was far from their analysis.

I Da Khan did not choose to break through the defense zone of the Miyun defenders, and then went south to threaten the capital, but chose to break through the defense zone of the Longmen Guards. That is to say, they have only penetrated the defense of the Great Wall. A breakthrough must be made at the pass near Juyongguan or the border town.

After receiving the information, Wei Guangde was called over by Weng Pu, and the two began to discuss what to do next?
The capital must have received the news, and it is hard to say what measures will be taken, at least it is not yet a critical moment, and the Alda Department and the capital are still separated by the Great Wall defense line.

But their mission may not be able to continue, what side are they patrolling after they have all been called in.

"The men and horses from Santunying should have come out."

Wei Guangde thought of the speed of Fengpao's dispatch. The Santunying must have seen the beacon at this time, but he didn't know the location of the barrier wall that I answered, but according to the usual practice, the dispatch of the Santunying garrison is certain.

"Tomorrow we may go to Zunhua, and then go to Pinggu to investigate all the way until we determine the location of the Tartar invaders."

Weng Pu is familiar with a lot, after all, he is the right servant of the Ministry of War.

The two of them were not in a panic at the moment, and Weng Pu also guessed that Emperor Jiajing put such a child beside him, it was definitely not to monitor him, but more likely to train him, so along the way he intentionally approached Wei Guangde Ask questions, let Wei Guangde analyze and answer them.

Regarding the questions Wei Guangde asked, he naturally knew everything he knew and said everything about the affairs of the court.

Well, Wei Guangde is still staring at the map right now, obviously they were fooled by Alta Khan, they thought that Alta Khan would attack the Miyun defenders again after going east and bypassing the Longmen Guard area, the result is very likely.
Wei Guangde's eyes fell on Mantao'er and Hadang at the moment. This place used to be Fengning City of Ming Dynasty. It is nearly a hundred miles away from the current Ming army's control area, and it is definitely not within the Ming army's investigation range.

An Dahan put his horses here and feinted his shot, making Daming think that he was going east to attack the Miyun defenders. After he turned his attention there, he used his carbine to attack the Xuanfu's Longmen guards, and it was a frightening success.

Only from this, Wei Guangde understood the purpose of Alta Khan. The purpose of the attack by the Alta tribe this time should be to loot property. They probably had no intention of attacking the capital, otherwise they would never have crossed the Great Wall.

Looking at the map, Wei Guangde suddenly raised his head and said to Weng Pu: "Master Weng, it seems that this time, the Anda Department intends to rob Yongning, Yanqing and Bao'an."

"Yeah, there is only Yanqing Guard stationed here. It is reported that they broke through the Wafanggou where Longmen Station was stationed, passed Longmen River, and may be close to Yanqing Prefecture by now."

"Then what should we do? Go directly to Huairou or."

When returning to the capital, Wei Guangde didn't dare to say it out loud, and he would easily be said to be cowardly in the future, which is terrible for literati.

A literati in this era must be a hard-headed master, even if he is afraid of death, he must stand on the moral high ground, saying that he is like a swordsman, daring to ask me to answer Khan to show his sword, this is integrity.

Although Wei Guangde scoffed at this kind of integrity in his heart, he still knew the allusion of "the water is too cold" in later generations, that is the big winner in life, with "fame" and profit, he even got an oiran to be a concubine.

"It will take at least ten days for the troops from Ji Town to reach Huairou, unless only cavalry is dispatched."

At this time, Weng Pu frowned slightly, and continued: "Let's go to Miyun first, and go to Yanqing Prefecture to see the situation."

"Then please ask Mr. Weng to send a copy of the memorial to Jingli, and tell me about the situation. Since you are out to patrol the border, it is natural to have a beginning and an end."

Wei Guangde understood that it is impossible to go back to Beijing. The right servant of the Ministry of War said he would like to enjoy the feeling of commanding the army, but it is better to go to Huairou first. As long as he does not leave the inner Great Wall, it is still very safe. Go to Yanqing Prefecture, which is outside the Inner Great Wall.

　ps: At this time, the name of Yanqingwei in Yanqing Prefecture should be Longqingwei in Longqing Prefecture, and it was renamed Yanqing ten years later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)