prosperous age

Chapter 210 Chapter 209
Two days later, Wei Guangde stood on the gate to say goodbye to Weng Pu, and beside him stood Li Zhen, the military officer of Miyun, who was responsible for the execution of the punishment.

According to the previous official documents sent by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Households, the grain and grass allocated by Tongzhou will be transported by the Bingbei Road around the capital. Among them, Li Zhen, who is responsible for escorting the grain and grass this time, will be transported from Juyongguan according to Wei Guangde's arrangement Pass the Great Wall, go directly south to Huailai, and then transfer to Baoanzhou.

Li Zhen's task is to send the grain and grass to Baoan Prefecture, and it will be over. The reason why the military preparation officer is responsible for the escort is also because the matter of grain and grass is of great importance at this time, and it cannot be sloppy. Bei Dao is responsible for escorting the grain and grass, so he will naturally dispatch elite soldiers and strong generals from the area under his jurisdiction.

"You have to be careful when you go to Baoanzhou. Remember what I said before. If the time is not ripe, don't act rashly."

Weng Pu had already told Li Zhen about his arrangement, and this time he transported the Xuanfu military supplies and sent Wei Guangde to Baoan Prefecture to supervise the battle, but he was still a little worried before leaving, so he called Wei Guangde to stop and whispered.

"Don't worry, my lord. The next official understands how powerful he is. If he is not sure, he will never move lightly."

Wei Guangde expressed his opinion hastily.

This time Li Zhen brought more than a thousand people, not including the recruited civilian husbands, and some of the food and grass stored in Huailai before, it can be said that this is the most important part of the food transportation team.

"Master Li, I leave everything to you."

Weng Pu nodded, then turned to Li Zhen and said.

Li Zhen didn't dare to push her too hard, and immediately bowed to answer.

Under the city management, the gate of Juyongguan was wide open, and grain trucks kept driving out of the pass along the mountain road.

On both sides of the official road, countless refugees who had not yet been checked were driven to both sides of the road by the soldiers. At this time, most of them were staring blankly at the carts of grain passing in front of them.

Because it was a time of war, these fleeing civilians naturally did not have guides and other things to prove their identity, and some of them had already passed the customs.

It’s just that Wei Guangde saw them fleeing here suffering from hunger and cold. Having received the education of later generations, he still couldn’t bear to ignore them. He arranged for people to give porridge twice a day under the city, as long as they ensured that no one died of starvation here.

Not long after, there was the sound of rumbling horseshoes, and a group of people rushed out from the city gate, the leader of the two was naturally Wei Guangde, and next to him was Li Zhen from the Miyun army.

After leaving the pass city, Wei Guangde just turned around and rushed to the pass city, slightly cupping his hands, and then went forward with his guards.

Speaking of it, even though Li Zhen is a civil servant of the fifth rank, she is not superior to Wei Guangde even though she is in charge of inspectors and ministers.

Although Wei Guangde was only a reviewer of the Imperial Academy, a seventh-rank official, he also served as a deputy patrol envoy. With the start of the war, Weng Pu, the patrol ambassador, was changed to admiral of military affairs, and Wei Guangde was also changed to a military counselor. There was no promotion, but the position was fixed.

It is worth mentioning that this "counselor for military affairs" is not a literal position such as staff officer or praise painting. In fact, the term "counselor for military affairs" is a unique thing in the Ming Dynasty that uses literature to control military affairs.

It was created by Ming Renzong Zhu Gaochi, and it fundamentally changed the way of controlling the army.

During his administration, he set up the term "counselor for military affairs" in the army, which is generally added to the appointment documents of governors in various places, that is, the civil servants sent by the imperial court to the military officials of the general army to assist in handling military affairs, and In later generations, local top leaders generally served as deputy commanders of military regions at the same level.

It's just that in the Ming Dynasty, the power of this position was incredible. Not only could it "reach the sky", but it could also reach into the governor and the system. Its actual power was still above the general army. For "administration".

So much so that it has not been developed for a few years. Under the impetus of the imperial court, the counselors and civil servants from all over the country can command the army, and even directly surpass the checks and balances of the Ministry of War and the Governor's Mansion in the past, forming a self-contained system. You must know that the governor at that time was only a temporary organization. , the power is so great.

When Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Zhanji succeeded to the throne, he played a bigger role than his father Zhu Gaochi, making the temporary governor "permanent", and made him the top of the three local governors, chief commanders, and inspectors. Existence, so that those who understand the army cannot lead the army, and have to be under the command of the governor who writes "Counselor Military Affairs".

It’s just that when Wei Guangde is given such a position, the specific effect depends on the attitude of the commander in chief. You must know that his review by the Imperial Academy is completely different from the governor sent to various places. He still lacks the title of Inspectorate. Because a big reason why the governor can invade military power is that he can impeach generals.

It's just that according to his position, the current Li Zhen is really under the control of Wei Guangde. After all, he is only an official in the war zone, so he must be under the command of the admiral's military affairs officer, and Wei Guangde, the military affairs counselor, can naturally do so.

When Wei Guangde came out this time, besides Zhang Ji and Li San, the team of cavalry that Jizhen had transferred to guard them was also leaving. At least in Wei Guangde's view, the cavalry in Jizhen might be better than the cavalry in the Jingying camp. The combat power is much stronger.

The leader of this team of cavalry is called Dong Yiyuan, and he has had a lot of contact with Wei Guangde in the past month. Wei Guangde feels that this person is quite reliable, at least not a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death.

Dong Yiyuan also has an older brother named Dong Yikui, who is now serving as a guerrilla general in Xuanfu. This is because his elder brother inherited his father's position, and he can only start as the general manager, and he was able to get this position because of his relationship.

It's just that although Dong Yiyuan is only the general manager now, he is doing the job of a guerrilla general. This time he can manage two teams of cavalry, 400 people small.

Since he was a child, he lived with his father Datong General Dong Yang in the military camp. Naturally, he is very familiar with military life, and he is fully capable of commanding a team of soldiers.

Being sent to protect this time, for Weng Pu, Dong Yiyuan naturally did not dare to be negligent, but seeing that Wei Guangde, who was several years younger than himself, was already a deputy envoy, a rookie who had just entered the officialdom, he was still very upset .

It was only later that Wei Guangde asked Zhang Ji to make friends with them deliberately, and only then did he know that Wei Guangde was from a guard, and he had been on the battlefield to kill Japanese pirates, and this changed his opinion of him.

But in their hearts, the Northern Frontier Army looked down on the Southern Guards.

Without him, who are the Japanese pirates? Five short stature people, such a small guy can't deal with it, it's embarrassing for the Ming army.

Fortunately, Wei Guangde was from Jiujiangwei. It is estimated that Jiujiangwei in the south may still be able to fight. Anyway, the Japanese pirates who invaded Nanjing were wiped out by them.

The imperial court's praise for Jiujiangwei was issued by Ming Dynasty. Naturally, all the officials in the Ming Dynasty knew about it, and so did Beidi Bianzhen.

As for the legend in the battle reports that the Japanese pirates were described as later generations of special forces, neither Jiujiangwei, Wei Guangde, nor Zhang Ji would tell the truth. They are actually a group of poor bandits. If they really told the truth, they would be naked to themselves To cause disaster and offend the entire Jiangnan officialdom.

Because of the exaggeration of the battle report, although Dong Yiyuan was a little skeptical that this group of Japanese pirates could catch arrows with bare hands, and even throw backhands as powerful as archery, he had to believe it. Wei Guangde, who "hacked to death" a Japanese pirate with his own hands, was also impressed.

Wei Guangde asked Dong Yiyuan to go with him this time. The reason was very simple. He and Dong Yiyuan had a good relationship. It could be seen that he had ideals and aspirations. verb: move.

Another reason was naturally his brother Dong Yikui. Although he didn't know if Dong Yikui's team had been transferred to Baoan Prefecture, at least there was such a relationship in it, and it was much easier to talk to those guerrillas in private.

Along the way, Dong Yiyuan's team acted as scouts for the convoy. Tens of cavalry formed a scouting team to go back and forth in the convoy to investigate the enemy's situation. They encountered a few scouts from the Tartars, but Dong Yiyuan led the cavalry brigade to arrive in time. They drove them far away, but they didn't dare to let the Tartars find out that there was a huge convoy carrying a huge amount of food and supplies.

After leaving Juyongguan, the entire convoy was running desperately, fearing that the road would be exposed to a surprise attack by the Tartar cavalry. The hundreds of cavalry and more than a thousand infantry could not resist at all.

Fortunately, on the evening of the third day after leaving the customs, the convoy finally arrived in Huailaiwei safely.

Rest in Huailaiwei for a whole day, and at the same time load the luggage to be taken away again and prepare for departure. This time the convoy is even longer.

Wei Guangde wanted to send troops to guard Huailaiwei, but he saw that there were only a thousand people in the guardhouse, and the others were scattered in other military forts, so he still couldn't issue this order, and only temporarily drew 300 people from the rest of the guardhouse. Add to the guard.

From Huai to Baoan Prefecture, it will take at least five days to arrive at the previous speed, and this is closer to the garrison of the Alta Department, so it is the most dangerous moment.

On the night of arriving in Huailai, Wei Guangde summoned Li Zhen and Dong Yiyuan to his room for discussion. In fact, there was nothing to talk about. He just arranged for Dong Yiyuan to send someone to Baoanzhou to deliver the letter first. Find some people to lead the team out to respond.

In addition, it is natural that Dong Yiyuan should follow the previous operation and arrange enough scouting teams around the convoy to shield the convoy from news as much as possible.

The next night, when Wei Guangde called the two of them again to discuss the departure of the team tomorrow, Dong Yiyuan suddenly cupped his fists at Wei Guangde and Li Zhen, and said, "My lords, I chatted with the people from Huailaiwei today, and they suggested Let's go west across the Sanggan River first, then head towards Baoanzhou, and then cross the river there."

"No, if you want to cross the river, it will take at least two days. It is still very risky to cross the river after arriving in Baoanzhou."

Li Zhen objected after a little thought. After all, the main force of this team is still the grain transport convoy. Li Zhen's words have great influence. After all, most of the grooms and guards are drawn from Miyun.

It's a good idea to use the river to shield the Tazi's scouts, but if there is not so much food and grass brought out by Changping, it will be fine.

The important thing about this errand is that Li Zhen and the others not only transported some grain and grass from Tongzhou, but also picked up a large amount of grain in Changping that should have been shipped to Xuanfu. At least half the size can be reduced.

It's all right now. The grain and grass that were originally transported two or three times were transported at one time. Naturally, the risk was much greater. Both Li Zhen and Wei Guangde were sweating coldly because of this errand.

The key point is that Xuanfu is running out of food and grass, especially the troops transferred to Baoan Prefecture. They don't have much food and grass with them, and they are waiting for supplies here.

"It is not advisable to cross the river and go around the long road. It will waste too much time. We can't afford to delay in the wild."

Wei Guangde shook his head, still thinking what Li Zhen said made sense.

Speaking of the lack of water in the north, when he arrived here, Wei Guangde found that the water network here is not bad. There are actually two rivers converging here, namely the Yang River and the Sanggan River.

When Wei Guangde initially planned the route, he also considered starting from the Acropolis of Huailai and going to Huailai County first. Although the distance is a little closer, there are two thousand households defended by the Huailai Weiqian Army and the Zuo Army, which is relatively safer, but Closer to the Tartar sphere of influence.

From Huailai County to Baoan Prefecture, it will take three days if the journey is fast. Even if Baoan Prefecture sends troops to respond, the risk is still very high, because there will be at least two days of lack of protection for the convoy.

Both Wei Guangde and Li Zhen had the same idea, so in the end they chose to walk around Huailai County, although it was a bit farther away, but it was better to be farther away from the Tartars.

As for Dong Yiyuan's proposal just now, it will take a long way to go.

I just thought of the news sent by the Huailai Guards today, that a large number of Tatar reconnaissance cavalry appeared again in the north of Huailai County, and the frequency of activities was also very high. The strength of the investigation in the direction of Huailai.

For this reason, Wei Guangde called the two of them here tonight. In fact, he still had an immature idea, that is, since sending grain and grass to Baoanzhou has become extremely dangerous, why did he send so much grain and grass? Go out, the sheep enter the tiger's mouth.

Indeed, there are only two missions for them this time, one is for Wei Guangde to go to Baoan Prefecture to supervise the battle, and let the Xuanfu army dispatch to fight the Tartars, and the other is to send food and grass to calm the army's morale.

The food was stored in Huailaiwei, or even in Huailai County, which was not far from Baoan Prefecture. Presumably, the Xuanfu army would not be disturbed by the lack of food. On the contrary, if the food went wrong during transportation, the consequences would be disastrous.

At this time, Wei Guangde opened the map that he carried with him. These days, maps are not a commodity, and ordinary people can't see them.

Wei Guangde hadn't noticed the two places of Huailaiwei and Huailai County before. Even when he arrived in Huairou, he thought the two places were one city, but he didn't realize that the two cities were not controlled until he was stationed in Changping.

Huailaiwei City was ruled by Huailaiwei, and Huailai County was under the jurisdiction of the county magistrate. Huailaiwei just put a thousand-household camp there, and after the Tartars invaded, another thousand-household camp was dispatched to support.

"You should all know the news from Huailai County today. If there are no accidents, there will be Tartar scouts outside Huailaiwei tomorrow."

Wei Guangde spoke up at this time, although his thoughts were immature, but he still wanted to hear Li Zhen and Dong Yiyuan's views first.

"That's what worries me too."

Li Zhen said without hesitation that crossing the river will increase the risk of exposure. He also keenly realized from the news from Huailai County today that the Tartars may have sent additional cavalry forces to the southwest to inquire about the people in the direction of Datong. military situation.

Dong Yiyuan rubbed his hands at this time and asked, "Does Master Wei have any ideas? You might as well say it for your reference."

Wei Guangde suddenly mentioned the Tazi scouting in front of them, they naturally knew about it, and Dong Yiyuan was still very sensitive, already aware of the danger of this trip, so he naturally seized the opportunity to bring it up.

(End of this chapter)