prosperous age

Chapter 364 Chapter 363
At night, it is already the second watch, and the gates around the capital have been closed, and it is now the time of night ban.

The gates on the four walls of Beijing City are still tall and mighty, but they have been tightly closed at this time, waiting for the sunrise of the next day before they will be opened again.

The weather in Beijing had already begun to fall. It was cold in the morning and evening, and hot in the daytime. Therefore, the soldiers guarding the city at night did not want to suffer from the cold on the city wall.

At this time, on the tower of Zhimen Gate in the west of Beijing, two soldiers, one old and one young, were huddling together to pass the time chatting casually, and the topic of their chatting was naturally the news from the Xuanfu.

The city of Beijing really has no secrets. The news that the Tartars are about to attack the Xuan Mansion has been spread in the streets and alleys of Beijing City. It is just because the Xuan Mansion and the capital are still separated by an inner Great Wall, so the people in the capital are not acting as one at this time. thing.

Xuanfu and Datong, when there is no such urgent report, even Ji Town is harassed by Tartars from time to time.

It was different from ten years ago, when the Tazi's troops swept directly to Tongzhou. How far was Tongzhou from Beijing?There are no obstacles between them.

That time, it really scared the people in the capital under the emperor's feet.

Of course, more detailed information, such as Xuanfu's report that the IDA Department has assembled all the main forces this time, will naturally not be leaked to the market, and only the Beijing officials will know.

At this time, it was pitch black, only the full moon hanging high in the sky and the stars twinkling in the sky.

"tatter"

In the distance of the avenue, there was a sudden sound of horseshoes. It was not very clear at first, but it was only for a moment. The two people who were chatting stopped their conversation and stood up at the same time, standing behind the city wall and looking out.

A cluster of torches in the distance is approaching rapidly, and the sound of horseshoes is getting louder and louder.

"Who is it? It's so late and they are running towards the capital on horseback. They don't know about the night ban and the city gates are closed?"

The young soldier sneered, at this point in time, no matter who it is, unless there is an imperial decree or a military order from the Governor's Mansion, it will be fine for anyone to come, even some high-ranking officials and dignitaries are not allowed.

"Look again, this person won't run here for no reason."

The veteran thought more, but because of the dazzling torch, he couldn't see clearly the knight's outfit on the horse.

The knight quickly approached the city gate, and the figure in his field of vision became clearer. Although the attire was still invisible, the old soldier still caught the stick-like thing on the back of the man.

"Not good, you go down and ask Li Zongqi to come up, it may be an emergency military report, hurry up."

The veteran ordered to the soldier.

"Call Master Li at this time, he still won't beat me up."

Xiaobing said immediately.

"No, this is a business matter, if you delay it, you will lose your head."

The veteran said in a loud voice, his eyes were still fixed on the original figure in the distance, and as he got closer, the things on his back became clearer.

From a distance, it looked like a wooden stick, like a weapon, but when it got closer, the veteran felt that it was a flag, and it seemed that something was fluttering and waving on it.

Orderly, did not run away.

Holding the spear tightly in his hand, the veteran stared at the approaching horses, while thinking about what else he had to send to the capital at such a late hour. It didn't look like an ordinary military newspaper.

Could it be the news from Xuanfu?
Thinking of this, the veteran couldn't help but shudder.

Ten years ago, he was forced to stand on the city wall of Beijing like this, and he stayed here for ten days.

Just as he was thinking about it, the knight had already reached the base of the city, raised his head and shouted loudly to the tower: "Hurry up for [-] miles, put the hanging basket quickly, hurry up for [-] miles."

While shouting loudly, the knight had already rushed to the city gate and got off his horse, then walked a few steps quickly and tied the horse's reins to the hitching post beside the city gate, and ran towards the city wall.

During the night ban, all the major city gates in the capital are closed and locked, and the keys will also be confiscated. The soldiers guarding the gates do not have the keys to unlock them. If you want to open the gates, you can only apply to the officials of Shuntian Mansion who are on duty that night. .

During the night ban, if you want to enter and exit Beijing, you must either rely on the imperial decree of the emperor, or hold a special document or token, and shoulder important military missions or intelligence. You can obtain the qualification to enter and exit after applying, otherwise it is impossible In and out of the city gate.

For the orderly soldiers, it is still possible to accommodate such an urgent military situation as an emergency within eight hundred miles.

In fact, many soldiers in the Beijing camp may never encounter such a situation in their entire lives. After the night ban, there will be an emergency military report.

"You wait, someone has already been found."

The man is just below the city, and the veteran can clearly see what the visitor is wearing, the dress of an orderly from the border town, a blue waist armor with the word "Ling" embroidered on the chest, and a stick of "Ling" on his back. word flag.

"Where did you come from?"

Waiting for others, the veteran asked loudly on the tower.

"Xuanfu."

The orderly under the city answered very directly.

"what's the situation?"

At this moment, a questioning voice came from behind the veteran.

"Mr. Li, under the city is a [-]-li rush from the Xuanfu."

The veteran turned around and answered the visitor.

"Place the hanging basket and check the token."

The person who came was wearing the general flag. Although it was a bit old, it looked like an old military uniform.

"Hey, good."

The veteran agreed, and immediately picked up the hanging basket from the side and put it down directly.

The hanging basket fell slowly, and the messengers were very skilled in this process, especially for people in border towns, they should often encounter such situations.

There are more military affairs in the border town, and they have to send news to some military forts from time to time. When it is too late, they can only use hanging baskets.

The orderly took out a sign from his waist and put it in the hanging basket, pulled the rope on the hanging basket and gently pulled it down, then the hanging basket slowly rose and disappeared at the top of the city.

Li Zongqi took the hanging basket from the hands of the veterans, went back to the tower with the token, and the oil lamp was still on in the tower, so he leaned closer and carefully checked the engraving and cloud patterns on the waist card by the light of the fire. These are all very particular of.

For the soldier's badge, just find a random wooden board and engrave the military status on it, and it's over, but the messenger's badge does have something special, that is, there are some mysteries in the cloud pattern and lettering to prevent forgery.

However, these skills are only known to the city gate officer on duty at night, and what he is doing now is to confirm the authenticity of the messenger's waist badge below.

Don't think that you can open the gate of the city with a quick shout from eight hundred miles, that's impossible.

After verifying the authenticity, people can enter the city, but horses can only stay outside and bring them in the next day, because the gates of the city will never be opened.

"Go, call a few people, and hang them up."

After confirming the badge, Li Zongqi gave instructions to the veteran who followed, and handed him the badge at the same time.

For a messenger from a border town, it makes no sense for the Chief Banner of the Beijing Camp to pick him up.

At this time, his sleepiness returned, and he walked down the city cursing.

The capital city is huge, but it is not allowed to ride horses in the market in the middle of the night, but the messengers can use their waist cards to avoid the influence of the night ban and walk freely among the neighbors.

Although the wooden fence between the square and the city is also locked, the lock is not as strict as the big iron lock at the city gate, and the key is in the hands of the yamen guard on duty at night.

There are officials on duty at night in the Yamen of the Ministry of War, so the messengers after entering the city can only run to the Ministry of War to deliver official documents.

It was already the fourth watch when the messenger gasped and called to open the gate of the Ministry of War, and then the quiet office of the Ministry of War became lively.

After reading the emergency military information sent by the Xuanfu, the night duty officer immediately lost his composure.

"Prepare the sedan chair and go to Yang Shangshu's mansion."

Give an order to the outside, and the man will simply tidy up, put on his official hat and leave the duty room. I will not be able to sleep tonight. If I want to come to Yang Bo Yang, I am afraid that I will crawl to Xiyuan after reading this military report. send the letter.

After leaving the gate of the Ministry of War, the official thought for a while, and then ordered the clerk who followed behind him: "Go back and take out the token, and send a message to those adults."

"Yes."

The man who looked like a scribe respectfully agreed, and then watched the sedan chair go away.

When the sky was slightly bright, several military camps in Datong City suddenly became lively. Almost at the same time, the military camps lit countless torches to illuminate the entire camp. The soldiers were called out from the barracks by the team officer to form a team.

Long ago, the Huotou army came here pushing small carts and carrying big barrels to distribute breakfast to all the troops.

There are not many things, just porridge, steamed buns and some pickles, but this is also a rare meal for these frontier soldiers.

For a moment, the entire barracks seemed like a steamer that had just been opened, and from a distance, the barracks seemed to be filled with smoke.

"Eat this hot meal well, and we're leaving soon."

The team officer had already received the order yesterday and knew that he was going to set off today. Although he didn't know where he was going, the news from the Xuan Mansion had spread all over the sky through the mouths of the merchants.

Although the soldiers had little contact with the outside world, many of them were transferred from other military forts, but they were not stupid, as soon as they prepared such a good meal, they knew that there must be nothing good.

While eating, he glanced around, and sure enough, he soon saw someone pushing a small cart towards the horse camp, and it was full of cloth bags one by one.

"Is this going to go to war?"

Seeing the things prepared by the barracks, almost everyone realized that they were about to leave Datong City and go to Xuanfu to fight.

For veterans like them, it is too clear what is in the cloth bag. Dry food cakes, horse feed cakes, and water bags are all things that will only be distributed after long-distance marches.

And their things were soon delivered in small carts. Although they knew that they would be sent to the battlefield by Shangguan soon, they had no choice.

Once you join the army, you have to serve in the army for generations, and you have to keep fighting.

When the soldiers had enough to eat and drink, they began to regroup. The gate of the horse camp had been opened, and teams of cavalry had already driven out and ran through the barracks towards the city gate.

After the cavalry passed by, only smoke and dust were left behind, which made many people wonder, why did they just leave?
They are infantry, and the cavalry run so fast, it's impossible for them to catch up.

The gate of Datong City has been fully opened, and as teams of cavalry rushed out and completed their formation outside the city, it was time for Yu Dayou, who was dressed in white mountain armor on the gate tower, to bid farewell to Li Wenjin and Liu Han.

"My lords, then I will go ahead."

Yu Dayou bowed to them.

"Go, be careful on the road."

Li Wenjin glanced at the three thousand cavalry outside the city, and nodded to Yu Dayou.

"According to the plan, I will wait for your return on the Gray River."

Liu Han on the side also said loudly that like Yu Dayou, he was also dressed in white mountain armor, and he looked much more powerful than before.

"My lords, rest assured, my subordinates have already considered it in detail, and I will make a full contribution this time."

Yu Dayou replied loudly.

"About the matter of the White Lotus Sect bandit, I thought about it all night. It would be troublesome to bring back those ordinary believers. They should be executed directly, and only those few people and their families should be brought back."

Just as Yu Dayou turned around to ask for direction, Li Wenjin, governor of Datong, suddenly spoke again.

"Yes."

Yu Dayou bowed and agreed without hesitation.

From the generals to the soldiers, the Ming army did not have the slightest affection for those Bailian believers. The harassment of the Tartars in these years was due to these people. In the eyes of the Ming army, these people were all traitors who betrayed their ancestors and deserved to be killed.

After Yu Dayou went down the city gate, he soon met up with the three thousand Datong cavalry outside the city, and then ran towards the north.

Li Wenjin and Liu Han stood on the tower and watched the army go away, speechless for a long time.

"Suddenly I feel a little adventurous."

After the army disappeared, a sentence popped out of Liu Han's mouth.

"It's just as dangerous to go to Xuan Mansion. There we still fight with the main force of the Tartars. It's much safer to attack Bansheng City."

Li Wenjin shook his head and said, then looked at Liu Han and said, "Your side is ready, let's go together."

Liu Han nodded. Apart from his personal soldiers, he was going to bring elite soldiers selected from the Datong Army, while Li Wenjin was leading the governor's standard battalion, including the thousands of troops that Yu Dayou had trained.

Wei Guangde entered the Hanlin Academy early in the morning, but he soon realized that the atmosphere was not right. Many scribes gathered in twos and threes and whispered something.

Although Wei Guangde was surprised, he didn't take it seriously, and walked directly to his yard. When he saw the gate of the yard, he saw that Lu Bu was also talking quietly with several scribes like him at the gate of the yard.

When they saw Wei Guangde approaching, they immediately ended the conversation, saluted Wei Guangde with a smile on their faces, then watched Wei Guangde walk into the yard, Lu Bu followed quickly, and then the rest of the people started discussing again.

"Is there anything going on today?"

Wei Guangde walked in front and asked in a low voice.

"I heard that there was no rest at the Ministry of War last night, and many masters of the Ministry of War rushed back to the yamen to run errands."

Having said this, Lu Bu had already stopped, because Wei Guangde, who was walking in front, had already stood there motionless.

So Lu Bu took another half step forward, and whispered to Wei Guangde, "I heard this morning, the military report came from the Xuanfu yesterday, and it seems that a fight has already started, about three days ago."

Outside the gate of the Ministry of War, a large sedan chair with eight lifts fell down. The bearer lifted the curtain of the sedan chair, and Yang Bo slowly got out of the sedan chair.

Seeing the officials coming up, he asked directly, "Have all the documents sent out?"

"My lord, it was sent out overnight."

The man hastily stepped forward two steps and replied in a low voice.

The two walked through the crowd and walked into the Yamen of the Ministry of War. When they went up the steps, Yang Bo stood still and said, "You deal with the affairs in the Yamen today, and you don't need to send them to me except for the battle report."

"Yes, my lord has worked hard all night, so you should take care of your health."

The man immediately bowed and answered.

(End of this chapter)