It's hard to say," said the monk "that lady may stay here for three days or two." ”

"Three or two days?" Yang Muyun frowned slightly, she really didn't understand what Lin Mei'er was doing by letting her pay attention to her. Suddenly there was an inexplicable irritability in his heart, and he stomped his feet.

"Donor......" Seeing that his face was not good, the monk opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

At this time, a huge figure rushed in.

"What are you doing in a panic?" Seeing that it was silent, Yang Muyun frowned on his forehead and shouted.

"Your Excellency......" Mo Buyu glanced at the monk who knew the guest, leaned over and whispered, "Alexei is gone." ”

"Oh?" Yang Muyun raised his eyebrows.

......

Outside the Tai'an Temple, Mrs. Ma's carriage was still there, but the coachman did not know where to go.

"The coachman got out of the car and went that way," Mo Buyu pointed to the woods at the corner of the mountain gate, "Alexei secretly followed, and never came back, and when I went over to see it, the two of them were gone." ”

"Then why don't you go to them and come to me for something?" Yang Muyun said angrily.

"My lord, you told me to stare at the gate of the temple," Mo Buyu was a little aggrieved, "I'm afraid that I will delay your big event after leaving, so I ......"

"Don't say it, go find them." Yang Muyun was suddenly shocked in his heart, just staring at the big man in the car, who knew that the inconspicuous little role was the real protagonist.

......

Juyongguan, Wengcheng schoolyard.

In this 500 long and 300 wide urn city school yard, there are hundreds of people, old and young, standing there lazily with rusty broadswords and spears that are rarely used. Looking at that posture, it's no different from holding a hoe and shovel. It is estimated that as soon as the flag is ordered, they can directly dig up the ground with the weapons in their hands.

"Is this the soldier and horse guarding the key of the Jingshi?" Yu Qian couldn't help but gasp when he looked down at the gate tower, and there were two people behind him who followed him closely. On the left is Lu Weijing, the governor of Yanqing, and on the right is Ma Wei, the deputy commander of Yanqingwei, who is the younger brother of Ma Chongtao, the commander of Yanqingwei.

"Lord Yu," Ma Wei looked sincerely frightened, "A few days ago, the commander of the Yamen of the Command Division caught fire, and all the rosters of the officers and soldiers under him were burned. ”

"Hmm......" Yu Qian's expression was blank, noncommittal.

"Oh?" Lu Weijing seemed to be funny, and his chin raised and said: "There has been no record of fire in Juyongguan City in the past ten days, what day did Deputy Commander Ma refer to when the commander Si Yamen caught fire?" ”

Ma Wei's eyes flickered, hindering Yu Qian's face and not feeling good about this ornamented Zhizhou, puffed out his cheeks and said: "The small fire in the Yanei case was quickly extinguished, how did it alarm Lord Zhizhou." ”

"Then this fire is really a coincidence," Lu Weijing said with a smile: "I didn't even give the face of Lord Yu of the military department, and it burned when I said that it was burned, and it was an extremely important thing." ”

A sneer made Ma Wei's face very embarrassed, and he laughed twice and said: "Despicable and negligent in duty, please surrender to your lordship." ”

Yu Qian didn't seem to hear his words, and pointed to a group of peasant soldiers standing or squatting in the urn city and said, "Is this the group of people who usually guard Juyong Pass?" ”

"My lord misunderstood," Ma Wei hurriedly said: "Of course, there are not only these people who usually guard Juyong Pass, but the commander of Changping Wei Deng suddenly led troops into the city to take over the gate, and the commander made the lord to avoid friction between the officers and soldiers of the two guards in the city, and transferred most of the Yanqing guard officers and soldiers from the city to enrich the ...... of the two wings."

"Well, good," Yu Qian nodded, "It's rare that Commander Ma can arrange things properly even when he is sick." Glanced at him, "However, Juyong Pass is an important place in the west of Beijing, and the gains and losses are directly related to the safety of the Beijing Division, even if it involves transfer, it can't leave some old, weak, sick and disabled, right?" In this way, once the city hears the alarm, how to deal with it? ”

"What Lord Yu said is," Ma Wei bowed his head and said, "I must have asked the commander to rearrange the defense of Juyong Pass according to your instructions from Lord Yu." ”

"Isn't Commander Ma sick?" Yu Qian smiled, "This official is busy with official business, and he can't go to the mansion to visit, so he doesn't have to worry about these affairs." It is best for the officers and soldiers of Yanqingwei to concentrate in Wengcheng and let the officers take a closer look, so that they can know in their hearts and be better assigned

Go down and take on the defense, don't you say? Deputy Commander of the Horse? ”

"What Lord Yu said is extremely true," Ma Wei bowed and said, "But my Yanqing Wei is scattered, and it will not be possible to concentrate here in a day or two, besides, it ......" He hesitated for a moment and said: "Once they leave, what will happen to the defense of the section of the city wall that they are responsible for?" Now that the Tartars are making a lot of trouble outside the gate and sucking people away, what should I do if there is a mistake in the defense? ”

Yu Qian stroked his beard, his eyes flickered, "Deputy Commander Ma's words also make sense, then this matter will be considered by the official again......" glanced at the old and young peasant soldiers in the urn city and said: "Let them all disperse, after standing for these hours, they should be very tired." ”

......

After Ma Wei retreated and left, Lu Zhizhou lost no time in coming up, "Lord Yu, the two brothers surnamed Ma are fooling adults!" ”

"Oh, what do you mean by that?" Yu Qian glanced at him and asked.

"The soldiers under the Ma brothers are strong and strong, and they are by no means the old and weak soldiers you see in front of you." Lu Weijing said in a low voice.

"Lord Lu seems to know them very well." Yu Qian said lightly.

"Since Xiaguan took office, he has dealt with these two brothers a lot," Lu Weijing shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Xiaguan, the governor of Yanqing, is just a decoration here, and nothing can be done." ”

"The regulations of the imperial court, the local military and civil affairs are separated, Ma Chongtao dares to exceed the regulations of the imperial court?" Yu Qian's eyes flashed.

"This Juyongguan is the territory of his Ma family," Lu Wei sighed: "Everything is up to him Ma Chongtao, and the lower officials will tell the truth, and in a short time, there will be no lower officials here." ”

"Ma Chongtao, how dare he do this?" Yu Qian frowned, "Yanqing Zhizhou was established by the imperial court, how could it be canceled as soon as he commanded Yanqingwei?" ”

"Of course he can't do it if he cancels the Zhizhou Yamen," Lu Weijing glanced at Yu Qian and said: "Don't hide it, your lordship, the lower official has already submitted a report to the imperial court and moved the state governance of Yanqing Prefecture to another place." ”

"Ma Chongtao, he forced you?"

"Sort of?" Lu Weijing smiled helplessly, "Although it is not so open, but the trick of secretly forcing you to leave is not less, and the checkpoint tax of Juyong Guancheng is in charge of his people." I have no way to ask here, and he even commanded the envoy to do the work for the yamen of the division of thieves and thieves......"

"Ma Chongtao has soldiers and generals under him," Yu Qian said: "You can't compete with him." ”

"Even if you don't fight, you don't have a problem," Lu Wei admired the sky and sighed, "There have been several cases of horse thieves and robbers robbing business trips in the state border, and as soon as his soldiers come out, the cases are always solved easily." Therefore, all the merchants who passed by depended on his command to make the Yamen of the Si Si to ensure safety, and over time, who would have thought that there was a Zhizhou Yamen in the city. ”

"Do you mean to suspect that the horse thieves and bandits were deliberately motivated?"

"Lord Yu," Lu Weijing looked around, making sure that no one was on the side, Fang said in a small voice that could only be heard by the two of them: "Ma Chongtao has two soldiers and horses, one is a ...... on the surface" and said to the old and young soldiers who were scattered in the urn city: "It is these guards, their ancestors have been fixed in the military registration for generations, and they can only be soldiers as a business, but in addition to farming, there is very little practice, it can be said that there is no difference between an ordinary farmer, and the difference is only the difference between civilian and military registration." ”

"Hmm." Yu Qian agreed with him very much, he had already seen what those military households in Tumubao looked like, compared with their ancestors, the combat effectiveness of this generation had degraded greatly.

"The other is the private army he recruited, and the sources are very diverse, including horse thieves, bandits, homeless people, and even Mongols......"

Yu Qian was secretly shocked when he heard this, "No wonder Yang Muyun said that Ma Chongtao secretly colluded with the cult rebels and the Tartars, it seems that his private soldiers are mixed with a large number of people from the two." ”

"The number of these people is unknown," Lu Weijing said, "at least no less than three thousand." ”

"To support these private soldiers, it is not a small amount of money." Yu Qian said.

"That's natural," Lu Weijing nodded and said, "Otherwise, he wouldn't have held on to the tariff." Not only that, but he also had his subordinates sell illicit goods. Ironware, silk, tea...... In short, he will do whatever he makes money. Sometimes he would openly rob some merchants who did not deal with him, rob property, kill all people and destroy their corpses....

..”

"Why don't you report these things to the court?" Yu Qian stared at him and said.

"Xiaguan lacks conclusive evidence here!" Lu Weijing sighed, "But the lower officials can swear to the sky, everything they say is true, if there is a lie, the sky will thunder, and I will not die well." ”

After listening to Lu Weijing's words, Yu Qian's mood became heavy, he didn't expect Ma Chongtao to run Juyongguan so deeply and complicatedly, it seems that he thought things simple. Thinking of this, his eyes glanced at the vast wilderness outside Juyong Pass, outside, there may be a hidden force, watching every move of Guancheng with fierce eyes.

"Lord Yu......" Lu Weijing saw that he was stunned, so he called in a low voice.

"Hmm......" Yu Qian retracted his gaze and said to him with a calm face: "You must not tell anyone that these things have been revealed to the official, and also, don't appear too close to the official, in case someone is suspicious." ”

"Yes, Xia Guan understands." Lu Wei bowed down and said, "The lower official will retire." ”

"What else do you have to tell this official or what you have discovered," Yu Qian said, "You can send someone who has come to the post house to find me." ”

"Yes." Lu Weijing didn't say anything more and turned away.

"Mu Yun, they don't know what happened now?" Yu Qian's gaze spilled to the outside of the gate again, and a trace of worry appeared on his face.

————————————

Outside Juyong Pass, a dense forest in the mountains. The two men were walking on the snow, and although the mountain was not very high or steep, it was still quite strenuous to walk on the thick snow, and the leaves of the trees had fallen off, leaving only bare branches, like monsters showing their teeth and claws.

"My lord," Mo Buyu, who was walking in front, stopped, turned to face Yang Muyun, who was following not far behind him, and stretched out his finger to point ahead, "Look ......"

"Oh?" Yang Muyun walked a few steps quickly, walked to his side and looked at his fingers, but saw that the branches of the trees in front of him were scattered on the ground, and some trees were also knocked down, making the road more difficult to walk, but looking at the footprints on the snow, it stretched all the way to the snow covered with these miscellaneous branches.

Yang Muyun narrowed his eyes and stared for a while, and found that there were obvious traces of trampling on some branches, which should have been walked by.

"My lord," Mo Buyu looked at him, "what's going on?" ”

"Someone must have chopped wood here, right?" Yang Muyun really couldn't think of a more reasonable explanation, so he patted him on the back, "Don't stop, keep chasing, they shouldn't be too far away." ”

"Your Excellency, how did you say that Alexei disappeared with that coachman?"

"Maybe he saw something suspicious about this coachman, so he followed him," Yang Muyun let out a mist from his mouth, "The answer should be in front, everything will be clear when we pass." ”

"That guy followed him so far that he didn't even say hello." Mo Buyu muttered in his mouth.

"If I come back to greet you, I'm afraid people will run away a long time ago, and they won't be able to catch up." Yang Muyun smiled and looked carefully at the marks left on the snow, one large and one small, the big one was behind the small one, almost the same as Mo Buyu's footprints, it should be Alexey's footprints.

"That's what your lord said." Mo Bu said that since he has come here, can he turn back? With a swing of his shoulders, he strode forward, and the branches of the trees trampled under his feet, making a "click" and "crunch" sound.

"These two people, it's not easy to walk, but they just go here," Mo Buyu muttered, "If my clothes are damaged, I will have to make that big golden retriever pay me." ”

"This rammer ......," Yang Muyun smiled and shook his head.

After hearing only "Kara-" and a plop, Mo Bu silently stepped on the trunk of a small tree lying horizontally in the snow, and the whole person suddenly sank.

"Silent-" Yang Muyun was startled, ran forward, and a big pit appeared in front of him, and Mo Buyu fell into the pit.

This pit was very deep, about two feet deep, and Mo Buyu fell into it, and he couldn't climb out for a while.

"My lord, get me out." Seeing Yang Muyun, Mo Buyu shouted with a sad face.

"Wait a minute." Yang Muyun's gaze swept around to see if he could find a sturdy branch to pull Mo Buyu out of the pit.