Chapter 744. Huamachi Camp.

……

……

Huamachi camp, located at the junction of Shaanxi and Gansu and Ningxia, is an important fortress of Ningxia military town of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty, since ancient times, there is "Lingxia elbow armpit, Huanqing throat" said, this place is adjacent to Shaanxi Dingbian in the east, Gansu Huanzhou in the south, Ningxia military town in the west, bordering Inner Mongolia Etuoke Qianqi in the north, the geographical location is very important, it is the hub core of Shaanxi and Gansu!

It is close to the largest salt pond in the northwest, which produces a lot of salt, and because of the transfer of the grassland, it is often exchanged for horses with salt, and "Huama Pond" is also the homonym of "Horse Pond". Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Every year, when the fire is sifted into the prison, the governors of the three sides will move to the Huamachi camp to preside over the overall situation of border defense.

The location of the Huamachi camp is critical, directly facing the military threat of the Mongol Tatars, and it is also the residence of the governor of the three sides, so it is naturally a deep ditch and a high fortress, and it is extremely strong!

The city wall here is as high as more than four zhang, all are rammed by loess, the base width is nearly five zhang, the top width is more than one zhang, there are more than ten arrow towers on the city wall, the three city gates are all up to the iron and wood gate gate of more than zhang, and all are with urn city, the camp is surrounded by a ditch that is deep to more than zhang, and the trench is full of sharp wooden piles!

Such defensive measures, coupled with the tens of thousands of garrisons in the battalion, and the surrounding military towns echoing from afar, are enough to discourage any army, unless it is filled with the lives of tens of thousands of elite soldiers, there is absolutely no possibility of breaking through this camp.

In fact, since the day the Huamachi camp was built, although it was directly bordered by southern Xinjiang, the Mongol army rarely had the idea of storming this place, even when it was at its strongest.

Especially this year, the elite of the 50,000 forbidden troops supported by the imperial court were stationed in the Huamachi camp and several nearby guards, which greatly enhanced the defense force of Huamachi.

Nowadays, although the situation in the northwest frontier is becoming more and more critical, and Mongolian rangers enter and plunder every day, the situation near the Huamachi camp is still stable, but from time to time there will be some Mongolian cavalry to monitor and spy on them, but they will soon be repelled by the large army in the camp.

However, in the early morning of the third day after Zhao Junchen's attack, the sudden appearance of Zhang Shengde, the governor of Shaanxi, broke the peace of the Huamachi camp.

*

Zhang Shengde borrowed 200 cavalry from Guyuan Military Town a few days ago and went to Yulinwei to meet Zhao Junchen, which is not a secret, and Huamachi Camp has been waiting for the arrival of the minister these days.

However, when Zhang Shengde came to the Huamachi camp, there was no trace of Zhao Junchen by his side, but there were only more than 100 of the 200 Guyuan cavalry under his command, and all of them were wounded.

"Open the gates! I am Zhang Shengde, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu! I have 100,000 urgent matters to report to Governor Wang! ”

Outside the east gate of the Huamachi camp, Zhang Shengde immediately identified himself and shouted loudly to the defenders on the city wall.

After verifying Zhang Shengde's identity, the defenders of Huamachi hurriedly lowered the hanging door and let Zhang Shengde and his party enter the camp.

Seeing the heavy casualties of Zhang Shengde's guards, many people guessed about Zhang Shengde's attack, and the news quickly spread, alarming all the high-level civil and military officials in the Huamachi camp.

Today's Huamachi camp, because of the relationship between Zhao Junchen, the minister of Qincha, Zhang Wenhui, the governor of Hexi, and Wu Min, the governor of Hedong, are all settled here, and the generals are headed by Shi Song, the chief soldier stationed in Huamachi, Zheng Yu, the deputy chief soldier, Qian Bao, and Bao Hongjie, the garrison officer.

In addition, Li Ru'an, the eunuch of the prison army sent by the imperial court, and Guan Wuyuan, the commander of the forbidden army reinforcements stationed in Huamachi, are also important figures.

The area of Huamachi Camp is not too large, the width and length are about 350 zhang, and the total area is less than 1,700 acres.

When they arrived at the yamen of the Governor's Palace, Wang Zheng, the governor of the three sides, who had been seriously ill for many days, had not yet shown up, and Zhang Shengde, the governor of Shaanxi, was waiting eagerly in the lobby of the Governor's Palace.

It can be seen that Zhang Shengde's mood at this time is extremely anxious, and there is some panic faintly, quite restless, and he can no longer see the former city government bearing.

Seeing Zhang Shengde's appearance, all the civil and military officials knew that the matter was more serious than they imagined.

Wu Min, the governor of Hedong, had the closest relationship with Zhang Shengde, and hurriedly asked: "Governor Zhang, I heard that you were attacked on the road, and your guards suffered heavy casualties, but is it true?" ”

Li Ru'an, the eunuch of the prison army, asked with a gloomy face: "Didn't Governor Zhang go to Yulinwei to greet Lord Qincha Zhao?" Where is Lord Zhao now? ”

Seeing everyone's gossip and inquiry, Zhang Shengde said with a bitter face: "Everyone, the specific matter, let's wait for Governor Wang to arrive, I don't have to explain it repeatedly, this matter is extremely serious, and we still need to discuss it together when the time comes." ”

As soon as Zhang Shengde's words fell, he heard someone shouting: "Your Excellency the Governor has arrived!" ”

As the shouts fell, all the civil and military officers hurriedly stood in two columns to welcome the arrival of Wang Zheng, the governor of the three sides.

Soon, Wang Zheng, the governor of the three sides, entered the lobby with the support of a young literati.

Wang Zheng is one of the cronies of Emperor Deqing, these years has been relying on the favor of Emperor Deqing, now it is just entering the year of not confused, has become a powerful trilateral governor, this person was still in the capital as a military squire, he is famous for his handsome appearance and elegant temperament, but unfortunately after he became the governor of the three sides, he was frightened because of the invasion of the Mongolian tribes, and his serious illness has not yet healed. The expression was languishing, his face was pale, his cheeks were emaciated, and he was completely weak, and he looked like a sick man.

The young literati who supported Wang Zheng were not only handsome and tall, but also full of self-confidence when he raised his hands and feet, and there was a hint of arrogance in his expression, which made people unforgettable after seeing him -- this person was Wang Gong, who had been handling the defense affairs of the Shaanxi-Gansu trilateral on behalf of Wang Zheng since Wang Zheng became seriously ill, and was the de facto ruler of the Shaanxi-Gansu trilateral at present.

However, although Wang Gong is the actual controller of the Shaanxi and Gansu sides, he is just a staff member of the Governor's Mansion on the surface, and now the civil and military officials in the lobby are much higher than him in terms of identity, and when Wang Zheng sat down, Wang Gong just stood behind Wang Zheng with his hands down, and there was no place for him in the lobby.

After Wang Zheng sat down, his dull eyes turned to Zhang Shengde, and there was a faint panic in his voice, and he asked, "Governor Zhang, a few days ago, you went to Yulinwei to greet Lord Qincha, where is Lord Qincha now?" Now there are rumors that you were attacked by the Mongols on the road, but is there such a thing? Could it be ...... Chincha-sama is also involved? ”

Zhang Shengde was still full of bitterness, and got up to report to Wang Zhengyu: "Please also ask the Governor Mingjian, after the lower official arrived in Yulinwei to see Lord Qincha, he was about to lead Lord Qincha to come to Huamachi Camp, but he didn't expect to suddenly encounter a Mongolian cavalry raid, this Mongolian cavalry has as many as three or five thousand people, but the guards of Xia Guan and Lord Qin Cha are only five or six hundred, and they are completely powerless to resist, so they can only flee in a hurry, and finally although Xia Guan escaped with his life, but Lord Qin Cha is missing, and now I don't know whether he is alive or dead, Although Xia Guan sent scouts to look around afterwards, he still couldn't find any trace of Lord Chincha, and only found that Lord Chincha's guards had all been killed...... The lower officials did not do well, did not protect Lord Qincha, and asked Governor Wang to punish him! ”

After hearing the news of Zhang Shengde's attack, and seeing that Zhao Junchen was missing, everyone faintly thought of this possibility, but now after hearing Zhang Shengde's personal admission, it still caused an uproar.

As Zhang Shengde's words fell, the civil and military officials present were all pale!

The imperial court's minister was killed in their jurisdiction, and this minister was still the courtier's minister Zhao Junchen, who was second only to Zhou Shangjing in the court, and this matter was too serious, and it would inevitably cause the imperial court to shake, and at that time, everyone present would be implicated.

Wang Zheng's face became paler, and after coughing repeatedly, he asked urgently, "You mean, it is very likely that Lord Qincha Zhao has been killed by the Mongols now?" ”

Zhang Shengde's expression became more and more bitter, and he nodded: "According to the inference of the lower officials, this situation is the most likely...... Your Excellency the Governor, if Lord Chincha is killed, it will inevitably shake the government and the opposition, so please make a decision as soon as possible! In particular, how we want to report this matter to the imperial court, and how to ask the imperial court for guilt, we must decide as soon as possible. ”

Wang Zheng's body shook slightly, looking like he was about to faint, and for a while there was only panic left in his heart, but he had no idea for a long time.

Wang Zheng was originally a squire in the military department and had served in the center of the imperial court for many years, so he knew very well the importance of Zhao Junchen, and he also knew better than everyone how serious this matter was, so he was more panicked than everyone else.

However, at this time, Li Ru'an, the eunuch of the prison army, suddenly asked in a cold voice: "Governor Zhang, where were you and Lord Qin Cha Zhao attacked in Yulinwei?" ”

Zhang Shengde didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly replied: "It's in Hengshan County, Yulinwei." ”

Hearing Zhang Shengde's answer, Li Ru'an suddenly sneered: "If the Mongols want to enter Hengshan County, they must pass through the two counties of Dingbian and Jingbian, but why did the guards and military forts in these two counties have no news and let the Mongols silently raid Lord Qincha?" In our opinion, this incident is either a serious dereliction of duty on the part of the border army! Or...... It was someone who secretly colluded with the Mongols, covered up the traces of the march for the Mongols, and personally planned the attack on Lord Qincha! ”

With Li Ru'an's words, everyone present was taken aback, and they all looked at Li Ru'an incredulously!

……

PS: Today's thinking is not smooth, there is only one change, after sorting out the ideas, there will be a small outbreak tomorrow, forgive me!

……