The sun and moon flags fluttering above the city were kicked down from the city and replaced with the banner of Dashun.

Along the official road, the mountain road leading to Juyongguan is even more congested with cars and horses, and people are shouting happily. With a huge marching force of hundreds of thousands of people, the vanguard has already passed through Yanqing City, but the rear guard is still between Datong and Taiyuan.

Xuanfu Town has changed from the right arm of the Ming army guarding the Beijing division to the left hook of the Shun army attacking Beijing.

In front of him, the only passes that can stop the advance of the Dashun army are Badaling and Juyong Pass.

The origin of Badaling, according to the explanation in "Chang'an Hakka": "The road is divided from here and extends in all directions." Because Badaling is the outer mouth of Juyong Pass, north to Yanqing, Chicheng, Mongolia, west to Zhangjiakou, Huailai, Xuanhua, Datong, east to Yongning, Sihai, south to Changping, Beijing and other regions, it can be said to extend in all directions, so it has always been an important traffic artery and defense outpost, known as "the first barrier in the north of Beijing".

The name Badaling was first seen in the long poems of the Jin Dynasty poet Liu Ying, "Late to the bottom of Badaling, Dadan is up" and "Out of Badaling". In the Yuan Dynasty, it was called "North Mouth", which was the opposite of South Mouth. The south entrance is in Changping County, the northern suburb of Beijing, from the south mouth to the north mouth, there is a 40-mile-long canyon in the middle, there is the famous pass of the Great Wall of China in the canyon "Juyong Pass", this canyon is therefore named "Guangou". Badaling is located at the highest point at the north end of Guangou. Here, the two peaks are sandwiched, one is open, condescending, and the situation is extremely dangerous. From the bottom of Badaling, look at the Yongguan, such as a building, such as a peep well. "The ancients were in danger of being mediocre, not in Guancheng, but in Badaling".

"Lin Quan, what do you think of this Badaling compared to Tongguan?" With the help of the telescope in his hand, Li Zicheng clearly saw the mountainous landform of Badaling at the foot of the mountain.

"Sage Cloud, the people of the domain do not use the boundaries of the frontier, the country does not take the risk of mountains and streams, and the world does not take the benefit of the military revolution. Those who have attained the Tao have much help, and those who have lost the Tao have little help. Today, Your Majesty is an upright teacher, hanging the people to fight the crime and rebelling. Even if it is ********, how can it stop the king from advancing? ”

Li Yan, the prime minister of Dashun who followed Li Zicheng's royal driving action, just turned a sentence and answered Li Zicheng with words that the righteous helped the unrighteous and the unjust.

"What the prime minister said is very true. That's how students see it. Gu Junen, who emerged in the Battle of Tongguan, attacked the north for Li Zicheng's army to attack the south, feinted to attack Zhong Xiang, and mobilized the Ming army to lure Sun Chuanting's army out of Tongguan and the eastward strategy, was also amazed by Li Yan's words.

Listening to the good wishes of his important ministers, Li Zicheng also smiled slightly.

"Having said that, I don't dare to underestimate this majestic pass. lest we injure the lives of many of our loyal and brave soldiers! Pass Du Xun here! ”

Du Xun, whose name is Ziyou, was originally the eunuch in charge of the seal of the Shangshan supervisor in the Chongzhen Palace, and his approximate errand power is the same as that of the rich father-in-law of Haida and the father-in-law of Xiaoguizi. Later, he was sent to supervise the army of Xuanfu (now Xuanhua, Hebei). Li Zicheng's army marched eastward, and Jiang Ping, the general soldier of Datong, sent an envoy to Li Zicheng's army to surrender. Although Du Xun did not send an envoy to negotiate the surrender as early as possible, he also performed something else.

He and the general soldier Wang Chengyun went out of the city thirty miles to greet him, and for his performance, Zhu Zhifeng, the governor of Xuanfu, scolded: "You rely on the letter, send Er, to seal the territory of Er." Then you are a thief, how can you see it? Du Xun didn't say a word and walked away laughing. Zhu Zhifeng saw that the general trend had gone, and hanged himself.

Du Xun heard the emperor's call, and hurriedly trotted from the back of the team.

"Slaves and maids see the emperor."

"Du Xun, you are in Xuanfu to dedicate the city to Shun, and it is also due to my Dashun. However, you are already a dead man on the side of Mingguo. ”

Speaking of this, Li Zicheng gestured with his eyes, and someone next to him threw a newspaper to Du Xun, on which there were words and phrases such as Du Xun, the eunuch of the Xuanfu Prison Army, who was in the Xuanfu Mansion, and the emperor gave Du Xun as the eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor and the pen, and his nephew was a hereditary brocade cloth thousand households.

"Since the slave maid went out of the city to set up an incense case to welcome His Majesty's heavenly soldiers, she has already dedicated all this body to Your Majesty!" Du Xun was also very straightforward and showed his loyalty.

"Less verbose! Just tell us about the deployment and soldiers on the opposite mountain! ”

Liu Zongmin has never had a good voice towards Du Xun and others, so he just scolded Du Xun rudely.

"Yes! What Ruhou said is true. Du Xun stood up, but he still bent over, pointing to the various enemy towers, passes, whistles, and roads on the mountains in the distance.

After he finished speaking, a long time passed, and the crowd was still in astonishment.

The Great Wall in this area was built by Qi Jiguang and Qi Shaobao. It is built according to the mountain topography and is divided into two peaks, north and south, winding on the ridge. Looking down from the city wall, there are two gate openings and a U-shaped city wall, a battlement, an arrow tower, an enemy tower, and an urn city. On the urn city wall, there are battlement walls on both sides inside and outside, and the enemy is resisted on all sides. If the enemy breaks through the gate and pours into the city, he will be surrounded and annihilated by the defenders on all sides, and the enemy will be like falling into an urn.

The city is an important part of the Great Wall in this area. It is generally built on a traffic artery with difficult terrain. The urn city of Badaling is built on the ridge, limited by the terrain, according to the mountain situation, the east is low and the west is high, the east is narrow and the west is wide, there is no well in the urn city, the water source is lacking, there are not many troops stationed in ordinary times, and the garrison troops are stationed in the fork road city in the northwest three miles.

The distance between the two gates of the urn city is 63.9 meters, the west lintel is inscribed with the title of "the lock key of the north gate", on the hole of the city gate, there is a huge double wooden door installed, and the wooden top post and the lock latch are installed in the door. In normal times, the gate is open, and pedestrians and business travelers enter and exit freely; In wartime, the gates were closed and strong; Once the order to counterattack is issued, the city gate hole is the exit for thousands of troops to charge.

The city is set up with east and west gates, and the lower part of the west city wall is built with more than 10 layers of granite strips, and the upper part is built with large city bricks. The wall is more than 20 meters wide, 17 meters thick, 7.8 meters high, the top is a rectangular city platform, 19.8 meters long, 14.15 meters wide, the area is 280.17 square meters, and the wall battlements are built on all sides. 30~40 meters on both sides of the city platform, each build 1 enemy building, communicate with the wall, and form a horn with the city. The two sides of the west city wall are connected with two city walls in the south and the north, both walls are built on the ridge, low in the east and high in the west, forming a U-shape, meeting at the east gate.

As the outlying stronghold of Juyong Pass, the fork city of the entire Badaling defense system, which is an unavoidable pass on the road of the Dashun army's advance.

According to the "Yanqing Prefecture Chronicle", it is recorded: "There are two roads on the fork road, one to Huailaiwei, Yulin, Tumu, Jiming Sanyi to Xuanfu (now Xuanhua) for the west road, and one to Yanqingzhou, Yongningwei, and Sihaizhi for the north road. Hence the name "fork in the road". Ming Jiajing 30 years (1551) the fork city began to build, after more than 30 years finally built, the whole city is an irregular rectangle, the middle is slightly drummed, the two ends are slightly shrunk according to the mountain and built, the northern city is built on the middle of the mountain. The whole city is 510 meters from east to west, and 185 meters wide from north to south. The total area of the city is about 83,000 square meters, and the city wall is 8.5 meters high, which is made of stone bricks, lime and mud. There is a horse road on the city, and the outer wall is provided with a battlement, a lookout hole, and a shooting port, and there are 2 beacon towers in the south city wall. The construction of the city wall was divided into two periods, the early stage was rammed earth inside, and the outer part was built with stone and white plaster, and in the later stage, it was built with stone and bricks outside the original city wall.

The passes here are all built so strongly, and they are all built at risk. If there is another person like Zhou Yuji who is unrelenting, the Dashun army has come thousands of miles all the way, will it have to lose countless soldiers and horses under this Badaling?

Seeing that everyone was worried in the face of this Xiongguan danger, Du Xun gritted his teeth.

"Your Majesty, ladies and gentlemen, although the pass here is steep and abnormal, it is not an unbreakable city. As far as the slave maid knows, since the Chongzhen Dynasty, this city pass used to prevent northern captives has been broken by slaves and thieves. ”

What Du Xun said was the loss of Juyong Pass in the ninth year of Chongzhen.

At the beginning of July of the ninth year of Chongzhen, the Qing army entered the Kou, all the way to capture the Dushikou, all the way to the Xifeng Pass.

The Qing soldiers entered the Xifeng Pass, and the Ming Patrol Pass Imperial History Wang Zhaokun stirred the crowd to go to the palace, lost the enemy, and retired to Changping. On the 10th, Changping was besieged, Wang Zhaokun and Wang Xizhong, the eunuch guarding the tomb, Chao Pichang, the chief soldier of the army, Wang Yigui and Zhao Yue, the heads of the household department, and Wang Yuzuo, the governor of Baoding, were sentenced to guard the palace.

On the morning of the 16th, Juyong Pass was broken from the inside, on the evening of the 16th, Changping 2,000 Yan Mongol soldiers as an internal response, led the Qing soldiers into the city, patrolled the imperial history Wang Zhaokun was killed in battle, and at the same time died in battle, there was also Wang Yigui, the head of the household department, Baoding sentenced Wang Yuzuo, the eunuch Wang Xizhong, the judge Hu Weizhong, the official Guo Yong, Xuezheng Xie Huailiang, the training of Chang Shi, the garrison Xianzhenji and others.

The general army Chao Pichang surrendered, and the Qing soldiers burned the tomb of Tianshou Mountain.

"Guarding the fork in the road, so guarding Badaling; Guarding Badaling, so guarding the Yongguan Pass; Shouju Yongguan is guarding the Beijing Division. After listening to Du Xun's detailed introduction, Li Yan immediately thought thoughtfully.

"Your Majesty, since the return of the ministers, father and son, have been blessed by His Majesty and made them knights, but they have no size. It's really embarrassing! If His Majesty grants permission, the father and son are willing to lead the men and horses of the headquarters to capture the fork city to offer! Clear the way for His Majesty to enter the Jingshi! Wen Shuibo Chen Yongfu urged the horse out and asked for battle before Li Zicheng drove.

"It's good! In the past, I knew that Aiqing was good at guarding, but today I might as well see Aiqing's attack! For Chen Yongfu and other former Ming generals, Li Zicheng has always been gracious and comforting, but when it is really time to fight a tough battle, Li Zicheng does not dare to use them as his available and reliable strength.

Today, seeing Chen Yongfu and his son take the initiative to ask for war and attack the pass in front of him on the dangerous road in the mountains, Li Zicheng was indeed quite happy.

"Aiqing has to be careful. The mountains here are rugged and narrow, and the brigade of men and horses cannot be used, and there are fewer people who go immediately, which is inevitably taken by thieves. I still have to think of a lot of ideas! ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty! There is a small castle in the mountains here, and there are geometric soldiers and horses?! If you go, you will come back! ”

Chen Yongfu and Chen De father and son each jumped on their war horses and led thousands of elites from their headquarters to jump out of the brigade and go straight to Chadao City along the mountain road.

On the way to the fork city, there are several families scattered on the hillside and at the bottom of the ditch. Knowing that there would be a big battle and a large army of men and horses to cross the border, the timid householders had already driven their livestock, carried grain on their backs, packed up their soft clothes, buried the things that were clumsy and clumsy, and hid in the mountains with their families. The bold ones also built the gate with stones, hiding behind the door and observing the scene in front of them, which was about to turn the world upside down.

Crossing Nankou Village and along the narrow and rugged forty-mile-long ditch, Chen De urged his horse in front and led more than 100 elite cavalry to come quickly. The new horseshoe struck on the stones in the ravine, and in an instant a few sparks flashed away. Looking at the dense forests and barren grass on the hills on both sides, Chen De reminded his subordinates from time to time, "Be vigilant!" Don't fall for someone else's ambush! ”

With Chen De's command, the more than 100 cavalry gradually opened a long formation in the ditch, with more than three miles of head and tail. Even if there is an ambush, it can only hurt one, and it will not hurt the vitality.

The scout at the head could already see the faint mouth of the ditch on his horse, and saw that the fortress behind the mouth of the ditch was also undulating with the horses running.

However, the sight of Mizoguchi lifted the scouts' spirits!

There was a large crowd of people gathered at the mouth of the ditch!

"Young uncle! Mizoguchi has someone! Damn! This group of thieves is really quite bold, and they dare to line up to face the battle?! ”

Chen Dele stopped the horse's head and looked at it from a distance, although it was expected to be helped by the telescope, but in the lens, he could only see a large group of people gathered at the mouth of the ditch. Just in case, he reined in the reins of his horse and waited for the cavalry behind him to follow.

"Dismount and sort out your armor and weapons!" After issuing this order, Chen De jumped off the horse, took off the long knife, the bow and the fire gun hanging on the saddle one by one, and even opened the quiver to check the arrows inside. After doing all this, he nodded in satisfaction and beckoned a confidant to call a close soldier.

"You go to the uncle immediately, inform the uncle of the situation here, and say that I plan to break through the enemy who is blocking the blockage, rush to the foot of the fork city, and ask his old man to lead a large group of men and horses to come quickly!"

After sending off the soldiers who reported the news, Chen De ordered his subordinates to eat some dried meat cakes, and gave the war horse a little rest, and saw that everyone's mental and physical strength were almost recovered, so he jumped on the horse, "When you show your face for meritorious service, you will be in front of you, come with me!" ”

These more than 100 cavalrymen were all the original Chen Yongfu's family members, and they were the most powerful, so they shouted and roared all the way behind Chen Dema, rolling up bursts of smoke and dust, and went straight to the brigade at the mouth of the ditch.

Between a few jumps of the war horse, people can already vaguely see those figures gathered at the mouth of the ditch from the horse, Chen De couldn't help but be excited, took off the horse bow from behind and held it tightly in his hand, and took out three wolf tooth arrows and pinched them with three fingers, just to be able to see the opposite side more clearly, he wanted to bend the bow and shoot the arrow.

"Brothers, follow me! After taking Chadao City and breaking through Juyong Pass, we can go to Changping to burn Chongzhen's ancestral grave! ”

Not far from Chen De's charging arrow, Chen Yongfu waved his spear and shouted loudly, and the cloak on his body was blown up by the cold wind in the mountains, like the sails of a warship. Behind him, more than a thousand cavalry and thousands of infantry set off a monstrous frenzy in the narrow ditch.

Take Juyong Pass, rush down along the mountain road of Badaling, and not far away is where the imperial tomb of Tianshou Mountain is located. Here are buried the emperors and concubines of the Ming Dynasty since Yongle.

Chongzhen ordered Wang Qiaonian, the governor of the three sides, and Bian Dashou, the magistrate of Mizhi County, to excavate the ancestral grave of Li Zicheng's family and destroy all the bones of the ancestors, which everyone in the Dashun government and the opposition knew. It is also one thing that the civil and military people hate. Although Zhong Xiang lured the enemy Sun Chuanting to burn down the palace when he came out of Tongguan, compared to the matter of throwing the grave and digging the grave, the Dashun court unanimously agreed that it was far from enough, and the ancestral grave of the Chongzhen family should also be dug up!

Now, for the emperor to vent this evil breath, the opportunity to be able to make contributions to Jian in the emperor's heart is in front of him, how not to boost the morale of the officers and soldiers under Chen Yongfu? One by one, they just rushed away and strode towards the direction of the ditch.

However, when he rushed to the mouth of the ditch, a jaw-dropping scene smashed in front of everyone like a boulder falling from the sky, and everyone felt stuffy in their chests, as if they had made a punch with all their strength, and the opponent easily dodged it.

At the mouth of the ditch, Chen De led more than 100 cavalry and was mixing with hundreds of Ming officers and soldiers, laughing and laughing. In the wide place next to the ditch, someone has already leveled out the field, set up a colorful shed high, and set up an archway with pine and cypress in the mountains, and the archway is decorated with colored silk, and there is still handwriting on it vaguely, and it is not clear in eagerness, and it is probably a word like greeting the holy driver.

On the side of the road, in addition to the pot stove boiling water and boiling tea, there is also a group of drum music, and the musicians are very hard to play with the sheng pipe flute in their hands, sending the moving and melodious fine music into people's ears.

"This, this, what the fuck is going on?!" Chen Yongfu was quite annoyed, "Chen De, you roll over to Lao Tzu!" Chen Yongfu originally planned to fight a good battle in Chadao City and show his face in front of Li Zicheng and the civil and military officials of Dashun, but the performance of these officials in Chadao City in front of him completely disrupted his plan.

"Father, there is only one garrison in Chadao City with three thousand commanders, but hundreds of soldiers, and they have not been paid for several months. If the soldiers have no fighting spirit, they will have no fighting spirit. Hearing that the emperor's soldiers had arrived, he immediately went out of the city to the ditch to greet him, in order to follow the emperor to crusade against the tyrant Chongzhen! ”

"Hey!" Chen Yongfu stabbed the spear in his hand into the frozen ground under his feet, Rao was that the soil was frozen hard, but it was also pierced by his immeasurable anger This shot was more than a foot deep.

However, even if there is anger in the heart, you can't help but make a statement. After all, these people are looking at the wind, but they are also Li Zicheng's heavenly prestige.

"Immediately report to the Emperor. It is said that the defenders of Chadao City were impressed by the Holy Dewei, and when the army did not arrive, they rebelled and surrendered. The forward minister Chen Yongfu's department occupied the fork city without blood. Now we are marching towards Juyong Pass! ”

Badaling is the forbidden choke of Juyong, and the fork city is the fence of Badaling, the fork city has surrendered, what about Badaling and Juyong Pass? (To be continued.) )