In the early morning of the fourth day of the eighth month of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Li Xiaojun finally came to the capital, and the whole army lined up in a neat queue and entered the city from the Yongding Gate in the south of the outer city of the Beijing Division. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

After entering the Yongding Gate, the whole army rested in the urn city at the Yongding Gate, and the celebrant supervisor, the imperial horse supervisor and the military department all sent officials to greet them, and the military department also mobilized grain and grass supplies and tents, so that Li Xiaojun camped in this urn city.

There are two main intentions of the military department's approach, one is to let the soldiers and horses from other places come in to defend the outer city on the spot, and the other is to prevent the Ming army from entering the city to disturb the people.

Including the main general Li Xiao, the soldiers under his command were basically coming to Beijing for the first time, and many people were shocked by the grand atmosphere of the capital.

Li Xiao, who had read a little history of the Ming Dynasty in his previous life, knew a little about the origin of Beijing City.

In the first year of Yongle (1403), Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty changed Beiping to Beijing. In the fourth year of Yongle (1406), the palace city of Beijing began to be built, and in the first month of the nineteenth year of Yongle (1421), it was "completed", which lasted 15 years, and the capital was officially set in Beijing.

The Beijing city of the Ming Dynasty was the reconstruction of the capital city of the Yuan Dynasty, the north wall shrank 5 li to the south, and the south wall was displayed 2 li to the south, becoming a rectangle in the east-west direction. The palace and the imperial city were rebuilt. In the thirty-second year of Jiajing (1553), the outer city was built again, but only on the south side. At this point, the basic outline of the city of Beijing has been constituted, namely the palace city, the imperial city, the inner city and the outer city.

"Miyagi is in the center, the four sides are arched and guarded, the main seat faces south, the central axis is prominent, and the two wings are balanced and symmetrical."

This is the biggest feature of the planning and layout of Beijing City in the Ming Dynasty. The city of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty was built on the basis of the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, but it was more majestic and magnificent than the capital of the Yuan Dynasty. Judging from the layout of the whole city, the city of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty is a city with a "convex" structure, and the outer city wraps the south of the inner city, the inner city wraps the imperial city, and the imperial city wraps the Forbidden City. From the outer city to the Forbidden City, the outer walls of the city wall are surrounded by a wide and deep moat. In this way, the Forbidden City, where the emperor lived, became the center of the whole city, and it was surrounded by layers of arches. The Forbidden City is surrounded by the Temple of Heaven, Earth, Sun and Moon, and the Forbidden City is like the center of the universe. The buildings of Beijing City are laid out on the basis of a central axis that runs through the north and south. The Yongding Gate in the middle of the south of the outer city is the starting point of this central axis, and the bell and drum tower north of the back gate of the imperial city - Di'an Gate is the end point of this central axis. The city's largest buildings and scenes are arranged on this central axis, organically arranged and combined on both sides, and surrounded by low, blue-gray courtyards. The planning and layout of the entire Ming Dynasty Beijing City has formed a complete and harmonious huge building complex that is unique in the world.

The Yongdingmen urn city where Li Xiaojun was stationed was very large, and it was more than five or six times larger than the Chifeng City urn city built by Li Xiaojun in Shandong, which was like a small square castle, enough for Li Xiaojun's four or five thousand soldiers and horses to camp here.

For Li Xiaojun, who entered Beijing for the first time, the towering city walls and towers around the urn city made them feel awe, and the land of the capital and the atmosphere of the imperial city did have a strong sense of coercion for these lowly Li Xiaojun soldiers.

What Li Xiao didn't expect was that although he had just sent someone to the Ministry of War to report his achievements, before waiting for the Ministry of War to reply, a large number of people in the capital had already heard the news and rushed to see the excitement.

At this time, because when Li Xiaojun entered the city, he was taken prisoner by the head and the Qing army with the army, and was first seen by a group of idle people.

A large number of people in the capital, men, women and children, ran from all directions to see the excitement, surrounded the Yongdingmen urn city tightly, everyone stretched their necks, tiptoed to look into the urn city, and pointed at the heads captured by Li Xiaojun, as well as the group of dejected captives bundled together, pointing and talking, admiring.

"See, this is our Ming officer! Having beheaded many heads and tying up many prisoners, Xiao Lao'er has lived in the capital for most of his life, and he has never seen such a capable officer and army, which really opened his eyes! ”

"Do you know, I heard, this is the soldiers and horses of Shandong Chifeng Li's general soldiers, tsk, it's really a good military appearance, good momentum. In my opinion, his unit joined the reinforcement army, compared with General Li's department, cough, it is a heaven and an underground! ”

"Ahem, what you said, everyone has the eyesight and understands it. Don't say that he has recruited reinforcements and horses, that is, the four guards in our Beijing City, saying that it is the Son of Heaven's pro-army, compared with this Li Zong's soldiers and horses, cough, that is called a goods comparison has to be thrown! ”

"That's it, those miscellaneous people in Jingying are the best at stealing chickens and dogs and harming the people, and they really want to go out of the city to fight with the Qing Tartars, I'm afraid that the urine will be scared out! Alas, I really hope that General Li's soldiers and horses will be stationed in Beijing for a long time, and we, the common people, will have a peaceful life. ”

A group of people squeaked and commented, as if they were watching a free play, but they refused to disperse, so that the nearby streets were surrounded by water, and the lively people of the capital even began to squeeze into the urn city non-stop, as if to take a closer look at what those Qing prisoners looked like.

The people were so curious, but Li Xiaojun couldn't drive them away, but he tried his best to prevent them from squeezing too deep into the urn city. However, the soldiers and horses of the five cities and the Jinyi guards were afraid that someone would take the opportunity to make trouble, so they urgently sent additional manpower to evacuate, and finally diverted a large number of people, and then they arranged for their subordinates to guard the Yongding Gate and did not allow the people of the capital to enter the urn city again.

Li Xiaojun, who was dizzy by the noisy and noisy people, could finally enjoy a quieter environment.

Li Xiao's military set up the camp, settled the soldiers and horses, and a tall and thin official wearing a black veil, wearing a five-grade cyan civilian regiment collar shirt, embroidered with a white pheasant pattern on his chest, and a sparse beard, with several entourages, strode towards Li Xiao's Chinese military tent.

This official was Hua Yuncheng, who was a member of the military department at the time.

Hua Yuncheng, 48 years old at the time, the word Ruli, the number Fengchao, is a native of Wuxi, Changzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili. The second year of the Apocalypse. When Chongzhen was eight years old, he was a member of the military department, he was honest and honest, loyal and upright, and later because of his negligence, he was impeached for being a traitor and a gentle and benevolent person for personal gain, and there was no way to govern the country. During the Hongguang Dynasty of the Southern Ming Dynasty, he re-established the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and because he could not bear the endless infighting of the Southern Ming Dynasty, he resigned after more than ten days. After the death of the Ming Dynasty, he was killed by the Qing court because he refused to shave his hair. At that time, Hua Yuncheng, Ma Shiqi, and Gong Tingxiang were called "Xishan Sanzhong".

Da Ming is noble and cheap, so when Li Xiao was hesitating about what kind of etiquette to meet this official from the fifth grade, Hua Yuncheng had already given himself a subordinate salute, which made Li Xiao feel emotional.

Subsequently, Hua Yuncheng asked the officers of the military department under Li Xiao in a sincere tone if they could arrange the camping work of the whole army.

This Hua Yuncheng is a humble gentleman, he doesn't put on the stinky stand of civil officials at all, and he is quite serious and responsible.

Li Xiao, who has read the history of the Ming Dynasty, also knows a little about Hua Yuncheng's tragic fate in the future, but of course Li Xiao at this time will not say it to him.

It's just that Li Xiao secretly thought in his heart, maybe, after Hua Yuncheng was ousted by Wen Tiren at the end of this year, he could send Hua Yuncheng's fellow countryman Chen Zilong to persuade him to go out of the mountain to serve him.

Li Xiao exchanged a few words of greeting with Hua Yuncheng and said a few words of thanks. Hua Yuncheng smiled and bowed his hand to Li Xiao and said: "General Li Bing, I am ordered by the Ministry of War to inspect the heads and prisoners, and I also ask General Li to send someone to go with the subordinate officials to inspect it." ”

Li Xiao said with a smile; "The Chinese are polite, and the official will personally go to the inspection with you."

Hua Yuncheng looked happy: "Then thank you Mr. Li." ”

When they had finished speaking, they went out of the tent together, and went to the tent where the heads were kept, and to the room where the captives were held.

"Outside of the Chinese, here is the account room where the head is kept."

Li Xiao first took Hua Yuncheng to the room where the head was stored.

The room was very dark, and the pungent smell of lime nitration was even stronger to make people sick, and Li Xiao hurriedly ordered the sergeant to light a torch and send it in.

As soon as the torch entered the room, Hua Yuncheng and the other military personnel immediately widened their eyes.

He saw that on several simple wooden shelves in front of him, several long tartar heads were neatly placed, and notes were pasted on them, indicating the classification of different heads such as Manchuria, Mongolia, and Han army. Under the light of the torches, all of them looked horrible, their mouths and eyes were hideous, and under the miserable white lime powder, dark red and somewhat atrophied muscles and blood vessels were revealed, and if the faint of heart saw them, they were afraid that they would faint with fright.

"In addition to the Chinese, the first level won by our army has a total of 1,568 Manchurian Tatars, 782 Mongolian Tatars, and 771 Han Army. Li Xiao smiled.

Hua Yuncheng and his subordinate officials opened their eyes wide, carefully examined the skull, carefully confirmed them one by one from the braids to the teeth, and after a long time, they finally completed all the head-level inspections.

After the inspection, Hua Yuncheng patted the lime slag, minced meat, mucus and other things stained under his hands, and his face was overjoyed, which was difficult to express.

After inspecting the ordinary heads, Li Xiao asked people to take out two heads from a large box, and said solemnly to Hua Yuncheng: "In addition to the Chinese, the heads of these two people are different from those ordinary soldiers, one is Zhenghuangqi Gushan Ezhen Tan Tai, and the other is Ta Zhan, the son of the commander of the Qing army, Yangguli, and I also ask the Chinese to take a look. “

Hua Yuncheng let out a low exclamation, inspected it, and praised Li Xiao: "General Li is a young hero, the army is powerful, and he actually killed the head of these two giant thieves, and the lower officials are really admired!" “

Li Xiao laughed, and then took them to another big tent, which was where Li Xiaojun held all the prisoners.

Entering the room, Hua Yuncheng saw that it was also the same as the room where the head was placed, which was divided into three parts by Li Xiao, and the captured Manchurian, Mongol and Han troops were imprisoned respectively.

"In addition to the Chinese, our army has obtained a total of 428 Qing prisoners, 428 Manchurian soldiers, 249 Mongolian soldiers, and 203 Han soldiers, please verify."

Hua Yuncheng nodded again and again, and replied to a group of military officials, examining and counting the prisoners one by one.

After nearly half an hour, Hua Yuncheng and the others finally finished the inspection, he stroked his beard and laughed, and said to Li Xiao with a look of admiration: "General Li Bing, the head and the prisoner, we have completed the inspection, but it is exactly what Li Zongbing said!" General Li has captured so many heads and prisoners, which is really a model for my Ming officers and soldiers. Xiaguan has opened his eyes today. “

Li Xiao smiled and said: "As a Ming official and soldier, he should serve the country." The Chinese are overrated. “

Hua Yuncheng sighed: "If my Ming officers and soldiers are as outstanding as General Li's soldiers, why worry that the Tartars will not be destroyed and the rogues will not be eliminated." General Li Bing, you can rest assured, although Master Shangshu Zhang is not in the capital, but Li Zongbing's exploits, the lower officials will definitely play the truth immediately, and they will never lose the military exploits of General Li Bing. ”

Li Xiao thanked him and said, "Then there will be Lao Huaren." ”

Li Xiao and Hua Yuncheng then returned to the Chinese military tent, and when they were laughing and talking, they heard that a soldier came to report, saying that it was Cao Huachun, the eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor Bingbi, who went to Li Xiaojun's army in person to check Li Xiaojun's capture.

Li Xiao and Hua Yuncheng hurriedly went out of the account to greet them.

Li Xiao saw from a distance that a fat eunuch wearing a five-beam crown, wearing a bamboo blue troll, embroidering a red python picture on his chest, revealing a red sticker on his neckline, a white beard, and a kind smile on his face, strode towards Li Xiao with a smile on his face, surrounded by several little eunuchs.

Li Xiao secretly said in his heart, looking at this person's dress, there should be no doubt that Cao Huachun, the eunuch who was most trusted by Emperor Chongzhen in the imperial court.

Li Xiao immediately thought that after he was able to seal Huang County and Zhaoyuan last time, in order to thank Cao Huachun and Wen Tiren, Li Xiao also gave 1,000 taels of gold to each of them, which was regarded as a great relationship with Cao Huachun Wen Tiren and others. When we met in the capital this time, Cao Huachun should still remember his heavy thanks.

Seeing Cao Huachun coming, Hua Yuncheng reminded Li Xiao in a low voice: "Mr. Li has seen Gonggong Cao soon, Gonggong Cao is a popular person around the emperor." You must know that when the emperor was still in the letter residence, Gonggong Cao was with him, and he was called Cao Daban by the emperor, and he was the closest person to the emperor. ”

Li Xiao sighed, and saw that Cao Huachun and his party were not far in front of him, Li Xiao immediately knelt down to greet him: "The last general, Li Xiao, has seen Gonggong Cao!" “

"Excuse me, excuse me, Mr. Li, please get up quickly." Cao Huachun grabbed him, then looked Li Xiao up and down, and then laughed sharply: "Li Xiaoguo is a young hero, look at this heroic posture, it shows the majesty of my Ming official army!" No wonder we can kill so many Tartars, but it's too late for our family to see each other. ”

Cao Huachun's smile became brighter and brighter, and his eyes were full of deep meaning, as if he was afraid that Li Xiao would not understand that he had come here this time, but he had received a heavy gift from Li Xiao that day, so he had such a desire to repay Li Xiao.

He smiled at Li Xiao and said: "General Li Bing, do you know that after the emperor received the emergency report from the Ministry of War, he originally let other people come, but our family thought that General Li had traveled thousands of miles to aid the capital, and captured a large number of heads and prisoners. Our family just made a special trip to ask the emperor for a favor, and we want to take a look at Mr. Li, a young general who defeated the Tartars. ”

When Li Xiao saw Cao Huachun's words, he didn't know what he wanted, he smiled and arched his hand to Cao Huachun: "The last general is a foreign general, and he can make a contribution." Today, I am very ashamed to be praised by Father-in-law Cao like this. I also hope that Gonggong Cao will take care of him more in the future, and Li Xiao thanked him first. “

Seeing Li Xiao with flashing eyes like this, Cao Huachun smiled profusely, he glanced at Hua Yuncheng on the side again, and then coughed and asked, "Have you ever tested the heads and prisoners obtained by Li Li's general soldiers?" ”

Hua Yuncheng nodded; "Father-in-law, we have checked it in detail, but this head and the prisoner are not the same as the number reported by General Li Bing."

Cao Huachun nodded with satisfaction, looking at Li Xiao's eyes full of appreciation, he patted Li Xiao's sturdy shoulder affectionately, and said with a smile: "Now that the military department has counted correctly, then please go to the palace with our family, and now go to the palace to face the saint, the emperor is in the imperial garden, waiting to see Li Zongbing." (To be continued.) )