During the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty, the Great Wall defense line was divided into nine sections, which were called the nine border towns, namely Liaodong Town, Jizhou Town, Xuanfu Town, Datong Town, Taiyuan Town, Yansui Town, Ningxia Town, Guyuan Town, and Gansu Town.

The first stop that Shenxi wants to go to this time is Datong Town, which lives in the middle section. The general army of Datong Town is stationed in Datong Mansion, and the Great Wall under its jurisdiction starts from Zhenkoutai in the east and reaches Yajiao Mountain in the west, with a total length of about 700 miles. This was the most important defense in Gyeonggi, and the Tatars would often cross this line to threaten the Gyeongshi.

In this case, only by defending Datong Town first can we shelter Xuanfu on the right flank and Taiyuan in the south, so ten Franc cannons will be left in Datong Town, and the rest of the Franc cannons will be sent to Yansui Town.

The general army of Yansui Town was stationed in Suidezhou at the beginning, and moved to Yulinwei after Chenghua. The jurisdiction of the Great Wall from the east of Huangfu Chuan Fort, west to Huamachi, the total length of more than 1,800 li, in the south side of the big side of the "two sides", east from the west bank of the Yellow River, twists and turns, west to the Ningbian camp and the big side wall to connect.

In the few days after communicating with Yu Niang, Shen Xi tried to slow down the speed of the team, even if Yu Niang had an opinion, it was only in vain, after all, she had no official status, so she couldn't affect Shen Xi at all, let alone Song Shu, who was not a person all the way at all.

Shen Xi made up his mind to wait for Liu Daxia to finish rectifying the three sides before going over, so that no matter what happened to the border town, it would not matter to him in the slightest.

Song Shu symbolically urged Shen Xi to hurry up, but his heart blossomed...... Originally, he was worried that Shen Xi would not follow Zhang Heling's instructions, and it would be difficult to explain when he turned back. If it is because of his sake, once Shen Xi bites, Song Shu will also bear considerable responsibility, but now it is completely Shen Xi's intention to drag on the road and delay the military aircraft, which many people can prove, and it is only Shen Xi who was punished by the Ministry of War, and he acted as a subordinate, not a crime, and he could be reused by the Zhang brothers when he returned to the capital.

As for Yu Niang, although she wanted Shen Xi to hurry up, Shen Xi was on the same page with her, without Liu Daxia personally in charge, and even Liu Daxia's warrant, there was no way to take Shen Xi.

From the capital to the west, this road is not smooth, you have to cross mountains and mountains along the way, and you have to cross several rivers. In these years, road construction rarely opened mountains and split rocks, let alone tunnels, and more often had to climb mountains and mountains; for ordinary officers and soldiers, it was nothing to climb a few mountains during the march, but for the team transporting heavy Franc machine guns and supporting artillery shells, it was better to go over the mountains than to take a long detour.

If the Franc cannon slipped off the wagon at the top of the hill and fell to the bottom of the valley to be loaded onto the wagon, it was not something that could be solved by such a small number of people.

Originally, it took about ten days to reach Datong Town, but it took thirteen days to reach Tianchengwei in Datong Prefecture, and there were still three days to reach Datong Mansion City, which was also the result of repeated delays on the Shenxi Road.

“…… The brethren are tired, so they will leave for an hour tomorrow night to give the brethren a good rest. "Tiancheng Wei Guanyi, before Shen Xi went to bed, he found an excuse to delay again, and this time even Song Shu couldn't listen to it.

"Lord Shen, look...... Depart early tomorrow, and we will be able to enter Datong Mansion City at dusk the day after tomorrow, just in time to arrive at the destination before the deadline, but if it drags on...... A one-day delay means that the task has not been completed, which is a dereliction of duty, and the court will be held accountable. ”

Song Shu's words were very sincere...... You have done an excellent job of the errand that Shou Ninghou has given you, and now it is time to think about it for those of us who are on an errand.

If you enter Datong Mansion one day late, we don't care if you are always killed or dismissed, we don't ask for merit, but at least you have to let us ensure that we can get the reward for our hard work along the way.

If the errand is delayed, it is good if there is no condemnation, and the court will definitely not reward it, and even punish it.

Shen Xi squinted at Song Shu and said, "It seems that Deputy Song Qianhu advocates slow travel." ”

Song Shu's face changed as soon as he heard this, and he hurriedly pleaded: "Lord Shen, don't wronged a good person, all this is an order given by Lord Shen, and the brothers can testify." ”

The person is yours, of course I testify to you, anyway, I was wronging you.

Shen Xi said: "In this case, the deputy Qianhu of Lao Song will inform him that he will leave tomorrow after delaying for an hour, but he will not go to Datong Mansion, and he will not be allowed to rest in the middle." So...... If we hurry up, we should be there at dawn the day after tomorrow, right? ”

When Song Shu heard this, he almost scolded his mother.

Feelings, you are so procrastinating in front of us, let us slack off, for the last angel to toss us, right?

I haven't had a night road on this road, and now in the last two or three days, you have to not only rush the night road, but also have to travel for more than twelve hours in a row, and you don't feel how you sit in the carriage, but after all, there are many people who walk on two legs.

"What's the matter, Deputy Song Qianhu is in trouble?" Shen Xi asked curiously.

"Yes, I'm afraid it will be difficult to convey such an order here." Song Shu's tone was very resolute.

Shen Xi said with a smile: "Deputy Song Qianhu refused to accept the dispatch of this official, and this official decided...... Starting tomorrow, stay here for three days and hit the road! ”

"What?"

Song Shu had a feeling of being played by Shen Xi, he had been delaying before, and suddenly he was going to say that he was in a hurry, and it was your purpose to be prepared to delay here for a few days.

Song Shu thought to himself: "I am already loyal to the Hou Ye, but compared to this one, it is really trivial." He did things for Hou Ye to the point where he didn't even want his life. ”

Song Shu said: "If Lord Shen doesn't leave, then Lord Shen stays, let's go." ”

"Okay." Shen Xi waved his hand and said, "Then please ask Deputy Song Qianhu to go on the road early tomorrow, and this official will wait here for a few days to see how Deputy Song Qianhu will deal with him after he arrives in Datong Mansion City!" ”

Song Shu had the urge to punch Shen Xi to the ground.

Shen Xi is sent by the Ministry of War to escort the artillery, if Shen Xi is not dead on the road, he must personally deliver the artillery, so that the errand can be completed, otherwise even if they arrive in advance, it will be in vain, everything is subject to the arrival time of Shen Xi's positive difference.

If the goods arrive and the person does not arrive, it is also not considered to be a complete errand!

Song Shu said discouragedly: "Lord Shen, we didn't have a holiday before, you should always be considerate of us soldiers, set off as usual in the next two days, and arrive at Datong Mansion smoothly before the deadline in the afternoon of the day after tomorrow, what do you think?" ”

Shen Xi shook his head resolutely and said, "Either you will continue to travel tomorrow, or you will rest for three days, Song Deputy Qianhu will choose for himself." ”

After Shen Xi finished speaking, he turned around arrogantly, Song Shu's fists were clenched tightly, and he really wanted to swing out and greet Shen Xi, and finally he finally suppressed the anger in his heart and sneered: "In this case, I will go and give orders below, and I will continue to hurry tomorrow...... Wait until you get to Datong Mansion and then rest! ”

After speaking, Song Shu didn't ask Shen Xi's opinion, and went downstairs in a huff.

Shen Xi sat down with a leisurely face, picked up the book and read.

Yu Niang walked over from the next room, she had just listened to the conversation between Shen Xi and Song Shu truly, and at this time her face was full of confusion: "Isn't Lord Shen afraid that Deputy Song Qianhu will not allow it, and finally miss the errand?" ”

Shen Xi said: "If you make a mistake, it's a mistake, it's late if it's an hour late, it's late for three days, why rush for a while?" ”

Yu Niang's brows furrowed.

Shen Xi's performance along the way was too abnormal, first he completed the first half of the journey step by step, and in the second half, he knew that Liu Daxia was not there, so he delayed all kinds of things, and now the mentality of always retreating when encountering things has been revealed.

Yu Niang thought to herself: "Lord Shen's performance in Quanzhou Mansion is enough to prove that he is a brave and resourceful person, why would he be so disappointing?" ”

Shen Xi yawned and said, "Yu Niang should also go back to rest earlier, the official is tired and is about to lie down...... Yu Niang didn't plan to spy on me in the middle of the night, right? ”

Yu Niang smiled bitterly, she asked herself that her life experience was much richer than Shen Xi's, but she couldn't figure out what Shen Xi was thinking, Shen Xi gave the eviction order so clearly and unmistakably, she only had to bow and leave.

When the others left, Shen Xi did not fall asleep, still lit the lamp, and took a brush to write and draw on paper, he wanted to draw the defense map of the Ming Dynasty's Beiguan in memory and reality, which may come in handy in the future.

By the next day, as Shen Xi had instructed before, the team set off an hour late, but when Shen Xi went downstairs, there was a lot of scolding below, because they all knew that Shen Xi was going to make a "rapid march", and he was ready to cover the remaining more than 100 miles in one day and one night.

Even if it is an ordinary march, there is no problem in walking seventy or eighty miles a day, but now it is escorting twenty artillery pieces to go, and it is necessary to walk the remaining 170 miles for a day and one night, and it is necessary to exhaust people and lie down.

"This is Lord Shen's order, if you have any opinions, tell Lord Shen."

Song Shu's attitude was cold, in his opinion, Shen Xi was earnest, and walking the remaining 170 miles in two days was already very harsh, but now he had to walk continuously, it would cost people's lives.

Shen Xi is a court official from Wupin, and he is a messenger sent by the Ministry of War, even if the soldiers below have opinions, they don't dare to rush to Shen Xi to question him face to face.

As Shen Xi said, it had already been delayed a lot, so what's wrong with me rushing to arrive a few more hours before the deadline?

A group set off, the house leak happened to rain overnight, this time just set off soon after the sky began to rain lightly, the road soon became muddy and difficult to walk, to the back is even more sleet, the officers and soldiers wore hats to walk, people are almost frozen, so they hurried and hurried, only walked seventy or eighty miles a day, ate at the post station of Gaoshanwei at night, and had not had time to rest, the group had to set off again.

At night, when the temperature plummeted, and the people in the carriage were so cold that they had to walk to keep warm, they only thought about one thing, and quickly found a warm place to shelter from the rain and snow, even if it was a makeshift tent, it was better than rushing in such ghostly weather.

"Lord Shen, do you think we can delay it and wait for the sky to clear up tomorrow before leaving?" Song Shu himself was choked by the cold, and he hurried to ask Shen Xi for instructions.

Shen Xi's carriage has carriages, and blankets and bedding are added, so you don't have to worry about getting drenched in the cold.

At this time, Song Shu was fully qualified to order to stop the march by himself, but he was afraid that Shen Xi would be in a mood, what he thought at this time was that if Shen Xi did not agree to stop, even if I came hard, I would say that it was your order, if you dare not leave tomorrow, I will tie you up and go to Datong Mansion, and see your kid arrogant in front of Lao Tzu again.

Shen Xitou leaned out of the carriage and said, "It's a little cold this day, can you dare to ask Deputy Song Qianhu, is it important to endure the cold and hurry, or is it important to have a small life?" ”

Song Shu thought angrily in his heart, now that he knows that he is afraid, why didn't he think that delaying the errand would be a loss of his head before?

"Lord Shen is too worried, the matter is not so serious." Song Shu said, "Even if it is delayed for one day, the imperial court can understand the pain of our cannons, not to mention that there is a marquis in the court to speak for us." ”

Shen Xi asked in surprise, "Can Master Hou command the Tatars?" ”

One sentence startled Song Shu, and Song Shu smiled dumbly and said: "Lord Shen Mo Yan smiled, this has nothing to do with ...... What is the connection of the Tatars? ”

Shen Xi sighed: "It seems that Deputy Song Qianhu thinks that this official has no purpose, but as everyone knows, this last section of the road is actually the most dangerous journey......

"As early as when I was in Xuanfu Town, I inquired, and it is said that the Baiyangkou and Yanghekou of the Great Wall in the north were all attacked by the Tatars, and later they were confirmed one after another when Wanquan Zuowei and Yongjia Fort were settled......"

"The distance from Tianchengwei to Gaoshanwei is better, after all, there are four Wei towns in a row along the official road, and there are seven or eight large fortresses that form horns with each other, and the safety is guaranteed, but after Gaoshanwei, there is only one Jule with hundreds of officers and soldiers in this hundred or so miles, do you think you will have a good life once you are targeted by the Tatars? Only by hurrying at night can you ensure safety...... Now you know how to choose, right? ”

Song Shu said coldly: "Lord Shen, it's better not to talk about it, in this cold winter, I haven't heard that the Tatars will commit crimes!" (To be continued.) )