October 29. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The sky is bright, the Beijing division has been snowing lightly since last night, the city walls and streets have become covered in silver, a white scene, Zhu Houzhao's car, has been escorted by the right guard of Yulin to the south of the city Zhengyang Gate.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were a total of 26 guards in Shangzhi, all of whom were the pro-army of the Son of Heaven, and it was Zhang Heling, the Marquis of Shouning, who was responsible for coordinating the promotion of the 26 guards, and Zhu Houzhao was the main soldier.

Ma Jiu served as Zhu Houzhao's personal entourage, riding a horse to accompany the side of the car, Ma Jiu never thought that he would have such a scenery and be able to accompany the prince.

Zhu Houzhao and his entourage set off from the noon gate and passed through the Daming Gate.

Waiting out of the Daming Gate, Zhengyang Gate is in sight.

When the car arrived at the head of Zhengyangmen City, Zhu Houzhao got down from the carriage, a snow wind blew, and his small body couldn't help but tremble twice, and then wrapped his collar tightly under Zhang Yuan's waiting.

Zhu Houzhao raised his head, looked at the towering city tower, and sighed sincerely: "This gatehouse is really high, such a high city wall, the Tartars shouldn't be able to kill it, right?" ”

Thinking of this, Zhu Houzhao felt relieved and proud that he was the prince of the Ming Dynasty, but then he felt a little sad in his heart, and secretly thought:

"There is such a powerful country in the air, but it has been trampled on by the Tatars, if I find an opportunity in the future, I will definitely lead the troops to beat the Tartars all over the ground to find teeth, showing the prestige of our Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Houzhao was full of confidence, and climbed to the top of Zhengyangmen with Zhang Mao, Zhang Heling, Xiong Xiu and others...... Xie Qian did not keep his promise and accompanied the prince out, because several cabinet ministers discussed too late and fell asleep at about midnight, Zhu Houzhao didn't have the heart to wait for Xie Qian to get up, and hurriedly ate breakfast and set off.

It was the first time for Zhu Houzhao to climb high and look into the distance, when he stood on the city wall and looked back at the majestic Forbidden City and the neat streets of Beijing, he felt a heroic spirit in his heart.

"Roar!"

Zhu Houzhao excitedly beckoned to the capital behind him, shouting loudly, and his dancing appearance puzzled Zhang Mao and others.

Zhang Yuan admonished: "Your Royal Highness the Prince, be careful, it's not good to fall off the city wall!" ”

"Afraid of what?"

Zhu Houzhao looked disdainful, "This palace is on this, can it really fall?" Get out of the way, don't get in the way! ”

Zhu Houzhao looked left and back, and decided to climb the four-story gatehouse to take a look, and rushed to the staircase first, Zhang Mao was a little worried, for fear that the prince would make some excessive moves on the gatehouse and affect the morale of the army.

But seeing that Zhu Houzhao was moving forward, he walked faster and faster in the back, and it was still not enjoyable to walk through two steps at a time, so he had to walk three or five steps.

When I arrived at the top of the gatehouse, I looked down through the lookout and felt that the mountains were small.

Zhu Houzhao poked out his head, looked around at the head of Zhengyangmen City and the officers and soldiers stationed on the city wall, the flags were like a forest, the soldiers and horses were neat, his eyes were straight, and he muttered: "No wonder people have wanted to be generals throughout the ages, it turns out that it is so cool to lead troops, and they can stand on a high place and see so far!" Old man Zhang, what is that place over there? ”

Zhang Mao leaned over, looked in the direction of Zhu Houzhao's finger, and replied, "Go back to the prince, there is the Temple of Heaven and Earth." ”

"Haha, it turns out that there is the Temple of Heaven and Earth, interesting and interesting, this palace has been to my father once before, but it is completely different from what I saw this time. What's over there? ”

Zhu Houzhao pointed to the right side of the city tower, and there was also a gatehouse there.

Zhang Mao said: "There is Xuanwu Gate!" ”

"It turns out that there is Xuanwu Gate, and on the left is Chongwen Gate, right?" Zhu Houzhao asked with a wink.

Zhang Mao saluted: "Exactly! ”

Zhu Houzhao was excited: "This palace has heard of these places for a long time, but I have never had the opportunity to see them in person, and now I have a long insight...... By the way, can I go directly to Xuanwu Gate and Chongwen Gate from the city wall? ”

Zhang Heling followed and climbed the stairs for a quarter of an hour, tired and out of breath, and when he heard that the bear child was still going to walk blindly, he hurriedly stepped forward to remind: "Your Royal Highness the Prince, you are here to inspect the city gate, and now that you have seen it, you should drive back to the palace." You are the prince of the Ming Dynasty, and safety should be the first priority! ”

Zhu Houzhao said angrily: "The palace is walking on the wall of the Ming Jingshi, even if the Tartars kill, it is impossible for them to attack directly, isn't there a moat in front of it?" Come on, the palace will go downstairs, and then inspect the Chongwen Gate! ”

Zhu Houzhao said that the Forbidden City was like a rabbit with spread legs, and it was extremely difficult to recover it, and among the people present, Zhang Mao and Zhang Heling had a certain right to speak, but neither of them wanted to care about the bear child's affairs. Zhang Mao said in his heart: "Now the precautions of the Beijing division are all out of the cabinet, as for how the prince wants to inspect the law, it is up to him!" ”

Zhang Mao and Zhang Heling were about to continue to accompany Zhu Houzhao to "mess around", when suddenly a warning message came: "Report ...... The Tatar soldiers and horses are less than eight miles away from Zhengyang Gate! ”

The sound came from the bottom of the city tower one after another, so that the officers and soldiers present couldn't help but feel excited...... This news was too sudden, and the soldiers of the Beijing camp were generally not ready for a tough battle, and the Tatar vanguard soldiers and horses were coming to the city to kill?

Zhu Houzhao came down from the city gate, panting, and muttered when he heard the words: "Why is it so fast?" Old man Zhang, the palace allocated soldiers and horses to garrison the Temple of Heaven and Earth yesterday, even if this order was later canceled, but Zhengyangmen is the top priority of the defense of the Beijing Division, how many soldiers and horses are there in Zhengyangmen at present? ”

Zhang Mao looked left and right and said to him: "Prince, now that the soldiers and horses of the Northern Kou do not know the truth or the truth, whether they are feints or bluffs, and they can't get useful information, or wait until they find out the truth of the soldiers and horses of the Northern Kou before sending troops!" ”

Zhu Houzhao said dissatisfiedly: "Old man Zhang, this palace only asks you now, how many soldiers and horses there are in Zhengyangmen, and whether you can fight with the Tartars!" ”

Hearing that the Tatars were killed at Zhengyangmen, Zhu Houzhao couldn't hold back the excitement in his heart, he had only one goal, to lead the troops to fight with the Tatars, in his opinion, as long as he had courage, he would definitely be able to win, he felt that the Ming officers and soldiers had the same courage to fight with the Tatars to the end.

Zhang Mao didn't want to answer, but Zhang Heling told the truth: "Back to His Royal Highness the Prince, Zhengyangmen is stationed with soldiers and horses, a total of two guards, about 2,000 soldiers and horses!" ”

When Zhu Houzhao heard this, he asked in surprise: "Why is there so little?" Is that enough for a few people? ”

Zhang Heling didn't know how to answer, Zhang Mao put on a straight face: "Back to Your Highness, the defense of the nine gates of the capital must not be slack, the Beikou invaded the Beijing Division, the main direction of attack has not yet been determined, and there must be enough soldiers and horses to garrison all the city gates." The strength of the Beijing division is limited, and if it cannot be reasonably distributed, it will definitely cause a void in the defense in a certain direction, which will be taken advantage of by the Northern Kou! ”

Zhu Houzhao was furious: "What was taken advantage of by the Tartars? Zhengyang Gate is the gateway to my Ming capital, outside which is the Temple of Heaven and Earth, the Tartar soldiers and horses will definitely attack from the Zhengyang Gate, only two thousand soldiers and horses are stationed, and the Tartars are killed, not everything? No, no, immediately upload the order of the palace and immediately transfer 20,000 soldiers and horses over! ”

Zhang Mao thought for a while and replied: "The prince leads the troops, and the old ministers dare not disobey the decree. But ask His Royal Highness the Prince, the distribution of troops and horses in various places in the city has been completed, and I don't know where to recruit troops and horses to garrison? ”

In a word, Zhu Houzhao was stunned.

Zhu Houzhao's understanding of military affairs is basically on paper, and Shen Xi's topic only involves the strategic level, and Zhu Houzhao has never considered such a realistic question as where the soldiers and horses come from.

Zhu Houzhao asked puzzledly: "Have all the soldiers and horses of the Beijing Division been arranged?" The palace does not believe it, the palace orders must be dispatched to Zhengyangmen as soon as possible, preferably cavalry, the palace must personally lead the army out of the city to fight with the Tartars! ”

If Zhang Mao still wanted to compromise before, but when he heard that Zhu Houzhao was going to personally lead the troops out of the city, he immediately made up his mind and refused to cooperate. Obviously, he didn't want to watch the Ming Dynasty be buried in Zhu Houzhao's hands, with the firmness of the capital, how could the Tatars be able to capture it in a short time? But if he is tossed by Zhu Houzhao, maybe the capital will be broken overnight, and he Zhang Mao will probably be ridiculed by future generations as a joke for the ages.

Zhang Mao raised his face: "The prince wants to transfer troops, please coordinate with the cabinet, the military department, and the governor's office of the five armies, the old minister has no authority to transfer troops!" ”

Zhu Houzhao was angry, he looked at Zhang Mao for a long time, and finally had to compromise, flicked his sleeves, and secretly thought: "My father arranged for me to preside over the overall situation, but these old ministers below don't give me face." The history books are right, these ministers are not credible, if it is a peaceful year, or everyone is vying to be a minister and loyal minister, but when the war is torn, they only care about their own safety, and even think of surrendering to Chengcheng in exchange for fame and wealth when they invade from abroad. Or eunuchs are obedient and honest, just like Zhang Yuan and Liu Jin, although sometimes they are really annoying, but at least they are loyal to me! ”

Zhu Houzhao said: "Uncle Guo, you don't have any extra soldiers and horses to dispatch in the Beijing camp?" ”

"Uh......"

Zhang Heling didn't know how to answer for a while, but seeing Zhang Mao staring at him, there were signs of murder in his eyes, Zhang Heling knew that he had to stand on the same front as Zhang Mao, because his little nephew was indeed unreasonable, and following his arrangement would definitely cause a big incident.

Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling, the two brothers, care about their own interests, and sticking to the capital is the only correct decision for them, if they follow Zhu Houzhao's orders and send troops to fight against the Tatars in the wilderness, even Zhang Heling feels that there is hope of victory.

Zhu Houzhao saw that his uncle didn't agree, and his anger rose from his heart, and he shouted: "This palace can be seen, you think this palace is a child, right?" So what do you want this palace to do in Zhengyangmen, to accompany you to perform monkey shows? ”

Everyone present was silent, the prince was powerful, although he couldn't do anything to Zhang Mao and Zhang Heling, but to the people below, Zhu Houzhao might not be polite, and no one wanted to become the target of killing chickens and monkeys.

"Report ......"

The scout's anxious voice came again, "Tatar soldiers and horses, stationed five miles south of Zhengyangmen, the number is unknown!" ”

Zhu Houzhao said coldly: "I heard it, the Tartars have arrived at the door of the house, and they are stationed five miles outside the city, let me see...... It should be over there, I'm angry with this palace, this palace wants to see Young Master Liu, and Ma Shangshu, how did they promise this palace in the first place? And Gonggong Xiao, let them come to see the palace together! ”

Zhang Mao said: "His Royal Highness the Prince, it is inconvenient for the ministers and the six ministries to go to Zhengyangmen, please move the prince elsewhere and summon him again!" ”

"Why not? Afraid of being served in one pot, right? Now that Zhengyangmen is in danger, what is there to be afraid of? Hongu ...... Forget it, Bengong will go back to Damingmen, let them go there to see Bengong, Bengong should ask them well, why are they so perfunctory to Bengong, talking doesn't count, and letting Bengong act as their puppet, it's like a monkey? ”

After speaking, Zhu Houzhao went down to the Zhengyangmen City with indignation, and drove to Daming Gate in a car.