On the banks of the Lightning River, Kaiping City.

There were two people standing at the head of the city, one was Xu Zhong, the commander of Kaipingwei, and the other was Zhang Lun, the commander of Taisun Youwei, who was brought over by Li Jinglong. The two of them stood on the north wall of Kaiping, and as far as the eye could see, there was no trace of any figure. It was the middle of winter, the cold wind was howling on the grassland, the sky was getting more and more gloomy, and the air was filled with a smell of dampness. Xu Zhong stretched out his hand, although he was wearing gloves on his hand, he still felt a trace of coolness, turned around, and said, "Zhongxu, what do you think?" ”

Zhang Lun was originally a thousand households in Yongqing Wei, Hebei, and after being transferred to Wuxue for a year, he joined the Taisun Guard, and Wu Sheng recommended him to succeed him when he was transferred to the command of Jinzhou Wei. After the interview, Zhu Yunwen liked it very much, Zhang Lun was not only brave and abnormal, but also took the ancient and modern loyal people as an example, and could recite Wen Tianxiang's "Song of Righteousness", so he immediately decided to appoint him. This time, he was sent to come with Li Jinglong, one was to protect Li Jinglong's safety, and the other was to let Zhang Lun take a closer look at what Li Jinglong's level was. Li Jinglong was a Zhao Kuo-style figure in later generations, but Zhu Yuanzhang, who had been a military wizard for half his life, valued him very much, which made Zhu Yunwen very incomprehensible.

Zhu Yunwen did not read the "History of the Ming Dynasty" in his previous life, so he did not know Zhang Lun, although this person is not famous, his merits and honors are far from Sheng Yong and Ping'an, but he is much more than the two in terms of integrity, after the fall of Nanjing and the disappearance of Emperor Jianwen, the military ministers including Sheng Yong, Ping'an and others were surrendered one by one, but when Zhu Di sent someone to surrender Zhang Lun, Zhang Lun smiled and said: "Zhang Lun will sell himself as Ding Gonghu!" "Die in a rage. Duke Ding was Xiang Yu's subordinate during the conflict between Chu and Han, and let Liu Bang go in private, but Liu Bang beheaded Duke Ding after becoming emperor, on the grounds that future generations should not follow Ding Gong's example.

There were many soldiers and generals of the Jianwen Dynasty who died in battle, and there were many unyielding people, but at the last moment, only Zhang Lun was still unyielding.

Zhang Lun and Xu Zhong knew each other in their early years, but Zhang Lun's official position has always been lower than Xu Zhong, so he was very respectful to Xu Zhong and said, "General Xu, are you referring to His Royal Highness King Ning?" ”

"Yes," Xu Zhong exhaled, quickly turning into a cloud of white mist in the air, and said: "There were no more than 1,000 Mongolian cavalry outside Kaiping City before, and His Royal Highness King Ning brought nearly 50,000 cavalry, and he has been out of the city for more than three days, but he has not turned back, so he will be a little worried." ”

Zhang Lun said indifferently: "Yes, the emperor's edict is to sweep away the Mongolian army around Kaiping, but King Ning mobilized 50,000 cavalry, 20,000 in Daning, 20,000 in Guangning, and 10,000 in Beiping, 50,000 troops are enough to fight Helin, and it was nothing more than King Zhongshan's attack on Mobei back then." ”

Xu Zhong's face was a little unsightly, and he said: "Zhongxuan, Zhongshan Wang Lingbei failed, there are other reasons, don't always talk about it." ”

Zhang Lun found that he was a little speechless, in the vicinity of Beiping, Xu Da's prestige was very high, Xu Zhong was also Xu Da's old subordinate for many years, and he couldn't hear others mention the stain of his old boss, so he had to hug his fists: "General Xu, the last general is gaffe, don't go to your heart." ”

Xu Zhong said "um" and said with a forced smile: "It's okay, Zhongxuan, it's not me who said you, you are not a good person, you don't have a doorkeeper on your lips, otherwise with your ability, you won't be able to command for so many years." ”

Zhang Lun froze, did not answer, and said after a while: "General Xu, do you think the Mongols will have treacherous schemes, with a small number of cavalry, lead our army deep, and wait for an opportunity to ambush our army." ”

Xu Zhong pondered for a while, shook his head and said: "I don't think so, in the past two years, there are many people who have fled back from the grassland, both Han and Mongolian, and they all say that the Golden Family is no longer able to control the situation, and the vendettas between the tribes in Mobei Mongolia have come and gone, and they can't gather the strength to encircle and annihilate my 50,000 cavalry." ”

"Why hasn't King Naning come back yet, and even many of the rangers we sent have not returned."

This, Xu Zhong hesitated for a moment, and was about to speak, when a rapid sound of horses' hooves sounded behind him: "General, the imperial court has an urgent military report." ”

The two hurriedly turned around, and Xu Zhong said, "Military report? Where is the messenger? ”

"Returning to the general, it's a six-hundred-mile rush from the imperial court, and the messenger is already waiting at the general's office."

Xu Zhong and Zhang Lun hurriedly rushed back to the command office, the messenger was a small banner of Jinyiwei, in his twenties, not tall, full of loyalty, and after checking each other's seals, Xu Zhong took the military newspaper, first checked whether the seal was complete, and then opened the military newspaper, in an instant, his face changed greatly, and said: "Wara sent troops?" 100,000 cavalry? How can it be? ”

The messenger did not answer Xu Zhong's question, but said: "General, the little one only needs to send the letter, I don't know anything about the content of the military report, and there is another one for King Ning, where is His Royal Highness King Ning now?" ”

Xu Zhong glanced at Zhang Lun and said, "Messenger, King Ning had already left the city three days ago, and the military report was sent to Jingshi at that time. Where His Royal Highness King Ning is at this time, Ben Jiang really doesn't know. ”

The messenger was a little embarrassed, and said: "The imperial court strictly ordered, the order of the imperial court must be sent to King Ning, I have to enter the grassland to find King Ning, can the general send me a guide and some people to escort me?" The small one only brought five guards, and I'm afraid that safety cannot be guaranteed. ”

Xu Zhong sighed and said, "If it is gloomy today, it is likely to snow heavily, and there are Mongolian rangers outside the city, and some of the rangers sent out by the general have not returned." It is too dangerous for the messenger to go out of the city. ”

The messenger smiled bitterly and said, "That can't be helped, even if there are knives in the sky and oil pots on the ground, I will go." ”

At this moment, Zhang Lun said, "General Xu, can you let me take a look at the military newspaper?" ”

"Absolutely."

After Zhang Lun read it, he said: "The news of the imperial court is a little late, King Ning left the city three days ago, the current situation is unknown, the top priority is to find King Ning as soon as possible, convey the imperial court's edict, and let him withdraw his army." Although the two adults Ying Guogong and Dingyuan Hou came at the same time, I am afraid it will be too late. General Xu, how many cavalry are there in the city? ”

Xu Zhong said: "There are only two thousand people. ”

Zhang Lun thought for a while and said, "I can allocate a thousand cavalry to the last general, and I will escort the messenger into the grassland to find King Ning and convey the imperial edict." General Xu stayed in Kaiping, responsible for receiving King Ning and waiting for the arrival of the two adults. ”

After Xu Zhong listened, he thought about it a little and said: "Zhongxuan, there are too many thousand, I can only give you five hundred cavalry, and you can match it with two horses, virtuous brother, it's not that my brother is not righteous, it's just that most of the cavalry was taken away by Cao Guogong, so I can only give you so much." ”

"Well, I'll go back and make arrangements," he said, turning to the messenger, "and in half an hour, gather at the north gate." Is that okay? General Xu? ”

Xu Zhong was very happy: "No problem, in half an hour, I will send you the most elite five hundred cavalry." ”

The messenger hurriedly said, "Thank you, two generals, thank you very much." ”

Half an hour later, the north gate was opened.

At the gate of the city stood five hundred horsemen, each carrying a spare horse, armed with a bow, two hundred arrows, and a long-handled sword, and the whole caravan was silent except for the occasional sound of the horses' noses. Zhang Lun looked at these cavalrymen carefully, and said in his heart: Although the guards are well-equipped and well-trained, they do not have this kind of invincible murderous aura in a million-strong army, no wonder His Royal Highness wants to send the escort army to the northern Xinjiang, and the soldiers who do not see blood are not good soldiers.

Xu Zhong introduced a group of hundreds of households and general banners to Zhang Lun, Zhang Lun chatted briefly, turned over his horse, unsheathed his long sword, pointed to the north, and said sharply: "Everyone, now there is the Mongolian army outside the city, I, Zhang Lun, want to lead you deep into the grassland, find the army of King Ning, and convey the military orders of the imperial court, are you afraid?" ”

"Don't be afraid, not afraid, not afraid!" Five hundred knights brandished long knives, and their voices shook Kaiping City like a tidal wave.

"Okay, good, everyone is good, come, I'll give you a drink." As he spoke, he raised his glass, drank it all, and then slammed it on the ground and laughed. The crowd did the same, and the ground was covered with crumbs from wine glasses.

Zhang Lun said loudly: "Brothers, let's go, and when we come back, we'll get drunk again." Walk. As he spoke, he took the lead, followed by the fifty cavalry of the escort army, and then the five hundred iron horsemen and messengers of Kaiping.

Snowflakes have fallen in the sky, in the heavy snow, only to see a group of black-armored cavalry like a torrent pouring out of Kaiping City, running towards a vast prairie, Zhang Lun's majestic singing voice came from the air: "The wolf smoke rises, the rivers and mountains look north, the dragon rolls, the horse neighses, and the sword qi is like frost ........"

Xu Zhong looked at the backs of Zhang Lun and the others, and couldn't help but feel his blood boiling......