November 6th. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

Jingshi, Zhengyangmen.

As the main gate of the capital, Zhengyangmen's position among the nine gates is unparalleled. Zhengyangmen is taken down, the six departments and the temples and the yamen are in front of you, and many courtiers of the Ming Dynasty can be captured in one net, and the Ming army has no command, and it will inevitably collapse without a fight, and the capital can be taken down overnight. Because of this, Zhengyangmen was targeted by the Tartars and then put all their strength, the total strength of the two sides involved in the war was as much as 50,000, including more than 30,000 Tartars, less than 20,000 Ming troops, and the battle situation was extremely tragic.

Unlike the previous battles, this time the Tatars were well prepared, and the offensive came in waves, often the previous attack had just failed, and a new offensive had already been launched, and I don't know when the moat had been filled with dense corpses, and the blood was flowing under the walls, and the air was filled with a strong smell of gunpowder smoke and blood.

Zhu Houzhao, the prince of the Ming Dynasty, came to the head of Zhengyangmen as a prisoner and went up to the top of the city tower to cheer for the soldiers. Zhu Houzhao was accompanied by two ministers, one was Xie Qian and the other was Li Dongyang, as well as many senior members of the six ministries.

The defenders of Zhengyangmen were originally disheartened, but in the presence of the prince and the elder of the pavilion, their morale was greatly boosted, and the battle was fought all day, and the Tatars were driven down from the city countless times.

Thankfully, there were no major deviations in the defense of the city gate and the urn city, and the battle ended with the loss of more than 8,400 soldiers and horses on both sides.

This was the day when both sides lost the most soldiers and horses since the beginning of the defense of Beijing.

Xie Qian and Li Dongyang, as envoys sent by the emperor to accompany the crown prince to supervise the war, were originally ordered to let the prince go to the city to boost the morale of the army, and then escort the prince away, ensuring safety as the first priority.

Who knew that Zhu Houzhao began to spread joy when he arrived at the city, running around, just like a wild horse that had escaped, it was not controlled at all.

Li Dongyang was somewhat majestic, and originally wanted to take advantage of the interval between the Tatar siege to "hardframe" Zhu Houzhao down the city, but the Tatar offensive was as fast as thunder, like a big wave at high tide, and the back wave pushed the front wave, endlessly, and there was no chance to evacuate at all.

In addition to using a large number of light ladders such as flying ladders, tiptoe flying ladders, and wooden flying ladders, the most terrifying thing is the compound car ladder. This kind of car ladder was originally stored in the Xuanfu arsenal siege equipment, by the car seat and the wide ladder combined, can be climbed by many people at the same time, its structure is similar to the gangway for boarding at the airport in later generations, the Tartars put the car ladder on the city wall, hundreds of Tartars through the stairs inside the car continue to climb the city wall, the two armies in the city to carry out hand-to-hand combat.

Therefore, for safety reasons, Xie Qian, Li Dongyang and others could only accompany Zhu Houzhao to the highest point of the Zhengyangmen City Tower, and all floors were heavily guarded.

Zhu Houzhao didn't feel frightened at all, and actually beat drums to cheer, while Li Dongyang and Xie Qian also witnessed the extremely tragic battle scenes.

"Whew!"

When the last group of Tatars finally withdrew from the Zhengyangmen city head and pushed the car ladder away from the city wall, Xie Qian breathed a long sigh of relief, and for a while he had a feeling of escaping death.

Although Dongyue is not the coldest time in the capital, but the temperature is close to zero degrees at this time, Xie Qian wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, and couldn't help but glance at Li Dongyang, Li Dongyang's face was relatively calm, Xie Qian thought: "It's still Binzhi's psychological quality is good, I can't stand this kind of occasion, it seems that I'm still old!" ”

Li Dongyang was very direct, and grabbed Zhu Houzhao's hand: "Prince, now that the Tartars have retreated, let's go down to the city tower and go back to the palace!" ”

Zhu Houzhao's face was full of excitement, and he shook off Li Dongyang's hand and shouted, "Scholar Li, we don't have to rush back to the palace." ”

"We didn't escape the Tartar offensive before it was so ferocious, but now that the Tartars have retreated, there is no reason to retreat, and then we have to show mercy to the soldiers of the three armies. After this battle, how many soldiers were killed, and how many people were disabled, how could this palace sit idly by? Mr. Xie, are you okay? ”

Xie Qian smelled the strong smell of blood in the air, faintly nauseated, he coughed twice, raised his hand to indicate that he was fine, but still persuaded him: "Prince, Your Majesty is concerned about your safety, it is better to go down to the city as soon as possible." ”

As a Wenchen, where did Xie Qian ever see such a bloody killing scene on the battlefield? Even if he just glanced at it through the lookout hole on the city tower, he couldn't stand it, let alone accompany the prince to the front line of the city to face the bloody scene of corpses all over the field.

Zhu Houzhao insisted: "I won't go back!" If the two gentlemen are unwell, then stay on the tower of this city to rest, and the palace can be alone! ”

Although the bear child was messing around, he acted in a hurry, without the slightest drag, and actually ignored Xie Qian and Li Dongyang, and ran directly to the staircase, "Oh, oh, oh" down the city tower.

Even if Li Dongyang is such a responsible minister, he can only choose to escape at this time, he doesn't want to see the bloody scene, but he still sent officials from the military department and the household department, as well as palace guards to accompany him, to escort Zhu Houzhao, and he followed Xie Qian to the staircase on the other side, which is directly connected to the horse road of the inner city wall, so there is no need to go to the front to walk around.

"Yu Qiao, are you okay?"

Li Dongyang saw that Xie Qian's face was pale and asked with concern.

"It's okay! With Tartar's previous experience in attacking Deshengmen, it is likely that a night battle will be launched tonight, so I think it is better to let the prince return to the palace quickly! Xie Qiandao.

Li Dongyang shook his head: "Night battle is not necessarily, there are not a few Diyi soldiers and horses lost today, these Tartar soldiers are not from the same tribe, it will take time to coordinate and replenish the troops, and it is estimated that the attack will have to be launched tomorrow morning at the earliest." Our sacrifice is also very great, we must purge the soldiers and horses as soon as possible, strengthen the defense of the Nine Gates, and not let Di Yi take advantage of the situation! ”

Xie Qian was a little dizzy, so he felt unwell when he saw the brutal killing scene, he held his waist and coughed, but Li Dongyang had no intention of stopping, and said the next battle arrangements while walking, Xie Qian could only follow helplessly, which aggravated his breath and cough.

Li Dongyang said: "Your Majesty relies on the crown prince, even if he is in power, he has no intention of removing the prince from his post as a supervisor of the country, obviously to cultivate the prince." Of course, the main reason is that although His Majesty's condition has improved, his complexion is not as good as before, and he may need to recuperate for a long time! ”

said that "it takes a long time to recuperate", but Xie Qian heard another meaning in Li Dongyang's words, if the emperor does not recover well, and the crown prince performs well, then maybe he will pass the throne directly to the crown prince.

When Zhu Youzhu noticed that his son was acting radically and was very different from his own personality, his initial choice was to guard against it and try to reverse his son's character, but in the end he found that it was in vain.

Of course, Zhu Youzhu will think at this time: My son may do some nonsense as he wants in the future, at that time my son is the emperor, and the ministers can't stop it, maybe they will poke out a lot of baskets, it is better to take advantage of my life now, when I can correct my son, let my son mess around, and see the feedback after my son's actions.

If the effect is good, then my son has a chance, and I don't have to worry about it as a father, then I will be very relieved to go. But on the other hand, if something goes wrong, I can correct it in time.

Xie Qian's breath was heavy, and he didn't comment, the two of them had already gone down the city tower at this time and came to the horse road on the inner side of the city wall, where the eight sedan chairs were already waiting. Li Dongyang waved his hand: "Yu Qiao, it's not early, the battle in Zhengyangmen must be reported to Your Majesty as soon as possible, I will go back to the palace first, you will accompany the prince back to the palace later, and you must not let the prince stay overnight in Zhengyangmen!" ”

Li Dongyang got into a sedan chair and left on the pretext of entering the palace to meet him, leaving Xie Qian on the head of the city.

Seeing the sedan chair descending the city wall and disappearing into the Daming Gate at the end of the chessboard street, Xie Qian was furious in his heart, and secretly thought: "The battle is over, before the results of the battle are counted, and the prince is not escorted back to the palace, you left by yourself, you are too easy to do this errand." Pity me, I have to stay and toss with the prince. ”

Xie Qian shook his head, and then went to the front of the city wall to see the prince.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao was condolences to the soldiers of Zhengyang Gate, comforting the wounded soldiers, and at the same time asking the officials of the military department and the household department to record in detail the lives and origins of the sacrificed officers and soldiers, and strive to send the pension as soon as possible.

Xie Qian pondered: "Although the prince is a little naughty, he always has the appearance of an emperor, and with his approachability, he may become a Ming monarch in the future." ”

Watching the officers and soldiers at the head of the city send the corpses of the dead Ming soldiers down, and the corpses of the Tartars were thrown down the city wall after cutting off their heads, and then poured fire oil on them, the air was stinking, and then raised his eyes to look at the devastation inside and outside the capital, Xie Qian couldn't help but feel sad, he couldn't help but think of the capital a few months ago, although it was not a prosperous era at that time, but at least the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the streets were noisy and lively, where was it so bleak as now?

"The more we go to the back, the more difficult it is to fight, and today we have almost killed three or four thousand people, plus those who died before, the number of soldiers in the city who can fight has dropped by two to three percent, and the soldiers are already stretched. Although His Majesty sent the crown prince to supervise the army, he did not dare to send troops and horses out of the city, attack the flank of Beikou, and destroy its siege equipment. ”

Just when Xie Qian was stunned, a general hurriedly climbed to the top of the city, this person Xie Qian knew, it was the Zhengyangmen guard, Sui Zhong, who had just been promoted from the general to the commander of the capital with the rank of deputy chief soldier.