Although Emperor Chongzhen was eager and mean, he was not the kind of emperor who was mad, and when he heard that Yuan Chonghuan was sick, he immediately issued an edict and asked the Criminal Department to ask a famous doctor to take care of Yuan Chonghuan's illness; If the folk doctors can't see it well, you can ask the doctors from the Tai Hospital to treat Yuan Chonghuan.

Emperor Chongzhen's original intention when he said this was this.

Yuan Chonghuan has been imprisoned in the prison of the Criminal Department for more than half a year, during which his net worth and life are in the hands of the imperial court, and the imperial court is in the hands of Emperor Chongzhen. If during this period, Yuan Chonghuan died of illness without explanation, then the current public opinion and future history books will undoubtedly record the death of Yuan Chonghuan on the head of Emperor Chongzhen.

Chongzhen is an emperor who cherishes feathers and likes fame, and he doesn't want to carry this black cauldron in front of him and behind him. Even if Yuan Chonghuan really deserves to die, it must be executed openly after the Ming canonical punishment.

Therefore, Yuan Chonghuan must survive, at least until his case is interrogated and understood, even if there is only one breath left, he must come to the execution ground alive!

However, Wen Tiren listened to the emperor's words, but he would be wrong - the emperor wanted me to take care of Yuan Chonghuan for a good time, but Wan Sui Ye did not kill Yuan Chonghuan, but just wanted to knock this former Jiliao Governor, and he would continue to reuse it for him in the future. And once Yuan Chonghuan turns over his hand and is a generalissimo who leads the party, he will inevitably take revenge on Wen Tiren for framing him back then, and it will be terrible!

At this time, Wen Tiren was glad that Yuan Chonghuan suddenly fell ill - after all, this disease, it would take at least five or six days to recuperate, which was enough for Wen Tiren to analyze the current situation and consider future countermeasures.

And Ji Qingwen was not idle.

After retiring, he immediately found the two doctors in the Criminal Department, fed them with silver, and told them that Yuan Chonghuan's illness must be delayed until five days later no matter what, and he could only be cured slowly rather than in advance.

These doctors are the "prison doctors" in the criminal department, not the "imperial doctors" of the Tai Hospital. With their medical skills, it is a problem for them to be cured in advance, but it is not difficult for them to delay their illness for a few days, so they only need to prescribe some tepid medicine that strengthens the foundation and moistens the lungs every day for Yuan Chonghuan to eat, and the disease cannot be cured, but it will not deteriorate much.

So Ji Qingwen took advantage of this rare five or six days of free time to call Li Yan, Li Yuanyin and Huang Degong, and quickly left Beijing to go to Shanhaiguan.

Several people galloped all the way, and it only took one day to come to the bottom of Shanhaiguan.

Because Ji Qingwen was in a hurry, and for the convenience of riding a horse, he did not wear the earl's official uniform that had just been issued to him by the imperial court, but only wore a light suit. This made those guards who only recognized clothes and not people not recognize Ji Qingwen's identity, and asked Ji Qingwen to return immediately and not to harass military affairs.

Ji Qingwen was about to enter the pass, but he happened to see a group of patrol sergeants walking by in front of the pass, and looked up to see the leader, who seemed to have had several encounters with him in the battle of Beijing.

So Ji Qingwen shouted loudly: "This general, do you still recognize me Ji Qingwen?" ”

The general was stunned for a moment when he heard this, quickly tightened the reins, turned his head to look, hurriedly rolled off the saddle, and bowed to Ji Qingwen: "It turned out that Lord Ji was here, and he actually recognized me Li Benshen, and the last general was really flattered." ”

Ji Qingwen still remembered the name of this general, but in order to get close, he could only push the boat down the river and say: "Recognize, recognize, what...... During the First Battle of Beijing last year, I really remember the heroic appearance of General Li! ”

Li Benshen's face turned red, scratched his head and said, "What heroic posture does the last general have?" It's just that he has fought a few battles with Wu Shaoshuai, and it is not easy to survive from the battlefield by luck. Oh, I heard that Lord Ji was made an earl by the emperor, which is really gratifying, and the last general will say hello to the lord first. As he spoke, Li Benshen gave Ji Qingwen a deep look.

"It turned out to be Wu Xiang, Wu Sangui's father and son." Li Yuanyin reminded in Ji Qingwen's ear.

Ji Qingwen nodded, and then said to Li Benshen again: "It's easy to say, it's easy to say." This is the emperor's Longen, and when I finish my business, I will invite everyone to have a meal, which can be regarded as rejoicing with me. ”

As he spoke, Ji Qingwen changed his words and asked, "Then let me ask you, are you General Wu here?" ”

Li Benshen arched his hand and said, "Go back to the lord." I heard that today the old inspector Sun Chengzong is going back to Shanhaiguan, and General Wu has led the army out of the customs to meet the old inspector Sun. ”

The "Young Marshal Wu" in Li Benshen's mouth refers to Wu Sangui. Although in history, Wu Sangui's fame is many times greater than that of his father Wu Xiang, but now Wu Sangui is not yet famous, and he has to be called when introduced: This is the son of General Wu Xiang, the general of Shanhaiguan.

Similarly, Wu Sangui, who is only in his early twenties at the moment, is still a well-known loyal minister and filial son, far from being a strong contender for the title of the number one traitor in history, and has a close relationship with Ji Qingwen, and can be regarded as one of his little brothers.

So Ji Qingwen said: "That's right, I'm also here to greet Teacher Sun." Excuse me, go into the customs and say hello to you, 'Young Marshal Wu', and say that I, Ji Qingwen, are here. As he spoke, he took out a fifty taels silver ticket from his sleeve and stuffed it into Li Benshen's hand as usual.

Li Benshen squinted and saw the denomination of the silver ticket, and suddenly smiled and said, "How can you be embarrassed to let Lord Ji break the bill?" It was the last general's honor to do things for the lord. ”

After that, Li Benshen honestly stretched out his hand to take the silver ticket, carefully hid it in his arms, and assigned two soldiers who could do things under him, and led Ji Qingwen and his party to a clean office in Shanhaiguan to settle down, and then got on the horse and galloped towards Shanhaiguan.

Ji Qingwen saw Li Benshen leave, but he didn't want to be stuffy in the house, but went out to look at the world's first Xiongguan in front of him.

I saw that the city tower of Shanhaiguan is more than five zhang high, a city tower on the upper floor overlooks the north and south, and countless artillery, bows and crossbows, rolling stones, and sasafras are arranged on the city, and it seems that it is in a state of being in a state of being in a strict battle all the time. The two sides of the city tower are connected with the Great Wall, especially the east side has been connected to the sea, and a city wall goes deep into the sea, which is the "old dragon head" fortification built by Sun Chengzong, which completely cut off the way for the Manchurians to go south through the Shanhai Pass.

Li Yan saw the majestic posture of Shanhaiguan, and couldn't help but admire: "The old superintendent of Sun Chengzong really lives up to his reputation, there is such a majestic pass, and the Manchurian Tartars are empty at a glance from afar, and the so-called hope for the wind and can't escape." No wonder in the Battle of Beijing last year, the Manchurians had to make a detour from Mongolia and enter the Central Plains through Xifengkou. ”

Ji Qingwen said: "To defend the country, it has never been a strong city wall. The Manchurians could not break through the Shanhaiguan, so they went to attack Xifengkou. Xifengkou was also built like Shanhaiguan, so they went to fight Xuanfu and Datong...... Is it difficult to build all the northern Ming Dynasty into a high-rise city building like Shanhaiguan? If it really consumes property and people's power in this way, then if the Manchurians don't come to fight, the court itself will not be able to stand it first. ”

When Li Yan heard this, he thought about it for a long time before he said, "Brother Ji's words are almost reasonable. In the article "Speaking of Sword" by Zhuangzi that year, it was said: There are three swords in the world, the sword of the Son of Heaven, the sword of the princes, and the sword of the Shuren......"

Li Yan was about to explain in detail, but he saw a team of cavalry running in the distance, and the first person was heroic and energetic, it was Wu Sangui himself.

I saw Wu Sangui walking briskly on his horse, until he was only ten steps away from Ji Qingwen, then he strangled the reins, turned over and dismounted in a very chic and beautiful posture, arched towards Ji Qingwen, and said with a smile: "It turned out to be Lord Ji...... No, it's Lord Ji who has arrived, why don't you send someone to inform me in advance, and I will prepare early, so that I can entertain Lord Ji well. ”

Ji Qingwen also bowed his hand and saluted back: "General Wu and I are friends of life and death, why are you still making this false ceremony with me?" How? I sent someone here, and General Wu prepared in advance and invited me to eat fragrant and spicy food; I'm here in person now, did General Wu invite me to eat bran before he had time to prepare? ”

Wu Sangui laughed heartily and said: "I can't talk about eating bran vegetables, but this is a critical place on the front line, and there is no vacancy for any good wine and food, and the delicacies eaten by the same lord in Jiangnan are not comparable." But it just so happened that I went out hunting just now and shot a deer, two wolves, and a few rabbits, just to appetize the lord! ”