Volume 2 The Wind and Rain of the Imperial Capital Chapter 101 Datong City

Three days later, Lu Jin's convoy finally came to the outside of Datong City.

Ten miles away from Datong, Lu Zhen could already see the tall, solemn and quaint city standing on the vast plain, like a loyal guard guarding the north of the Central Plains, wordless but firm!

This is a city worthy of respect, not only because the Ming Dynasty needs it to resist the attack of the Mongols from the north, but also because hundreds of years later, when it finds that it no longer needs to defend this land with its somewhat dilapidated body, it calmly turns around and uses the coal it has stored for thousands of years to feed more Chinese children.

It's a pity that hundreds of years later, people can't understand this city, the affectionate gift of this land to them, but they only excavate and destroy it unscrupulously, and finally make this city enough to make countless Chinese sons and daughters proud become dilapidated and decline. I just don't know if this selfless city will turn around again and give greater surprises to the local people when the time comes.

When he came to the city along the wide and straight official road, Lu Zhen sighed even more. No wonder the city of Datong has been guarding this land for hundreds of years, and is regarded as a thorn in the flesh by the Mongolian people, and it is impossible to completely collapse it by an earthquake, no wonder it can become the premier existence in the nine-sided town of the Ming Dynasty.

The wall of more than seven zhang high stands majestically there, which is more than twice as high as the wall of Guangling City. Moreover, the wall and the ground are not the usual 90-degree angle, but an existence of 80 degrees slightly inclined outward. As a result, when the enemy uses ordinary ladders to attack the city, it may be extremely difficult to even erect ladders.

Of course, what attracted Lu Jin's attention the most was the scars left on the rammed earth wall. It is the scar left by the years and the powerful enemies of the north on this city over the centuries, and it is also the city's most glorious military medal. That's the ironclad fact that it resists foreign enemies and protects the Central Plains in the rear!

It wasn't until he came to Datong City that Lu Zhen found that he really wanted to integrate into the Ming era in front of him, and the road in the future would definitely not be easy, but he must insist on going, not for anything else, just to pay tribute to this silent city, and he must also go forward.

When Lu Jin's heart was surging, the speed of the carriage did not slow down much, and soon, their group had penetrated into the wide and deep hole of the city gate.

Different from the city gate shown in some shoddy film and television dramas in later generations, the city gate of Datong is seven zhang deep, which means that the city wall is also so thick. The carriage walked for a while from entering to passing, and then they were stopped by the guards defending the city.

As an important military town in the north of the Ming Dynasty, the guards and defenses here are naturally extremely strict, and everyone who enters and leaves the city will be checked and guided, and then ordinary people will have to be searched before they can be allowed to enter the city. Only scholars who can show proof of their merits, or officials, can be exempted from being searched and searched.

When Lin Lie took out Lu Jin's official certificate and handed it to the people on the side to look at it, a trace of strangeness flashed in the eyes of these soldiers, and the person who led the group took a deep look at Lu Jin, who opened the curtain, and after confirming his appearance, he also hugged his fist at him as a respect.

Of course, the other party did not respect him because Lu Zhen was an official of the imperial court, but because Lu Jin's name had already spread in many cities in the north, and everyone knew that there was such a brave and fearless young county commander who resolutely led people to defend the city after the general defending the city was seriously injured, and finally won the victory. Such heroic figures, although the people admire them in their hearts, but those who are more admired are still those who serve as soldiers.

Seeing this, Lu Zhen just smiled, and gestured to the soldier's head, which made the other party feel honored, and for a while, even his back was straighter than just now.

However, at this time, what our Lu Xian Ling thought in his heart was a little out of the table. Seeing that this place was so closely inspected and defended, he was a little glad that he was lucky. If he hadn't replaced the original Lu County Commander, I am afraid that it would not be easy for him to blend into the Central Plains, and he would even be arrested by the border army as a spy or even killed with a knife.

Successfully drilled out of the city gate hole, but it does not mean that you have entered Datong City. In fact, they are still outside Datong City, because this is just Urn City!

The so-called urn city is a defense system built around the city. There are no dwellings here, just some equipment and weapons to defend the city. In the event of an enemy attack outside the city, the defenders will be able to build a second line of defense at the inner wall when the outer wall is breached. Moreover, because of the existence of the urn city in ordinary wars, the people can also be prevented from suffering any damage.

Only by passing through a passage several zhang wide and passing through a city gate can they really enter Datong City. Moreover, at the city gate in front, there were still soldiers guarding and conducting another inventory of every citizen. In addition, this city gate has another use, that is, to collect taxes, according to the entry and exit population, as long as it is not a famous person or official, entering and leaving the city gate is to pay money, which is similar to the highway toll station in later generations.

With these two city gates, coupled with the buffer of the urn city, it is not an exaggeration to say that Datong City Road is solid. Therefore, in some later film and television dramas, it is really ridiculous that someone can rush out of the city on horseback, and a group of defenders can't even catch up. As long as there is an abnormal movement inside, the defenders outside will have enough time to put on things like rejecting horses, plus sharp bows and crossbows, no matter how high your martial arts are, no matter how good your riding skills are, you can't think of breaking out of such a city.

After passing through the city wall that was more than five zhang high, but all of them were covered with city bricks, Lu Zhen and the others finally entered the interior of this important border town. What came into view was a wide, straight avenue, and there were no shops on the side of the road, only poplar trees of the same straight, stationed there like sentinels.

As a famous city in the north, Datong is not very lively, only dozens of pedestrians are walking on the road, and most of these people have their heads down, looking like they are in a hurry, and they are almost not looking around.

This is also easy to explain. As a border town of the Ming Dynasty, in addition to defending against foreign enemies, it is more important to prevent the spies of Mongolian people from mixing into it. After all, it is impossible for the enemy army to attack all the time, but their spy can come here at any time to spy on it.

Therefore, there are always soldiers and horses patrolling the city every day, and once they find any suspicious people, they will take them down and bring them back for interrogation. And they suspect that the standard of a person is the appearance of the other party when he walks, if there is a guy who always looks left and right, it is obviously the object of suspicion, for the safety of the city, it is better to take it first.

So the people of this city have become in the habit of walking with their heads down, just as they can pick up money bags dropped by others. Therefore, the business of this border city has always been not too ideal, and even the field is also opened in the following states and counties.

As we walked down the streets, we finally got better in the middle of the city, and the faces of the people were more relaxed, and their steps slowed down. Because you can already see some shops here, there are quite a few stalls along the street, and occasionally there are even a few dressed guys selling their furs and horses, which look very regular.

After all, the Han people are a strong and inclusive people. Although they have always been wary of the Mongolian people in the north, for these honest merchants, even Datong City has a place for them. Of course, it is not known how many military spies are watching them around these guys.

Generally speaking, the official yamen of a city is located in the center of the city, firstly, for the convenience of everyone, and secondly, it is also to take an impartial statement. However, because Datong City was always facing the attack of the Mongolian people in the north, those yamen were all placed in the south area, and only a few army command posts were placed in the north, so that they could respond in time when they were attacked.

Today's Datong City, headed by two officials, Yiwen and Wuwu, is in charge of all military and political affairs in the city.

The one who wrote was Shen Tianxing, the prefect of Datong, and the one who was martial was naturally Hu Sui, the chief soldier of Datong.

As for the later governor of Datong, who took charge of the military and government, there was no one at this time. Only when a great war breaks out will the imperial court appoint a high-ranking official with a temporary title of governor to preside over the overall situation - yes, the governor is not a fixed official position, it is just an alternative to the cha, after the matter is done, it is to be handed over and returned to the court. It was only a series of subsequent events that made this temporary official position permanently permanent, but in this way, the local official structure became too complicated.

When a dynasty is first established, the official structure is always clear. But the more later, the problem of overlapping powers became more serious, and in the late Ming Dynasty, there was also a governor, and even a governor who could manage the military and political affairs of several provinces at once, so that the original political envoy and governor became useless decorations.

Therefore, today's Datong prefect and general soldiers are still very happy, after all, they still have real power in their hands. Especially for the prefect, the day when he will be in charge of all government affairs and have the final say in everything will soon come to an end.

Thinking about these haves and nos, Lu Zhen finally stood in front of the prefect's yamen, which looked a little old and not very imposing: "The rule that this official does not repair the yamen has really been around for a long time." After complaining in his heart, he walked over with his official credentials and name......

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A new volume is unfolding, and Lu Jin, who is about to go to the capital, begs everyone to count the tickets as the road fare!!!