On the day when the Queen Mother officially set off on the "Eastern Hunting Tour", the entire imperial city began martial law from the time of the child. The so-called "Seven Gates of the Imperial City": Chang'an Left Gate, Tiananmen, Chang'an Right Gate, Xi'an Gate, Di'anmen - that is, Bei'anmen, Dong'anmen, plus the Daqing Gate south of Tiananmen, are all closed. Between the Forbidden City and the Seven Gates, the road is cleared and guarded, and pedestrians are prohibited.

At the beginning of Yin, that is, at three o'clock in the morning, Luan Yiwei Chen Fa drove the book outside the noon gate; At the first moment of the first month, that is, at five o'clock in the morning, the princes and nobles, civil and military officials, under the leadership of King Gong, came to the noon gate, ready to "kneel down" the Queen Mother's Luan.

The twilight is faint, and there is a large piece of pearl robe in front of the noon gate, and the top is brilliant. But what really attracts people's attention is neither this group of pro-noble civil and military officers, nor the various tricks of the Dharma driving books behind them.

The regulation of the noon gate is the east and west ends of the front city tower, each with the city platform stretching out to the south, and the top is also the yellow tile palace, commonly known as the "wild goose wing building"; The city towers on the east and west sides, together with the main city tower on the north side, "surrounded by three mountains", constitute a square square with the word "concave", and the law drives the Lu book, the pro-noble civil and military, are all in this square.

This square can be regarded as the "inner square" of the noon gate. Out of this "inner square", it is still a blue stone paving of water, and the regulations are more spacious and spacious, which can be regarded as the "outer square" of the noon gate.

At this moment, on this "outer square", that is, south of the "Yanyi Tower" in the east and west of the city, 1,000 cavalry of the Xuan Army Guards Regiment were neatly lined up.

The thousand cavalry were divided into ten teams, each with one hundred horsemen, twenty horsemen in a row, and a team of five in a row. East and west. There are five teams each. From north to south, they are lined up in a row, leaving a wide passage in the middle.

Up and down the city tower of the noon gate, inside and outside the square, people probed their brains, and their eyes fell on the thousand cavalry of the Xuan Army.

A small flat-topped bowler hat with a short blue cloak. Dark blue top, sky blue pants, dark yellow side of the pants, shiny soft leather riding boots.

This was the first time that the Xuan Army had "appeared" in Beijing in its "true colors" -- that is, wearing Western military uniforms.

Previously, the only time Xuan Jun appeared in Beijing in a structured manner was when Guan Zhuofan suppressed the competition and returned to Beijing in triumph. In the court, the prince and the civil and military, the edict was aimed at welcoming the noon gate. At that time, Guan Zhuofan, who was pretending to be low-key and modest, originally wanted to ride alone and enter the palace to see His Majesty; But the fate is brilliant. "Choose five hundred elites and enter the city with the attendants. With a strong voice. The matter involves the dignity of the imperial court and the prestige of the country, and the minister should not be neglected." So Guan Zhuofan had no choice but to bring 500 cavalry of the Guards Regiment to "enter the city with the attendants".

But in order to avoid being shocking, the five hundred cavalry all changed into eight banner suits. In the city of Beijing, up and down, I only saw angry horses like dragons, and sonorous armor; Most people can't imagine that the Xuan army is marching and fighting outside, from head to toe, all dressed like American foreign devils.

Things are easy to change, and now when it comes to "foreign", what Guan Zhuofan wants is not to be "modest and cautious", not to continue to sell dog meat on the head of a sheep, but to take advantage of the good shape, take advantage of the wind, vigorously and vigorously determine the situation. What's more, Xuan Jun's order to "train troops in Western France" was already seen in Mingfa's edict, and Guan Zhuofan's own control of the political situation was also far from comparable to that of the year, and people's acceptance of new things was also strengthened - changes in various subjective and objective conditions determined that it was time for Xuan Jun to "perform in his true colors".

Look at the thousand cavalry again: on the left, a long saber hangs from the waist; On the right, there is a "Seven Beads" carbine carried from the left shoulder to the right, the barrel of which glows with cold light, and is firmly fastened to the saddle by a brass live buckle.

It was early winter, at dawn, it was even more windy and frosty, and the relatives and civilians present shrank their heads and brains, rubbed their hands and stomped their feet, some people held their hands, and some people still snorted. But these thousand Xuan troops, one by one, straightened their waists on the horse, did not squint, and from beginning to end, they did not even cough. Only the heavy snort and occasional neighing of the war horse broke the silence and added to the solemn meaning of Jin Ge.

It is the short cloak on their bodies that always hunts.

The clothes and armor are distinct, the weapons are sharp, and the weather is strict, and from a distance, many people feel a faint chill in their hearts.

At the third quarter of the first month, on the tower of the noon gate, suddenly the bells and drums rang in unison, this is a preview: the little emperor is about to be driven out of the noon gate by the empress dowager of the two palaces, and at the same time-

The bells and drums rested, in the direction of Tiananmen Square, the chariots and chariots, the horses Xiaoxiao, and a team of chariots and horses slowly galloped towards the noon gate.

In front of the noon gate, among the princes and nobles, civil and military officials, their ears were pointed, and they heard something strange: the sound of the wheels rolling on the ground was strange!

Soon, the caravan entered the "outer square".

This is also a group of cavalry of the Xuan Army Guards Regiment, about two hundred people, the people are more strong, the horses are more majestic, and they are obviously the best of the best. In addition, the uniforms of this team of soldiers were quite different from the thousand soldiers on the field: the neckline, cuffs, placket, brim, and cloak were all inlaid with golden lace, and a golden tassel belt hung on the chest.

However, the most eye-catching thing is not these golden things, because what really shines with golden light is the carriage they huddle in front of them.

This car is a strange thing!

This car has four wheels! Moreover, the size of the front and rear wheels is different, the front wheel is smaller, and the rear wheel is larger; The wheels are also not installed under the carriage, the front wheels are in front of the carriage, and the rear wheels are at the back of the carriage, and they are not in contact with the carriage. If you look closely, you can see that the front and rear wheels are connected by a downward curved arc frame, and the carriage is placed on this curved frame, and the carriage is equivalent to suspended.

Also, the wheel itself looks very different from our wheel! Whether it is the axle, the spokes or the outer ring, it is much thinner than our wheels, especially the outer ring, which is black and painted, and it doesn't look like it's made of wood?

The carriage is also a rarity! I don't know what kind of exotic wood is used, I don't know what kind of lacquer is used, the color of crimson is polished to a shiny tile—that's it, the most strange thing is that the upper half of this carriage, front and back, left and right, a large piece of glass, crystal clear—hey, can the carriage be made like this?

The whole car, the handiwork is extremely fine, carved and carved, gilded and chiseled silver, overflowing with brilliance, dazzling, even the frame is finely carved, depicting gold and silver - which is this car? If it is specific and subtle, it is placed on the table or on the multi-treasure shelf, it is a very luxurious and exquisite thing to enjoy!

At this time, it is not yet the middle of the day, and at the turn of autumn and winter, the days are short and the nights are long, and the sky has not yet completely broken, this car can be seen in front of everyone, thanks to the four corners of the carriage, are equipped with a glass cover of the "gas death wind lamp" - the lights inside, I don't know what mechanism is used, bright as this? Around the car, the light shines like day!

*

(Yesterday's matter was not completely over, and we have to continue today, so it's even more late, sorry.) Tomorrow it should be able to return to normal)

*(To be continued......)