After the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Beijing, the emperors of all dynasties worked Juyong Pass, the throat of western Beijing, definitely more than any pass on the Great Wall, and they were more willing to spend money.

At the junction of the Taihang Mountains and the Yanshan Mountains, the military capital formed by the ancient orogeny movement is no less steep than any passage in the Taihang Eight Mountains.

And Juyong Pass is located in the most precipitous throat of the military capital.

The east and west mountains are sandwiched, the east is Cuiping Mountain, the west is Jinjiao Mountain, and Juyongguan is like an iron bolt, lying in the middle of the mountain valley between Jinjiao Mountain and Cuiping Mountain.

Juyongguan's tall Guancheng is connected to the Great Wall that winds north on Cuiping Mountain to the east, and goes straight to Badaling.

The entrance to the valley under the Badaling Great Wall is the north entrance of the military capital where Juyong Pass is located.

To the west, it leads directly to the steep Jinjiao Mountain Ridge, and connects with the Shixialing Great Wall all the way to the north.

The Badaling Great Wall and the Shixialing Great Wall are like open right-hand arms, in the shape of an inverted figure-eight, protecting the military capital guarded by Juyongguan in the middle.

In addition, there is a south entrance in Juyongguan, the same building has the tall and majestic Nanguan City, the shape of the Guancheng is similar to the North Guancheng, and there are also the north and south urn cities.

From the north entrance to the south entrance, the road stretched for dozens of miles, leaving enough time for the defenders of Juyong Pass to prepare for war.

However, it is such a Xiongguan that seems impossible to be breached, but it has been breached several times in history.

The Mongols broke through under this Xiongguan, and the Jurchens also broke through under this Xiongguan.

In the end, even Li Zicheng's group of poorly equipped peasant troops broke through under this Xiongguan.

At noon on the sixth day of the first month of November, when Emperor Chongzhen, accompanied by many entourages, took more than 16,000 people from the first town of the Guards of Ma Shilong and Qian Yuanyu to come to the north of Juyong Pass again.

With the steep terrain of the east and west mountains outside the military capital, the tall and majestic iron lock of Juyong Pass, and the complex structural layout of the north and south entrances of Juyong Pass, if there is no heavy artillery and no internal response, it will be difficult for any hostile force in this era to attack and take down in the face of such a pass!

Now I came to Juyong Pass again, especially on the Beiguan City of Juyong Pass, looking at the rolling mountains on the left and right sides and the Great Wall on the ridge of the high mountains, Emperor Chongzhen's heart is even more convinced of this!

The last time Emperor Chongzhen came to Juyongguan to inspect the defense and returned to Beijing, he took advantage of the reason that the guards in the area of Juyongguan were lax and the armaments were empty, and the chief military officer of Jizhen who was involved in the defense of Juyongguan and a group of waste dim sum killed the heads of the nobles of the Jingshi Honorables, and raided the homes and houses, and cleaned up the bottom of the day.

The army that took over the left side of Jizhen to guard Juyong Pass was immediately replaced by five military battalions among the three major battalions of the Beijing Division.

Moreover, the 3,000 battalions of the three major battalions of the Beijing Division, mainly cavalry, were transferred to Miyun between Juyong Pass and Gubeikou, which can be regarded as adding another insurance for the defense of Juyong Pass.

Jiang Yingzhao, who was ordered to come out of Jiangwutang to serve as the chief officer of the Fifth Military Battalion of the Beijing Division, was one of the veterans who stuck to Liaodong with Sun Chengzong and others.

What he was most accustomed to doing, and what he valued the most, was to reinforce and build facilities again and again in the already fortified city where he was stationed, which was already very strong.

Therefore, when Emperor Chongzhen came to Juyong Pass again, not only was there another pass between the south and north entrances of Juyong Pass, but also the north pass of the city had undergone drastic reconstruction and expansion.

Except for the Juyongguan Water Gate on the Wenyu River that flows through Juyongguan, there is no change, and the Beiguan City after the expansion is all the anti-heaven design of the inner and outer double urn cities.

Outside the original urn city of the north gate of Juyong Pass, it was pushed two miles to the north, and a huge urn city in the shape of a horseshoe was added by digging stones and stones, which made the defense depth of Juyong Pass longer, and also made the Wenyu River outside the water gate of the north gate of Juyong Pass more impeccable.

The Wenyu River, which flows through Juyongguan, has not had much water in later generations, but at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the surface and water volume of the Wenyu River were still very considerable.

However, the reason why Jiang Yingzhao, Heiyunlong and others decided to build an additional urn city outside the original urn city was because the amount of water in the Wenyu River, no matter how big or small, would freeze in the cold winter wax moon.

If there is a weakness in the defense of the city of Juyongguan, then this weakness is its water gate.

The problem is also universal.

Among all the passes along the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty, where there is a water gate, the water gate is a weak point in the defense of the city.

Because the Nine Sides are all in the north, in winter, all the weather is cold, and after the rivers freeze, you can go away, and the water gate will be exposed to the enemy.

Behind the Water Gate, there is often no way to build a strong urn city due to the topography.

Such a problem, of course, also exists in the dangerous pass of Juyong Pass.

Because the Wenyu River in the military capital of Shencheng passes under Juyong Pass from north to south, and at the place where it passes through the Guancheng, as part of the defense facilities of Juyong Pass in the north of Guancheng, there are one or two double-hole round arched water gates under the tall city wall.

However, the urn city built by the veteran Jiang Yingzhao in Beiguan City turned the frozen surface of the Wenyu River in winter into a new dead land.

Although the Wenyu River was not included in the newly built urn city, the left wall of this long and narrow urn city was built along the Wenyu River.

In this way, not to mention the newly built forts on the mountains on both sides, the dense Hongyi cannons and general cannons at the head of the city of Wengcheng can completely cover the entire river surface.

If the enemy gallops across the Wenyu River, which freezes in winter, they will be greeted by a covering or devastating blow of artillery and bows and arrows at the head of the city.

On the afternoon of the sixth day of the first month of the second year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen, who had just led a large number of men and horses to arrive at the northern Guancheng of Juyong Pass, had not been long in the city, and personally climbed the tall urn city made of boulders and cement in the middle of the military capital, accompanied by the commander of the Beijing camp who had long been here, Xuancheng Bowei Shitai, the commander of the fifth military camp, Jiang Yingzhao, the commander of the 3,000 battalions, Hui'an Bo Zhang Qingzhen, the chief military officer Wang Tingchen, and a number of accompanying ministers from the Beijing Division.

Li Guowei, the first assistant of the cabinet, was ordered to stay in Beijing to assist the Empress Zhou to handle some government affairs that could only be handled by foreign courts, and urged the remaining personnel of the military department, household department, and engineering department among the six ministries to transport all kinds of grain, grass, ammunition, and heavy materials for the army on the front line of Juyong Pass.

Therefore, among the ministers, only Xu Guangqi accompanied the royal car to Juyong Pass.

At this time, following the emperor's side, in the afterglow of the setting sun, Xu Guangqi looked at the enemy border fort looming on the Badaling in the distance, and said leisurely:

"Unexpectedly, Juyong Pass is so steep! If he doesn't come, if he comes, with the strong army brought by His Majesty this time, he may not be able to return to the north! ”

Xu Guangqi, who originally had an opposition to Emperor Chongzhen's imperial expedition, has rapidly changed his original attitude within two days since he entered the south entrance of Juyong Pass, all the way, and now he is waiting for the head of Beiguan City.

As long as the emperor in front of him does not learn from Yingzong Zhu Qizhen back then, and has to lead the army out of Juyong Pass and go north to find the enemy army for field battles, then sitting firmly in Juyong Pass, the safety of the emperor himself will not be a problem.

Thinking of this, Xu Guangqi took his eyes to look at the eunuch who was following the emperor closely, and thought, it would be good for the big eunuch in front of him not to learn from Wang Zhen back then!

Emperor Chongzhen listened to Xu Guangqi's words, took a deep breath of the cold air above the city, and then slowly spit it out, and said:

"I'm afraid that Jianyu will learn that Juyong Pass is so steep and there is a large army, but he will not dare to come!"

After Emperor Chongzhen said this, he immediately burst out laughing with ease.

And many civil officials and military generals accompanying Guancheng also laughed.

Only a few people such as Xu Guangqi and Niu Juming suddenly showed a look of surprise or deep thought after hearing this.

Xu Guang turned his eyes to observe the emperor who was looking at the north, and thought to himself, Your Majesty, you personally sit in Juyong Pass with the respect of the Ming Emperor, as soon as this news spreads, the Jianyu army will definitely not be able to withstand such a temptation, I am afraid that it will go to the soup and fire, and the slave chief will definitely come to attack the pass!

The more Xu Guangqi pondered this question in his heart, the more he felt that the young emperor in front of him was unfathomable.