The sky was cloudy, and the wind on the high slopes was like a knife.

Zhu Qiming stood on the high slope, watching the scene of the gathering of five people at the bottom of the valley from a distance, and felt a lot of emotion in his heart. Ten days ago, he was still in the Forbidden City to appreciate a large group of show girls, Yingying Yanyan, and was mistaken for the "little father-in-law", who had long clothes and wide sleeves, and had the elegance of a young prince, and felt that time was long in calm. Now two hundred miles away from the capital, but to wear a strong and stubborn, gallop in the wilderness, with a heroic spirit to awaken the blood of five thousand elite soldiers, in the fight with the fierce Warat iron cavalry, to be an iron-blooded tough guy admired by his subordinates, at this time the time is no longer long, the end of the battle is opened, the victory can be decided between the lightning and flint, or fame, or broken bones and ashes.

As far as the eye can see, you can see the undulating mountains in the north, while the vast plains in the south are one after another. It belongs to the junction of the Yanshan Mountains and the North China Plain. Five miles to the east, the Tang River and the Chao River meet, forming a "Ya" shape, and on the inner side of the confluence of the two rivers, it is the seat of Miyun County.

Miyun County is directly under the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture, and later Shuntian Prefecture was promoted to Changping County as a state in the ninth year of Zhengde, so Miyun and Huairou County and Shunyi County were placed under the jurisdiction of Changping Prefecture.

The place name of Miyun has a long history, and the "Miyun does not rain" in "Yi Little Animal" is a metaphor that things are brewing and have not yet occurred. In ancient times, there was a place name union that can illustrate the importance of Miyun's geographical location.

"Dense clouds do not rain and drought, although the three rivers are difficult to be rich in jade fields,

Huairou has the way, all obey the knowledge, and Shunyi is a good hometown. ”

"Your Highness, it's time for lunch." Liang Gang walked quickly to the high slope, and followed Zhu Qiming's gaze and looked into the distance, "Your Highness, thirty percent of the five thousand war horses are unusable, which is easy to say, thanks to the 100,000 taels of silver sent by the King of Yu, Yuefu has already prepared enough good horses, which can be replaced immediately." It's just that half of the weapons of the 5,000 people are useless, and this matter is a bit troublesome. ”

"The Ministry of Industry has summoned skilled craftsmen to make long and short knives day and night, and the materials will be ready in 20 days."

Originally, it didn't take too much time to build thousands of long and short knives, but Zhu Qiming put forward strict requirements for the standard and quality of the knives, which made it difficult for the Ministry of Industry.

Zhu Qiming moved into the ramp, and when he saw Tang Ji standing solemnly at the bottom, he wanted to run down the hill, but was stopped by Liang Gang.

"Your Highness, the Beijing army often comes to Miyun to take turns to defend the border, so there are three barracks left, which can garrison 3,000 people.

Zhu Qiming waved his hand, "Squeeze first, I expect to be able to build the barracks within two days." Yan Bi trotted all the way to Tang Ji.

"Your Highness, these people are not good at field warfare, they must first train and then fight, otherwise they will definitely be a rabble." Tang Ji was in his early twenties, but he did not show the slightest inadequacy, on the contrary, he was very calm, even at the critical juncture when the war was in which the soldiers were unusable, he also showed a very incommensurate old way with his age.

"Yes, practice individual combat first, and then practice rushing and killing. It's just that time is running out, with a two-month period, it can't be too late! ”

"Two months?" Tang Ji looked up at the sky, and then shook his head, "It's a pity that the heavens are not beautiful, the wind blows vigorously for days, but there is not a single snowflake in sight, now the mountain roads everywhere are smooth, the Tartars are afraid that they will come at any time, and I don't know when the heavy snow will close the mountain, whether we can squeeze out two months of training time, it is up to the heavens to decide!" ”

That's a problem! Zhu Qiming frowned slightly, then waved at Liang Gang and Tang Ji, and motioned for the two to go back to the barracks with him.

The barracks built by Liang Gang are all wooden and stone structures, scattered on the hillside. Zhu Qiming stopped in front of his barracks and watched for a while, thinking that although the barracks were built with local materials, hundreds of laborers from the Yue Mansion had been busy here for a few days, and the labor cost account still had to be calculated.

"Commander Liang, the war horses sent by the Yue Mansion must be accounted for at the market price, and the equipment damage of more than 300 guards must also be accounted for, and the Ministry of Household and Industry must be urged to repay the debts in the future! Also, the barracks built and under construction are estimated by you, this barren mountains and mountains are not easy, it has to be several times higher than the mansion in the capital, you just have to ask for a higher price, and the Ministry of Engineering will not think about repaying the account afterwards! ”

"Huh?" Liang Gang couldn't believe his ears, but he was afraid that he was muttering in his heart at this moment: When did King Yue become so stingy? "Your Highness, the barracks are still forgotten, right? It's nothing more than a little salary! ”

"You don't understand!" Zhu Qiming went into a slightly simple barracks, and when he saw several guards setting up meals, he turned around and beckoned Liang Gang and Tang Ji to enter.

"This king is not stingy. Let the Manchu civil and military know how difficult it is to defeat the Tartars! The court had to be frugal, use the money where it should be used, and find ways to replenish the treasury. Otherwise, if everything is business as usual after the bloody battle, and everyone wants to live a comfortable life, how much benefit will a victory of the king be? ”

"Yes."

Zhu Qiming sat down at the dining table on the high platform, and waved his hand to signal Liang Gang and Tang Ji to take a seat at the dining table below.

Zhu Qiming glanced at the meal table and saw that although the meal was vulgar, it was far better than eating vegetables and swallowing bran. It is difficult to see fruits and vegetables at this time, so there is only a big bowl of rice on the case, covered with pickles, and a little meat underneath, which is the standard food for every soldier, according to Zhu Qiming's own military order, his meal as a prince is no exception.

Tang Ji pulled several mouthfuls of rice on the pickle chop, raised his neck, as if he suddenly thought of something, and immediately hurriedly swallowed a mouthful of food. "Your Highness, north of Miyun is the territory of the Wuliangha Sanwei, will the Warat people enter Koumiyun through the Wuliangha Sanwei?"

Duoyan Wei, Taining Wei, and Fuyu Wei are collectively known as the Wuliang Ha Sanwei, the same as the Guanxi Seven Guards, and belong to the Ming Dynasty's fetters of the Ming Dynasty, composed of the descendants of the Ming Dynasty of the old Mengyuan Department, Yongle was guarded by King Ning before Yongle, and the Wuliang Ha Sanwei was not a place of fetters, but the actual territory of the Ming Dynasty. When Ming Chengzu launched the Battle of Jingjing, in order to relieve the worries of seizing the throne in the south, he had a secret discussion with Sanwei, and the quasi-Sanwei broke away from King Ning and became a vassal of his own, and exchanged markets with the Ming Dynasty in Guangning and other places.

Chengzu's expedient measures left a great aftermath and profoundly affected the geostrategic pattern of the northern Ming Dynasty.

Thinking of the past events of the Battle of Jingyan, Zhu Qiming was a little gloomy, and couldn't help but throw himself on the case. "Now the Ming Dynasty can't control the Uliangha Sanwei, they first colluded with the Tatars, and then fought fiercely with Wara, so Warat took the Wuliangha Sanwei into Koumiyun, this move is not difficult, and the Sanwei may take advantage of the fire to rob."

Miyun is different from Xuanfu, south of Miyun is a vast plain area, towns and villages are dense, if the Tartar thieves enter from here, the consequences will be extremely serious, and it will even endanger the safety of the capital!

"Your Highness is right. The most convenient passage for Tartar thieves to enter the Kou is still Gubeikou. Tang Ji answered, and hurriedly went to pull his bowl of rice.

Zhu Qiming shook his head, "No, I'm afraid it's not easy for the Warat people to detour to Gubeikou, and I, Daming, set up a checkpoint in Gubeikou, and stationed heavy troops there, and usually only let business travelers and foreign envoys enter the customs, so it is not a place we should pay attention to." ”

"Then we should focus on the two river valleys."

"Yes, the river valley is the passage. The Ming did not build a castle in the border area along the river valley, and several guards near Miyun County focused on defending the city, and intercepting Tartar thieves was not their forte, which provided an opportunity for Tartar thieves to take advantage of. ”

Tang Ji swallowed a mouthful of food, opened his eyes and thought for a long time, then suddenly turned his head to look out of the door, "This ghost weather, I don't know when it will snow!" ”

Liang Gang on the side stretched out his chopsticks and knocked on the edge of the bowl, "Snow is not necessarily a good thing, if the road is long and slippery, this commander will have to worry about the supply of 5,000 men and horses!" ”

Although Tang Ji was Liang Gang's subordinate, Tang Ji had military exploits and was ordered by Zhu Qiming to assist in commanding 5,000 elite soldiers, so Liang Gang still had to be a little polite to him.

"Commander Liang is right!" Tang Ji said humbly.

Then the three of them just buried their heads in the meal and said no more.

Suddenly, Shi Feng broke in with the cold wind outside the door, "Your Highness, according to the report of the lookout soldiers, six horsemen and horses appeared about five miles away from Beishan in the north direction, looking suspicious, and they were suspected of being Tartar thieves. ”

Liang Gang and Tang Ji had already finished their lunch, and when they heard this, they all turned their heads to look at Zhu Qiming, their expressions slightly excited.

"Take a hundred soldiers over and have a look." Zhu Qiming ate the last bite of rice in the bowl, desperately recalling the description of the topography and landform characteristics of the Miyun area in the "Seven Strategies of Pingyu", but because he had not investigated on the spot, he only found some vague impressions. "Wait, we have come here, and we do not know when and where the Tartar thieves will enter, so we must act with great care, and order Wang Lie to lead a thousand horsemen and horses to respond. Well, this king went over and looked. ”

Zhu Qiming ordered twenty close guards to meet with the hundred soldiers led by Shi Feng, and heard that Wang Lie was giving orders not far away, and it was estimated that he would be able to lead the crowd to set off in a moment, so he took more than 100 horsemen on the road.

The camp occupies a narrow strip of land between the two peaks, and in the four directions of the two peaks, there are different distances of plains, so it is an excellent campsite for easy to see in all directions.

Bypassing the foothills of Beishan, you can see a plain with a length of about ten miles from north to south in front of you, there are only a few bushes on the plain, and there are only large areas of dry grass left, and white boulders can be seen everywhere on the dry grassland.

Beyond the plains, a long and narrow valley is ahead. Zhu Qiming just wanted to order more than 100 horsemen to stop, when he suddenly saw a figure in front of him, and the six suspicious people appeared and were galloping north. If you look closely, you can see that it is a Tartar!

So, he swallowed the command into his stomach and galloped into the canyon with a hint of doubt.

The height of the valley floor is gradually rising, and the surface of the ground shows a significant slope. As we got up the ramp, the valley floor in front of me became gentle again. At this time, the six Tartar thieves were nowhere to be found, and when they looked around, they saw that there were no mountains on the east and west sides, and in their place were two cliffs that were not yet steep.

On weekdays, this place must be a place overflowing with mountain springs, and you can see that there is a layer of crystal ice on the surface, and the surface is smooth, and several war horses and horses have lost their hooves one after another, and even people and horses have fallen on the ice.

Zhu Qiming was shocked in his heart, secretly screamed that it was not good, and was about to order a retreat, but he saw hundreds of horsemen and horses at the north and south ends of the canyon roaring and attacking with swords.

I don't know where Wang Lie has gone?

This thought flashed through Zhu Qiming's mind, and the mount stumbled very uncompetitively, he fell on his back, and the hand that tugged on the reins struggled hard, but it was in vain, and he suddenly took off his hand, and suddenly felt as if a foreign object was thrown at a giant man who was coming towards him.

The giant man seemed to have tripped over the rope, and his right hand that danced wildly froze, and the scimitar had time to slash at Zhu Qiming's body.

Zhu Qiming couldn't stop, and slid down the ice.

A few feet away, there is that chilling cliff!