"Drive, drive, drive······"

On November 17 of the 11th year of orthodoxy, Zhu Qiming led the crowd to gallop on the land of Liaodong, and the flying hooves rolled up the snow and dust.

The reckless snowfields stretch as far as the eye can see, and everything on the ground is contained in the boundless world of ice and snow, and only the winding and undulating terrain implicitly reveals the true identity of the forests, plains, and ravines.

Galloping freely on the snowfield, the sky is high and the earth is wide, unrestrained, Zhu Qiming has an inexplicable comfort in his heart!

At the beginning, he left Beijing, went north from Beijing, crossed Miyun, went out of Gubeikou, entered the boundary of eastern Liaodong, coiled for several months, turned to the southeast, crossed the Shanhaiguan, entered Yongping Mansion, returned to Miyun, and then went all the way to the west, through Xuanfu, across Shanxi, and arrived in Shaanxi······ Slowly and slowly, the migration is impermanent, and time flies unconsciously, and four years have passed since spring and autumn.

There has been no news of the immortal medicine, but the warmth and coldness of the world are picked up immediately. His marriage seems to have been forgotten, and his return to Beijing and his visit to the vassal domain have been put on hold.

The past is like a cloud, why bother looking back! Zhu Qiming looked into the distance, "Yo ho ho! A shout of joy drew a deafening harmony.

"Yo ho ho!"

The shouts and cheers merged into a powerful wave that swept in all directions.

Ouyang Tong kept urging the horse to speed up, and finally caught up with Zhu Qiming's side, "Your Highness, not far ahead is the location of the Liaodong Capital. ”

"Drive!"

Approaching his destination, Zhu Qiming excitedly spurred his horse. Walking through a snowy forest, I saw an officer leading a large group of cavalry waiting by the roadside in the distance.

When it got closer, the officer's gaze fell on the golden mask, "Liaodong guerrilla general Feng Ying see His Royal Highness the King of Yue." The last general was ordered by the commander-in-chief of the army, Lord Cao Yi, to escort His Royal Highness King Yue to the station. ”

"No need, just a guide." As soon as Zhu Qiming's words fell, the mount had already quickly passed over Feng Ying and the others.

A middle-aged man dressed in a servant's uniform rode into the army on horseback and said loudly: "Below is He Yuan, a Liaodong official, who served as a guide for His Highness four years ago. ”

"You can go with you." When he said this, Zhu Qiming did not look back.

He Yuan was overjoyed and said, "Yes!" ”

But hearing the sound of hooves, the cavalry swept in front of Feng Ying and the others, and disappeared at the bend of the mountain road in a blink of an eye······

In the evening, the group came to the south bank of the Hunhe River, and after some brief discussion, everyone quickly reached a consensus, Zhu Qiming and the palace officials and dozens of close guards stayed in a vacant mansion, and 3,000 cavalry were stationed in an abandoned military camp three miles away.

Before parting, Zhu Qiming rode his horse to inspect the two cavalry teams standing in place.

At the beginning, the young army selected from the Beijing camp was all infantry, and the formation and equipment of the infantry were completely different from the cavalry. A sub-battalion of infantry has a total strength of 3,200 troops, and it consists of 1,000 households, 100 households, general flags, and small flags, of which the general flag and small flag are equivalent to the platoon and squad establishment of the modern army, with 56 soldiers in each general flag, and 10 soldiers in each small banner. For example, if a soldier under the jurisdiction of a hundred households is under the jurisdiction of a hundred households, his weapon configuration is generally as follows: 10 firecrackers, 20 crossbowmen, 30 sword and card players, and 40 pikemen.

A cavalry battalion has a total strength of 1,600 men, with 50 cavalry as one ride, 200 cavalry as one balance, 400 cavalry as one charge, and four cavalry as a cavalry battalion.

Zhu Qiming had to reinvent these infantry in strict accordance with the standards of cavalry, in order to make them fierce cavalry. The horses are uniformly configured by the Beijing camp, but there is no need for Zhu Qiming to worry about it, but the configuration of weapons is a big problem, and the migration is uncertain, so he can only change the weapons step by step, reduce the pikemen, and increase the proportion of bows and crossbows and horse lances.

He trained more than 3,000 people into two cavalry battalions, one led by Liang Gang and one Tang Ji. After years of hard work, the cavalry's combat power has increased by leaps and bounds, as has his martial arts, year after year.

After dismounting, seeing Liang Gang and Tang Ji each lead their troops away, Zhu Qiming walked to his residence.

The mansion is built lonely in the woods, and there are no other buildings around it as far as the eye can see.

On the eaves of the mansion, although covered by snow, there are still two big characters faintly exposed: "Penglu".

After entering the house, I smelled the fragrance of food and wine. It turned out that the Liaodong Metropolitan Division had already stored enough materials here and sent a kitchen service. At this moment, the kitchen staff has prepared dinner.

Because of the long journey, the people were tired, and after dinner, the civil officials dispersed early to go to bed; Half of the dozens of guards were assigned to work in shifts for the night, and the rest were in the front and back two outer rooms.

After nightfall, Liang Gang and Tang Ji settled the soldiers and rushed to Penglu together. Zhu Qiming invited Ouyang Tong, Feng Duo, Liang Gang, Tang Ji and He Yuan to sit in front of the fire in the main hall. Everyone has come from afar, and many things have to be met.

He Yuan is just a civilian official from the sixth rank in the Liaodong army, and he is inevitably cramped and uneasy at this moment.

Seeing this, Zhu Qiming said slowly: "You don't have to be restrained, this king has traveled all year round, and he should be free of red tape." ”

"Thank you, Your Royal Highness King Yue." He Yuan settled down and said: "Your Highness is afraid that you will have to stay here for half a year, but fortunately, Lord Wang Ao, the deputy governor of Liaodong Military Affairs and the deputy capital of the Imperial Inspectorate, has already prepared, which can ensure that His Royal Highness and his party will be used well in winter and spring." There is only one thing that must be made clear to His Highness, this place is only more than 20 miles away from the western border, and His Royal Highness is requested to restrain his subordinates and beware of crossing the border. ”

Zhu Qiming was taken aback when he heard this, and said, "In this way, the area around the Liaohe Hetao is occupied by the Warat people? ”

"Not the Warats!" He Yuan shook his head in embarrassment and said, "It was Wuliang Ha Sanwei who did it." ”

"Whoever did it!" Liang Gang looked hideous because of his anger, "How can the 100,000 Liaodong army sit idly by!" ”

He Yuan carefully argued: "Wuliang Ha Sanwei has been attached to the Ming Dynasty since the beginning of the founding of the country, and if you want to go to war, you must ask for a decree, but after the report entered Beijing, there has been no follow-up. Therefore, the Liaodong Metropolitan Division did not dare to act rashly. ”

It turns out that the imperial court has long known! Thinking that he had stayed here for a few months four years ago, and now he revisited the old place, but time has changed, and the mountains and rivers have changed hands, Zhu Qiming suddenly felt inexplicably depressed.

Liang Gang is not only a commander, but also Zhu Qiyue's martial artist, over the years, he has taught a Jiuhua faction peerless school, and he, like Ouyang Tong, knows Zhu Qiming's temperament best. Seeing that Zhu Qiming's figure was sluggish, he got up and handed him a pot of wine.

Zhu Qiming waved his hand and rejected Liang Gang's kindness, obviously he didn't want to uncover the golden mask because of drinking at the moment.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Ouyang Tong stroked his beautiful hair, and said slowly: "Wuliangha's strength is not good, if there is no help from Wara, borrow a hundred guts, Wuliangha will not dare to peep south into the Liaohe." ”

Looking at the world, the only foreign enemy that can seriously threaten the Ming Dynasty today is Wara! Without Warat as a guard of honor, how dare Uliangha steal the territory of the Ming Dynasty?

A faint sense of humiliation flooded in Zhu Qiming's heart, and after a while, he suddenly realized that he was now just a wandering person, in the final analysis, what did the social affairs have to do with himself! So, he smiled indifferently, "It's better for everyone to drink and have fun, and don't talk about state affairs." ”

The others were silent, and the entire lobby fell into a deathly silence.

"Ouyang Changshi, don't you have a favorite woman?"

"Commander Liang, you and Yun Niang have been separated for a long time, it's not okay to go on like this, aren't you afraid of something big happening?"

"Tang Ji, when you see a woman, she is always like a lump of wood, and she must have been a high-ranking monk in her previous life!"

"Feng Duo, you should also marry a wife and have children······" Shame on you to forget that you are a pure person!

Knowing the situation at the border of the station, Zhu Qiming already knew in his heart, and at the moment he just wanted to gossip with everyone and have fun, so he immediately made remarks to tease everyone, but he saw Feng Duo nodding and smiling at him alone.

Feng Duo was the person designated by the Empress Dowager to follow Zhu Qiming before her death, and the emperor seemed to be happy to see such a strange arrangement. Feng Duo usually only talks about daily trivial matters, and never mentions major events on the way, Zhu Qiming always feels that Feng Duo is covered with a layer of mystery!

I wanted to leave everyone behind and talk to Feng Duo about some interesting things, when I suddenly heard a chaotic scolding and the sound of blades colliding in the backyard.

He Yuan was startled, hurriedly stood up, and saw that Zhu Qiming and the other five people were sitting still, so they turned over and sat down again.

A close guard walked quickly into the lobby from the back porch and said to Zhu Qiming: "Your Highness, three masked people broke into the backyard and were noticed by the night guard, and the guards of the back house exchanged hands with the three of them. ”

At this time, twenty guards from the front house rushed to the lobby.

Zhu Qiming got up and said to the guards: "You follow Liang's command to guard the front house. After saying this, he rushed to the backyard with Tang Ji.

When I came to the backyard, I saw more than a dozen brave guards besieging the three masked men.

The guards wielded long knives, and the masked men wielded scimitars.

Zhu Qiming's close guards are all carefully selected, and their skills are extraordinary.

The snow on the ground is vast, the moon is bright in the sky, and the three masked men have nothing to hide. One of them was petite and constantly scolding, apparently a woman.

Zhu Qiming said in a deep voice: "But the old man is visiting? ”

The woman shouted, "Withdraw! As soon as the words fell, the three masked men dodged out of the way, jumped over the wall, and ran westward.

The woman laughed loudly as she ran: "Ugly king! Tonight I wanted to tie you up like a wild boar, but unfortunately I couldn't. You'd better sleep with one eye open in the future, otherwise, don't blame this girl for making you ugly in front of the world! ”

Tang Ji was very rude when he heard the woman's words, and he drew his knife and wanted to catch up, but was stopped by Zhu Qiming.

Ouyang Tong and Liang Gang were concerned about Zhu Qiming's safety, and the two hurried to the backyard and asked almost at the same time, "Is Your Highness okay?" ”

Zhu Qiming looked at the west from afar, thoughtfully, and said, "This king is fine." ”

Ouyang Tong and Liang Gang didn't see the masked man, and they were puzzled in their hearts, and it was inconvenient to ask, so they had to stand silently in place.

Zhu Qiming glanced at the two of them, and said quietly: "It's the sister of the Warat Taishi Yexian, Ross Saihan." ”

Liang Gang said angrily: "This woman is very rude, she used to humiliate His Highness several times in Shaanxi and Shanxi, but now she dares to bully her, so how can people swallow this evil breath!" ”

These words aroused the anger in Zhu Qiming's heart, but after thinking about it: he was born ugly, he relied on the respect of the prince on weekdays, and was respected, if he was a common person, he didn't know how many cold words he would have to suffer, so why should he be angry with Ross Saihan?

Besides, when they were separated at the border of Yanqing Prefecture, Saihan left a heavy message, and she swore that she would not be able to get along with him, the Prince of Daming, for the rest of her life! Later, his appearance changed greatly, how could Saihan not take the opportunity to tease him? Thinking of this, Zhu Qiming's heart was wide and he shook his head disappreciatively. "Well, let her go."

"Since Saihan is here, then he must first be in the area of the Liaohe Hetao!" Ouyang Tong said: "Your Highness, what is the intention of coming here first, it is worth taking a closer look." ”

Not bad! He will not stay away from his lair in Datong and the north of Xuanfu for no reason, and brave the cold to come to Liaodong to watch.

"Saihan's humiliation is not worth mentioning, but the intention of carefully examining it is a serious matter, and it should not be taken lightly. We don't have to worry about social affairs, but we have to think about our own safety. Zhu Qiming had doubts just now, and after being reminded by Ouyang Tong, he felt that the matter was serious.

"Your Highness, it's better to be careful at the moment, the chief officer is indispensable on the side of the barracks." Ouyang Tong said.

At this moment, a rapid reprimand sounded in everyone's ears again, but this time the reprimand came from the front house.

Zhu Qiming's heart sank, and he sighed: "Uninvited guests are coming one after another, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to sleep tonight." ”