On the ninth day of October in the fourteenth year of orthodoxy, the first soldiers came to the Bauhinia Pass, and they all commanded Han Qing to fight and die, and Sun Xiang, the deputy envoy of the right capital, led the rest of the troops to hold on and not retreat, blocking the enemy for four days.

The Tartar thieves took Xining as a guide, and went around the hidden path behind the Ming army, and attacked before and after, Sun Xiang led the crowd to start a street battle with the Tartar thieves, and at the most tragic critical moment of the war, it was the Ming army's will to fight first, the soldiers were scattered, and Sun Xiang died in battle.

The three hundred or so people in front of him are the soldiers who survived the first battle of Bauhinia Pass.

Although Zhu Qiming didn't know the real situation of the battle at Bauhinia Pass, he heard that Zhou Lin alone killed five enemies, so he immediately jumped off his horse and stepped forward to carefully check Zhou Lin's injuries.

Zhou Lin's lips were tightly closed, but his snort was clearly audible, and it seemed that there should be no danger of his life.

"Hurry to the Fucheng Gate, where there are soldiers who have returned from all over the place, and there are also healers who heal the wounded on the spot."

"Yes."

The 300 or so walked farther and farther away, and finally walked through the open field and disappeared into another wood.

Suddenly, the sound of sudden hooves sounded all the way from the north, and a hearty cry floated from afar, "The emperor has an order, and all the people outside the city should quickly retreat into the city!" ”

When Zhu Qiming returned to his horse, he saw smoke and dust rising from the forest path on the north side, and a team of fast riders could be vaguely seen galloping towards this side in the fog.

"See His Royal Highness King Yue."

After the sound of hooves stopped abruptly and the neighing of the horse sounded, an officer dressed in brocade clothes and a person who looked like an attendant turned over and dismounted one after another and saluted Zhu Qiming.

Zhu Qiming looked over and saw that the brocade-clothed guard was a thousand households, and the internal official was kind-faced, like a close attendant in front of the emperor.

"Will the king's guards also return to the city?"

"Yes." The internal official said: "His Royal Highness King Yue, the little one just met Yu Shangshu at the Xizhi Gate, and Yu Shangshu asked the little one to ask His Highness to go to Fengtian Hall quickly." ”

"Got it." Zhu Qiming turned his eyes at Xu Gong and Tang Ji, "Quickly return to the camp to assemble the team and go to the designated place in Beijing to stand by." ”

"Yes."

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The clouds of war enveloped the four fields of the capital, every house in the city was closed, and there was no longer the noise of the past on the criss-crossing streets, only the footsteps of soldiers coming and going and the crisp sound of horses' hooves.

In the central part of the inner city of the capital, there are few idle people in and out, and Jiao Jing, the commander of the horses, was ordered to inspect the four gates of the imperial city, and the commanders were strictly guarded.

The Forbidden City, embedded in the imperial city, is even more heavily guarded, the atmosphere of the former dynasty and the harem is solemn, and it is rare to see a figure on the palace road.

Because of the Tartar thieves, Emperor Jingtai personally told Haotian God, Houtu Emperor Diyi, the Empress Dowager of the Seven Temples, and Emperor Xuanzongzhang.

"The captives are rampant, crossing the mountains into the Juyong Pass, and the wilderness is lined up, wanting to peep into the capital. He has ordered the commander-in-chief and other officials to lead the army to kill, and Shang prayed for Hong to make a silent blessing: the brave soldiers will be strong, the captives will collapse at night, and the country and society will always protect Kangning. Fu Wei learned. ”

Outside the noon gate, Zhu Qiming untied the sword and handed it over to the guards in front of the door to take care of, and then entered without any weapons.

When Fang entered Fengtianmen, he met Yu Qian and Shi Heng, and the two sides hurriedly said goodbye, and Yu Qian immediately talked about business.

"His Royal Highness the King of Yue, there are 30,000 Tartar thieves who have invaded the Bauhinia Pass, and another 20,000 horses will enter the Kou from Gubeikou. Also, according to Yang Hongyu's report, Totobu Hua and Ara, led a total of 30,000 horses through Shunshengchuan and Hongzhou Fort, intending to offend the Jingshi. ”

There are 80,000 horses in the Tartars? Zhu Qiming frowned, thinking that there were not a few people and horses for the Tartars, even if it was 80,000 people, it was enough for the Ming army to feel a big headache.

"Nearly 300,000 Ming troops have been assembled in Beijing, and we are outnumbered, and the Tartar thieves will return in vain."

Shi Heng lifted his long beard, and when he spoke, his voice was like a bell: "I have heard that His Royal Highness the King of Yue is good at fighting, it is better to lead 100,000 troops under him, and His Royal Highness to lead 100,000 troops, and set up a battle with the Tartar thieves in the field, so as not to let the Tartar soldiers come to the city." ”

It should be said that Shi Heng's idea is based on taking the initiative to seek war, which is still extremely bold, but Shi Heng obviously ignores the consideration of political factors. The fiasco of Tumubao is not far away, and the Chinese military officials are stable in the face of trouble, and they dare not take any risks at all, and Daming really does not have much capital to take risks! And assembling a large army in the field to fight the Tartar thieves is tantamount to taking risks, and with the dark clouds of the fiasco of the civil and military forts hanging there, it is difficult to get the approval of the civil and military officials.

Da Ming can't afford to lose anymore!

What's more, don't say that a prince can't hold a heavy army, even Shi Heng, the chief military officer, I'm afraid it will be difficult to command an army of 100,000 as he wishes. In the current political climate, the imperial court does not dare to have any negligence, and will definitely take Emperor Jingtai as the center and rely on the capital to build a troop deployment system that not only gathers heavy troops, but also disperses heavy troops under many generals, and will never let any general support his own troops.

Yu Qian is the secretary of the military department, in the final analysis, he is a civilian official in charge of military affairs, and he will make both military and political considerations for the upcoming war.

"The defenders in Beijing come from a variety of ways, and it is difficult to achieve the same order for a while, so if one person leads 100,000 horses, the combat power will be greatly reduced, and it is better to disperse the generals to command the troops, which is convenient for orders."

Shi Heng wanted to say something, but saw Xing'an trotting all the way to Xing'an, "Please move His Royal Highness King Yue, Wu Qingbo, and Yu Shangshu, the emperor has arrived at Fengtian Palace." ”

The three of them stopped talking, walked with Xing'an for a while, and entered the Fengtian Temple.

The hall is full of civil and military ministers, and on the side of the head of the Jiuqing and the Five Military Governor's Mansions, there are more than ten princes and county kings who were ordered to enter Beijing as "King Qin".

As a prince, Zhu Qiming only has the share of listening to politics, but it is inconvenient to speak.

The efficiency of this court meeting is extremely high, and now the Tartar thieves are approaching the capital in three ways, the situation is critical, and the civil and military ministers dare not have any more selfish thoughts, after a heated discussion, Emperor Jingtai has a clear understanding of the preparation for war.

"Yu Qing, the Tartar thieves entered Shenkou, Xuanfu has become an isolated city, and there is no danger in Liaodong, so Yang Hong was ordered to lead 20,000 troops, and Jiao Li, Shi Ju, deputy chief military officer of Liaodong, led 30,000 troops to help. In addition, the Korean army, the Jianzhou Jurchen army, and the Shaanxi Tubo army were transferred to the Beijing division to support them. ”

Yu Qian saluted, "The minister's decree!" ”

Emperor Jingtai's gaze swept to Shi Heng, "Wu Qingbo, my Ming generals are brave and strong, and the defeat of the previous civil fort is because the soldiers are not useful, and it is difficult to make the best use of their talents." You quickly spread my edict to all the commanders and commanders of the Beijing camp, the commanders of all sizes, and the sergeants, etc., and those who have made meritorious contributions will be rewarded heavily, and those who violate the order will be severely punished, and the rewards and punishments must be clear. ”

"Command!"

Zhu Qiming's heart moved. Emperor Jingtai attributed the defeat of Tumubao to the fact that the soldiers "could not be used and it was difficult to make the best use of their talents", while the emperor said that "the arrogant soldiers are lazy and I am mistaken", and the two have completely different opinions.

While contemplating, I suddenly heard that Emperor Jingtai opened his mouth again.

"Sun Bo, I promoted you to the right governor, and led 26,000 troops to the Bauhinia Pass to defend it. Recently, I heard that the Tartar thieves entered from the Bauhinia Pass, if the Tartar thieves really sent the emperor back to Beijing, only five or seven horsemen or ten horsemen were allowed to enter the pass. ”

"Commandment."

Hearing this, Zhu Qiming was suddenly surprised: Hasn't the Bauhinia Pass been broken by Tartar thieves? Could it be that there are many sources of news at the moment, all of which are different, and it is impossible to distinguish between truth and falsehood, so it disturbs the sacred hearing?