Li Xianfeng saw that King Tang agreed to himself so simply, and he was secretly happy in his heart, and hurriedly stood up and said: "The prince is so generous, the soldiers and civilians in the city will definitely fight to the death and repel the thieves!" ”

"Well, that's good!" King Tang nodded: "In addition, the widow also plans to recruit five hundred strong men in the city, thinking that the palace is guarded and used to defend the city. ”

Li Xianfeng was stunned when he heard this, it is said that when Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country, almost all the vassal kings in various places had royal guards, compared with ordinary guards, the equipment and combat effectiveness of these guards were much stronger, and they were actually used as core mobile forces. www.biquge.info It was with his personal guards that Emperor Chengzu was able to win the position of the Son of Heaven from his nephew. In order to prevent this from happening again, the feudal king's personal guard was weakened and disbanded, and became a guard of honor. Zhu Yujian said that he wanted to recruit strong men to be the palace guards, and if he was on weekdays, he would definitely be stopped and reported by local officials, but now that the thieves were about to come to Nanyang City, there was nothing he could not say about recruiting hundreds of people to protect themselves. What's more, people have just given out so much food and silver so happily, and they eat other people's soft mouths and short hands, so they can't say it if they want to refuse strictly. After thinking about it for a while, he said in a low voice: "At present, the army is in chaos, and it doesn't hurt for the prince to recruit a few Ding Zhuang to guard the palace and ban it, but once the thieves retreat, it is better to disperse them!" ”

"That's nature, the widow is for emergency purposes, the thieves retreat, and naturally they have to disperse!"

Seeing Zhu Yujian's answer like this, Li Xianfeng breathed a sigh of relief, he got up to say goodbye to King Tang and left the palace. Wang Shaoyu, the deputy general guarding Nanyang, hurriedly greeted him and asked, "Lord Prefect, how is it?" Did the prince agree? ”

"Hmm!" Li Xianfeng nodded, with a smug smile on his face: "The prince is really a virtuous king, and he has already promised to donate this amount!" He stretched out his hand and gestured with his fingers outstretched.

"Five thousand taels?" Wang Shaoyu's eyes showed a greedy light, and then he smiled again: "The prefect is working so hard, naturally he can't run in vain, please-"

"No need!" Li Xianfeng shook his head firmly: "General Wang, the thieves are besieging the city, what a critical time this is, how can this official take the blood, sweat and money of the soldiers?" Never! Take all the five thousand taels of silver, and give them to the soldiers, and save the emergency! ”

"Yes, yes!" Wang Shaoyu hurriedly responded: "My lord is so Qingsuke, the last general is impressed!" ”

"What's the matter with reading the books of the sages?" Li Xianfeng sighed, arched his hand to Wang Shaoyu and said, "The official will go back to the palace first, and the general will send someone to get the silver from the yamen tomorrow morning!" ”

"Greetings to the government!" Wang Shaoyu hurriedly bowed in return, and only raised his head when Li Xianfeng's sedan chair was far away, and the soldiers on the side sighed: "Li Zhifu is really a Qing official, don't even want the silver to be sent to your mouth!" ”

"Ball!" Wang Shaoyu spat out, his face was full of disdain: "It's just beautiful to say on the skin, he took out five thousand taels, and you gouged out my eyes before he ate half of it, I don't know what virtue these big turbans are, all of them are sanctimonious, as soon as they encounter silver, they have to stretch out their hands in the coffin, and the thieves have all hit the city, and they have to scrape oil from the masters, and they are not afraid that the thieves will enter the city and kill them." ”

"Then, when will the money be sent?" The soldier asked.

"Silver, what silver?" Wang Shaoyu's gaze swept over the soldiers behind him: "Where did you get the silver?" Governor Li didn't give the official silver, after you go back, each of you will receive twenty taels, this is the general's own pocket for you, my mouth is closed for me, there is a little wind outside, be careful of your skin! ”

"General Xie reward!" When the soldiers heard this, they couldn't help but feel cold and happy, twenty taels of silver was almost a year's salary for them, Wang Shaoyu rewarded so much at once, it was obvious that he was gagging their mouths, and wanted to eat all the five thousand taels in one bite, and they didn't even give one tael of silver to the officers and soldiers guarding the city. One of the soldiers hesitated for a moment and asked, "General, the brothers who defended the city have been in arrears for more than a year, and many people have complaints, aren't they-"

"Fool!" Wang Shaoyu sneered: "Fast three thousand soldiers, five thousand taels of silver is all sent down, how much can one person get?" They owe a year's wages. Make up for this point, their resentment is even greater, it's better not to make it up! Speaking of this, Wang Shaoyu glanced at all the relatives and soldiers viciously: "You all listen to me, if this matter is leaked out of half a word, it will be subject to military law!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

After learning the news that the thieves broke through Luyang Pass, Xu Hecheng immediately returned to Zhenwuguan, and asked his subordinates to pack their luggage and prepare to leave the city, he estimated that although he only had more than 200 people, they all had horses, and if they went south to Xiangyang at full speed, it would only take three or four days, and most of the thieves would not be able to catch up. But before he finished cleaning up, a subordinate came in from the outside and whispered: "My lord, the official army has closed the city gate and is forbidden to enter or leave!" ”

"What?" Xu Hecheng was taken aback: "Really? ”

"The villain just came back from outside, and saw that the city gate was crowded with people, and when he asked, he learned that the prefect had just ordered the four gates to be closed, and it was forbidden to enter and exit without his token!"

"How so!" Xu Hecheng paused and said, he secretly thought that this siege would not know how long it would take, that is, Liu Cheng let himself go south to replace Zhao Youcai, although there was no strict time limit, but if he delayed here for a month, it would be bad, who knows if there will be any changes. He thought for a moment and called his deputy: "Temur, I'll go to the south gate first to see the situation!" You urged everyone to pack up and come to the south gate to find me! ”

"Yes, sir!" Temur bowed and saluted, he was a Mongol, the same as his name (Temur means iron in Mongolian), he was originally a forging slave, because of his bravery in battle, he was promoted to centurion by Liu Cheng, and this time he was specially singled out to lead the cavalry that followed Xu Hecheng south. After Xu Hecheng finished his order, he took a few relatives out of the Taoist temple and went to the south gate.

After Li Xianfeng left the palace, Tang King Zhu Yujian did not go back to rest, unlike many other vassal kings at that time, he knew very well the sinister nature of people's hearts when he was young, even if he was his own flesh and blood, he would draw a sword against each other for power, not to mention these officials. He changed into the clothes of ordinary people, and picked two eunuchs from his cronies out of the side gate of the palace, and then came all the way to the south gate, he planned to see the defense of this Nanyang Mansion with his own eyes.

Zhu Yujian walked out of the palace, the street he saw was depressed, there were few pedestrians, even if there were one or two pedestrians, he looked in a hurry, and he looked panicked, and the bustling street on weekdays was a completely different scene, and he couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart: Seeing that the Ming dynasty is not as good as one day, since he is a descendant of the Zhu family, he naturally has to do his part, and he can't watch the ancestors and ancestors fall into the hands of others. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but secretly clench his fists.

Zhu Yujian came to the south gate, only to see that the city gate was crowded with people, and there was a faint cry from outside the door, he couldn't help but be a little curious, so he walked over to see what was going on, only to find that it was the Qian Zong who guarded the south gate to close the city gate, leaving only a gap, if you want to enter the city to avoid the disaster of war, a person will have to pay five taels of silver to enter the city. Many people outside the city did not have the money to pay the entrance fees, and many women and children wept because they were afraid of the scourge of war. Zhu Yujian couldn't help but see a burst of open fire rushing straight to the top of his head, stepped forward and grabbed the Qianzong and shouted: "The thieves are poisonous, and the people are suffering from hanging upside down, which one allows you to take advantage of the danger of people here and blackmail the people?" ”

Mr. Qian turned his head and looked up and down, only to see that the other party was tall, with a long and narrow face, three long beards under his beard, wearing a brown shirt, a white jade inlaid with a hat on his forehead, followed by two entourages, not like a poor disciple, but he didn't dare to do it, he sneered: "What a madman, talking nonsense here." The prefect has an order that in order to prevent thieves from sneaking into the city, they must be searched strictly, and I am searching for thieves, understand? ”

"Why do you need money to search for thieves? Look at these are women and children, how can a thief send women and children to do fine work? ”

Mr. Qian was annoyed by Zhu Yujian's question, and pushed the other party violently, and scolded: "What do you know about this sour ding, the court owes us more than a year's salary, and everyone fights for the Zhu family's son of heaven, but at the end of the year, he doesn't even have the money to buy catties of salt for his family, what is the reason?" The court doesn't pay salaries, so let's find our own silver and send it to ourselves, if you want to blame you, blame today's son, blame the Tang King in this Nanyang Mansion, blame the prefect to go, they are all brocade clothes and jade food, beautiful wives and concubines, have you ever thought about us poor soldiers? ”

Zhu Yujian was pushed violently, and he took four or five steps back, if it weren't for the accompanying eunuch reaching out to support him, he almost stumbled. He had never been treated like this, his face suddenly turned red, and he was about to scold when he stopped when he reached his mouth. Zhu Yujian stretched out his hand to stop the accompanying eunuch who was about to step forward to scold the rebellious soldiers, and took a step forward and said: "You don't have to worry about the military salary, Governor Li has already raised 10,000 taels of silver from the Tang Palace, plus the donations of the gentry in the city, and you will soon be paid back the military salary, you should let these people enter the city quickly!" ”

When Mr. Qian heard Zhu Yujian's words, he was happy: "What are you, saying that we don't have to worry about us?" Don't say that the king of Tang will not give out the silver, even if the king of Tang and the gentry in the city donate the silver, the silver will not fall on the heads of us soldiers. These officials are all Pixiu, and the money that goes into their mouths can only go in and out! Speaking of this, he pushed Zhu Yujian away: "Get out of the way, the master is in a good mood today, and I don't want to embarrass you." Get out of the way, don't get in the way of Lao Tzu's fortune! ”

"Is it true that Governor Li asked for silver from me as this guy said, and put it in his own pocket, but he still didn't pay it?" Zhu Yujian stood aside, his heart was like a mess, and his eyes flashed with Li Xianfeng's sincere expression when he persuaded him to donate not long ago, and he didn't feel like he was deceiving himself. He thought about it for a while, and finally decided to stop the chaos of this Qianzong, and then go to Li Xianfeng to figure things out.

After thinking clearly, Zhu Yujian was about to step forward, but was stopped by the accompanying eunuch, and he turned back in surprise and asked, "What are you doing here?" ”

"Lord, let's go back to the palace!" The older eunuch whispered, his voice full of unease.

"What's wrong?" Zhu Yujian asked: "What a big deal is it to deduct military salaries at this juncture?" How can this king not find out? ”

"Lord Wang, these things are managed by the officials of the military department, the imperial history, the governor, and the governor, so why should you get involved in these things? It's not worth your identity! ”

"Joke, this world is the world of the Zhu family, this Nanyang is the fief of my Tang King, and such a big thing happened right under my nose, if I sit idly by, will I be worthy of my ancestors and ancestors?" Zhu Yujian sneered, and was about to step forward, but the two eunuchs knelt on the ground and grabbed Zhu Yujian's legs. Isn't it? ”

The old eunuch hesitated for a while, and finally nodded helplessly: "Lord Wang, it is commonplace for officials to deduct military salaries and reap benefits. What can you do if this lawsuit is fought in front of Banzai? At most, you will cut off the head of the Li Governor's Mansion, and it will be the same as before. But the prince has committed a taboo by doing this, and he can't get away with the crime of interfering in local government affairs. The long live lord in Beijing is the most taboo for his own brothers and uncles to interfere in local government affairs, you are still meddling in military affairs, and the next Nanyang prefect will find a fault with you and report it, are you still doing a stable job as the Tang King? ”

"So, what do you mean?"

When the old eunuch saw that Zhu Yujian no longer insisted, his spirit couldn't help but perk, and he hurriedly said, "Lord, let's go back to the house immediately, just as if we didn't see anything and heard nothing." You are a child of the heavenly family, a dragon and a phoenix, you can enjoy yourself with peace of mind, and these things outside the palace are left to those civil and military ministers to worry about, so why bother to work hard? ”

Hearing the old eunuch's words, Zhu Yujian couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly: "I haven't seen anything, I've heard nothing, isn't that blind and deaf?" I ask you, if the thieves come into the city, can I just pretend to be deaf and dumb? Alas, the world is corrupted in the hands of you eunuchs! ”

Zhu Yujian was about to step forward to say a few words to Mr. Qian, when he suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves coming from behind him, and he looked back. I saw seven or eight men on horseback running towards the south gate, led by one with a straight back, a face with Chinese characters, thick eyebrows and a square mouth, and a thick beard under the chin, which looked quite mighty. When Mr. Qian saw someone coming, he hurriedly shouted: "What kind of person, hurry up and get off the horse, rushing in the city at this time, is it the internal response of the thief?" ”

The man at the head did not answer, but lifted the reins and clamped the horse's belly between his legs, and with a long neigh, the horse man stood up, but the man was as if it were cast of iron, and stuck to the saddle. Zhu Yujian saw it in his eyes and couldn't help but praise: "Good riding skills!" ”

"Keep your dog's eyes open and see clearly!" A knight came to the head of the thousand on horseback, took out a waist card and threw it to the other party. Mr. Qian took a look, and his face changed greatly: "Wailang, a member of the Ministry of War? He hurriedly crossed his hands and saluted: "The last general has eyes that don't know Mount Tai, and I ask your lord to forgive me!" ”

The leader snorted coldly and jumped off the horse. That Qian always hurriedly presented the waist card with both hands. It turns out that this Ministry of War is also known as the Department of Officials of the Ministry of War, which is one of the departments of the Ministry of War, and the staff is probably equivalent to the deputy chief officer of this department. This department is in charge of the maps (maps) of the provinces, the military officials' merits, verification, rewards and punishments, pensions, and military review, tests, etc., for the generals of the Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of War is their business department, not to mention that it is a foreigner, even a small official can make them complain. This is a thousand always encountered, and it is naturally silent.

"Open the city gate quickly, this official has something important to do, and he must leave the city immediately!" Xu Hecheng snorted coldly and shouted at Mr. Qian.

"Open the gates?" Mr. Qian was stunned when he heard this: "My lord, the prefect strictly ordered that no one should leave the city without his token!" ”

"Huh?" The man at the head frowned, showing anger, although Mr. Qian was scared half to death, he still had the courage to reply: "My lord, the villain's military order is here, otherwise you can stay here for a while, and wait until the villain sends someone to the prefect to ask for instructions?" ”

Xu Hecheng snorted coldly, his foreign officer, the secretary of the bureaucracy, was obtained by Liu Cheng through Yang Sichang's way, but it was true, but he didn't go to the military department for a day, and most of the soldiers he accompanied were Mongols, and they also carried many firearms. But now that Temur and the others had not yet arrived, he couldn't leave them behind and go by himself, so he had to nod.

Seeing that Xu Hecheng did not insist, Mr. Qian secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he was just a thousand Mr. Qian, he didn't have to worry about the master of the Ministry of Labor and his embarrassment, but if the boss knew that he had offended the people of the military department, he was afraid that he would not be able to eat and leave. Anyway, as long as you call people over, the old men will fight gongs and drums, and let them have a good time, and it has nothing to do with us people.

After half a ring, Temur also arrived with the rear team, only to see more than two hundred knights filling the streets, people like tigers, horses like dragons, iron armor and cold light, that Qian is always a knowledgeable person, and he couldn't help but secretly exclaim himself: "This is the staff of the Ministry of War, and it is clearly the personal team of the chief soldier of the Nine Sides!" ”

Zhu Yujian saw it clearly on the side, slapped his palms and smiled: "This is what my Ming King looks like, and I don't know which handsome one is training such a tiger and wolf teacher!" ”

At this time, the deputy general Wang Shaoyu and the prefect Li Xianfeng finally came, and when the two saw the scene in front of them, their faces changed greatly. Wang Shaoyu instinctively wanted to shrink back, but Li Xianfeng still had a little courage, and said loudly: "Which one is the staff member of the Ministry of War?" ”

"It's down there!" Xu Hecheng bowed respectfully to Li Xianfeng, and then took out the talisman seal letter and handed it to the other party for verification. Li Xianfeng looked at Xu Hecheng, then at the team behind Xu Hecheng, and asked, "What's the matter with these people?" ”

"Tell the lord of the mansion that the subordinate is sent by his boss and has official business, and this team of soldiers and horses is transferred to me for me to send!"

"Transferred to your command for your dispatch?" Li Xianfeng looked at Xu Hecheng with suspicion, but he didn't ask Xu Hecheng about his mission, because he knew very well that the Ministry Division was the most closely connected with operations in the military department, and many tasks were also the most confidential. If you open your mouth to ask, the other party can block it back for you if it is a matter of confidentiality, so it's better not to ask, it's not interesting to save yourself. However, he did not suspect that Xu Hecheng was the thief's internal response, and it was best to hide his internal response and not make it so conspicuous; Second, if it is inside, it will definitely try to stay in the city, and when the time comes, it will not be like this to go out of the city.

"Xu Langguan!" Li Xianfeng weighed the pros and cons, and finally decided to try to see if he could leave this somewhat eccentric staff member Wailang and his hundreds of elite soldiers behind, after all, the thieves are about to attack the city, and the more troops defending the city, the better, to be honest, he is not very confident in the soldiers under the command of the deputy general Wang, he considered the words, and squeezed out a smile on his face: "The situation outside the city is unclear at the moment, and the thieves are coming, why don't you stay in the city first, and wait until the thieves are repulsed and the road is calmed before going on the road?" ”

"Thank you for your kindness!" Xu Hecheng arched his hand, he also saw the other party's thoughts, but the more Li Xianfeng was like this, the more unwilling he was to delay, lest something happen: "It's just that there is a military order, and it really can't be delayed!" ”

Li Xianfeng persuaded a few more words, but Xu Hecheng refused, and he couldn't help but be a little at a loss, after all, he was only a prefect and had no authority to order the subordinate officers of the military department. Just as he was thinking about how to leave him, a voice came from next to him: "This lord of the military department, if this king opens his mouth to ask for it, I wonder if you can stay for a few days?" ”

Li Xianfeng's face changed greatly, he turned his head to look, only to see Zhu Yujian standing aside looking at himself with a smile, and he didn't know when he arrived, he hurriedly lifted the front of the official robe and knelt down: "Xiaguan see the prince!" ”

Xu Hecheng is also a clever person, although he doesn't know who is coming, but when he saw Li Xianfeng kneeling, he hurriedly knelt down, shouting vaguely. Zhu Yujian smiled and stretched out his hand to help Xu Hecheng up first, and then said to Li Xianfeng: "This king is just a micro-suit to go out on patrol, and the prefect doesn't have to be polite!" ”

"Thank you, Lord Wang!" Li Xianfeng stood up, shocked and suspicious in his heart, when did this Tang King come here, could it be that he had swallowed half of the 10,000 taels of silver he took out? He came out to check it out in person? Thinking of this, Li Xianfeng subconsciously glanced at the crowd, looking for Wang Shaoyu's traces, thinking about how to make a good confession with the other party, so as not to expose his stuffing in front of King Tang.

Li Xianfeng was thinking about his own thoughts, but Zhu Yujian reached out and grabbed Xu Hecheng's arm, and said with a smile: "The soldiers and horses under the command of your official are so strong and strong, and it is the first time I have seen the widow, I don't know where the good man came from?" ”

Xu Hecheng had already guessed the identity of the other party seven or eight points at this time, and I am afraid that there was only one person who dared to call himself a widow in this Nanyang City. For the first time in his life, he was grabbed by the arm of a child of the Heavenly Family and asked in such an affectionate tone, which made him feel a little strange.

"The prince praised it falsely!" Xu Hecheng said respectfully: "These are the soldiers under the command of Liu Cheng, the chief soldier of Datong, most of them were originally Western captives, good at riding and shooting, and skilled in bow horses. ”

"It turned out to be Mr. Liu's family, no wonder he was so strong!" Zhu Yujian said with a smile, neither he nor Li Xianfeng on the side had any discoloration on their faces. It turned out that since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the military and politics have been corrupted, and the main force of the army is no longer the soldiers recruited or recruited by the imperial court, but the generals themselves. Because the ethnic minorities in the frontiers, especially the nomads in the north, are good at riding and shooting, their backgrounds are poorer, and their material desires are lower, so the generals of the nine border towns often prefer to recruit fleeing Mongols to be their own families, and some Ming army generals are simply fugitive Mongolian nobles or Mongolian military households left behind in the Yuan Dynasty, and naturally they also like to recruit their own personal soldiers. Therefore, it is common for military generals in the late Ming Dynasty to have hundreds of Mongols under their command, and it is not surprising that people like Liu Cheng have been dealing with Mongols.

"Lord Xu!" Zhu Yujian's face sank: "I just heard that Governor Li asked you to stay to repel the thieves and help defend the city, I don't know if it's true or not?" ”

"The prince listened well!" Xu Hecheng's face changed slightly, knowing that the other party wanted to force him to stay, so he hurriedly blocked the conversation first: "It's just that there is a military order under me, I don't dare to delay in Nanyang, and I ask Lord Li and the prince to forgive me!" ”

"Military orders?" Zhu Yujian smiled: "So what? If the thief is four episodes, can you still fight out of the city? The cousin of the military department will not be so unreasonable, right? If Lord Xu is willing to stay, the widow and Lord Li will naturally testify on your behalf, Lord Xu, and they will definitely not embarrass you, Governor Li, isn't it? ”

Li Xianfeng saw Zhu Yujian say this, and hurriedly responded: "What the prince said is true!" ”

"There is no basis for words!" Zhu Yujian turned back to the old eunuch and said, "Quickly get a pen and paper, this king and Lord Li want to guarantee with Lord Xu!" The old eunuch answered, turned around and retreated, and after a while, he took the four treasures of the study, Zhu Yujian wrote down the letter of guarantee, and finally left his name, and then stuffed the pen to Li Xianfeng and said: "Lord Prefect, you also come to sign, right?" ”

Seeing Zhu Yujian acting like this, Li Xianfeng already regretted it a little, but the matter had come to this point, and there was no turning back, so he had to sign his name behind Zhu Yujian. Zhu Yujian took the letter of guarantee and waited until the ink was dry, and then said to the old eunuch: "You take this back to the palace immediately, and send it back after using the seal!" ”

"With a seal?" Li Xianfeng was taken aback, and hurriedly asked, "Lord Wang, do you want to use the seal?" ”

"That's nature! Not only will the Tang Palace's Mansion use the seal, but Lord Li will also use the prefect's seal! Zhu Yujian said with a smile: "We also have to think about this Lord Xu, now we are talking well, but as soon as the thief retreats, his boss blames him, if we turn our faces and don't admit it, then what should he do?" This character can be written by anyone, but not everyone can use the seal. (To be continued.) )