After a while, the whip was finished, and the general came over with a smile on his face: "Master Li, those few things that don't have long eyes have been beaten, so let them go this time!" As he spoke, he glanced at Du Ruhu, his eyes full of pleading. Du Ruhu couldn't bear www.biquge.info pen, fun and pavilion, so he arched his hand to Li Dongguo and said: "Lord Yushi, now that the Tartars are breaking the border and are employing people, let's get here today!" ”

Li Dongguo was about to entrap Du Ruhu, so he sneered and said: "That's it, today for the sake of General Du's face, I will spare this gang of killers, let the army enter the customs and prepare a place to rest!" ”

"Yes, yes! Thank you, Lord Lee, and General Du! The general was busy owing to Li Dongguo and Du Ruhu, and ordered his subordinates to open the door and let the army enter the city. Du Ruhu was worried about the military situation, so he asked the general: "This lord, I just came from Shaanxi, I don't know how the military situation is here?" Please explain it to me! ”

The general sighed: "Hey, the internal and external three levels are all under martial law, and the beacon fire has been lit all the way to the Jingshi, that is, the Tartar broke the border in the second year of Chongzhen!" ”

"To this point?" Du Ruhu couldn't help but be taken aback, the three inner and outer passes in the mouth of the general referred to the six important passes of the inner Great Wall. Different from what many people understand, the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty was actually two inner and outer roads instead of one: the Outer Great Wall stretches from the Yalu River in the east to Jiayuguan in the west, with a total length of more than 12,700 li, also called "outside" or "side wall"; The Inner Great Wall was built in the Northern Qi Dynasty, also known as the "second side", according to the Ming Dynasty History "Soldiers? Frontier Defense" records: "From the west of Shanxi Laoyingbao to the south to the east, Liningwu, Yanmen, Beilou to the end of Pingxingguan about 800 miles; Turn south and east again, for the boundary of Baoding, Lilongquan, Baoma, Bauhinia, Wuwangkou, Jianling, Futuyu to the mouth of the river, about more than 1,700 li; The northeast is Shuntianjie (now Beijing City) Ligao Cliff, Baiyang, and Arrival Juyongguan, about 180 miles. The two Great Walls converge near the Mutianyu Great Wall in Huairou County, Beijing today. The eastern section of the Inner Great Wall is located in Hebei Province, and the Baoma Pass, Bauhinia Pass, and Juyong Pass are collectively called the "Inner Three Passes"; The western section is located in Shanxi Partial Pass (Partial Head Pass), Ningwu Pass, Yanmen Pass are collectively called "Outer Three Passes", and the difference between inside and outside is not the inside and outside of the defense line, but the distance from Beijing. Ningwu Pass is one of the "outer three passes", if you compare the map, it is not difficult to see, the inner Great Wall is the second line of the Ming army for the northern nomads, in fact, it is also the last line of defense into a system, the imperial court ordered all the inner and outer three passes to be under martial law, which can only show that the scale of the enemy invasion is very large, and it has been unable to drive it out of the border wall, and the crisis of the situation can be seen.

"I heard that this time the border was broken, but it was a confluence of the two Tartars in the east and west, how many soldiers and horses are there?"

The general glanced at Du Ruhu, probably because Du Ruhu pleaded with Li Dongguo for himself, he had a good impression of Du Ruhu, so he said in a low voice: "Lord Du, I just heard that there are both eastern and western captives this time, but so far, I have only seen a few western captives, and I have never seen any of them." ”

"Only the Sirgy?" Du Ruhu was stunned when he heard this, the eastern captives in the mouths of the two of them were the Eight Banner Soldiers, and the western captives were Mongols. According to the general view of the Ming army at that time, the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners far exceeded that of the Mongols, and if it was just a Mongol invasion, it would not have caused trouble at all to the point where the internal and external three passes were not under martial law, and the Beijing division was on fire all the way. But I heard this guard general say that he didn't see the Eight Banners at all, only the Mongols, could it be that the Eight Banners didn't come to Ningwuguan here and went to other places?

"So where did Toyo go? Yanmen Pass? Bauhinia Pass? Is it Juyongguan? Du Ruhu reported all the way from west to east.

"Nothing!" The general shook his head: "There are a few reports in the Guancheng on the second side that they have encountered the eastern captives, but when I checked it later, I found that they were all western captives. ”

"Is that a rumor? Are those Mongolian Tartars bluffing? ”

"That won't be! The passes and fortresses where the border walls were breached were very strong, and they were all blasted open by firearms, and the Mongol Tatars were poor to death, how could there be those things? “

"So, what's going on? Dongyu came so far away, it couldn't be just to help Xiyu break through, right? How can there be such a good thing in the world? ”

"Who knows?" The general sighed, at this time the cavalry had all come in, he looked at the Mongolian cavalry, and said with a wry smile: "Lord Du, you cavalry should camp outside the city, and the food and firewood will be delivered later!" ”

"Well said!" Du Ruhu understood what the other party meant, and said with a smile: "I'm sorry for you to carve out a place for us!" ”

Seeing that Du Ruhu was so easy to speak, the general immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly smiled: "Good, good!" Just outside the city, on the sunny slope, there is a spring on the left, which is convenient to block the wind and get water! Speaking of this, he turned around and owed to Li Dongguo on the side: "Lord Yushi, the lower official has prepared a table of thin wine at the pass, washed the dust for the two, and asked the lower official to reward a thin noodle!" ”

Li Dongguo looked at the general and said with a smile: "It's okay, General Du, let's come together!" ”

"Yes, sir!" Du Ruhu waved his hand to Duerbert, whispered a few words, and followed Li Dongguo to the official office. The three of them entered the back hall of the official office, and after three rounds of drinking, the general was flattered again, Li Dongguo's face also looked a lot better, and he said to the general with a smile: "The captive rides deeply, you also have to do it, just do today's thing!" ”

"Thank you, Lord Goshi!" The general had been worried in his heart, lest Li Dongguo would keep today's events in mind and say bad things about himself in front of Yang Sichang, so he hurriedly picked up the wine jug, personally poured the wine for Li Dongguo and Du Ruhu, and poured it full for himself, raised his glass and smiled: "The two adults are so magnanimous, the lower officials are unforgettable!" ”

While he was talking, a personal soldier hurriedly walked to the door, and when he saw the three people inside drinking hot wine, he hesitated for a moment whether he should ask to see him. Du Ruhu happened to see it clearly, so he said to the general: "My lord, do you see that there is an emergency military situation at the door?" ”

The general hurriedly confessed to Du Ruhu and Li Dongguo, and asked the sergeant to come in and report that a village called Heishiyu outside the city was attacked by captives, and the Heishiyu was only more than ten miles away from Ningwu Pass, and the terrain was quite critical, which could be regarded as a barrier outside Ningwu Pass, and Fengsui, which was guarded by more than ten soldiers, lit a fire after the attack and alerted the guards of Ningwu Pass.

The general glanced at Li Dongguo's face from the corner of his eye, but he was thinking about how to answer in order to satisfy the Imperial Historian. Just thinking about it, he heard Li Dongguo's voice: "Where is Heishiyu?" ”

"Tell your lordship, it is a village in the northwest of Ningwu Pass, there are more than 200 households, about seven or eight miles away from here, there is a beacon on the slope of the village entrance, there are more than a dozen native soldiers stationed on it, if you encounter a captive cavalry attack, you will light a beacon fire to call the police to the city."

"And how are you going to deal with it?"

The general hesitated for a moment, and replied cautiously: "Tell Lord Yushi, it is already dark, the enemy situation is unknown, if you send troops to rescue, I am afraid that I will be ambushed by the captive cavalry." In the end, I think that we should take care of it! After he finished talking about his countermeasures, he cautiously looked at Li Dongguo's face, and saw that the other party nodded noncommittally, and the stone in his heart fell to the ground.

"General!" Du Ruhu on the side asked: "Dare to ask, is the road from Guancheng to Naheishiyu easy to walk, is it beneficial to the cavalry?" ”

"The road is very good, it is all flat roads, and it is half a sound to run back and forth during the day." When the general said this, he carefully persuaded: "General Du, aren't you going to save that Heishiyu?" There are only a dozen local soldiers on the beacon, and the western captives are very cunning, maybe they will eat an ambush on the road, it's not worth it! ”

"I didn't plan to send troops at night!" Du Ruhu smiled: "Let the soldiers eat and rest, tomorrow on the fifth watch out of the city, when the sky is already light, the road should be very clear, if those captives do not go, they are already sleepy and tired, just wait for work!" ”

The general's eyes lit up when he heard this, he was also an old soldier, and immediately judged that this was a good idea, whether the team of captives came to loot or wanted to lure the Ming army guarding the pass out of the city, their physical strength and horsepower were at a low point tomorrow morning, and the raw mouths, livestock, and property they had grabbed could not be on the road until at least tomorrow morning, and with so much property they carried, they would definitely not be able to escape the pursuit of the Ming army.

"That's a good idea, then I'll pick a few local sergeants who know the road to be our guides!" At this time, he couldn't care about so much, so he confessed to Li Dongguo and Du Ruhu, and hurriedly went out.

Heishiyu, Fengsui.

Wang Yike stumbled up the aisle, the chest wall of the beacon that had fallen into disrepair had been cut by half by the wind and sand, which could only block the height of Wang Yike's heart, that is to say, his entire head and shoulders were completely exposed to the enemy's arrows, and the beacon fire that had just been lit was rising behind him. He hunched his waist and looked out carefully through the perforation of the women's wall, and for a moment he thought that the village below was full of fireflies, and then he realized that it was a large group of captives, holding torches, running back and forth between the houses. He saw a thatched roof blazing, orange flames licking and licking the night, glowing red. Then there was another fire, and one after the other, and soon it became a sea of fire.

Gu Shan also climbed up, he was the leader of this small group of Ming troops, and at this time Kung Fu had already put on his helmet: "How many people?" ”

Wang Yike tried to count, but the torches moved too fast and there were too many of them, and he could only see the tumbling torches flying in the sky, splashing a burst of fire as soon as they landed.

"Two hundred, or three hundred, I don't know." Wang Yike lowered his head in frustration, and through the crackling sound of the house being burned, he could hear the shouts of people, the cries and screams of the villagers, and the smug shouts of the night raiders.

"Those guys will be coming over soon!"

"Yes, go wake everyone up, put on the armor, and bring all the guys you need to it!"

"Yes!" Wang Yike responded and quickly shouted below.

Wang Yike's judgment was correct, and almost at the same time that the guards were woken up, Gu Shan saw a group of cavalry passing through two rows of burning thatched huts and coming towards Fengsui. The light of the fire shone on their helmets and weapons, staining them orange. He could see the man at the front in his armor, the knight in the back holding a spear, the flag fluttering in the night wind. Taniyama tried his best to make it, but he couldn't see it clearly at night, and under the firelight, anything was either black or red.

Wang Yike finally completed the order of his boss, everyone woke up, and climbed up with weapons to guard Fengsui, and he himself ran to Gu Shan's side and looked out from the shooting hole. The cavalry had already reached a stone's throw away, and the knight with the flag gun stepped forward, grabbed the reins, and said loudly: "In the name of Zarut Khanneqi, open the door immediately!" ”

"Great Khan? I only know the great tomorrow, where do I know what bird is sweating? Wang Yike roared back, but immediately received a slap from Gu Shan.

"Shut up, this is not the time to beg for a bargain, it can be delayed for a moment!" Gu Shan glanced back and saw that people were pulling up a wooden box from the hole, he turned his head and asked, "Dare to ask, which Great Khan is it?" ”

"The Great Khan of Neqi of the Zalut Division, the powerful leader of the 30,000 iron horsemen!" The knight shouted, "Open the door, or we will come in, and every one of you will be hanged on the wall." ”

"Give me the bow!" Gu Shan lowered his voice and whispered to Wang Yike on the side, aiming at the knight, and shouting loudly outside: "No, if we open the door, we will be hanged." The knight had unconsciously come too close, and Taniyama let go of his bowstring, masking the sound of the arrow piercing the air with the sound of the burning, but it was still a little too far away, and only the horse was shot, and the knight fell from his wounded horse and let out an angry curse.

"Take down this beacon and kill them all! The archer cut off all ten of his fingers and then put him to death! Nezi's eyes gleamed cruelly in the firelight, and he didn't care too much about the tricks of the little insects in the beacon, which added a little unknown excitement to him, like the spices sprinkled on the lamb to make it even more delicious. Anyway, the guards had already sent the alarm back, and if the defenders of Ningwu Pass came to the rescue, he would be able to surprise them.

"Be careful!" Wang Yike grabbed Gu Shan's belt and pulled him to the ground, and there was a muffled sound of arrows hitting outside the earthen wall, followed by the sound of armor colliding, swords unsheathed, galloping horses' iron hooves, and the sound of hitting wooden doors. A torch crossed the female wall and landed on top of the beacon, splashing a spark.

"guy!" Gu Shan's loud voice was particularly piercing in the night sky: "Everyone is scattered, don't all huddle together, Wang Yike, you take three people to guard the entrance of the cave, and the rest of the people guard the battlements separately, it's no big deal, they can't attack it!" (To be continued.) )