Because after Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, the internal and external wars were urgent, Chongzhen wanted to reorganize the army and the military, he was a suspicious character, and he was not at ease with the ministers of civil and military affairs, so he took out a part of the young and strong eunuchs to practice next to the Guande Hall under the coal mountain, which was called internal exercise at that time. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 In view of the fact that the eunuchs of the Tang Dynasty controlled the Shence Army, hijacked the Son of Heaven, played with power, and caused a catastrophe, they fiercely opposed it. Chongzhen gave in on the surface, but he still secretly asked Hu Kejian, who was in charge of the imperial horse prison, to draw five hundred young and strong eunuchs to practice under the coal mountain. Prepare to train a group of domestic slaves who are skilled in martial arts to prepare for emergencies.

Hu Kejian had already led the eunuchs with a higher status to kneel outside the mountain gate to greet him, and after saluting. The eunuchs hugged Chongzhen to the Guande Palace, sat on the throne, Wang Chengen and Hu Kejian stood on both sides, took Chongzhen to rest for a while, and drank two sips of tea. Hu Kejian knelt down and kowtowed, and said in a low voice: "Emperor, can you start now?" ”

Chongzhen nodded, looked at the flat ground outside the hall, and saw that there were five hundred infantry in full armor in the square below the mountain, waiting neatly. Hu Kejian walked to the door of the hall, took a command flag from the little eunuch's hand, and waved it twice. Suddenly, the drums sounded, and the infantry knelt down far away to the emperor, shouting in unison: "Long live Your Majesty!" Banzai! Hooray! The sudden sound of drums and mountain cries caused the deer in the woods of Banzai Mountain to scurry in all directions, and the birds that roost in the forest took off from the branches of the trees, and fell from the clear sky with loud cries in the direction of Qionghua Island. After the mountain shouted, Hu Kejian waved the small flag again, and the infantry moved forward in the sound of drums, changing the formation several times according to the command of the small flag, although it was not very neat, but it was also passable. After a while, the gong sounded, and the infantry retreated to their original positions and relined as before. Du Xun waved the small flag again, and twenty-five infantry walked out of the ranks, stopped thirty paces away from the emperor, and divided into five rows, each row of five people, to practice single swords. Twenty-five more people were then replaced, practicing marksmanship. Twenty more people were replaced to perform archery in front of the emperor, and most of them could shoot at the target.

After all the drills were completed, Hu Kejian returned to Chongzhen and knelt down, and said: "The slave maid is in charge of the internal exercise at the behest of the emperor, and he has never done a good job of the mission, he is really guilty, and I ask the emperor to forgive me!" ”

"That's it!" With Chongzhen's eyes, although he can't see good or bad, he can also see that Hu Kejian has put a lot of thought into these eunuchs: "It seems that you also learned a lot when you were supervising the army in Ningxia, and you are still diligent in your work, so get up!" ”

"Slave thanks!" Hu Kejian hurriedly kowtowed.

Hu Kejian had just stood up, and Wang Chengen hurriedly whispered in Chongzhen's ear to remind: "Emperor, it's time to award a reward!" After Chongzhen's approval, he glanced at the little eunuch on the side, and the little eunuch hurriedly shouted in a clear voice: "Play music!" - Reward! ”

In the music, the eunuchs who participated in the internal exercise were rewarded with a total of five hundred taels of silver and twenty pieces of silk, and Hu Kejian himself got a jade belt, and his grade was also upgraded by one level.

If it was usual, Chongzhen would rush back to the Qianqing Palace as soon as possible after reviewing the internal exercises, and review his notes that would never be finished, but today is different from the past, Chongzhen did not leave immediately, but sat on the throne and watched the dense woods and elegant scenery of Long Live Mountain. Hu Kejian stood aside, not knowing why Chongzhen was so interested today, and was thinking about how to make the emperor happy, but suddenly heard Chongzhen's voice: "Hu Banban, where did all these internal armor come from?" ”

Hu Kejian was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly replied: "Tell the emperor, these armor soldiers are all from the Arsenal Division!" ”

"Then you go get a few, I want to see them!"

"Slave obeys!" Although he didn't know why Chongzhen suddenly did this, Hu Kejian still turned around and said a few words to the little eunuch, and after a while, he saw two trained inner eunuchs come up, holding a bow, a pot of arrows, a knife, a gun, and a pair of armor. Chongzhen stood up and checked them one by one, except for the bow that was softer, there were only four or five forces, and everything else was normal. Hu Kejian saw that Chongzhen was particularly concerned about the bow, and hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Tell the emperor, these people have never learned archery before, and they are not used to pulling hard bows, so the slaves and maids all use soft bows first, let them learn all the skills first, and then gradually change to hard bows!" ”

"Hmm!" Chongzhen put the bow back in its place and returned to the throne: "Hu Banban, when you were in Ningxia as a superintendent, the border army could use this kind of armor battle?" ”

Hu Kejian was stunned for a moment, why did Chongzhen suddenly ask here, he subconsciously looked at Wang Chengen on the side, saw the other party nodding slightly, knowing that the other party was letting him tell the truth, he had a number in his heart, and replied: "Back to the emperor's words, when the slave and maid were supervising the teacher in Ningxia, the armor used by the ordinary soldiers in the border army could not match these. ”

"What about the general manager, the thousand president, and the general's personal soldiers?"

"The total use of the total thousand should be similar to this, and the words of the pro-soldiers are not necessarily, some are better, and some are worse."

Chongzhen snorted coldly and didn't speak, Hu Kejian suddenly felt that his knees were weak, and he knelt down instinctively, and said in a trembling voice: "Slave damned!" The slave is guilty! ”

Chongzhen saw Hu Kejian kneeling on the ground, kowtowed again and again, and waved his hand a little annoyingly: "Hu Banban, what are you guilty of, get up and speak!" ”

Hu Kejian stood up tremblingly, Chongzhen nodded slightly to Wang Chengen on the side, Wang Chengen took the two steel knives from the hands of the little eunuch behind him, put them in front of Hu Kejian, and said with a smile: "Grandpa Hu, the emperor asked you to see which of these two knives is better than the weapons in this arsenal." ”

Hu Kejian took it for some reason, waved it twice, felt that the weight was just right, very handy, and looked at the steel mouth again, and found that it was indeed forged from fine iron, and he was about to find something to try the knife edge, but he saw a familiar mark at the swallowing mouth of the saber - a crossed spear and a bird gun, he couldn't help but be shocked in his heart, and thought to himself: "Isn't this a weapon made by Liu Xiandi's firm?" How did it come to the palace? ”

Hu Kejian was thinking about it, but Chongzhen on the throne was impatient, snorted coldly, and suddenly woke up Hu Kejian, he thought about it, and finally gave an ambiguous answer: "Tell the saint, this knife is similar to that used by the slave and maid." ”

"Almost?" Chongzhen's face showed a trace of unpleasantness, and he sneered at Wang Chengen on the side: "The weapons of a mere business can't be used, no wonder I have been defeated repeatedly against Dongyu for decades. Are there any other weapons? Let's also compare Hu Banban! ”

"No more!" Wang Chengen replied: "The Hongyang only sells self-defense weapons to ordinary people, such as bird guns, spears, and armor, unless they are soldiers in the army or have official certificates, they are not sold!" And-"

"What else? Say it! "I heard that Hongyang only sells swords to ordinary people, Chongzhen's face looked a little better.

"The person sent by the old slave to inquire said that in the store he met a few personal soldiers of the general of Xuanda Town, and they heard that the armor in this store was very good, and they bought armor in the store!"

Chongzhen's good mood after watching the internal exercise was ruined all of a sudden, and he knew in his heart that Wang Chengen and Hu Kejian did not tell the whole truth, at least not all the truth. Although those town generals on the nine sides are very mean to the soldiers, it is another thing to treat the soldiers around them, their future wealth, net worth and life can all point to these soldiers, the military salary, the battle is good, these soldiers come to this store to buy, it can only show that Yang Sichang is telling the truth, the armor of this Hongyang is far better than the arsenal, Hu Kejian is just afraid of angering himself, he didn't tell the truth. At this time, Chongzhen felt an inexplicable irritability and emptiness in his heart, he looked up at the wooded Banzai Mountain, and said, "Go up the mountain and have a look." ”

Wang Chengen turned around and called behind him: "Prepare to serve!" ”

Chongzhen stepped on the chariot, carried by four eunuchs, and walked to the foot of the west mountain. In the Ming Dynasty, Long Live Mountain was planted with pine, cypress, and miscellaneous trees, and the foot of the mountain was full of various fruit trees. Chongzhen sat on the chariot and walked along the newly paved earth road with thin yellow sand, admiring the mountain scenery all the way until the highest part of the hill in the middle descended. There is a stone throne and two pine trees are covered with branches on a high place to protect them from the sun. Today, the stone seat is covered with yellow satin embroidered dragon mattresses. But he didn't sit down, stood in front of the stone seat, looked south, and looked over the Xuanwu Gate Qin'an Palace, Kunning Palace, Jiaotai Palace, Qianqing Palace, Zhongji Palace, Huangji Palace, Wumen, Duanmen, Chengtianmen, Daming Gate, Zhengyang Gate, until the Yongding Gate far away, the north and south are a straight line. The Forbidden City is full of yellow glazed tiles, shining golden in the sun. Outside Zhengyang Gate, it is densely populated, and there are shops on both sides of the street. Since he ascended to the pole, he has rarely left Miyagi due to his busy state affairs. Now the scenery of this prosperous imperial capital makes him want to find another topic to go out of the city to see. About two miles to the left of Yongdingmen's inner street, there is a Hessian Berlin, and the spire of a round hall emerges from the forest, which is the Hall of Prayer for the New Year, which arouses his memories and feelings. Since he ascended the throne, he has sacrificed to the New Year's Hall, but every year there is a famine, and he has not had a good year, so that he has no heart to go again. He turned to the west and thought of his mother buried at the foot of the western mountain, and he couldn't help but feel sad in his heart. He turned to the northwest again. Gradually turned due north, wanting to see whether Yanshan's "royal spirit" was still prosperous. But I can't be sure, I saw heavy mountains stacked on top of each other, from west to east, vast, like a giant dragon, still the same as in previous years. He suddenly thought of this Long Live Mountain According to the customs of the palace, every year during the Double Ninth Festival, the Son of Heaven should lead the concubines to climb high and overlook the distance, but because the state affairs have been too unsatisfactory since he ascended the throne, he often did not come to the Double Ninth Festival. Last winter, Yang Sichang defeated the invasion of the Eastern Captives in Shanxi, captured Yue Tuo alive, killed Kong Youde and Geng Jingzhong, and made great military improvements. This year's Mid-Autumn Festival should be better, at that time, I must bring the queen, concubines, princes, and princes to Banzai Mountain to play happily for half a day. Thinking of this, Chongzhen subconsciously clenched his fists.

At this time, Chongzhen remembered state affairs again, and he had no intention of coiling on the top of the mountain, climbing the chariot and descending the mountain. I saw a locust tree at the foot of the mountain, with thick branches and a goose yellow color on the branches full of young shoots, which made people happy to look at. Chongzhen got down and stretched out his hand to try to touch the horizontal branch that stretched out to the north, only slightly higher than the top of his head, and there was a smaller locust tree on the side, the two branches were connected, reminding people that in some time, when the branches and leaves were lush in the late spring, the two trees were like a cover. Chongzhen couldn't help but think that if Yang Sichang's strategy could really take effect, he could defeat Dongyu, the world would be restored to peace, and when the spring was warm, he and Concubine Tian would come to this tree to taste tea and play chess, how happy they would be! Thinking of this, Chongzhen couldn't help but look forward to Yang Sichang's strategy more and more.

Naturalized City, dungeon.

There was a pile of hay on the ground, and an unkempt man lay on it, not knowing whether he was alive or dead, and in front of him lay a clay bowl with a missing horn, and he didn't know what it contained. A mouse spied vigilantly at the man lying on the ground, and the black things in the pottery bowl had a great allure to it, and the vigilant little beast moved forward a few feet, deliberately squeaking, but the man was still lying on the ground, not moving. After much probing, the rat finally determined that the guy lying on the ground was no longer a threat to him. It quickly climbed onto the bowl and began to enjoy the leftovers.

Suddenly, the man lying on the ground stretched out his hands violently, grabbed the mouse, and bit it fiercely. The rat struggled frantically in his hands, screaming desperately, just for a way to survive. But the man quickly bit the rat's throat, and then the fat belly, and as he tore at the delicious flesh and let the warm blood flow into his mouth, the taste was simply wonderful. So much so that he couldn't help but shed tears of excitement, but his hungry belly rumbled, and his empty stomach twitched, urging him to bite again. Soon the mouse stopped struggling, and he finally felt a glimmer of satisfaction.

There was a noise outside the cell door. He stopped suddenly, frightened, and quickly swallowed the blood, flesh, and fur of the rat in his mouth. Outside the door came the sound of shoes on wooden floors and iron keys colliding against each other. No, Bodhisattva forbid, don't now, I haven't eaten a single thing for two days, and I finally caught this mouse, and if someone finds out, it will be reported to Lama Chesang, and then he will punish me - reduce the food quota again.

He knew he should hide the rats, but hunger not only destroyed his spirit, but also greatly damaged his health. Didn't eat a thing for two whole days, or three days? Or longer. Lying in this dark dungeon, who can tell? His limbs were as thin as reeds, his stomach was swollen, but his stomach was empty, and there seemed to be a hand in his convulsive stomach, constantly kneading and pinching, asking for food. Whenever he closed his eyes, he would think of his uncle Shulhaqi, who, as his name suggests in Manchurian language, was a man of great strength and bravery, but because of his betrayal of his brother, Shulhaqi was locked in a crypt with iron locks, leaving only two holes to deliver food into, just as he is now. In the end, Shulhaqi died in the crypt, and it is said that when the body was carried out, ten fingers had been gnawed clean, and the iron-beaten man was starved to death by his brother. Could it be that the grandfather's sin of killing his own brother should be avenged on himself? No, even if you die, you have to be a full ghost! (To be continued.) )