On August 17 of the sixteenth year of Hongzhi, Shen Xi once again embarked on a journey out of Beijing. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Early in the morning of this day, Shen Xi came out of Zhaohui's home in Jinggongfang under the escort of eight Beijing soldiers sent by the Governor's Office of the Five Armies as personal guards, rode along the lower street of the Drum Tower all the way to the north, crossed the Drum Tower, turned to the northwest, and went out of Desheng Gate from the west slope street of the Drum Tower.

From Desheng Gate to the west of the city, about six or seven miles to the west of the camp in Beijing, no one came out to see off on this day, and even the imperial court did not send people to practice.

Shen Xi met Zhang Yong who came by carriage at Deshengmen, and was just about to set off, when a carriage arrived quickly on Deshengmen Street in the south.

The sky is not yet bright, the city gate has not been officially opened, coupled with the martial law of the Beijing Division, most of the city gates in the west, north and south of the city will not be opened, only the Dongzhi Gate and Chaoyang Gate in the east of the city will be open for less than half an hour every morning and evening, even if the people who enter and leave the city will not go to the Desheng Gate.

"Lord Shen, it seems that the imperial court sent someone." Zhang Yong was very happy that he had not been forgotten by the emperor, and actually sent someone to see him off.

At this time, the Desheng Gate had been ordered to open, and Shen Xi was about to ride his horse to the western camp, but he had to stop at this time to see who it was.

When Ma Wensheng got off the carriage, Shen Xi was slightly surprised.

When he set off from home, Shen Xi had already been notified by the Ministry of War, saying that the imperial court had specially sent him 800 head of livestock, saying that this was a "concession" from the imperial court, and he guessed that the matter might be related to Ma Wensheng.

Taifu Temple obeys the orders of the Ministry of War, and now Liu Daxia, the secretary of the Ministry of War, is in the northwest, and can transfer 800 heads of livestock at a time.

Shen Xi hurriedly turned over and dismounted, stepped forward to salute, and said respectfully: "Ma Shangshu." ”

Ma Wensheng waved his hand, did not stick to etiquette, and said directly: "Shen Xi, the old man came here today to see you off. ”

Ma Wensheng not only arrived, but also brought wine, which can be described as "persuading the gentleman to have a glass of wine and go out of Yangguan for no reason", Shen Xi was inexplicably moved, because only Ma Wensheng came up and down to say goodbye, and others didn't treat him at all...... After accepting the emperor's order on the night of August 15, Shen Xi did not communicate with Xie Qian, and Xie Qian did not take advantage of his last moments before leaving the city to explain to him.

The official Shangshu personally toasted Shen Xi, and he had to drink this wine no matter what.

Ma Wensheng helped him obtain 800 head of livestock, which did not do much for cavalry warfare, but with these 800 head of livestock, the speed of the delivery of military rations and supplies would be accelerated, and the speed of the march would be increased, bringing greater mobility to the troops under his command.

Even Shen Xi imagined that if he was trapped in the lonely city, he could slaughter these 800 livestock to satisfy his hunger, which was a big gift anyway.

said that it was a practice of wine, but the wine was weak, and Shen Xi felt no different from drinking water after drinking it.

Ma Wensheng put down the wine glass and said, "There are some daily marching strategies here, as well as the guidance of the northwest road conditions in the past few years, you can take them, I hope it will help you!" ”

Ma Wensheng asked the servant to bring a brocade box, opened it, and there were many scrolls in it, because there were too many and too complicated, even if it was helpful to Shen Xi's march, he would not open it to take a closer look at it at the moment. Shen Xi saluted: "Thank you Ma Shangshu, the student will leave!" ”

"Hmm."

Ma Wensheng nodded, and finally instructed, "The battle in the northwest is to seek stability, and you must not rush forward, it is good that Yansui can take it back, if you can't do it, you might as well wait for three months, Beiyi will not be in love!" Go ahead! ”

Saying this, that is, what Shen Xi thought before, the Tatars are unlikely to continue to use troops in winter, because in the north of the Xiaoice period, ice and snow, whether it is the grassland or the North China Plain, it is basically the same, it is easy to be occupied by the Ming Dynasty, and the Tatar rear is not so stable.

The Tatars were in the midst of infighting, and they had to guard against the sneak attacks of the Uliangha and Warat tribes, and the Tatars chose to accept it when they saw it, Shen Xi rushed to the northwest, as long as it could be delayed until the day when the Tatars withdrew their troops, the team losses were not large, and then a little success, or even a false report of some achievements, could be fooled.

Shen Xi thought to himself: "Before the expedition was set out here, Ma Wensheng, who was the secretary of the ministry, came over to teach him face-to-face, and he was talking about how to deal with the errand of the imperial court and save his life to come back, this rhythm is not right!" Shouldn't he come and persuade me to be loyal to my country? ”

Shen Xi didn't say anything more, and after bowing, he stepped on his horse. As the commander of the Chinese army, taking a carriage to the barracks will always lose face, and it is not that Shen Xi has to ride a horse, and after the army sets off, he is ready to get into the carriage to sleep, after all, he has not rested very well in the past few days.

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In the barracks, 6,000 soldiers and horses were gathered.

It is said that there are 6,000 soldiers and horses, but in fact, there are three Beijing camps and thousands of households, and there are more than 2,000 scattered personnel, most of whom are unruly and unruly, and at the same time mixed with the old and weak, and the situation of this team is disappointing at a glance.

As the Gyeonggi garrison army, the aging and weakness of the Jingying period during the Chenghua and Hongji periods were very obvious.

Originally, when the veteran reached the age of thirty, he had to pass on his Beijing camp qualification to his sons and nephews, which was basically in line with the Ming military household system, but because of serious corruption in the army, many old, weak, sick and disabled people continued to stay in the army.

Shen Xi didn't have time to check how much combat power the 6,000 soldiers and horses that Zhang Heling equipped him with, he only knew that the number of these 6,000 soldiers and horses should not be small, after all, no one dared to do anything on this, it was to kill the head.

In addition, the people who transported grain, grass and supplies, according to the configuration of one man and one horse, should have two thousand, and the whole team should have eight thousand people.

But these 8,000 people were not enough for Shen Xi to muster up courage, because Shen Xi alone knew that the number of soldiers and horses of the Tatars in this southern invasion was fifty or sixty thousand, and even if he collected the remnants along the way, it would be impossible to put together an army that could fight the Tatars head-on in a short period of time.

Unless he was prepared to find a random city and rush into it after passing the Juyong Pass, the Tatars would not continue to advance westward if they did not withdraw, but the consequence of this would be that he would be impeached by the imperial court immediately.

Even according to Ma Wensheng, when facing the Tatars, he could passively avoid the war, but he led the troops through Xuanfu and Datong, and could only implement it when he was close to the three sides, so that even if there was a small-scale battle with the Tatars, he could report a "great victory" to the imperial court.

Zhu Hui, Qin Hong and others have done this kind of thing before, even if the imperial court knows that there is an element of false credit, but they all turn a blind eye, because the imperial court needs to explain to all the people in the world, and it needs to use the great victory in the northwest to establish authority for the emperor and the imperial court, so that the people of the world feel that no one can shake the Ming Dynasty.

If the emperor and the imperial court deal with these people who falsely report their merits, it is unwise to lift a stone and shoot themselves in the foot.

Out of the capital to aid the three sides of the northwest, usually go out of the inner Great Wall through Juyongguan, and then pass through Huailai, Xuanfu, Tianzhen, Yanghe, and arrive at Datong.

Shen Xi didn't dare to think about how to go west after Datong, because most of the first half of the road was along the line of the Great Wall, which could be said to be rumored to be rumored to be Tatar along the way.

This road is basically the route of the original Ming Yingzong's personal expedition, the Ming Yingzong led hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses to return to Juyong Pass in the end, he Shen Xi only led eight thousand old and weak, and it was pure luxury to walk around outside and want to come back.

Unlike the previous expeditions, accompanied by more or less female dependents, this time Shen Xi went out to be completely alone, the guards around him were assigned by the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, and the soldiers and horses in Beijing were notoriously difficult, and the Zhang brothers caused him a lot of trouble, and these commanders, commanders, team leaders, etc., all owed him even the most basic respect.

Shen Xi even felt that these people would be scattered after leaving Juyong Pass, because none of these people were ready to fight the Tatars.

As the army got farther and farther away from the capital, the officers and men in the army were almost wailing, and the marching speed was very slow, at this rate, it would take five or six days just to get out of Juyong Pass.

However, the road from Juyongguan to the capital is quite stable, and a group of Beijing soldiers are like lambs to be slaughtered at this time, procrastinating and listless, and Shen Xi has no good plan for this.

Even Shen Xi himself, in the first few days of the expedition, showed an indifferent attitude, as if he had nothing to do with himself.

There are no acquaintances around, and the only people who can be mobilized on weekdays are a few guards around them, sleeping in the carriage during the day, and staying up late at night with candles in the big tent of the Chinese army.

I don't know anything about the future, and behind it are all kinds of imperial orders, so no matter what, the team still has to move forward.

The imperial court put a lot of pressure on Shen Xi, and it seemed that Shen Xi was counting on Shen Xi to lead these 6,000 soldiers and horses to save the war in the northwest. But it is clear that there are more than 200,000 Ming soldiers in the northwest, so many soldiers, and the individual combat ability is far beyond the officers and soldiers of the Beijing battalion led by Shen Xi, Shen Xi really can't figure out the reason why he can become a savior.

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On August 21, the group finally arrived at Juyong Pass.

On the way to the border pass, there were no remnants of the defeated soldiers who had retreated from the front line, but there were many people who fled, and the road was very difficult to walk due to the continuous autumn rain.

Shen Xi knew that he was ready to confront the Tatars at any time after leaving Juyong Pass, and if he could stay in the pass for one more day, he would give the Tatars a chance to evacuate.

"My lord, you have been on this expedition for some time, and the soldiers want to ask, when will the reward be issued? Before the war, I didn't have any confidence in my heart, but not many people were willing to fight hard! ”

Approaching Juyong Pass, the middle- and lower-level officers found that Shen Xi did not plan to send money to the soldiers, so someone took the initiative to ask Shen Xi for it.

The intention of this group of Beijing battalion soldiers is very obvious, taking advantage of Shen Xi's ignorance of the rules of marching and fighting, thinking that they will issue some rewards to stimulate the morale of the army before the war, and when they receive the silver, they can push and pretend with Shen Xi perfunctory, and they will disperse in a hurry after passing the Juyong Pass.

There is still a reason why the law in the army does not blame the public, and if all the officers and men of the army become deserters, it can only be regarded as a defeat, and cannot be blamed on one or two people.

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PS: Second update!

I hate winter.,It's almost noon when you wake up in the morning.,Two chapters in the afternoon.,One chapter in the evening.,It's so hard to code out the fourth chapter!

Well, there's another chapter today, but it's hard to get it after ten o'clock to update, and the Son of Heaven weakly begs for subscription and monthly pass support! (To be continued.) )