Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2406: Drastic Change (VII) "Letter"

The north wind howled, cutting across the face, and the sky and earth seemed to be shrouded in a chaotic white, which was unusually clear even in the dark night. Ma Gui led the three-town army of the Imperial Guard, like a black torrent, rushing day and night in the snow and wind, heading towards the capital.

The horses' hooves made a creaking sound as they stepped on the deep snow on the road. Every step was accompanied by huge resistance, but the steps of the Guards were firm and powerful.

They may not know the purpose of running back and forth in the past few days, but they all know that there is a change in the capital, and as the imperial guards, they must be the decisive force and are loyal to the court. Therefore, although they are physically exhausted, they are in high spirits.

However, even so, after Ma Gui received the news from the scouts of the rear army that "Li Rusong is leading his troops eastward", he still unceremoniously abandoned the main army and gathered only the cavalry from the three towns, with each man riding three horses in turn, and rushed towards the capital overnight.

Although the Imperial Guards were the elite of the world, their cavalry configurations varied from town to town. Although each town had an independent cavalry brigade, each independent cavalry brigade had different numbers of men and horses. Currently, the three towns led by Ma Gui had less than 5000 cavalry in total, which was not a lot.

However, due to the luxurious configuration of the Royal Guards, there are currently more than 12,000 war horses - and many of them have been lost in the past few days. (Note: Domestic historical records are light on data, and it is difficult to find support for the war horses that were lost during rapid mobilization. However, according to relevant data on Napoleon's war history, cavalry often suffers considerable losses just by marching quickly.)

More than 4,000 cavalrymen and more than 10,000 horses advanced with difficulty in the snow and wind. After nearly two days and one night of traveling, they finally arrived at the outskirts of Tongzhou. Looking at Tongzhou at this time, night had completely fallen, and the entire city was shrouded in darkness, with only occasional flickering lights revealing a faint light.

Ma Gui was about to order the three exhausted cavalry battalions to rest in Tongzhou for a night and continue their journey tomorrow, when an army suddenly appeared in front of them. The army was well-organized and well-equipped, with flags fluttering in the wind, showing a strong momentum.

Ma Gui was startled and immediately ordered the whole army to be on alert. He personally climbed a small hill and looked into the distance with a telescope, only to see the words "Jizhen First Army" embroidered on the flag of this army.

Ma Gui frowned and thought to himself: "Why is the First Army of Jizhen here? What is their purpose?" Then he thought it was not good: The First Army of Jizhen is a Type A army, with the organization of four towns. What if they come out with all their forces to intercept me, I can't deal with them with less than five thousand cavalry... Should I take a detour back to Beijing, or turn back and lead the main forces of the three towns to fight them again?

At this moment, the enemy army also discovered Ma Gui's army, and immediately stopped advancing and formed a battle array to wait.

The two sides confronted each other for a while, and suddenly a general of the other side came out on horseback, came to the front of the Imperial Guards Cavalry, clasped his fists from a distance and said, "Is the one coming from the Liaodong Army Li Yangcheng Li, or the Imperial Guards Commander Ma Xiquan Ma?"

Ma Gui suddenly realized that it seemed that the other party could not see the situation clearly at night. They could only vaguely see that his troops were all cavalry, so they were not sure whether Li Rusong had come. The latest military intelligence should have been passed to Jizhen, and Jizhen knew that Li Rusong had arrived at Shanhaiguan with 20,000 elite cavalry.

Ma Gui's mind raced like lightning, and he finally responded loudly: "I am General Ma Gui, who is in front of the battle?"

When the general heard this, he actually laughed and said, "As soon as Lord Xiquan opened his mouth, even if you didn't answer, I knew it was you. Lord Xiquan, I am Zhang Wanbang! However, Lord Xiquan, you did not go to Changping to welcome the King of Shunyi, but came from the east. I wonder what's the important matter?"

Zhang Wanbang and Ma Gui were both from the family of generals of Xuanda. They had known each other for decades. They had served together in the army of Gao Youshi in North Korea. Therefore, they were old acquaintances. It was just that Zhang Wanbang's question was against the wind, and his voice sounded a little different, so Ma Gui didn't hear it. But Ma Gui's voice was with the wind, and Zhang Wanbang could hear it as soon as he heard it.

Ma Gui was obviously relieved, and said, "It's Sanxi (Zhang Wanbang's pen name). This commander was ordered by Yuan Fu to lead the army to Shanhaiguan. Now he is rushing back to the capital and passing by here on the way. I don't know why Sanxi came here?"

Zhang Wanbang rode forward and approached the front of the army. He did not seem to worry about his own safety at all. He said without reservation: "Lord Xiquan, to be honest, I have been wandering around Tongzhou in recent days. Yesterday afternoon, I saw that the situation was not right, so I led the First Army of Jizhen to disarm Qian Menggao's troops."

Seeing him coming to the front of the army, Ma Gui also relaxed and rode forward to greet Zhang Wanbang. As soon as he approached, he heard this and was startled, asking, "Why?"

As they got closer, they no longer had to shout to speak. Zhang Wanbang sighed and lowered his voice, "Qian Menggao disobeyed the imperial order and attempted to rebel. I followed the secret order of the prime minister and arrested him as soon as I saw the rebellion."

Ma Gui was shocked again, but he remained calm and just asked, "Do you have any evidence?"

Zhang Wanbang said, "The evidence is irrefutable. Qian Menggao said he was going back to the capital to report on his work, but he delayed his visit in Tongzhou. After two days of patrolling, he suddenly led his troops to the capital. I had warned him about this before, but he still dared to do this. What else could this be but treason? I have compiled a report of his crimes and am about to report it to the court for punishment."

Ma Gui's heart sank: Qian Menggao's troops should have limited strength, but if he is also suspected of treason, doesn't that mean that the one in the cabinet is also... Fortunately, everything was within Yuan Fu's expectations, otherwise, if he arrived in the capital before me and met Li Rumei, I don't know what Li Rumei would do.

Thinking of this, Ma Gui felt his scalp tingling and his back chilled. Ma Gui did not dare to neglect it and immediately said, "Sanxi, to be honest with you, I also have a secret order from the Prime Minister... and even a secret decree."

As he spoke, he first showed the handwritten order of the Prime Minister Gao Youshi, and then took out a secret order in yellow silk. However, he only handed Gao Youshi's handwritten order to Zhang Wanbang, and only showed the secret order in yellow silk before taking it back.

Zhang Wanbang didn't care about the secret order. It was a secret order, and he didn't dare to look at it if it wasn't for him. He just took Gao Youshi's order and looked at it carefully. A trace of respect appeared in his eyes, and then he nodded and said, "Since it is the order from the Prime Minister, I will obey it. I wonder what Lord Xiquan wants to say?"

It turned out that the order not only arranged Ma Gui's tasks, but also ended with a sentence: "All troops, seeing this order, are temporarily under Ma Gui's command and will be dispatched." The last seal had not only Gao Youshi's personal seal, but also the silver seal of the cabinet's chief minister - this meant that the cabinet had endorsed it and would be responsible if anything went wrong.

Ma Gui knew that the cabinet's endorsement was not enough to mobilize troops, but who could blame Zhang Wanbang? Like himself, he had a big "Gao" on his forehead. Unless there was definite evidence that Gao Yuanfu was the one who was committing treason, Zhang Wanbang would definitely obey the order.

Ma Gui coughed lightly and said, "The situation in the capital is critical now. Concubine Zheng and others are trying to cause chaos. We should return to the capital as soon as possible to quell the rebellion... You can see that I came here in a hurry and left the army behind. To be on the safe side, I want to join forces with Sanxi and act together. What do you think?"

Zhang Wanbang agreed without hesitation: "Lord Xiquan, your words are too polite. Since you have the order from the Prime Minister, why would I say anything more? I will work together with Lord Xiquan and be loyal to the court."

Therefore, Ma Gui and Zhang Wanbang joined forces and reorganized their troops. Ma Gui, whose entire army was now composed of cavalry, divided his army into two wings, sandwiched the First Army of Jizhen, and continued to rush back to the capital overnight without even sleeping.

Along the way, the snowstorm became more violent and the road became more difficult to travel. However, the Imperial Guards Cavalry and the soldiers of the First Army of Jizhen did not retreat at all. They had only one belief in their hearts, which was to rush back to the capital as soon as possible to serve the king.

As time went by, the sky gradually brightened and the outline of the capital gradually appeared before their eyes. Ma Gui and Zhang Wanbang knew that a fierce battle might be coming, and they were already exhausted. If they wanted to fight, they could only muster up their remaining courage and try to win in one go. But even though it was so dangerous, they were not afraid and were ready to meet the challenge.

Half an hour ago, the night was as dark as ink, covering the streets and alleys of the capital. On the Deshengmen Tower, Li Rumei, wearing a bright red cloak, stood there quietly, staring at the city with a cold gaze.

He knew very well the situation in the capital at the moment. The huge waves had already been set off. It all depended on whether the Jingguo Mansion north of Di'an Gate was a towering mountain or a sand dune by the sea. Therefore, he had been paying close attention to the situation in the city and did not dare to slack off.

At this time, a night guard he had sent out in casual clothes hurried back. This night guard was covered in snow and had an anxious look on his face. When he saw Li Rumei, he knelt down and said breathlessly, "Deputy Commander, the attack of the Four Tengxiang Guards on the Jingguo Mansion was thwarted!"

Li Rumei asked quickly: "What happened? Tell me in detail!"

Ye Bu Shou raised his head, took a deep breath to calm himself, and said quickly: "Deputy Commander, I saw with my own eyes that Li Hujun personally led the four Tengxiang guards to attack the Duke of Jingguo's mansion, but the defense of the Duke of Jingguo's mansion was extremely tight. The Gao family servants relied on the densely packed firing holes on the walls of the mansion to form crossfire and easily repelled the four Tengxiang guards.

The four guards of Tengxiang seemed unwilling to give up, and launched another round of offensive, pushing the side carriage closer. However, this time they were hit by the palm thunder formation, and were defeated again, with heavy losses.

Later, someone from the palace came and met with Li Hujun, and then went to the Jingguo Mansion under the banner of an angel to announce the imperial edict. After being closed for a long time, the Jingguo Mansion suddenly also brought out an angel, claiming to be ordered by the queen and the prince, and also read out an imperial edict to oppose Li Hujun's imperial edict. Both sides insisted on their own opinions, and neither was willing to give in, and the scene was very chaotic. "

After hearing this, Li Rumei frowned and murmured, "Both sides hold their own imperial decree..."

While he was deep in thought, Ye Bushou continued, "Deputy Commander, I almost forgot one more thing. The angel in the Jingguo Mansion seems to be Chen Zhangyin of the Imperial Household Department." Li Rumei's heart moved, and she quickly asked, "Did you see it carefully?"

Ye Bushou shook his head and said, "I have only seen Master Chen from a distance before, so I dare not say anything too definitive, but I vaguely heard a few words from the two angels when they were cursing each other. Among them, the eunuch Zheng in the palace said: 'This is just a fight between trapped beasts! Master Chen has received the grace of heaven for decades, but now he does not obey the will of the emperor and wants to be buried with the traitor Gao. What's the reason?"

The angel from the Duke's Mansion replied, "The Zheng brothers and sisters invaded the palace, held the emperor hostage, and imprisoned the queen mother. Their crimes are unforgivable! We saved the queen and the prince from the tiger's mouth, and took refuge with the prime minister. We are just waiting to see you kill yourself!" From this point of view... it should be Chen Zhangyin, right?"

Li Rumei fell into deep thought.

However, at this moment, another messenger hurried over and handed Li Rumei a secret letter. Li Rumei took the secret letter, opened it, and immediately recognized the handwriting of her father Li Chengliang.

"Like Mei Wu'er:

Seeing you is like seeing you in person. You may have heard about Li Wenjin's setback. This may seem dangerous, but it is actually an opportunity! Li Wenjin's troops are already in disarray, and he wants to help you with 3,000 soldiers and military equipment. You can take it, and then send troops to Wuziku to preserve the troops and armor, and then return to Gaofu to capture it. This is a great feat to save the situation, and my son must not miss it.

I also expect you to be worried about the Jingbei camp, but don't worry. When you see this letter, your brother Ruzhang will have led his army to feint and attack Jianxinzhai, and Ma Dong will surely not dare not pursue, so your rear is safe. Ruzhang does not need to win, just delay for a day or two, and your brother Rusong's 20,000 cavalry will arrive, and by then the great victory will be achieved, and my family will be worry-free for generations to come. I look forward to it very much.

I don’t know the full name, so I wrote this in a hurry today.”

Li Chengliang's meaning was very simple. Li Wenjin's defeat seemed like a bad thing, but it was actually a good opportunity. Li Wenjin was already in disarray, and was preparing to allocate 3,000 men from the Tengxiang Four Guards' own weapons to Li Rumei. So at this moment, Li Rumei should take this batch of weapons and immediately send troops to Wuzi Depot. As long as Wuzi Depot was captured, the entire town's troops could be armed instantly.

The whole town is fully armed. If Li Rumei sends troops to attack the Duke of Jingguo's Mansion, as long as they can capture this place, the Li family will not only become the biggest hero of this incident, but also demonstrate enough strength. They will surely receive huge rewards afterwards and "live without worries for generations."

As for Li Rumei's possible concern about Ma Dong's troops in the Jingbei camp, Li Chengliang told him not to worry, because the old commander had already made arrangements. At the time Li Rumei read the letter, Li Ruzhang should have led the Longjiang Second Army to quietly leave the barracks to feint an attack on Gao Youshi's Jianxinzhai Villa.

Ma Dong is Gao Youshi's confidant, so he would not dare to let Jian Xinzhai fail, and would definitely chase him. In this way, you, Li Rumei, have nothing to worry about, just go ahead and do it. Moreover, Li Chengliang also said that Li Ruzhang would be fine, because he did not need to defeat Ma Dong - that was impossible, the Longjiang Second Army was just a skeleton army, with only 3,000 people in total, how could it be possible to win? But he only needed to delay Ma Dong for a day or two, because after a day or two, Li Rusong's 20,000 elite cavalry would rush to the capital to clean up the mess...

In short, Li Chengliang seemed to have calculated everything, so he was very confident and felt that as long as Li Rumei took action at this moment, the situation in the world would be settled.

However, after reading the letter, Li Rumei was not as excited as Li Chengliang's messenger had imagined. Instead, she frowned and said nothing. Zu Chengxun, who had withdrawn from the Wuzi warehouse at night, was a little anxious when he saw this and asked, "Deputy commander, what did the old commander say?"

"Father said..." Just as Li Rumei was about to answer, there was a sudden commotion outside the city. He looked up and saw a large army coming like a tide and had already arrived outside the capital. At this time, the sky just brightened. Li Rumei and Zu Chengxun and others changed their faces at the same time. They raised their binoculars and saw the flags of Ma Gui and Zhang Wanbang.

"Oh no, why are they here?" Zu Chengxun was shocked and sweat broke out on his face. Turning around, he saw Li Rumei was calm and only frowned slightly at the change. He couldn't help but wonder: Who did Wulang learn this skill of nourishing qi from? How could he be calmer than my uncle?

At this time, the coalition forces were approaching the city but did not approach. Instead, they sent envoys to request a meeting with Li Rumei. Zu Chengxun stamped his feet and said, "It's already this hour, why are you still meeting? Let's see for ourselves!"

Li Rumei shook her head and said, "How can we tell the truth when the military equipment is not complete? I will delay him for now. Uncle Zu, time is running out. Please go to the Tengxiang Four Guards to get the three thousand military equipment..."

Zu Chengxun immediately said, "Deputy Commander is right. It was General Meng Lang who was wrong. I will go right away. Deputy Commander, please hold back Ma Gui and Zhang Wanbang. They are not easy to deal with. If they come in person, or just any one of them, we can just arrest them!"

Li Rumei nodded and ordered the city gates to be opened. Zu Chengxun did not dare to wait any longer and immediately took his men to find Li Wenjin to collect the military equipment.

Seeing Li Rumei open the gate, Ma Gui came out of the battle line, rode his horse alone, climbed up the Deshengmen tower alone, and met Li Rumei. He looked at Li Rumei, and a complex emotion flashed in his eyes.

"Ziqing, you should remember the duties of the Imperial Guard." Ma Gui said.

Li Rumei nodded and said, "I won't dare to forget it for even a moment."

Ma Gui hesitated to speak, and after thinking for a while, he said, "To be honest, I just came back from Shanhaiguan."

Li Rumei's whole body trembled, and she suddenly turned her head to stare into Ma Gui's eyes, her gaze as sharp as a knife.

"Ziqing, you don't have to be like this. I, Ma Gui, have killed more people than you... Besides, I didn't fight with your brother." He took out his sword from his waist and handed it to Li Rumei. "Whose sword is this? I'm sure you recognize it. He asked me to bring it to you to see."

Li Rumei snatched the sword, first looked at the scabbard, then pulled it out suddenly, and quickly looked at the blade.

Ma Gui raised his eyebrows: "How is it? Do you believe my words now?"

Li Rumei suddenly laughed three times, and then said, "I believe it."

It turned out that Li Rumei was checking the blade for any damage. As a younger brother, Li Rusong knew Li Rusong's character very well. If he had fought with Ma Gui, the blade would definitely not be undamaged. Li Rumei knew very well that the blade had been replaced several times, and only the handle and scabbard were still "original and authentic".

Ma Gui had just come from Shanhaiguan, and his dusty appearance and tired eyes could not be faked. Li Rumei was sure that he would not have the time and energy to change the blade. In other words, the blade was intact, which meant that Li Rusong had not been in battle and took the initiative to give the sword to Ma Gui.

Ma Gui heard him say "I believe it" and was about to persuade him, but Li Rumei took the initiative and invited Ma Gui to talk in the side room of the tower. Ma Gui also thought it would be easier to talk about this matter away from others, so he nodded and agreed, and followed Li Rumei into the side room.

As soon as he entered the side room, Ma Gui was surprised to see a young woman sitting there. She had a pretty face, elegant temperament, and a dignified look that revealed a hint of intelligence, but the bun on her head indicated that she was already married.

Ma Gui felt that the lady looked familiar. Just as he was about to ask her about it, the lady stood up, bowed slightly to him, and then smiled and said, "Commander Ma, this must be the first time you meet me. I'm sorry. I'm Li Gao, and my brother's taboo name is Wu Shi."

Ma Gui suddenly realized what was going on and quickly bowed and said, "It turns out to be Miss Gao in person. Ma Gui has heard of you for a long time."

Li Gao smiled and said, "Commander Ma, there is no need to be so polite. The situation is critical right now, and my brother is ill and cannot come in person, so he wrote to me and asked me to coordinate my husband's behavior."

Ma Gui was shocked and turned to look at Li Rumei. Li Rumei smiled slightly, looking a little mysterious.

However, Ma Gui keenly discovered that although Li Rumei wanted to smile calmly, there was still a hint of reluctance and loneliness in her smile.
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感谢书友“Apodes”、“云覆月雨”、“书友20170107012220447”、“Feudal”、“书友130311122745499”、“书友20180809205017918”、“清枫茗”、“胖胖龙2003”、“宋宋1122”的月票支持，谢谢！