Zhurou

Chapter 197 Tokens
"It's just that there is a letter from one place in Dongming, and there is no movement of soldiers and horses from the brigade in the rest of the place, right?"

The yellow gate was covered in sweat from running, and when asked by Lu Xianzhang, he panicked and said, "I don't know."

Lu Xianzhang didn't ask any more questions, turned his head down and looked at the papers, and said to Zhao Mingzhi in a short while: "Dongming's report may not be reliable - if there are really tens of thousands of Di soldiers, how can there be no movement all the way south..."

But only halfway through the speech, his face froze, as if someone had grabbed his neck, and he couldn't continue.

——This burst of news came from all directions, from southeast to northwest, where did it not report that tens of thousands of Di soldiers came from the local area?
It's just that Beijing and China are difficult to distinguish, so they simply ignore it.

Dongming is so close to the capital this time, if you dare say that there are [-] Di soldiers, if not more than [-], there will be three to five thousand.

The thief is right next to the couch, baring their teeth like a group of hyenas. When the saliva falls, it can drip on the face, and the smell is even more pungent. Who would not be nervous?

But how many soldiers are left in Beijing right now?

Thinking that Pei Yong led thousands of elites to go east, but now it is useless when things happen, Di people are approaching the city, and he doesn't know where to pretend to be dead, Lu Xianzhang became angry.

He wanted to scold, but he was worried that if he mentioned it too much, it would embarrass the person in front of him, so he could only hold back the words, and said again: "Your Highness, don't worry, I will send someone to inquire about it later."

After finishing speaking, it is necessary to explain a few more words, talking about the arrangement of soldiers, and then the arrangement of recruiting soldiers, the raising of food and fodder, and so on.

Zhao Mingzhi vaguely felt that something was wrong, so he couldn't help asking: "Di Bing came in such a hurry, will the counties and towns along the way have time to evacuate the people?"

"I really can't take care of it for a while." Lu Xianzhang said, "I will definitely urge the local yamen as soon as possible to deal with it as soon as possible."

Zhao Mingzhi seldom interfered with the specific general affairs of the government office, but after listening to everyone's words and deeds recently, and seeing Lu Xianzhang's reaction in this way, she knew that the subordinates and others were not very urgent, and if she let them go, the consequences would be disastrous.

There is a map in the hall here, so she simply went forward and looked for the two roads of Jingji and carefully identified them. While thinking carefully, she repeated the old saying of Lu Xianzhang: "I am not a general, and I don't know about military affairs, but the people along the road There are often those who flee south and have to move and evacuate, but now there are few young and strong, and most of them are old, weak, sick and disabled, so it is inevitable that they will move slowly, do we have to try to buy a little time?"

Pointing to the direction of Dongming from the capital city on the map, she asked: "Even if you can't win, you should fight and retreat, and take one of the two places as a buffer? Could it be that the Di people drove straight in?"

Lu Xianzhang bowed and said: "Your Majesty, I will call people and horses to discuss in detail."

After finishing speaking, he hastily resigned, returning to the yamen to press for various matters without mentioning them.

It's just that Lu Xianzhang has not yet replied here, and the situation in the city has become even worse.

A few days ago, only the soldiers fled over the wall. Today, some soldiers leaders used the name of escort to threaten and lure the people to go south together, so as to demand property.Although the Kyoto government government and the city defense army issued an order to punish and arrest them, it was still difficult to stop them.

Zhao Mingzhi didn't dare to wait any longer, and knew that Lu Xianzhang was busy, so he called Song Jingren alone for questioning.

Song Jingren was honest by nature, he always answered every question, but when Zhao Mingzhi asked about the whole story of the deserter, he couldn't even speak.

"...Chen, I have just arrived here, and my abilities are also ordinary. I only care about restraining my subordinates on weekdays, and I really don't have the energy to take care of others..."

"Song Bei is already in such a situation. Is there anything else you can't say directly?" Zhao Mingzhi said seriously, "Since Bei was willing to believe me that day, knowing that the road would be difficult, he was willing to come to Beijing together. How could he do such things today? Perfunctory?"

Song Jingren was already hesitant, but at this moment he simply gritted his teeth and said: "Since His Highness is asking about the defeat of the North Army, there are many people in the city who have heard about it, and the lower officials are all familiar in the past. It can be gathered together, but there is a lot of commotion in the city defense army, that's all, there is only one group of people..."

He cleared his throat, turned his head to look at the yellow gate standing behind him, then looked at the guards outside the hall. Provocation—but there are indeed rumors recently: the imperial guards in the palace are full of complaints, and there are even people who are looking for old people, and I don’t know what they are doing..."

"Your Royal Highness's guards are mostly old people from the capital, and they have a lot of relatives and friends in the local area. If they walk around outside, they will definitely cause panic in others, besides..."

He paused, his chin almost touching his neck, and he didn't continue to speak.

Although it was only one sentence, Zhao Mingzhi already knew what was going on, so he didn't make it difficult for him, and sighed: "Besides, the imperial guards guard me around, and seeing them doing things, no one would think that this is what I mean."

Song Jingren said dryly: "This matter should be restrained by the forbidden army. It is also the ignorance of the people. How can it be blamed on His Highness..."

Zhao Mingzhi shook his head and said: "I rely on my status to run around, but I can only restrain myself. I am neither a soldier nor a general, and I can't stop Di Bing. Naturally, my words are useless."

"If I were a citizen in the city, I would be suspicious."

When she said this, she said to Song Jingren: "This matter started because of me, and it should end with me. Please prepare to lend a line of personal soldiers."

How could Song Jingren refuse, he should have done so immediately, after listening to the assignment, he hastily acted according to his words.

***
As soon as Song Jingren left, Zhao Mingzhi immediately sent another person out to inquire, and he was rewarded in a short time.

It turns out that there are three types of imperial guards in the palace, one is the original imperial guards who stayed in the city, the other is the former imperial guards who were led by Lu Xianzhang when he went north and went south with the court, and the last type is the soldiers under Pei Yong's command when he went east that day .

When Pei Yong was in the township in central Beijing, he controlled the protection of the inner city, and each faction was quiet and never jumped around. But since he moved eastward, the three have become their own factions, the first and second, and the second. The pictures and thoughts are vaguely the same, and they all go south with one heart, so that they can get together with relatives and friends, and they will not be forced to go to the front line to fill up troops and resist Di Bing-it is no different from dying. Different routes lead to the same goal.

"Actually, ever since Pei Jiedu entered the east, there have been occasional conflicts among the guards in the harem. Several times, they have been brought up in front of Ban Zhi, but in the end they were all resolved. Although they are not incompatible now, they have already left each other. Knot……"

The Secretary of the Imperial City, who came to report back, said cautiously: "This incident is actually not sudden. Earlier, there were often guards and soldiers who escaped. Later, His Highness returned to Beijing to rest for a while..."

He also suggested: "There are frequent chaos in the city, and several palace officials are recruiting soldiers. It's not easy to move. It's better to use the team that Pei Jiedu left behind to make the imperial army restrain each other. As long as we survive these few days , Waiting for the news from the east, it must be able to alleviate the temporary difficulties."

Zhao Mingzhi shook his head and said: "The military forces in the city are already restraining each other. Today, Pei Jiedu's subordinates are used to restrain the old imperial army. If the name is not right and the words are not right, how can we stand?"

The imperial army guarded the emperor, and although Pei Yong's soldiers were temporarily merged, they still had the brand of the Western Army on their bodies.

She didn't want to use it, and couldn't use it.

"This..." The man suddenly became embarrassed, "The guards in the north were carefully selected, and most of them were capable and brave. If they don't use strong troops, it may be difficult to deter them..."

Zhao Mingzhi was sitting behind the desk at this time, turned his head and glanced at the inscription in the corner, and asked: "There is a curfew in the city early, and the palace has to be ordered during the day, and the city gate needs to check the documents before entering and leaving. Ordinary people are fine, and the imperial guards are not allowed to enter." How can I escape?"

The man said: "Earlier, there were low and damaged parts of the city wall. The deserters were familiar with the situation in the city and climbed out of the wall, or there were some who were familiar with the guards of the city gate..."

He counted several methods, and sure enough, snakes have snake paths, rats have rat paths, and they are all ways of escape that are not easy to guard against.

Zhao Mingzhi pondered for a moment, and said: "Tongchuan Shen Dianzhi, please send Pei Jiedu's original troops to guard the damaged part of the city wall."

As he said that, he issued several orders one after another, all of which were to strengthen the patrols in the city and dispatched troops to check the documents of the city gates, all of which were aimed at the results of the investigation by the Imperial City Secretary just now.

The man wrote it down one by one, and after recounting it to Zhao Mingzhi for confirmation, he couldn't help asking: "Your Highness... only one Marquis Yu was asked to lead fifty guards at the west gate to help, I'm afraid it may not be possible. it works?"

The other three city gates have received powerful assistance, each with different forces, they can restrain each other, but this one seems to have a shape, but when you look carefully, it is actually very loose.

This person hastily persuaded: "Besides, the internal deployment of the imperial army is ordered at various levels. Nowadays, people are too noisy, and it is very easy to leak information. The talk of going south in the city has become popular. If you rush to encircle, it may not be effective immediately. There are still people rushing through the checkpoint, it is best not to leave this opening to let people get lucky..."

Zhao Mingzhi said: "I have other arrangements here, so Guan Gou doesn't have to worry about it."

The man froze for a moment, but finally he retreated honestly.

For a while, there were only a few palace servants, Huangmen, left in the palace.

Zhao Mingzhi had been entangled with the people for a whole day. At this time, his head and eyes were exhausted, he closed his eyes and rested for a while, then stood up again, took out the scroll of the map of the city from the large porcelain vase beside the table, spread it out, took a charcoal pencil and placed it on the scroll. Draw on it for a long time.

She had eaten early this day, and was really sleepy. She dozed off while watching the time, but got up when it was getting late.

The palace man got the order and prepared things for grooming and waited aside.

After Zhao Mingzhi dressed up, he led someone to find a hat and came out, covered it with his hand, and headed towards Xihua Gate in the dark.

At this time, the door lock had fallen early, and after Huangmen held the token and called to open the palace gate, there was already a group of people waiting outside, and the person in the lead was Song Jingren.

He was wearing armor, and he was spinning back and forth in front of his mount, but he heard a loud noise, so he hurriedly threw the spear in his hand on the ground, and went forward to salute again.

In the middle of the night, a curfew was enforced in the inner city, and the soldiers here lined up, holding only a few torches, holding one on the horse, and protecting Zhao Mingzhi as they marched westward.

***
Even though everyone galloped all the way, the moon was already hanging for half a day when they arrived at Wansheng Gate.

Song Jingren dismounted first, led Zhao Mingzhi's horse to find a corner, and asked, "It's still early, what orders does His Highness have, please go ahead and assign them, and I will obey them one by one."

Zhao Mingzhi had an idea, first asked about the time, got a reply, got off his horse, pointed in the direction of the city gate, and signaled Song Jingren to go towards the city gate.

She was wearing a cloak and a veiled hat, and she was protected by soldiers, so she couldn't tell them apart from a distance.

Someone in the queue first went to greet the city gate guards, and the person on the other side checked the waist badge and token, and then called the city gate guard out.

When the soldier learned that Song Jingren was in person, he hurried out to greet him. The two exchanged a few words of greeting and arranged for their subordinates. The soldier saw that Song Bei was kind and not like someone difficult to get along with, so he breathed a sigh of relief and sent him away. Please sit in the corner room at the back.

Zhao Mingzhi watched from behind, and saw Song Jingren and the soldier leaving, and followed the people around him to stand aside.

It was cold and dewy, so she stood there for a long time, only doing a little bit of footwork, neither walking nor resting alone, she should follow the ordinary soldiers, and looked at the soldiers standing on the left and right.

When a little white belly appeared on the sky, it was the time when people were most sleepy, and finally heard the watchman passing by to call the watch, and it was already Pingdan.

At this time, several people ran down from the city wall at the back, it was Song Jingren's personal soldiers who came to ask, but Zhao Mingzhi didn't leave one of them, so he had to retreat obediently.

Seeing that the sky is getting brighter, even though there are many city gates, it seems to hear dogs barking and chickens crowing.

Zhao Mingzhi didn't know the source of the sound, but felt that it seemed to be inside the city, but also seemed to be outside the city, so he couldn't help but listen.

Although the little soldier on the side couldn't see her face through the veiled hat, he didn't dare to look up and explained in a low voice: "So that His Highness will know that every day outside the city, there are people from Zuojin village who send chickens, ducks and poultry to Beijing. But today's curfew, people want to eat and drink, so they have to wait outside the city, once the door opens..."

After all, the army has not yet come to the city, and the curfew in Beijing is not strict.

It was only dawn, and not only were there people waiting outside the city, but there were also pedestrians in the city, pushing carts and pulling mules, dragging children and taking care of their daughters, and there were also many caravans.

Although the crowd did not stick close to the city gate, they gathered together.

Zhao Mingzhi looked around and felt that people were crowded, when suddenly he heard the sound of horses' hooves behind him, and the sound of wheels approaching from a distance.

The people in the queue at the back hurriedly moved away, and a group of horses and horses came running from a distance, with about 30 to [-] people in the lead, followed by an unknown number of carriages, and there was no end in sight.

This group of people barely approached, and some guards stepped forward to stop them for questioning.

The leader on the opposite side didn't care, he didn't even get off his horse, he just raised his token and said loudly: "I have been ordered to leave the city, open the door quickly and let go!"

The soldier didn't dare to be negligent, he hurried over to examine the token, he didn't know what he asked, and the man on the horse scolded him angrily, so he had to back a few steps and run towards the corner of the city gate.

There was a lot of momentum here, and countless people behind looked at it, because they didn't know what was going on, and there was commotion.

Not long after, the city guard officer hurriedly came from behind with a few soldiers, and because everyone was holding torches, they finally got a clearer picture of the situation here.

The man on the horse's face was full of impatience, seeing that the city gate officer had arrived, he just raised the token at his waist and said, "Open the city gate quickly!"

Zhao Mingzhi raised his eyes and looked, although he couldn't see clearly, he could vaguely recognize that the shape was the badge of the Imperial Army.

(End of this chapter)