It was already getting dark at this time. Looking at the general outline of the people and horses from a high place, they turned out to be all cavalry!
Tens of thousands of people were all cavalry, and they were so majestic and frightening that it made Chang Yu rack his brains to guess where this guy came from!
Zhou Yuji arrived in a hurry, got off his horse and stood next to Chang Yu, frowning deeply and staring at the north: "Who is so generous?".
“You’ll know soon”
Chang Yu responded calmly. In the distance, the patrol horses of officers and soldiers could be seen approaching the forward of the unknown cavalry.
Immediately, more than ten people rushed out of the cavalry formation to greet them, and Chang Yu and Zhou Yuji's expressions instantly became tense.
Wow, the two of them took a deep breath at the same time, looked at each other and smiled, Chang Yu even clapped his fist hard.
The men who were exploring the horses and cavalry approached for a moment, and then turned back without any conflict. This meant that they must be one of their own, so the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.
As for whose person it was, when Tan Ma rushed to the city to report, the two of them were dumbfounded again!
The emperor's people!
The Imperial Jinwu Guards are here to act on the emperor’s orders!
Chang Yu and Zhou Yuji were immediately stunned!
The Jinwu Guards are one of the twenty-six guards of the emperor. They are divided into four guards: front, rear, left and right. The front guard is responsible for patrolling the north and south of the imperial city and the gates of the capital. An important military force in the defense.
However, the duty of the personal guards is to protect the imperial city and patrol the capital. How come they suddenly appeared in Taiyuan without any warning, and there are nearly ten thousand of them!
Chang Yu can’t figure it out!
Although the Tengxiang Four Guards, led by Zhou Yuji and Huang Degong, were the first to go out to suppress the bandits, such a sudden arrival still made Chang Yu dodge his waist.
Come here to act on the emperor’s orders!
What to do?
Chang Yu didn't know, and Zhou Yuji didn't know either, and he didn't have time to pay attention to it now. Since he was from the capital, he should leave it to Chang Yu to deal with. At this moment, the bandit army in Nancheng was right under his nose, so that was the top priority.
"Mr. Factory, I leave this matter to you," Zhou Yuji said, got on his horse and hurried away.
Outside the moat in the north of the city, a group of more than a hundred men and horses came galloping towards Chang Yu. Fifty steps away, he turned over and dismounted. More than ten people came quickly. The first four were tall and tall, with weathered faces, but they looked excited.
"Jinwu's vanguard Lu Xing, Jinwu's rearguard Zhang Ji, Jinwu's left guard Liu Suiping, and Jinwu's right guard Dong Haicheng came to see the factory governor."
The four commanders of Jinwu's Four Guards saluted Chang Yu with clasped fists, and the deputies behind him also followed suit with respectful expressions.
Chang Yu returned the salute with clasped fists, looked at the four of them and said, "Everyone has been traveling for a long time, please go to the city first."
The four of them nodded and thanked.
Chang Yu ordered the general on duty in the north of the city to lead the four guards into the city and camp for rest. He led the four guards up the city towards the south city.
"Mr. Factory Master, aren't you curious about why I'm here? It's already known." Dong Haicheng asked with a smile while walking.
In fact, these guards leaders are no strangers to Chang Yu. You must know that Chang Yu started from scratch in the imperial city. At the beginning, he had a saying that his fists and kicks were unparalleled in the imperial city, and he specialized in beating the guards!
In addition, his boxing matches not only attracted the eunuchs and maids in the palace, but also the personal guards were a large customer group, so whoever was messing around in the imperial city didn't know about this popular fried chicken.
Then Chang Yu was ordered to go out of the city, and in the blink of an eye he became the admiral of Dongchang, and in the next moment he became the governor of Taiyuan. At this time, he was in a high and powerful position, and no one knew it.
However, compared to the verbal criticism of him by the literati group, Chang Yu's reputation among the personal guards and eunuchs was extremely high.
He is approachable and has no airs, he is generous and enjoys making friends!
Therefore, Dong Haicheng and others have an indescribable feeling of closeness to Chang Yu, although they are not familiar with Chang Yu and have never even spoken to him.
But after all, they are all fellow countrymen who came from the palace.
"I don't know, I'm also curious, but I'm not in a hurry because there are more urgent things to deal with right now!" Chang Yu smiled bitterly.
The four people in Dong Haicheng raised their eyebrows and looked at Chang Yu: "Factory Master, you are a bandit army..."
Um! Chang Yu nodded slightly: "You have to wait half a step, and the troops are approaching the city at this moment!"
The four of them were shocked! Silent!
"You guys came just in time!" Chang Yu smiled again.
Dong Haicheng and others looked at each other with heavy expressions.
In the wilderness south of Taiyuan City, bandits were all over the place. A cold night made these bandits tired, tired, cold, and ruthless. The rage in their hearts was just waiting to be ignited into the sky and burn Taiyuan City to ashes.
However, the officers and soldiers did not throw a single spark to ignite the fire. Only nearly 10,000 heads were left in the wilderness to tell the story of the brutality of the officers and soldiers!
The anger gradually subsided, followed by fear and uneasiness!
Ma Chongxi and Ren Jirong's faces were ashen. After receiving the report from the soldiers, they stood in front of the long wall of neatly stacked heads and remained silent for a long time without moving at all!
When did the officers and soldiers become so cold-blooded and cruel, slaughtering more than 10,000 prisoners, it was almost a genocide of humanity.
Looking up at the majestic Taiyuan City, Ma Chongxi's face muscles couldn't help but twitch a few times. Ren Jirong beside him wanted to say something, but his mouth remained open for a long time but no words came out.
My legs are shaking a little! A flash of panic flashed through Ren Jirong's heart, wondering when he had ever had such fear, and why it was so useless at this time. The heads in front of him glared like countless evil ghosts, and the distant city walls roared like demons, suppressing them. He couldn't breathe, and there was a kind of fear running through his body.
"Report to the general that the officers and soldiers dug several trenches within five miles of the moat, about one foot wide and six feet deep, intricately arranged horizontally and vertically, with sharp wood at the bottom of the ditch."
When the two men's legs were weak, a spy came to report. The person who was already livid was now completely black!
Looking at the top of the city, you can vaguely see the densely packed Ming army, and the city below is also densely packed, which means that people are waiting eagerly.
"Give me the order to rest on the spot. No movement is allowed before the arrival of the old camp. All the exploration horses are sent out. I will have the Ming army deploy in detail around Taiyuan City."
Ma Chongxi said in a deep voice, then turned around and walked towards the back of the formation, but for some reason he suddenly staggered and almost fell down.
Ren Jirong bit his lip, took a long breath, and stepped up to follow: "Brother Ma, how to deal with these heads will really affect morale here!"
"Everything has two sides. It can affect morale at this time, and it may also inspire fighting spirit when we leave. Keep it for the Lord to see." Ma Chongxi's face was ashen.
The bandit army was resting and recuperating, but they did not dare to neglect when encountering auspicious events in the city. They led their own soldiers to patrol the city for military affairs.
Chang Yu led the leader of the Jinwu Guard into the city and closed the door. More than ten burly eunuchs were guarding the door, prohibiting outsiders from approaching.
Including Zhou Yuji, but he was not interested in joining in the fun. Each of these emperor's personal guards had eyes on their heads, and they were very arrogant. The commanders who just made eye contact with him clearly should have recognized his identity. They didn't even recognize him. No courtesy is seen.
Moreover, the emperor sent his personal guards here to plot something with Chang Yu, but he didn't know and didn't want to know.
The dignified personal guards rushed thousands of miles to attack. What do you mean?
Pay rates!
Chongzhen sent Jinwu and his four guards to Taiyuan to escort the silver back to Beijing! To be specific, go north.
Although the prince made a lot of money in the capital at this time, the Ming Dynasty had too many places to use money at this time, and the gap was too big. Zhang Xianzhong made trouble in the southwest, and the Yangtze River Valley was massacred by Li Zicheng's Baiwang tribe. , the most important thing is the north, where the Manchu and Qing Dynasties are watching with eager eyes and cavalry going south at any time.
However, the frontier army was short of pay and food, and had to rely on one breath to hang on. It had reached a critical moment. If there was any further delay, the Qing army would have to take action, and the troops would be dispersed.
need money!
Chang Yu had done a lot in Taiyuan, and Chongzhen also knew about it, so he sent someone to get money.
Chang Yu was mentally prepared to pull money, but he actually sent personal guards with more than 10,000 troops, which made him a little confused.
It's definitely not that simple.
But when Lu Xing took out a secret letter from his arms, Chang Yu suddenly realized it and was ecstatic.
The letter was written by Chongzhen.
"Don't let me help you!"
Although the payment is not a cover, sending troops to Chang Yu is the fundamental purpose of Jin Wuwei's trip to Beijing.
Because of Chang Yu's dream, Chongzhen knew that if he could not change the status quo at this time, he would die and the Ming Dynasty would perish.
The key to changing this situation is whether Taiyuan can be defended. If Taiyuan is lost, it will have irreparable negative effects. The following Datong, Xuanfu... the butterfly effect is extremely terrifying.
Hundreds of thousands of thieves besieged Taiyuan, but Taiyuan only had more than 70,000 troops. Although it could rely on the high walls and thick walls of the city for defense, it was still weak.
However, at this time, the Ming Dynasty had no troops to deploy. Datong and Xuanfu were important border defense areas with long defense lines. Under the watchful eyes of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, they already had insufficient troops, so how could they have any spare troops to help Taiyuan.
At this time, the only people in the Beijing camp that Chongzhen could use were the men and horses of the Beijing camp. However, after the Tumu Fort incident, only the old, weak, sick and disabled were left in the camp. Even after years of management, there was no improvement. On the contrary, corruption made things worse. Pulling them out would be equivalent to giving away Head.
Instead of doing this, it would be better to let Wang Jiayan train and tidy it up before taking it out for use, so Chongzhen gritted his teeth and used the personal guards.
The seventy-two guards of the Beijing Camp, including the twenty-six guards of the Guards. To put it bluntly, the Guards belong to the establishment of the Beijing Camp, but are not under its jurisdiction and command, because they belong to the emperor's personal soldiers, the so-called "Shangzhi Guards" military"
By this time in the Ming Dynasty, all the armies were corrupt, and the emperor's personal army was no exception. But after all, they were personal guards, and their daily treatment was better than that of the general army. In addition, it was the duty to protect the imperial city and the emperor. Military regulations were stricter, and daily training was required. They didn't relax either. Compared with the troops from the Beijing camp, their strength was quite outstanding.
At this time, Chongzhen gritted his teeth and pulled out Jinwu's four guards, and they were all cavalry. From this alone, he knew that he had spent money and was ruthless, and he knew how important Taiyuan was in his heart at this time.
Especially the last sentence to Chang Yu, "Don't let me down". It was said to be a compliment or a heartfelt one, but in fact anyone could hear a threat.
"When did you all leave the capital?" Chang Yu was puzzled. Nearly ten thousand people left the capital, and it was incredible that he, the dignified admiral of the East Factory, did not receive any news.
"Five days ago" Dong Haicheng held out five fingers: "He rushes day and night"
As if knowing Chang Yu's doubts, he added: "When we left the city, except for a few people like me, we knew the purpose of our trip, but the rest of us didn't!"
So it turned out that Chang Yu suddenly realized that Chongzhen had signed a confidentiality agreement for them.
"Five days and nights, traveling thousands of miles, it's not easy for you guys. Eat well, drink well, rest well, and prepare for a big fight!" Chang Yu stood up and said with a smile.
"Mr. Factory Master, when will I leave? This matter is urgent and needs to be handled immediately." Lu Xing and others only knew the destination of their trip, but the purpose was not clear. They just thought they were here to deposit money. After all, they could not open Chongzhen's secret letter, and they might not understand it after reading it.
"The payment matter is indeed urgent. The governor has sent people to make preparations. We can set off as soon as the afternoon. However, the siege of the city by the bandits is a top priority now. Since you are here, why don't you lend a hand?"
"Sir, we were ordered to pay, but we didn't..." Dong Haicheng said quickly.
"The governor has the final say here." Chang Yu raised the secret letter in his hand, smiled slightly, and turned to look at everyone: "Eat, drink, and sleep well so you have the strength to work!" Then he turned around and went out.
Dong Haicheng, Lu Xing and others looked at each other in silence, no one wanted to fight, but obviously they couldn't run away, because Chang Yu's words were the most clear. The secret letter in his hand was actually the imperial edict, and now the command of Jinwu Guard The power has been given to him.
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