"The flag! It's the emperor's banner..."
The soldiers on duty above the city wall roared loudly, which immediately caused a huge noise in the entire Dongguan Castle of Datong. The leading officer on duty at Dongguan Castle was Ma Shanshan, a general of the Ma family, and there were twenty or thirty children and servants of the Ma family, coupled with more than a thousand soldiers of the same amount. They are said to be front soldiers, but in fact they are "temporary soldiers" hired by various military yamen in Datong Town. There are 130,000 front soldiers in Datong Town, but their pay is only 13,400,000. I don’t know if there are actually 900,000 that can be obtained? Of course, one hundred and thirty thousand people cannot be maintained with this salary, not to mention that Datong Town has to make a lot of profit from it. So this vacancy is inevitable... But Datong Town is a border town after all, and there is no telling when Tatars will break through the border wall and come in to plunder. Therefore, there is a custom of "temporary soldiers" here in Datong Town. Whenever the Tatars invade, the governor, general town, deputy general, and branch guard generals will use some of the money they usually withhold to recruit some. Temporary soldiers helped defend the city.
It's okay for the Tatar to toss around outside the city. The unlucky people are the people anyway. As long as the Datong Castle is not lost and the Tatars plunder it, the officials in Datong City will naturally be able to report their merits and receive rewards.
Therefore, the officials in Datong City could not care about the life and death of the people outside the city, but they were still very careful about city defense. Since the time when Hutu Dun Khan broke through the wall and invaded, the reinforcement work of Datong City and several surrounding fortresses has not stopped. When Zhu Youjian was about to return in triumph, there were still many temporary soldiers inside Dongguan Castle shouting slogans, transporting large logs and stones, reinforcing the battlements, and replenishing the garrison at the top of the city.
The east gate, Ying'en Gate, the north gate, Beiyuan Gate, and the south gate, Nanyuan Gate, are all blocked with bricks and stones. Only the east gate facing the main city of Datong and the west gate of Yangmen Wengcheng are not blocked. ——There is also a very wide moat between the west gate of Dongguan Castle and the Heyangmen Urn in the main city of Datong. There is a suspension bridge on the moat, which is of course closed now.
Because there is only a moat and two narrow roads paved along the city wall between Dongguan West Gate and Heyangmen Wengcheng. If the enemy wants to pass here, he will have to be hit by cross fire from the walls on both sides, and there is no way to survive. Therefore, the small town of Dongguan will not be lost, and the Yanghemen Wengcheng in the main city of Datong will not be attacked at all. And the tall city walls of Yanghemen Wengcheng can give enough cover to the west gate of Dongguan Town, making it difficult to capture... I have to admit that the city defense of this Datong Town is really sufficient. It is stronger than the city of Beijing. It's just that the people guarding this castle are really not worthy of such a strong city!
On the day Zhu Youjian arrived in Datong Town, he gave an order to the clan descendants of Dai Wangfu in the city, asking them to gather at Beiguan Playground City before 3:00 on the eighth day of the lunar month.
But today is the tenth day of the Lunar New Year. Who has seen the eldest son of the old Zhu family in Datong Beiguan Playground City? It’s okay not to go to Beiguan Playground City to gather. Anyway, this group of people is not cowardly for a generation or two. Zhu Youjian said that he would fire them, but in fact it was impossible to do that. This would offend the public!
However, in the early morning of the eighth day of the eighth lunar month, when the news that the emperor led more than a thousand troops to encounter a large group of Han troops on the bank of the Yu River and started a fierce battle spread in Datong City, the acting king Zhu Dingwei, who was seriously ill and could not live long, was actually killed. Frightened out of fear, he took a few of his children and a group of wives and concubines and ran away, despite the obstruction of the palace officials and eunuchs. Under the protection of a small number of eunuchs and entourage, he even called some of his best friends to the princes and ran away.
Moreover, he ran very smartly. While the main town Mangui was leaving the city and the governor Zhang Yiming was busy mobilizing troops and generals to support the front line, he used the excuse of going to Beiguan City to gather and left Dingwumen, the north gate of Datong Town. , crossed the suspension bridge, but did not enter Daxia Gate, the south gate of Beiguan, but turned a corner outside Daxia Gate, walked west along the moat around the city, bypassed Datong City and went all the way south... ....This cleverness really has a bit of the style of my ancestors back then.
But why doesn’t this cleverness use a good place?
Although the King of Datong has long been raised as a pig, he is still the backbone of the army and people in Datong City!
As long as Dai Wang is guarding the city, the army and people of Datong will know that Datong Town is still impregnable. Even if there are countless Tatars outside the city, everyone's hearts are still stable.
However, when Dai Wang and several county princes ran away... and they also fled in front of the battle when the emperor was marching out of the city to meet the enemy, this does not mean to tell everyone that today, like Shi Yingzong of Tumubao, he asked the Tatars to Caught?
The people in Datong City are still in chaos?
When people's hearts are in chaos, how can we defend the city?
So after receiving the news, Zhang Yiming, the governor of Datong, sent people to chase the acting king Zhu Dingwei. At the same time, he assigned Ma Jiajiang and Ma Jiajiang's children in Datong City to take their servants and temporary soldiers to guard the four Wengcheng (four urns) in the main city of Datong. city gates) and the three gates in the east, south and north (there is no Xiguan City in Datong). They also had people block the three gates in the southeast, north and south gates, leaving only one gate facing Datong Town. They also had people block the city gates. Qingyuan Gate, the west gate of Datong, is also blocked. Madeng Shan was appointed by Zhang Yiming as the temporary Dongguan sub-defense general, and he led more than a thousand people to work in the small town of Dongguan for two days and two nights. Finally, he blocked three gates and deployed a lot of equipment at the top of the city. Armor.
After setting up the defense, General Ma Da Ginseng, who had been busy for two days and two nights, felt a little overwhelmed, so he found a quieter room on the tower of Yingen Gate in Dongguan and took a nap. Just when he was sleeping comfortably, someone came Shouted in his ear: "The Emperor is back! The Emperor is back with his troops!"
What? The emperor is back?
Ma Shanshan opened his eyelids in a daze and saw an old servant of the Ma family with an old face full of excitement.
"Did the emperor win?" Madden asked.
"Victory, it should be victory!" said my old servant Ding. "It doesn't look like we've lost the battle... It's so majestic, and there are many captured Tatars in custody, and they are rushing Lots of cattle, sheep and horses! It looks like a great victory!"
"No! No...how is that possible?" Ma Shanshan felt something was wrong when he heard this! There are one hundred thousand Tatars on the White Mountain! How many people does Xiaohuang have? The army in front of the tent was no more than 10,000 people. The servants, town guards and some useless soldiers that Mangui brought out were only 20,000 in total. How could they win a big victory?
He got up as soon as he could, and didn't let anyone put on his armor. He just took a robe and put it on himself, and then strode out of the city gate tower.
When he arrived outside, he found that all the "temporary soldiers" in the city had dropped the earth and rocks in their hands, and mingled with the Ma family's servants to look at the scene to the east, and even let out large and small cheers.
Madeng Shanshan quickly shouted: "Be alert! Be alert! Be careful of fraud!"
As soon as he shouted, the people below immediately became vigilant - Tatars are very cunning, don't pretend to be Ming troops and come to mess with the city! Those twelve triangular dragon flags were snatched from the little emperor's army!
"Quickly, send someone to ask for Governor Zhang!" Ma Shanshan sent someone to notify Zhang Yiming again, and then he took out a telescope and started to look around and investigate.
After watching for a while, they found the beaming Datong Town Chief Man Gui and the Town Biao Staff General Fang Shekun among the troops crossing the Yuhe River.
Looking at their festive looks, they don't look like they were defeated and captured!
Did the little emperor really defeat the "running sweat" of Megatron Grassland?
Madeng Shanggeng quickly ordered his subordinate Qian Zong to guard the fortress. He took a few personal followers and Pegasus out of the west gate of Dongguan Town in Datong, then bypassed the town and ran towards the Ming Army brigade that was crossing the Yu River. Soon they He was stopped by the vigilant cavalry and led to Zhu You's horse inspection.
Zhu Youjian had seen this Madang Mountain before, so after he dismounted and kowtowed, he smiled and said: "Madeng Mountain, where are Governor Zhang and the King? This time, I have been blessed by my ancestors, and I have won a great victory... ..Let them quickly prepare a Qinggong banquet and then come out to greet us!"
"Your Majesty," Ma Shanden said, "I have already sent someone to invite Zhang Futai. He should be here soon... but His Highness Dai Wang cannot come."
"What? Fallen ill?" Zhu Youjian frowned, "Very sick?"
"No..." Maden Shan shook his head, "He, he ran away!"
"What? Ran away?"
