Zunhua City is located northeast of the capital, about 300 miles away from the capital.
It may not be intuitive how close this number is.
Let’s talk about what happened a hundred years later: During the Jisi Rebellion that occurred in the second year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji surrounded Zunhua City with troops on October 30, and the next day, martial law was imposed in the capital.
The cavalry moved very fast, and it was the Great Plains of North China. With this road, it would take three to five days to reach the city of Beijing.
That's why Yang Shangyi is so nervous.
Don't say that something serious happened, even if there was a near miss, you may be held responsible afterwards.
"Zunhua Guard Commander Wu Youhong is from the Beijing Military Academy and is highly regarded. The general and Xu Li would never have thought it would be him..." Ma Xiongbin said to Yang Shangyi.
Their pace is not slow. Originally, the army would never go out so fast, but at this special time, the food and grass were prepared half a month ago.
Thanks to the fact that the country's national strength has been good in recent years, and the emperor pays more attention to border towns, it is not a big deal if Jizhou's money and food are short.
At a glance, there are at least 3,000 of these 10,000 people, all riding tall brown or black war horses. Yang Shangyi usually trains this group of people, and their military appearance is quite neat.
As they marched, the rumble was deafening. The vast white military flag of the earth came first, followed by the densely packed black dot-like army.
"You'll know when you get there!"
Yang Shangyi had no time to think about Wu Youhong. He would wait until the time came to arrest him.
He is now thinking with Chen Mi about how to mobilize mid-level generals from other guards to stabilize the situation.
A personal name popped out of their minds, and then they decided to go to the next place. They planned to write the transfer order formally while resting in a dilapidated house on the roadside.
The commander-in-chief and the guarding eunuchs were all deployed.
When things are urgent, follow the authority, and the person who delivers the message will use Chen Mi.
The Miyun Left Guard in the north, the Yongping Guard in the east, the Tongzhou Guard in the southwest... When they clean up Zunhua, they must stabilize their fundamentals.
During the discussion, a military horse came quickly from the front.
"Report!!"
Yang Shangyi got up and walked out, facing the scouts.
"Inform the Commander-in-Chief, Wu Youhong, the commander of Zunhua Guard, has been killed, and all the treasuries and government offices in Zunhua City have been lost. This matter was caused by the conspiracy of three thousand families of Zunhua Guard. Now Zunhua City is under their control. In hand."
Ma Xiongbin was originally wondering why Wu Youhong would be like this, because they were all acquaintances in the past. When he heard that he was like this, he immediately changed from doubting him to being furious, "The following is the crime! Killing the chief officer without permission! Don't let labor and management catch him These soldiers are ruffians, otherwise we will have to skin them alive!"
"Explore again!"
Yang Shangyi waved his hand. He did not rest, mounted his horse directly, and ordered to continue moving forward.
Xu Li suggested from the side, "General Yang, do you want to mobilize the Funing Guards of Yongping Prefecture and the Youtun Guards of Xingzhou to move closer to Zunhua?"
Yang Shangyi did not adopt this suggestion. "In the middle of winter, it is not easy to march troops. At this time, the resentment of the soldiers is great, so they cannot be mobilized. Moreover, each guard post is now very anxious. In fact, it is not known whether the soldiers coming are friendly or enemy troops." Army, our own two guards and horses don't matter. Others, for the sake of stability, don't move. As for the Zunhua guards and horses... they can't make any waves!"
"drive!!"
The military situation is like a fire and there can be no delay.
According to the speed of information dissemination at this time, all they know may be from the past two days.
Zunhua City, a city on the frontier that was prosperous because of military affairs, has fallen into darkness. The following means the loss of order.
The three thousand families who revolted first conspired to kill the commander, and then occupied the treasury and distributed food. On the one hand, they strengthened their control over the army, and on the other hand, they also calmed people's hearts.
The common people and soldiers at the bottom don't understand. If they can have enough to eat for the time being, then no one will cause trouble.
After doing this, they also opened the prison. Those who had been convicted by the Ming Dynasty in the past were now pardoned and they organized these people into the army.
Now comes the problem.
Three thousand households, Liu Zhong, Chen Scarzi, and Sun Xiong, what can they do next?
The former commander asked them to occupy it, and the maps from the battle were taken out.
Chen Scarzi pointed out, "We don't have many troops, and there are more than 6,000 death row prisoners. In fact, the only people we can trust are the three people from the Thousand Households Office. However, there are many people who are dissatisfied with the Ming court's policies. At this time, Yang Shangyi from Jizhou must have led his troops. I thought we would go east, to Qian'an County, to Yongping Mansion, and recruit brothers from other guard posts along the way to respond. If the court does not give us a good life, then we will not live in it. !”
"Have you contacted him?" Sun Xiong asked.
"Partial contact was made, but labor and management didn't believe it. Those people in Xingzhou Youtun Guard and Funing Guard honestly followed the imperial decree? After doing it, they went to drink the northwest wind! Brother Liu, say something, There are a few of my old brothers in Funingwei, and I know their temperament. If they go back to live in poverty, it would be better for them to die as soon as possible and find a good family in the next life!"
Liu Zhong frowned. His fingers were thick and his mouth was heavily calloused. He looked like a veteran at first glance. "Going east is getting further and further away from the capital, and getting closer and closer to Liaodong Town."
"So what? I heard that Liaodong is also doing this labor-intensive settlement. Life outside Shanhaiguan is even more difficult. Can they bear it?"
"Old Sun, what do you think?"
"I also think what Chen Scarzi said makes sense. We need to build up our strength first. We can't just shout at the top of our lungs for things like raising wages. We have to incite people from other places as well."
Bang!
Liu Zhong pounded his fist hard, "Then go to Qian'an County! Yang Shangyi has some soldiers in his hands. We can't confront them head-on. We'd better go out and stir up trouble!"
…
…
Yang Shangyi is only a day's journey from Zunhua, but the wind and snow blocked the road and delayed a little more time.
When they were still thirty miles away from Zunhua, a royal guard suddenly appeared in front.
This group of human dragons have never seen their beginnings and tail, and they did not expect to appear here.
The Jin Yiwei entered with the order and said after entering the barracks: "Commander Yang, the rebels are heading east!"
Yang Shangyi was a little surprised, "In this season, they didn't defend the city, but abandoned the city and headed east?"
"Yes, they thought there must be a lot of people dissatisfied with Qingtun, so they went out of the city to recruit people to respond."
"How far is it from here?"
"Sixty miles."
"You can chase!"
As for how Jin Yiwei knew, there is no need to ask, it must be someone from Jin Yiwei.
It is said that Jinyiwei Nansi has been separated and is responsible for domestic intelligence collection. There are definitely people in important places like Jizhou.
…
…
This is what happened near the capital.
The court learned about it very quickly, and Wang Bing still had to rush it eight hundred miles away. As soon as the urgent message arrived, no one in the cabinet was absent and all entered the palace.
Even though it was already late at night.
"The commander of the Zunhua Guard named Wu Youhong died in the battle." The emperor did not say anything else, but mentioned this person first, with a pity in his tone. "After the Ningxia incident, the imperial court repeatedly reminded all towns to pay attention to the restraint of troops. Everyone, I don’t want something like this to happen again!”
Wang Bing said: "Your Majesty, Jizhou Commander-in-Chief Yang Shangyi is already hunting down the perpetrators. Commander Wu will surely avenge him. At the moment, I think that the 12th Regiment Camp and the Beijing Camp in Beijing should be dispersed at various city gates. Guard the capital, and the capital should also be under martial law, strictly check people entering and exiting, and at the same time send orders to Datong and Xuanfu. These three towns are closest to the capital, and beacon fires cannot be lit everywhere in the capital!"
This is a routine action, nothing serious.
"Accurate."
Zhu Houzhao vaguely remembered that Datong soldiers also had a mutiny during the Jiajing period. When reading history, he understood these people, because to be honest, the living standards of ordinary soldiers in the Ming Dynasty's frontier army were very low, but after experiencing history, he could not be soft-hearted.
If there is no thunder, then the gourd will float down.
"My dear friends, if Yang Shangyi's war goes against him, what do you think?"
"Your Majesty!" Wang Bing did not want the matter to expand again. He was in charge of Jizhou. "Yang Shangyi has been on the battlefield for a long time and is good at military affairs. As long as the court gives him some time, he will be able to quickly put down the rebellion!"
Zhu Houzhao waved his sleeves, sat down and said, "I know. But it is basic to show leniency to the enemy. What I mean is that if something goes wrong, the court must have a backup plan, right?"
Yang Yiqing replied, "If the situation is unfavorable, I am willing to lead the Beijing camp to provide support."
"Then what if something happens to both Datong and Xuanfu?"
If the emperor asked this, the minister would not know. The whole territory is in flames of war. Is there something wrong with the court's policy?
But how dare you ask such a question.
Zhu Houzhao's eyes were extremely firm, "To be honest with you all, I have known for a long time that cleaning up the military settlements would not go smoothly. But no matter how much resistance there is, this matter must be done, even if blood flows into a river, even if the capital is besieged, I No matter what!"
"Your Majesty, think twice!" Wang Hao tried his best to tell him, "Things will be smoothed out if things are slowed down. If it is true that there are enemies on all sides, I think we can take a step back and there is no need to push forward."
Zhu Houzhao closed his eyes and shook his head.
impossible,
This thing can't be done softly.
And this hurdle must be crossed. After crossing this hurdle, food and troops will not be a problem. With this trend, what problem in the hinterland of the Central Plains cannot be solved by him? The remaining Mongolian forces in the north can also be suppressed from time to time.
If you can't get over it, you can only deal with other problems in a scratchy way. It's pointless to be the emperor. It's better to close the door and be Wanli.
…
…
The atmosphere in the capital began to change, and more and more armored soldiers began to appear on the streets.
Zhang Cong had expected this day to come, but he didn't expect it to be so intense.
When he returned home from the Metropolitan Procuratorate and walked through the city that never sleeps, he was a little dazzled because he saw a very familiar face that was unlikely to appear in the capital.
The visitor came with three or four attendants, wearing thick black coats and rough beards, pulling a horse and walking slowly.
Zhang Cong rubbed his eyes, it was indeed true.
"Boss, look over there. It seems to be that person..."
The dark man looked over and was a little surprised. But since he bumped into him, he still came over.
Only then did Zhang Cong become convinced, "Ha, I thought I was wrong!"
"The lower official has seen the superior."
"Haha, I'm not on duty now. By the way, Ma Bin, why are you here?"
"I came to the capital according to the decree."
"By order?"
Zhang Cong remembered that the emperor did ask who Ma Bin was. Did he send someone to announce him afterwards?
Ma Bin was the most ruthless person in Ningxia Town. If the emperor had summoned him to the capital at that time... it seems that the emperor had known what would happen when the eight towns were cleared of military settlements.
"Mr. Zhang, we are all country roughnecks. Let alone the imperial palace in the capital, we have never even been to a few big cities in our lives. How on earth are we going to get around here?!"
Zhang Cong came back to his senses and became happy.
At the same time, he thought to himself that he had to be careful not to get too close to the border troops and the officials in the capital, but Ma Bin's future should be certain, so he had to help with these things.
(End of chapter)
