Chapter 91: A letter has arrived from Mr. Su

Style: Historical Author: A snail is not a cowWords: 2449Update Time: 24/01/18 16:44:39
Fang Han was wearing a tight-fitting jacket. For the convenience of movement, he did not wear armor and was dressed like a bandit. Under the escort of the third team of the Guards Bureau B, he entered outside the bandit camp in the north of Kaifeng City.

In order not to alert the rebels, he asked most of the brothers in the third team to stay where they were. He only took two cavalry and sneaked outside the rebel camp to the gate of Kaifeng City. Fortunately, he was not noticed by the rebels.

But in the cold winter night, the cold wind was howling, and it was so dark and the wind was high. The soldiers who defended the city Yong said nothing and let him fall off the suspension bridge. Fang Han kept talking until he finally reported Su Zhuang's name.

Guanhe Tongzhi Sang Kaidi, who was responsible for guarding the north gate of Kaifeng, agreed to lower the suspension bridge. After Fang Han and the other three riders crossed the suspension bridge, the guards retracted the suspension bridge and slowly opened a gap in the north gate of Kaifeng.

Fang Han and others filed in, and were disarmed one by one as soon as they entered the city gate. Dozens of defenders in the city gate were bravely waiting with swords and guns in hand. Fang Han could also understand the reason why they were so vigilant.

After all, there were no military generals or soldiers in charge in Kaifeng at this time. It was not easy for them, civil servants, to lead a group of common people and brave men to guard Kaifeng so tightly. It was understandable that they should be stricter with themselves and others.

He obediently handed over the autographed letter from the Taoist Su Qiang. Several local warriors took the letter and ran to send it to Sang Kaidi, and took away their horses. Fang Han and the other three were blamed for being trapped in the doorway. Not allowed to move even half a step, he had no choice but to cooperate with a wry smile.

Sang Kaidi and Su Zhuang were officials in the same city. Although they were in charge of different affairs, they still had some contact with each other on weekdays. When he saw that the letter was written by Su Zhuang himself, it was written that he would patrol Gao Mingheng and Zuo Bu. The two political envoys Liang Bing personally initiated the ceremony.

The day before yesterday, Su Zhuang and more than ten people rode out of the north gate to beg for help. He had personally ordered the city gate to be opened. Now that he had received a reply, he was extremely excited and shouted hurriedly: "Hurry, prepare your horses, I will Take three warriors to meet with the Governor and the Chief Envoy!"

Before leaving, he gave special instructions: "Take good care of the city gates and strengthen patrols on the city. Don't be careless!"

…………

On this day, it was cloudy and very cold.

The bandit soldiers fought for half a day outside the city and almost filled up the trenches on all sides. Even the corpses of the hungry people who were killed outside the trench were filled into the trench and mixed with the soil to fill up the trench.

The soldiers and civilians defending the city also fought hard all day long, but they could not stop the hungry people from filling the trenches. As the trenches were filled in one after another, they became more frightened. Everyone knew that the rebels would attack the city tomorrow.

Rumors abounded in the city, saying that after the intruder Li Zicheng captured Kaifeng, he would kill all the men in the city, leaving only the women to be distributed among his soldiers and generals, and children under the age of sixteen to serve as soldiers.

In Kaifeng City, there are the governor's yamen, the chief envoy's yamen, the inspector's yamen, and the commander's yamen, as well as the Dao, government, and county yamen, most of which are concentrated in the area southwest of the Zhou palace.

There is a tall archway on the north side of Henan Governor's Yamen West Street, with the words "General Constitution" written on it.

After entering the archway, we passed a stone's throw. There are three gates in the north. There is a plaque in the middle that reads "Henan and other places punish the prosecutors and envoys". There is another plaque on the left that reads "Question the corrupt officials." ", and there is also a sign on the right that reads, "The soldiers and civilians have been wronged by justice."

This is the Henan Xunjian Yamen, commonly known as the Zhitai Yamen. In front of the gate, two tall stone lions glared at the people walking on the street with their bulging eyes.

After nightfall, silvery snowflakes fell from the sky, and the white snow made Zhensi Yamen look even more solemn.

More than ten social soldiers formed a team and walked through the street. Although the leader of the team did not recognize Sangkaidi, they saw him coming with several cavalry escorts, and he was dressed in official uniform and riding on a tall horse. He gave in and didn't ask any questions.

Going further, you will see the tall and majestic archway in front of the Xunjian Yamen. Behind the Yimen is the dark lintel. The red lanterns under the lintel emit a strange light, making the Xunjian Yamen look even more deep and gloomy.

There were four guard sergeants standing on the steps with their hands on the hilts of their swords. They were all unarmored and wearing the Ming army's standard red mandarin duck war jackets, which looked extremely heroic amidst the silvery white everywhere.

From a distance, I saw a group of knights galloping towards me on horseback through the snow. They had been on duty at various government offices such as Zhensi Yamen for a long time, and they had long been familiar with the officials in the city. In the light of the fire, it was Sang Kaidi, a fellow official of Guan He, who came in person. , a guard hurriedly ran down the steps to greet him.

He took the horse's rein from Sang Kaidi's hand and said hurriedly: "Master Sang, my master is still at the west gate and has not returned. Are you here to see my master for something urgent?"

Sang Kaidi shouted hurriedly: "Quick, get on my horse and ask Gao Xun to return to the government office as soon as possible. Just say that Mr. Su has returned with a letter."

He just turned over and dismounted, and added eagerly: "Separate one person and ask the chief envoy, Mr. Liang, to come to the Yamen to discuss the important military matters."

The two guards galloped off, and the remaining two hurriedly called the concierge to invite Sang Kai's first group into the Yamen, waiting for the arrival of Gao Mingheng, Liang Jing and others.

All the officials of the Inspectorate and Inspectorate followed Inspector Gao Mingheng to the west gate wall to participate in city defense matters. Even if they did not go to the city to garrison, they participated in city defense in various places in the city. There was only one seventh-grade experience officer Fu Zhengyang in the government office who stayed behind.

When he heard that Guanhe Tong knew that Sang Kaidi had come to the office at a critical time to defend the city, he knew that there must be something big going on. He hurriedly went out to welcome Sang Kaidi and invited him into the office.

Behind the lobby of the Yamen, and after entering the courtyard, is the second hall. In addition to the official hall in the middle, the second hall also has the East and West Nuan Pavilions on both sides, which are where meetings are usually held.

After experiencing this, Fu Zhengyang led Sang Kaidi and the other four people to the warm pavilion on the east side of the second entrance to the courtyard, and ordered the Yamen servants to serve fragrant tea. In order to prevent Sang Kaidi from sitting dry, he made it easier for Sang Kaidi to talk softly.

But his eyes couldn't stop looking at Fang Han. He didn't understand why Sang Kaidi brought three thieves-looking men to patrol the Yamen, and even left his own bodyguards in the concierge to lead this group alone. The three of them went straight into the second hall.

Fu Zhengyang didn't distrust Sang Kaidi, but he just felt that there must be something fishy going on. There was a lot of probing in his words, and he kept asking about the situation of the traitors filling the trench outside the north gate.

Although he was doubtful in his heart, he did not dare to ask openly. After all, Sang Kaidi's rank was too much higher than his. He did not want to say clearly that there must be a reason. After a while, he said: "Master Sang, please sit down for a moment. I'm going to see if my lord is back."

…………

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the old system of the Yuan Dynasty was followed, and Xing Zhongshu Province was established in various places.

In the thirteenth year of Hongwu's reign, Zhu Yuanzhang executed Prime Minister Hu Weiyong and related officials for conspiracy. At the same time, he announced that the Zhongshu Province would be abolished and the post of prime minister would no longer be established.

At the local level, the original provincial system was also abolished, and instead the administrative envoys' department, also known as the vassal yamen, was established in each province. There was one left and right administrative envoy, each in charge of the civil affairs of a province and assigned to the government. Prefectures and counties are governed by six ministries of the central government.

There is the Department of Punishment and Inspection, also known as the Yamen of Zhensi. There is one person, namely the Inspector Yushi, also known as the Inspector. It is responsible for supervising the judicial and criminal prisons of a province. It obeys the orders of the Ministry of Punishment and the Supervisory Yuan and is directly responsible to the emperor. .

The responsibility for the province's military defense falls on the shoulders of the Commander-in-Chief Division. The Commander-in-Chief Division is in charge of the military household guard station of a province and takes orders from the Ministry of War and the Fifth Army Governor's Office.

The three were separated and restrained each other, preventing excessive local power from jeopardizing imperial power.

At this time, not only the highest administrative officer of the province, Governor Li Xianfeng, was not in the city, but also the officer in charge of military affairs, Chen Yongfu, was not in the city. Governor Gao Mingheng was very insightful, courageous and resourceful in times of trouble. responsibility.

Kaifeng city guards relied on him to make decisions on all matters, and he had apparently replaced the Fu minister Li Xianfeng as the head of Kaifeng officials.

After Gao Mingheng received the report, he ordered the promotion officer Huang Shu and Cao Kun and Li Yingchun of the Zhou Palace to stay behind, regardless of the snow and cold. He hurriedly went down to the Ximen Tower with a few entourage guards, and rode his horse to the Si Yamen in the wind and snow. Come in droves.