Zijingguan is a steep mountain that blocks the winding road in the south, and a gulf that blocks horses in the north. It is close to Futu as a gateway, and far away is Xuanda as a fence.
If we say that the three outer passes composed of Yanmen Pass, Ningwuguan and Piantou Pass were the Ming Dynasty’s first line of defense against the Mongolian invasion.
Then the three inner passes composed of Zijin Pass, Daoma Pass and Juyong Pass are the last line of defense to guard the capital.
As a battleground for military strategists throughout the ages, Zijingguan has been expanded several times, most recently during the Yongle period.
The entire outer wall of the pass is made of solid long stone barriers. The top of the wall is paved with blue bricks, and the gaps in the middle are filled with lime gravel, making it extremely strong.
Outside Zijingguan is the long Juma River.
On the south bank is Xiaojincheng, the outpost city of Zijingguan, and on the north bank is the main city of Zijingguan. The main city is surrounded by three small cities, namely Xiaopanshi City, Qifengkou City, and Guanzuoling City.
These four small cities, together with the main city of Zijingguan, together form Zijingguan, which is known as the throat of the capital.
A heavy snow fell one after another, and the weather seemed to become extremely cold overnight.
But the area around Zijingguan is still extremely busy.
Outside Xiaojin City, you can see Juma stakes, dug trenches, and various fortifications everywhere.
Countless officers and soldiers in charge of armor were busy coming and going without stopping.
The water of the Juma River flows calmly, but in this cold weather, the water is already mixed with some thin ice slag.
As Zijingguan is only one step away from the capital, the imperial court paid full attention to it. The officials guarding this place were Tao Jin, the governor of the Chinese Army's Governor's Office, and Sun Xiang, the left deputy governor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
On the city wall paved with blue bricks, Tao Jin and Sun Xiang stood side by side.
The cold wind was biting, blowing their robes, Sun Xiang said.
"Tao Tongzhi, according to the latest military report, the horse pass has been defeated, and we will be able to reach the outside of Zijin Pass by tomorrow at the latest."
Tao Jin, who is in his forties this year, is when the military commander is at his most powerful. Hearing this, he grinned and said.
"Don't worry, Lord Sun. The soldiers at Baiyangkou and Daomaguan have fought hard for so many days just to buy time for Zijingguan. As the guard of Zijingguan, how can I be sorry for their sacrifice?"
"As long as I have this general, I will never let the horse's hooves cross the Bauhinia Pass."
The whistling military whistle sounded, followed by the rising smoke.
"Your Excellency, my spies in front of me have detected that a large number of people are heading towards Zijin Pass. They are less than thirty miles away from the pass."
Tao Jin and Sun Xiang looked at each other, their bodies immediately tensed up, and Sun Xiang said in a deep voice.
"I thought I would fix it for a day first, but I didn't expect him to be in such a hurry and come so quickly!"
In contrast, Tao Jin was more calm and said.
"Winter has arrived, so let's be anxious first."
Immediately, Tao Jin turned around and spoke in a deep voice to the lieutenant beside him.
"This is the general's order, ordering all the officers and soldiers who are building outside to withdraw into the pass immediately. From now on, the pass will be on full alert and ready to fight at any time!"
The people around him hurriedly went down to prepare. After a while, the originally quiet city suddenly became noisy.
The city wall, which was originally heavily guarded, suddenly had countless guards on duty. Someone was on guard almost every two or three steps.
The terrain of Zijingguan is difficult, with high mountains on both sides and only two roads about three feet wide for walking.
Such terrain severely restricted the cavalry's marching speed.
In fact, since they broke through Baiyangkou and truly entered the Ming Dynasty's border defense line, they were forced to convert most of the cavalry into infantry.
The terrain inside the pass rarely contains large areas of plains, but more mountains and hills, especially the terrain in front of Zijin Pass.
The marching speed of infantry is faster than that of cavalry.
"stop!"
He was less than five miles away from Zijingguan, and he could already see the solid city in the distance, so he raised his hand and gave an order to the army.
"Camp here, rest for the night, and attack the city tomorrow!"
…………
At night, Ye Xian was in the large tent of the Chinese army.
Boyan Timur walked out of the military tent, looking a little embarrassed. After hesitating for a moment, he came to the military tent on the other side.
"Timur has met your Majesty."
Yes, since the negotiation with Ming Dynasty ended, he has not recognized the so-called Supreme Emperor, but still treats Zhu Qizhen as the emperor of Ming Dynasty.
However, a group of Wala nobles tacitly agreed to change the title of Zhu Qizhen to Your Majesty.
After all, the emperor is also his majesty, and the emperor is also his majesty...
Even though Zhu Qizhen was a prisoner, he had received more than twenty years of royal education, and his whole body was full of aristocratic aura that the prairie people did not possess.
Boyan Timur had great admiration for the Ming Dynasty's system and culture, and he first asked him to take care of the captured Ming emperor.
So of course, the two of them quickly became good friends.
Zhu Qizhen was having a meal. Different from the initial treatment, in addition to Ha Ming and Yuan Bin, there were many maids wearing Mongolian costumes around him.
Seeing Boyan Timur walking in, Zhu Qizhen immediately stood up, put his arm around his shoulders affectionately, pulled him to sit down, and said.
"Timur, you have been marching all day and you haven't eaten yet? Come and join me."
Boyan Timur sat down as instructed, but still frowned.
Seeing this situation, Zhu Qizhen took the initiative and asked: "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
Boyan Timur seemed a little embarrassed to speak, but after hesitating for a moment, he still spoke.
"Your Majesty, the grand master just called me over and asked me to tell you that tomorrow's attack on the city requires you to go there in person and order the guard to open the door."
Zhu Qizhen's expression was a little sluggish, his face was sullen, he didn't speak, he just put down the chopsticks in his hand.
Yuan Bin on the side spoke softly.
"Your Excellency, our emperor has already agreed that the grand master will attack the capital in the name of returning him, but now he wants the emperor to go and speak out in person. This seems to be different from what we agreed at the time, right?"
Ha Ming also spoke carefully.
"Yes, Your Excellency, you should know that the capital has appointed a new master, and he has issued instructions to the generals guarding the passes not to obey my master's orders."
"There have been precedents in Xuanfu and Datong. My lord's attack is of no use to the Grand Master's attack on the city, so I would like to ask you to state the interests to the Grand Master on my lord's behalf."
Boyan Timur smiled bitterly, he didn't know what Yuan Bin and Ha Ming said.
After another period of hesitation, Boyan Timur said cruelly.
"Your Majesty, I have also used these reasons to persuade the Grand Master, but the Grand Master replied to me and said that he knew that the defender would not give up resistance so easily, so he planned to..."
Seeing Boyan Timur's hesitant appearance, Zhu Qizhen also had some speculations in his heart, so his face became darker and darker.
"He wants me to be a shield for his army?"
Boyan Timur lowered his head, but obviously acquiesced.
So Zhu Qi Zhen suddenly stood up and said angrily.
"Has he gone crazy first? How dare he do this?!"
Boyan Timur sighed, also stood up, and said.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. The Grand Master has no choice but to report. The day before yesterday, there was a military report that the Alazhiyuan army stationed outside Xuanfu City was attacked by Yang Hong of Xuanfu City and suffered heavy losses."
"Yang Hong is your minister. You should know his military style. The remaining four thousand troops of Alazhiyuan can no longer guarantee that he will not take risks."
"If Yang Hong took the risk of sending troops to capture Aiyangkou or Yanghe, the Grand Master would be in trouble, so the Grand Master had no time and was delayed in front of Zijin Pass."
Zhu Qizhen still had a cold face: "So you want me to be his shield?"
Boyan Timur smiled bitterly, put his hand on Zhu Qizhen's shoulders, sat down, patted his chest and said.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will go out with Your Majesty tomorrow."
"The Grand Master just hopes to pass through Zijin Pass as soon as possible. He does not want to put His Majesty in danger."
"He has already told me that even if I risk my own life tomorrow, I will definitely keep His Majesty safe. Please rest assured, Your Majesty."
Zhu Qizhen frowned, looked at the candles burning in the tent, and said nothing...
This chapter has been completed!