I don't know if it was a psychological effect, but when I got out of the pass, I immediately felt the wind was getting stronger and the weather was getting colder. Even though Chang Yu had a small heater in his car, the sound of the wind blowing outside still made him get goosebumps.
Although Wu Mengming was greedy for money, he was very meticulous in his work. After passing the pass, he asked the team to light torches in the front and back to illuminate the way. He estimated that there were nearly a hundred torches. From a distance, they looked like a flaming dragon winding for several miles.
"Is it cold in Chunxiang?" Chang Yu couldn't sit still for only two miles outside the door, so he stuck his head out and asked Chunxiang beside the car.
"It's not cold." Chunxiang looked at Chang Yu trembling calmly: "Come out and give it a try!"
Hey, Chang Yu is a little embarrassed. To be honest, he is really afraid of the cold, and it is surprisingly cold in this era, but there are no down jackets or other highly cold-resistant cotton clothes.
Although he had made adequate cold-resistant preparations for his men before the trip, such as each person wearing a small cotton-padded jacket with a cotton armor, a large cotton-padded jacket outside the cotton armor, a cotton hat, a scarf, and even gloves. It can be said that this team has the most complete cold-resistant equipment.
He also knew that even sitting on a horse and walking against the wind in the cold night was a kind of bone-eroding torture.
Chunxiang was so wrapped up that his teeth were chattering, not to mention that the equipment of the Jinyi Guards, Fujun Guards and Tengxiang Guards were not as good as theirs. You can imagine that they were gritting their teeth and persisting.
Chang Yu is not a ruthless person, but knows how to sympathize with the soldiers. He also wants to order rest on the spot. However, the military situation is urgent and this is not the time to show kindness. But he is really uneasy hiding in the warm car.
So he made a decision, got off the horse and mounted the horse, and shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers.
However, he regretted this decision the moment he got out of the car. It was cold, so damn cold!
But naturally I can’t take back the sex I let out, and I have to finish the sex with tears in my eyes.
Seeing Chang Yu put on his armor and mount his horse, Wu Mengming glanced over, with an inexplicable smile on his lips, and then retracted into the car without hearing any movement.
The mountain road was driven slowly, the wind was biting, and everything was dark. Apart from the howling north wind, the only sound was the sound of horse hooves. It was so cold that the soldiers were not even interested in whispering.
Chang Yu raised his head and looked toward the northwest. There were sparks of fire over there, and he knew that Badaling was not far ahead.
Juyongguan is not an independent pass, or there is no independent pass. It is a defense system composed of passes, forts, and city walls. Each pass has jurisdiction over several to dozens of passes.
Among them, Badaling is one of the passes of Juyongguan, and it is also the most important pass. It is the outpost of Juyongguan. Its terrain is dangerous, with mountains and mountains. The roads are rugged and steep, making it difficult for vehicles and horses to travel. When building this section of the Great Wall, you had to make eight turns and cross eight mountains.
, the project was extremely difficult, eight supervisors died before and after, and the construction period was still delayed as scheduled. Later, an expert advised the eight ways to build the city, namely "the tiger wears a bridle and the sheep carries a saddle on its back, the swallow carries mud in its mouth, the monkey rests on its shoulders, and the turtle carries it on its back."
The stone strips and rabbits lead the way, and the magpies build bridges and build stacks of ice to transport the wood up the mountain.
Chang Yu curled up on his horse, Chunxiang and other confidant eunuchs gathered around him to help him shelter from the wind and cold. At the same time, he listened to the great liar telling anecdotes about wild history from all over the world, and he was not lonely during the journey.
Not long after, the team arrived at the Badaling Pass. Someone went to hand over the customs clearance matters. Chang Yu began to look at this pass, which is known as one of the nine fortresses in the world. However, the wind was high and the moon was dark, making it difficult to see the true appearance.
However, there were not many soldiers guarding the pass. In fact, later generations were misled by various movies and TV dramas to believe that there were at least thousands of soldiers guarding the pass, especially at a large pass like Juyong Pass.
No, even at Juyongguan, an important pass in the capital, the daily garrison of no more than a thousand troops, or even less than a thousand. For example, in the ninth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered 11 guards from Peiping and surrounding areas to deploy a total of 6,384 troops to guard it.
, Juyongguan, Gubeikou, Xifengkou and Songtingguan have four passes. On average, there are only 2,000 people at each pass.
Another example is that during the Zhengtong period, Baiyang City (affiliated to Juyong Pass), which was the same size as Juyong Pass, had a total strength of 814, including 82 cavalry, 414 infantry, and 65 drummers.
Eight gunpowder craftsmen, sixty-five night guard troops, fifteen generals guarding the east gate, fifteen generals guarding the west gate, twenty-four cangcaochang troops, ten artifact warehouse troops, and brick and ash kilns
Nineteen troops, fourteen Qingquankou troops, eight Songhu Piankou troops, forty-one city defenders, seven city pier troops, six prison guards, one guarding the storehouse, old and weak
Twenty-three soldiers.
The so-called flag army refers to the elite of the guard. For example, the three hundred government guards and three hundred Tengxiang guards brought out by Chang Yu this time are both fighting chickens in the guard.
From this point of view, the strength of a pass is less than a thousand, and the main force is only half, and the rest are auxiliary troops, especially the cavalry, which is only a few dozen. This is because the pass is a dangerous place and is not suitable for cavalry to fight.
There are more than ten passes under one pass, and the troops are severely dispersed. Even at an important pass like Badaling, there are only a few dozen people.
Moreover, these figures are from the Hongwu and Zhengtong years. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the shortage of soldiers and the lack of pay have reached a crazy level.
Just take the Beijing camp as an example. For example, the Yingzong records mentioned the situation of the Beijing camp at that time: In the governor's office of the Fifth Army, he said: There are seventy-seven guards in Beijing, with a total of 253,800 officers, soldiers, sergeants, and captains.
Outside the city, there are 116,400 troops stationed in the city, and the 116,400 are used by the inner government, various supervisory bureaus, and foreign missions. Currently, each battalion has only 56,000 soldiers in training, which is not enough. In addition, there are many craftsmen in the Ministry of Works, which are sufficient for the job.
Envoys, begging to send the officers and soldiers from each supervisory bureau back to each camp for training, and follow them.
This is a piece of data presented at the Governor's Mansion of the Fifth Army. It illustrates the situation of the Beijing Army at that time. The number of drills was only half of the full quota, and how many of the drills were able to cope with the border crisis? The other half of the soldiers were
At that time, various supervisory bureaus dispatched menial workers. The direct consequence of this was that the quality of the Beijing camp dropped sharply, resulting in the inability to actively respond to war whenever there was a war.
Therefore, Chang Yu did not dare to think about the actual strength of the entire Juyong Pass. Looking at the fortress in front of him, dark clouds filled his heart. Could the Ming Dynasty be able to support it?
There are more than a few miles beyond the Badaling Pass, and the road is divided into three parts: the north one goes to Yanqing Chicheng Mongolia, the west goes to Zhangjiakou, Xuanfu, Datong, the east goes to Yongning and Sihai, and the loop goes south to Changping. This is where the name Badaling comes from.
, which means extending in all directions.
The team headed west, about two hundred miles from Badaling to Xuanfu. If they kept going they could arrive at noon tomorrow.
Chang Yu rode his horse and led a few confidant eunuchs from the middle of the team to the front. The purpose was very simple, just to show his face, boost morale, and let the soldiers see that Grandpa Chang is waiting with you to ride into the wind late at night. Are you moved?
, surprise or not.
It was late at night, and the team was heading west. The mountain road was rugged and the wind was biting. The speed slowed down involuntarily. Chang Yu sat on the horse and didn't bother to speak. He just wrapped himself tightly into a ball and let the horse follow the team.
There was a large frozen river ahead. Chang Yu knew that it was a reservoir in later generations. He couldn't remember the specific name, but he knew that crossing the river would mean leaving the capital city and entering Huailai County, Hebei Province.
"Here's the order, hurry thirty miles to make a fire and rest." Chang Yu felt the same way. He couldn't withstand the severe cold even in such thick clothes, let alone the other three guardsmen.
Sure enough, this military order shocked the soldiers' spirits, and they immediately increased their speed.
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