Datong is nearly 600 miles away from Taiyuan, and according to historical records, the rebel army arrived at Taiyuan Prefecture on February 6th. As expected, the rebel army had already devastated Pingyang Prefecture and was about to start heading north. Time was so urgent.
There is not much time left for Chang Yu.
Therefore, after Chang Yu left the city, he immediately ordered his team to advance at a high speed, with a rest of a hundred miles and less than three seconds. He wanted to arrive in Taiyuan and deploy before the rebels, and try his best to stop the rebels' offensive!
It was like this non-stop galloping all the way, until the sky turned dark and the team was exhausted, and they barely managed to pass Shanyin County. By some calculation, they actually ran more than 200 miles, which was already the limit at that time.
Rest on the spot and set off half an hour later. In order to motivate the soldiers along the way, Chang Yu set an example by himself. He did not ride in a car and rode all over the city. In fact, if you ride in a car and run, it is not as comfortable as riding on a horse. The cars these days do not have shock absorption.
, can almost make people shake and fall apart.
The team stopped, and the soldiers dismounted and lay down directly on the ground. Luotang was not so relaxed. As a servant, he did hard work. Although he was exhausted, he still had to make fire, cook and raise the war horses. Fortunately, he had more than a hundred people under his command at this time.
It's more powerful and not too difficult.
Chang Yu was also exhausted and fell directly next to the bonfire, looking at the dark night sky and panting.
"Mr. Factory Supervisor, there is a mountain pass more than fifty miles ahead. After entering the mountain for dozens of miles, you will reach Yanmen Pass after exiting the mountain pass. However, it is dark and the mountain road is difficult to travel. Even if we drive all night, it will be dark before we reach Yanmen Pass." From the capital
Zheng Xingguo, one of the four managers of Dongchang, came to report.
Since the Jinyiwei had already set off under the leadership of Wu Mengming the night before, the task of exploring the route was handed over to the people of Dongchang, and Zheng Xingguo was responsible for it.
Yanmen Pass!
Chang Yu suddenly became energetic. This place name that he often saw in martial arts novels and historical biographies in his previous life always fascinated him, and now it was right in front of him.
"Go ahead with the order and arrive at Yanmen Pass before dawn to rest," Chang Yu said lightly with a smile on his face as he looked at the dark night.
Just when Chang was tired of running around late at night, in the capital, the Yangxin Pavilion in the imperial palace was indeed as warm as spring.
“Well done, well done”
Chongzhen looked at the two secret folds on the table in front of him, his face was overjoyed, and he couldn't help but stand up and touch his palms.
The two sealed envelopes arrived almost at the same time. One was submitted by Chang Yu from Dongchang, and the other was from Wu Mengming from Jinyiwei.
Chang Yu's secret book is very simple: I borrow 200,000 yuan from the king and 100,000 dan of grain. Please ask the Holy One to send someone to deposit the money to repay it. If you have faith, it will not be difficult to borrow again, and the grain can be temporarily reserved.
Jiang Quan attempted an assassination and was sentenced. His family property was confiscated and he planned to transport it to Taiyuan for emergency treatment! Please remove Wang Jimo and appoint Wei Jingyuan instead!
Wu Mengming wrote in detail, from the time of the assassination in the middle of the night, how Chang Yu planned to capture Jiang Gan, how to make him confess and execute him on the street...everything was detailed!
These two secret documents were rushed from Datong 800 miles away, shipped in the afternoon, and sent directly to Chongzhen's desk through a secret passage late at night. The speed was amazing but reasonable. After all, there were inns along the way, and people and horses were changed at regular intervals to keep track.
In his peak state, under the heavy reward, it took only more than ten hours to travel from Datong to the capital, less than 700 miles away.
"He really killed the scourge Jiang Yu. He did a good job, a good job." Chongzhen couldn't hide his excitement and kept muttering in his mouth.
The prince once told him that Jiang Quan surrendered to the intruders and opened the west gate, allowing the bandits to sightsee all the way to Beijing. Chongzhen hated him to the core. How could he not be happy to hear that Jiang Quan died.
What's more, he didn't say a word or issue a decree about this matter. Even if it caused serious consequences, he could escape unscathed, leaving Chang Yu to take the blame.
When he thought of Chang Yu, Chongzhen was very excited. Fortunately, a Wei Zhongxian-style scapegoat suddenly appeared who was so capable and understood his thoughts. It was really a blessing to the Ming Dynasty.
It has been mentioned before that Chongzhen regretted killing Wei Zhongxian for a long time, and even secretly ordered a rich burial, because he finally understood that there was a man who killed people for him with a knife and made money for him with an abacus. At the critical moment, he was a slave who took the blame.
What an important thing.
So when he heard what Chang Yu had done in the Xuan Mansion, he was immediately surprised to find that there was a far more powerful eunuch than Wei Zhongxian beside him, so he immediately gave Chang Yu the power to kill. As expected, Chang Yu lived up to his expectations.
Yu is not only good at making money, he can also kill people. More importantly, he can also take the blame and understand his thoughts better.
What a Chang Yu! Only a few days after leaving the capital, he urged Xuanfu Datong to send troops, ambushed Wang Chengyin, killed Jiang Yu, sidelined Wang Jimo, raised food and wages, and did not cause any military rebellion. It would only be possible for the civil and military officials of the dynasty to eat every corpse.
It's really ironic that he can't be as powerful as a young eunuch in the palace.
"Wang Cheng'en Bingbi" Chongzhen suddenly had a bold idea. He wanted Chang Yu to supervise Taiyuan. Maybe he would not be lost in Taiyuan. He thought that the dream of the prince had been being verified. If Taiyuan was not lost, would it mean that God's will was reversed?
Where is it?
This was his last madness and his last struggle, all of which were placed on Chang Yu, a young eunuch in the palace who had just appeared less than a month ago.
In fact, eunuchs and the army were the norm in the Ming Dynasty, and it was not surprising even in the Chongzhen Dynasty. Therefore, Chongzhen's move was not unexpected, but just because he had expectations, it became unusual.
The information these two secret documents brought to him was so surprising that he couldn't calm down for a long time. Chang Yu's actions made him really excited, and he wished he could go there and see how he handled them one by one, and he couldn't recall them all.
After thinking about it carefully, I found it ridiculous. Chang Yu's little cleverness has been tricked on the vassal king. He secretly folded the saying that the food can be taken for a while. The meaning is obvious, that is, the food will not be returned yet. Of course, it is not possible now.
If Xu Tuzhi returned the money he didn't have, he would have defaulted on the debt.
This kid is smart. He has tricked all the nobles in the capital, and now he has started to trick the vassal kings. But he has done a good job. These vassal kings who have enjoyed the emperor's favor, but in the time of national crisis, have become extremely rich one by one while watching with cold eyes.
It’s time for Chang Yu to straighten things out.
Chongzhen couldn't sleep all night, tossing and turning and secretly praying, if Taiyuan is not lost, God's will can change! Chang Yu must not disappoint my high hopes.
Chang Yu, who was thousands of miles away, didn't know or care about Chongzhen's high hopes for him. At this time, he just wanted to fall asleep without a hot bed to warm his bed, even if it was a haystack.
Having food and sleep all the way and running all night really made him exhausted. Although he could have rested comfortably in the car, firstly in order to build an image of sharing the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, and secondly, he insisted on riding to improve his riding skills, so he gritted his teeth and persisted.
.
His physical strength was so exhausted, let alone the other soldiers. In short, they were as wilted as frost! You must know that the accompanying soldiers except the eunuch army had received a few days of field training, and the Fujun Guard and Tengxiang Guard were excepted every day.
Apart from being on guard duty in the palace, there is no decent training anywhere. In addition, this thousand-mile raid is a great challenge for the foreign troops who have been out all year round. Let alone them, so this trip to the capital is really hard enough for them.
.
It was getting slightly brighter, and spies from the front came to report that Yanmen Pass was very close at hand.
Chang Yu, who was originally looking tired, immediately became energetic after hearing this. He rode quickly for several miles, raised his head and looked into the distance, and saw a majestic pass in the hazy place at dawn, which was Yanmen Pass.
In the early Ming Dynasty, in order to prevent Mongolia from moving south, the imperial court built a double insurance along the stretch from Juyong Pass in the east to Piantou Pass in the west. To put it bluntly, there were two layers of the Great Wall, called the Inner and Outer Great Wall. Xuanfu and Datong were actually located on these two layers of the Great Wall.
in.
This section of the Inner Great Wall is divided into six inner and outer passes, Yanmen, Ningwu, the three outer passes with a tilted head, the flat pass with an inverted horse, and the three inner passes with the Bauhinia.
The pass in front of Chang Yu at this time is the Yanmen Pass of the Outer Three Passes. It has the reputation of "the nine fortresses in the world, Yanmen is the first".
Seeing that they could rest not far ahead, the team continued their sprint. As they got closer and closer, the majesty and danger of Yanmen Pass became more and more obvious. The side walls stood on top of the mountains, and the towers were in the dangerous position of the mountain. There was a man who seemed to be in charge of the pass.
!
"Rest on the spot" The team arrived not far from the pass. Chang Yu gave the order and looked up.
Yanmen Pass has two east and west gates, both of which are built with huge bricks. They look majestic as the geese pass through the clouds. Two plaques of "natural danger" and "geographical advantage" are carved on the foreheads of the gates. There are towers built on the east and west gates, towering in the sky. This is
Chang Yu has seen the most impressive pass since leaving Beijing. The main reason is that the terrain here is steeper, even worse than Badaling.
The servants cut grass and wood to light the fire, and the soldiers dismounted and sought shelter from the wind before falling asleep among the trees at the foot of the mountain. At this time, everyone was exhausted and wanted nothing more than a good nap.
Although Chang Yu was extremely tired, he couldn't fall asleep for a while. He leaned next to a dead tree, warming himself by the fire, looking at the Yanmenguan Tower, with various thoughts swirling around in his mind.
At this time, a group of people came quickly. Without Chang Yu's orders, Qin Xing, one of the two commanders around him, rushed over. It was obvious that the guards at the pass came to investigate.
After a while, Qin Xing returned and gave a brief report to Chang Yu. Chang Yu nodded silently, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Suddenly he opened his eyes again: "Qin Xing, after leaving Yanmen Pass, you changed the route to Daizhou. After Zhou Yuji from Shanxi Province, he immediately went to Taiyuan to meet with the governor."
Daizhou (today's Dai County) is an ancient city in the southeast of Yanmen Pass.
Zhou Yuji is the commander-in-chief of Shanxi, and is known as the commander-in-chief of the three passes. He commands the three passes of Piantou, Ningwu, and Yanmenwai. Of course, Taiyuan is also under his jurisdiction. There is a small misunderstanding. Many people think that he is the commander of the three passes.
How can the commander-in-chief control Taiyuan?
In fact, this is not the case. First of all, he is the commander-in-chief of Shanxi Province. Secondly, Taiyuan Town, as an important town on nine sides, has jurisdiction over three passes. Its administrative seat is at Piantou Pass and later moved to Ningwuguan.
Just like Governor Xuanda, many people also think that Wang Jimo only governs Xuanfu and Datong. In fact, this is not the case. The full name of Governor Xuanda is "Governor-General Xuanfu, Datong, Shanxi and other military affairs and in charge of food and salary affairs", so Taiyuan is also among them.
Within his jurisdiction, even Zhou Yuji was under his jurisdiction! It was only because of the laziness of later generations that the abbreviation abbreviated it, which led to minor misunderstandings.
"Daizhou? How did the factory supervisor know that General Zhou was in Daizhou?" Qin Xing asked with some confusion.
Chang Yu smiled slightly: "I came here just for him, how could I not know where he is!"
Qin Xing was startled and murmured in his heart, could it be that Zhou Yuji had also committed a crime? However, he saw that Chang Yu had closed his eyes and fell asleep, so he did not dare to disturb him again.