In Yu Qian's courtyard, the stall owner paced back and forth anxiously, looking at the door from time to time and shouting: "Why aren't you here yet?!"
In the main room, Yu Qian and his wife had finished their Winter Solstice meal. They looked at each other and smiled. Yu Qian said, "Don't be afraid, madam. You will feel nothing again soon."
"With you, I'm not afraid of anything..." Yinling smiled and said to Qian, "Mr., let's do it."
Yu Qian nodded and reached out to pick up the fire pliers.
"Where's the water dragon? Why hasn't it arrived yet?!" Seeing this, the stall owner jumped up and down anxiously. Finally, he heard a commotion at the door, and his subordinate shouted excitedly, "It's coming, it's coming!"
Yu Qian smiled contemptuously and was about to push down the blazing stove. At this moment, he saw a eunuch rushing in with sweat on his head and shouted: "The emperor has decreed, everyone needs to get out!"
"What?!" The stall owner and the crowd were stunned, and Yu Qian also stopped and watched what happened.
"The Emperor has decreed that everyone should evacuate!" The eunuch panted and pointed at the stall and said, "Why are you still standing there, waiting for others to take care of the food?!"
"Eunuch Cao, why is this?!" The stall owner was familiar with the eunuch and knew that he was a close relative of the emperor. Naturally, he did not doubt his presence, but he could not understand it.
"There are so many reasons." When the eunuch heard this, he became furious and said, "Just leave as soon as I let you go!"
The stall owner had no choice but to wave his hand and retreat with his men dejectedly.
The eunuch took one look at Yu Qian and his wife and showed a little fear. He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't, so he had no choice but to stomp away.
"Ms. sir, why is this?" Seeing that the other party suddenly backed down, Yin Ling asked strangely.
"It should be the second brother who has done something." Yu Qian smiled clearly and said, "Those people don't dare to touch us anymore."
"Really?!" Yin Ling's face was full of surprise, but she said in disbelief: "Didn't it mean that the second brother was trapped in Badaling and couldn't fly?"
"At the beginning, they said that my second brother went deep into the desert and died without a burial place." Yu Qian said with a smile: "I can't even think about it. Forget it, madam, I'd better serve dumplings again...".
Yu Qian's expectation was good, Qianqing Palace was already shrouded in an atmosphere of deep-seated fear.
The emperor also celebrated the winter solstice, so today's dinner also included dumplings. However, the plate of dumplings in front of Zhu Gaochi remained untouched and was completely cold.
But how can we reach the coldness in the emperor's heart?
Half an hour ago, the hot dumplings were served, and just as the emperor was about to eat, Yang Shiqi and Zhu Zhanji hurriedly came to ask for an audience. Zhu Gaochi had been frightened by the repeated bad news, and hurriedly summoned him without thinking.
Sure enough, the two men did not disappoint the emperor and brought him terrible news.
"Your Majesty, Yang Pu is reporting urgently that the vanguard troops going south have been blocked in Shandong and the canal waterway has been cut off!" Yang Shiqi reported with a solemn expression.
Zhu Zhanji felt it was not enough, and added: "According to reports from Dongchang, Shandong's troops gathered in Dezhou, which seems to be a move to return the capital to my father!"
Zhu Gaochi couldn't eat at that time and put down his chopsticks heavily, his face full of gloom.
Zhu Zhanji was a little gloating about his misfortune. He was firmly opposed to returning the capital. Now seeing that the emperor's southward migration was blocked, His Highness the Crown Prince was quite happy to see it happen. He pretended to comfort his father and said: "Father, don't worry.
We just can't return the capital for the time being. When I eliminate the threat of Juyongguan, the first thing I can do is to completely pacify Shandong. When my father wants to return the capital, it will naturally be unimpeded!"
"..." Zhu Gaochi was depressed, thinking that when the time comes, it's not up to me whether he can pay it back or not. However, he had no choice but to say with a dark face: "How many troops are there in Shandong? Will they be a threat?"
Capital?"
"We have calculated carefully. At the moment, the army in Dezhou only numbers fifty or sixty thousand, and it is unknown how well it will be trained and equipped." Zhu Zhanji said confidently: "But one thing is certain. Wang Xian went to the grassland to conquer him.
The selection of generals under his command has been exhausted, and now the leader in Shandong is his ineffective brother Erhei, and the original White Lotus Sect's brains. These people are useless, and no matter how good the army is, it is useless in their hands!
"
"Don't be too big!" Since he can't run away, Zhu Gaochi is naturally very concerned about the safety of Beijing. "Dezhou is only four hundred miles away, we must not let them harass the capital!"
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, there are still 200,000 troops guarding the capital, and King Qin's troops will arrive one after another. The few soldiers and horses in Shandong cannot threaten the capital." Yang Shiqi also reassured the emperor and said: "Your Majesty, the dumplings are cold, are they still good?
Let’s eat first…”
"Hey, you guys should stay and have a meal together." Zhu Gaochi adjusted his mood. As long as Wang Xian was still trapped in Juyongguan, everything was acceptable.
"Thank you, Your Majesty." The two of them were so busy that they hadn't had dinner yet and were already hungry. After thanking them, they sat down and prepared to start.
But this meal was destined to be unfinished. The three of them had just picked up the dumplings and before they could put them in their mouths, they saw Yang Rong running in in despair, as if a ghost was chasing him.
Seeing Yang Rong, who usually remained calm despite the collapse of Mount Tai, was so panicked, Zhu Gaochi and Yang Shiqi stopped using their chopsticks, but Zhu Zhanji was so hungry that he couldn't stand it anymore, so he stuffed a dumpling into his mouth first before talking.
"Your Majesty, something bad has happened! Wang Xian led his troops to appear in Zhuozhou!" Yang Rong shouted without even bothering to salute.
"What?!" The three of them felt as if they were struck by lightning when they heard this. The chopsticks in Zhu Gaochi and Yang Shiqi's hands fell to the ground one after another. Zhu Zhanji's chopsticks did not fall to the ground, but the dumplings in his mouth fell to the ground with a squeak.
In the main hall, only the heavy breathing of the monarch and his ministers was heard. Zhu Gaochi's face suddenly turned pale. It took him a while to come back to his senses, and he stared at Yang Rong and said: "Why did Wang Xian appear in Zhuozhou?! Isn't he trapped in
Has Juyong been shut down?!" Because of extreme fear, the emperor's voice became hoarse and sharp, just like the eunuch who served him.
As long as you have a little understanding of geography, you will understand why the emperor was so afraid. Zhuozhou is located to the east of the stretching Yanyun Mountains, only a hundred miles away from the capital, and there is a vast plain between it and there is no barrier at all!
"This...the specific situation is still unclear..." Yang Rong was also full of fear and could not calm down, and his words were trembling: "We can only speculate that he took a detour to Zijin Pass, broke through the Yanyun defense line, and then
Those who went north to the capital..."
"How could he go to Zijingguan?!" Yang Shiqi was shocked and angry, and roared: "What do the defenders of Datong do for food?!"
Zijingguan is also an important pass on the Yanyun defense line. It is more than 200 miles away from Juyongguan and is the defense area of Datong Town. Just like the main task of Xuanfu Town is to protect Juyongguan behind it, the main task of Datong Town is to protect itself.
Bauhinia Pass behind you.
"Didn't Datong's army be transferred to Juyongguan..." Yang Rong glanced at Yang Shiqi and said to himself, this is your order!
"..." Yang Shiqi was speechless. How could he still not understand at this moment that Wang Xian's attack at Juyong Pass was a feint to seize the court's extreme fear.
They all attracted them. Then Wang Xian took the opportunity to divide his troops, passed through Datong Town, which was empty of troops, and went straight to Zijing Pass!
Although Zijingguan, Juyongguan and Daomaguan are also known as the three inner passes of the Ming Dynasty, they are all key places in the mainland. But after all, it is still far from the capital. In the eyes of the emperor and ministers, its importance is far from being comparable to Zijingguan, the gateway to the capital.
, although the imperial court also issued decrees one after another, ordering Zijingguan to strengthen its defense and deploying additional troops, but in terms of defense and emphasis, it was far inferior to Juyongguan.
With Wang Xian's unpredictable ability, it is not unimaginable that he could attack the city by surprise and break through the Bauhinia Pass in one fell swoop...
It took the monarch and his ministers a long time to digest the bad news. Yang Shiqi asked with a pale face: "How many troops does Wang Xian have by his side?"
When Zhu Zhanji and his son heard this, they immediately raised their ears. If the camp at Badaling was empty and Wang Xian showed up in Zhuozhou with the main force, everything would be over...
"No more than 20,000 at most..." Fortunately, Yang Rong did not give them a fatal blow. "This is also reasonable. There are too many troops and he cannot hide his traces at all, so it is impossible to raid Zijingguan."
"That's okay..." Yang Shiqi breathed a sigh of relief. A clever woman can't make a meal without rice. No matter how awesome Wang Xian is, can he still lead a mere 20,000 troops to capture the city of Beijing?
"He is taking a risk. An army of 20,000 people wants to cause trouble. He really underestimates us!" Zhu Zhanji also tried to calm down and cheered himself up.
"He has more than 20,000 troops..." Emperor Hong Xi, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said quietly: "Have you forgotten the army in Dezhou?"
"Uh..." Yang Shiqi and Zhu Zhanji were like geese whose necks were strangled. It was difficult to even breathe, let alone talk.
Now even a fool can see that Shandong's troops gathering in Dezhou have simply received Wang Xian's order and are preparing to join him!
It turns out that Wang Xian had no intention of using troops from outside the Pass to attack the capital. The foreshadowing he left in Shandong was his trump card!
Ordinarily, with such a simple truth, it is impossible for Yang Shiqi and Zhu Zhanji to wait for the emperor to remind them, but they have been confused by Wang Xian's successive tricks and can no longer think normally...
Now something big is really going to happen. Shandong's army alone can't make a big storm. Wang Xian alone doesn't have enough soldiers and horses, and he can't make a big storm either. But if the two combined into one, they can kill them.
Life!
"Your Majesty, His Highness, Chief Assistant!" Seeing the three of them competing each other, Yang Rong had no choice but to urge: "The most urgent thing is to come up with a solution quickly!"
"What can I do?!"
"What can I do?!"
"What can I do?!"
The emperor, the prince and Yang Shiqi all whined almost in unison.