Two days after Jia Mu left the capital, Jia Ke once again received news from the border. Alsileng Khan, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers, had already sworn an oath on the grassland and was now traveling day and night to Gubeikou.
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Jia Ke knew that he could not delay any longer, so he took the three battalions and infantry to command the Yamen, and started to go north with the elite of the Forbidden Army.
As soon as Jia Ke left the capital, the defense in the capital immediately relaxed.
And some princes and nobles in the capital also began to become active. They connected with each other, secretly conspired, and did not know what they were discussing.
As Fan Kang was left behind in the capital, he had discovered this kind of thing long ago, but he did not interfere. Instead, he ordered his spies to monitor them closely.
Fan Kang himself was also making preparations to evacuate the capital, and in Baoding, Baoding Jiedushi Chun Yuhua was also making secret arrangements.
At this time, a large net has been opened near the capital, waiting for the fish in the lake to begin to be exposed, so that they can be caught in one catch.
And the fish in the lake don't know that danger is approaching, and they are now noisy and happy.
Among these people, King Zhongshun was the most active. He connected with each other and brought almost all the royal family together. They secretly conspired several times to think about how to launch a coup.
If it was natural for people like King Zhongshun to launch a coup, what Fan Kang couldn't understand was that people like the Four Kings and Eight Dukes also began to become restless.
The Four Kings and Eight Dukes, Rong Guo Mansion and Ning Guo Mansion were almost all prosperous and harmed. I never thought that these people would oppose Jia Ke.
But things are like this, the less you expect, the more likely it will happen. These four kings and eight princes are now in frequent contact, and some of them even have a relationship with King Zhongshun, and it seems they want to work together.
Wei Kun was very busy during this period. In order to monitor these people, he spent a lot of effort. It would be easy to say that it was King Zhongshun and these royal families, because Jia Ke had long been afraid of them, so
The surveillance on them has already been arranged.
However, it can be said that the four princes and eight princes have a lifelong friendship with the Jia family, a friendship that was forged from the battlefield, so the surveillance of these people is still relatively weak, and it can even be said that only a few people are placed on the periphery.
Now that these people suddenly became active, Wei Kun was caught off guard, so Wei Kun immediately began to remedy the situation, either by bribery with money or coercion and inducement, and finally placed several important positions among these people.
Although the current surveillance of the four kings and eight princes cannot be said to be comprehensive, at least they can be notified in advance of any major actions, so that they will not be blinded.
Besides, Jia Ke commanded hundreds of thousands of soldiers, marching all the way, and could only cover forty or fifty miles a day.
It took six days to arrive at Gubeikou, and Luo Cen, the commander of the Xiaoqi Battalion who had been stationed here for many years, had already been waiting for Jia Ke with his generals by the road.
Luo Cen waited until noon from morning until he saw the wind and dust rising in the distance, and knew that a large group of people were coming here.
Sure enough, soon we saw armies marching in, one by one.
These people were also strictly disciplined during the march, and no one whispered to each other. This solemn atmosphere even shocked Luo Cen.
Luo Cen is also surprised now. When he left, the troops of the three major battalions were all stragglers and unfit for use. Unexpectedly, during the time he left, the three major battalions had become elites, although they were not as good as
The Qiaoqi camp under his command was able to hold a stalemate with the Tatars.
After a while, Luo Cen saw a big red flag fluttering in the wind on the flagpole. In the center of the flag was a big Chinese character Jia, and next to it was a big flag that read "Yan Guogong, Prime Minister, General Leader of the Army."
national affairs”.
Luo Cen quickly dismounted and ran a few steps forward to reach the flag.
At this time, there was a general under the banner, with a golden helmet on his head, golden armor on his body, and two heart-protecting mirrors on his chest, shining brightly, emitting infinite light under the sun.
When Luo Cen saw Jia Ke, who was dressed in military uniform, he felt very friendly. Jia Ke also wore this armor and led them in and out of the Tatar army.
Luo Cen came to Jia Kema, immediately knelt down on his knees, cupped his fists and raised his hands: "The last general, Luo Cen, has seen the commander-in-chief."
Jia Ke sat on his horse and looked at the former Baihu, now the general of the army, and said with a smile: "Get up."
Then he said: "How is it? Have you been having a good time in Gubeikou these years?"
Luo Cen stood up and answered Jia Ke with a smile: "Thanks to the Marshal, I'm doing fine, but I'm just not as comfortable as I was with the Marshal before."
Jia Ke then exchanged a few words with him, then ordered the army to set up camp under Gubeikou City. He led the generals into Gubeikou.
Jia Ke came to Gubeikou, Luo Cen's yamen, installed himself in the lobby, and then sat down on the main seat in the lobby, with the other generals standing on both sides.
After Jia Ke sat down, he asked, "Have the Eight Banners men arrived?"
Luo Cen hurriedly came out of work and said: "Come back to the Commander-in-Chief, all the steps of the Eight Banners have been completed. The eight commanders of the Eight Banners are still outside the city. Do you need me to inform them to come and meet you?"
Jia Ke asked strangely: "Why not let them rest in the city?"
After listening to Jia Ke's question, Luo Cen said with a serious face: "Although they are the commander's subordinates, they are not of my race and their hearts must be different. For the sake of the safety of Gubeikou, I dare not let them enter the city.
Please ask the commander to punish you."
Jia Ke nodded after listening. Luo Cen didn't know his secret, and it was understandable that he had such an idea.
After all, no one would have thought that millions of Eight Banners people would be loyal to Jia Ke.
Jia Ke did not blame him, but directly ordered: "Send the commander of the Eight Banners to see you immediately."
After listening to Jia Ke's instructions, the messengers below immediately ran out and sent orders to the Eight Banners troops outside the city.
Before waiting for two sticks of incense, I heard noises outside, and then soldiers came in to report: "Commander, the commander of the Eight Banners is outside asking for an audience."
"Send them in."
After the army left, they quickly brought out eight commanders from outside.
The eight people entered the lobby. As soon as they saw Jia Ke, they immediately knelt down and said in unison: "Slave wait, I have met the master."
Jia Ke nodded and said with a serious face: "Get up and stand on both sides."
The eight men then stood up, found their positions among the generals, and took their respective positions.
When Jia Ke saw that everyone had arrived, he asked like Tang Kuai who was standing in the team: "What is the situation of the Tatars now? Where has their army reached?"
Tang Kuai, as the person mainly responsible for intelligence on the northern grasslands, naturally stood up and reported back to Jia Ke: "Commander Qi, Alsileng Khan is commanding hundreds of thousands of horses to march, and the speed is not very fast. We are still more than 200 miles away from Gubeikou.
.I think it will take three or four days to arrive."
Jia Ke nodded after hearing this and asked: "What is the composition of their troops this time? How is their equipment?"
"Coming back to the commander-in-chief, the Tatars this time are no different from before. They are still mainly Tatar cavalry, but these people are not well-equipped. However, the mercenaries they brought from the Western Regions are well-equipped.
Many even wore leather armor."
Jia Ke frowned a little when he heard this, but he soon felt relieved. Speaking of equipment, the troops and horses Jia Ke commanded now were much stronger than before.
When Jia Ke originally commanded Xuanfu Town, almost all of his troops were wearing paper armor. Although the defense was good, it was still inferior to iron armor.
When Jia Ke became the minister of military aircraft, he began to focus on improving the quality of equipment for the soldiers under his command. Although it is not easy to build iron armor and difficult to equip, in the past few years, Jia Ke has still equipped his troops with several pieces of equipment.
Thousands of pieces, these people formed an armored army of 20,000 people.
Everyone in this army is a strong and tall northern man, wearing iron armor and holding a sword.
This army was created by Jia Ke by imitating the Modao troops of the Tang Dynasty.
After the army was established, Jia Ke watched their military exercises.
I saw the army moving forward. Although the speed was not fast, it made people feel that there was an iron mountain pressing down. If there was any obstacle in front, the men and horses would be crushed, making the enemy angry.
Jia Ke asked himself, even if he encountered such an army, it would still take a lot of effort to kill them.
In addition, the other troops were all wearing paper armor, so their defensive power was not a little better than those of the Tatars in the north.
Jia Ke felt relieved after learning about the situation of the Tatars in the north. Then he asked Jirigela, the leader of Zhenghuang Banner among the Eight Banners tribe.
"How many cavalrymen came from the Eight Banners this time?"
Jirigela immediately came out, knelt down on one knee and said to Jia Ke: "Master, this time the Eight Banners came with a total of 240,000 cavalry, and each of them was wearing paper armor, and the bows and arrows used were carefully made by Xuanfu Town.
, all the knives are provided by Xuanfu Town."
Jia Ke nodded and thought it was pretty good. Although these cavalry were not as good as the Iron Buddha, the defensive power of the paper armor they wore was also good. In addition, the paper armor was light and did not affect the speed of the horses. They could fight against the Tatar cavalry.
It still has a huge advantage.
Brother Jia was now relieved that this time he would go north with immediate success and drive the Tatars northward to gain greater living space for himself and the Han people.
"From today onwards, the Eight Banners Rangers will be roaming around. We must have a clear look at the movements of the Tatars and not let them pose a threat to the army."
After hearing Jia Ke's order, the eight Eight Banners commanders immediately knelt down again to receive the order, "I will obey the master's arrangements and I will not let the master down."
Jia Ke nodded and asked them to return to their duties, and then ordered: "The three major battalions and the Xiaoqi battalion will leave Gubeikou immediately and set up camp in the north of Gubeikou. The infantry will lead the soldiers of the Yamen and the imperial guards and set up camp behind the army."
After listening to Jia Ke's order, all the generals bowed together and said "yes".