Chapter 364 363 Military Information

It was already the second day of the night, and the gates around the capital were closed. Now it was the time for night ban.

The gates on all four walls of Beijing City are still tall and mighty, but they have been closed tightly at this time, waiting for the rising sun to rise the next day before they will be opened again.

The weather in Beijing has begun to fall, and it is cold in the morning and evening, and it is hot during the day, so the soldiers guarding the city at night are unwilling to be frozen on the city wall, and they go down to rest under the city wall, but just go on duty on the city tower.

At this time, on the tower of Zhimen, the west of Beijing city, two soldiers were crowded together to chat and pass the time, and the topic of their chat was naturally the news spread from the Xuanfu.

There is really no secret in Beijing. The information that the Tartars were about to attack Xuanfu has been circulating in the streets and alleys of Beijing. However, because Xuanfu and the capital are still separated by an inner Great Wall, the people in the capital did not take it seriously at this time.

There were no such urgent reports in Xuanfu and Datong that even Jizhen was harassed by Tartars from time to time.

Unlike ten years ago, the Tartars' military front swept directly to Tongzhou. How far is Tongzhou from Beijing? There are no obstacles and obstacles between them.

That time, the people in the capital were really scared to death by the emperor.

Of course, more detailed information, such as the Xuanfu report that Altan's department has gathered all the main forces this time, and so on, will naturally not be leaked to the market, and only the Beijing officials know about it.

At this time, it was pitch black all around, with only the full moon hanging high in the sky and the twinkling stars all over the sky.

"Dada"

There was a sudden sound of horse hooves coming from the distance of the road. It was not clear at first, but in just a moment, the two people who were chatting stopped talking, stood up at the same time, and stood behind the city wall and looked out.

A cluster of torches in the distance were approaching quickly, and the sound of horse hooves was getting louder and louder.

"Who is it? He still ran to the capital so late. I don't know if the night ban is closed, do you have to close the city gate?"

The young soldier sneered, at this point, no matter who it is, unless there is an imperial edict or military order of the governor's office, anyone who comes will be able to do it. Even those high-ranking officials and nobles cannot do it. This is a rule, and a hundred years of rules are followed.

"Look at it, this person won't run here for no reason."

The veteran thought more, but because of the dazzling torch, he couldn't see the outfit of the horse knight.

The knight quickly approached the city gate, and the figure in his vision became clearer. Although he still couldn't see the outfit, the stick-like thing on the man's back still fell into the eyes of the veteran.

"No, you go down and ask Mr. Li to come up. It may be an emergency military newspaper, hurry up."

The veteran ordered the soldier.

"When I call Lord Li at this time, he won't beat me up."

The soldier said immediately.

"No, this is a serious matter, it will cause a loss of head if it is delayed."

The veteran spoke quickly, his eyes still staring at the figure that was originally in the distance, getting closer and closer, and the things he was carrying were clearer.

It looks like a wooden stick from a distance, as if it was a weapon, but when it was closer, the veteran felt that the thing was a flag, and it seemed that something could still be seen fluttering and swinging on it.

The messenger didn't run away.

Holding the spear in his hand tightly, the veteran stared at the horses that were approaching, while thinking about what else to send to the capital so late, and it looked like an ordinary military newspaper.

Could it be that there is news from Xuanfu?

Thinking of this, the veteran couldn't help but shivered.

Ten years ago, he was forced to stand on the wall of Beijing City like this, and stayed here for about ten days.

Just as he was thinking, the knight was about to reach the city, and he looked up and shouted loudly to the city tower: "Eight hundred miles to speed up, release the hanging basket quickly, and eight hundred miles to speed up."

As he shouted loudly, the knight had already rushed to the city gate and turned over and dismounted. Then he took a few steps and tied the reins to the horse tethered stake next to the city gate, and ran over to the city wall.

During the night ban, all major city gates in the capital will be closed and locked, and the keys will be taken away. The soldiers guarding the city gate do not have the keys to unlock the lock. If you want to open the city gate, you can only apply to the Shuntian Prefecture officials who were on duty that night.

During the night ban, if you want to enter and exit Beijing, you must either rely on the emperor's imperial edict or hold special documents or tokens, and shoulder important military tasks or intelligence. You can obtain the qualification to enter and exit after applying, otherwise you will not want to enter and exit the city gate.

For the messenger, it is naturally possible to adapt to the emergency military situation such as 800 miles to speed up.

In fact, many soldiers in Beijing may not encounter such a situation in their entire lives, and an emergency army will report it to you after the night ban.

"You're waiting, you've already found someone."

The man is now under the city. The veteran can clearly see the people's clothes. The dress of the messenger in the border town is a blue waist-length armor with a "ling" embroidered on his chest and a "ling" flag on his back.

"Where did you come from?"

As the time came to wait for others, the veteran asked loudly on the city tower.

"Xuanfu."

The commander at the city answered very directly.

“What’s the situation?”

Just then, the sound of questioning came from behind the veteran.

"Master Li Qi, the city is under the 800 miles from Xuanfu to speed up."

The veteran turned around and replied to the visitor.

"Put the hanging basket and verify the token."

The person who came was wearing a flag, although it was a bit old, it looked like a military uniform of some time ago.

"Oh, OK."

The veteran agreed, then picked up the hanging basket from the side and put it down.

The hanging basket slowly fell down, which was very skilled in this process, especially for people in border towns, this situation should often be encountered.

There is more military information in the border town, and they have to convey messages to some military forts from time to time. It is too late to arrive, so they can only use hanging baskets.

The messenger took out a sign from his waist and put it in the hanging basket. He pulled the rope on the hanging basket and gently pulled it down. Then the hanging basket slowly rose and soon disappeared from the top of the city.

Mr. Li took the basket from the veteran, and walked back into the city tower token. There was an oil lamp on the city tower. He approached and carefully checked the engravings and cloud patterns on the waist sign with the fire. These were all of the details.

For the soldier's waist card, you just need to find a wooden sign to engrave military registration and even if it is done, the messenger's waist card does have other requirements, that is, there are some mystery in the cloud patterns and engravings to prevent forgery.

However, only the city gate official who was on the night knew about these skills. He was doing this now and confirmed the authenticity of the messenger's waist card below.

Don’t think that it is impossible to open the city gate by shouting at eight hundred miles.

After verifying the authenticity, people can enter the city, but horses can only stay outside and wait until they come in the next day, because the city gate will never open.

"Go, call a few people and hang them up."

After confirming the waist card, Mr. Li ordered the veteran who followed in, and handed him the waist card.

For the messenger from a border town, the chief banner master of the Beijing camp had no reason to pick him up.

At this time, his sleepiness came up again and he walked down the city cursingly.

The capital is very big, but it is not allowed to ride horses in the street market in the middle of the night. However, the commanders can use their waist cards to move freely between neighbors without being affected by the night ban.

Although the wooden fences between the markets are locked, the lock is not as strict as the large iron locks at the city gate. The key is in the hands of the yamen runners who are on duty.

There are also officials on duty at night in the Ministry of War, so the messenger after entering the city could only run to the Ministry of War to deliver official documents.

When the commander gasped and called for the opening of the Ministry of War, it was already the fourth day, and then the quiet Ministry of War became lively.

As the officials on the night watch the emergency military information sent by the Xuanfu, they immediately became uneasy.

"Prepare a sedan chair and go to Yang Shangshu's mansion."

He gave an order to the outside, and the man simply cleaned up, put on his official hat and left the duty room. He couldn't sleep tonight. I think that after Lord Yang Bo read the military newspaper, he would probably go to Xiyuan to deliver a letter.

After leaving the gate of the Ministry of War, the official thought for a while and ordered the clerk who followed him: "Go back and take out the token and send a message to those adults."

"yes."

The man who looked like a clerk agreed respectfully and watched the sedan chair go away.

When it was lightly dawn, several military camps in Datong City suddenly became lively. At almost the same time, countless torches were lit up in the entire camp. The soldiers were called out from the barracks by the team officers.

The Huotou Army had already arrived with a small cart and a large bucket, and distributed breakfasts from each army.

There are not many things, just porridge, steamed buns and a little pickled vegetables, but this is also a rare delicious meal for these soldiers from the border.

For a moment, the entire military camp seemed to be a steamer that had just been opened, and the military camp seemed to be shrouding smoke from a distance.

"This hot meal is better and we're going to set off soon."

The team officer had already received an order yesterday and knew that he was going to set out today. Although he didn't know where he went, the news from Xuanfu was already spread throughout the sky through the mouths of the merchants.

Although the soldiers had little external contact, many of them were transferred from other military forts, but they were not stupid. When they saw such a good meal, they knew that there was definitely nothing good.

While eating, I glanced around and soon saw someone pushing a cart to the horse camp, with cloth bags piled up on it.

"Is this going to go to war?"

Seeing what was prepared in the military camp, almost everyone realized that they were about to leave Datong City and go to Xuanfu to fight.

For the veterans, the cloth bag was very clear. Dry food cakes, horse cakes, and water bags were all things that would be sent out after a long march.

Their things were soon delivered by someone in a cart. Although they knew they would be sent to the battlefield by Shangguan, they had no choice.

Once you enter the military household, you have to join the army for generations and continue to fight.

When the soldiers were full and drunk, they started to complete the whole team. The camp gate had already opened, and teams of cavalry had driven out and ran through the military camp towards the city gate.

After the cavalry passed by, only smoke and dust were left, which made many people wonder, why did they leave?
To be continued...