Chapter 212 211 Delayed departure
Beijing, Xiyuan, Yongshou Palace.
At this time, a large group of high-ranking eunuchs were standing outside the palace, waiting for news in the hall. The leader was Huang Jin, the great eunuch and ancestor of the palace.
They had been waiting outside the hall for a long time, and their hands and feet were already sore and numb, but there was still no movement in the hall.
Just when everyone was waiting anxiously and wanted to enter the palace but didn't dare, and was in a dilemma, there was finally movement in the Yongshou Palace.
With the creaking sound of the palace door being opened, a Taoist priest wearing a hat and a robe had already opened the door and stood in front of the palace door. When he saw the eunuchs with their hands hanging outside, he smiled and said: "The emperor has already Come out of seclusion and come in."
Immediately, without waiting for the eunuch waiting outside to speak, he turned around and walked towards the palace. His clothes were fluttering as he walked, giving him a fairy-like feeling.
Under the leadership of Huang Jin, all the eunuchs filed into the main hall of Yongshou Palace. They saw that Emperor Jiajing, who was wearing Taoist robes, was lazily lying on the seat at the top. I wonder if it was an illusion, but everyone felt those eyes. Staring at everyone they came in with a strange look.
"Welcome to the Grand Supreme, the Great Luo Celestial Immortal, the Purple Extreme Immortal, the Holy Wisdom, the Zhaolingtong, the Three-Yuan Zheng, Ying Yuxu, the Master of the Five Thunders, the Great Immortal, the Wanshou Emperor of the Xuandu Realm, to leave seclusion."
As all the eunuchs shouted the name of Emperor Jiajing in unison, a smile appeared on the face of Emperor Jiajing, who had a calm expression before. He waved his hand to let the saluting eunuchs stand up, and then they all stood up and retreated to the main hall. both sides.
However, except for Huang Jin, the other eunuchs would not miss this opportunity to flatter the emperor, and they continued to congratulate Emperor Jiajing on his improvement in skills. When he entered, his eyes were filled with lightning, and so on.
Emperor Jiajing just listened to their congratulations with a smile on his face, but didn't say a word.
After a long time, Emperor Jiajing finally waved his hand again to stop the flattery of the eunuchs. Instead, he asked Huang Jin, who was standing next to Lan Daoxing: "I have been feeling something these days, so I have been in seclusion for half a month. Is there anything important going on in the court? I'm sorry. Have you withdrawn?"
Huang Jin, who had been standing on one side politely since entering the palace, stood up and briefly introduced the current war situation in Xuanfu to Emperor Jiajing. Hearing that the Anda troops were still stationed in Yanqing and Baoan Prefecture, Emperor Jiajing The smile on his face disappeared and his brows wrinkled slightly, "What is the cabinet's opinion?"
"Back to the Emperor, a few days ago Weng Pu, the Minister of Border Patrol, sent a petition to go to Xuan Mansion to supervise the war. The cabinet vote is approved to give Weng Pu the post of admiral of military affairs and make him responsible for the war in Xuan Mansion."
While Huang Jin was speaking, he slightly raised his head and glanced at Emperor Jiajing on the throne. He knew the master's habits. When hearing the opinions of the cabinet, he would often express his inner thoughts, and at this time, he would generally not continue to pay attention to the report. People can just see what the emperor really thinks.
Sure enough, he peeked at Emperor Jiajing's reaction, but at this moment Emperor Jiajing lowered his head as if thinking about something.
After a while, Emperor Jiajing looked up at Huang Jin and continued to ask: "What are the deployments of the Ministry of War?"
"The Ministry of War requested an order to mobilize the Jizhen Army to move to Huairou, Changping, and Shunyi, and to mobilize the Datong Army to assist in the Xuanfu battle."
Huang Jin briefly answered the court's military deployments during this period to deal with the invasion of the Anda Khan tribe, and then shut up and said no more.
Emperor Jiajing on the throne just nodded slightly, showing that he had no objection to the command of the Ministry of War.
Because he had been mentally prepared, Emperor Jiajing was not shocked when he received the news that the Anda tribe had entered the Xuanfu. After confirming that the Anda tribe had only entered the Xuanfu, he calmly let the cabinet and the Ministry of War deal with the war. Perhaps he felt something in his heart. Jiajing The emperor seemed to have a divine connection, and finally invited Lan Daoxing, a Taoist priest who was favored these days, to practice in seclusion.
After being in seclusion for nearly half a month, the news I heard after I came out was not that bad. Except that the Tatars had not yet withdrawn from the Great Wall, everything else was just trivial.
Since the army has begun to mobilize, it is only a matter of time before the Tatars withdraw from the Great Wall, so there is nothing for him to worry about.
As for the cabinet vote and the Ministry of War's request, given Huang Jin's shrewdness in doing things, he probably already approved it.
"If there's nothing else, please step back first, Huang Jin will stay and take care of me."
Emperor Jiajing began to drive people away at this time. He didn't like a lot of eunuchs in his Yongshou Palace, so he should let them do their own thing.
Taoist priest Lan Daoxing also bowed and resigned after the eunuch left.
Emperor Jiajing nodded slightly and said with a smile: "Lan Shenxian has been working hard these days. Let's go back and rest first."
After Lan Daoxing left, Emperor Jiajing said to Huang Jin: "Ask someone to light the lamp, and send me all the memorials from these days for me to take a look at."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
After Huang Jin bowed and answered, he walked to the door of the palace and called the young chamberlain to hold Zuoshu. He also called two chamberlains to come in and light all the candles in the hall.
As the young chamberlain brought a large pile of memorials and put them on the imperial desk and exited, only Emperor Jiajing and Huang Jin, who was standing beside him, were left in the hall.
These are the memorials that the Chief of Ceremonies has approved for reds these days. The first thing Emperor Jiajing did after each retreat was not to deal with the newly sent documents that had not yet been processed, but to look at the documents that the Chief of Ceremonies had approved and sent out, and from time to time return them. He would ask Huang Jin something he didn't understand.
After flipping through two documents of the Ministry of War, I turned to the third memorial of Weng Pu. After reading the draft, I immediately asked: "Is this written by Xu Jie? Wei Guangde, counselor of military affairs, who proposed this ?Is it him too?"
"No, Your Majesty, it was Mr. Yan Ge who suggested Wei Guangde as Counselor for Military Affairs. When I first got the vote, I went to the cabinet to ask the reason."
Huang Jin answered quickly.
"Yan Song? What did he say? What is the attitude of other people in the cabinet?"
Emperor Jiajing listened to Huang Jin's words and continued to ask.
Huang Jin didn't know what Emperor Jiajing was thinking at this moment. He just felt slightly uneasy in his heart and could only explain it based on the situation at that time.
"Mr. Xiao Wei is young and has a junior official position. Logically speaking, he really shouldn't be given the post of counselor for military affairs. That's why I went to the cabinet to learn more about it.
What Mr. Yan Ge means is that Wei Guangde is the deputy patrol envoy, and now the border patrol envoy is supervising military affairs. Either he will return to the capital immediately to resume his duties, and another person from the capital will be sent to assist Weng Shilang, or he will be arranged to assist in handling military affairs. There is no need to send anyone there.
With the ability of Minister Weng and the help of Mr. Xiao Wei, it should not be difficult to handle military affairs. In addition, the counselor of military affairs is mainly because his official position is too low. Otherwise, it is just a review by the Hanlin Academy, and he may not be able to speak in the Xuanfu.
Although he has been given an additional position, with Mr. Weng here, there should be no mistakes. The two cabinet ministers believed that, so they added this paragraph to the vote. "
Huang Jin told Emperor Jiajing in detail what he heard at the cabinet. Seeing that Emperor Jiajing had no other expressions and a smile on his lips, Huang Jin couldn't figure out whether he was right or wrong in criticizing the red. He could only lower his head and wait for Emperor Jiajing's next words.
"Haha, Wei Zhong is really thoughtful and takes good care of his little fellow, haha."
Emperor Jiajing finally laughed out loud. When the words fell in Huang Jin's ears, he understood that his master was not angry, but he was not satisfied either.
At least, he didn't pronounce Yan Song, but called him by his character Weizhong. Previously, he called Yan Song by his name and asked him what he wanted to do.
Thinking of this, Huang Jincai suddenly realized that this time it was indeed Meng Lang. Can military affairs be authorized casually?
Weng Pu himself was the minister of the Ministry of War, and it was okay to act as an agent for military affairs. However, Wei Guangde was only reviewed by the Hanlin Academy, and granting him the right to counsel for military affairs was indeed against the system. Why didn't he think of it at the time?
Only the emperor could authorize people who were not from the Ministry of War to participate in military affairs. I should have suppressed the matter at that time and only gave Weng Pu the authority to supervise military affairs. Wei Guangde's matter should wait until Emperor Jiajing came out of seclusion. Finally, it is only right to act according to the emperor's wishes.
Thinking of this, Huang Jin quickly knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I know I was wrong."
"Why did you agree to be praised in the first place?"
Emperor Jiajing asked in a calm tone.
"My servant heard Mr. Yan Ge explain that there is a minister, Mr. Weng, sitting on the front line, and advising Mr. Wei on military affairs is just to give him a little status there."
Having said this, Huang Jin stopped talking and just knelt down to wait for Emperor Jiajing's announcement.
After a long while, the emperor on the throne spoke again: "I will not do this next time. The right to be counselor of military affairs must be reported to me first.
Weng Pu, it's okay. With him here, nothing should go wrong. "
When Huang Jin heard this, he knew that his fault had been solved, but he didn't expect that Weng Pu had a very high position in the emperor's heart. Emperor Jiajing was quite relieved about him, but it was a pity that if he were younger, it wouldn't be possible. Can get into the ministerial service.
"Has the Ministry of War sent a report on the Xuanfu battle?"
Emperor Jiajing suddenly asked again.
"Yes, one will be delivered in two or three days, just..."
Huang Jin answered hurriedly, but soon stopped talking, not knowing what to say.
"Find it out and pick out the key points."
When Emperor Jiajing spoke, Huang Jin quickly got up from the ground, stood next to the Imperial Bookcase, pulled out several memorials from the middle and lower floors of the memorials, handed them to Emperor Jiajing respectfully, and started to introduce the battle situation in Xuanfu without stopping.
"After the Tatars entered the customs, they only attacked Chang'an Station. After that, the brigade was stationed in Yanqing Prefecture and Bao'an Prefecture and did not take any further actions. They just continued to appear in Huailai, Yongning and other places to detect the movements of our troops."
In the early morning, it was the third day that Wei Guangde arrived at Huailaiwei with the baggage convoy. After a day of rest and preparation, according to the plan, they should set off to Huailai County today to wait for the reaction of the Andu Department.
Dong Yiyuan went to Huailai Guard early in the morning. He wanted to select 500 soldiers to add to the convoy guard, and was ready to leave Huailai Guard at any time and go to Huailai County.
Fortunately, before Wei Guangde left, he finally met the courier sent by the Datong Army to Juyongguan to deliver official documents.
"According to the itinerary you mentioned, the three thousand forwards of the Datong Army should arrive at Yumei's Senhu Station today?"
Wei Guangde found the stopped messenger and asked.
"Yes sir."
The messenger saw that although the official in front of him was young, there were the commanders and commanders who were standing next to him. These were all great officials. In front of this young official, they were all just Being able to be respectful and respectful, the messenger is not a fool. He naturally knows that this person's official position is very high, so he naturally does not dare to hide it.
"But according to the military report sent before, the Datong Army should have passed Yuzhou ten days ago. Why has it taken so long for the forward army to not reach Yumi Senhu Station?"
Wei Guangde still had the map in his mind, so he naturally knew that with the speed of the Ming army, it would take six or seven days to enter the boundaries of Xuanfu and reach the military post Yumei Guards Qianhu Station at the outermost edge of Xuanfu, but Datong actually used Only ten days had passed. There was no doubt that Wei Guangde thought of the possibility that the Datong Army was afraid of the enemy and was timid and deliberately slowed down its journey.
"Your Excellency, I learned that the army encountered dangers when it left Yuzhou and crossed Xiaowutai Mountain. The mountain road was previously destroyed, making the army's march difficult, and it was really forced to slow down."
The messenger had no choice but to explain, but Wei Guangde didn't quite believe these words.
If you are crossing a mountain road, it will be said that the mountain road has been destroyed. If you are crossing a river, it will not be said that the river water has surged and it is difficult to cross.
In total, it has been half a month since the Datong Army set out, and the total distance is more than 400 miles. Although many of them are mountainous roads, in general they are official roads, and the traffic will naturally not be bad. No one can go out at this speed.
After asking a few more questions, I found out that the main force of the Datong Army was still collecting food and grass near Yuzhou, and my eyes almost fell out.
Wei Guangde's official document urging the Datong Army to hurry up was passed on. It said in black and white that he would stock up on food and grass in his arms and ask them to come and join him as soon as possible. The official document was in vain.
He waved his hand and asked the messenger to go down and continue his errand to deliver the message to Juyongguan.
Wei Guangde wanted to write another letter to Weng Pu at this time, and wanted to impeach the Datong Army for fear of the enemy and wasting the opportunity to fight, but in the end he forgot it and waited until this hurdle was passed.
Last night, he was planning to leave for Huailai County today. Wei Guangde calculated that the Datong Army should be three to five days away from here, so he plunged into Huailai County, and it would take about three days for Baoan Prefecture to send troops. This was considered By the time the official documents were delivered and preparations were made for the expedition, when the Baoan Prefecture army was approaching Huailai County, the Datong Army forwards had almost arrived at Huailaiwei.
Wei Guangde dared to make this trip only when there were two armies on his side.
It's better now. What Weng Pu worried about before has happened. The Datong Army should have deliberately slowed down and was unwilling to arrive at the battlefield prematurely.
According to the current speed, it will take at least seven or eight days for the forward troops of the Datong Army to reach Huailaiwei, and this is only if they do not continue to slow down.
After a little calculation of time, Wei Guangde knew that it was not the best time to go to Huailai to reveal his whereabouts today. He had at least three days to prepare and try to contact the Xuanfu Army in Baoan Prefecture to discuss future preparations.
If we go according to this time, when we encounter Tatar troops in Huailai County, not only the people from Baoan Prefecture will come to rescue, but also the Datong Army will come closer at this time. The two armies will be on the side. You should carefully consider whether to stay or stay.
After Wei Guangde calculated the time in his mind, he knew that today was not a good time to set off, so he immediately called Li Zhen to discuss with him, and then called Dong Yiyuan to make the subsequent arrangements.