The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Early the next morning, Wei Guangde still rubbed his sleepy eyes and got up to wash up.

After coming out, I thought about going to Jingying to meet Weng Pu soon, and suddenly I felt a headache.

When going out to have breakfast, Wei Guangde whispered to Zhang Ji, "Take all our armors with you. You will find Li San later and ask him to follow him to the capital camp to find some better war horses. Everyone will If you want two horses, he has to watch the horses carefully."

Well, after thinking about it all night, Wei Guangde could only make these preparations. If the border patrol really encounters Tatars this time, he just needs to make sure that he runs faster than others. One person and two horses should be fine.

Naturally, the carriage can only be left in the guild hall. If you want to be comfortable and go there in a carriage while patrolling, it will be a bit risky.

After a hasty meal, Wei Guangde said goodbye to Lao Kan, Zhang Ke and others who were seeing him off, and took Zhang Ji and Li San on a hired carriage to the capital camp.

In the early years of Hongwu's reign, the capital camp was set up to train soldiers to defend the capital.

The Ming Dynasty initially established its capital in Nanjing, so two large and small playgrounds were built inside and outside Nanjing to train 48 soldiers respectively, which were affiliated to the Marshal's Mansion. Soon, Zhu Yuanzhang reorganized the trained soldiers and called them the Fifth Military Camp.

After Zhu Di succeeded to the throne, while following the old Hongwu system, he also expanded the Beijing camp, increasing the original 48 guards to 72 guards. After that, he gradually established three major camps: the Fifth Army Camp, the Three Thousand Camp, and the Shenji Camp. The three battalions are collectively called the Jingjun or Jingying.

Among them, the Fifth Military Battalion was the original main force of the Beijing Camp, and the Three Thousand Battalion was a cavalry unit composed of the Mongolian surrendered soldiers accepted by Chengzu. The Shenji Battalion is easier to understand, and was reorganized from the firearms unit of the Beijing Camp.

In the capital, in addition to these three battalions, there are also the emperor's bodyguards, the Jinyiwei and the Twelve Guards. Among them, the most powerful ones are naturally the Wuxiang left guard, Wuxiang right guard, and Wuxiang right guard under the Yumajian. Tengxiang's left guard and Tengxiang's right guard are called the "Four Guards".

After the Tumubao Incident, the main force of the Beijing camp was completely lost, and the three major battalions became history. The remaining soldiers and troops transferred from surrounding areas formed a new Beijing camp. Since then, the armed forces of the capital have entered the era of "regiment camp" .

From the initial Tenth Regiment Camp to the Twelve Regiment Camp, it lasted until a few years ago, that is, in the 29th year of Jiajing. With the "Gengxu Revolution", the Twelve Regiment Camp became history. Emperor Jiajing abolished the regiment camp organizational system and restored it. There were three major camps at the time of Emperor Chengzu: Wujun Camp, Shenshu Camp, and Shenji Camp.

The only change was that the Three Thousand Battalion was changed to the Shenshu Battalion. This was a rare pure cavalry unit in the Ming Dynasty. It was also because there were not so many Mongolian soldiers in this era, but most of them were selected from the border troops. The elites who came out have extraordinary riding skills.

Although some adjustments have been made to the system, the current Beijing Camp does not seem to have changed much from the previous 12th Regiment Camp. At least Wei Guangde has not seen any decent activities in the Beijing Camp during his time in the capital. Drilling, what I heard after entering the officialdom was similar. No one thought there were any changes after the regiment camp was changed to the Beijing camp.

Most of the Beijing camps are located in the north of Beijing, on the vast plain outside Deshengmen and Andingmen, with their backs against the city wall. Wei Guangde and the others also went to Chongwenmen after coming out of the guild hall, and walked straight ahead along the avenue, crossing the entire The inner city comes out from Anding Gate.

Speaking of which, their location is quite far away from the capital. Fortunately, they left early. When they were leaving Anding Gate, they saw a carriage in front of them. There were several guards around the carriage to protect them as they headed out of the city. When they saw the carriage The mark on it is the car of the right minister of the Ministry of War.

Wei Guangde did not let the coachman pass them, but followed them not far or near, and did not come forward to join them immediately.

Although the guards around the carriage also noticed that a civilian carriage was following behind them, they did not take any action because they were not close. They only paid more attention to the carriage behind them.

The two carriages left the Anding Gate one after the other and stopped in front of the Jingying Gate not far away.

At this time, Wei Guangde jumped out of the car very flexibly and walked towards the carriage. Zhang Ji and guard Li San could only follow him.

However, before Wei Guangde could get close, he was stopped by the guards around the carriage, "Whoever is there, leave immediately and don't hit the master."

A guard closest to them shouted, reaching out to block Wei Guangde's way.

"Is this Mr. Weng Puweng in the car?"

Wei Guangde didn't pay attention. His reaction to the approach of someone he didn't know was reasonable.

Hearing the other party announce the master's name, the guard knew that the other party had come prepared and did not dare to be careless. However, Wei Guangde was wearing a green robe, and even though he was very close, he did not dare to push.

"Who are you? I can report anything to my master, but you can't get close."

The guard had already stood in front of Wei Guangde and said, although Wei Guangde was wearing official clothes, there were no patches on his chest. He was not sure whether he was an official or not, not to mention he was still so young.

As for Wei Guangde, he could only stay put at this time. There was no point in getting angry with the guard.

But when he was about to speak, the curtain on this side of the carriage was opened to reveal an old face. It looked like he was at least fifty years old, probably closer to sixty.

"You are Wei Guangde and Wei Chao. Please invite Mr. Wei to come over."

Weng Pu in the car saw Wei Guangde and obviously knew him, so the last sentence was addressed to the guard.

For young officials in the current Beijing officialdom, it is almost a no-brainer to know that they are Wei Guangde, a guy under twenty years old.

Wei Guangde was also helpless. He found out very late last night that he had been awarded an official title. He had an official uniform but no patchwork. He had no time to find someone to make it, so he could only come wearing the official uniform without patchwork.

"Master Weng, the next official is Wei Guangde."

Well, I'm used to calling myself a "underachiever", so I almost didn't change my mind all of a sudden. Now I'm an official. Although it's just a review, I still have a formal official position, so naturally I have to call myself a lower official instead.

The guard had already respectfully moved out of the way after hearing his master's words. Wei Guangde walked to the carriage, and Weng Pu had already gotten off the carriage.

Wei Guangde turned around and took from Zhang Ji the waist badge left by Mr. Li last night. It was engraved with the five words "Hanlin Academy Review" and the imperial edict from last night. These should be handed over to Mr. Weng for review. That was the procedure that he had already reported to the Minister of Border Patrol.

But Weng Pu smiled and shook his head, "I found out from the official who passed the imperial edict last night. I also saw you when the Jin Palace passed the imperial examination. It was so impressive. Haha, if I had chosen you to pass the provincial examination, we would have We’ve known each other since the Luming Banquet.”

"Thank you for the compliment, sir. I feel ashamed to be a lowly official."

Wei Guangde hurriedly bowed and said.

At this time, the guards who went to contact the Beijing camp had come out. As the gate of the Beijing camp opened, they were about to enter the Beijing camp.

"Sir, I don't know how many guards we will choose from here, and where we will choose from."

Wei Guangde watched the gate of the Beijing camp open and asked at this time.

"Select from Shenshu Camp. According to regulations, you can take two hundred people out to patrol the border."

Weng Pu said casually, and then pointed at the gate of the capital camp, "Let's go in."

The guards had already been handed over to the deployment of troops, so there was no obstruction for their selection of troops. Even because of Weng Pu's official position as Minister of War, except for the governor of the Beijing Camp, the Fifth Army Camp, Shenshu Camp and Shenji did not come out. All the camp chiefs and generals came here to cooperate with Weng Pu in recruiting troops.

Naturally, Weng Pu or Wei Guangde would not pick those people.

Wei Guangde saw that the people who went there were all selected by the guards brought by Weng Pu. Judging from their movements, they were all powerful. It was obvious that they were all practitioners, but they were from the private sector or the military. Wei Guangde could not see this. Out.

On Wei Guangde's side, Zhang Ji talked to Li San, and when it came time to choose men and horses, he went downstairs and selected six reasonably good horses.

Although the capital camp of the Ming Dynasty is now depleted, it is still easy to gather 200 troops. What's more, after the Gengxu Revolution, the generals in the capital camp no longer dare to deduct military pay as before, and they still have to retain some fighting skills. Strength, the emperor now pays more attention to the Beijing camp than before.

Although we won't do anything to them just because they are corrupt, it would not be good if they become the chicken that kills the chicken to scare the monkey.

In fact, sometimes, deterring these generals is far more effective than punishing a few bad apples.

After gathering all the men and horses, Weng Pu did not stay in the capital camp for long, so he took a few days of food and grass and set off.

For Weng Pu, who is in his fifties, riding a horse is definitely out of the question. He went in the carriage. When he set off, Wei Guangde was also asked to get into the carriage. This is to talk about this border patrol. As for the specific details, there were so many people in the capital camp before that it was difficult to say more.

"Guangde should know that we are going to inspect the Great Wall Pass from Ji Town to Datong this time. I already made a plan for the route last night. Now tell me, what do you think Guangde has to say?"

The carriage started to move, and it seemed that the team was not heading east toward Tongzhou. Wei Guangde felt a little strange. He was heading north at this time. He didn't know whether he was going directly to Changping or Shunyi.

Well, when Weng Pu asked him to get in the car, he guessed that Weng Pu would definitely talk about the itinerary in the car. Now he could only listen. After all, the first level of the official university was overwhelming. Although his rank was completely crushed by Weng Pu, he could Now we are out to perform official duties. Weng Pu is the envoy, and Wei Guangde is the deputy envoy, so he is only one level older than him.

While talking, Weng Pu had already unrolled a map from a small secret door in the carriage and began to explain to Wei Guangde facing the map.

The map of Beidi is also available in the Hanlin Academy. After hearing the news yesterday, a group of people from the Hanlin Academy even found it and studied it, so they are no strangers to it.

The maps of this era were very abstract, but they were still understandable. I heard Weng Pu say slowly: "You haven't seen the memorial from the Xuanfu. Let me explain it to you now.

There were battles between the Xuanfu and Anda tribes outside Yutailing and Zhangjiakou. Afterwards, the Tatars detoured to Songshu Fort, Dushi Fort and Longmen Fort and continued eastward. The traces disappeared. They were still sending scouting horses to find out the news. "

While talking, Weng Pu pointed his finger to the north of Xuan Mansion, and then slid it all the way to the east, giving Wei Guangde a more intuitive impression.

The names of the three forts mentioned by Weng Pu in the east of Xuan Mansion are located on the protrusions of a Great Wall, and going further north are no longer under the control of the Ming Dynasty's military forces.

The Anta Division was obviously marching along the Great Wall, with the very clear purpose of finding weak points to break through.

"You are from Weisuo, so you should understand the purpose of the Anda Department."

Hearing Weng Pu's words, Wei Guangde nodded.

"Although the order from above is for us to start our patrol from Ji Town, I don't expect Anda to go that far."

While he was talking, Weng Pu's fingers continued to slide along the side wall of the Great Wall to the east.

“The Sihai Institute, the Bohai Institute, the Chaohe Institute, and all the way to Gubeikou, Modaoyu, Jiangjungguan, and Malanyu are the areas where the Tatars are most likely to make a breakthrough.

Guangde may also know that the last time the Tatars broke into the Guanqiang, they broke through the Gubeikou. They went to Miyun, Huairou and Shunyi, and went straight to Tongzhou along the official road. Fortunately, they were blocked by the river and did not hit them. Go to Tongzhou. "

Weng Pu continued.

"According to your wishes, where do we start our patrol?"

Wei Guangde heard at this time that Weng Pu came out this time not to fool the errand, but to do something big, so he probably would not go east to Ji Town and start the inspection from Ji Town. After all, it would definitely be too late.

"I plan to go to Shunyi now, walk through Pinggu, and start patrolling directly from Malanyu. I hope it's not too late."

Weng Pu expressed his thoughts at this time. He really had no intention of running to Jizhen to kill time. He would wait until the Tatars broke through the wall and then ran back to Beijing.

"What about Ji Town?"

Wei Guangde hesitated to speak until he heard Weng Pu's plan before speaking.

"Over at Ji Town, I plan to ask them to dispatch a team of troops to Zunhua, meet us at Malanyu, and follow us to patrol the border."

Well, Wei Guangde is sure that he will not go to Ji Town. Weng Pu probably judged that An Da would not be so stupid to go so far to attack the Great Wall. It is very likely that he would find a target to attack at several passes near Gubeikou and rush into the pass. .

Weng Pu was not stupid. He planned to use his privileges as a border patrol minister to transfer a team of officers and soldiers from Ji Town to follow him, which would increase the defense force and make it safer.

"It all depends on your orders."

Wei Guangde knew not to say anything. Anyway, he could just run faster because of his youth. Weng Pu must have made up his mind. There was no need to argue with him at this time, let alone insist on going to Ji Town, otherwise he would turn back to the capital. , he will inevitably become an official joke.

Maybe Weng Pu was waiting for Wei Guangde to say something about going to Jizhen, so that he could take the blame when the time came.

"Okay, I'll make arrangements right now."

Afterwards, Weng Pu opened the curtain and gave a few instructions to the guards outside the window. Wei Guangde also heard it, asking people to take the letter he had prepared to Ji Town. At the same time, the direction of the team's advance was also clear, which was to go first Go north to Shunyi, then turn east to Pinggu.

The carriage was driving on the uneven official road, and the wooden wheels naturally made the carriage shake very badly. Even though it was covered with thick mats, Wei Guangde felt uncomfortable after sitting for a long time.

I found an opportunity to get off the car and decided to ride a horse.

Although riding on a horse is bumpy, it's just that you're not galloping on a horse at this time, and you don't need to clamp the horse's belly with your legs, so there is no possibility of grinding your thighs, which means your buttocks will suffer a little.

Wei Guangde checked the equipment on the horse. In addition to his own armor, which was still on Zhang Ji's horse, there was also a saber and a blunderbuss on his own horse.

There was still no shortage of these weapons in the Beijing camp, especially muskets. Li San picked six horses, and all of them had sabers and muskets on their saddles. Only the battle armor was not required.

Wei Guangde still prefers the armor produced in Nanjing. After all, it has been on the battlefield with him.