Yang Zhen requested the Ministry of War to issue a survey document for his journey to the west. He wanted to go to Xuan Mansion to visit relatives. Of course, it was not just a visit to relatives.

Visiting relatives was just an excuse, or just a way to do it. He took people to Xuanfu and Zhangjiakou. Of course, he had other purposes of his own.

When he came to the capital this time, in addition to receiving the title of guarding the Liaodong Peninsula and other places from Emperor Chongzhen, the title of expanding the advance battalion for the Eastern March into the Eastern March Advance Army, and some air letters promised to him by Chen Xinjia, he He did not receive any food, wages or weapons that would allow him to immediately recruit people, expand his army, and prepare for war.

Not only that, in order to achieve the purpose of this trip to the capital, he also spent a lot of money.

Wang Dehua, Lu Zhide, Chen Xinjia, Zhang Ruolin, none of them are fuel-efficient.

These people have spoken a lot and done a lot of things for Yang Zhen, but there is a price for them to speak and do things for Yang Zhen.

Without the free money, without the heavy gifts brought along the way from Songshan, just relying on a few meetings and the little friendship forged by mutual use, they wanted to let them replace Yang in front of the always suspicious Emperor Chongzhen. Trying to speak up is even more difficult than climbing to heaven.

In order to manage these people, including gold, silver, and various gifts, Yang Zhen spent a total of nearly one hundred thousand taels of silver in just a few days in the capital.

Although he now has some savings in the army, a small amount of one hundred thousand taels of silver is still a quite large number for him.

The most important thing is that the additional 5,000 pay that Emperor Chongzhen promised to Yang Zhen's advance army for the Eastern Expedition must still be paid from Liao's pay.

However, the Liao rates for the 12th year of Chongzhen have already been distributed and distributed, but the Liao rates for the 13th year of Chongzhen will have to wait until the summer and autumn taxes are paid in the coming year.

At the same time, Liao's salary plate is only so big. If Yang Zhen increases, others will decrease. This is full of unpredictable variables.

Of course, Yang Zhen cannot pin his hopes of self-sufficiency on the Liao salary in September next year.

In particular, Yang Zhen is about to expand his army and prepare for war, and is about to recruit farmers and civilians. He urgently needs to supplement a large amount of food and salary. How can he wait until September next year!

We really have to wait until then to start recruiting soldiers, not to mention whether we have enough money and food. Even if we have saved enough money and food, whether Fuzhou City and Jinzhou City will still be in our hands by then will be another matter.

How could Huang Taiji, Dorgon, and other upper-class figures in the Qing Dynasty watch Yang Zhen gain a foothold in their southern Liaoning heartland for a long time?

Therefore, the restart of war on the Liaodong Peninsula is inevitable, and it is very likely that it is just around the corner.

Under such circumstances, Emperor Chongzhen was powerless and had no way to give him things, so he had no choice but to take people to get them himself.

It is not far away from the capital to Xuanfu, more than three hundred miles away. Although the mountains are steep and the mountain roads are difficult to travel, there are post roads connecting them.

This westward post road can be regarded as the only place that the Ming Dynasty capital must pass westward to Xuanfu and the important military town of Datong, so it has been well maintained.

The post stations and passes along the way are still guarded by post soldiers and garrisons. They are neither completely abandoned nor occupied by raging bandits or bandits. The ground is relatively peaceful.

Moreover, Yang Zhen and his party had a total of more than 800 people, including 300 musketeers and more than 500 heavy cavalry. Everyone had a horse to ride on, plus a group of empty mules, horses and carts to accompany them. There were no old, weak or sick people. There is nothing left, and there is not a lot of baggage.

Therefore, although it was freezing cold and the road was not easy to walk, they were still moving very fast.

They set off from the capital early in the morning, passed through Changping at noon, and in the evening arrived at the south entrance of Guangou where Juyong Pass is located.

They and their entourage, together with the Ministry of War, arrived at Nankou Pass and passed the news in. The soldiers guarding the pass reported the news to the general guarding the pass.

The location of Juyongguan is extremely dangerous. It is the western gateway to the capital of the Ming Dynasty. Its location is comparable to Shanhaiguan.

However, the level of the Juyongguan guard has never been very high.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the title of the general guarding Juyong Pass was that of a general. Now in the twelfth year of Chongzhen, the title of the general guarding Juyong Pass was only the deputy general of Ji Zhen Xixie.

The general guarding Shanhaiguan has long been the commander-in-chief of Shanhai Town, one of the most important towns in the Nine Borders.

However, it was said that after the guards at Guancheng at the south entrance of Juyong Pass reported the survey documents that Zu Keyong and others had delivered to the city to the general in Guanzhong, not long after, the door was opened wide from the inside, and a tall, rough-looking general rode in a hurry.

Come.

The man led more than a dozen soldiers to the gate, saluted Yang Zhen first, and then introduced his name.

Yang Zhen was surprised when he introduced him like this.

It turned out that the person who led the troops to guard the Guanyong Guangou area at this time was actually Tang Tong, the deputy general of Xixie in Jizhen.

Among Yang Zhen and his party, none of them were familiar with Tang Tong, but Yang Zhen's reputation for Lian Zhan and Lian Jie had already spread to the pass. Tang Tong, who was the deputy general of Xixie in Jizhen, had naturally heard about it.

Although the news that Yang Zhen was granted the title of Jin Haibo in recent days has not yet reached Juyongguan, the news that Yang Zhen was ordered to go to the Meridian Gate to offer prisoners has already spread throughout the capital.

In addition, Yang Zhen's predecessor had previously served in the Xuanfu Town Army, and the chief military officer of Xuanfu Town, Yang Guozhu, who bore the seal of General Zhenshuo, was Yang Zhen's biological uncle.

It is completely reasonable for Yang Zhen to take the opportunity of going to the capital to present prisoners and return to Xuanfu nearby to visit his uncle Yang Guozhu and other relatives.

Therefore, as soon as Tang Tong, the deputy guarding the pass, heard that Governor Yang Zhenyang, who was in great power recently, had led his troops to Nankou Pass, he thought about it and hurriedly came to see him in person.

With Tang Tong personally present, everything becomes very simple.

But looking at the guard Tang Tong who greeted him with a smile, Yang Zhen felt very uncomfortable in his heart.

In the first month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, due to the surrender of Datong and Xuanfu commanders to Li Zicheng, Juyongguan became the last line of defense for the capital of the Ming Dynasty. At this time, Tang Tong, who was the commander of Miyun troops, was ordered to face the danger and was named Dingxibo. He led his troops to move to the town.

Juyongguan.

At this time, Tang Tong could be said to have placed almost all of Emperor Chongzhen's hopes on him.

If he insists on fighting to the death, then the capital of the Ming Dynasty can still be saved, and at least there will be time to wait for other soldiers of King Qin to arrive.

However, in the end, Tang Tong failed to live up to Emperor Chongzhen's expectations. He actually gave away natural dangers like Juyongguan and surrendered to Li Zicheng's Dashun army without a battle.

Of course, there are many reasons why the Juyongguan garrison surrendered without a fight, such as Du Zhizhi, a pig teammate sent by Emperor Chongzhen to supervise the army and eunuch, to get out of the pass first and ask for surrender, etc. However, Dingxibo Tangtong should bear the main responsibility.

Emperor Chongzhen gave him almost all of his last troops and possessions, named him Uncle Dingxi, and asked him to lead the border troops of Shangwanji Town to sit at Juyongguan to face the enemy, but he turned around and surrendered to the enemy.

Even the later Manchu Tatar pseudo-emperors Shunzhi and Kang Mazi couldn't stand this point.

After Shunzhi learned of his deed, he demoted his Dingxi Marquis to a first-class son.

After the title of the first-class son was passed to Tang Tong's grandson, Kang Mazi learned of his actions, so he also deprived the title of the first-class son.

The reason is that, as the chief military officer of the former Ming Dynasty, he could not contribute to the former Ming Dynasty, but instead surrendered to the traitors.

From this point of view, Tang Tong's behavior of coming and going to surrender and the Qing coming to surrender was not only unacceptable to the Han people, but also the Manchu Tatars who he later took refuge in also despised him as a person.

However, when Yang Zhen met Tang Tong, he couldn't do anything to the Juyongguan guard who greeted him with a smile.

In this way, that night, Yang Zhen resisted the urge to kill Tang Tong now, and spent the night in Juyongguan City. Early the next morning, he declined Tang Tong's offer to stay, led a group of people out of the gate quickly, and continued

Went west.

Although he knew in his heart what kind of thing this Tang Tong was, and that he would come and go in the future, and the clearing would surrender, but he had no choice but to let it go for the time being.

After all, at this time and here, this Tang Tong did not do what he did later. He was an official of the court after all, a dignified deputy general of Ji Zhen West Road. How could you kill him just by asking?

Naturally, Zu Keyong and Zhang Chen had no way of knowing Yang Zhen's thoughts.

Including Shen Yongzhong, who had previously been unnoticed among the crowd, but only returned to Yang Zhen as an attendant after leaving the capital. Xu Ting chose two of them, but he had a very good impression of Tang Tong.

On the way west, Yang Zhen asked everyone what they thought of Tang Tong. The two of them were full of praise for Tang Tong, which made Yang Zhen smile bitterly.

Tang Tong was a man of weak character, but he was well versed in the ways of the world and was obviously very popular.

However, after telling them that after Juyongguan, the terrain and roads gradually became flat and open, their speed also increased, and they arrived at Huailai City at noon that day.

Huailai is already under the jurisdiction of Xuanfu Town, and the guard stationed in Huailai is Tao Zongyi, the general of Yang Guozhu, the general of Xuanfu Town.

Tao Zongyi naturally recognized Yang Zhen and Zhang Chen. He was extremely happy to meet old friends and happily accepted them into the city to rest.

Now Yang Zhen has no memory of Tao Zongyi, but Tao Zongyi, the old guard who led 1,500 Xuanfu troops stationed in Huailai, had a close personal relationship with Zhang Chen.

After he welcomed Yang Zhen and his entourage into the small town of Huailai, he grabbed Zhang Chen and asked around, constantly asking whether the military information outside the customs that was spreading around Xuanfu Town was false or true.

When he learned that Yang Zhen had just been conferred the title of Lord Jin Haibo in the capital, and was appointed as the General of the Eastern Conquest, and was about to open the town of Lushun, and that he had come to Xuan Mansion this time just to visit relatives, he was even more surprised and happy, and called for people at the same time.
Chapter completed!