Chongzhen stood alone outside the door, grabbing the shop title on the door and clasping it.
Not long after, the door opened slightly, and a head wearing a guala hat poked out from the crack of the door, asking impatiently: "Why are you knocking on the door?"
Chongzhen handed over a letter and replied: "Sorry to bother you, Mr. Song asked me to come here."
The man looked Chongzhen up and down, then took the letter and read it doubtfully. After confirming that it was the owner's handwriting and seal, he immediately opened the door and put on a smile, "You can't see Mount Tai, general, please come in quickly!"
"
Chongzhen calmly walked into the house with his hands behind his hands. The third entrance to the house had a deep courtyard with rugged rocks and a small river flowing through it. It seemed that Song Xiance had gained a lot of benefits in the army.
Chongzhen was led into the main hall and sat down, drinking tea and pouring water, and the man in the guala hat introduced himself.
His name was Song Xiancai, and he was Song Xiance's younger brother. He stayed in Datong to look after his brother's house and did some business along the way.
Chongzhen took a sip of tea and asked, knowingly: "I wonder how Mr. Song plans to arrange this?"
Song Xiancai filled Chongzhen's cup with tea and said: "The general is just joking, so how can we arrange it? If the general has a request, we will do our best to help him."
It turned out that Song Xiance was prepared for danger in times of peace and knew that he, a weak scholar, could not protect himself in troubled times. He rescued Gu Ying, sold his favor, and wanted to arrange for Gu Ying to be placed in his house as a way out. So in the letter, he solemnly gave his instructions.
Brother, you must properly accommodate the visitor and meet all his requirements.
No one could have imagined that Gu Ying was accidentally killed by Chongzhen on the road. Song Xiancai didn't know Gu Ying's appearance, so Chongzhen naturally replaced Gu Ying.
Chongzhen was also betting that there was an information gap between the two Song brothers. At this moment, seeing the other's reaction, he knew that it was done, and said generously: "Thank you very much, Mr. Song, for your kindness. I have taken in a few foster boys along the way. Can I take them in as well?"
Settled in?"
"It's a trivial matter. It's just me and a few servants in the house. The general can choose the room he wants."
"I left Beijing in a hurry and didn't bring much belongings..."
"Here are five hundred taels. I hope the general will accept it. If it's not enough, I'll get some more."
"The solid food I ate along the way has faded away..."
"Come with me, general. I will serve the kitchen immediately, and provide you with good wine and food to welcome the general."
...
Thirty-five miles west of Datong Fucheng, there are Yungang Ten Temples, which were built during the Later Wei Dynasty.
Its temples have Yisheng, two Lingguang, three Zhenguo, four protectors, five Chongfu, six boys, seven Nengren, eight Huayan, Jiutian Palace, and ten Tusita, so they are called Ten Temples. There are stones built by Yuan Zai in the temple.
Among the twenty Buddha niches, the open-air central seated statue of the Third Buddha in the fifth cave is the most eye-catching.
This is a Buddhist holy place, but there are no monks at all. There are only a group of red cavalry standing in front of the giant Buddha.
The leader was a vicious man, seven feet tall, with a leopard's head and eyes, a swallow's jaw and a tiger's beard. He got off his horse, walked up to the Buddha, and urinated in front of the Buddha in public.
While peeing, he playfully said: "Amitabha, you have to pee, you have to pee."
Everyone behind him burst out laughing and cheering.
"The boss is so talented!"
"Exceeding the power of the stars!"
The evil man shook his body and said with a smile: "Brothers, smash these bald donkey statues for me, leave no one behind!"
There is a towering tree not far from this group of people, and there are several other people standing under the tree. They are dressed in military uniforms, but they are not red, but blue.
Several of them watched the red-coated soldiers destroy the Buddha statues without participating.
"Master Jiang, why are you smashing Buddha statues now that Tianxing has had enough to eat and has nothing to do?" one of them asked.
The person who was called Mr. Jiang crossed his arms over his chest and replied with disdain: "Yellow dog pees."
As soon as he said these words, as if he felt something from his heart, the evil man looked under the tree and shouted with a smile: "Oh, we have left our Ming Dynasty general, Mr. Jiang, behind. Come, come, let's have fun together."
The man surnamed Jiang did not move an inch, and the evil man was annoyed. He strode forward and asked, "Jiang Yu, grandpa, don't you want your face?"
Jiang Yan gritted his teeth, the muscles on his cheeks twitched, then returned to normal, and retorted: "I surrendered King Chuang, not you Zhang Tianlin."
"Hey, are you bringing King Chuang out to scare me? Do you really think you are the general soldier of Datong?"
The soldiers beside Jiang Yu couldn't bear Shangguan's humiliation and wanted to draw their swords.
A man holding an ax in both hands walked up to Zhang Tianlin and said to the soldier, "Want to do it?" After saying that, he raised the ax to chop, but Zhang Tianlin stopped him.
Zhang Tianlin just wanted to humiliate Jiang Yu in private, but she still wanted to give face to Wang Chuang, saying: "Zhang Heihu is fooling around. Mr. Jiang is our colleague, and he will kill him at his will?"
"Go to hell with your colleagues and the dog officers and soldiers. If King Chuang hadn't spared his life as a dog, I would have had to chop him up."
"Hahahaha!" Zhang Tianlin laughed and led Zhang Heihu away, continuing to smash the statue.
Jiang Yan raised his hand to signal the angry soldiers beside him to stop talking. He stared at Zhang Tianlin's back for a long time.
After Chongzhen finished his business, he walked out of the Song Dynasty and wanted to walk around. Song Xiancai followed closely behind him and said he would guide him.
Chongzhen was amused by his enthusiasm, and he got away after he had to give him a lot of advice.
Datong Prefecture is one of the four border towns, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack. It has jurisdiction over four states and seven counties, surrounded by 13 guard posts, more than 800 forts, and more than 300 piers. It is located south of the Great Wall of Shanxi today and east from
Ji, the boundary of Shanxi Province, extends to the northwest of Datong Fucheng in the west. In the early Ming Dynasty, farming was established here, which served as the northwest barrier of the capital.
Up to now, the garrison military system exists in name only, and most of the land has been annexed by the gentry.
It was mid-April when Chongzhen and his party arrived at Datong Fucheng, when winter turned to spring.
This journey lasted more than 500 miles, and all along the way we passed were dilapidated scenery, with abandoned fields and abandoned villages.
There are few living people, and dead bodies are everywhere.
It is common to see wild dogs with red eyes in the road, eating the remains of human corpses, and dead babies often floating in the river, which is a sign of the end of the world.
There are two serious problems at the moment. First, it is estimated that the Jianlu may or have already entered the customs according to the time, and Datong will soon face the Jianlu. Secondly, corpses are scattered everywhere without proper burial. I am afraid that when winter turns to spring, there will be another big war.
epidemic.
Chongzhen was worried and thinking about countermeasures. Unknowingly, he had reached the door of Prince Dai's palace.
"Captain, I see how nervous you are, but you have just arrived in Datong?" A man who looked like a scholar just came out of the palace and saw Chongzhen and asked.
Chongzhen's thoughts were interrupted and he was stunned. He looked up and saw that the plaque was actually from the residence of the acting king Zhu Chuan?, and he replied to the visitor: "Exactly."
The scholar had a friendly face and bowed to Chongzhen, saying: "I am a clerk under King Zuo Jin, and I work in this mansion. I wonder where the Duwei will be promoted?"
"I am working for Mr. Song in the capital."
"But Military Advisor Song?" the man said in surprise when he heard this.
"Exactly."
"No wonder I see you. It turns out you came from Beijing. Since you are working for Mr. Song, he must be from the rear camp. I have a friend who is also from the rear camp. His name is Ke Tianxiang. Do you know me, brother?"
As soon as Chongzhen heard this, he knew that this person wanted to test him, and he immediately replied: "A certain person was originally a Jinyi Guard of Dongchang, and he had the honor to worship under the military advisor not long ago, so I don't know what you said."
The scholar smiled and quickly apologized to Chongzhen, "I was presumptuous. Please forgive me, brother."
"It doesn't matter, I have something important to do. If it's inconvenient, why don't we talk about it another day?"
"As it should be."
The scholar rubbed the ring on his hand and watched Chongzhen leave.
After thinking about it, he casually called the soldier guarding the palace gate and whispered something. The soldier nodded, changed out of his military uniform, and followed in the direction Chongzhen left. This chapter has been completed!
