Chapter Twenty-Four: Defense

  The hall was relatively empty, with only one oil lamp lit, making it a bit dim. Emperor Chongzhen was adapting his eyes to the light when Ah Qi, who had been sitting in front of Zhong Wei's bed, turned her head around to see what was happening and found that it was Emperor Chongzhen who had entered. She was startled and quickly knelt down: "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Your Majesty."

  As his eyes adjusted to the light in the hall, Emperor Chongzhen saw Ah Qi standing before the bed, but he paid no attention to her. The one lying on the bed was Zhong Xiuwei, motionless, as if he had woken up but couldn't move.

  The Chongzhen Emperor thought about it and walked over.

  The palace lanterns in the hands of the incoming eunuchs immediately lit up the entire hall, allowing Emperor Chongzhen to see more clearly.

  Still not moving, still not moving. Emperor Chongzhen walked towards Zhong Jinwei while looking at the person lying on the bed who was motionless, his heart slowly sinking down. At this time, the only sound in the entire hall was Emperor Chongzhen's footsteps.

  Eji lowered his head and glanced at Emperor Chongzhen as he approached, then took two steps to the side on his knees, making way for the emperor's position by the bed.

  The Chongzhen Emperor walked to the bedside and looked at Zhong Xing's face. He found that Zhong Xing's eyes were still closed, his cheeks had thinned a lot compared to when he first saw him, and both temples had already appeared. His hair and beard had also grown a lot, but neither was disheveled, apparently due to someone often grooming them.

  "Mr. Zhong, Mr. Zhong?" Emperor Chongzhen called out softly twice.

  "Your Majesty, the prince has not yet awakened." Achy quietly briefed Emperor Chongzhen on the situation.

  "Who were you just talking to?" Emperor Chongzhen slightly furrowed his brow, turned around and asked Ah Qi who was kneeling on the ground.

  "In response to Your Majesty's words, I, a humble servant, have heard from the imperial physician that people who have been in a long coma may wake up if they have someone close to them talking to them frequently."

  The Chongzhen Emperor nodded slightly: "So late at night, still talking to him?"

  A Qi's face slightly flushed, and he replied, "The young master enjoys discussing things at night with candles lit." A Qi was too embarrassed to say that it was two people chatting while lying in bed, although not on the same bed, but also couldn't bring himself to say it.

  "Very well, get up."

  "Thank you, Your Majesty!" Archie slowly stood up and bowed his head at the foot of the bed.

  "How has Zhong Jinwei been lately?"

  Arqi knew that whether Chongzhen Emperor was awake or asleep wasn't a question of asking, but something one could see at a glance.

  "The young master has been getting thinner by the day, but his pulse has also gotten stronger recently. His appetite is much better than before."

  "Really?"

  "The slave does not dare deceive you." In fact, Ah Qi had already deceived you once just now.

  "Good, good!" The Chongzhen Emperor listened, his mouth slightly curled up with a hint of joy, and then began pacing back and forth in front of the bed, lowering his head to look at the ground as if he could find some kind of miraculous medicine there that would cure Zhong Xianwei.

  After a while, Emperor Chongzhen stopped in his tracks and said to Ah Qi: "You talk more with Zhong Jinwei, I order the Imperial Hospital to find the relevant medicine for Mr. Zhong to take as a supplement, so that when Mr. Zhong wakes up, he won't think that I have mistreated him because of his thinness." Emperor Chongzhen was delighted and couldn't help but make jokes.

  After finishing the order, Emperor Chongzhen left with a good mood. When he reached the door, he said to Ah Qi: "You did very well, when Mr. Zhong wakes up, I will heavily reward you!"

  In the second year of Chongzhen, on the seventh day of November, the Yanshan Mountains had already shed their green clothes but hadn't yet donned their silver attire. The bare mountains looked gloomy in the fading light of dusk. Not far below was a river returning home, its waters flowing stubbornly under the howling north wind. It seemed to be telling me to stop and rest, but I still needed to endure a bit more cold.

  The official road along the river, for some reason, whether it was because of the approaching dusk or the cold temperature, or something else, there were few pedestrians. In fact, since the chaos of the Liaodong War, the flow of people on this road had decreased significantly.

  Just as the sky was about to darken, a faint sound came over, growing louder and louder, like the rushing river water crashing against the rocks it encountered, making a "rumbling" sound.

  If it were a bit lighter, you could see a very low layer of cloud drifting over.

  It wasn't until they got closer that they realized it was a cavalry unit, like an extremely long giant python moving forward. At the head of the snake was a large red flag with a "Yuan" character embroidered on it, and the small characters around it were no longer visible.

  The few pedestrians who saw it clearly were shocked and quickly retreated to the side of the road, hiding in a nearby recess without daring to move.

  This troop was the Guanning Iron Cavalry on its way to Ji Zhou, and Yuan Chonghuan, the commander of Jie Liao, was at the forefront of the team. No one spoke, they were all silently rushing along the road.

  After a while, the commander of Liaodong, Zu Dashou, looked up at the sky and then drove his horse as close to Yuan Chonghuan as possible, controlling the speed of the horse. He shouted loudly at Yuan Chonghuan: "Commander, just ahead is Yutian. Shall we stop and set up camp? We've been rushing all day, I'm afraid everyone is tired."

  Yuan Chonghuan glanced at the sky, then turned his head to look at Zu Dashou, vaguely seeing the expectant expression on his face, knowing in his heart that it was indeed time to rest.

  Seeing Yuan Chonghuan nodding, Zu Dashou was overjoyed and wanted to pass on the military order, but then he heard Yuan Chonghuan loudly shouting: "Rest for an hour, and rush on the road at night."

  Zu Dashou's face, which had just revealed a hint of a smile, immediately froze, but there was no way out, the leader had spoken, and for now, he couldn't disobey.

  Upon arriving outside of Yutian City, the army halted and rested their horses, but the dust they brought with them continued to move forward, covering everything in its path.

  In front of the army's camp was a forest, where birds had just finished discussing their gains for the day and were about to fall asleep when they were startled awake by the sound of horseshoes. After realizing there was no danger, they settled back into the forest. But before they could react, dust filled the sky, and they couldn't escape, falling one after another to the ground. As one bird fell, it cursed in its heart: "Damn, the PM2.5 levels are so severe even in ancient times! I should have brought a mask when I came."

  The army is resting, but Yuan Chonghuan has no rest and is discussing matters in the temporarily set up commander's tent: "Is there any news from the front line that can be returned tonight?"

  "General He Ke reported: 'A moment ago, we received a telegram that the bandits' traces have not been found yet.'"

  "How much farther is it to Ji Zhou?"

  "There are still two days of travel."

  Yuan Chonghuan furrowed his brow and said, "It's too slow. Jianyu set out from Zunhua to Ji Zhou, the distance is three times shorter than our army's route. Jianyu's main force has been deployed, with an army of over 100,000 men. Ji Zhou and Santunying have had no battles in recent years, so their defenses must be lax. I fear they won't last long. Our army must hurry to Ji Zhou to block Jianyu, otherwise the capital will have no more protection."

  "Moreover, Pai Ye did not take the direct route to Ji Zhou. If Ji Zhou had already fallen into the hands of the enemy, he would quickly report back so that the main army could make preparations early." Yuan Chonghuan thought for a moment and added.

  Zu Dashou knew that Yuan Chonghuan was right, but still stepped forward: "Director, the soldiers have been rushing for three days, and they are probably exhausted."

  Yuan Chonghuan's eyebrows twitched: "During wartime, we must follow the general's orders. Anyone who causes trouble will be beheaded! Pass on the order to all officers and soldiers: if we can reach Ji County by the ninth day of the month, each person will be rewarded with two taels of silver, not a single penny will be deducted!"

  Zu Dashou wanted to say more, but He Kegang was making eyes at him from the side, okay, it had to be this way. Pass down the order. The Gengning Army was already exhausted, but they heard that as long as they ran to Jizhou, they would get a full month's worth of silver pay, so they didn't care about their bodies anymore. Who made our lives cheap anyway?

  As they approached Ji Zhou, Yuan Chonghuan became increasingly anxious, fearing that news would spread that Ji Zhou had changed its allegiance and been occupied by the Jin army. Who wouldn't be afraid of losing everything at the final juncture?

  On November 9th in the afternoon, the Guanning Army finally arrived at Ji Zhou.

  Fortunately, this situation did not occur. More than 20,000 cavalry arrived in Ji State, adding another dose of reassurance to the already nervous Ji State. When General Yuan Chonghuan arrived, many loyalist armies had already arrived. They included Commander-in-Chief Yu Shiwei of Shanhai Central Command, Commander-in-Chief Hou Shilu of Xuanfu Command, and Commander-in-Chief Cao Minglei of Baoding Command, among others.

  After arriving in Ji Zhou, Yuan Chonghuan didn't even have time to rest, he gathered all the generals for a meeting, first showing them the imperial edict and declaring his leadership. Then he began to ask about the situation.

  The generals had just arrived and were not familiar with the local situation, nor did they have any news about the bandits. They only knew that Zhuozhou had fallen on the third day of November, and there were over a million bandits. This had put Yuan Chonghuan in a difficult position. Where had these bandits gone? The governor was far away at Shanhaiguan, but they had all come here. However, there was still no sign of the bandits along the Zhuozhou line. So, he consulted with the various generals.

  Liaodong General Zu Dashou led the way, and bowed his hands to Yuan Chonghuan, saying: "Director, I, a humble general, estimate that Jian Wokou has already escaped, and left the pass on his own, so we cannot see any trace of him."

  This seems possible too, if so, it would be best.

  The Minister of War, Right Servant-in-attendance and concurrently Right Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat Liu Ce held a different opinion: "Will they not realize that our great army is gathering at Jizhou to prevent them from attacking the capital, so they are taking a detour west again?"

  This is also a choice for Jian Yu. Yuan Chonghuan looked at the other generals to see if there were any other opinions. He Kegang saw that no one else responded, and still spoke of his own concerns: "Director, will Jian Yu go to Shanhai Pass along the road where General Zhao reinforced?"

  It seems like every possibility exists. What should I do?

  Yuan Chonghuan furrowed his brow, thinking hard about what Jianyu's choice would be: Currently, the one in charge of Jianyu is Huang Taiji. This man has exceptional courage and wisdom, yet he is also cautious and won't make a move unless it's highly beneficial. Among several possibilities, attacking Haiyang is the most profitable option, but why hasn't there been any movement even after the army has gathered?

  Now that Zhuozhou has fallen for many days, time is not waiting for people, and it cannot wait until the exploration of the main force of Jianyuan before deployment. Therefore, Yuan Chonghuan decided: Order Yang Chun to guard Yongping, Manchu to guard Qian'an, Liu Zhenhua to guard Jianchang, Shao Zhongwu to guard Fengrun, Cai Yu to guard Yutian and Changping; General Yu Shiwei still guarded the mausoleum; Houshi Lu, the general of Xuanfu, guarded Sanhe, blocking its westward advance; Cao Minglei, the general of Baoding, and Zu Dasou, the general of Liaodong, were stationed in Jizhou to stop the enemy, and Liu Ce was still stationed in Miyun. In this way, every aspect is taken care of.

  To be on the safe side, each of you must set out immediately and cannot afford to make any mistakes.

  There are some soldiers who are not happy, saying that we just rushed to Beijing to defend the emperor, and before we even had a chance to catch our breath, you're already ordering us to set off again. Shouldn't we get some travel expenses? And what if we encounter bandits on the road, shouldn't we also get some hazard pay?

  Commander Yuan, what should we do when encountering such lazy soldiers?