In the early morning of the fourth day of the eighth month of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Li Xiaojun finally arrived at the capital. The entire army lined up in an orderly manner and entered the city from Yongding Gate south of the outer city of the capital.

After entering Yongding Gate, the entire army rested in the urn at Yongding Gate. The Silijian, the Imperial Horse Supervision and the Ministry of War all sent officials to greet him. The Ministry of War also mobilized food and grass supplies and tents, allowing Li Xiaojun to camp in the urn at this urn.

The Ministry of War's approach mainly has two intentions. One is to allow reinforcements from other places to protect the outer city on the spot, and the other is to prevent the Ming army from entering the city to disturb the people.

Including the chief general Li Xiao, his military soldiers were basically the first time they came to the capital, and many people were shocked by the grand atmosphere of the capital.

Li Xiao, who had read a little bit of Ming history in his previous life, knows a little about the origin of Beijing.

In the first year of Yongle (1403), the Ming Dynasty Chengzu changed Peiping to Beijing. In the fourth year of Yongle (1406), the construction of Beijing palaces began. In the first month of the 19th year of Yongle (1421), it was "finished" and took 15 years to officially establish the capital of Beijing.

The city of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty, which is the reconstruction of the Yuan Dadu City, with the north wall shrinking 5 miles south and the south wall showing 2 miles south, becoming an east-west rectangle. The palace city and the imperial city were rebuilt. In the 32nd year of Jiajing (1553), the outer city was built, but it was only built on the south side. At this point, the basic outline of the city of Beijing has been formed, namely the palace city, the imperial city, the inner city and the outer city.

"The palace city is in the middle, guarding layer by layer in all directions, the main seat faces south, the central axis protrudes, and the two wings are balanced and symmetrical."

This is the biggest feature of Ming Beijing City in planning and layout. Ming Beijing City was built on the basis of Yuan Dadu City, but it is more majestic than Yuan Dadu City. Judging from the plan layout of the entire city, Ming Beijing City is a city with a "convex" shape, and the outer city covers the south of the inner city, the inner city covers the imperial city, and the imperial city covers the Forbidden City. From the outer city to the Forbidden City, the outer wall is surrounded by a wide and deep moat. In this way, the Forbidden City where the emperor lives becomes the center of the whole city and is surrounded by layers of arches. The sky, earth, sun, moon, and Forbidden City are arranged around the city. The sky, earth, sun, moon, and Forbidden City are arranged.

It is like the center of the universe. The buildings of Beijing City are arranged based on a central axis that runs across the north and south. Yongding Gate in the middle of the south of the outer city is the starting point of this central axis, and the back gate of the imperial city - the Bell and Drum Tower north of Di'anmen, is the end point of this central axis. The most grand buildings and scenes in the city are arranged on this central axis, with organic arrangements and combinations on both sides, and low, blue-gray courtyards are deployed around it. The entire Ming Dynasty Beijing City has formed a complete, harmonious and unparalleled huge building complex.

The Yongdingmen Wucheng where Li Xiaojun stationed was very large, which was more than five or six times larger than the Chifeng City Wucheng built by Li Xiaojun in Shandong. It was like a small four-sided castle, enough for Li Xiaojun's four or five thousand soldiers to be stationed here.

For Li Xiaojun, who had first entered the capital, the towering city walls and towers around the city city made them feel awe. The place of the capital and the atmosphere of the imperial city did give them a strong sense of pressure to these low-born Li Xiaojun soldiers.

What Li Xiao didn't expect was that although he had just sent someone to the Ministry of War to report his achievements, and before the Ministry of War could reply, a large number of people in the capital had already heard the news and watched the fun.

At this time, when Li Xiao's army entered the city, the army, with its head and the Qing army captives, were first seen by the idle people. One out of ten, ten out of ten, and ten out of hundreds. The people in the capital, who were already very lively, immediately caused a sensation.

A large number of people in the capital, including men, women, young and old, ran from all directions to watch the fun, surrounded the Yongdingmen City tightly, and everyone stretched their necks and looked into the city on tiptoe, pointing at the heads captured by Li Xiaojun and the dejected captives tied up in a group, and exclaiming in admiration.

"See, this is our Ming Dynasty official army! I have killed so many heads and tied up so many prisoners. The old man has lived in the capital for most of his life, and has never seen such a war-capable official army. It really opened my eyes!"

"Do you know? I heard that this is the army of General Li of Shandong Chifeng. Tsk, it's really a good military appearance and aura. In my opinion, his troops entered the aid army. Compared with General Li's unit, it's a heaven and an underground!"

"Well, everyone has the sensibility of what you said, and they all understand. Not to mention the reinforcements in other places, they are the four guards and camps in Beijing. They are said to be the personal army of the emperor. Compared with General Li, they are so good at comparing goods!"

"That's right, the miscellaneous people in Beijing are the best at stealing and harming the people. If you really want to go out of the city to fight the Qing Tartars, you will be scared if you pee! Alas, I really hope that General Li's troops will be stationed in the capital, and we ordinary people will have a safe life."

The people chattered and said, as if they were watching a free drama, they refused to disperse, so that the nearby streets were surrounded by water. The lively people in the capital even began to squeeze into the wall city, as if they wanted to take a closer look at what the Qing army prisoners looked like.

The people were so curious, but Li Xiaojun was not able to drive them away, but they tried their best to prevent them from squeezing too deep into the urn. However, the five cities' military personnel and the Jinyiwei were afraid that someone would take the opportunity to cause trouble, so they sent more people to evacuate them. Finally, they diverted a large number of people. Then, they arranged for their subordinates to guard Yongding Gate and did not allow the people in the capital to enter the urn again.

Li Xiaojun, who was dizzy by the noisy people, could finally enjoy a quieter environment.

Li Xiao's army settled the camp and settled the troops. An official wearing a black veil, wearing a fifth-rank blue civil servant's collar shirt, a white squid-patterned patch on his chest, and a tall and thin body with sparse beards, walked towards Li Xiao's central army tent with several followers.

This official was Hua Yuncheng, who was then a member of the Ministry of War.

Hua Yuncheng, 48 years old at the time, was named Ruli and named Feng Chao. He was from Wuxi, Changzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili. He was a Jinshi in the second year of Tianqi. In the eighth year of Chongzhen, he served as a Junwailang of the Ministry of War. He was honest and honest and loyal. Later, he wrote a memorial to impeach the great treacherous minister Wen Tiren and chaotic politics. He was incompetent and ruled the country without any reason. Chongzhen was furious and took his salary and left his post to support his relatives. During the Hongguang Dynasty of the Southern Ming Dynasty, he regained his official position. Because he could not bear the internal struggles of the Southern Ming court, he resigned for more than ten days. After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, he was killed by the Qing court because he refused to shave his head. At that time, Hua Yuncheng, Ma Shiqi and Gong Tingxiang, were called "San Zhongzhong of Xishan".

The Ming Dynasty was noble and noble in the military, so when Li Xiao was hesitating about what kind of etiquette he should meet this fifth-rank official, Hua Yuncheng had already given him a gift to his subordinates, which made Li Xiao feel uneasy.

Then, Hua Yuncheng asked Li Xiao’s officials in a sincere tone if he could arrange the camping work of the entire army’s soldiers in a sincere tone. If there were any inappropriate arrangements, he would hope that President Li would be forgiven, which made Li Xiao feel moved.

Hua Yuncheng is a humble gentleman, not at all pretending to be a civil servant, and is quite serious and responsible in his work. Li Xiao unconsciously became a loving person for this person.

Li Xiao, who had read the Ming Dynasty, also knows a little about Hua Yuncheng's tragic fate in the future, but of course Li Xiao would not tell him at this time.

However, Li Xiao thought to himself, maybe after Hua Yuncheng was driven off the stage by Wen Tiren at the end of this year, he could send Hua Yuncheng's fellow villager Chen Zilong to persuade him to come out to serve him.

Li Xiao and Hua Yuncheng exchanged a few greetings and said a few words of thanks. Hua Yuncheng smiled and bowed to Li Xiao, "General Li, I am hereby the order of the Ministry of War to check the heads and prisoners. I also asked General Li to send someone to follow the officials to check."

Li Xiao smiled and said, "You are kind to the outsider Hua, I will go to the inspection with you in person."

Hua Yuncheng looked happy: "Then thank General Li."

After saying that, the two of them left the tent together and walked towards the tent that had stored their first level and the room where the prisoners were imprisoned.

"Hua Yuanwai, here is the first-level accounting room."

Li Xiao first took Hua Yuncheng to the room where he stored the first level.

The room was very dark, and the pungent smell of lime nitrification was so strong that it made people feel nauseous. Li Xiao quickly ordered the soldiers to light a torch and send it in.

As soon as the torch entered the room, Hua Yuncheng and other personnel of the Ministry of War immediately widened their eyes.

He saw that on several simple wooden racks in front of him, several long and scattered Tartar heads were neatly placed, with notes on them, indicating the classification of different heads of Manchuria, Mongolian, Han army, etc. Under the illumination of torches, each of them was terrifying, with hideous mouths and eyes. Under the pale lime powder, dark red and slightly atrophic muscles and blood vessels were revealed. If a timid person saw this, he would be afraid to faint.

"The heads of our army captured by China, there are 1,568 Manzhou Tartars, 782 Mongolian Tartars and 771 Han Army. Please check it out." Li Xiao smiled.

Hua Yuncheng and his officials opened their eyes wide and carefully examined their heads. They carefully confirmed them from their braids to their teeth. After a long time, they finally finished checking their heads.

After the test, Hua Yuncheng patted the lime slag, meat, mucus and other substances stained by his subordinates, and his expression was filled with joy, which was hard to express.

After checking the ordinary heads, Li Xiao asked someone to take out two heads from a large box and solemnly said to Hua Yuncheng: "Hua Yuanwai, the heads of these two are different from those ordinary army soldiers. One is Tan Tai, the King of Gushan, the Zhenghuang Banner, and the other is Ta Zhan, the son of Yangguli, the commander of the Qing army, and also asked Hua Yuanwai to take a look."

Hua Yuncheng exclaimed in a low voice, and after checking it, he praised Li Xiao: "General Li is a young hero, and his army is powerful, and he has killed the heads of these two giant thieves. The subordinates really admire him!"

Li Xiao laughed loudly, and then took them to another big tent, which was where Li Xiaojun detained all the prisoners.

When he entered the room, Hua Yuncheng saw that it was divided into three parts by Li Xiao, just like the room on the head level, and the captured Manchus, Mongolians and Han troops were detained.

"In addition to the Chinese government, our army has captured 428 Manchurian soldiers, 249 Mongolian soldiers and 203 Han soldiers. Please check it."

Hua Yuncheng nodded repeatedly, and then checked and counted the prisoners one by one with a group of officials of the Ministry of War.

Nearly half an hour later, Hua Yuncheng and others finally finished the inspection. He stroked his beard and laughed, and said to Li Xiao with a respectful look: "General Li, the head and the captives, we have completed the inspection, but it is exactly the same as what General Li said! General Li has won so many head and the captives, which is really a model for our Ming Dynasty official army. Today, the officials have opened their eyes."

Li Xiao smiled and said, "As the Ming Dynasty official army, he should serve the country. The Chinese official has been over-reputable."

Hua Yuncheng sighed: "If my Ming Dynasty official army had all had outstanding achievements like General Li, why worry about the immortality of the Tartars and the bandits not being eliminated. General Li, don't worry, although the Secretary of the Shangshu, Lord Zhang, is not in the capital, the subordinates of General Li will report the truth immediately and will never lose General Li's military achievements."

Li Xiao bowed and thanked: "Then there will be a member of the Ministry of Justice Lao Hua."

Li Xiao and Hua Yuncheng then returned to the central army tent. While talking with a smile, they heard a military soldier coming to report that it was Cao Huachun, the eunuch of the Sili Supervisor, who personally came to Li Xiao's army to check Li Xiao's army's capture.

Li Xiao and Hua Yuncheng hurriedly came out to greet him.

Li Xiao saw a fat eunuch wearing a five-liang crown, with a green bamboo-woven scattered with a red python embroidered on his chest, a red sticker with a white face and a kind-hearted smile on his face, surrounded by several small eunuchs, strode towards Li Xiao with a smile on his face.

Li Xiao thought to himself that looking at this man's dress, he must be Cao Huachun, the eunuch who is the most trusted by Emperor Chongzhen in the court.

Li Xiao immediately thought that he had been granted Huang County last time. After Zhaoyuan, in order to thank Cao Huachun and Wen Tiren, Li Xiao also gave him 1,000 taels of gold each, which was considered to be close to Cao Huachun and Wen Tiren and others. This time he met in the capital, Cao Huachun should still remember his heavy thank-you gift.

Seeing Cao Huachun coming, Hua Yuncheng whispered to Li Xiao: "General Li has seen Eunuch Cao soon. Eunuch Cao is a celebrity around the emperor. You must know that when the emperor was still in the residence, Eunuch Cao followed him and was called Cao Dalian by the emperor. He was the closest person around the emperor."

Li Xiao said oh, and saw that Cao Huachun and his group had arrived not far away, Li Xiao immediately knelt down and paid homage to him: "Last general Li Xiao, have seen Eunuch Cao!"

"No gifts, no gifts, General Li quickly invites him." Cao Huachun held him up and down, then looked at Li Xiao up and down, and then laughed loudly: "Li Xiao is a young hero. Judging from his strong body, he can show the mighty and majestic momentum of the Ming Dynasty's official army! No wonder he can kill so many Tartars, but our family wishes they met too late."

Cao Huachun's smile became brighter and his eyes were full of deep meaning, as if he was afraid that Li Xiao would not understand that he had come here this time, but because he received the heavy gift from Li Xiao that day, he was so eager to repay his kindness.

He smiled at Li Xiao and said, "General Li, do you know that after the emperor received the emergency report from the Ministry of War, he originally asked others to come. Our family thought that General Li entered the capital and drove thousands of miles away, and captured a large number of heads and prisoners. Such loyalty and achievements are far better than the generals in other places, so we should not neglect it. We have made a special trip to ask the emperor for grace. Let's first look at General Li, you, the young general who defeated the Tartars."

Seeing Cao Huachun's words, Li Xiao would not know his intentions. He smiled and bowed to Cao Huachun and said, "The last general is a foreign general, so how can he make a contribution. Today, I feel sorry for the praise of Eunuch Cao. I hope that Eunuch Cao will take care of him in the future. Li Xiao will thank you first."

Seeing Li Xiao with his eyes flashing, Cao Huachun smiled so hard. He looked at Hua Yuncheng next to him, and then coughed and asked, "Have you ever tested the head and prisoners captured by General Li Li?"

Hua Yuncheng nodded, "Reported to my father-in-law, we have tested it in detail. This head and the prisoner are no different from the number reported by General Li."
Chapter completed!