The woman disguised herself as a man

until she sat on the carriage. Looking at the dark blue robe she was wearing, Yan Qing still felt that she must have not rested for too long and was confused.

When Jiang Weiren ordered Xiao Huangmen to bring her some clothes, she actually went and put them on.

There was a trace of hesitation at first, but Jiang Weiren looked at her and said with a smile: "Don't worry, my Majesty, this dress was kept in Wenyuan Pavilion. It is a new dress that has never been worn. Time is tight, so I can only wrong my Majesty."

But . This is not the point. She looked at the smile in his eyes, but she felt it was annoying. What kind of bad idea was he thinking? He asked her to dress up as a man and accompany him out of the palace to guard the city gate.

"Although the soldiers below have never seen the beautiful face of the empress, if I take a woman around, the news will spread throughout the government and the public tomorrow." He explained to her.

She really wanted to go to the city tower to see it in person. After all, this battle was related to the lives of the people and soldiers in the city, and it was also related to the safety of the entire country of Dayu. Even if they lost, not only the family would lose. The world, when the time comes, the people of the world will be arbitrarily raped and plundered by the barbarians, and will never recover.

But this method always feels like it won’t work.

After hesitating like that for a long time, Jiang Weiren also waited quietly. In the end, she was confused for some reason. She went to the inner room of the side hall and changed her clothes. She also got on the carriage and drove out of Youyemen. .

But after the driver started the horse, and after walking for a while, she was a little shaken again. She touched the folded scarf she was wearing, and felt that this was a bit ridiculous, so she said, "Stop!" "

No..." She He frowned and murmured, "This is against etiquette and law. It's too inappropriate."

The car was spacious and he was sitting next to him. He turned to look at her and said softly: "The Beiqi army will arrive soon. If The city is ruined. Can etiquette and decency save the queen?"

His words left her speechless. He ordered the driver to continue driving, and then said to her: "The queen must pay attention later, get off. You are my attendant in this carriage. Please don't let others see through it. Please forgive me for any offense."

"I understand," Yan Qing replied coldly. After he turned his head, he took advantage of it. Give him a hard look.

There are nine gates in the outer city of the capital. Before Yan Qing left the palace, he often followed his brother around the capital and became very familiar with them. After walking for a while, she lifted the car curtain and took a look outside, and realized that it was heading south.

Sure enough, it turned out that the place he took her to was Nanxunmen.

Hearing that the Chief Assistant had suddenly arrived, the guards in the city rushed over to greet him. Although they knew that these generals had not seen him, Yan Qing still hid behind Jiang Weiren, lowered his head, and tried not to Show your face.

During these days, Jiang Weiren not only had to discuss specific countermeasures with the Ministry of War and the Privy Council in the Wende Hall, but also personally inspected the city gates. These guards were frightened at first, but now they are used to it.

After sending away the guards, Jiang Weiren turned around and saw Yan Qing looking guilty as a thief. He wanted to laugh in his heart, but he was afraid that his laughter would annoy her.

"No one paid attention to you originally," he looked at her calmly, "but if you act like this, it will be difficult not to attract attention."

After saying that, he turned around and walked forward, but was stopped by her again.

"Hey!" Yan Qing lowered her voice. After seeing him turn around, she looked around first, then spread her hands and said to him, "Look, are there any flaws?"

Of course there are flaws, even if she The slender figure can be interpreted as thin, but the eyebrows are too beautiful, and the appearance looks more like a woman if you look closely, but if he said it, she would retreat again.

He looked up and down, then shook his head without guilt.

As usual, he first went to check the weapons warehouse, and then went to see the defensive changes of the soldiers defending the city. Yan Qing followed him all the way. Fortunately, he walked slowly, as if he deliberately slowed down his steps to wait for her.

Finally, he took her to the urn city. From the city, she could see that the soldiers outside were strengthening the city wall. The city was defended at five steps, and the crossbow platform in the distance was filled with heavy crossbows. Everything was in order.

"Master Jiang," she suddenly asked, "how many soldiers are guarding this gate?"

"Fifty thousand." He knew the garrisons everywhere and answered without thinking.

Yan Qing was shocked. Half of the three major battalions were left behind, with about 50,000 people. In addition to the imperial guards from various yamen, as well as the several nearby states that Jiang Weiren had ordered to quickly enter the capital Qinwang, the soldiers who had arrived in the past few days added up to There are only more than 100,000 people in total.

But in the huge imperial capital, there are nine gates in the outer city alone. The main gate alone means that if they are scattered like this, the defenders at each gate will only be less than 10,000.

Xuancheng is to the north of the capital. If Beiqi's army comes, the closest ones are the three gates in the north. Everyone always subconsciously thinks that Beiqi will concentrate its forces in the north. Yan Qing listened to the city's defense arrangements these days and always felt that the largest number of troops should be stationed in the north.

But obviously, only Mr. Jiang doesn't think so.

"My lord, do you think Beiqi will attack the city from here?" she asked.

Jiang Weiren nodded, looked at her questioning eyes, and said slowly: "The terrain in the north is open, which is conducive to launching an offensive, and coming from Xuancheng, the closest place is there, so the ministers in the DPRK and the Central Committee thought that they would station important troops in the north. "

But they forgot that Nanxun Gate has always been used by foreign envoys when they enter the capital. It faces the Suzaku Gate in the inner city. The Suzaku Gate leads directly to the palace city from the wide Zhi Street. Although the terrain here is narrow, once it is breached, The city gate can enter the palace as quickly as possible. Such words

failed to convince Yan Qing, and he only said: "This is just your guess. But if Beiqi doesn't attack as you expected, and the troops elsewhere are weak, it will be easy to break the city. Mr. Jiang is here." Lifting is a desperate act! "

It's a desperate move," he replied calmly, "but this time, we can only win by taking risks." "

"What does it mean? "She asked in confusion.

He raised his hand and pointed to the city gate. In the distance, there were many eaves, streets and streets, and endless carriages and horses. The prosperity of the Imperial Capital spread out in front of his eyes like a scroll. At a glance, there seemed to be no end.

Jiang Weiren He whispered: "There are nine gates in the outer city. If the troops are dispersed, each place will only have more than ten thousand people. If these more than ten thousand people are to resist the attack of tens of thousands of enemy troops, they will definitely lose. There is a huge capital between these nine city gates, and the streets in the city are winding. It takes too long to get reinforcements, and it is useless. "

So, it's not that he is too bold, but that he has no way out and must take a gamble.

If he looks forward and backward, and averages the strength of each place out of consideration for the overall situation, eventually one of the city gates will be breached.

"But as you said. , reinforcements are too difficult, that is, Beiqi will let the main force attack here, but if the enemy finds that it is impossible to attack here, and moves elsewhere, what will happen then? "She raised her head to ask.

Jiang Weiren looked at her and suddenly murmured: "Qingqing, you are still the same as before..."

The same alertness, the same intelligence.

Yan Qing was startled, that call was almost going to reveal the truth. She opened those memories that had been sealed away for a long time, but those old scars finally healed, and once they were opened, they would be bleeding again.

Jiang Weiren probably understood that he had lost his temper, and before she could react, he continued: "This is where I am. The reason for this deployment of 50,000 troops.

"I will use these 50,000 men to contain the enemy here and annihilate them in one fell swoop. " "Yan Qing looked up in shock and saw him slowly saying, "If someone else were here, they would definitely laugh after hearing such words. It sounds so whimsical. "

"What do you mean..." Yan Qing looked at him blankly and murmured.

Jiang Weiren smiled, as if he was confident, "There are few troops stationed elsewhere, that's because other city gates have the important task of defending the city, but here," he pointed to her, pointing to the foot of where they stood, "there are fewer troops stationed elsewhere. It's an attack."

Yan Qing thought, if the adults from the Ministry of War and the Privy Council were here and listened to his words, they would be so frightened that they would definitely say he was crazy.

But she couldn't even say a word in rebuttal.

If Jiang Weiren is a madman, then this madman is the only hope for the entire capital now.

Dusk has arrived at this time, and the clouds in the sky are as red as if they are about to burn. The outlines of the mountains in the distance have become hazy in this scene.

In the distant sky, there were streaks of feather-like clouds, stained by the glow, like the wings of a phoenix. The wind blew from the wild, whistling past her ears. She stood side by side with him on the city wall. , clothes flying.

The world seemed to become quiet at this moment, as if they were the only two people left in the world.

"Jiang Weiren," she called him in a low voice, "according to your plan, who will be here to direct the attack?"

He turned around, and at this moment, the rays of light were behind him, like a grand Buddha's light, and his eyebrows were quiet Mi Ming's appearance seemed to have experienced the vicissitudes of eternity, and his eyes were filled with a soft look like water waves, which was a look he had never given anyone.

And her figure was quietly reflected in his eyes. It was the only thing in his eyes at this moment.

He answered softly: "It's me."

They walked down the tower in the dusk light, and he helped her get into the carriage. The two of them sat in the carriage and hurried back to the palace along the way they came.

The coachman cracked his whip and the carriage shook again.

"Slow down." Jiang Weiren ordered.

He turned to look at her, but saw that she deliberately avoided looking away and looked away.

Perhaps she didn't understand the true meaning of his ordering the coachman to slow down just now. Not only was he afraid of the bumpy carriage and horses, but he also hoped that the time he could spend with her in silence would be slower and longer.

Cars and horses passed through the market, and the bustling pedestrians had already dispersed. The sound of wheels running over the bluestone street could be heard as they walked slowly like this.

I don't know how long it took, but when he finally went to see her again, he saw that she had closed her eyes and fell asleep with her head drooped. Even the folded scarf on her head was tilted. At this time, she was swaying with the shaking of the carriage. , almost falling.

She was too tired after staying up for so long and couldn't hold on any longer.

"Stop the car," he whispered to the coachman. He lifted the curtain and realized that he was almost at Longjin Bridge. He looked outside and said to the coachman, "Stop under the tree beside the bridge."

The coachman quickly followed his instructions. Park your car next to the stone bridge.

Jiang Weiren waited until the carriage and horse stopped, then sat on Yan Qing's side, moved towards her, then reached out his hand, first took off the folded scarf on her head, and then gently placed her head on her head. to his shoulders.

Finally having someone to lean on, Yan Qing rubbed her head, found the most comfortable angle, and fell asleep peacefully. But she didn't know that the corners of the lips of the chief minister she was leaning against were slightly raised.

When Yan woke up, she could hear the noise outside the carriage. She raised her hand and rubbed her eyes. Then she realized whose shoulder she was resting on. She raised her head and looked, and there was still light outside through the curtain of the car. The thin light allowed her to vaguely see the man's facial features.

But she saw that his eyes were looking at her without hesitation, making people feel that he had always been like this and never looked away.

"I've offended my queen." He said in a low voice.

Yan Qing coughed lowly to cover up the embarrassment at the moment. He opened the curtain and saw that the street was brightly lit, pedestrians were crowded together, and the sound of hawking was coming from not far away. It turned out that the night market had already started.

Jiang Weiren had already ordered the coachman to continue driving. The wheels moved and they slowly passed through the noisy people outside.

"I heard that your Excellency stayed up all night to arrange defenses. Aren't you tired?" Yan Qing broke the awkwardness in the car and asked softly.

Why wasn't he tired? He had slept for a total of three or four hours in the past five or six days. Even an iron-clad person couldn't stand such a torment.

But just now, she was leaning on his shoulder, and they were sitting in the carriage beside the stone bridge. He straightened his back, not daring to move, for fear of disturbing her sweet dream.

After sitting like that quietly for more than half an hour, he didn't feel sleepy at all.

I don't want to close my eyes, but I don't dare to.

No one knows how many years he has been waiting for this moment, waiting for her to sit quietly beside him like this.

He turned his eyes and answered softly: "I'm not tired..."

How could he dare to say he was tired of protecting the world and protecting her.

Yan Qing knew early on that this night would not be peaceful.

The news from the scouts came from Yin Shi, but in fact, as early as Chou Shi, Supervisor Si Li had already sent someone over.

Yan Qing didn't rest at all. She was waiting for news, military information from the scouts ahead, and orders from Jiang Weiren. But she didn't expect that the person she was waiting for was Zhang Fang.

The situation was urgent, so Zhang Fang hurriedly saluted her and asked the officials to bring up the lacquer plates. Yan Qing didn't understand what they meant. She didn't see the two palace ladies holding the lacquer plates until they knelt in front of them. In the lacquer trays, there was a set of coarse cloth clothes on one and a pair of cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles on the other.

"Please forgive me, your Majesty." Zhang Fang also knelt down. "The slaves have made their own decisions. The horse supervisor has prepared the carriages and horses. Please put on your casual clothes and move to Ningxuan Temple."

Yan Qing thought hard and thought No wonder she was so confused as to where Ningxuan Temple was. Since Buddhism became popular in the previous dynasties, there are still more than a hundred temples in the imperial capital. Ningxuan Temple is among the many temples. Whether it is the majesty of the temple or the prosperity of incense, It's not outstanding, it's just an ordinary temple.

Yan Qing only vaguely remembered that it should be located in the west of the city, adjacent to Wansheng Gate in the west.

She stared at Zhang Fang, seeming to understand what he meant, but she didn't seem to understand. After a while, she said, "Whose meaning is this?"

"It's what Mr. Jiang meant."

Yan Qing only nodded slowly after hearing this. But he looked a little distracted, and suddenly looked at Zhang Fang and asked, "Where are your Majesty and the Empress Dowager Ciyi?"

"This servant just came from the Ganlu Palace," Zhang Fang replied, "Your Majesty and the Empress Dowager Ciyi already know about Master Jiang. "I guess I have already boarded the carriage by now."

Yan Qing looked at the thick night outside. If, as Jiang Weiren expected that day, the Beiqi army surrounded Xuancheng, the next step would be to divide the troops and go straight to the capital. Coming soon, Beiqi troops will be approaching the city in about a day or two.

But she didn't expect that Jiang Weiren had such a plan.

That day in the court hall, he asked Fu Jingfang, the minister of etiquette, and in front of the civil and military officials of the court, he said that anyone who leaves the capital without permission would be killed, which put an end to the idea of ​​those in the court wanting to abandon the city and flee. The soldiers in the army , morale greatly increased after learning that His Majesty and the two Queen Mothers were still staying in the capital in times of crisis.

That day, Jiang Weiren loudly questioned Fu Jingfang in the hall. I think all the officials in the court and central government still remembered it, but they must not have known that the person who originally planned to let the emperor flee south was Jiang Weiren himself.

"Master Jiang, do you mean that if the Imperial City is destroyed, Your Majesty, the Queen Mother Ciyi, and I will mix among the common people and escape from Wanshengmen in the chaos?" Yan Qing asked Zhang Fang.

Zhang Fang lowered his head and replied: "Yes, Mr. Jiang has secretly ordered the Beiya imperial guards to change into civilian clothes and guard the Ningxuan Temple. If there is any loss in the capital, they will escort His Majesty and the two empresses out of the city."

Yan Qing stood up, walked to the lacquer plate, stretched out his hand to touch the dark coarse cloth dress inside, and said calmly: "Master Jiang really has no plans left, this will not shake the morale of the army, but also protect His Majesty, it is a good way. "

Yan Qing didn't know that Jiang Weiren sent her back to the palace the night before, then turned around and went back to Nanxunmen.

As he expected, the Yinshi scouts reported the military situation at night. The Northern Qi general Shan Shudu personally led a hundred thousand troops to bypass Xuancheng and march towards the capital, while the remaining Northern Qi army continued to besiege Xuancheng.

This moment finally arrived.

Everything he had predicted finally became a reality one by one, but he hoped more than anyone else that he was wrong.

It's still dark, but judging by the time the scouts sent the message, Beiqi's army is almost here.

Everything is ready, and the guards of the remaining city gates are all personally selected by him, and they are worthy of their great responsibilities.

The generals looked at Jiang Weiren's calm appearance and thought that the Chief Assistant, who was so confident in predicting events, had a great chance of winning this battle.

It's just that they don't understand the chief minister. His calmness does not come from confidence. In his eyes, impulsiveness and panic are stupid for an inevitable thing.

His calmness was because he foresaw the inevitable battle earlier than anyone else.

The only thing he is worried about now is the situation in the palace, but the Chief of Ceremonies has never sent anyone to report the news.

Outside was a night that never faded like light ink. The imperial capital behind him was as quiet as if it was still sleeping. The sound of galloping horse hooves broke the silence of the night. The soldiers who came to report the news jumped off their horses and ran towards the tower immediately.

"Your Excellency!" The soldier who delivered the message knelt on one knee, "The enemy has arrived and began to concentrate their forces to attack Guangtong Gate in the north."

Some generals present immediately changed their expressions, because according to everyone's initial guess, the final The one that is conducive to the enemy's offensive is Guangtong Gate in the north, but the chief minister insisted on going his own way and stationed all his troops here.

If this bet fails, it will be a complete failure.

However, Jiang Weiren still showed no panic and only asked the generals to pass on the orders and prepare the soldiers to meet the enemy.

But what the generals were thinking was, shouldn't they immediately reinforce the north at this moment? But who would dare to disobey the chief minister's decision?

The soldiers guarding the city at Nanxun Gate continued to hold on in such uneasiness until half an hour later, dawn broke in the sky and the night faded. The sound of horse hooves coming from far and near gradually became clearer, and the ground could feel the subtle tremors. After a while, you can see the smoke and dust raised by the continuous war horses not far away.

The generals watching from the city wall quickly assessed the number of invading enemy troops, and finally understood the reason why the Chief Assistant did not order reinforcements to the north. The enemy troops outside Guangtong Gate were just a feint attack, and the real main force turned out to be heading here. Come.

The soldiers were already prepared, and the powerful crossbows on the crossbow platform were ready to go. At this time, the chief assistant had no time to worry about the situation of the battle at this moment, because the news from the palace had not yet come.

Zhang Fang could not have known why it took so long to send a message to His Majesty and the two Queen Mothers after they moved away.

Just at this time, the soldiers came to report that an internal official from the Supervisor of Ceremonies had arrived.

As soon as the eunuch saw the Chief Assistant, he immediately said, "Sir, Eunuch Zhang ordered his servant to tell you that everything has been arranged."

Jiang Weiren only nodded, but his heart felt like a big stone falling to the ground.

"It's just," the eunuch said hesitantly, "The Empress Dowager Shengyi sent someone to come with the slaves to meet the Lord."

Jiang Weiren did not expect that Yan Qing would ask someone to come to see him, nor could he imagine why. thing.

"Where are the people?" He was finally a little anxious now.

But he saw a figure coming in from the door and slowly walking towards him.