The Prosperous Era of Longwan

The sound of galloping horse hooves can be heard far in the night.

Pengze County is not a big city, so it is certainly not a city that never sleeps. It is very quiet at night.

Wu Zhankui and Wei Meng, who were drinking, were both stunned. They put down their chopsticks and listened attentively.

The sound of horse hooves was vague at first, then became louder and became clearer, and finally the sound of the rider reining in the horse was even heard.

The rider halted his horse outside the gate.

Wu Zhankui and Wei Meng both felt a sudden change in their hearts, knowing what this meant.

It was rare to see horses galloping late at night. If they were sent directly to the county government, they could continue eating and drinking without worrying about anything else. However, it was obvious that the man on horseback was coming for them, and then the faces of the two of them became uncertain. .

As an important role in this banquet, Wei Guangde has always kept a low profile. At this moment, he is thinking about how to speak. He tells his family elders that he does not plan to continue the next few exams and directly prepares for the government exam in two months. He is keen. He noticed the subtle changes in the faces of his father and uncle.

He also heard the sound of horse hooves, but he didn't think much about it.

But combined with the sound of horse hooves that seemed to have stopped outside the house, and the changes in the faces of his father and uncle, he knew that there must be something going on.

Sure enough, with the sound of the iron ring on the door slapping, someone knocked on the door.

After a while, the sound of hurried footsteps came from outside the house. A servant came into the house and walked to Wu Zhankui's side, whispering a few words.

The banquet that was lively just now gradually cooled down, and everyone in the room turned their attention to Wu Zhankui.

After the man finished speaking, Wu Zhankui stood up and smiled at the others, "You continue to eat and drink. I have some things to deal with first."

After saying this, he winked at Wei Meng, and the two of them hurriedly left the table and walked out the door.

No one in the room was deaf. They had naturally heard the sound of horse hooves before, but no one paid attention to it. But at this time, they couldn't help it.

After Wu Zhankui and Wei Meng left the table, everyone naturally had no intention of continuing to eat and drink. Although his aunt kept warming up the place, calling everyone to eat, and said a lot of auspicious words, Wei Guangde would definitely be on the gold medal list this time. But everyone's thoughts were not here, and naturally the warm atmosphere was gone.

After a while, neither father nor uncle came back. When my aunt saw this scene, she knew there was no need to hold on, so she asked people to start cleaning up, and everyone got up and walked out.

The door to the left wing outside the main room was open, and everyone walked in. Wu Zhankui and Mr. Wei were sitting inside with sad faces. There was a piece of paper and a mailbox placed on the table between them.

"Dad, what happened?"

Wu Dong stood in front and asked.

"See for yourself."

With that said, Wu Zhankui handed the paper on the desk to Wu Dong. Wei Wencai and Wei Guangde also stood beside Wu Dong, staring at the words on the paper with their eyes open.

Mother and aunt didn't know a few words, so they naturally didn't rush to read it. They were still waiting for Wu Dong to tell them what happened after reading it.

After reading the content on the paper, Wu Dong was frightened. It was a military order, and it was stamped with the seal of the Jiujiang Guard Commander. It could not be faked.

"Dad, what should we do?"

"What else can we do? Open the city gate at dawn tomorrow, and you and Wencai will ride back to gather the team and bring everyone over."

Wu Zhankui replied.

"Where are you going this time? Is the messenger sent by grandpa?"

Wu Dong asked again.

"I can't tell clearly. I just know that there seems to be fighting again in the north. This time the military order from above was not clear. It only told us to gather the troops and prepare to set off."

At this time, Wei Guangde was also confused. He racked his brains and couldn't remember when the Jiajing Dynasty transferred troops from the south to fight the Tatars in the north.

I really have no impression at all.

"What are you writing about?"

My aunt felt something was wrong now, fearing that something big was going to happen, so she hurriedly spoke to Wei Wencai.

"This, this is the military order to assemble the team to prepare for the expedition."

Wei Wencai hesitated slightly, but still said what was written in the military order.

"Are you still going north?"

My aunt screamed.

After being on tenterhooks for a year, I thought this matter was over, especially after the imperial court and the Tatars began to trade with each other, I thought the north would be peaceful, but why did the war start again?

Wu Zhankui shook his head before replying: "I heard from Shigui last time that the Tatars invaded Datong again in the first month of the year. Your Majesty asked General Qiu Luan to lead troops to reinforce. I am afraid that if a fight really breaks out, the palace is worried that the Tatars will appear again two years ago. The situation in the capital requires us to assemble the team and prepare for the expedition."

My aunt was really frightened when she heard that Jiujiang Wei might really go to the north. If the Tatars really came to attack, she didn't know what the outcome would be.

But of course she, a woman, was not allowed to make irresponsible remarks on such a big matter, so she could only stand aside and be at a loss.

"Same as last time, I guess we should go to Yingtian Mansion first and meet up with the Nanjing Jingying people."

Wu Zhankui looked at the panic of his daughters and spoke, hoping to stabilize them.

"This has already been mutually traded, so why are we still fighting?"

Wei Wu also spoke at this moment.

Although they are from a house of women, the family members of officials naturally know much more than ordinary people outside.

Last time the Tatars besieged the capital, wasn't it because of mutual trade?

Since the emperor has agreed to mutual trading, and mutual trading also started last year, why are we still fighting?

Regarding this, Wei Wu couldn't figure it out.

Wei Guangde did not read the military order, but asked his uncle: "Uncle, we have opened a mutual market, why are the Tatars still attacking Datong? This is wrong."

Wei Guangde was puzzled. He knew that the Tatars' withdrawal from the capital was said to have been negotiated privately to reopen the horse market for trading with the Tatars.

It's not clear from the outside, but he knows it, and he also knows that the horse market opened last year, otherwise all Jiujiang Guard's troops and horses might have gone to the northern border towns.

"The horse market reopened twice last year and the beginning of the year, and the Tatars used the mutual market to plunder the border fort twice."

Perhaps fearing that others might not understand, Wu Zhankui continued: "I heard Shigui say before that when the front leg was traded, the horses on the back leg were snatched back by the Tatars, and several border villages were captured by the way."

There is not much meaning in the military order, which is to gather people from thousands of households and prepare to leave for Zhenjiang at any time.

But this was enough. It was not written in black and white that they should go to the north. It was probably because the previous news had frightened their uncle and father.

As the saying goes, "The general will not accept your orders." Of course, my uncle and dad didn't want to go north. Not to mention that they were guest troops, the main reason was that it was too dangerous.

Fortunately, the military order only told them to gather in Zhenjiang. Even if the Tatars came to the capital again, they could drag them on the road and pass slowly.

"Dad, uncle, the military order only told us to gather people to Zhenjiang to join the Nanjing camp, but we didn't ask them to go directly to the north."

Wei Guangde spoke after looking at what he had in his hand.