It's still dawn.

When the night in the tent was dispelled by the first ray of sunlight, Huang Yuanwu sighed deeply.

An hour later, the army set out and headed straight for the imperial capital.

There was nothing to say all the way, and the army kept moving forward. When it entered the evening, it saw the obvious dividing line ahead.

In the distance, the Gobi Desert gradually disappeared, and complex vegetation appeared in the distance, swaying withered yellow in the late autumn wind. In the distance, mountains appeared one after another. Among the cracks between the many peaks, there are the official roads entering the imperial capital, with several levels in it.

Of course, there are other routes to enter the imperial capital. The levels of the official road must be faster, but they are not suitable for large troops to go there, because most of them are rugged mountain roads, and more people will become slower.

The scouts from the East Prince's Mansion usually walk on small roads. After being proficient, they are extremely fast. It only takes six or seven days to travel between the East Prince's Mansion and the imperial capital.

The army did not stop. According to Huang Yuanwu's military order, it directly entered the vast mountains. This place was already the area of ​​the imperial capital. There were many passes here, and the steep mountains of Songshan Mountains should not be left here for a long time. Huang Yuanwu led his horse to the front army and ordered the entire army to be guarded. Scouts to explore the way were arranged in the mountains and forests on both sides.

Although Huang Yuanwu felt that no one would ambush him here, he still had to guard against it. This mountain range was a natural barrier between the imperial capital and the Eastern Palace. This was also one of the prerequisites for the two generations of emperors to allow the Eastern Palace to develop. If the Eastern Palace had evil intentions and wanted to start a army to capture the imperial capital, let alone crossing the vast Gobi Desert, even the passes in the steep mountains of Songshan Mountains would not be so easy to break through.

As night approaches, the front army where Huang Yuanwu is located arrives at the first pass.

The pass is built between two mountains. It is a city wall more than ten feet high. It is quiet above the city wall. It is ten days later, as if no defenders lit the torches on the city wall.

Huang Yuanwu did not wrinkle slightly in this regard.

This has never happened before. It is not the first time he has come to the pass here. This is the first barrier to the official road in the entire Eastern Prince's Mansion. In the past, the guards were very tight, but at this moment, it was silent, as if there was no one, which was absolutely unreasonable.

Huang Yuanwu was suspicious and sent a side general around him to call the door. The side general took the order, rushed forward, stood in front of the city gate and shouted to the top of the city: "The little prince Yuanwu, the Emperor of the East Palace, locked the gate and opened the door!"

The loud voice echoed in this canyon and spread for a long distance, but after a moment, the entire pass was still silent, without any movement.

Huang Yuanwu's suspicion became solemn, and things seemed to have changed unexpectedly. He then turned around and ordered the captain beside him to send a small team to knock the door. If no one responded, go straight forward to see if the city gate could be opened.

The captain received the order, and then a team of 100 people came out of the front army and rode their horses straight to the gate of the city wall. Several soldiers in front dismounted and slapped the pass gate vigorously, making a loud noise, and shouted: "Open the door!"

Even so, the pass was still quiet, and there was no sign of people on the top of the city, and there was no response.

At this moment, the sergeant who went to shoot the door pushed open the pass because he used too much force. The team of 100 people looked at the city gate that had already opened a gap and was stunned for a moment.

"Three teams obey orders." Seeing this, Huang Yuanwu made a quick decision to issue an order: "All members enter the pass to investigate, and everyone else should be on the spot and be prepared for combat!"

"Ode to the emperor!" A captain next to Huang Yuanwu immediately took the order, drew out his sword, and led one of his brigades to the city gate. He opened the pass gate without any obstacles and entered it smoothly.

The silence in the air made people feel a little strange. Huang Yuanwu rode on the horse and looked at the towering mountains on both sides, his brows frowned even tighter.

Just when he thought it was a trick, the sergeant who entered the pass sent back the news.

There was no one in the entire pass. Judging from the situation, it had been evacuated for several days. The pass was carefully searched and found no suspicious points.

When Huang Yuanwu heard this news, he was a little surprised. As the first pass in the east of the imperial capital, there must be no defenders here, but now he found that there is no one? This matter is definitely not simple. Huang Yuanwu immediately ordered: "Carely search, check all the items in the pass, find out if there are traps and ambush, and come and report to me after detailed investigation!"

"Ode to the Lord!" The sergeant took the order and immediately turned back to the pass.

The entire former army soldiers felt a little strange. They were all veterans. They had never encountered such a thing in their long military career. There was no one in the first pass of the imperial capital's defense line? This was a bit fantasy.

Huang Yuanwu's 150,000 troops were divided into three parts: the front, middle and back army. The front army was mainly the soldiers of the Eastern King's Mansion who were serving, and had extremely strong combat power. The central army was the newly trained 50,000 soldiers, while the rear army was mostly retired veterans of the Eastern King's Mansion. Although they were veterans, they were not very old and had a weaker combat power than the front army. However, they were rich in experience and were very suitable for their rear palace.

At this moment, only the front army entered the mountains. For safety reasons, Huang Yuanwu did not order the entire army to enter the mountains. In this narrow terrain, once an ambush is encountered, the losses will be huge.

Time passed slowly, and the night gradually became darker. Huang Yuanwu rode on his horse, quietly looking at the direction of the pass. At this moment, torches had been lit on the top of the city, and he could see his soldiers moving on the top of the city.

After a moment, the soldiers sent back the news that the pass had been carefully inspected. Except for the scarcity of food and combat preparations, all other equipment was available without any damage. Every place inside was inspected and no suspicious points were found.

At the same time, Huang Yuanwu sent scouts on the left and right mountains also returned. There were no ambushes on the top of the mountain, and they inspected them very carefully.

After receiving such news, Huang Yuanwu became even more hesitant. There was no one in this pass, what happened?

But there is no danger in the left and right front and back, and he cannot let the army stay overnight outside. Therefore, he ordered the front army to enter the pass, the central army and the rear army to stay outside the mountains to camp. If there is any emergency, they can help each other.

The heavy pass gate was opened, and Huang Yuanwu led 50,000 soldiers of the front army to slowly walk into the pass.

This is a small town built in the mountains. There are no people on weekdays, only soldiers guarding the pass. The place is not big, but it is still more than enough to station 50,000 soldiers.

After entering the pass, Huang Yuanwu did not immediately order camping. He rode his horse to patrol the entire pass. After finding that there was really no problem, he ordered all the staff to camp on the square and ordered all the staff not to take off their armor and rest on the spot.

After turning over and dismounting, Huang Yuanwu, surrounded by his personal bodyguards, entered the mansion at the pass.

The facilities here are very simple, of course they are incomparable to the royal palace, but they are also complete. Most of the houses in the surrounding branches of the pass are for garrison soldiers. Except for the bedrooms, the rest of the houses are used to stockpile food and facilities. In the past, Huang Yuanwu had no chance to carefully investigate through the pass. Now after entering here to check, he found that the houses and residences built by this pass are enough for 5,000 to 8,000 soldiers to be stationed for a long time, that is to say, at least 5,000 soldiers were defended in this pass before.

The mansion in the middle was obviously for generals. After Huang Yuanwu entered the mansion, he carefully checked the situation inside. There was no dust on the table and all the items were arranged neatly, which shows that the soldiers defending here were not panic when evacuating, and were orderly. They should have received clear orders and had time to prepare.

There are no files in the document library, so they should have been taken away together when they were evacuated.

After some investigation, Huang Yuanwu confirmed that there was no danger here, just an empty city, which could hardly be empty anymore.

There was very little left in combat supplies and food. They were placed in the warehouse next to them, and there were also negotiated crossbows and rolling stones on the top of the city, but compared to defending the city, these things were simply dropping a drop in the bucket.

Regarding this phenomenon, Huang Yuanwu's doubts became increasingly magnificent. He took off his helmet and placed it on the table beside him, allowing him to wait outside with his close guard, while he sat in the main hall of the general's mansion, frowned.

During the march, the scouts in front kept sending back messages, but never found that the pass was empty. The imperial capital has not changed much yet, and Huang Zhengchu's troops are still outside the imperial capital and have not entered the imperial capital. If we analyze this news, neither the new emperor nor Yang Qin have more energy to control the border and pass matters, and under such circumstances, the guards of the pass will never leave the pass easily. The more the wind and rain changes, the better they should guard the border.

What could make them evacuate calmly was definitely a clear order, and this order must have been issued by the emperor. If it were not, it would definitely not be an empty city.

Things seemed to have some unknown changes. Huang Yuanwu frowned and thought.

The phenomenon of empty city appeared on the first pass. This should be the change made by the imperial capital after knowing the news of the Eastern Prince's Mansion, but why did they clear the pass? Could it be that it was to tempt the Eastern Prince's Mansion to march?

Thinking about this idea, Huang Yuanwu found something wrong. If he tempted the Eastern Palace to go deeper and then found a way to annihilate all the troops of the Eastern Palace, the original appearance should be the same, and there would be no changes. If there were any changes, he would inevitably feel suspicious and would inevitably affect the speed of the march.

Then, an idea suddenly appeared in Huang Yuanwu's mind. A flash of inspiration. He then stood up, strode out of the mansion, found several generals from the front army, and issued the following order.

Order two brigades to be stationed above the left and right mountains immediately to move forward in the direction of the canyon, find out the situation above the left and right mountains, and quickly report it. If an ambush is found, you must not fight and retreat quickly.

The troops in the pass occupy the front and rear city walls, and each sends two brigades to serve. Once any suspicious person is found, they can take action first and then report.

Send a team of sergeants to continue moving forward along the official road and investigate the situation of the pass ahead. How is the situation the same now and report it immediately.

The rear army of the central army gathered in one place and entered a state of combat readiness and was ready to go out at any time.

When several orders from Huang Yuanwu were heard, the entire army immediately began to move. Huang Yuanwu himself returned to the mansion and sat on a chair in the front hall, with his deep eyes beating with a splendor.

He suddenly realized that this movement in the imperial capital was probably to delay the speed of the Eastern Palace marching.

Only this official road is allowed to enter the imperial capital in the direction of the Eastern Prince's Mansion. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack here, and all the generals entering will be extra careful. Now that an empty city appears here, it will inevitably make the generals leading the army more suspicious and delay the speed of the march.

In this way, it will inevitably take a lot of time to pass through the layers of passes in this mountain range. At the same time, something will definitely happen in the direction of the imperial capital.

Once this happens, even if the army of the Eastern Prince's Mansion arrives at the imperial capital, it may be useless.

There was a glimmer of light in Huang Yuanwu's eyes. This must be Yang Qin's trick. There must be something between him and Huang Zhengchu that will be achieved in the next few days...
Chapter completed!