Even Chen Xi himself was not very clear about Xiao Jing’s problem.

Because the heads obtained from previous battles were stored in Juyongguan, he might have just transported some of them over now. He was busy fighting against the Tatars along the way and had no time to think about irrelevant things. But as soon as the war ended, he was taken back to the capital by Xie Qian, and he had not had time to carefully count many things.

Chen Xi replied: "I am not very clear about the specific number!"

Ma Wensheng, Minister of Personnel, smiled and said, "You are a commander who went to the war. Everyone else cares about the amount of military merits. You don't seem to care much about this?"

Chen Xi shook his head and smiled bitterly. He did count it once before, but when he was in Juyongguan, he only counted it roughly. After leaving Juyongguan and returning to the capital, things were all connected one by one, and he really didn't have time to calculate it.

Soon, the messenger passed the news: "Mr. Shen, the first batch of heads has a total of 3,925 heads, and are being escorted!"

Xiao Jing didn't hear it clearly and asked in surprise: "How many?"

Chen Xi did not answer him, and waved his hand and the commander went towards the Meridian Gate. With a quick horse, the commander would repeat the previous numbers, but this time Xiao Jing heard it clearly.

Nearly 4,000 heads, this was the first batch, and Xiao Jing thought he had heard it wrong.

After waiting for the heads of a carriage and entering the city under the transport of the carriage, Xiao Jing realized that this was not a false report of military achievements. There were about one or two hundred heads in each carriage, all of which were dead heads. They were piled on the carriage, which looked a bit gloomy and terrifying, but for the Ming soldiers, it was a real contribution and could not be faked at all.

Many soldiers present could not help but drool when they saw it. How much credit did these heads involve? They knew better than anyone else in the military.

The first batch of heads alone had more than twenty carriages. Wherever the carriage passed, they were all amazed. Some children were even scared by this terrifying scene and looked for their parents in the crowd. But almost all the adults pointed at the heads of the Tartars and cheered loudly, because every head on the carriage was evidence left by a barbarian who harmed the Ming Dynasty in this world. All the people applauded the Ming soldiers for bravely killing the enemy.

The first batch of heads had not passed yet, and the messenger rushed over again and shouted loudly: "The second batch of heads, two thousand seven hundred and sixty-three heads, are opening into Zhengyang Gate!"

Chen Xi waved his hand and said, "Transfer to the Meridian Gate!"

Xiao Jing swallowed his saliva and looked around. Seeing that all the officials and generals looked at Chen Xi with a hint of awe, he couldn't help asking: "Mr. Shen, why should this head... be transported in batches?"

Chen Xi withdrew his gaze from looking at the convoy and explained patiently to Xiao Jing: "It is mainly to be able to distinguish clearly from the battle between these heads!"

Xiao Jing's breath was a little uncomfortable at this moment. He gently stroked the position of his heart and said, "That Lord Shen, the back... should be gone, right?"

Chen Xi thought about it and found that the first batch of heads were obtained from a battle with Huo Ling's troops; the second batch of heads were obtained from the "Male" tactics, as well as Yunliu and Xier who brought Juyongguan reinforcements to the Tumu Fort. Although Yunliu's battle was not large in number, he also won more than 100 heads, and some of them were not transported to the city.

For the Battle of Tumu Fort, the first two battles were actually just appetizers. The real bloody battle occurred when Yisimayin's troops arrived at Tumu Fort, launched a tentative battle against Tumu Fort, and the next two battles of great succession.

Chen Xi replied affirmatively: "There should be some later!"

When Xiao Jing heard Chen Xi say there were still "some" and thought it was not much, he finally felt much more relaxed. Although he had expected that today's errands were not easy to do, he thought that the ceremony was almost over, so he calmly took it and prepared to finish the work.

...

...

Imperial Palace, Wenyuan Pavilion.

When the three auxiliary officials of the cabinet learned that Emperor Hongzhi was going to the Meridian Gate to attend the prisoner offering ceremony in person, Zhu Youzhang had already taken the imperial carriage to the Meridian Gate, and the chief assistant Liu Jian did not even get any news in advance.

Liu Jian, with a little shame, was ordered to go to the Meridian Gate to attend the ceremony together with Li Dongyang and Xie Qian. At the same time, all the officials above the fourth rank in Beijing were also present. Basically, the top leaders and second leaders of the six ministries and nine ministers were all here, but Ma Wensheng, Zhang Mao and others were not seen among them, because these people had already arrived at Zhengyang Gate to supervise the city entry ceremony normally.

In addition to officials, all the envoys of various vassal states in Beijing were also here.

The continuous curfews in the capital of the Ming Dynasty and the bad news of failure have caused countries to doubt the military strength of the Ming Dynasty. This time, the invitation to participate is just a good idea.

When Xie Qian arrived at the Meridian Gate, the formation had been set up. This was originally a place for the palace to watch the ceremony. After the emperor was promoted to the Luan, all the ministers were separated on both sides. This time the emperor did not prepare seats for the ministers, and all the officials could only stand to attend the prisoner offering ceremony.

On the contrary, envoys from various countries were treated preferentially, and seats were arranged behind the court officials' queues, so that they could watch the ceremony leisurely.

Liu Jian went up to report to the emperor, mainly to object to Zhu Youzhang's sudden holding of such a prisoner offering ceremony. As for Li Dongyang and Xie Qian, they stood under the viewing platform and waited for the prisoner offering ceremony to begin.

Li Dongyang frowned and asked Xie Qian in a low voice: "Yu Qiao, Your Majesty suddenly held a ceremony to offer prisoners. Have you received the news in advance?"

Xie Qian thought to himself, I haven’t even heard of you, Grand Secretary Li, where did I hear about you?

"Never." Xie Qian shook his head and said.

Li Dongyang looked at the viewing platform again. Zhu Youzhang had finished talking with Liu Jian at this time. Even as the head of the civil servant, Liu Jian could not stay on the viewing platform. He staggered down. Li Dongyang wanted to go up and ask for some reasons, but when Liu Jian's face was dark, he couldn't make fun of himself.

Not long after, Prince Zhu Houzhao came over. This time the prince's position was not in the audience, but in the seat set next to the emperor's throne on the stage.

Zhu Houzhao rarely wore a grand crown dress. The crown was taken with nine chapter patterns, and the crown was nine jade. The sleeves were embroidered with fire, Huazhe, Zongyi patterns, sun, moon, dragon patterns were embroidered on both shoulders, and stars, mountains and other patterns on the back. At this time, Zhu Houzhao had a free and easy temperament, majestic face, and looked decent. No matter how you look at it, he was a qualified crown prince.

The prisoner offering ceremony officially began, and the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers entered the city.

But the officers and soldiers would not open directly to the Meridian Gate because Zhu Youxi was afraid that Chen Xi and his men would rebel, and as emperors, they would never take risks easily. Therefore, after Chen Xi's troops entered the capital, they would be immediately assigned to the different city defense yamen in the nine cities by the Ministry of War, which would be equivalent to disbanding the troops and returning to the Beijing camp to coordinate.

As for prisoners of war, they will also be handed over to the Imperial Guards, and all prisoners of war will be sent to the Daming Gate to the Meridian Gate. In order to prevent the prisoners of war from causing trouble, each of the Imperial Guards is responsible for escorting one prisoner.

Zhu Youzhang thought at first that there were only a few hundred prisoners at most, so he dispatched not many imperial guards. Just when he spoke to the prince to explain how to deal with this scene, the messenger had already reported the specific numbers of prisoners of war. Zhu Youzhang was a little surprised when he heard this, and stood up and asked, "Can the number of Tatar prisoners of war be counted clearly?"

A small messenger dared not answer this kind of question with confidence. As the chief minister, Liu Jian climbed to the viewing platform and bowed: "Your Majesty, let's make a decision after all the prisoners of war arrive!"

Zhu Youzhang glanced at Liu Jian. The reason why this prisoner offering ceremony was held was mainly aimed at Liu Jian and other powerful ministers. The purpose was to shock the court and at the same time allow the vassal states to maintain confidence in the Ming Dynasty. Now there are more prisoners of war than expected, which is a great thing for him, the emperor.

Zhu Youzhang waved his hand and said, "Enter the prisoners of war to me!"

As soon as Zhu Youzhi returned to his seat, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but praise: "Father, I have said long ago that Mr. Chen is very capable. He taught me about military strategy and strategy before. In this battle with the Tartars, I learned and applied it very effectively every time!"
Chapter completed!