"Tell me, why did my father send you here?"
In the Cunxin Hall, Zhu Gaoxu asked Sun Cheng to deal with the twenty-two Jurchens in the Chengyun Hall, while he came here to meet with several young generals who came from Peiping.
Standing in front of Zhu Gaoxu, the young generals who saw Zhu Gaoxu for the first time were obviously a little surprised by his burlyness, so after a while, the leader bowed and said: "Meng Ying, the official of the 100 households in Yanshan Central Guard, has met your highness."
"Meng Ying?" Zhu Gaoxu became interested. If he remembered correctly, Meng Ying should be the son of the founding general Meng Shan. However, because Meng Shan was the general who Xu Da only joined when he went to Shandong in the Northern Expedition, he did not have a sensitive identity. Didn't get a chance to perform.
During the Battle of Jingnan, Meng Shan decisively chose to follow Zhu Di. Although he did not participate in the battle south, he defended Baoding for four years and defended the fierce attack of tens of thousands of southern troops with thousands of men. Therefore, he succeeded in the battle of Jingnan. In the discussion of merit, Meng Shan was awarded the title of Marquis.
Compared with Meng Shan, who only contributed to the defense of the city, Meng Ying can be said to be one of the few second-generation soldiers who was able to make a sudden appearance in the Jingnan Campaign.
In the Battle of Baoding, he led 5,000 cavalry to reinforce Baoding and defeated tens of thousands of Confederate troops led by the Confederate Commander Han Tong outside the city.
During Zhu Di's northern expedition, he was responsible for the transportation of food and wages many times. In the twelfth year of Yongle, if he had not led his troops to rescue Jiulongkou, Zhu Zhanji would have been captured by the Wala ambush at Jiulongkou like his eldest son.
He was strict in running the army. After the 12th year of Yongle, he was basically training the soldiers and horses of the Fifth Army Governor's Office in Beijing. When he was in Guangdong, Guangdong was also very peaceful, so Zhu Gaochi sent him to Jiaozhi.
Among the civil servants and generals who guarded Jiaozhi, Zhang Fu, Meng Ying and Huang Fu were the most peaceful during their tenure.
Unfortunately, Meng Ying's eldest brother and eldest son Meng Xian participated in Zhu Gaosui's case of plotting to poison Zhu Di. Therefore, Meng Ying was also implicated and was deprived of his title. Jiaozhi also lost a suitable candidate to guard it.
Otherwise, judging from the physical condition of Meng Ying who was able to live to the eleventh year of Orthodoxy, Li Li would probably have to fight guerrillas in the Blue Mountains for the rest of his life under his command.
"I remember you. You are Meng Shan's eldest son, right? You also have an elder brother named Meng Xian."
Zhu Gaoxu asked, and Meng Ying was also a little surprised. After all, his father was only an official of a thousand households, and he was only an official of a hundred households.
There were more than ten pairs of people like him and his son among the three guards of Yan Mansion, and he and his son did not have much meritorious service. Unexpectedly, the Bohai King with outstanding meritorious service actually remembered him.
"I feel ashamed that I have never accomplished any meritorious deeds, yet I want to make His Highness miss him."
Meng Ying returned the favor in shame, and Zhu Gaoxu also looked at his age, only sixteen or seventeen years old.
It is not easy to serve as an official of hundreds of households at such an age. Obviously Meng Ying is not as ordinary as he pretends to be modest.
"First tell me what my father asked you to do." Zhu Gaoxu said, and at the same time he said to the two officials on duty in the hall: "Go and prepare a stewed lamb for them, don't chill the hearts of those who came from afar. "
"Thank you, Your Highness..." Meng Ying and others bowed to express their gratitude, and the official also went to let the chef prepare the dishes.
After getting up, Meng Ying stepped forward and talked to Zhu Gaoxu about the reason why Zhu Di sent him here.
"His Royal Highness King Yan feels that the current situation is urgent, and the Crown Prince and His Highness are still trapped in the capital, so he wants to pretend to be crazy to defraud the court and rescue the Crown Prince and His Highness back to Peking."
"Because I am worried that Your Highness will not be able to withstand the blow, I specially sent a few of my generals to inform you."
After Meng Ying finished explaining, Zhu Gaoxu also understood.
Sure enough, under the threat of his own rebellion, Zhu Di had to prepare in advance to rescue Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaosui.
The pretending to be crazy and acting stupid only happened in the first year of Jianwen, but now it has been advanced by more than four months.
Zhu Gaoxu felt a little regretful that Zhu Di still wanted to rescue Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaosui, but he didn't care about his two brothers.
To put it bluntly, Zhu Di's current military power is not as much as his own. The only thing that is more than him is that he has the support of a large number of middle-level generals and soldiers in Beiping and Daning.
This is also the reason why many city passes in Beiping and Daning surrendered without a fight after he raised troops to quell the crisis.
Take his seventeenth uncle Zhu Quan as an example. Chen Heng was in charge of the three guards under his command, and the military power in Daning was also in the hands of Bu Wan, Liu Zhen, and Chen Heng.
As long as Chen Heng nods, one-third of Daning's army will immediately defect to Zhu Di. Such an advantage does not exist for Zhu Gaoxu.
Compared with Zhu Di, Zhu Gaoxu has too few brothers. If Zhu Yunwen wants to replace Fu Rang and them, it will not take much effort at all, but if they want to replace Zhu Di, they will have to work hard.
This can be seen from the historical fact that Zhu Yunwen started from October of the 31st year of Hongwu to July of the first year of Jianwen, but he had not completely replaced Zhu Di's old department.
If Zhu Di could raise his troops in April or May in advance, it would undoubtedly be to his advantage.
He had just recruited the Eight Jurchen Guards, and their military salary alone amounted to about 20,000 dan per month in food. If the army was to be launched from October to July next year, he would have to spend 180,000 dan.
But if he had raised the army two months in advance, he could have saved 40,000 shi of food.
Forty thousand shi of grain is enough to feed an army of fifty thousand soldiers for a month and a half.
"I understand. You can rest assured to tell father that I will not act rashly. In addition, if the world changes, I can contain Liaodong and Daning."
Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth to contain Liaodong and Daning, which surprised Meng Ying and others.
After all, in their understanding, there are only 16,000 military households in Bohai. According to the frontier fortress three battles and seven villages, there are only five or six thousand soldiers and horses at most.
From this point of view, the capital of His Second Highness should be greater than it appears.
Thinking of this, Meng Ying did not waste Zhu Gaoxu's time too much, but bowed in return and led everyone out of the Cunxin Hall.
The officials in the palace followed them and arranged accommodation and food for them.
Zhu Gaoxu was sitting in the palace, thinking about how to train troops.
It is impossible for Jin Yiwei to mix sand in Six Cities, which is why Zhu Gaoxu chose people from Six Cities to train Jurchen soldiers.
The land of Six Cities is only three hundred miles away from Jilin City. If something unexpected happens, they can quickly support Jilin City.
If the army goes south, the soldiers and horses in the Six Cities Land will be much faster than Heishui City and Andong City, second only to Zhaozhou City, which travels by water.
"It seems that the soldiers and horses of Blackwater City need to be transferred to the Six Cities in advance..."
Zhu Gaoxu pondered deeply, and after about two quarters of an hour, he heard footsteps again.
When he looked up, the person who walked into the hall was Sun Cheng, who was responsible for entertaining the twenty-two Jurchens.
"How's it going? Are you all ready?"
"The reception has been completed, everyone has already drunkenly sent back to the inn to rest."
Zhu Gaoxu asked, and Sun Cheng also wiped his sweat and handed over the booklet in his hand: "This is the requirement calculated by the lower official for the Eight Guards. Please take a look."
Taking the booklet, Zhu Gaoxu flipped through it and looked at it.
Sun Cheng equipped the Jurchen Eight Guards with armor and weapons according to the configuration of the Bohai Navy, and the military pay was rationed according to the treatment in Heishui City, so there was generally no problem.
Calculated, if the Jurchen Eight Guards are made up to 24,000 people, the monthly military pay will be 7,500 guan, and the food will be 29,600 dan.
The armor they need is 24,000 sets, and weapons of all types are also provided.
With the output of the current three games, it will not be a problem to equip nearly 50,000 people in the Bohai Army with armor before next spring. The only thing lacking is food.
"My official has done the math. The grain in the treasury, including the grain that has not arrived from the south and the grain harvested in the autumn, can last until April at most."
"Your Highness, if the imperial court deducts food and grass by then, then we..."
Sun Cheng didn't say much, but Zhu Gaoxu knew what he was going to say, so he thought for a while before speaking: "You ask people to use horse boats to catch more fish, and everyone's rations are reduced by half a catty per person per day, and are given to the people." Explain the situation to them and they will understand.”
Zhu Gaoxu was right. Thanks to his dissemination, many soldiers and civilians in Bohai already knew about the reduction of vassal status in the pass. Therefore, many people were worried that the reduction of vassal status would affect Bohai.
Nowadays, there are more than 140,000 civilians in the Bohai Sea, and they are basically accustomed to eating from a big pot.
Even if the imperial court cuts down the feudal vassals and allocates the cultivated fields in the Bohai Sea to the Bohai people, it will only be seven or eight acres per person, and one-third of them will be newly cultivated mature fields.
The people of the Bohai Sea have the habit of saving food rations, but the little food they save cannot help them survive until next autumn harvest.
Once the imperial court cuts off food from the Bohai Sea, the people of the Bohai Sea will rebel without Zhu Gaoxu opening his mouth.
Not all people north of the Great Wall are Mongolians. Whoever goes there is Mongolian. This is a simple geographical and economic issue.
When the situation in the Bohai Sea is not yet self-sufficient, once there is no external help, the people of the Bohai Sea will definitely turn into the Jin Army and enter the border. This is unsolvable.
Unless the Bohai Sea is allowed to be self-sufficient and the people can live and work in peace and contentment without relying on the outside world, then the external motivation will naturally be lost.
Zhu Gaoxu had already told the people of the Bohai Sea about the dilemma he was facing, so after the ration was reduced by half a catty, people would not blame him, but the court.
When such complaints accumulate to the point where Zhu Yunwen wants to take action against him, he can ignite them and use them to appease him.
"Your Highness, I have figured it out."
Zhu Gaoxu looked at Sun Cheng and realized that he was tapping the abacus he carried with him. He put away the abacus and said, "If each person reduces their weight by half a kilogram per day, the people of the Bohai Sea should be able to survive until mid-May."
"Enough." Zhu Gaoxu nodded. He could be sure that Zhu Di would not wait until July to launch troops to quell the crisis.
With his own reminder, coupled with Zhu Yunwen's move to use troops to forcibly eliminate the Zhou vassal, no matter how stupid Zhu Di was, he would not delay Jingnan until he only had 800 people under his command.
What Zhu Di wants now is to rescue Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaosui safely first. For this, he can do anything, including pretending to be crazy and acting stupid as Meng Ying said just now.
"Old man, why bother yourself..."
Zhu Gaoxu has never had the experience of having a child, neither in his previous life nor in this life, so he cannot understand the mentality of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di to protect their children.
Regarding Sun Cheng, Zhu Gaoxu just explained: "Hide the matter well and privately appoint Meng Zhang as the commander of the Andong Central Guard, Chen Chang as the commander of the Zhaozhou Central Guard, Xu Sheng as the commander of the Changchun Central Guard, and Wang Yi as the commander of the Jilin Central Guard." make."
"Let them prepare manpower that is proficient in the Haixi Jurchen language. They must arrive in the six cities before the first day of October and train their left and right guards respectively."
"Yes!" Sun Cheng agreed and left the Cunxin Hall as Zhu Gaoxu watched him off.
After he left, Zhu Gaoxu also got up and walked towards the backyard.
He went to the former palace and saw Guo Yan who was doing embroidery in the former palace.
She saw Zhu Gaoxu coming, and her eyes showed inquiry, obviously caring about Guo Ying who was going south.
"Wu Dinghou is fine..." Zhu Gaoxu told her about Guo Ying's situation after he went south. He basically handed over his military power and idled at home like a semi-retirement.
Hearing this, Guo Yan also breathed a sigh of relief: "I'm fine, Grandpa."
"He's fine, but maybe something will happen to us." Zhu Gaoxu looked at Guo Yan, and Guo Yan probably guessed what he was going to say. After all, Zhu Gaoxu's affairs were widely spread in the four cities of Bohai during this period.
Guo Yan didn't know that Zhu Gaoxu was adding fuel to the flames, so she just grabbed Zhu Gaoxu's hand and said comfortingly: "I married His Highness, so naturally I belong to His Highness. If His Highness does anything to protect himself, I will also Can be considerate and understanding.”
After all, Guo Yan and Zhu Gaoxu were sleeping partners, and it was not easy to hide many things from her.
"Don't think too much." Zhu Gaoxu patted her hand: "I'll go to the seedling fields outside the city and see if you can do less embroidery. I can't wear so much."
"I'll wear it in the future." Guo Yan smiled, lowered her head, and continued to embroider Zhu Gaoxu's clothes.
Zhu Gaoxu looked at her and didn't interfere with her anymore. He turned around and walked out of the hall.
Not long after he left, the two maids also returned to the palace, with worries on their faces: "Princess, are you really not going to tell the old marquis?"
"How can a wife harm her husband?" Guo Yan lowered her head and embroidered with a smile. She was much more mature than when she first came to Jilin City.
"But what if His Highness wants to..." The maid was a little scared mid-sentence, so she quickly held it back and said tactfully: "What if we fail?"
"Then I will die with him." Guo Yan replied without thinking, and looked up at the two of them: "When that time comes, I will arrange for someone to take you to the south in advance."
"I won't leave, slave..." The two slave girls knelt down with stubborn expressions on their faces.
In fact, they knew in their hearts that they were people who had been touched by Zhu Gaoxu. If something happened to Zhu Gaoxu, they would not survive.
"Then just live in peace and don't cause trouble to His Highness."
Guo Yan lowered his head and continued to do what he could for Zhu Gaoxu.
Not just her, many people secretly did this for Zhu Gaoxu because of Zhu Yunwen's use of force to reduce the vassal state. Among them was Yi Shuha who was sent out early by Zhu Gaoxu.
After Fudaha's mediation, Yishiha led more than a hundred people across the boundary of Dongning Prefecture in the former Yuan Dynasty, entered Liaodong through Fushun as merchants, and headed straight to Liaonan in the south.
On August 20, after twenty days of long journey, Yishiha and the others finally met Fu Rang, the governor of Liaonan military garrison, in Fuzhou.
"You're late. If you had come a day earlier, you could still see Yang Zhan and the others. This morning they went to Fuzhou in the north to inspect the farmland."
In the Fuzhou Commander's Office, Fu Rang poured a glass of water for Yi Shiha who had come from afar.
Yishiha took it and drank it in one gulp, then wiped his mouth: "There will always be opportunities to meet you in the future, but you have done a good job in the farming. I went all the way south, and the military farming along the way was much better than when we went north four years ago. More than twice as much.”
Yi Shiha is testing whether Fu Rang can still trust him. Although Zhu Gaoxu believes in Fu Rang, Yi Shiha still has to take care of him.
Fu Rang knew as much about those intrigues as Yi Shiha, so after hearing Yi Shiha's words, he knew that Yi Shiha was testing him.
However, compared to when he was in the capital, he is much calmer now, and even feels a bit like Fu Youde.
"No matter how powerful I am, I can't possibly double the cultivated land in the four states of southern Liaoning in just a few months, not to mention that the animal power here is much less than in the Bohai Sea."
"Seventy percent of those military farms were reclaimed by the previous commanders of the Four Guards. From March to now when I took over Liaonan, a total of 120,000 acres have been reclaimed."
Fu Rang explained the situation in southern Liaoning, and Yishiha also curiously asked: "How many farms are there in the four states in southern Liaoning?"
"Including the cultivated land in the past few months, there are almost 870,000 acres." Fu Rang answered without thinking, and then Yishiha also asked other questions, which made Fu Rang couldn't help but smile bitterly: "You are so Sir, we haven’t seen each other for just a year, so you should treat me like a criminal and interrogate me.”
"In special times, there is no way...you don't know." Yishiha smiled bitterly. Fu Rang naturally knew that he was talking about the reduction of the vassal, so he patted Yishiha on the shoulder.
"A few days ago, Yang Bin's merchants passed through southern Liaoning..." Fu Rang talked about Yang Bin's plight and the amount of money and grain he transported north.
The amount of money and food was far lower than Zhu Gaoxu and Yi Shiha's expectations, so after hearing Fu Rang's words, Yi Shiha looked a little unhappy.
But before he could get entangled, Fu Rang lowered his voice: "I used some tricks to transfer more than 30,000 stones from the reserve warehouse to the convoy. There should be 150,000 stones left after arriving in Jilin City."
"You're so brave." Yishiha looked at him in surprise. After all, the warehouse management of the guardhouse was very strict. If someone found out, Fu Rang might be severely punished.
"Don't worry, the autumn harvest is less than a month away, and it will be replenished soon. I can even use some means to replenish some for you."
Fu Rang knew the system of the guard station very well. During the Hongwu period, many officers of the guard station had already started from the reserve warehouse. Otherwise, the grain registered in the reserve warehouse every year would not have become less and less since the 27th year of Hongwu.
The loophole he caught was the same loophole that all guards officers caught. If he was discovered, it would be time for a major overhaul of the guard system.
"Be careful yourself." Yi Shiha believed Fu Rang, so he began to whisper what Zhu Gaoxu had told him.
Fu Rang didn't take this content seriously at first, but the more he heard about it, the more he felt something was wrong.
But after listening to it, he didn't think anything happened. After all, he had long seen that Zhu Gaoxu was not a peaceful person, not to mention that Zhu Yunwen was now sharpening his sword in the south to target him.
For Zhu Yunwen, Fu Rang only felt disgusted and had no feeling of being a minister.
As long as Zhu Yunwen was capable, Zhu Fan would not fight for the reserve, and his family would not be involved in the situation.
The title of Duke Ying is still vacant.
What Fu Rang wants to do most is to inherit this position one day.
With Zhu Yunwen here, he would never have a chance in his life, but now this opportunity has come.
He mobilized his own troops to cut down the vassal vassal, and even sent Zhu Zhu directly to wild and remote places like Menghua, Yunnan.
Coupled with his policy of promoting civil servants and merging prefecture and county guards, Fu Rang has recently heard complaints from military attachés sent by Liaodong Dusi.
As long as he can display some abilities, Fu Rang will not despise him so much.
Judging from his current policies, his father and his family are really wronged.
"His Highness has said that he will probably take action against you in the near future. If nothing happens, you will be transferred to the northwest or south."
Yi Shiha explained Zhu Gaoxu's words, and Fu Rang also nodded in agreement.
Zhu Yunwen originally wanted to transfer them to the south, but Emperor Gao was still there at that time, so he pretended to keep his group in Daning and Liaodong.
Now that he has great power and is ready to take action against the vassals, his group of people who stayed in Liaodong and Daning will definitely not be welcomed, so it is normal for them to be transferred to the south.
"I'm afraid they will be transferred to the south first, and then after the vassal reduction, we will be removed from our official positions on unfounded charges."
Fu Rang spoke bluntly, and at the same time told Yi Shiha: "After we are transferred to the south, it will be difficult to contact Liaodong."
"I don't know about others, but Yang Zhan, Lin Su, and I are trustworthy. If it really comes to that point, I can only guarantee that I will support him."
"That's enough." Yishiha breathed a sigh of relief, and then talked to Fu Rang about writing letters to Fu Rang's three brothers.
"Letter cannot be sent early or late. If it is sent too early, the matter will be exposed. If it is too late, it will not be effective."
"Don't worry, I know this better than you." Fu Rang chuckled: "It's easy to do bad things when sending letters. I will choose a few capable people these days and let them go there in person."
"Calculating the time, if they set off before winter, they can almost bring the message to Yunnan in May or June."
"This is better." Yishiha nodded, and then breathed a sigh of relief: "Now that the words are here, my work is done. I have to return to Jilin tomorrow, otherwise it will be easy for me to do something bad."
"Okay!" Fu Rang was disappointed that he didn't stay long. After all, it was actually not safe here.
There are Jurchen dialects all over the Bohai Sea as a means of identifying Jin Yiwei, but there is no such means in the four states of southern Liaoning.
In addition, Fu Rang himself was a floating official and had only arrived in the four states of southern Liaoning not long ago, so he could not guarantee whether there were any Jin Yiwei around him.
Yi Shiha confessed the matter and left early, as he might be discovered if he stayed for a long time.
Thinking of this, Fu Rang also stood up and prepared to arrange a place for Yi Shiha. However, at this moment, a rush of footsteps sounded from outside the Yamen.
Yi Shiha quickly stood up and hid in a corner. Fu Rang also straightened himself up and picked up a book to cover up.
Not long after, a commander led several Qianhu officials into the Yamen anxiously.
"What's the matter? You're in a panic." Fu Rang pretended to be angry, frowning and asking everyone, but he didn't expect the commander to walk quickly to Fu Rang's side, with a hint of panic in his voice.
"Qian Shi, there is news from Beiping that His Highness King Yan is crazy..."
"Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty": "At the beginning of August, the king was in danger and pretended to be mad and ill."
(End of chapter)
