"when!"
With a soft sound, Cao Desi's long knife was knocked away, and his fat body retreated continuously.
"You are so brave, how dare you resist, give me..."
As soon as Cao Desi stabilized his figure, he shouted loudly at Li Changru again.
However, when he saw a man wearing a three-beam crown and a flying fish suit standing in front of Li Changru, he immediately stopped shouting.
"Master Li, why are you here in your spare time?"
When Cao Desi saw that the person coming was Li Ruolian, a fellow member of Jinyiwei, he immediately bent down and said flatteringly with a smile on his face.
Li Ruolian originally had an angry face, but when he saw Cao Desi's smile, he calmed down his anger and said calmly: "Cao Baihu, can you give Ruolian a face today and let them enter the city?"
Hearing this, Cao Desi put away his smile and said with some embarrassment: "Originally, when you speak, the lower officials should obey. However, my grandfather, Governor Wang, is worried about spies sneaking into the inner city, and has strict orders not to let people into the city at will..."
As Cao Desi spoke, he pulled Li Ruolian aside and started talking in a low voice.
Zhu Yuanzhang originally ordered to take action when Cao Desi drew his sword, but because Li Ruolian preempted him, he stopped his guards and watched coldly.
He knew that Li Ruolian was upright by nature, and he thought that Li Ruolian would angrily scold Cao Desi. Unexpectedly, the two of them actually started talking, and judging from Li Ruolian's face, he seemed to be in a dilemma.
"Who is this Cao Desi?"
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Cao Desi, from a mere hundred households, could embarrass a third-rank official of Jin Yiwei. He must have someone to rely on behind him, so he asked Wang Chengen who was standing aside.
After Wang Chengen heard this, he hesitated for a while and said: "The old slave heard that Cao Desi was a scoundrel. Just because his father Cao Zhanguang and the former Dongchang Admiral Cao Huachun joined the clan and recognized Governor Cao as his godfather, Cao Desi regarded Cao Desi as his godfather. The governor's grandson thinks he is tyrannical."
"Later Governor Cao took a leave of absence due to illness, and he became more honest for some time. It was not until last year that Cao Zhanguang recognized Governor Wang as his godfather and donated a hundred households to him, and he returned to his old ways."
"Because of his nature, the hundred households he donated were just idle officials. The old slave didn't care. He didn't expect that he would be guarding Zhengyang Gate today."
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Wang Chengen had clearly explained the cause and effect this time, and nodded slightly and said: "Okay, Chengen, remember, this is how you should be in front of us!"
After that, he said to the four guards behind him: "Go, capture and kill!"
"killed?"
Wang Cheng'en was shocked when he heard this and hurriedly advised: "Your Majesty, Governor Wang is now in charge of the outer seven gates and the inner nine gates. It would be bad if he killed Cao Desi at this moment, causing his misunderstanding and affecting the defense of the city."
Zhu Yuanzhang glared at Wang Chengen angrily. Seeing that his whole body was trembling slightly and he lowered his head without saying a word, he looked at the guards behind him who had not yet moved, and shouted coldly: "What, didn't you hear our order clearly?"
When the four personal guards heard this, they trembled and glanced at Wang Chengen again. Seeing that he didn't speak, they got off their horses and ran towards Cao Desi.
"Your Majesty, if you really want to kill Cao Desi, please leave first and let the old slave come and kill him. Anyway, the old slave and the King Governor have been at odds for a long time, so this time is not bad!"
After Wang Chengen waited for the guards to leave, he lowered his head again and whispered in a trembling voice.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not like eunuchs, he saw that Wang Chengen was loyal and thought that he would still need to rely on him to defend the city, so he asked in a deep voice: "How do you think we should defend the city?"
Wang Chengen originally spoke at the risk of being punished by Zhu Yuanzhang. At this moment, seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang was not angry, but instead asked him about defending the city, he looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with some confusion.
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's peaceful face, he calmed down and said, "Now that the rebels are besieging the city, we can only rely on the forbidden troops in the city to hold on. When the reinforcements arrive, the rebels will retreat."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he shook his head and said: "You should also see clearly the situation of the Forbidden Army when you come all the way. Although the Forbidden Army has bright armor and sophisticated weapons, they have no fighting spirit. How can they defend the city?"
Wang Chengen was stunned when he heard this, and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with a confused look on his face, saying, "If we don't rely on the Forbidden Army, then who will we rely on to defend the city?"
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the angry people at the gate of the city and said solemnly: "At this time, only if we unite as one can we have hope."
"Although the number of forbidden troops in the capital is large, they are nothing compared to the people. If we lose the support of the people because of Cao Desi alone, then we will really be doing the stupid thing of a king who has subjugated the country."
Wang Chengen said with some suspicion: "Can these common people be more powerful than the Imperial Army?"
"able!"
Zhu Yuanzhang replied decisively.
When Wang Chengen heard this, he looked at the people at the city gate with a vague understanding.
At this time, the four personal guards had arrived at the city gate, but Cao Desi was still unaware.
At this moment, because he had suppressed Li Ruolian, he was filled with pride and was talking nonsense.
"ah!"
Cao Desi suddenly found that his arms were being grabbed by someone and was being dragged forward, and he couldn't help but let out a scream.
Due to the suddenness of the incident and the fact that the guards were wearing flying fish uniforms, the soldiers looked on stupidly and did not help.
However, a clever soldier saw that the situation was not right and ran out secretly.
"Whose subordinates are you? How dare you do this to me? Do you know my identity?"
After the initial panic, Cao Desi saw that the other party was wearing a Feiyu suit, but he still threatened loudly.
However, the personal guards ignored him at all and just dragged him forward.
Cao Desi thought that the guards did not recognize him, so he threatened: "If you don't put me down yet, if my grandfather, Governor Wang, finds out, he will kill you with a thousand knives."
"Tell me, why did your grandfather cut us to pieces?"
After Zhu Yuanzhang heard about the relationship between Cao Desi and Wang Dehua, he also wanted to make a big deal out of it to see Wang Dehua's reaction.
At the same time, because it had been a long time since he had seen someone act so presumptuously in front of him, he couldn't help but feel a sense of joking.
After stopping Li Ruolian with his eyes, he said with a sneer on his face.
"boom!"
The personal guard threw Cao Desi to the ground and looked at him with an angry look on his face.
Although Cao Desi was thrown to the ground, he quickly got up. After glancing at Zhu Yuanzhang, he said arrogantly: "I don't need my grandfather to kill you, I am enough!"
After that, he shouted to the soldiers behind him: "What are you doing standing around stupidly? Why don't you come over and kill this bandit who is having an affair with the traitor!"
When the soldiers guarding the city heard this, they actually ran over with spears in hand.
Zhu Yuanzhang was furious when he saw this. You must know that he was wearing the emperor's regular clothes at this moment.
Although the uniform has turned white and cannot be immediately identified as the emperor's uniform, one should know from the clothing alone that he is either a prince or a noble.
Unexpectedly, such a group of soldiers guarding the gate dared to attack him under the instruction of a hundred households, which shows how lawless these people are.
Just when he was about to order the execution of these soldiers, he suddenly heard Li Ruolian's voice.
"You are so outrageous, please... stop!"
Li Ruolian was about to tell Zhu Yuanzhang's identity, but suddenly saw Wang Chengen quietly waving his hand to him, so he changed his words and stopped.
"Li Ruolian, if you dare to protect him, I will kill you too today!"
Cao Desi was furious at this moment, and after hearing Li Ruolian's words, he roared loudly.
When Li Ruolian heard this, he shouted coldly: "Cao Desi, don't talk nonsense and bring trouble, why don't you kneel down and apologize!"
"Li Ruolian, you are so loud that you actually asked my son to kneel down and plead guilty. Do you think you are worthy?"
At this time, a high-pitched voice came from a distance.
Immediately afterwards, a fat middle-aged man wearing a python robe walked over quickly and looked at Li Ruolian with a sarcastic expression.
"The last general has met General Cao!"
Since Li Ruolian was half a level lower than Cao Zhanguang, he bowed to him respectfully.
"I thought you didn't know me, but it turns out..."
"His Majesty?"
Cao Zhanguang originally reprimanded Li Ruolian with a look of disdain, but when he saw Zhu Yuanzhang accidentally, his face immediately turned pale, and he hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed: "I don't know that your majesty is here, so please forgive me!"
When the originally elated Cao Desi heard Cao Zhanguang's words and thought that he had just wanted to kill His Majesty, he was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground and even forgot to beg for mercy.
Seeing that his identity had been revealed, Zhu Yuanzhang lost interest and said to the guards on the side: "Take Cao Zhanguang into prison. As for Cao Desi, drag him up to the city wall and chop him!"
Cao Zhanguang was thinking about how to maneuver without losing his Sacred Heart, but he didn't expect that Zhu Yuanzhang would cut Cao Desi alive when he opened his mouth.
He was shocked, kowtowed repeatedly and begged for mercy: "Your Majesty, forgive me. I offended you because I don't know the face of a dragon. Please have mercy on me!"
Zhu Yuanzhang was too lazy to talk nonsense with him at this time, and just waved his hand towards the personal guards.
Upon seeing this, the personal guards dragged Cao Desi up from the ground, and a fishy smell immediately hit his nostrils.
"Your Majesty, even if I collide with the holy chariot, I will not be guilty of death. Your Majesty, please think twice!"
Cao Zhanguang saw that his plea was useless, and thought of Wang Dehua's support, he stood up and shouted loudly to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes flashed with murderous intent, and he shouted sternly: "We are not going to kill Cao Desi because he is disrespectful to us, but because he is greedy for ink."
"According to Taizu's law, anyone who corrupts more than sixty-two pieces of ink will have his head skinned and exposed to the public. He deserves the punishment!"
"As for you, we originally wanted to spare your life. But you protected the greedy ink in the front and yelled at us in the back. If we don't kill you two alive, how can we be worthy of our ancestors and the people of this city!"
Zhu Yuanzhang was too lazy to speak, but when he saw that his guards all looked surprised and the people in the distance kept looking around, he shouted out the reasons for his punishment.
As his words sounded, everyone present was shocked.
In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang also knew that no one had implemented this rule for a long time, but now he brought it up again in order to win over the people.
Then he saw that the people were still suspicious, so he drove his horse forward and shouted loudly: "You all listen, from today on, anyone who is greedy for ink exceeding sixty or two will have his head and skin removed!"
"Anyone who harms innocent people will be quartered!"
"Anyone who betrays the country and collaborates with the enemy will be punished by a thousand swords!"
...
As Zhu Yuanzhang issued orders one after another, the soldiers at the gate of the city all had their legs shaking, but the common people's eyes were dazzled.
When Cao Zhanguang and Cao Desi's pig-killing screams sounded on the city wall, a smile finally appeared on the faces of the people at the city gate.
At this time, Li Changru took the lead and knelt down and shouted long live.
Immediately afterwards, others knelt down and shouted long live.
As the shouts rang out, more and more people gathered at the city gate, and the shouts became louder and louder.
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this, he was very happy.
He hurriedly got off his horse, stepped forward quickly, and kindly helped Li Changru and others up.
He then asked Li Changru and others about the situation in detail, asked Wang Chengen to record them one by one, and promised to solve these problems as soon as possible.
Finally, he ordered Li Ruolian on the side to take Shen Youcheng, arrange for the people to enter the city, and then left amidst the shouts of everyone.
