Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the ministers scrambling in front of him and felt relieved for the first time.
"Who says we are alone? As long as we handle them properly, these people can still be used!"
"Even if they are not talented enough, with us guiding them, why should they be afraid of the rebels sieging the city?"
Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang's pride increased greatly, and he said loudly: "Li Jing's performance is suitable, and he is appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and is responsible for raising wages."
"Taipei student Shen Zhanran has outstanding talents and academics. He was awarded the title of Lecturer of the Hanlin Academy and drafted the copy for us!"
"Although Huang Nilu is a commoner, he is concerned about state affairs and is proficient in weapons. He was named Doctor Yu Hengqing of the Ministry of Industry and was responsible for firearms matters in Beijing."
After saying that, he looked at Li Ruolian again and said, "Where is Li Ruolian?"
When Li Ruolian heard this, he immediately shouted loudly: "The general is here!"
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that his heroic appearance was completely different from when he first met him. He nodded with satisfaction and said: "Quickly order the five hundred guards in royal robes to patrol the capital. If anyone takes advantage of the chaos and rebels, kill them on the spot!"
"The last general takes command!"
After Li Ruolian replied loudly, he slowly exited Hongde Hall.
"Ni Yuanlu, Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, please arrange the purchase of grain immediately..."
"Wang Jiayan, the right minister of the Ministry of War, and Jin Xuan, the member of the Ministry of War, the foreign minister, you two will assist Uncle Xiangcheng in patrolling the city defense. Any soldiers who surrender to the enemy and treason will be killed on the spot..."
...
As the orders were promulgated one after another, the fighting spirit of the ministers was aroused, and they all stepped forward to receive the orders in high spirits.
Finally, Zhu Yuanzhang left Hongde Hall and came to Dongnuan Pavilion amidst the shouts of everyone.
As soon as he walked into Dongnuan Pavilion, he saw Wang Chengen limping towards him.
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw Wang Chengen's appearance, he knew that he had gone to the Chief Ceremony Supervisor to be beaten.
Thinking that he was still loyal, and that his involvement in politics was due to the trend and was not intentional, he asked, "Do you hate us?"
Wang Chengen heard the words and knelt down with difficulty, saying: "This slave is ignorant and talks about military affairs. It is a great blessing for me that the Lord does not blame me. How can I hate the Lord!"
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that he not only changed his title, but also spoke sincerely and did not seem to be hypocritical. He nodded and said: "Okay, we also know your loyalty. This matter has been revealed. In the future, as long as you work hard, we will not treat you badly." !”
Wang Chengen kowtowed quickly to thank him, and then slowly stood up at Zhu Yuanzhang's signal.
Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang looked tired, he said with concern: "Long live my Lord, you have been busy for most of the day. Do you want to take a rest?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned when he heard this, and then a feeling of fatigue immediately came over him.
He remembered that it was common for him to review memorials day and night in the past. He did not expect that he would feel tired after dealing with such government affairs today. He couldn't help but secretly sigh that Chongzhen's body was too weak.
Although he wanted to have a good sleep at this moment, but thinking that there were still many things to deal with, he forced himself to shake his head and asked, "Has Wang Shoulin been here?"
Wang Chengen said: "Wang Baihu has never been here, but the queen and Concubine Yuan have come several times after hearing that Lord Long Live returned to the city."
"Because Lord Long Live has been discussing matters, they were afraid of disturbing Lord Long Live, so they all went back."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he remembered the Chongzhen harem and couldn't help but feel a little upset.
He was upset not because the queen and others were mediocre in appearance or incompetent in affairs, but because these people were Chongzhen's concubines.
Thinking of him as an ancestor-level figure living with the concubines of younger generations, I always feel a little uncomfortable in my heart.
So he said to Wang Chengen: "Send someone to tell the queen that we are busy with government affairs recently and we will all rest in Qianqing Palace. After the rebels are defeated, we will go see them again."
Wang Chengen was stunned for a moment, then responded respectfully, and was about to order someone to deliver the message, but he heard Zhu Yuanzhang ask again: "Has the prince been here before?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Chengen hurriedly turned around and replied: "Long live my Lord, when you left the palace, it happened to be the prince's noon class time. I'm afraid the prince has not yet heard about your departure."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and walked forward again.
When Wang Chengen came back from the message, he saw Zhu Yuanzhang carefully studying the charts on the city defense distribution and equipment statistics on the case, so he stood aside quietly.
"Did you organize all of this?"
After Zhu Yuanzhang looked at those charts, he asked Wang Chengen.
Wang Chengen said respectfully: "Earlier, Long Live Lord asked me to supervise the capital camp, so I had people sort out these materials."
"However, I am not familiar with military affairs, and some things are not clear to me, so I submit it to Lord Long Live for your inspection."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang knew that Wang Chengen had understood his thoughts, so he handed over the chart to show his loyalty.
He nodded and said, "Okay, you have your heart, we know it!"
Wang Chengen repeatedly said that he did not dare, and then stood aside quietly.
After Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the distribution map for a while, he yawned more than a dozen times and became drowsy.
Seeing this, Wang Chengen persuaded in a low voice: "Long live my lord, in recent days you have often felt heart palpitations and fatigue, and your body has become thinner and thinner. It is really uncomfortable for me to look at you."
"Besides, you have already met with the minister today and dealt with a lot of government affairs. You might as well take a nap. If anything happens, my servant will wake you up, okay?"
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, his body suddenly shook and he looked at Wang Chengen with some surprise.
When Wang Chengen saw Zhu Yuanzhang's gaze, he was shocked. Just as he was about to kneel down to plead guilty, he heard Zhu Yuanzhang's voice saying: "We're fine. If you're worried, go and get us some tea."
Wang Chengen nodded and respectfully withdrew.
At this time, another young eunuch came in to report that Prince Zhu Cihong had come to pay homage.
Zhu Yuanzhang knew that Chongzhen attached great importance to the prince, so he asked the young eunuch to bring Zhu Cixiang in.
When he saw Zhu Cixiang, who was thin and bookish, he couldn't help but think of Zhu Yunwen, and he looked a little dazed for a moment.
After talking with Zhu Cixiang, he found that Zhu Cixiang was not only similar in appearance to Zhu Yunwen, but also had the same temperament. He couldn't help but transfer his guilt towards Zhu Yunwen to Zhu Cixiang.
Just when the two were talking happily, the young eunuch came in and reported that Wang Shoulin wanted to see him.
Zhu Cihong knew that Zhu Yuanzhang had to deal with government affairs, so he stood up and left knowingly.
After Zhu Yuanzhang warned him a few more words, he asked him to leave, then put away his previous kind face and sat down slowly.
"The last general, Jinyiwei Baihuwang Shoulin, comes to see Your Majesty!"
After Wang Shoulin entered the Nuan Pavilion, he respectfully gave a military salute to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Did anything unexpected happen while you were here?"
Wang Shoulin was stunned when he heard this, and then told the story with admiration.
It turned out that after Wang Shoulin received Zhu Yuanzhang's order, he was worried that the news would be leaked and the other party would be prepared, so he hurried to Fude Tower with a dozen people around him.
When they came to Fu Fu Building, they found that although Fu Fu Building was open for business, there was a waiter at the door who ran inside when he saw him.
So he rushed in with his men, and not only captured the shopkeeper Vanderford and others, but also copied over 100,000 silver.
Although he had completed Zhu Yuanzhang's mission, thinking of the weird behavior of the guy, he ordered a careful search again, and unexpectedly found another secret room inside a secret room.
In that secret room, he not only found many notices of the rebels' peace of mind, but also captured a burly man.
When Wang Shoulin saw the strong man, he instinctively felt that the strong man was related to the rebels, so he sealed Fude Tower and asked several Jinyi guards to disguise themselves as common people to monitor suspicious people, and then took him back to Zhao Prison for interrogation.
Wang Shoulin guessed that the man would be difficult to interrogate, so he interrogated Van Defu first.
Vanderful was a bit tough at first, but when Wang Shoulin introduced several torture instruments in Zhao Prison, he turned pale with fright and immediately used them all.
It turned out that in early March, a young man suddenly came to us, claiming to be introduced by Boss Qiao from Shanxi Province, and wanted to buy some firearms from him to protect his home.
Seeing that the quantity he needed was quite large, Vanderford didn't want to agree, but out of sympathy, he raised a price that was ten times higher than the market price, hoping that the other party would give up.
Unexpectedly, the man agreed and said that someone would come to him soon with some silver to contact him.
Vanderford originally thought that the other party wanted to save face and was trying to maintain his appearance. Unexpectedly, a man calling himself Li Niu actually came to his door a few days ago.
Li Niu not only bought a batch of firearms at ten times the price, but also bought a lot of food, medicine and other items from other stores in the city through Vanderford's connections.
Vanderford saw that the man was generous and happened to have a batch of firearms in his hand. After wanting to make another deal with him, he severed ties with him.
Unexpectedly, he overheard the man's subordinates calling him a general, and realized that he was actually a rebel.
Seeing that his identity was exposed, the other party readily revealed his identity.
Only then did Fan Defu realize that the other party was actually Li Mou, who had captured Tongguan a few months ago, and he was extremely panicked.
However, he had already boarded the pirate ship, and Li Mou promised that they would leave as long as they sold him another batch of firearms, and he was willing to pay for the goods in advance.
With the support of money, Vanderford finally overcame the fear in his heart and agreed to the matter.
The matter went very smoothly afterwards. Vanderford thought that the matter had been settled. Unexpectedly, Li Mou suddenly came to Fude Building today and moved a lot of things, saying that he wanted to stay for one night.
Vanderford didn't want to agree, but the other party had already arrived and gave him a lot of money, so he reluctantly agreed.
Unexpectedly, not long after Li Mou came in, Wang Shoulin suddenly came to raid the store and immediately caught him.
After Wang Shoulin learned the news, he immediately interrogated Li Mou, hoping to find out some information about the rebels from him.
Unexpectedly, Li Mou was very harsh. No matter whether Wang Shoulin tried to persuade him with good words or used torture tools, he would not speak.
Seeing that Wang Shoulin could not get any results from his inquiries and saw that he had been delayed a lot, he had to lock him in Zhao Prison first and rush to report to Zhu Yuanzhang.
