"Father!"
Just when Zhu Yuanzhang was deep in thought, Zhu Cixiang's slightly trembling voice woke him up.
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Zhu Cihong who was holding back tears, and felt relieved.
He looked at Zhu Cixi with a smile on his face and said kindly: "We are fine. As long as you are fine, everything else is nothing."
When Zhu Cihong heard this, he felt guilty again, and tears were about to pour down from his eyes.
But he raised his head in time and put back the tears.
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this, he felt very relieved because Zhu Cihong had really grown up.
After Zhu Cixiang calmed down, he said kindly: "How much silver is there in Taicang now?"
Zhu Cixi thought for a while and said: "From the book, there should be more than three million taels, but I just went to check and the actual inventory is only about two million taels."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "Okay, you first allocate 500,000 taels from Taicang to Shen Qing, and ask him to do a good job in disaster relief in Shanxi!"
"Shanxi has just been conquered now, and the people's sentiment is still unstable. If we handle it improperly, there may be another war, so you must pay attention to this matter."
Based on previous events, Zhu Cixi knew that he had fallen into Shen Zhanran's plan. When he heard this, he said hesitantly: "Father, can... Sir Shen still be trusted?"
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at him, was silent for a while, and then said in a deep voice: "Although Shen Zhanran has problems, he still has merit in preserving the imperial city."
"And based on his intelligence, if he wants to plot against us, it won't be so obvious. I think there are some difficulties. In addition, the plague is raging in Shanxi, and we still need him and Wu Youxing to heal..."
He stopped again as he spoke, paused, and then continued: "We will let Zhang Dabiao spy on him. If he sincerely saves the people, we will spare his life."
"If he is unrepentant, we have ways to deal with him, so you don't have to worry too much."
When Zhu Cihong heard the first half of Zhu Yuanzhang's words, his expression softened slightly.
But when he heard the second half, his body trembled involuntarily, and then he saw Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes staring at him closely, and he understood immediately.
He bowed respectfully and said solemnly: "Thank you, Father, for your guidance. I understand!"
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he withdrew his gaze and said in a deep voice: "Okay, since you can understand, my father will be relieved."
"But you must always remember that you are not just you, you are also a descendant of the old Zhu family and the prince of all people in the world. Therefore, you have the responsibility and obligation to let the Ming Dynasty be passed down through the ages and let your people live and work in peace and contentment."
Zhu Cixiang's heart trembled slightly, and then he bowed and responded.
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and asked, "Is there any news from Zhou Jing?"
Zhu Cixiang shook his head and said helplessly: "The captain of the guard has been investigating for the past two days, but Mr. Li seems to have disappeared out of thin air, and there is no news at all."
Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a while and told him: "About Ku Yin being transferred to a subcontract, please do not make any announcement."
"As for those people you control, you will judge them. If there are any stubborn ones, just deal with them directly. You must not be merciful. Do you understand?"
After Zhu Cixiang bowed in agreement, he said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Father, I think the disappearance of Mr. Li may be related to Li Zushu, so I want to interrogate Xu Yunzhen and others. I wonder what my father thinks?"
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said: "The rebellion in the north is not over yet, and the Jurchens are invading the south. Although we are not fighting on two fronts, we are unable to take care of others."
"And the person behind Li Zushu may be the vassal king in the south. If he feels dangerous at this moment and starts an uprising in the south, we will be very passive."
"Because if we quell the rebellion, we will not have enough troops, but if we do not quell the rebellion, the transportation of grain from the south to the north will be hindered. And once we are short of food, the north will immediately fall into chaos, and the situation will definitely be difficult to deal with."
After hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, Zhu Cixiang looked sad.
Zhu Yuanzhang knew that Zhu Cihong was kind-hearted, and the reason why he wanted to interrogate Xu Yunzhen and others was to find out the reason why Shen Zhanran deceived him, and he couldn't help but feel a little intolerable.
Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a while, then called Wu Laoliu in and ordered: "You try to go to Tianyao and bring Xu Yunzhen quietly to Dongnuan Pavilion. Be careful not to be discovered."
"In addition, you inform Zhao Erhu and ask him to ask Concubine Tian if it is okay for Duke An to go north to harass the Jurchens."
After Wu Laoliu bowed in agreement, he hurried out of Dongnuan Pavilion.
"Concubine Tian?"
Zhu Cihong was a little confused when he heard Zhu Yuanzhang's words.
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he remembered that because he was too busy these two days, he did not mention the appointment of Tian Shuying as his concubine to Queen Zhou and others.
Seeing doubts on Zhu Cihong's face at this moment, he told what happened before.
After hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's explanation, Zhu Cixi hesitated and said, "Father, do you doubt Duke An Guo?"
Zhu Yuanzhang pondered and said: "We have met An Guogong in Taiyuan before, and we are still relieved about him."
"But now we don't know much about the situation in Liaodong. If we issue an order rashly, it will be easy to make mistakes, so we asked Concubine Tian to test it."
"This way we can let Duke An Guo know our thoughts without making things difficult for him. There is no other way."
Zhu Cixiang nodded thoughtfully, opened his mouth several times but said nothing, and finally left Dongnuan Pavilion on the pretext of dealing with disaster relief matters.
After Zhu Cihong left, Zhu Yuanzhang walked to Kun Yutu again and studied it carefully.
"If Horqin and Chahar's food shipments are false, then they should make a quick decision. If the money had not been stolen, we would have been able to afford it."
"Nowadays, there is insufficient silver, so it is difficult to station troops at the moment. In addition, the war situation in Shandong is deadlocked, and Li Ruolian may not be able to open the southern grain channel for a while. From this point of view, we also need to win quickly."
"Only Gong Yonggu has more than 20,000 men, plus the defenders of Datong and the soldiers and horses brought by Ren Zhihua. Although the total number is 60,000, the number of people who are truly capable of fighting will never exceed 30,000."
"According to Wu Mengming's information, there are more than 40,000 people under Hauge's command, and they are all battle-hardened men. Our soldiers and horses have no advantage in fighting against them."
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes kept wandering around Shanxi, and finally stopped at Taiyuan.
"Fan Beidou and others have been secretly dealing with the Jurchens. Can we get some money from them?"
"It's just that we have allowed Zuo Liangyu to settle in Taiyuan. With his character, he must have colluded with Fan Beidou and others. If we touch Fan Beidou now, we will definitely anger him."
"And he has previously been related to the rebel forces in the south. It is not the best idea to anger him now. But if we don't move against Shanxi merchants, how can we break the situation?"
Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it, then returned his gaze to the capital, and murmured to himself: "Li Zushu Ying is still lurking near the capital, and maybe the transferred silver is also in his hands."
"After all, five million taels of silver is more than 300,000 catties. There is no way he can transport it out of the capital. I think the reason why he robbed the grain in the canal was to help Shen Zhanran find an excuse to transport Taicang's grain into the capital."
"In this way, he can fish in troubled waters and take advantage of the opportunity to smuggle silver. However, Nanliang can only enter and exit, so the silver he transferred must still be hidden in the capital."
"As long as we handle it properly, we may be able to get the money back without making them feel in danger."
Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang slowly closed his eyes again.
