"Is there any news from Zhang Dabiao?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a while, then looked at Zhao Erhu again.
When Zhao Erhu heard this, he shook his head and said: "Brother Zhang probably didn't know that we were coming to Shandong, so he didn't pass the news over."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "Immediately send someone to contact Zhang Dabiao, and at the same time step up the investigation of the mysterious people who attacked Shi Kefa's army..."
He said, stopped again, pondered for a while, and said: "We remember that after the salaries of the kings were cancelled, King Fu Zhu Yousong, King Lu Zhu Changzi, King Lu Zhu Yihai and others all said they wanted to train troops. What is the situation now? "
Zhao Erhu said: "According to the information from Jin Yiwei, currently only King Fu, through Lu Jiude's relationship, has received the help of Han Zanzhou, the garrison eunuch of Nanjing, and has recruited four to five thousand people in Huai'an. The leader is Chen Hongfan."
"Furthermore, King Lu has summoned more than a thousand people in Shaoxing. The leader of the army is a Confucian scholar named Zheng Zunqian. King Lu is recruiting troops in Hangzhou, but it is not going well. I haven't heard of how many people have been recruited yet."
Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but frowned when he heard this.
In fact, the reason why he asked the vassal kings to recruit troops before was not only because he was dissatisfied with the vassal kings' arrogance, extravagance and indolence in work, but also to find out who had ulterior motives and wanted to get involved in the throne.
Seeing that Zhu Yousong was still taking the lead at this moment, he was silent for a while and then asked: "Where are the other vassal kings? They have not recruited troops, so what are they doing?"
When Zhao Erhu heard this, a look of contempt flashed in his eyes, and then he said respectfully: "King Gui of Hengzhou fell ill after he fled to Guangxi last year. I heard that he originally intended to let King Anren go to Hengzhou to rectify the fiefdom."
"However, due to King Anren's illness, King Yongming finally returned to Hengzhou with Yang Guowei and Jiao Lian. I heard that a lot of land and shops had been recovered."
"There was also King Hui in Shaoxing who also wanted to return to Jingzhou, but because Bai Wang and others were still in the Jingxiang area and he did not recruit enough troops, he did not make the trip."
"Those who are in similar situations include King Chong, the auxiliary generals of Jingzhou, King Heng, King Zhou, King Jing, and King De..."
It turned out that after Zhu Yuanzhang ordered to deprive the vassal kings of their salaries and required them to train troops before allocating military pay, the kings were forced to comply with the story.
It's just that they have always been pampered. Except for eating, drinking and having fun, they have to do it themselves. Other things are handled by servants for them. They have never even been to the military camp, so where can they recruit soldiers?
They had placed their hope in those smart and capable servants, but they didn't know whether it was because they had changed places or because the servants were out of their minds. After struggling for several days, they couldn't recruit anyone.
After some discussions, the vassal kings were ready to jointly submit a petition to ask for military pay from Chongzhen on the grounds that the military pay was not prepared and the southerners were unwilling to join the army. However, they suddenly heard that Zhu Yousong, Zhu Yihai and others had recruited many soldiers.
After secretly cursing each other in their hearts, they had no choice but to recruit soldiers.
In fact, when they do this, it’s not because their lives are really unsustainable.
Because although they lost their fiefdom, most of them took a lot of furniture with them when they fled. If they save some, it will not be a problem to support them for several years.
The reason why he is so willing to compromise now is just to see Chongzhen's rare ruthlessness and shamelessness.
In addition, Zhu Yousong and others had successfully recruited troops, and they were worried that if they didn't show off, Chongzhen would really stop their salaries.
But despite their "several efforts," they still found nothing.
In desperation, they had no choice but to stop and wait and see on the grounds that the bandits were too powerful and there were not enough soldiers to recruit.
Zhu Yuanzhang's face became increasingly gloomy as he listened to Zhao Erhu's story.
You know how smart he is, how can he not know what everyone is thinking?
Then he thought about how his original grand idea had been ruined by this group of incompetent descendants, and he couldn't help but feel furious.
Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to immediately issue an order to let these incompetent and shameless descendants return to the fiefdom and use their blood to wash away the shame of the old Zhu family.
However, he also thought about the dark waves surging in the south. If he used force at this moment, it might cause trouble in the future, so he had to suppress the anger in his heart.
He was silent for a while and then said to Zhao Erhu: "Preach our will and tell those beasts...the feudal king that the country is in crisis now. As long as they can contribute to the country, we will definitely reward them generously! If... ....."
Zhu Yuanzhang said, then stopped and said, "That's all, just pass on the decree like this!"
After Zhao Erhu bowed in agreement, he was about to leave when he heard Zhu Yuanzhang's voice: "Apart from the vassal king, are there any ministers in the south who are recruiting troops?"
Zhao Erhu shook his head and said: "No, at that time King Hui also approached Mr. Lu, the right minister of the Ministry of War, and wanted him to help recruit troops, but he refused on the grounds that ministers are not allowed to have personal relationships with the vassal king."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and asked: "What about the generals? Whose troops have been expanded more recently?"
Zhao Erhu thought for a while and said: "The war situation in Shandong is tense now, and troops are being increased everywhere. If the expansion is more powerful, it should be Liu Zeqing, the commander-in-chief of Shandong who is currently in Huai'an."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard the name "Liu Zeqing", he suddenly felt angry.
Then I remembered that when the Dashun Army was approaching Beijing, Chongzhen ordered Liu Zeqing to lead his troops to Beijing quickly, but Liu Zeqing lied about being injured after falling from a horse and refused to obey the order.
After suppressing the anger in his heart, he said to Zhao Erhu: "Instruct the Jin Yiwei to closely monitor the movements of Zhu Yousong and Liu Zeqing, and then find out Guo Sheng's strength as soon as possible..."
After Zhao Erhu bowed in agreement, he hurried out.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Erhu didn't leave for long, and ran in again to report: "Your Majesty, something bad has happened. I just got the news that Guo Sheng led 50,000 people to besiege Weifang, and now he has captured the outer city!"
Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked when he heard this and asked: "There are at least 30,000 people in Weifang City. How come the outer city was lost so quickly?"
Zhao Erhu shook his head and said: "The one guarding the city now is Uncle Renyi, and he only has more than 10,000 men."
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said, "Lu Jiude is not in the city?"
Zhao Erhu nodded and said: "I heard that Weifang was attacked by mysterious soldiers and horses again the day before yesterday. Lu Jiude was angry for a moment, and he and his subordinate Zhu Ji led more than 20,000 people to pursue them. Unexpectedly, after they left, Guo Sheng suddenly Coming to attack the city."
Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a while and said, "Where is Lu Jiude now? Why didn't he return to the army to rescue him?"
Zhao Erhu shook his head and said: "I heard that he is in the Zibo area. As for why he did not return to the teacher, I am not sure."
Zhu Yuanzhang suppressed the anger in his heart and ordered: "Let Zhang Huangyan organize the army immediately, and we will set off immediately!"
Zhao Erhu was stunned when he heard this, and then dissuaded him: "Your Majesty, there are only a thousand people on our trip, and nearly half of them are new troops. If we head to Weifang rashly, we will be worried... worried... ."
Zhu Yuanzhang sneered and said: "Who said we are going to Weifang? We are going to Zibo to seize troops. Go and deliver the order quickly!"
When Zhao Erhu heard that he was going to seize troops, he was shocked again. He wanted to dissuade him, but he saw that Zhu Yuanzhang was already checking the map of Kun.
In desperation, he had no choice but to bow and accept, and then went to find Zhang Huangyan with a sad look on his face.
About a quarter of an hour later, Zhu Yuanzhang hurried to Zibo with Zhang Huangyan and others.
Some people died, but not completely...
