On the second day, Zhu Yuanzhang, accompanied by Ma Xiuying, met with Lu Xiaoqian.

Lu Xiaoqian was secretly frightened when she saw Zhu Yuanzhang, this person's eyes were cold, his eyes were like torches, and he was intimidating when he looked at it. She also accompanied Shen Wansan to meet Zhang Shicheng, who was also a big warlord on one side, so Zhang Shicheng would not bring her such a sense of oppression.

She quickly cheered up, bowed down to greet her, brought Shen Wansan's reverence, and presented a gift list.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't answer, but asked: "I heard that Zhang Shicheng has a good reputation in Suzhou, what do you think of this king compared to him?"

Lu Xiaoqian dared not to say it, and replied respectfully: "The women heard on the boat that the people praised the prince for helping the crisis and controlling the chaos, and driving far away. Under the rule of the prince, it is better than Suzhou. ”

Knowing that Lu Xiaoqian was patting on the back, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but laugh proudly.

After he established power, his first edict was to prohibit officials from embezzling and mutilating the people. Officials who have made other mistakes can be forgiven, but they will never let go of corruption. He even stipulated that anyone who embezzled more than 60 taels of silver should be skinned and eaten grass and placed in front of the yamen for public display. At the same time, he also stipulated that all cases of corruption should be investigated at all levels, and the cases should be traced down until all the facts of the cases are clarified and the corrupt elements are wiped out. In order to prevent officials from shielding each other, he also announced that the people could report the officials' violations directly to him. If the official dares to block it, then "the whole family will be punished".

This order has been supported by all the people, there has always been only officials bullying the people, and now Zhu Yuanzhang is in charge of them, and they are no longer afraid of the exploitation and persecution of officials, so even if Zhu Yuanzhang became more and more brutal in his later years, ambushing millions of corpses at every turn, and bleeding and pestle, no one thought of rebelling against him.

With the supervision of the people, who is comparable to that of the masses in Beijing's Chaoyang District, how dare the officials be corrupt again, and even the previous dynasty was trembling, for fear that if they were not careful, they would become companions forever with those colleagues who were skinned and fed grass. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that Zhu Yuanzhang is a political and Qing people.

On the contrary, Zhang Shicheng also implemented benevolent governance, but the objects of his benevolence were not only the people but also the officials, he was good to everyone, so good that there was no hierarchy, and even the soldiers were very indifferent in front of him. When officials make mistakes, he only punishes them and never makes a big move.

Over time, all his subordinates became extravagant and arrogant, especially his younger brother Zhang Shixin and son-in-law Pan Yuanshao were even more greedy for money. His generals also procrastinated and refused to obey orders, and whenever they wanted to fight, they pretended to be sick there, asking for a large number of farmlands and rewarding high-ranking officials, and then they were willing to lead the army to send troops. As soon as he arrived in the army, he brought a large number of maids, concubines, and musical instruments to play and sing on the front line, or recruited those who could talk well, gamble, play football, and did not take military affairs to heart.

The most speechless thing is that even if the generals lost the battle and lost their territory, Zhang Shicheng only lightly blamed a few words, and soon after, he still let them lead the troops to fight.

So with a "benevolent king" like Zhang Shicheng and a group of rabble subordinates, Zhu Yuanzhang is confident that it will be a matter of time before he defeats him.

Taking advantage of Zhu Yuanzhang's happiness, Lu Xiaoqian said: "My husband offered a thin gift in advance to wish the prince a victory, and when the prince will calm Jiangnan in the future, the husband and Suzhou merchants will definitely welcome him." ”

Ma Xiuying said with a smile: "That relationship is good, in the future, the prince's great cause will still need the full support of Suzhou merchants." ”

Lu Xiaoqian hurriedly responded: "Certainly, definitely, the merchants in Suzhou are willing to be sent by the prince." ”

Only then did Zhu Yuanzhang let people take the gift list. He looked at the dense congratulatory gifts on it and sighed very emotionally, Suzhou is really a rich land, a small businessman can give so much money and food, no wonder Zhang Shicheng guards this land and does not want to forge ahead, when will this land belong to himself?

Ma Xiuying knew what he wanted, and said: "Zhang Shicheng can't even compare to Chen Youliang, and the prince can easily defeat him." Mrs. Shen, you hurry back to inform your family, and soon the prince will send an army to conquer Zhang Shicheng on a large scale, and you should make arrangements as soon as possible to avoid suffering an unwarranted disaster at that time. ”

Lu Xiaoqian Nuonuo answered, offered silver and grain, and hurriedly left. It wasn't until he got on his own merchant ship that he completely let go of his hanging heart, and a trace of bitterness appeared in his mouth. If there is no Ma Xiuying's circumstance, she is afraid that this gift will be a curse or a blessing, she is really afraid of dealing with these warlords, but the Shen family's great cause cannot be avoided.

Zhu Yuanzhang shook the gift list and pouted, "You see, this is the nature of businessmen, where there are interests, they will drill wherever they want, I heard that everyone in Suzhou said that Zhang Shicheng was good, but these businessmen did not surrender to me behind his back." ”

He was actually angry that Shen Wansan could give him so much money and food, but the rich gentry of Ying Tianfu was not as generous as a foreign businessman, and the sentence "copper smells stinky" scolded all the businessmen in the world.

Ma Xiuying knew that Zhu Yuanzhang had a natural rejection of businessmen, so she didn't bother to argue anymore, and persuaded: "With Shen Wansan's gift, presumably the rich businessmen of Ying Tianfu will not take Qiao again." But don't be too stubborn, give some benefits appropriately, people will be willing to pay, in the final analysis, these people are the foundation of Ying Tianfu, don't tear your face if you can. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes showed a fierce light, and he said fiercely: "I have to let them know that I, Zhu Yuanzhang, am not a soft persimmon, let them rub the round and pinch the square." If it weren't for their funding, the ghost would have time to spend time with them. If anyone is ignorant and provokes me, whether he is a famous man or a rich squire, my knife will not be recognized!" he left the room angrily.

Ma Xiuying looked at Zhu Yuanzhang's back and sighed silently, this is a flaw in Zhu Yuanzhang's character, perhaps the miserable life of his childhood made him particularly hateful to the rich, even if he has now become the rich of the rich, but he will still subconsciously separate himself from the rich. He feels that everything he has worked hard to get, and the wealth of the rich is obtained by exploiting the poor, and he does not want to be compared with these rich people, let alone "go along with them". But reality forced him to tie up with the interests of these rich people, which made him helpless and deeply disgusted, so even if he chose to compromise, he was still very resistant in his heart.

Fortunately, there are many strategists around Zhu Yuanzhang, and with the advice of Liu Ji, Li Shanchang and others, there should be no such tragic events as breaking the county order and destroying the prefect to shake the hearts of the people.