Zhu Hao went up the mountain all the way, but saw that there were many fortresses hidden on the road, attacking and defending each other, quite lawful, and some of the hidden forts were also equipped with archers, and he couldn't help but admire Wang Boda, who had been a regular soldier in the end. I was secretly glad that there was no strong attack, and even if I had the advantage of the musket, I would definitely lose a lot.

When he came to the cottage, Wang Boda introduced Wu Cai, and it was indispensable to be polite. Zhu Hao asked about the basic situation of the cottage, Wu Cai is worthy of being a manager-level figure, and he knows everything in his chest, and even Wang Boda, the big boss, is a little embarrassed.

Counting the people who have been damaged, Erlongshan now has a total population of nearly 3,000 people, of which more than 1,000 are young and strong, and the rest are family members, all of whom are old and weak, women and children, and there are a total of 100,000 taels of silver in the cottage, 5,000 taels of gold, 50,000 stones of grain, and other materials equivalent to nearly 100,000 taels of silver, all of which are savings over the years. Now that everyone has taken refuge in Zhu Hao, these family backgrounds are naturally at his disposal.

Zhu Hao thought for a moment and said: "To be honest, I am not short of money, but this money cannot be easily divided, and I will make plans when I return to Yangzhou, rest assured, I promise that I will not treat the brothers badly, Boda, Wu Cai and the three girls, you use the time of the past few days to make statistics, and if there are brothers who are unwilling to go back to Yangzhou with us, they will be sent to be dismissed, and those who are willing to follow me will accept my reorganization and training, and they will still be under your command at that time." ”

Wang Boda and the others had no objection to this arrangement, after all, it was already very merciful as the defeated party.

"Childe, how do you arrange the family members in the village?" Wu Cai asked, this is also a question that many people are concerned about.

"Well, according to the standard, the family members are arranged in the same way as the young and strong, and when the time comes, they will come to my manor to make a living, but I declare in advance that there are no idlers in my team, except for those who cannot work because of physical reasons, everyone else must participate in labor, otherwise they will be driven out of the manor."

"In addition, Boda and Wu Cai, you have arranged for some clever and reliable people to stay, preferably local people, who are responsible for inquiring about the news in this area, maybe they will be useful in the future."

"Yes, Childe!" Wang Boda and Wu Caiying said, although they didn't know what Zhu Hao thought, they still obeyed the order.

That night, everyone stayed in the village and had nothing to do all night.

Early the next morning, Zhu Hao summoned everyone and ordered for a while to take the Liu family's uncles and nephews, Zhang Dacheng, Li Dong and a few other people down the mountain, he had other things to do, Wang Boda and others sent him to the bottom of the mountain, and the two walked side by side on the road.

"Boda, do you know why I didn't kill Erlong Mountain?" Zhu Hao asked suddenly.

"My subordinates don't know, please show me!" Wang Boda has always been puzzled, it is said that although Zhu Hao is not an official soldier, he also has an inextricable relationship with the government, and he chose to recruit himself when he had the advantage.

"Do you remember when you robbed my goods, and instead of killing my men, you gave them horses and sent them back to Yangzhou? Therefore, I know that although you Wang Boda is a bandit, you are a thief and a good man, who has affection and righteousness and dares to be, and a person like you is worth befriending! After speaking, Zhu Hao patted Wang Boda's shoulder, and without waiting for him to speak, he turned around and got on the horse and galloped away.

Wang Boda looked at the backs of the crowd, and felt a lot of emotion in his heart, and felt more and more that Zhu Hao's bearing and knowledge were very accessible, the so-called young hero, it was him!

Zhu Hao and his entourage rushed for a day, and finally arrived at their destination early the next morning, Fengyang Mansion. As the land of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang's Longxing, the central capital of the Ming Dynasty, although Fengyang is not as prosperous as the north and south capitals, it is not comparable to the leisure of the city.

Looking at the tall and sturdy city wall, Zhu Hao sighed with some emotion, and said to Zhao Yuansheng and the others beside him: "The city wall of this Fengyang Mansion is much stronger than Yangzhou City, you can observe it more, and study the siege battle after you go back." Everyone hurriedly agreed.

Without much thought, the group entered the city, and the city gate guards saw Zhu Hao dressed in gorgeous clothes, and there was a group of powerful men around him, worried about causing trouble, and did not dare to stop him. Zhu Hao was dissatisfied: No wonder the Daming River is declining, and the city gate guards are afraid of power as the first guarantee of the city, so it is easy for the enemy's meticulous work to sneak into the city.

Everyone went to the post house to get the gifts arranged earlier, and then walked to the governor's palace, Zhu Hao said: "Li Dong, has the news been released?" ”

"Don't worry, Childe, I was released yesterday, and it is estimated that it has been passed into the Governor's Palace."

Zhu Hao nodded, and Li Dong hurriedly stepped forward to hand over the name post. The two guards read the name post, did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly welcomed the group into the house. After arranging the others, someone who looked like a housekeeper led Zhu Hao and Li Dong into the inner hall.

"The virtuous nephew has been waiting for a long time, and the old man has lost his welcome, haha!" With a loud voice, Zhu Hao, who was watching the decorations in the hall, followed the voice.

A middle-aged man in his forties strode out, with a medium build, a short beard, and a civilian dress, it was Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, who had just taken office!

Zhu Hao was a little disappointed, why did the rumored first minister of Nanming, the famous Ma Shiying, look so ordinary? It's the kind of type that can't be found by throwing it into the pile.

"Your Excellency the Governor is busy with official business, how dare you have Lao personally come out to greet you, and Zhu Hao, who is late, will meet your lordship." Thinking about it, Zhu Hao still counted according to the courtesy.

"Hey, the virtuous nephew is polite, I think I had to be supported by Mr. Zhang, and I had a personal relationship with Mr. Zhang, so I asked you to call you a virtuous nephew!" Ma Shiying laughed.

Ma Shiying's old man Zhang is Zhu Hao's grandfather, the former governor of Nanzhi Zhang Fuyuan, Zhang is Zhang Fuyuan's eldest son, Zhu Hao's uncle Zhang Tingchun, is now the political envoy of Nanjing.

"The little nephew is welcome, the elders in the family often mention the name of the adult, and specially ask the little nephew to have the opportunity to pay a visit, and a small gift is not a tribute." Zhu Hao waved his hand, and Li Dong hurriedly beckoned outside to bring in a load of gifts.

Ma Shiying's face was even more joyful when she looked at the gift, and said with a smile: "It's so polite, please say hello to the elders of the family." Come and watch the tea. ”

The two sat down separately, and Ma Shiying said straight to the point: "I have received a tip-off that the virtuous nephew led the guards at home to exterminate the bandits of Erlong Mountain who have been plagued for many years in one fell swoop, and in addition to a big harm to the people of Fengyang, it is really a hero for a young man." I think that the old man returned from the three expeditions to Longshan in vain, alas, the old man! Overwhelmed. ”

"Why should adults be presumptuous? With all due respect, the lack of success in the conquest is not the fault of the adults, but the fault of the imperial court, the officials and soldiers have accumulated disadvantages for many years, and they are often greedy for life and afraid of death, so what is strange about being defeated by bandits? The little nephew was lucky to win a battle, but the brothers under the battle were grateful for the kindness of their father and served desperately, if the little nephew was allowed to lead the official army, he would definitely lose. Adults are the great talents of the world, the pillars of the country, why bother with such a trivial matter? ”

"Well said! The words of the virtuous nephew really went to my heart, alas, the old man has been an official for 20 years, in view of the increasing erosion of the imperial court and the increasing slackening of armaments, it is really heartbreaking, and the virtuous nephew hit the nail on the head, but it makes me feel a lot more relieved. ”

Although Ma Shiying didn't understand why Zhu Hao valued himself so much, he saw that this young man was humble and polite, very knowledgeable in conversation, and very fond of it, but due to the limitations of the times, he did not have the talent of Kuang Shi, and he had the ambition to serve the country but could not do anything about the situation.

Zhu Hao knew that although this Ma Shiying was now a painless governor of Fengyang, when Beijing fell a few years later, it would be time to soar into the sky, so he tried his best to pave the way for future development.

"Uncle Ma, there is an uninvited invitation for the little nephew to come this time." Zhu Hao said cautiously.

"Oh, whatever you say, the old man will do his best." Ma Shiying, who was called by Uncle Ma, was overjoyed, although he valued Zhu Hao, he valued the forces behind him even more, so these two people were quite "embarrassed", Zhu Hao called him uncle, which obviously shortened the distance between the two sides.

"That's the case, the little nephew has been practicing literature and martial arts since he was a child, and he has also studied one or two of the military books of his ancestor General Qi, and he has some experience at his own expense, but he has no way to report the country, but he feels that there is no way, so this time he handed over a petition to see if Uncle Ma could give him some advice." Zhu Hao was not disgusted with Ma Shiying, so he directly said his intentions.

"What kind of difficult thing should I do, the virtuous nephew has the court in his heart, and he has the talent to learn, which is the blessing of the country, this matter is wrapped up in me, I will write a fold later, and the matter of this suppression of bandits will be played in the court, and the virtuous nephew will be promoted to a military position." Ma Shiying is not a jealous person, so he patted his chest and agreed.

"Okay, then thank Uncle Ma first." Zhu Hao was overjoyed, and hurriedly got up and threw himself to the ground.

"This is a silver ticket of 10,000 taels, please Uncle Ma take it, you can protect your little nephew, and you can't let you break the bank, I still understand this rule." Zhu Hao took out a stack of silver tickets and handed it over.

Ma Shiying was also not polite, Shi Shiran took it, this is the unspoken rule of officialdom, and he didn't feel inappropriate.

"Oh, by the way, the little nephew of the bandit leader Wang Boda has investigated, this person has some martial arts, and there are no major bad deeds, I think the current court is the time to employ people, so I will take them under my own command, and where I transgress, I also hope that Uncle Ma Haihan." Zhu Hao was sloppy.

"It's a trivial matter, the bandit leader of Erlong Mountain has indeed not done any major evil deeds over the years, so I'll leave it to you." Ma Shiying disagreed.

"In this case, the adult is busy with official business, the little nephew will not bother, and the little nephew will ask the uncle for the twist and turn, and the little nephew will have a light on his face to achieve this victory under the dispatch of the adult." Zhu Hao said with a smile.

"It's easy to say, it's easy to say, it will take at least two months to go back and forth to Beijing, don't worry about waiting for news at home, I won't keep you, I'll send you." Ma Shiying understood Zhu Hao's hints, he was an old fritter in officialdom, of course he understood that Zhu Hao gave up a to himself, and he appreciated this young man more and more.