The Ming army rested in Jianchang for a while, replenished grain and grass, and then continued to march in the direction of Chengdu.

After several days of marching, the Ming army marched almost at full speed without any delay.

Although Zhu Youlang's body is pampered, he has not dragged his feet.

After all, arriving in Chengdu a day earlier, Zhu Youlang's plan would be realized one step earlier.

The closer you are to Chengdu, the more people there are in the village.

You can probably see some shadows of the heyday of Shuzhong.

It's just that these villagers who have formed a village to protect themselves are very wary of the army, and it seems that they will run away if there is a slight mistake.

Some villages are even heavily armed, and they are no different from forts.

Zhu Youlang couldn't help but feel that life in troubled times is not as cheap as pigs and dogs, and he can only protect himself in this way.

It's a shame.

Zhu Youlang's imagination of the people rushing to deliver food did not appear, it seems that it will take time to completely win back the hearts of the people.

The letter written in the name of Di Sanxi has been sent, but I don't know when Hong Chengchou will see it.

I hope it will help the Ming army to attack Chongqing.

"Your Majesty, if it goes well today, you should be able to reach the capital."

Li Dingguo drove the horse and said respectfully.

"Oh."

Zhu Youlang replied lightly, paused for a moment and stared at Li Dingguo and said, "I have already thought about what to say to Liu Yao and the others, and King Jin doesn't need to worry." ”

Li Dingguo was stunned for a moment, and immediately understood what the Son of Heaven meant, and hugged his fists full of gratitude: "The ministers and soldiers have thanked Your Majesty." ”

Zhu Youlang smiled slightly: "Continue to march." ”

It is only a few dozen miles away from Chengdu, and it will be possible to reach it soon.

What surprised Zhu Youlang was that when the army marched a few miles away from Chengdu, he saw Liu Yao and others who went out of the city to greet him.

The general soldiers, deputy generals, and all the civil and military cadres are waiting for driving, and there is a big battle!

"Liu Yao, the chief soldier of Chengdu, greets Your Majesty, my emperor Sheng'an."

A military general in his forties with a bearded face quickly stepped forward and knelt down and saluted.

"General Liu, let's be flat."

Zhu Youlang raised his hand and said in a harmonious voice.

"Your Majesty, I learned that Your Majesty will be fortunate in Shuzhong, and the minister has ordered someone to repair the palace and prepare grain and grass."

Liu Yao took the initiative to report with great interest: "There are 13,000 soldiers and 7,000 auxiliary soldiers in Chengdu City. There were one hundred and three forts around it, with a total of 5,000 soldiers. ”

Zhu Youlang, a pragmatic general like Liu Yao, is still very satisfied.

As the commander of an army, you don't need to have all the information, but you must know the key information.

Zhu Youlang glanced at it and found that the Laochuan army represented by Liu Yao did not show hostility towards Li Dingguo and others, at least not on the face.

Could it be that he is overthinking?

"General Liu has worked hard. Can all the Northern Expedition troops enter the city and station? ”

"This..."

Liu Yao couldn't help but look embarrassed when he heard this.

"Is there any difficulty?"

Zhu Youlang was slightly displeased.

The army traveled long distances, and camping in the wilderness was inevitable.

Now I finally have the opportunity to go into the city to rest and enjoy the feeling of sleeping under the eaves, if Liu Yao does not cooperate, it will be impossible to say.

In Zhu Youlang's view, Chengdu is now the largest and most prosperous city in the area actually controlled by the Ming Dynasty, and even Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, is far beyond it.

In any case, Chengdu can fit these soldiers.

Liu Yao thought for a moment, gritted his teeth and clenched his fists and said: "Your Majesty doesn't know that Chengdu City is no longer what it used to be. ”

Zhu Youlang frowned and said, "Let's hear it." ”

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid there are not enough houses in the city for the soldiers to live in."

Zhu Youlang only thought it was funny, this reason really didn't make sense.

Chengdu is also a first-class big city, how can there not be enough houses for the soldiers to live in?

"General Liu, isn't he making fun of me?"

"I don't dare."

Liu Yao was shocked in a cold sweat and hurriedly explained: Your Majesty doesn't know, many merchants and people in the city have fled, and these houses are ownerless houses. The requisition of the army is indispensable. But, but..."

"But what?"

"But these houses have been uninhabited for a long time, and I'm afraid they are already infested with snakes and rats."

Liu Yao sighed.

This one... Zhu Youlang really didn't expect it.

"How many people are there in Chengdu now?"

"There should be one or two thousand, right?"

Liu Yao obviously didn't know as much about the number of people in Chengdu as he did about the number of soldiers. But it doesn't seem to be too bad, it should be this number.

The once prosperous southwest city has decayed to this point, and there are only 10,000 or 20,000 people in the city?

Zhu Youlang was shocked and his heart was dripping blood!

In this way, the situation in Chengdu is not much better than Kunming!

Zhu Youlang did make the mistake of empiricism.

Although he was very interested in the history of the late Ming Dynasty and even the Southern Ming Dynasty in his previous life, he was not an expert in the professional study of dynastic history after all, and his grasp of some details was not very good.

In his opinion, the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and Chengdu should still have another 100,000 people in decay.

But the actual situation now is that after several military disasters, Chengdu is still there except for the shelf, and it really has nothing to do with the prosperous Jinguan City in history.

It's amazing.

It took Zhu Youlang a long time to calm down, and said helplessly: "Chengdu is so far, it's my fault." ”

There is nothing wrong with Zhu Youlang saying this.

The emperor is the supreme ruler of the feudal dynasty, he is not in charge, who is in charge?

Can throwing the pot like Chongzhen solve the problem?

The previous Zhu Youlang did not play the role that the king of a country should have. Except that running away is running away, and refusing to take on a little of the responsibility of a king.

"The minister is terrified."

Liu Yao hurriedly buried his head, not daring to face the emperor.

"What I say is from my heart."

Zhu Youlang sighed and said: "I taste three provinces a day, because I am worried that my personal virtue will affect the well-being of all people. Now it seems that I have not done enough. ”

After a pause, Zhu Youlang continued: "As for the question General Liu said, I think it's better to clean up the house than to live in a tent, right?" The soldiers are working too hard. ”

The Son of Heaven has said everything to this point, and it would be too uninteresting for Liu Yao to refuse again.

He hurriedly clenched his fists and said: "In this case, the minister ordered the soldiers to cooperate to clean up the house." ”

"That's very good."

Zhu Youlang nodded with satisfaction.

Originally, Zhu Youlang prepared a set of rhetoric, ready to painstakingly reconcile the contradictions between Liu Yao and Li Dingguo.

But now it seems that it should not be used.

At least on the surface, it seems that Liu Yao behaved very decently, and did not mean to target Li Dingguo.

Daming really can't stand the toss now.

Only by understanding each other and overcoming difficulties together can there be a glimmer of hope for a turnaround. If you want to continue the internal friction, it will really be dark.

"If there's nothing else to do, let's go into town."

Zhu Youlang was also a little tired from the long march and wanted to take a good rest.

…

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