On both sides of an official road paved with gravel loess, two gray hares were eating weeds and looking around vigilantly.

Suddenly, two of their ears suddenly stood up, and then they jumped to the side at lightning speed, and then disappeared into the grass immediately.

After a while, there was a rumbling sound of horses' hooves, and soon a group of cavalry appeared on the official road, these cavalrymen were wearing the traditional Mandarin Duck battle jackets of the Ming Army, wearing eight-petal helmets on their heads, long knives hanging from their waists, and carrying a brown Bess fire gun behind their backs.

The leader of the man was about thirty years old, wearing a set of stainless steel armor, covered with a mandarin duck battle jacket, his thin face looked calm and calm in the siege, but his face was quite weathered, and there were dozens of cavalry beside him, and each cavalryman was led by two or three war horses.

Judging from the position of these cavalrymen, it is obvious that they are all the personal soldiers of the middle-aged man in the middle, and this middle-aged man is Lu Xiangsheng, who urgently returned to Beijing by holy order.

At ten o'clock in the afternoon, Lu Xiangsheng and his party finally saw the shadow of Yongding Gate.

"It's finally here!"

Looking at this ancient and majestic city, Lu Xiangsheng's face showed emotion, he rode his horse to the city gate not far and stopped, and said to Chen Xiong, the Chinese officer behind him: "It's been almost two years, and this official can finally see the capital again." ”

Chen Xiong also nodded and said: "Yes, you were ordered to go to Nanzhili to train the new army in the eighth year of the Apocalypse, and after the training, you sent troops to Shaanxi to suppress the Liukou, and you have not been able to return to Beijing until now, and you can be called the pillar of the country." ”

Lu Xiangsheng waved his hand: "This compliment is not affordable, the official is just doing his part." ”

Chen Xiong was a little unconvinced and said: "My lord trained a new army for the Ming Dynasty and quelled the bandits, how can I not afford this praise?" ”

Lu Xiangsheng looked at the city gate and sighed lightly: "Except for the Duke of Xinguo, who can afford this compliment." ”

Chen Xiong stopped talking when he heard it, to this day, no one knows Yang Feng's name, no matter how arrogant he is, he doesn't dare to say that the credit of his own commander is stronger than Yang Feng, who exterminated the Manchu Qing Dynasty and quelled the coastal bandits, recovered Taiwan, and expanded the territory for the Ming Dynasty.

"Let's go!" Lu Xiangsheng smiled: "Riding a horse towards Yongding Gate......"

"Your Majesty."

Sandezi hurriedly walked into the imperial study and saluted Zhu Youxiao, who was reviewing the folds, and said, "Your Majesty, Lu Xiangsheng has returned to Beijing, and now he is handing over a sign outside to ask to see." ”

"Oh...... Hurry up! ”

"......"

Sandezi took the order and left, and after a while, he led Lu Xiang into the imperial study.

When Lu Xiangsheng entered the imperial study and saw Zhu Youxiao sitting on the dragon chair looking at him with a smile, his eyes immediately turned red, and he immediately bowed down to Zhu Youxiao: "Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Shaanxi, see Your Majesty, may my emperor live long live long live." ”

"Huh...... Lu Aiqing, please hurry up, Sandezi, hurry up and give Lu Aiqing a seat. ”

Zhu Youxiao walked down, came to Lu Xiangsheng and personally helped him up, looked at him for a while, and saw Lu Xiangsheng with a dusty face and sighed: "Lu Aiqing has worked hard in the past two years. ”

Listening to Zhu Youxiao's words, Lu Xiangsheng's eyes turned red: "Your Majesty has won the award, serving Your Majesty for the imperial court, and the ministers are not hard." ”

"Huh...... What are these words. Zhu Youxiao said angrily: "The court has always paid attention to the reward and punishment of meritorious service, and your merit is your merit, and no one can take it away."

This time, I ordered you to lead an army of 30,000 to return to Beijing, firstly, because most of the Liukou in Shaanxi have been quelled, and the next things can be handed over to the local government, and I still have important matters to entrust to you. ”

As soon as Lu Xiangsheng heard that he had something to do, he stood up and bowed down and said, "The minister dares to disobey his orders!" ”

"Huh...... No hurry, no hurry. Zhu Youxiao laughed: "Lu Aiqing, you are still in a hurry, as the saying goes, you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry, this is the same principle as an official, if you are still so frizzy when you encounter something, how dare I entrust you with big things?" ”

"Your Majesty taught you a lesson." Lu Xiangsheng's old face turned slightly red, and he bowed down to admit his mistake.

"Sit down."

Zhu Youxiao continued: "Lu Aiqing, I don't know how much you know about what happened in Jiangnan a few days ago? ”

"Although the minister is in Shaanxi, he also knows a little about the affairs of Jiangnan." Lu Xiangsheng pondered and said: "Although the Jiangnan Liukou has been quelled, a series of measures taken by the Duke of Xinguo in Jiangnan have made the Jiangnan gentry more dissatisfied with them.

Especially a few days ago, Xinguo Gong openly proposed the law of one errand and one grain payment to the forefront, and the minister thought that the law of one errand and one food payment was indeed a good policy, but he thought that Xinguo Gong used this fierce law to promote the law, and it was not a good thing to make too many enemies. ”

"That's why I recruited you to Beijing."

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said: "You and Yang Aiqing are both pillars of the Ming Dynasty, and Yang Aiqing has made great achievements for the Ming Dynasty." It's a pity that Yang Aiqing is not determined to be in the Ming Dynasty, and always wants to go overseas, so it is inevitable that he will be in a hurry.

This is also the reason why I dare not send him to Jiangnan to implement the reform, otherwise, according to Yang Aiqing's temperament, if he is allowed to preside over the promotion of one errand and one food, I am worried that in less than a year, the gentry in Jiangnan will have to be killed by him. ”

Lu Xiangsheng also showed a wry smile after hearing this, Yang Feng's "thirst for killing" is famous, there are not too many officials and gentry who have died in his hands over the years, if he is really sent to Jiangnan to implement the reform, and when the reform is successful, it will be the time when the Jiangnan gentry will be extinct.

"Looks like you've got it." Seeing Lu Xiangsheng's thoughtful look, Zhu Youxiao asked: "Lu Aiqing, I plan to divide 20,000 of the 30,000 new troops you have trained to join the Beijing camp, what do you think?" ”

Lu Xiangsheng said without thinking: "Your Majesty is the son of the great tomorrow, and the new army is Your Majesty's new army, so the ministers naturally have to obey Your Majesty's will." ”

"Lu Xiangsheng is really a loyal minister of the imperial court!"

Zhu Youxiao's eyes showed a look of satisfaction, "Next, I plan to appoint you as the governor of Zhejiang and the governor of Jiangnan, with full responsibility for the reform of Jiangnan, what do you think?" ”

"Your Majesty naturally doesn't dare to disobey if you have a decree, but the minister is now a military officer." Lu Xiangsheng was stunned for a moment, and then said.

"What about the military position, I will issue an order tomorrow for you to change to a civilian position." Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and said domineeringly: "I will entrust you with the matter of Jiangnan, I will give you two years, in these two years, you must fully implement the law of one errand and one food in Jiangnan, can you do it?" ”

"This ......" Lu Xiangsheng hesitated.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao didn't know what he was worried about, and said: "Don't worry, I won't let you go empty-handed, don't you have 10,000 new troops left, this time you go to the south of the Yangtze River, you also take these 10,000 new troops with you, I want to see who dares to stop Daming's plan to change the law!" ”