Hangzhou City, Zhu Houzhao's station.

Although there is still a lot of disturbance outside, the city of Hangzhou seems relatively quiet.

Although the big families had fled, the people in the city were still living as usual, and although there was some influence, they soon found that the impact was not great.

On the contrary, there are many more patrolling soldiers on the streets, and safety is guaranteed. There are no splashes on the streets, and there are no thieves, and the security is much better.

The prices that everyone was worried about have not risen at all. It's not that businessmen don't want to raise prices, but they really don't have the guts.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince arrested so many people before, and the blood from the head cut off at the gate of Hangzhou City was not dry, who dared to provoke the prince at this time? Aren't you afraid of being really caught and beheaded?

Therefore, none of those big businessmen dared to sit on the ground and raise prices, and there was no one who hoarded them, and each of them did business honestly.

There were even people who fled out of the city and chose to close the door, but they were arrested the next day and directly informed him that it was okay to go out, but they were not allowed to close the door, and the business that should be done must be done.

This scared people.

As for the problem of grain, the waterways in the south of the Yangtze River are well developed, and transportation is not very difficult, and Zhu Youxiao has already mobilized grain from the grain depot in Nanjing.

Although there has been a lot of embezzlement by their hands from top to bottom, after all, they dare not blatantly empty all the grain in the granary, so there is still a lot of grain in Nanjing, especially the grain stock in the past few years.

After Zhu Houzhao had the final say, the grain stock of the Ming Dynasty was constantly rising, because the court was rich.

For the officials and emperors of the Ming Dynasty, food was always the most important, so they were also very careful about storing it.

As a result, there was enough food in Nanjing, and there was no problem in dealing with this rebellion anyway.

The only thing that worries people is what to do in the future, because once the matter is over, there will be no place to grow food in Zhejiang, so there will be a food crisis.

Zhu Houzhao doesn't care about this, since Jiangxi can provide enough food for Zhejiang, then he can also provide enough food for Zhejiang.

No matter how Jiangxi got it, I was confident that I would get it in their way. Zhu Houzhao is not worried at all.

What's more, Zhu Houzhao already knew the way, all of this grain was shipped from overseas, and it was obvious that grain was used as a trading item in the sea trade.

For Zhu Houzhao, this is not a big deal, just take this opportunity to take Jiangxi down, and take the foundation laid by King Ning and them.

Anyway, this time I came to the south, and I was supposed to prepare for sea trade.

Now that the north has settled down, the Mongol tribes of the steppe are struggling to survive. Zhu Houzhao didn't know how long they could hold out, and as the Xiaoice River period approached, the days in the north would become more and more difficult.

When that time comes, they have no way to go, because now many places are occupied by the Ming Dynasty. Unless they move south, or surrender, there is no second way to go.

They couldn't defeat the Ming Dynasty and could only surrender, so Zhu Houzhao had enough time and energy to put the target in the south.

This reform is the beginning, and the Department of Taxation will take over the national taxation, clear the land throughout the country, and find out all the hidden land. Let all the gentry pay taxes.

Of course, it is not the gentry who pay the grain in one piece, but let them pay all the taxes they should pay. After all, each gentry has a quota of tax exemptions, not that all their land must be tax exempt.

Of course, this is just a matter of doing things, because it is impossible to check all the land by yourself, which is a waste of time.

Zhu Houzhao did this, in fact, to let the tax department take over the country's taxation, and the next step was for the officials and gentry to pay the grain together.

He did not have the time and energy to entangle with people in this matter, as long as after this order was issued, their fields would be taxed, and no one would continue to consult with them, and they would no longer hide their land, as long as they had money, they would have to pay taxes.

Of course, this will increase the burden on the lower classes, because the gentry will pass on the taxes to the tenants, which will make life more difficult for the common people.

If there are no high-yielding crops, they will rebel; Otherwise, it's a dead end.

The way out that Zhu Houzhao found for them was business, either to go to sea, or to Liaodong and Northwest. This can promote the development of foreign trade in the Ming Dynasty.

As for the supply of grain, Zhu Houzhao developed the northeast on the one hand, and the goal on the other hand was the southwest.

Southeast Asia's grain can be cooked several times a year, and it is completely possible to transport grain from there. At the same time, high-yield crops were promoted in Daming.

These are some of Zhu Houzhao's ideas, but they need to be done step by step.

This time, the incident in Jiangxi actually gave him a surprise, which allowed him to save some effort.

Sitting in the rocking chair and thinking of these things, Zhu Houzhao sighed slightly in his heart.

Originally, he wanted to clean up King Ning, and he didn't want King Ning to make a fuss like in his previous life, after all, that time it was quite a big one.

It's just that I didn't expect King Ning to develop so fast, and this was created by himself. This makes Zhu Houzhao's feeling a little complicated.

I was happy with the foundation laid by King Ning, and at the same time I was resentful that King Ning had made things so big.

"Your Highness." Liu Jin cautiously walked to Zhu Houzhao's side, and then said respectfully: "The news just came that King Ning of Jiangxi sent troops, saying that there was a rebellion in Zhejiang, and he brought someone to rescue him. ”

Zhu Houzhao slowly opened his eyes, looked up at Liu Jin, and asked, "How many people?" ”

"Back to His Royal Highness the Prince, the details are not clear, but King Ning's side claims to be 200,000." When Liu Jin said this, he was very cautious, for fear of angering Zhu Houzhao.

In fact, it did not surprise Zhu Houzhao. Because in his previous life, King Ning said that he dispatched 100,000 horses, and it is not surprising that he is called 200,000 in this life, after all, his current strength should be stronger than in his previous life.

However, this kind of thing is not to say that you have a lot of people; It's not something you take for granted, especially in the age of cold weapons.

Zhu Houzhao was actually skeptical about the combat effectiveness of King Ning's army. Because the number of people is made up of an army, and without actual combat, their combat effectiveness is not much higher.

Zhu Houzhao waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about it over there, when will Zhu Fu arrive in Hangzhou?" ”

This is what Zhu Houzhao cares about.

Before King Ning arrived in Hangzhou, he had to take care of the affairs here, and then take his troops to deal with King Ning.

There's no way I'm going to have a powder keg buried here and just walk away. Otherwise, it is easy to cause a fire in the back garden, which will outweigh the losses.

"Back to His Royal Highness the Prince, the news over there came relatively quickly. Three days later, Cheng Guogong will arrive in Hangzhou. Liu Jin hurriedly said.

Zhu Houzhao nodded and said: "Let people spread the news early the day after tomorrow, and then let Hangzhou be under martial law." Wait until the night after tomorrow to let Zhu Fu appear outside Hangzhou. ”

"Yes, His Royal Highness the Prince, the slave will go to pass the order immediately." After Liu Jin said this, he turned around and walked outside.

Hangzhou City, Shunchang cloth shop.

Wang Huai looked at Zhou Lao Er with an excited face, and asked, "King Ning has sent troops?" ”

"Yes, troops have already been dispatched. It is said that 200,000 horses were dispatched and came directly to Hangzhou. Land and water go hand in hand, I believe that you will soon be able to reach Hangzhou City. Zhou Lao Er hurriedly said.

Wang Huai stood up excitedly and said loudly: "It's really good! ”

After speaking, he turned his head to look at Zhou Lao Er again, and asked, "Where is Li Zhong?" ”

"It should be time to go to Hangzhou City in the next two days." Zhou Lao Er thought for a while and said, "But because of the war, our news transmission is not smooth, so we can't figure out the specific time." ”

"It's okay, tell the people in the city to get ready." Wang Huai laughed and said: "After Li Zhong arrives in Hangzhou City, we will join forces inside and outside and take Hangzhou in one fell swoop." When the time comes, I will go and see the prince. When he was killing in Yangzhou City, I am afraid that he never thought of today. ”

When Wang Huai said this, he gritted his teeth, and his tone was full of resentment.

Glancing at Wang Huai, Zhou Lao Er didn't say anything more.

Because he knew that it was too late to say anything at this time, he nodded and said, "Sir, don't worry, our affairs have already been arranged." Our people in Hangzhou Wei are also ready to do it at any time, and when the time comes, they will kill Liao Zhong and make Hangzhou Wei chaotic. ”

"Once Hangzhou City is in chaos, we will be able to take the opportunity to open the city gate and let Li Zhong in, and then the whole of Hangzhou will be ours." Zhou Lao Er said with some hesitation: "It's just that we really don't wait for King Ning?" ”

In fact, Zhou Lao Er and Wang Huai had discussed this matter before.

In Zhou Laoer's opinion, although there are more and more people in Li Zhong, it is best to wait. When King Ning's men arrived, the two sides should cooperate inside and outside, which was the best idea.

But this proposal was vetoed by Wang Huai, he didn't want to wait for King Ning, he wanted to take Hangzhou himself.

"Don't wait for him." Wang Huai directly shook his head and said, "Why are we waiting for that idiot? If we can take Hangzhou, Hangzhou will be our place in the future, why should we give it to him? ”

Wang Huai said with excitement in his tone: "As long as we take Hangzhou, we will not return it to him." ”

Zhou Lao Er also knew Wang Huai's plan, but he still felt that it was inappropriate, but he really couldn't persuade him.

Originally, what he wanted to say was that there was no news from his third brother, so we had to wait.

Now we can only settle for the next best thing, waiting for King Ning to arrive.

But Wang Huai obviously couldn't wait, and in such a situation, Zhou Lao Er knew that his persuasion had failed again.

So he said, "Then I'll arrange it right away." ”

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, the city of Hangzhou is closed again.

This time is different from the last time, the last time was when His Royal Highness the Crown Prince made people close the city; Although this time His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also made people close the city, but last time it was because His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wanted to arrest people, but this time it was because someone rebelled.

Everyone is starting to get really scared.

As the sun set, an army finally appeared outside the city.

No one knows how many people came, only that it was boundless and crowded.

At the front, a large flag was erected, with a large "Li" character written on it.

Everyone knows that this is Li Zhong's banner, and the reputation of this traitor is very great during this time.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao had already changed into armor and walked up to the city with a long knife.

There was also a rumor in the city of Hangzhou, everyone knew that the rebels were coming, and all the civil and military officials were very nervous.

Zhu Houzhao stood on the wall, looking at the military outside, with a very indifferent expression on his face.

Turning his head to look at Zhang He who was standing beside him, Zhu Houzhao opened his mouth and asked, "Is everything arranged?" ”

"Back to His Royal Highness the Prince, I am ready, and Cheng Guogong will launch an attack tomorrow morning." Zhang He opened his mouth and said, and he didn't know what the expression was on his face.

Because tomorrow's rush is a farce, just to act a play.

As for whether it is worried about being discovered by the enemy. Don't worry about that at all, because there are no enemies here.

Ordinary people can't go to the city, and as for whether there are traitors in the army, they can't see it.

Because now it is the Black Dragon Army guarding the wall, and the soldiers in other places have been driven down.

As for the reasons and reasons given, they are also very simple, that is, because His Royal Highness the Crown Prince looks down on them.

So in such a situation. It's simply impossible to leak the news.

Tomorrow's battle is arranged like this:

Zhu Fu will let people rush to the city, of course, but most of them will shout and kill, and then someone will really rush up, but they will not be killed. They just climb from under the city to the top of the city, and then they will be taken straight down.

It can be said that they would transport troops to the city in this way, which is also a whimsy.

Hearing Zhang He say that the arrangement was made, Zhu Youxiao nodded and said: "Then this place will be handed over to you, go back to the city to have a look, I believe the city will be more lively than here." ”

"Yes, His Royal Highness the Prince." Zhang He hurriedly agreed.

Early the next morning, shouts of killing sounded outside the city, and at the same time, horns and cannons rumbled, shaking the city of Hangzhou.

Everyone knew that the rebels were attacking the city. It's just that he shouted and killed for most of the day, but he couldn't get in.

Still, the horrors of the battle were witnessed, as people were constantly being carried down from the city covered in blood, apparently wounded.

Someone else just lifted down straight, not moving, obviously this person had already died in battle.

All this was seen by the people in Hangzhou, and everyone knew that the battle was very fierce, and it could even be described as tragic.

The news naturally reached Wang Huai.

He looked at Zhou Lao Er, who came to report the news, he was so excited that he almost didn't jump up, and his face was full of excitement and said: "I really didn't expect Li Zhong to be so capable, it's really unexpected, but it's also an unexpected joy." ”

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