The time was fast approaching. From the beginning of the unitary period, at the gate of the former Thang Long Mansion, there was an endless stream of people coming and going. First of all, a few people who were wearing silk clothes, but their clothes were still simple, and the Chinese language was not good. At first glance, these people were the most ordinary local gentry or officials.

Immediately, dozens of horses stopped at the door of the mansion, and two people wearing the costumes of the Prince of Daming got off their horses and were welcomed into the mansion by Mu Sheng; After that, Lu Lu continued to have many gorgeously dressed people with servants to the door of the palace, hearing the words of the Ming soldiers guarding the door not allowing their servants to enter, some people still showed unhappy looks on their faces, but they didn't dare to say anything, let the servants wait at the door; Only the former Annan Tran Dynasty Taichang Nguyen Chong Ru was allowed to bring servants in.

When the time came, no one came here again, and the door suddenly fell silent, and the soldiers guarding the door lit a giant lantern and stood at the door to continue to stand guard.

The porter stayed in the hut and fell asleep. Now the person who can be the porter is of course Mu Sheng's cronies, is the servant he brought from Kunming, he served Mu Sheng to get up before dawn this morning, and rode all the way to Thang Long City, and did not sleep at noon, when there was something to do, he sat on the chair when he was fine, and kept 'nodding'.

Half-asleep, he suddenly heard the shouts from the palace, "The grass people send His Royal Highness King Jingjiang, His Royal Highness King Min, Mu Hou Ye", and suddenly a spirit, picked up a towel and wiped his face, and stood at the door of the hut.

After a while, people came out of it one after another. They gathered in groups of three or five, saying something in their mouths in words that the porter did not understand, and some of them argued quite fiercely.

Suddenly, a large group of Annamites appeared in front of the porter's eyes. These people stood scattered around an old man, listening to what the old man said in Chinese, nodding his head from time to time.

The porter didn't care what they said, but noticed that this old man was the Annan gentry who the old man Mu Sheng had specially instructed to allow the servants to bring into the mansion, and remembered his other teachings, and came out of the house and said to the man, "Lord Ruan, let's go." ”

Ruan Chongru hesitated slightly when he heard his words, and then responded with a smile and walked out of the original Thang Long Mansion.

After Ruan Chongru left the palace, he quickly got into a carriage and returned home. It was getting late, but instead of returning to his yard to rest, he went to a side hall of his house.

When he came to the side hall, there were already two middle-aged men waiting inside, and when they saw Ruan Chongru, they hurriedly saluted, and asked eagerly, "Big brother, what did the people of the Ming Kingdom say?" ”

"yes, big brother, what did they say? I heard that there is also the Prince of Ming Kingdom coming? ”

Ruan Chongru sat in his seat without any hurry, took a sip of tea before saying, "What's the panic!" I am too often of the original Chen Dynasty, and I did not serve as a palm seal official in the Hu Dynasty on the grounds of old age, but just an idle prose official, how can the Ming Dynasty respect me, why be so anxious? ”

The two of them did not refute his words at all, and stood aside and listened honestly.

"What's more, what can the prince of Daming say," Ruan Chongru said again: "It's nothing more than to calm everyone's minds and let everyone support Daming, there are no new tricks, just like when the Hu family's father and son first succeeded to the throne." ”

"It's the same as the Hu family's father and son who just succeeded to the throne? Could it be that the rumors are true, Daming is going to swallow Annan? Ruan Chongru's younger brother, Ruan Mingru, asked.

"I think so. However, instead of setting up three divisions, a vassal king was crowned as the king of Annam. Judging from today's situation, most of them are the kings of Jingjiang. Ruan Chongru said.

"King Jingjiang? It's okay, who is the king different? As long as it is not directly controlled by the Ming court. Another younger brother, Nguyen Xinru, said.

Their Ruan family had long discussed what to do if Daming swallowed Annan. The conclusion is that it is acceptable to add a vassal king, but it is not acceptable to be directly governed by the Ming Dynasty.

If it is directly governed by the Ming Dynasty, they will have to pass the imperial examination to be an official like the scholars in the Ming Dynasty, although it is very attractive to be an official in the rich land of the Ming Dynasty, but the imperial examination makes them have no way to inherit their current position, and their families are officials in a place thousands of miles away, and most of the local officials are Han people who came from the Ming headquarters, and they are bound to not be able to maintain their current power.

It's not the same with a vassal king in charge. In their opinion, there is not much difference between a feudal king and a local monarch, both of them have to appoint local people as officials, and the power of the family will not decline. Therefore, they can accept being ruled by a vassal king, and cannot accept being directly governed by the Ming court.

The two of them let go of their worries, and asked Ruan Chongru a few words about King Jingjiang, wanting to understand his preferences in advance, so that they could do what he liked, Ruan Mingru suddenly thought of something, and asked: "Big brother, can Daming want to collect grain?" ”

"Naturally, there is a need to levy grain. Before leaving, the Hu family father and son scattered most of the grain to the people, so that there was not much food left in the granary, and the Ming army also had to eat, so they could only collect grain. ”

"However," Ruan Chongru sneered, "as long as he does not set troops to grab grain but levies grain, it will be the same as the Chen Dynasty or the Hu Dynasty levying taxes, and it is not up to them to say anything." ”

"Grain, cloth and even money, you have to give a little bit, but you can't give as much as you want, Annan has had its own rules for hundreds of years since its independence, and if you want to grab a handful and leave, you can disobey these rules, since you want to rule Annan in the future, you must abide by Annan's rules."

"Big brother is right!" Ruan Xinru said: "Annam has always ruled the world with scholars, just like the Great Song Dynasty, no, it is more powerful than the Great Song Dynasty, just like ruling the world with the scholars during the Wei, Jin, and Southern Dynasties. The major events of the court can't be whatever the monarch says. ”

"That's it! Now that there is a war, the big guys can be considerate and give money to support, but when the war is over, how to collect taxes and who to collect taxes will have to be discussed with everyone. The world of Annan still has to rely on the scholars of Annan to manage, even if one or two Han people come over as officials, can they manage such a big place? Ruan Minh Ru said.

The two of you said it word by word.

After they had spoken for a while, Ruan Chongru coughed and said, "Mingru, you will send people to various families in the city tomorrow to talk to them about this matter and let them rest assured; Xinru, you are the same, you don't have to be too detrimental to find the officials in the city who have taken refuge in the Ming Dynasty. ……”

The two of them agreed in unison. The three of them said a few more words, and Ruan Chongru finally said: "We don't want to fight against Daming, but we must let His Royal Highness King Jingjiang know the rules of Annan." Hundreds of years of rules, can't just be messed up! ”

……

……

Just when the Ruan family was talking about this in their own house, there were many people in the entire Thang Long Mansion who said the same thing, and the content was much the same, except for one family.

"I'm!" Zhu Zanyi threw his hat on the table and said loudly: "These gentry of Annan are too blind! ”

"In the face of the Ming Dynasty's demand for grain and salary, he dared to push back and cry one by one! Damn, who doesn't know that it's possible for them to say that there isn't much money, and there aren't many places where gold and silver are produced in Annan; can say that he doesn't have much food in his hands, so he liars ghosts! The grain in Annam is ripened three times a year, and even if the output of each ripening is not as good as that of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the total grain in a year is more than that of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. I thought I was so easy to fool! ”

Zhu Yang was also angry: "These people are too rampant, last year I conquered Ava, and the magnates of Ava are respectful, how can they be so rampant!" ”

Mu Sheng's face is not good-looking: At today's banquet, the officials in Shenglong City are still good, although the local gentry are respectful on the surface, but the resistance inside can be seen by anyone with a discerning eye, which is much more rampant than the gentry in Daming! Since the first emperor used the thunderous means to use the Hu Weiyong case, the empty seal case and the Guo Huan case to hit the domestic gentry, the gentry are all holding their tails and behaving people, how dare they behave like these people!

"They must not be left alone. I originally thought that the people of Annam also advocated Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and they were no different from the people of the Central Plains, and they were more tolerant than the barbarians; But now it seems that it may be possible to treat the common people with kindness, but it must not be merciful to these gentry. I will be the first monarch in the future, and if a law is formed in my hands, it is even more impossible for future generations to change it, and we must resolutely suppress their arrogance. Let them understand who is the master of this land! Zhu Zanyi said. Now there are only Mu Sheng and Zhu Yang in the house, and he will not swerve the secret, telling the story that he has been designated as the monarch.

The two of them naturally had already guessed it, and they were not surprised, and continued to denounce the gentry of Thang Long City.

The three of them scolded for a quarter of an hour before stopping, took a sip of tea from their teacups, sat down in their chairs, and began to discuss countermeasures.

It's easy to scold people, even if you scold them in front of those gentry, it's fine, but how to solve this matter is not so easy.

There is a solution to this matter, and that is to arrest and execute the gentry who do not obey orders. This method is simple and clear, and now the soldiers in their hands are all transferred from the country, and they have nothing to do with the local area, and there will be no situation like Emperor Chongzhen in the late Ming Dynasty who will not implement the situation even if he orders the soldiers to arrest people and raid their homes, and there is no need to worry about poor implementation.

But there are two problems: first, that all the gentry of the city will resolutely resist when they hear about this, and the war may be prolonged; Second, even if the war is over, in the face of a regime that is even more 'brutal' than the Hu family's father and son, and does not trust the locals, the locals will set off a large-scale uprising, and the military expenditure of the Ming Dynasty to maintain its rule will probably be astronomical, even if Yun Xi's support is firm, I am afraid it will not be able to bear it. In fact, Yun Xi confessed before Zhu Zanyi and others left: The battle for Annan is three parts military and seven points political, and we must pay attention to uniting local people who are willing to cooperate with the Ming Dynasty and resolutely eradicate those who oppose the Ming Dynasty.

"But Your Majesty didn't say how to deal with these people who are both cooperative and confrontational!" Zhu Zanyi muttered to herself.

"Before you two came," Mu Sheng suddenly said, "Jingchang suddenly ran over from the original Hanoi County Government and put forward suggestions on how to treat the local gentry. ”

"He said that the gentry of Thang Long City are all people at both ends of the first rat, and they cannot be trusted, so it is better to use the Hongmen Banquet to execute them all, and then raid their homes, and the matter of Thang Long City will be resolved."

"Well," Zhu Yang said, "Jingchang's judgment is very correct, they do have two ends of the rat, but they can't kill them all." You can dispose of a few chickens and monkeys, but if you dispose of them all, you will really not be able to rule Annan in the future. ”

"How about killing a few chickens to warn them?" Zhu Zanyi said suddenly.

"That's fine, but what if it doesn't work?" Mu Sheng asked rhetorically: "Besides, there is still a war now, if they see that Daming treats the gentry more ruthlessly than the Hu family's father and son, it is possible that they will change their attitude of supporting Daming now, and the future battle will not be easy to fight." ”

"This ,......" Zhu Zanyi didn't know what to do.

They talked a few more words, and Zhu Yang said: "In my opinion, Zhu Zanyi, you still have to wait until the battle is over, and the participation of the Hu family father and son in the country has also been eliminated, and then talk about dealing with the gentry." Didn't my father rectify the gentry after unifying the whole country? I was in Ava, and it was only after the war with the Bago that I returned to Ava to begin dealing with the people at both ends of the city. ”

"But there is one thing you must do immediately: those fields that originally belonged to the Hu Dynasty must be immediately inventoried, registered, and received, and distributed to the soldiers who remained in Annan in the future."

"And the women who have been 'captured' in the war, don't give them out easily, and give them all to your generals in the future; don't you sell them all to the merchants who accompany the army, you sell them all, how can you make your soldiers take wives? In the future, these women will be very useful, enough to make the soldiers loyal to you. ”

"Also, Your Majesty will agree that the soldiers who stay in Annan will definitely have the soldiers who were exiled from the north during the Luser Rebellion, and you had better care about them and not let them be angry with you. I remember that one of them was Zhang Fu's father? Talk to him more when you have time. ……”

Zhu Zanyi nodded while listening to Zhu Yang's teaching. After listening to this, he was about to nod his head, when he suddenly reacted: "Isn't it discussing how to deal with the gentry of Thang Long City?" Why did the topic turn to how to govern the country? It's not too late to talk about this topic later. ”

"Isn't it a discussion to discuss and think it's better not to make a big deal with them now? So that's it. ”