Zhu Gaoxu seems to have returned to the days when he first arrived in Yunnan Mansion: when the weather is good, he will go out for a circle, and then return to the palace, and most of his life rules are like this. But it seems to be very different, probably in a different state of mind.

At that time, he couldn't be independent of many things, and it depended on the attitude of his father and the court, but he didn't have many troubles. Now it's the opposite.

Zhu Gaoxu left the school field and returned to the study in the front hall, he was used to doing things here, and many things were placed in a convenient place.

Walking through the carved wooden door, there is a mahogany rectangular bookcase in the center, and a chair covered with a futon in the back. In front of the bookcase, there are also round stools of different heights and a round table.

On the east side, there is a row of wooden windows hung with light gray gauze curtains, and in the courtyard of the corridor facing the side, you can see the flowers and trees planted in the small courtyard. There is also a door to the west, which houses a windowless storage room.

In addition, against the wall are several large bookshelves with a variety of books, files, and antique porcelain. However, most of the books placed on it are not read by Zhu Gaoxu, and he will only take them when he has nothing to do. It's almost a furnishing.

In the afternoon, Mr. Lee came in with a stack of official papers, and he piled things on the bookcase. Zhu Gaoxu made a gesture with his head, and Mr. Li hugged his fists and bowed, and sat down on the stool in front of the bookcase.

Mr. Li, who was wearing an iron mask, looked a little weird.

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at him, and then said, "In the morning, I went to see the fire gun 'Kaishan Gong' reported by Nansi. The lethality of the Kaishan Gun is not much different from that of the Bronze Fire Gun in the army, but thanks to the fact that the gun can be aimed with both hands, the accuracy should be improved. In time, allowing the bureaus and institutes to produce more pioneering guns, and then waiting for the firearms soldiers to become familiar with their use, will certainly be of great benefit to the chances of victory in the next war. ”

Mr. Li was wearing a mask, and no one could see other expressions except his eyes, and he muttered: "The lower officials estimate that the number of Han Wang's army has exceeded 300,000. According to the decree issued by the prince at the beginning of the army, all the armies under the Han royal palace were given a monthly salary of consistent value when marching and fighting. Now the situation is tense, and the soldiers cannot be allowed to settle in the fields; We need a maximum of 300,000 yuan per month to pay our military salaries!

With the income of the provincial treasury of the three southwestern provinces, the difference between revenue and expenditure is extremely large, and it is likely that it will not be able to sustain it for a long time. It was expected to last for a year or two, but now it is definitely not possible. ”

Zhu Gaoxu asked, "How long can it last?" ”

Mr. Li said: "After the report of the Sichuan Political Envoy and the Guizhou Metropolitan Department is gathered, the Changshi Mansion can calculate the results. But I only think that it will last for a few months at most, and in less than half a year, we will definitely not be able to pay even a penny of military salary! ”

Zhu Gaoxu fell silent. He can't blame Mr. Li, who reminded him at the beginning. At that time, Mr. Li proposed a solution: when he couldn't sustain it, he had to turn his face and deny it.

But now the war is far from over, and Zhu Gaoxu has not grasped the battlefield advantage, he does not dare to do that, for fear that it will shake the morale of the army.

The military pay decree undoubtedly played a great role in the early days of the army. The decree was very simple and effective, the combat effectiveness and loyalty of the Han army increased greatly, and it was quite easy to reorganize and reduce the army; Many of the soldiers are illiterate, but they know whether it is good or not. At that time, the Han Wang's army was weak and had very little chance of winning, and Zhu Gaoxu could not take care of the long-term, so he had to try his best to avoid immediate destruction.

This method is undoubtedly to quench thirst by drinking. In response to the old saying: there is no long-term worry, there must be near-term worry.

A year's military salary is 3.6 million yuan, and if you count the military rations and grass, it is impossible for Zhu Gaoxu to get so much money and materials from the three southwestern provinces. And Zhu Gaoxu didn't dare to rob the big landlords, because he was not Li Zicheng's identity. He is the Prince of the Ming Dynasty, and his subjects from all over the world have a great sense of identification with him; In addition to his illusory reputation, but also because the gentry, generals, and landlords all believed in him...... As the largest landlord in the Ming Dynasty, the Zhu family should protect the interests of everyone.

"Is there a way to fix it?" Zhu Gaoxu asked.

Mr. Li hesitated, "Think of ideas." However, Xia Guan had never been in charge of the household department before, and there were only so many people in the southwest, and the military expenditure was too great, and it was difficult for Xia Guan to find a way to get to the root. ”

Zhu Gaoxu nodded thoughtfully, and said in his heart: Everyone is not an immortal, and some things are indeed difficult to have a clever plan.

He thought hard for a long time, couldn't help but be tempted, and thought of another way: only a gamble?

But Zhu Gaoxu finally didn't say it, and he hadn't thought it through.

Mr. Li took out a copy from a pile of cases: "A letter from the traitor Chen Jikuo of the Jiaozhi Political Envoy Division, the envoy will arrive in Kunming City in a few days. ”

"Oh?" Zhu Gaoxu immediately picked it up and looked at it.

Mr. Li's voice said: "This Chen Jikuo may not really be in power, but he is actually a person supported by a group of local rebel leaders in Jiaozhi; He doesn't necessarily have the surname Chen, just to borrow the name of the Chen family.

Chen Jikuo has established the country name 'Da Yue', proclaimed himself emperor, and changed the Yuan to Chongguang. He had previously sent people to hope that the Jingshi Imperial Court would crown him as the 'King of Yue', but the imperial court refused, and transferred tens of thousands of remnants of the Guizhou Army to reinforce the Thang Long area.

The Jingshi is now fighting the prince with all his might, and there is no time to transfer troops to quell the Jiaozhi rebellion. Xia Guan guessed from the recent news that the Jingshi Junchen wanted to keep the land near Thang Long, hold on for a period of time, and then send a large army to quell the rebellion.

Chen Jikuo and others should have guessed the intentions of the Jingshi Imperial Court, so they sent people to Kunming, hoping to be recognized by the King of Han. In order to seize some opportunities and hope that the prince will win in the future. ”

"I get it." Zhu Gaoxu nodded.

Mr. Li said: "Jiaozhi County is the land where the first emperor opened up the territory during the reign of the first emperor, if the prince gave it to the Jiaozhi rebels, it would be equivalent to losing the ancestral property, and it would be extremely unfavorable to the Han Palace. However, this matter depends on how much benefit Chen Jikuo can give. The benefits are not great, and the lower officials suggested that the prince flatly refuse; The benefits are great, so I agreed to come down first, and after the prince is in charge of the Ming Dynasty in the future, I will regret and deny it. ”

Zhu Gaoxu understood what Mr. Li meant, Mr. Li just said very directly and simply, but in practice, he regretted and did not admit it, and he had to find excuses to blame others, such as the other party's "great disrespect" and "no courtesy" and other unclear reasons.

"I'll talk about it when I see the messenger." Zhu Gaoxu said.

Mr. Li took out another official document with a sticker, "This is the report of the officials of 'Daming City', Mengyang Tusi Si heard of the civil strife in Daming, raised troops to capture and annex many villages, and his strength is getting bigger and bigger." The Ping-Burma Propaganda made Diao unable to control it, and the Ming army was too small in number to control the situation. ”

Zhu Gaoxu said: "Ask the Changshi Mansion and the Yunnan Metropolitan Division to send someone to talk to Si's family." I really couldn't talk about it, so I withdrew the Han military merchants in 'Daming City' in advance to avoid being persecuted by the natives. After the end of the war against crime, the king will send troops to find Si Shi to 'talk'. ”

Mr. Li bowed and said, "This is very good, and the lower official will retire." ”

Zhu Gaoxu sat in the study, reading the newspaper and pondering everything. After the unitary time, he left the front hall and went to the harem.

Zhu Gaoxu has been away from Yunnan for a few months, and now after he returns, he takes turns to let Guo Wei and the two women of Mrs. Feng sleep and accompany them every night. He accompanies Guo Wei the most, Guo Wei's family has just been released from prison, and her mood is very poor.

However, Zhu Gaoxu didn't go back to the dormitory tonight, and went straight to Du Qianrui's place.

Du Qianrui was also very surprised, after she heard about it, she walked to the door of the room, and Zhu Gaoxu had already walked to the courtyard. Her white hand held on to the door frame, looked at Zhu Gaoxu happily, and only came back to her senses after a while, and she was blessed.

Zhu Gaoxu held her soft thorn and held her up, and immediately found that there was oil on her wrist. Du Qianrui said: "The jade bracelet that the prince gave me, the concubine was afraid that it would be damaged at night, so she took it off, but it was not easy to take." ”

"I'll give you a slightly larger one later." Zhu Gaoxu said.

When he walked into the room, he saw a jade bracelet on the dresser, a soft towel underneath, and a silk handkerchief for wiping the jade bracelet next to it. When Zhu Gaoxu saw that scene, he immediately felt that the jade bracelet was very precious. No matter how valuable it is, it's precious to be treated as such.

Du Qianrui was busy in the room, and after making tea for Zhu Gaoxu, she didn't forget to carefully remind her that it was very hot. Zhu Gaoxu looked at her petite and bumpy body, and felt very comfortable listening to the gentle words. The troubles of the day were healed a little for a while.

Zhu Gaoxu recalled Du Qianrui's petite softness, the contrast between the two made him feel extra strong, and the tactful voice in his ears like a warbler was also beautiful.

He was a prince who could have not had to think about other people's feelings. But somehow, whenever he sees others happy with him, he feels a sense of satisfaction in turn. Probably because he was strictly disciplined when he was a child, and if his parents were not satisfied, he would be severely punished, and over time he got used to it; But when I grew up, I did something out of the ordinary, and it seemed to be a kind of backlash.

Zhu Gaoxu stopped Du Qianrui and said, "I have one thing I want to ask Qianrui to do for me." ”

Du Qianrui turned around, pursed her lips and smiled, "The prince commands." ”

Zhu Gaoxu said: "Didn't King Ning make up a play for Qianrui? You find time to transcribe a script and write a few words of thanks to King Ning. I found someone to send to Jiangxi as a gift. ”

Du Qianrui thought for a while, as if she was thinking about how many words there were in the script, and she said: "The morning after tomorrow, the concubine asked the slave to send it to the study in the front hall. ”

Zhu Gaoxu nodded, and asked in a casual tone, "Yao Ji seems to have repaired relations with the princess?" ”

"Not really." Du Qianrui said briskly, "It's strange to say, Mrs. Yao has a strong temperament and refuses to admit defeat, and when she was in Beijing, she didn't deal with the princess very well. But somehow, when we went to Dali, Mrs. Yao and the princess were as good as sisters. ”

Zhu Gaoxu replied and didn't ask any more. But he was at least sure that it wasn't a delusion that he observed the two women being close, but that it was.

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