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. Zhu said.

Zhu Zanyi sighed. "Alas, it would be nice if there was a Hu Dynasty in the city now. On the one hand, we can dispose of some of the gentry by cleaning up the inner room of the Hu Dynasty, and on the other hand, I am afraid that they will also do something to the gentry who have taken refuge in us, so there is no need to dirty our hands. ”

Zhu Zanyi just sighed casually, but Zhu Yan's eyes suddenly flashed when he heard his words, and said, "This method is good." ”

"Huh? What did I say? Zhu Zanyi didn't react herself.

"Hu Chao is in the inner room."

"But we haven't found out that there is a Hu Dynasty inside."

"If you haven't found it, doesn't it mean that you don't." Zhu Yang said with a smile: "In the name of investigating the inner part of the Hu Dynasty, we should immediately start a search in the whole city." It should be rewarding. ”

"Lord Mu, although there are people like Su Wenguan who still secretly communicate with the Chen Dynasty, most of the gentry in Shenglong City are loyal to the Ming Dynasty, and your lord must not doubt the gentry of the whole city because he is alone."

Three days later, in the same place as three days ago, in the main hall of the former Thang Long Mansion, Ruan Chongru stood under the stage and said to Mu Sheng, who was sitting on the stage.

"Lord Ruan, I naturally don't think so. I and His Royal Highness King Min and His Royal Highness King Jingjiang all know that most of the officials and gentry in Annan are dissatisfied with Hu Jichen's tyranny, and they all have their hearts set on the Ming Dynasty; But there are always a small number of people, who got the sweetness when Hu Jichen and his son were in charge, and were very dissatisfied with my Ming sending troops to attack Annam, even if my Ming Dynasty had entered Thang Long City, he still did not give up on colluding with Hu Jichen and his son, such as Su Wenguan, who was discovered this time. Therefore, it is natural for the Ming Dynasty to be wary of the gentry in the city and search their courtyards. ”

"Of course, Lord Ruan, you don't have to search your house. Lord Ruan's status is precious, how can he do one thing in front of him and one thing behind his back? Mu Sheng said with a smile.

Ruan Chongru's face was not very good-looking when he heard his words, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Master Mu, is this too drastic?" You can't treat all the gentry just because of how the Su family is. What's more, all the remaining officials of the Hu Dynasty must be oriented to the Ming Dynasty, and His Royal Highness and the Marquis still want to appease the hearts of everyone. ”

Contrary to Ruan Chongru's expectations, Mu Sheng listened to his words as if he suddenly realized, and said: "What Lord Ruan said is right, but we have not considered it properly. In this way, all the officials of the Hu Dynasty who remained in Thang Long City did not need to be searched; We will not search the gentry of Thang Long City, but in order to avoid suspicion of being under the melon fields, we also ask the gentry not to send people out of the city at will these days, and not to buy any servants at home. Your Highnesses and I will also issue a proclamation this afternoon that from this day onwards no one will be allowed to leave the city without a guide. ”

Although Mu Sheng promised not to search all the official gentry in the city, Ruan Chongru's mood did not have the joy of victory. Mu Sheng just said that he would not take the initiative to search the official gentry's house, but if he 'discovered' the clues of collusion with the Hu Dynasty, he would still do it without hesitation, what is going on is not for Mingren to say?

And Mu Sheng deliberately divided the gentry into two categories. Although Annan is a small place, there are also regional differences, and there is a lot of discrimination against each other. Thang Long City was the capital of Annam, and the gentry of the common people always looked down on outsiders. Mu Sheng deliberately distinguished between officials and gentry, undoubtedly in the guise of dividing them.

But Ruan Chongru has no reason to argue either. In any case, it is undoubtedly that Su Wenguan was found to be in collusion with Hu Jichen's father and son, and the restrictions of the Ming people are reasonable; The difference between hell and hell is not something that the Ming people can create out of nothing, and he has no way to oppose it. 'I can only go to the scene to see if the Ming people have framed me after something like Su Wenguan happens again. ’

As for the difference between officials and gentry, they can only rely on this old face to adjust in the middle. He thought.

Ruan Chongru reluctantly said a few more words to Mu Sheng, but it didn't work, and in the end he had to retire.

Ruan Chongru had just left the room with his front foot, and Zhu Zanyi and Zhu Yang walked out from behind the main hall with his back foot. Both of them had disdainful smiles on their faces.

"Hmph, who does he think he is? What's going on now? I really take myself seriously. Zhu Zanyi sneered: "The hundreds of thousands of troops of the Ming Dynasty conquered Annan, even if they couldn't be slaughtered like the Mongols who conquered Annan back then, how could they be restricted by the rules in his mouth?" ”

On the second day after Mu Sheng discussed with Zhu Yang and Zhu Zanyi, Mu Sheng sent soldiers to guard all the main roads in the city on the grounds of investigating the Hu Dynasty's spies, and did not allow people who did not allow permission to pass through, and at the same time searched the houses and courtyards in the city one by one.

At the beginning, the Ming army did not search the gentry homes in the city, but only the common people; But immediately a Hu Dynasty spy was found in a people's house, and he was arrested and tortured.

The man could not bear the punishment and confessed that the reason why he was able to lurk in the city was because of the help of a gentry surnamed Su in Thang Long City. Although this gentry surnamed Su was superficially submissive to the Ming Dynasty, he secretly colluded with the Hu Dynasty to help the meticulous work that Hu Jichen had hastily arranged before he escaped from Thang Long City.

Mu Sheng actually originally wanted to frame a certain gentry: although he was basically sure that there must be someone in the city who was dissatisfied with the Ming Dynasty and was still loyal to Hu Jichen, he was not sure that he would be able to find such a person, so he decided to use the method of framing a gentry who looked unpleasant.

He didn't expect to really find someone who was really dissatisfied with Daming, and suddenly sent troops to surround Su Wenguan's Su family's house, as if he was raiding the house in the country, and was more ruthless than the convicted ministers in the country, and after the Su family was arrested, they were all punished and asked to confess.

Su Wenguan soon couldn't bear it anymore, confessed, and summoned everything.

After Mu Sheng learned of his confession, he did not delay, and immediately showed his confession and the physical evidence he had summoned to tell the gentry in the city that we had not wronged him, and then executed him publicly at the south gate of Thang Long City, and executed Su Wenguan and all the adult males of the Su family, attracting hundreds of people to see it.

The female dependents of the Su family were not official slaves, and the underage men and servants were sold at a very low price to the merchants who had just arrived in Thang Long City, and of course the family wealth and land were confiscated.

After that, after the execution of the Su family, Ruan Chongru came to the mansion and shared the matter with Mu Sheng.

Zhu Zanyi is very happy now. He is only twenty-one years old this year, and he can't be completely moody, and when he encounters something happy, he can't help but show it in front of those close to him.

Not only was he able to justifiably dispose of the gentry in Thang Long City, but more importantly, he established his own rules and prevented the gentry from expanding their power during this time.

"His Royal Highness King Jingjiang, I look at Ruan Chongru, and most of us have guessed our first two goals, to suppress the gentry and divide the officials and gentry, but with him as an official for so many years, it is estimated that I can't guess the rest of the purposes."

Mu Sheng said: "Your Highness takes this opportunity to implement the road guidance system in Thang Long City, and when the whole territory of Annan is pacified in the future, you can logically implement the road guidance system in the Central Plains, strengthen the control over the people, and suppress the power of the gentry." ”

In addition, forbidding them to send people out of the city and buy servants can prevent them from taking this opportunity to buy unclaimed land outside the city at a low price or even embezzle the land that originally belonged to Hu Jichen, so that they can have enough land to house the Ming soldiers in the future. Preventing them from buying servants can also restrict them from buying at low prices and controlling the population they control. ”

"And being unable to leave the city means that their food can only be purchased from the grain stores in the city, and the grain stores are all controlled by us, so that we can have a more accurate grasp of the population in the city."

"His Royal Highness kills four birds with one stone, which can be said to be very powerful."

Zhu Zanyi said with a smile: "Mu Sheng, don't praise me, these are all thought up by the eighteenth uncle, but not by me." Guangxi, where I used to guard, also had fewer Han people than barbarians, so I couldn't imagine so many twists and turns. ”

"I just carefully thought about the method that my father used back then, and according to the situation in Thang Long City, I proposed it after a slight change, but I don't dare to take credit." Zhu Yang smiled and pushed back.

The three of them chatted for a while, and Zhu Zanyi asked, "Eighteenth Uncle, Brother Mu, according to your opinion, can you still do the previously agreed matter of framing them?" "He's a little undecided.

"To do, of course to do. Although the war was still fighting, according to the news reported by Tanma, Hu Jichen withdrew directly to Nanding, leaving his eldest son Hu Yuancheng to garrison the Huangjiang Naval Division camp. ”

"According to the reported news, although the Huangjiang Naval Division Battalion is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is located on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and there are not many land divisions, so it is impossible to come to Thang Long City to die, so Thang Long City is already very safe. If you can't find out a gentry who colludes with the Hu Dynasty from time to time, how can you justifiably maintain the current policy? Zhu Yang said immediately. To translate his words into modern lingua franca, it is: in a state of war, some things can be done; If peace is restored, many things cannot be done.

"Then every once in a while, catch a gentry and say that he is colluding with the Hu Dynasty." Zhu Zanyi listened to Zhu Ying's words and said immediately. Mu Sheng did not object.

Zhu Zanyi then asked with great interest: "Eighteenth uncle, is there any other way to rectify the local gentry?" ”

"Zanyi, don't say that Uncle didn't think of it now, even if he thought of it, he couldn't tell you!" Zhu Yang said: "Now we are still fighting with Hu Jichen, and it is not appropriate to use too many means to deal with the gentry." ”

"Didn't I tell you the day before yesterday that we must wait until the situation in Annam is calmed down to deal with the gentry, and then we can fix them as we want. Too many methods are now being used, and it is likely that they will be more likely to produce more than they gain! ”

Zhu Zanyi was a little unhappy after hearing his words, but she also knew that Zhu Yan's words were right, so she could only say: "I know." ”

Zhu Yang said a few more words to him about the current proportions of dealing with the gentry, and it was already noon, the three of them had eaten, and in the afternoon a notice was issued in the name of Zhu Zanyi, announcing that it was strictly forbidden to go out of the city from now on, and violators were to be fined five yuan and twenty lashes.

The next morning, it was still a matter of discussing the matter of securing the dragon city. After eating at noon, they were about to go to rest in the middle of sleep, when suddenly a person ran in and reported to them: "His Royal Highness King Min, His Royal Highness King Jingjiang, Marquis of Xiping, and the right army led by 30,000 Marquis has come to Shenglong City. ”