On the Chinese New Year's Eve of the fourth year of Yongle, Zhu Gaoxu led nearly 100,000 people to the northern part of the Zhujiang River. Scouts reported that the Annan army was building fortifications day and night at the confluence of the Zhu River and its tributary, the Zhuzi River.

So Zhu Gaoxu ordered the army to camp in the upper reaches of the Zhu River, preparing to let the soldiers celebrate the New Year first.

The terrain here is flat, the river is green, and the rice fields on the banks of the river are green. Zhu Gaoxu stood on the field, feeling the moist breeze without chill on his face, looking at this idyllic scenery, compared with the ordinary Chinese New Year's Eve atmosphere, he really felt very different.

In Zhu's mind, Chinese New Year's Eve means white snow, fireworks, and various red lantern decorations. In recent years, he has always thought of a deep well, and that scene is like a knot in his heart, and at this time of year, he must have a sense of helplessness.

Today, there are several large military camps that are lively and festive. Although they were on the battlefield, as long as there was no war, the interest of the sergeants was high. The soldiers "requisitioned" many pigs and sheep from villages near and far, brought wine from captured towns, and cooked Chinese New Year's Eve meals in the barracks. On the arrow tower at the entrance of the barracks, I don't know who made a red lantern and hung it.

From time to time, there was the sound of "crackling" firecrackles, and everyone used firearms instead of firecrackers.

At this time, Wang Bin, who was on the back of the horse next to him, raised his hand and pointed to the river in front of him and said: "Look, Lord Wang, as long as we go east along this Zhu River and break the Annan Army Village, we will soon be able to reach the north of Qinghua City." ”

"Hmmm......" Zhu Gaoxu habitually made a sound.

After a while, Zhu Gaoxu looked thoughtfully at the rice field in the distance and said, "Those rice seems to have been harvested once, and now they have sprouted new sprouts." ”

Wang Bin was a little dazed, and casually echoed: "It seems to be miles." ”

Zhu Gaoxu turned his head and said, "Can rice grow when it is cut, can it still grow after cutting the head?" ”

Wang Bin was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly clasped his fists and bowed.

Zhu Gaoxu looked back left and right, and muttered: "No matter whether the siege is won or lost, many people will definitely die, unless you meet a defender like Mumaru Prefecture." Otherwise, if you think about Duobang City, Zhang Fu can be regarded as a good general who can fight, but the dead and wounded brothers are simply a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. ”

As he spoke, his expression became more and more determined, "The Hu family is doomed." All we can do now is to die as few brothers as possible. In the battle of Zhujiang, I don't think it's necessary to storm the walled city, it's better to wait for the Annan army to take the initiative to attack! ”

A general asked, "We have 100,000 elite soldiers, and the Annan army is willing to attack?" ”

Zhu Gaoxu said with a smile: "The Hu clan has lost most of its territory, and now it is trapped in the Western Capital, and people are depressed. Now that their father and son want no land, no money, and guard the land of the Western Capital, what results can they achieve? If it drags on, there will be more people on the Hu side who will judge the situation and surrender. Therefore, it is not up to him to want or not. ”

After saying that, he glanced at the military general who was questioning, and felt a little familiar, but he forgot his name, so he asked, "What's your name?" ”

The general hugged his fists and said: "The last general is the commander of the right guard of the Shu Palace. ”

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said, "You asked well and thought it through." ”

Wan Quan hurriedly said: "The last general thanks the prince." ”

At this moment, Wang Bin said: "The last general asks for his life and goes downstream to choose a place to arrange an ambush." ”

Zhu Gaoxu thought for a while and said, "Commander Wang can inspect the terrain first, and don't rush to deploy troops for the time being." ”

"The last will be ordered!"

Zhu Gaoxu took out a picture from the package on horseback and looked at it twice. Thinking about a problem: if Zhang Fu made a detour from the east to the south, the Annan army at the mouth of the Zhuzi River would not be dispatched to attack, and the enemy army would transfer troops to guard against Zhang Fu's troops.

And Zhang Fu really might do that, he seems to be in a hurry now. Because the imperial court had an edict that the Ming army in the Annam area must completely end the war by February. Now, it's only two months away.

Order Zhang Fu to stand still? Zhu Gaoxu is the main general, and he does have the right to do so. But he was slow to decide.

…… After Zhu Gaoxu returned to the Chinese army, he wrote a letter and sent someone to send it to Zhang Fu's camp quickly.

The letter wrote: Xinchenghou should be calm and impatient, and camp in place. After our troops destroyed the enemy of Zhu Zijiang, the Marquis of Xincheng led the army to attack Qinghua.

After Zhu Gaoxu sent someone to send the letter away, he was finally relieved.

Thanh Hoa is the capital of the Hu clan of the puppet dynasty of Annam, and it is also the place where it made its fortune; The capture of this place was a very great military achievement. What's more, those who arrive in Qinghua first may also capture the thief leader Hu Shi and other cadres...... So Zhang Fu made this deal, it was very cost-effective, and he had no reason to be unhappy.

Wang Bin knew about this, and sighed in the tiled house of Xingyuan: "The prince thinks about the soldiers, but the soldiers don't necessarily appreciate it, why do you bother?" ”

Zhu Gaoxu said disapprerovingly: "Commander Wang, don't think that many soldiers are illiterate and easy to fool. What we do, everyone knows in their hearts. ”

At this time, a military general came from outside the door, and the military saluted and said: "Lord Yu, there is an Annan man who came with a boatload of people, claiming to be Chen Shixian, the secretary of the Annan Kingdom, and taking Princess Tianjia of the Chen clan!" ”

Zhu Gaoxu listened, and glanced at the general Wang Bin sitting next to him: "I'm not wrong, right?" ”

Wang Bin bowed.

"Call Ruan Zhi, a native of Annan, to come over and go with me to greet Princess Annan." Zhu Gaoxu ordered.

The group then came to the gate of the line...... At the entrance of the fishing village, there is also a torii engraved with Chinese characters at the intersection. At this time, sure enough, there was a group of Annam people there, and they had reached the bottom of the archway. In front of the crowd, stood an old man in an official uniform; Next to her, a woman in a silk robe, with a hat on her head, was not tall but very well-proportioned.

Zhu Gaoxu approached and said, "I am the King of the Ming Dynasty, and I will come to greet you immediately when I hear that Princess Tianjia and the secretary of Annan Guozhong have arrived." ”

The old man hurriedly stepped forward and bowed: "Xiaguan Chen Shixian, who was previously coerced by the Hu family to the Western Capital, now I heard that the Ming Dynasty King has marched here, and urgently escorted Princess Tianjia to vote, hoping that His Royal Highness the King of Han will protect the clan!" ”

The woman lifted her hat and saluted, "Princess Tianjia of the Annan Kingdom has seen His Royal Highness the King of Han. ”

Zhu Gaoxu suddenly saw her face and was stunned for a moment. Because the princess Tianjia in front of her is really good-looking, her facial features are very beautiful and symmetrical, and her skin is also very fair, even if the Chen family has died, this princess obviously has not suffered from her body, and she has fine skin and tender flesh. I heard that there are marriages between the royal family and clans of Annam, and if the marriage of close relatives is not stupid, there are indeed many beauties.

Princess Tianjia raised her head and glanced at Zhu Gaoxu with a different gaze. At this time, he realized that he was a little out of shape, and immediately said: "Please ask Annan Zhongshu Ling and Princess Tianjia to come to the lobby to talk." ”

Zhu Gaoxu and others welcomed the guests to the lobby of the Chinese army's march, and to a tiled house facing a relatively square fishing village. As for other Annamite, Zhu Gaoxu didn't have to pay attention to it, there were many civilian and military generals and eunuchs in the Chinese army, and he would settle them.

These people are coming to vote now, they must think that the Hu clan is finished, and they will come to surrender as soon as possible. But Zhu Gaoxu did not say anything, and still treated them as guests and invited them to take a seat.

Princess Tianjia said with a sad expression: "The Hu family's dictatorship forced us to move from the eastern capital to the western capital, and we had no choice but to submit, but we were not willing, I left my hometown, and I almost died on the road...... " She said and gently dipped her handkerchief in the corner of her eye twice to wipe her tears. But Zhu Gaoxu's eyesight is very good, and he clearly didn't see her shed a single tear.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "The princess doesn't have to be sad, the king of tomorrow will send someone to escort you to the dragon." The queen is also in Thang Long City, and she will take care of you. ”

"Is the queen mother okay?" Princess Tianjia asked busily.

It turns out that Queen Chen is her mother, but judging by her age, she should be her stepmother.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "Rest assured, princess, everything is fine." ”

Then Chen Shixian presented the seal letter of the order of the book of Annan, and said: "His Royal Highness the King of Han, at this time, the king of the puppet dynasty, the king of the Hu family, and his father and son have all gone to the Zhuzi Jiangkou military village, and there is also Hu Yuancheng, the general Hu Shu, Hu Du, etc., all here. There were 70,000 people and an army of 300,000, and they moved to resist the king's division. ”

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said: "It's okay, the Hu clan is already in the twilight of the West Mountain, and my Ming official army can break the enemy army in the day." The Hu father and son were unkind, unjust, murdered the king, usurped the throne, and brutalized the loyal ministers of the clan, and many innocent people were implicated by them; Our army is temporarily stationed, and those who are unwilling to follow the Hu clan will have the opportunity to come to surrender, so as not to kill innocents by mistake. ”

Chen Shixian hurriedly praised: "The king of Han is benevolent, and the whole country is grateful for Annan." ”

Zhu Gaoxu said again: "Zhongshu Ling can write back to persuade those loyal ministers of the Chen clan to come and avoid trouble quickly." ”

So Zhu Gaoxu treated the Annan people who surrendered on their own initiative, and specially asked someone to arrange a house for them to live in, and they were treated preferentially. The treatment of Chen Shixian and others served as an example, so that more Annan people would be willing to vote.

At Chinese New Year's Eve dinner in the evening, Zhu Gaoxu and the generals drank wine and ate meat in the lobby to celebrate the festival together.

During the day, the guard of the Shu King's Mansion commanded Wan Quan to be greedy for a cup, and the amount of alcohol didn't seem to be good, so he soon got drunk. When he toasted, he said: "King Han treats people well! The last general asked a stupid thing during the day, but the king of Han said that the last general wanted to get it, and it was a good question......"

Zhu Gaoxu immediately interrupted him and said with a smile: "Commander Wan has to drink two glasses less, we can't be too modest with our troops, otherwise the brothers under him can rest assured that they will work hard?" ”

When the generals heard this, they burst into laughter.

After a while, Wan Quan became even more drunk, and sighed and felt sad very inappropriately. The military general next to him advised him to be happy for the New Year, saying that he missed his wife and children at home.

Zhu Gaoxu turned his head to look at the past, and said kindly: "The battle will be over soon, and after the New Year, everyone will go home for reunion soon!" ”

Wan Quan said: "We are the guards of the vassal palace, if we can go back, why should we be transferred to Annan?" ”

Everyone immediately fell silent, and Zhu Gaoxu frowned and said, "Commander Wan is drunk and talking nonsense, Zhao Ping, Commander Fuwan has returned to the camp to rest." ”

Zhao Ping clenched his fists and said: "The last general will obey the order!" ”

Zhu Gaoxu picked up the wine glass, looked back and said: "May the Ming Dynasty be peaceful and peaceful, and my father and mother will live a long life." ”

The generals messed up and congratulated each other.

……

……

(On Chinese New Year's Eve, Xifeng would like to thank all book friends for their long-term support and love, and wish Xifeng's book friends all good health and happiness in the New Year.) ）