Before Wang Du set off from Suiyuan, Xu Huizu specially recalled Song Sheng and Ping'an to serve him. chatted about the current battle situation, and Wang Du asked everyone what they thought.

Ping An has been under a lot of pressure lately, he only has 15,000 cavalry in his hands, but he has to be responsible for defense on both sides. Originally, he only needed to be responsible for the defense of the western front of Suiyuan, and Qu Neng was able to defend the eastern front in Datong. However, after Qu Neng set out on the expedition, Datong's troops were sharply reduced, and Chen Zhen, who stayed behind, could not complete the task of defending the eastern front, so Xu Huizu transferred Song Xuan and returned to Ping'an for deployment, but the manpower was still insufficient. The huge pressure and complicated workload made this tall and stout man lose weight, his eyes were red, and his temper was a little irritable, plus he was once Zhu Yuanzhang's righteous son, and he had gone to Wenhuatang with King Yan, King Ning and others when he was a child, so he had no scruples when he spoke, put the wine bowl on the table, and said, "Hmph! If you want me to say, the main resentment is the king of Ning, he is arrogant, underestimating the enemy, if he can't turn back in time, and wait until he reaches Mobei, which is the core area of the Mongols, and something big will happen. ”

Song Sheng's eyes were also bloodshot, after Song Xuan was transferred, more work was pressed on him, which made him a little tired, but he still spoke calmly: "The imperial court has already sent reinforcements from Ying Guogong, and it may be too late." ”

"Hehe," Ping An sneered: "It's definitely too late, Ying Guogong's departure time is more than twenty days behind King Ning, just in case, Ying Guogong will move forward cautiously, and King Ning may not have come back yet, so how can Ying Guogong chase after him?" ”

Wang Du and the students of the staff office deduced the battle situation and had a rough idea in their hearts, so they echoed: "Yes, and the messenger of the imperial court is probably also killed, since the Mongols dare to lure the enemy deeper, they will definitely not forget to cut off the back road." ”

Xu Huizu was much younger than everyone here, so he was still in good spirits: "The general also thinks that His Royal Highness King Ning is more auspicious, if His Royal Highness King Ning can wake up, it will be good if His Royal Highness King Ning can wake up, after all, our army is strong, and it can still return to the Great Wall." But if you are ambushed, then you are in trouble. ”

Everyone has different opinions, and they all think that the war situation is not optimistic. Finally, Wang Du asked a question: "If our army is defeated in this battle and suffers heavy losses, what will happen to Suiyuan City?" ”

"Oh no, General Ben ignored this matter, it's really a dereliction of duty, what is the best plan for the adults?"

Song Sheng and Ping'an were also a little shocked, the former was busy building Baidao City, and the latter was busy defending the periphery of Suiyuan, so they didn't have time to think about these things. When it was discovered, Xu Huizu also ignored it, and couldn't help but feel a little dissatisfied in his heart.

But at this time, there was no need to take care of so much, everyone put down the dishes and chopsticks, walked to the map, and had a heated discussion, and finally everyone formed a conclusion, and immediately wrote a chapter, entrusted Wang Du to bring it back to the capital, and presented it to His Royal Highness the Imperial Sun.

In the end, Xu Huizu shook Wang Du and said, "Lord Wang, at present, most of the construction of Suiyuan has been completed, and it will be completed in two months." This city is the result of half a year's accumulation of 100,000 troops, and it is a mountain and nine thousands, and it cannot be lost. Suiyuan is stable, the grasslands in the south of Yinshan are all in my hands, and His Highness's newly established herd supervisors can produce more war horses, Shaanxi and Shanxi have become the mainland, and the people will not be harassed by the Hu people. Please! ”

"Please!!" Song Sheng and Ping An are also long-standing.

Wang Du hurriedly dodged away, and also said: "Rank general, Zizhong is only a literati, and it is not my forte, but His Royal Highness is far-sighted, and he will not be influenced by the people in the court, and Zizhong will also wish His Highness a helping hand, please rest assured." ”

Wang Du took everyone's entrustment, went south along the Yellow River, went ashore in Kaifeng, and went to Beijing through the official road. After arriving in Beijing, he immediately went to see Zhu Yunwen.

Zhu Yunwen was also very happy to hear that Wang Du was back, recently he felt that there were some things that did not have the help of caring people, Huang Zicheng and others were either broad, or too open-minded, and they couldn't do some things.

In Zhu Yunwen's study, Zhu Yunwen looked at Wang Du's dusty appearance, and was a little moved, and said: "Zizhong, this time I went to Suiyuan, it was bitter cold outside, and I worked hard for you." ”

Wang Du hurriedly got up and saluted: "Your Highness is serious, the army braved the cold to build the city, and it was even harder, please Your Highness must be considerate of the soldiers and don't let their blood and sweat be in vain." ”

"Well, it's lonely."

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

Zhu Yunwen put down Xu Huizu's recital, walked to the map, and asked, "Zizhong, General Zhengbei hopes to increase the army by 30,000, what do you think?" ”

"The minister thinks it's appropriate, Your Highness, please take a look," Wang Du also walked to the map and said: "This is the Gaoque Fortress in the Han Dynasty, and the Mongols can enter the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain through this gap and attack Suiyuan City from the west, so it is necessary to build a fortress here and leave the army to garrison." This is Jining, which is located in the north of Datong, the west of Xinghe, and the east of Suiyuan, where the Ming Dynasty had set up a guard before, but now it has been abandoned. The ideal is to set up a guard post in Jining, but this place is too desolate, so we can only retreat to the next best, and set up another military city in the east of Suiyuan, which is only used for garrisoning, and the scale can be smaller, and the construction is faster. ”

"But Suiyuan already has 100,000 troops, and if you add 30,000, I'm afraid the pressure on the military side is too great, how can this be solved?"

Wang Du thought for a while and said: "Wei Guogong expects that the war on the eastern front will end at the end of March and early April, but the completion of the defense system of Suiyuan City may not take until June, and the gap between these three months will require more troops, but when the city is built, there will be no need for so many troops, and then Gaoquesai and Baidaoling will each need 10,000 soldiers, and Suiyuan City and Suiyuan East City will have 50,000 enough." ”

"And Suiyuan is stable, then Shanxi will become the hinterland, and His Royal Highness can take turns to transfer the army of Shanxi to Suiyuan to garrison, and at the same time cut the old and weak troops and set up a tuntian envoy to govern, so that at most ten years, Shanxi's military spending will be reduced."

"In addition, a large number of pastures at the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain and the southern plains of the Yellow River can be used for grazing, His Royal Highness has set up a horse farm to raise horses, in fact, you can also recruit businessmen for grazing, so that the opening of the law is not only food, but also horses, so that my Ming horses are guaranteed, and it is not difficult to go deep into Mobei."

Wang Du's suggestion made Zhu Yunwen suddenly open, and he couldn't help but get excited, yes, if Suiyuan is stable, the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain is in my hands, Shaanxi will completely become the mainland, the guard can concentrate on reclamation, the grain can be completely self-sufficient, and the Hetao grassland can also become the pasture of the Ming Dynasty.

After being happy, Zhu Yunwen grabbed Wang Du's shoulder and said: "Zizhong, you are really a lonely ovary, these measures are combined, and the northwest is worry-free." ”

Wang Du was also very happy: "This is all due to His Royal Highness's foresight, whether it is Suiyuan or Tuntian, His Royal Highness's cadres are arbitrary, and the ministers are just checking and filling in the gaps, and the Duke of Wei, the Marquis of Xining, and the General Ping'an have all put forward suggestions, and the ministers dare not hide the merits of others." ”

"Hehe, Lone knows, the work of the son will not be forgotten, haha, haha, haha." Zhu Yunwen was so excited that he couldn't help jumping up and down in the house, sweeping away the depression he had been suffering from for many days.

Wang Du looked at Zhu Yunwen's appearance, and he was also happy in his heart, he had wasted half his life, and finally in the year of not being confused, he met the master, and he could show what he had learned in his chest, and he would live up to this life.

After Zhu Yunwen calmed down, Wang Du stood up and arched his hand: "Your Highness, can the emperor adopt the proposal to cut the feudal domain offered by the ministers last time?" ”

Zhu Yunwen nodded and sat down.

"Your Highness is not happy?" Wang Du keenly noticed that Zhu Yunwen's mood was not high.

Zhu Yunwen smiled bitterly: "I'm afraid that Grandpa Huang won't support me anymore, so I'm a little distressed." ”

"I'm afraid Your Highness misunderstood the emperor."

"Why?"

"Now that His Highness's layout has been completed, it is not suitable to continue pressing. Now the king of Qin has died, the king of Jin is guilty, the king of Jin is seriously ill, the military power of Shanxi has been recovered, after the completion of Suiyuan, then the soldiers, generals, military horses are not lacking, once there is a change, the Shanxi army out of the Yongguan, the Shaanxi army along the Yellow River to the east, the Beijing division army to the north, plus the layout of Zhigu and Liaodong. In this way, if King Yan knows the current affairs, he will not have any objections. ”

"Therefore, the current question has changed from the rebellion of the vassal king to the question of whether His Royal Highness will treat the vassal king well, so the emperor put on that attitude, if His Royal Highness occupies such a big advantage, he will kill the vassal king, which is a bit unspeakable."

"Oh," Zhu Yunwen patted his forehead: "Lonely blames the imperial grandfather, I thought that the imperial grandfather had thoughts about the orphan." ”

"Therefore, the minister suggested that His Highness focus on the following things in the next step: Suiyuan city building, Liaodong Tuntian, herd supervision and horse breeding, plus mass production of tiger squat cannons, there is nothing to worry about."

"Well, okay, Lone got it."

After discussing the matter, there was already a curfew on the street, and Zhu Yunwen sent someone to send Wang Du back in a carriage. Wang Du was tired all the way, and he discussed it for a long time today, so he fell asleep in the car in a daze.

When the carriage stopped, Wang Du was woken up by Liu Zhen in a daze: "Lord Wang, it's here, please get off the car." ”

Wang Du got out of the car, yawned, and suddenly found that his wife and two sons were looking at him with a smile, and couldn't help but rub his eyes, and then look at them, and said, "Madam, why are you here?" ”

Mrs. Zhang came up to support Wang Du and said, "Master, His Royal Highness picked us up." ”

Your Highness? Before Wang Du could speak, Liu Zhen arched his hand beside him and said: "Lord Wang, you are home, the little one should also go back, His Royal Highness has given you three days off, and after a good rest, you will report to Zhan Shifu." ”

"Okay, thank you, Grandpa Liu."

Looking at the carriage in the distance, Zhang took Wang Du's hand and said, "Master, is that the person next to His Highness?" ”

"Yes. Wait a minute, just now you said that His Highness sent someone to pick you up? ”

"Yes," Zhang pointed to the house and said excitedly: "Lord, look, this mansion was given to the master by His Royal Highness, a big mansion with three entrances and three exits, Min Zhong and Min Xiu were also arranged to go to the country to study, His Royal Highness is really good to the master, it seems that the master is going to soar, I don't know if I can get a wife." ”

Wang Du was unwilling in his early years, and he married a wife in his twenties, and Zhang was just the daughter of a rural landlord, with little knowledge, but he had a good heart, and he occasionally complained about two sentences, and Wang Du didn't care about her. It wasn't until he was thirty-four years old that Wang Du was recommended as the supervisor of Shandong Province to supervise the imperial history, and Zhang's family trembled in the countryside, and this time he was taken to the capital, and he was very happy to see that Wang Du was a little incoherent.

Wang Du looked at his excited wife and son, sighed, knelt down on his knees in the direction of the palace, Zhang and his two sons also quickly knelt down, followed Wang Du to bow three times and bow nine times, and after getting up, he secretly said in his heart: "Your Royal Highness is very kind to Du, and the ministers will be broken to pieces to repay Your Highness's grace." ”