The army of the Mandate of Heaven approached Hanyang Mansion from the west, north, and east, and Li Xin moved south along the Hanshui from Yingcheng, and first took Hanchuan County north of the Hanshui.

Wuchang, which is separated from Hanyang by a river, is in a panic in the city.

Wuchang is the center of the Jianghan Plain, the local products are abundant, but because it is inland, it has been peaceful, the guard has always been lax, Zuo Liangyu left Wuchang to the east, the defenders in the city are less than 10,000 people.

With only 10,000 people and few people on the battlefield, wouldn't it be a sheep to use such a soldier to deal with Li Zicheng's army of 100,000 tigers and wolves?

When Zuo Liangyu was wreaking havoc in Wuchang, everyone hated him and wished that he would fall to his death on horseback, but without Zuo Liangyu, Wuchang was in danger.

When the officials met in private, they all believed that it was necessary to recruit troops as soon as possible to strengthen the defense of Wuchang City.

But what about the money for recruitment?

Everyone's eyes are on the Chu Palace, and it is rumored that the Chu Palace, which has been in Wuchang for more than 200 years, has countless money and grain, and the warehouse where the money and grain are stored cannot be placed......

Wuchang is in a hurry, the king of Chu must at least come up with hundreds of thousands of recruits, in case the city of Wuchang is broken, won't the king of Chu become the next king of Fu and the king of Xiang?

But Zhu Huakui was unmoved, and asked him to take out hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, it was better to cut off a piece of meat on his thigh!

In desperation, He Fengsheng, the former scholar of the Ministry of Rites and the scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion in Zhishi's hometown, took the initiative to ask to see Zhu Huakui, the king of Chu, and after receiving Zhu Huakui's summons, He Fengsheng made a big bow and said directly: "Lord, the rogue soldiers are coming to the city, and the prince should also take action!" ”

Zhu Huakui leaned softly on the yellow wooden chair and said lightly: "Lord He means ......"

"Lord Wang, the garrison of Wuchang is empty, and the garrison in the city is no more than 10,000," He Fengsheng said: "The civil and military officials unanimously believe that it is necessary to urgently recruit troops and strengthen the guards of Wuchang!" ”

"It's good to recruit soldiers, this king supports it!" Zhu Huakui barely suppressed the impulse in his heart, and said: "Lord He, since both civil and military forces think that they want to recruit troops, Lord He doesn't go to recruit soldiers, what do you do in this palace?" ”

"Lord Wang!" He Fengsheng got up, shook his body, and said: "The civil and military forces are united, but the recruitment of troops requires money and food, if the prince can't contribute part of the money and food, how can the civil and military recruit troops?" ”

"It's money again!" Zhu Huakui snorted coldly: "In Wuchang City, who is the civil and military official who has not been greedy for military salaries? When there are no soldiers available, but the matter is pushed on the head of this king, is this king the big wrong? ”

Congratulations to the Holy Speaker.

Zhu Huakui was right, it was not that Wuchang did not have soldiers, but that the officials in the city were greedy for a large amount of soldiers' salaries, so that the soldiers could not support themselves and kept fleeing.

The officials were happy and did not chase deserters, and the court still allocated food and pay according to the original quota, and the fewer the soldiers, the more greedy they were.

In a vicious circle, the more greedy the officials are, the less food and pay the soldiers will have, and the more soldiers will flee, and no one will care anyway.

Wuchang has been comfortable for so many years, who knew that he was favored by Liukou? In addition to Li Zicheng in the north, there is also Zhang Xianzhong in the northeast......

He Fengsheng hesitated for a moment, and then he bowed again, which was regarded as begging Zhu Huakui, "Lord Wang, it is indeed the officials who are not, but the rogue soldiers are coming to the city, and the most important thing now is to defend the city, and when the rogue retreats, the prince can purge the officials in the city!" ”

"Although this king is a prince, he has no right to purge officials," Zhu Huakui said coldly: "Whoever pokes out the basket, who solves the aftermath and guards Wuchang, is the responsibility of the civil and military officials in the city, are they just taking it for nothing?" ”

He Fengsheng secretly complained, greedy for ink soldiers' salaries, not done by one person, some people have been transferred out of Wuchang, do they want to return the money that is greedy for ink? It is the civil and military forces in the city, and it is impossible for them to return the silver, and they can still spit out the food and wine they have eaten? A woman who has slept in a green building, can she still let her sleep back?

He arched his hand and said: "The prince is right, but the vassal king also has the responsibility of defending the land, in case Wuchang is lost......" Seeing Zhu Huakui's unkind expression, he hurriedly changed his words: "As long as the prince takes out 100,000 taels of silver, the city can recruit a strong army to defend the city, but Wuchang will not be lost, and the prince will have to explain to the emperor at that time!" ”

Zhu Huakui snorted secretly, let this king take the silver? When the money arrives in their hands, isn't it more than half missing? Take the emperor to talk about things? This king doesn't believe it, once the city is broken, the emperor will be the first to investigate who is responsible for the loss of land!

He whispered a few words to the eunuch beside him, and the eunuch hurriedly went out to bring a wooden chair covered with gold, Zhu Huakui pointed to the chair and said: "This is a gift given to the first generation of King Chu when Taizu divided the kings, and it has always been the heirloom of the palace," he glanced at He Fengsheng and said: "If Lord He wants this king to be the army, you can move this thing, and besides that, this king has nothing else!" ”

How dare He Fengsheng move away the objects given by Taizu himself? Besides, the people in Wuchang City are panicking, who would buy such a rare thing?

Thinking of the Fu King of Luoyang and the Xiang King of Yin, he couldn't help but redden, and almost shed tears, but he just arched his hand to Zhu Huakui, didn't speak, and left the Chu Palace.

Zhu Huakui saw that He Fengsheng was gone, and was busy calling back Shi Xu Xueyan, the head of the palace.

Xu Xueyan is the chief of the palace, has always won the trust of Zhu Huakui, and is also well-known in Wuchang City.

Hearing that Zhu Huakui had summoned him, he immediately rushed back to the Chu Palace, "What is the matter with the prince's summoning subordinates?" ”

Zhu Huakui got up from his seat, took two steps, and said, "Jun Fu, how is the defense of Wuchang City?" ”

Xu Xueyan bowed down and said: "Back to the prince, not only is there a shortage of soldiers in the city, but there are ...... Even if it is a weapon, it is also a lot of damage, and during this time, the minister is arranging manpower to urgently repair the equipment of the city guard......"

Zhu Huakui pondered for a moment and said, "According to the king, can Wuchang be guarded?" ”

Xu Xueyan frowned lightly, thought for a while, and said: "In Yichen's opinion, the current situation must be difficult to last, if you want to defend the city, you must recruit soldiers," paused, and said: "However, the newly recruited soldiers have insufficient training time, and it may be difficult for them ......to go up in combat effectiveness."

Zhu Huakui nodded and said, "Jun Fu is right, the civil and military forces in the city are all rice buckets, and they will only be greedy for the salary of the soldiers," and muttered to himself: "It seems that you can't count on them all about guarding Wuchang!" ”

"Lord ......"

"Jun Fu, don't be the magistrate of the county, now that the rogue is approaching, Wuchang City can't get out, and the affairs in the city naturally have them," Zhu Huakui said: "We have to recruit soldiers ourselves!" ”

"Does the prince really want to recruit soldiers?" Xu Xueyan was secretly surprised, didn't the prince refuse to pay for recruitment?

"This king naturally wants to assist in defending the city, but he can't hand over the silver to them," Zhu Huakui's face showed disdain, "When Zuo Liangyu was in rebellion in Wuchang, didn't he leave many routs nearby?" Jun Fu recruited these, they were originally soldiers, and they didn't need to be trained! ”

Xu Xueyan took a deep look and said, "The prince is right, I don't know how many soldiers the prince wants to recruit?" ”

"Two thousand! plus the original soldiers of the palace, there are already five thousand," Zhu Huakui raised his head and said: "These are our soldiers, they are called 'Chu Mansion soldiers', the soldiers are controlled by you, and the food and salary are issued by the palace. ”

The palace of Chu is located near the southern city, Zhu Huakui is naturally reluctant to hand over the safety of the palace to others, and there is a main gate in the southern city, called Wangshan Gate, however, the Wangshan Gate is facing the superintendent, which is a place where Wuchang is full of civil and military personnel, so he naturally does not have to worry.

At this time, the Governor's Yuan was holding an emergency meeting, and in Wuchang City, regardless of civil and military affairs, or the level of position, as long as they could contribute to defending the city, they could participate.

Patrol the river capital Si Su Shiding, general judge Li Yuying, patrol the river capital Si Su Shiding, staff general Cui Wenrong, former cabinet minister He Fengsheng, as well as He Fengsheng's students, Zhusheng Feng Yunlu and so on.

Among the civil officials, Huguang's political envoys, Wuchang prefect, Jiangxia prefect, etc., were not in Wuchang City because they entered Beijing to meet them.

Presiding over the meeting was Wang Yankee, the new governor of Chengtian.

Wang Yangji was the new governor of the right capital, the governor of Chengtian and De'an, but these two prefectures were occupied by the Liukou, so he stayed in Wuchang and did not leave, because the independent battalion of Li Xinbu had threatened the security of Huangzhou, so he transferred his cronies and Huangzhou magistrate Fu Shangrui to Wuchang to avoid the Liukou.

Wang Yangji never expected that Liukou did not attack Huangzhou, but directly attacked Wuchang, he knew that this was the case, and he would not come to Wuchang if he was killed.

Although He Fengsheng was born as a civil official, he was the main battle faction, and he resolutely demanded recruitment, since the king of Chu refused to pay, then he would raise money from the gentry in the city, if he could not hold Wuchang, it would be difficult for these gentry to be alone.

This is what most people think, He Fengsheng is the elder of Zhishi, and his opinion was unanimously approved without hindrance.

Feng Yunlu, a student of He Fengsheng, saw that his teacher was the main battle faction, so he also said many impassioned words, in a word, people are in the city!

Wang Yanji rolled his eyes, at this time, what is the use of empty talk? Have the ability to use your big words and determination to retreat from the rogue? He yawned and said, "If you raise money from the gentry, you will hand it over to the Pavilion Boss, Mr. Feng will assist the Pavilion Boss, what else do you think?" ”

Counselor General Cui Wenrong said: "Pavilion Elder, my lords, according to the general, it is better to defend the city than to guard the river, and it is better to guard the river than to guard the Han. ”

"Will Cui Shen cross the river to the north?" Wang Yanji said unhappily: "The rogues are all gathered on the other side...... There were not enough soldiers in Wuchang City, and now everyone is trying their best to recruit troops, Cui Shen is willing to cross the river to die, and he can cross the river with his own people. ”

Cui Wenrong's status is low, and he doesn't dare to say much, but he secretly made up his mind that only by holding Hanyang can he keep Wuchang, and after the meeting, he ......

"However, what General Cui said is also reasonable," Wang Yangji glanced at Cui Wenrong and said: "The Liukou are concentrated on the other side of the river, and have not yet crossed the Yangtze River, we will first gather the defeated troops in Jiangbei, resist first, and weaken the strength of the Liukou," paused, and said: "Xi Zheng, this government now gives you the Jiangbei Supervisor Army, with full authority to control the soldiers and horses in Jiangbei, and be sure to prevent the Liukou from crossing the river!" ”

Fu Shangrui was stunned for a moment, saw Wang Yangji signaling with his eyes, and hurriedly said: "The lower official obeys the order!" ”

Wang Yangji coughed and said, "This mansion will also cross the river and go north on the same day." ”

He Fengsheng was stunned for a moment and said, "Chengtian and De'an have both fallen into the Liukou, and Lord Wang still wants to cross the river?" ”

Wang Yangji arched his hand to the north and said: "This mansion is entrusted by the imperial court, and if you know that you are dead, you will also die in Chengtian and De'an!" He Fengsheng bowed his hand again, "Wuchang Mansion City, please ask the elder pavilion!" ”

In addition to the superintendent, Fu Shangrui slowed down, waited until Wang Yangji, and whispered: "Your Excellency really wants to cross the river?" ”

Wang Yangji hurriedly waved his hand and whispered: "Leave Wuchang first......

After Cui Wenrong left the Governor's Yuan, he immediately rectified the people in the headquarters, took out private property, recruited some young people, gathered 2,000 people, crossed the river from Yadanzhou, and went to Hanyang Mansion.