On Chinese New Year's Eve, Luo Yuhong fought monks and nuns at Daci Temple, while Zhu Pingjian led a squad of cavalry and several staff members on the way back to Guang'an City.

More than 200 miles of hills and rotten roads, and several rivers have to be crossed on the way. Returning to Guang'an City before dark was a tough test for the young Zhu Pingjin.

Zhu Pingjin and his entourage changed horses when they passed through Qu County. He threw his yellow horse to Lu Yinchang and replaced it with a white horse with yellow fur on his chest.

Faced with the son of the world going and returning, Lu Yinchang and Cao Xun were stunned.

Zhu Pingjin didn't want to give the impression of nervousness to the soldiers on the front line, so he had to explain to them simply: The local thugs forced the rebel king Liu Weiming to recruit peace. But they had a special condition, that is, they only surrendered to the Shu Palace, not to the Sichuan government, and they had to hear the Shu prince's pardon for them. In order to promote this good deed, Zhu Pingjin had no choice but to run this trip himself.

And Lu Yinchang and Cao Xun took the opportunity to report another big news to Zhu Pingjin.

Yesterday afternoon, Feng Ruhu and Ding Xianjue had already captured Dazhou. Huang Harrier Jing Keqin ran away with Ding Zhuang and treasures and grains in the city, leaving a bunch of women, old people and children. At present, Feng and Ding are exploring the direction and route of Huang Harrier Jing Keqin's escape, preparing to launch a pursuit. Feng Ruhu's messenger thought that Zhu Pingjin was still in Guang'an, and passed through Qu County this morning in the direction of Guang'an.

Zhu Pingjin wanted to pit Feng Ruhu a few days ago, but was slapped in the face by Feng Ruhu a few days later.

Although he was a little embarrassed on his face, Zhu Pingjin still gladly accepted the reality: since Feng Ruhu has the ability to fight with Ding Xianjue and make such great achievements, then he might as well put pressure on him and let him guard Dazhou, an important town in northern Sichuan.

Dazhou belongs to the Qujiang River basin, which is too far away from Fengjie County, the capital of Kuizhou. According to Liao Dahengdao, when Zhang Xianzhong went out of Sichuan, he demolished all the 700-mile post road from Xinning County (now Kaijiang) to Kuizhou Prefecture, and the land situation was very bad, and local rioters were rampant along the way. Therefore, Zhu Pingjin was thinking about how to persuade Liao Daheng to separate Dazhou from Kuizhou Mansion and make it a de facto Zhili Prefecture under the jurisdiction of the Sichuan Political Division.

Originally, there was only one prefecture and two counties of Taiping (now Wanyuan) and Dongxiang (now Xuanhan) under the jurisdiction of Dazhou, and Zhu Pingjin decided to add another Xinning County, which was not far from Dazhou City. In this way, Dazhou has a state and three counties, which not only guards the mouth of Sichuan, but also chokes the road of the tyrant to the east, and is also conducive to the layout of the Shu Wangfu in northern Sichuan and southern Shaanxi.

It's just that such things will inevitably involve many matters such as cadre allocation, troop deployment, Wangzhuang construction, and industrial development. He wanted to go back to Chengdu to discuss with his wife before talking to Liao Daheng. Now the important task of Dazhou is to "occupy, consolidate, resettle, and prepare for spring sowing".

……

After about five hours of horseback bumps, Zhu Pingjian and his party finally rushed back to Guang'an City on Chinese New Year's Eve.

When he arrived at the gate of the state ya, Zhu Pingjin, who was stiff and exhausted, could no longer get off the horse on his own, and was carried into the bedroom by Song Zhenzong, who was greeted by him.

Zhu Pingjin slept until dawn. When he woke up the next morning, it was already the first day of the first month of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen. He was washed by a few beautiful women he didn't know, ate breakfast, and then began to put on his armor.

It is the court etiquette for the Zhengdan vassal king to accept the worship of the hundred officials of the vassal state, and since Zhu Pingjin has returned, he will certainly not take the initiative to give up this opportunity to show his power and status. It's just that he went out in a hurry, and he came to fight again, and he didn't bring the crown uniform, so he had to go out in that gorgeous parade uniform. When he got on the sedan chair, he ordered Li Mingshi to drive all these women out of the state office. In case my wife has eyeliner by her side, she knows it!

Liao Daheng arranged the place of worship on Zhengdan, which was in the north gate tower of Guang'an City.

The area of the north gate tower is not large, and there are not many people who are qualified to go up to the city tower to worship. Liao Daheng and Wang Xingjian, two four-rank officials, led the imperial court officials, and Li Chongwen, Shu Guoping, Sun Hong, Song Zhenzong, and He Zengzhi led the royal officials above the battalion level and the officers of the National Protector Army, who took turns to bow down.

Zhu Pingjin did not sit and did not speak like his dead father, and the last draft was read by the eunuch. Every time the officials came forward to pay homage, Zhu Pingjin had to say two sentences to them, affirming the recent work and putting forward his expectations for them.

Even Wang Xingjian, who was actually under house arrest, Zhu Pingjin did not let go. In front of Liao Daheng, he criticized the root cause of Wang Xingjian's past mistakes, which was to put the interests of individuals and small groups above the interests of the Ming Dynasty.

However, it was this "but" that made the haggard Wang Xingjian see the hope of rebirth.

However, people are not sages and always make mistakes. As long as you change your past mistakes, and from now on you have Daming and the world in your heart, you will still have the opportunity to work for Daming again. After Wang Xingjian spoke at Zhu Pingjian, he wept bitterly and bowed away.

Li Cunliang has the official title of Qincha, and he is a personal soldier of the Son of Heaven, so together with more than a dozen brocade guards, he got the treatment of a goose walking and standing, standing and not worshipping.

After the worship ceremony was completed, Zhu Pingjin showed surprise Qi Li Cunliang helped himself, gritted his teeth and stood up, walked to the edge of the city wall, and accepted the training of the national protection army and regiment under the city, as well as the kneeling and cheering of more than 10,000 people who watched the ceremony.

When the city was calm, Zhu Pingjin waved his arms and loudly promised the people watching the ceremony that as long as they were loyal to the Ming Dynasty, followed their own practice of the great cause of protecting the country and the people, and eliminated all thieves, thieves and Tartars, the Ming Dynasty would bring them a peaceful and prosperous era in the world.

In this prosperous era of Datong, there are clothes to wear, food to eat, housing to live in, life and support, old age, strong and useful, young and long;

In this prosperous era of Datong, people who are virtuous and capable, who are trustworthy and harmonious, who are moral, capable, knowledgeable, and practical will be given the opportunity to give full play to their talents and become the pillars of the country.

In order to prove that he does what he says, Zhu Pingjin announced on the spot on the city tower that even if the current situation in Shu is so difficult, he and Miss Luo will still share weal and woe with the people. For this reason, they will cut down on food and clothing, save their own rice, and benefit the people of Shu. From now on, 300 lonely and widowed elderly people over the age of 70 will be selected from among the people of Shu every year, and they will be responsible for supporting them.

If you are born, each person will have five stone of grain, ten catties of meat, and two seasons of clothes per year;

In the end, each person will have a coffin and a tomb. Every Qingming, there is paper money to burn.

Zhu Pingjin's promise was originally improvised. As soon as he announced it, it was like an earth-shattering move, and the enthusiastic response aroused far exceeded his expectations.

The people of Guang'an, who survived the disaster, naturally rejoiced, and the officials and generals of the palace also expressed their support one after another.

When Li Chongwen heard Zhu Pingjin's speech with his own ears, he immediately knelt down with tears in his eyes and said: He was deeply moved by the benevolence, righteousness and wisdom of Shizi and Miss Luo, and he was willing to demote himself to the rank and only take the battalion-level treatment. The extra money is also used to contribute to good deeds.

When the prince reprimanded him, some important ministers and generals such as Shu Guoping, Sun Hong, Wu Tai, and Song Zhenzong said that they were willing to swear to follow in the footsteps of the prince and make a modest contribution to the great cause of protecting the country and the people.

Zhu Pingjin did not allow it, and the important ministers and generals bowed again. If this is the third, in the end, Zhu Pingjin couldn't, so he had to agree to their request, and the level was not reduced, and the treatment was reduced by two levels.

Liao Daheng is an official of the imperial court, and he has no rank and treatment to be reduced, and there is no silver to donate. So he led a hundred officials to kneel and praised:

Zi said: Good brave, poor, and chaotic. People are not kind, they are sick, and they are chaotic. The son of the world takes great benevolence and righteousness as the state, and he will be able to win and kill, and calm the chaos for the rule, and the merit will be in the future! ”

Soon after, the news spread throughout Sichuan, and the reaction of the scholars was greater than that of the people.

The excited Anyue Jinshi Wang Qi'e wrote an article in the Fuxing Daily, openly shouting: "Three generations later, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty is also, and Admiral Tiance of the Tang Dynasty is also. Now I am Ming, only my Shu Shizi alone! ”

After that, this and some other news reached Jingshi, which immediately shook the court. The emperor embellished the court, and the secret edict cabinet played right. The results of the play were not known to the people of the time, but the emperor was obviously deceived by Zhou Yanru, a traitorous minister, and began a series of reactionary measures against Shu.

When the news finally reached the ears of the rebels who were raging all over the world, some of the generals in the camp of the thieves even sighed left and right to their cronies:

"Shang Tianzi is like this, why is it wrong?"

……

After the Zhengdan pilgrimage, Zhu Pingjin returned to his line with satisfaction. Protecting the country and the people and bringing peace to the world has become a cliché on Zhu Pingjin's lips. But a few simple promises received the loyalty of so many courtiers. Even if you calculate economic accounts, it is more than you lose. This made him feel the magic of politics once again.

Those who win the hearts of the people win the world!

Half-lying on the bed, Zhu Pingjin, who was complacent, told Cheng Xiangfeng and Sun Hong with emotion: "How can you win the hearts of the people, only interests!" Today, when the son is in the world, I don't understand people's hearts, and I am bound to lose the world. Mr. Tian's theory of strength has won three flavors! ”

But Sun Hong was a little worried about this: "Shizi, Shicaichen is on the city tower, seeing that Master Zhao has been working hard to write a book, presumably this is Liao Fuzhi's arrangement, to publish Shizi's speech in Fuxing Daily." ”

"Naturally, it should be published. Is there anything wrong? ”

"On Chinese New Year's Eve last year, Shizi summoned Chen and four others. Since then, the ministers have followed the prince, bought people from the east gate, and trained troops in Bifengxia, and then it was the Yazhou Rebellion and the Battle of Jiangkou. Walking back to the provincial capital step by step, it can be described as killing machine step by step. After the Luzhou incident, there was another Erqi impeachment incident. The officialdom is changing, and the princes of the world have led their ministers to come over, which can be described as a clever calculation, and there is no last resort. After that, the caravan held high the banner and advanced into northern Sichuan. Changping Mountain was victorious, and the village protection team spread out throughout Sichuan. Now the great victories of the Protector Army in Guang'an, Hezhou and Dazhou show that the prince is wise and wise, and he also sees that the son's act of 'protecting the country and securing the people' has won the hearts of the people. It's just that the minister thinks ......"

Sun Hong looked back on history, but braked halfway, indicating that he had concerns.

Zhu Pingjin didn't speak, he knew that Sun Hong still had to say what was in his heart in the end.

Sure enough, there was silence for a while, and Sun Hong then spoke: "The minister thinks that the reason why the prince had a smooth ride last year was inseparable from Liao Fuzhi's strong help. He is the governor, he is the chaplain, and he holds the banner of the king's order. What he said was the words of the imperial court. The following civil and military, if you want to oppose the prince, you must first look at Liao Fu's face. Seeing that the palace is about to encompass the whole Sichuan, the prince's speech today shows the whole Sichuan with benevolence and righteousness. In this way, the court, the emperor, and Liao Fu will inevitably ...... The prince still has to be careful! If the situation is unpredictable, this Liao Fuzhi's attitude is too important! ”

"Mr. Sun's words, the minister seconded the proposal!"

Cheng Xiangfeng bowed his hand to Zhu Pingjin: "The Son of Heaven has a small amount of energy, and he has an excellent face. If today's son has issued two edicts to sin himself, according to the minister's view, if Wang Qiaonian is unfavorable to suppress the thief, or the Kaifeng Zhou domain is lost, or Songshan Hong Chengchou is defeated, I am afraid that the third edict will be issued in the world. Now in this sensitive season, the prince of the world, with the respect of the vassal king, with great benevolence and righteousness, will definitely shake the world, and even more will shake the Son of Heaven! With the nature of the Son of Heaven, will he ......"

Cheng Xiangfeng didn't finish speaking, but the meaning was clearer. That is, once it is publicly announced, Zhu Pingjin will become a thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh of the court and Chongzhen from now on. It is no longer possible for Zhu Pingjin to lurk inside the enemy, doing his own private work and taking the court's money!

"The two gentlemen reminded you very much! In the year-end battle, our army won a complete victory, and this son of the world was a little carried away! Zhu Pingjin took the initiative to admit that there was something wrong with his speech. But when things come to this point, if you want to regain the influence, it is impossible to do it completely, and it will seriously damage Zhu Pingjin's tall and complete image in the eyes of officials, gentlemen and the people.

What to do? Zhu Pingjin hesitated a little. If the trend of history had not deviated, Zhu Pingjin would have survived two years and three months. Can you get through this long period of time?

"I think that I should advance in the face of difficulties! The art of war cloud, put it to death and come back to life! The Son of Heaven ......" Sun Hong stood up suddenly, his face flushed.

"Mr. Sun, never!" Cheng Xiangfeng was shocked and interrupted Sun Hong's words.