At the beginning of the new year, the Yamen of the Governor of Beiping Prefecture ordered the streets to be lit up to celebrate the New Year.

Officials at all levels have also contributed money to enjoy with the people, and now the officials' salaries have increased many times, and Hou Xuanyan hopes to replace Taizu's harsh system with high salaries.

Emperor Taizu Gao, Zhu Yuanzhang's calculation of the officials' Fenglu was surprisingly accurate, and the silver issued was only enough for the officials to feed the family, and as for the expenses for ushering in the delivery, the salaries of the family servants, the sedan chair men and grooms, including the staff and the master, all of them were paid by the officials out of their own pockets. In this way, if you want to be an official, you have to put money into it, even if you want to be a clean official, you have to face the criticism of your wife and children.

During the period of Zhu Yuanzhang, there was such a sad thing, when Zeng Bingzheng, the first general envoy of the General Political Department of the Third Rank of the Dynasty, contradicted Lao Zhu many times for the integrity of the official.

Zhu Yuanzhang was angry and removed him, Zeng Bingzheng's hometown was in Nanchang, Jiangxi, and he had to return to his hometown after being dismissed. An embarrassing thing happened, although this Qing official was a member of the third grade, he had been a high-ranking official in Shaanxi, but he didn't have enough money to return to his hometown. Zeng Bingzheng, who had no choice, had no choice but to sell his four-year-old daughter to others to make up enough money for the journey.

Historical records: The emperor is quite tolerant of the number of words and deeds in the reign. After all, it is necessary to resent. Poverty can't be returned, and she is a four-year-old girl.

What's even more tragic is that Zhu Yuanzhang knew about this matter and was furious. I didn't consider that my own salary was too low, and reprimanded Zeng Bingzheng for not being qualified to be a father, and sentenced him to palace punishment....

Hou Xuanyan now has money, and the treasury is so full that he needs the state to benefit the people, so naturally he will not let this kind of thing happen again.

Strict laws and regulations to punish corrupt officials and corrupt officials, coupled with high salaries, are the best medicine to purify officialdom. According to Zhu Yuanzhang's set, you can't live without greed, even if there is the intimidation of the punishment of peeling the skin and filling the grass, the corrupt officials are still repeatedly banned.

The officials of Beiping Mansion raised funds to set up a banquet and invited Hou Xuanyan, Yan Yingyuan and other generals to spend the end of the year in the mansion of the prefect Gu Shouzheng.

Gu Shouzheng not only has a very high official position, but what is more terrible is that behind him is the richest man in Suzhou, the Gu family who ranks the top name in Jiangnan. In the battle of the Sailor Expedition to Japan, "Siling" donated the most, and the greater the land return. Japan is not a huge market, but it has a lot of potential, and the gold, silver and copper mines here make it a good dumping ground for commodities.

Countless Ming merchants pulled silk porcelain and transported gold, silver, copper, and iron here. Before the discovery of silver mines deep underground in the Americas, this small island nation once produced 40% of the world's silver, mainly because Japan is a volcanic country and there is a lot of geological activity.

Gu Shouzheng has this big backer, so naturally he doesn't have to rely on greedy ink to make money, and he is upright, even a little too upright.

The banquet in the Gu Mansion was very rich, and although all the people present were powerful people in the dynasty, they had not eaten such extravagant banquets of wealthy families a few times. Hou Xuanyan looked at the generals on the table, after so many years of bloody rain and fighting side by side, they have formed an indestructible interest relationship with themselves, and Hou Xuanyan also trusts these people.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Hou Xuanyan stood up and said with a smile: "Jing You's two years of good news have continued, thanks to your concerted efforts, this glass of wine is my respect for everyone." At present, the war is imminent, Manchuria Jiannu is a hundred-legged insect that dies but does not stiffen, and the four feudal domains of the Liao army are not general, and I also wish our brothers a victory, a peaceful Manchuria, and a shame and hatred. ”

After speaking, he pointed to the heavy snow outside and said, "This overwhelming snow is a good omen for our trip." ”

Li Haoxian laughed and said: "The prince is too polite, we should thank the prince, if it wasn't for the prince who led us to set up the Northern Expedition, I am afraid that I would have died in the hands of the Tartars by now." ”

Yan Yingyuan felt the same way, when he was in Jiangyin, he had actually reached the point where he ran out of oil and dried up, and suddenly news came that Suzhou had recovered. People who have not experienced despair can't understand the state of mind of Yan Yingyuan, Chen Mingyu and Jiangyin Erlang at that time.

Zheng Zunqian twisted his beard and said: "This is good, at that time, King Lu wanted to kill Qian Gong, and I took my men to rob the prison." If it weren't for the prince sending troops to rescue, we would have died in Shaoxing City a long time ago. Fang Guoan was incompetent, and he led the Northern Expedition to be killed by Zhang Cunren and Ji Xiha, and he was a good hand at framing his own people. ”

Hou Xuanyan's expression was slightly embarrassed, this past was actually not very glorious, and he used a counterplot to make King Lu and Fang Guoan have to kill Qian Sule.

As soon as Zheng Zunqian said this, Yan Ying, who was involved in the planning at that time, blushed, and hurriedly said, "Come, I'll wait for a cup of Qi Jing to the prince." ”

Hou Xuanyan raised his glass and drank with his subordinates, Gu Shouzheng has gone through these temperings, and he is no longer the enthusiastic scholar in Suzhou City. He drank a small amount of wine, and after forcibly drinking a glass, his face turned red, and he got up and said: "Lord Wang, the cold air of Jiliao is not abated in spring, the heavy snow and ice are not thousands of miles, the soldiers in the south are not tolerant of bitter cold, cotton clothes, camp tents, leather boots and other things, and the inventory of Jifu has been swept away by the Tartars. This thing is scarce in Jiangnan, so it is better to buy it from Jingbei. ”

Hou Xuanyan thought about it carefully, it made sense, although there were cotton clothes in the armament materials, but these ordinary cotton could also withstand the cold near Beiping. When I arrived in Liaodong outside the Guan, the cold was even worse, and I really needed animal skins and the like to keep out the cold.

Fortunately, the people of Jingbei lived a stable life under the protection of the army, and the fur produced doubled. The purchase by the Northern Expeditionary Military was just right to solve the sales in the first year and help the people of Jingbei settle down and start a business.

At this time, the soldiers outside the door came in, hugged their fists and said: "Lord Wang, General Jingbei Xia Wanchun sent people to send 8,000 horses and 2,000 carts of leather goods, animal tendons and other things. ”

Everyone looked at each other and laughed, Hou Xuanyan put down the wine glass, stroked his palms and praised: "Brother Duan'er is just in time for the rain, and ordered to go down to the nearby factory to undertake orders, make these leather goods into military uniforms, and send people to Jingbei to trade." Although there are many bazaars in Jingbei, it still seems that there are still not enough to let the army handle these trivial matters. Ordered local officials to encourage trade and attract merchants south of the Great Wall to Jingbei, which was included in the performance evaluation. ”

Li Haoxian rubbed his hands and asked, "Lord Wang, everything is ready, when will we go on the expedition?" ”

Hou Xuanyan's eyes narrowed, and the corners of his mouth hooked: "Don't worry, let the Japanese soldiers go up first and set North Korea on fire." ”

At the same time, Tokugawa Iemitsu of Edo bid farewell to his commander Nobumitsu Sakai.

"Why are you sullen about attacking North Korea this time?" Tokugawa Iemitsu knew his general and knew that he was not a person who was greedy for life and afraid of death, so he asked.

Sakai Nobumitsu frowned, raised his head suddenly, lowered his head after a moment, and said in a deep voice: "General, we fought North Korea, and we shed the blood of our own samurai, but we fought for the Ming Dynasty. The Ryukyus were also lost, and the whole country was full of sailors of the Ming Dynasty, and after the defeat of Korea, what could we get? ”

Tokugawa Iemitsu glanced left and right, and rebuked sharply: "Bastard! Idiot! Now Daming is like a strong young man, and we are only three-year-old children in Japan. If we don't listen to them at this time, we will lose the opportunity to grow. Sooner or later, this young man will grow old, and we will grow stronger and stronger under his wings, and sooner or later..."

Sakai Nobumitsu's eyes lit up, and he bowed his head and said, "I understand, Shogun." ”