The battle of Huai'an City proceeded quickly, and the walls of the city were blasted open in less than an hour in the morning. The Qing army in the city had little morale, and the battle in the city was not fierce, and the battle ended in the afternoon, and Huai'an, the center of the Grand Canal, was occupied by the Ming army.

Zhu Hongsan has been sitting on the imperial chariot three miles outside the east city to watch, this is the first battle of the Northern Expedition, and he must ensure a good start. Zhu Hongsan watched here, but he was bitter for the civil officials who came with him. This time, Zhu Hongsan's Northern Expedition also brought a large number of civil officials, including Hou Sui, the governor of Beizhili, who was appointed in Yangzhou, and the governors of the northern provinces, the prefects of several important prefectures, and so on.

Zhu Hongsan sat in the imperial chariot with a curtain to block the wind, but the ministers outside were unlucky, and they were dizzy by the wind on the canal.

It was just noon, Zhu Hongsan sent someone to ask the troops what they were eating, and after a while, the kung fu brocade guards came over to reply, and the fighting did not stop at noon today, and the troops could only eat meat and steamed buns. Zhu Hongsan's eyes rolled after hearing this, and he ordered: "Go, pass the order, I will share weal and woe with the majority of soldiers, and at noon today, I will take all the civil and military ministers to eat meat and steamed buns!" ”

As soon as Zhu Hongsan gave this order, all the Wenchen were dumbfounded. Most of these Wenchen are Jinshi, and some of them are lifters, you must know that the whole family can be tax-free if they lift people, and they are not poor. It's not that these Wenchen can't endure hardship, but those who squat on the side of the canal and chew meat steamed buns are really insulting.

After a while, the kung fu cooks carried up two large baskets of steamed buns and two buckets of hot soup, and Zhu Hongsan beckoned the Jinyi guards and army generals around him to come forward to eat, but none of the civil officials moved.

The new Huai'an prefect Wang Yuan really couldn't stand the emperor's bullying of scholars like this, so he stood up and said: "Your Majesty, we are all officials, and we want to maintain the face of the imperial court, isn't it okay to eat like this?" ”

This Wang Yunke has a great background, he is a native of Songjiang Mansion in Nanzhili, and his teacher is Chen Zilong, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance. In history, Chen Zilong was defeated and killed, and no one dared to collect his body for him at that time, it was this Wang Yuan and another disciple Xu Huanjian who collected the body for Chen Zilong. In this time and space, Wang Yuan is not simple, after the Qing army occupied Nanzhili, Wang Yuan sold his property and his teacher Chen Zilong to join the Taihu Lake guerrillas. Zhu Hongsan was able to occupy Nanzhili so quickly, and these anti-Qing scholars and doctors made great efforts.

After Zhu Hongsan occupied Nanjing, Wang Yuan, an anti-Qing faction with merit and background, of course, wanted to be praised by the general trend, and Zhu Hongsan gave him the same Jinshi background and went to Zhejiang to become a county magistrate. After Ma Mingyuan took the position, in order to win over Chen Zilong, several outstanding disciples of Chen Zilong were promoted to important positions. This Wang Yu was appointed as the prefect of Huai'an, and at the same time was in charge of the affairs of the canal. You must know that Caoyun in the Ming and Qing dynasties had a single governor, which was a high-ranking official from the first grade, and now let Wang Yuan, a fourth-grade official, take charge of it, which is an absolute reuse.

Although what Wang Yu said sounded tactful, the meaning was to scold the emperor, we scholars are different from your emperor, we still have to be faced!

Zhu Hongsan's face sank when he heard this, and he was about to go crazy. But Hou Sui, one of these ministers, stood up, stepped forward and took a steamed bun and bit it down.

Hou Sui said while eating: "It tastes good, but there is a lot of fat, if it is fat and thin, it will be even more delicious!" By the way, the old man has a dry mouth, who is that, can you give the old man a bowl of soup? ”

Hou Sui is the highest status among these officials, Hou Sui is a Jinshi in the forty-fourth year of Wanli, and many of these officials were still nursing babies when they were officials, so Hou Sui's actions are very exemplary. When the other officials saw that Hou Sui was like this, they had no choice but to step forward and take a steamed bun, whether they ate it or not, at least so that the emperor could step down.

Seeing Hou Sui defending his face, Zhu Hong was overjoyed, and hurriedly ordered someone to send a bowl of soup to Hou Sui, and at the same time glared at Wang Xun fiercely. scolded in my heart: If it weren't for seeing the faces of your teachers Chen Zilong and Hou Sui, Lao Tzu would want you to look good today.

At this time, there was a Jinyi guard report, and some Manchu officials and officials were caught in the city, and asked His Majesty the Emperor to see what to do.

Zhu Hongsan heard that it was okay now, beating children on a rainy day, and being idle was idle, so it was better to have fun with these Manchu officials.

"Go, bring them up!"

After a while, more than a dozen Manchu officials were escorted up, these people were wearing everything, some were wearing ordinary clothes, some were wearing the clothes of Qing soldiers, their bodies were disheveled, and some of them had their braids shaved off and became a big bald head, apparently preparing to make up as monks and go out of the city.

These officials were headed by Zhou Boda, the governor of Jiangning in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and he knew that whether he could die or live today depended on the meaning of the emperor in front of him, so as soon as he saw Zhu Hongsan, he knelt on the ground and cried: "Zhou Boda, the minister, has finally seen His Majesty the Emperor!" "Zhou Boda is a ten-year jinshi of Chongzhen, and he has been the head of the county, the Ministry of Industry, and the Pingliang Road of Shaanxi, so he calls himself a minister.

Zhou Boda cried: "Your Majesty, Chongzhen is mediocre and incompetent, the Hongguang Dynasty is controlled by the eunuchs, the King of Lu and the King of Tang are fighting for power, and the ministers at that time are Manchu who has no way to take refuge!" But the minister is in the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the heart is in the Ming Dynasty, and when he learned that the wise Emperor Shenwu raised troops in Guangdong, the minister has been looking forward to the king's division, but he didn't expect that his majesty would finally come today! Woooooooooooooooo After speaking, Zhou Boda knelt on the ground and cried bitterly.

Zhu Hongsan heard Zhou Boda say this, only to find that this guy is really shameless, listening to him say this, it seems that he has been lying on salary for the past few years, and he is the No. 1 spy in my Ming Dynasty who broke into the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but Zhou Boda is the opponent of Zhu Hongsan, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Hongsan said unhurriedly: "I heard you say that you have worked hard for you in the past few years, but since you know that I am in Guangdong, why don't you come to join me?" ”

Zhou Boda was stunned when he heard the emperor say this, and hurriedly replied: "Your Majesty, Guangdong is too far away from Nanzhili, and the minister really doesn't have the ability to go to Guangdong!" ”

"Fart, it's not difficult to create difficulties, but you have to go on! Look at Qian Qianyi, you know that I am in Guangdong, so I immediately left my family and business to go to Guangdong to seek refuge in me! Why don't you learn from him? ”

Zhu Hongsan's words can be asked, Zhou Boda was speechless, yes! When Qian Qianyi left Nanzhili, he did not go to the king of Lu in eastern Zhejiang, nor did he go to the king of Tang in Fujian, but went directly to Guangdong to vote for Zhu Hongsan. But what's going on with Qian Qianyi? At that time, Qian Qianyi was not reused in Beijing, and he resigned and went home in frustration. When I got home, I saw that all the children in the family were abducted by Zhu Hongsan and went to Guangdong, so I had no choice but to go to Guangdong with them.

But Zhou Boda was different, he was appointed governor of Gansu immediately after surrendering to the Manchu Dynasty, and he was appointed as the prefect of Jiangning the following year.

Zhu Hongsan saw that Zhou Boda had nothing to say, and said with satisfaction: "Do you think Lao Tzu doesn't know what virtues you stinky old nine have?" is full of benevolence and morality, but in fact, he can do anything behind his back than hanging a horse! What's wrong? Why are you out of words? ”

Zhu Hongsan scolded so happily that he forgot that in addition to the surrendered Manchu officials, there were also a group of stinky old nine under him. Wang Yuan's face turned green by Zhu Hongsan's anger, and he was about to step forward to refute Zhu Hongsan's words, but he knew that he was firmly held by an official next to him.

Zhu Hongsan then scolded: "You guys think Lao Tzu can't kill you? But you are all wrong, Lao Tzu is going to kill you! By the way, in order to show Lao Tzu's magnanimity, which of you has a daughter at home? ”

The meaning of Zhu Hongsan's words is obvious, that is, if you have a daughter in your family to offer, Lao Tzu can consider leaving you a way to live, or you will all be beheaded.

Zhu Hongsan said this, which made Zhou Boda embarrassed, he didn't have a daughter, he had two daughters, and they all looked good, but they didn't come with him in Beijing, and he couldn't do anything if he wanted to dedicate them to the emperor.

But Wang Shutang, the prefect of Huai'an in the Manchu Qing Dynasty next to Zhou Boda, was very happy, and a middle-level official like him was not qualified to leave his family in Beijing as a hostage, so he was all by his side.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! The minister has a daughter, fifteen years old, and is willing to be accompanied by His Majesty! ”

When other low-level officials heard Wang Shutang say this, they also shouted that they had daughters and were willing to dedicate themselves to the emperor. When Zhou Boda heard this, he also exclaimed: "Your Majesty, although the minister's daughters are all in Beijing, but the minister has a younger brother-in-law, in Laiyang, Shandong, the minister's younger brother died early, and the younger brother-in-law has been widowed for many years, with a long flower and moon appearance, I am willing to dedicate it to Your Majesty!" ”

Zhu Hongsanyi, who likes little widows the most, was overjoyed when he heard Zhou Boda say this, and quickly stood up and asked, "Little widow?" Good! Lao Tzu likes it! You said that your brother-in-law is good-looking, didn't you pick up the ashes as an elder brother? ”

Zhou Boda is also a provincial-level cadre, and he was furious when he heard the emperor say this, who do you think the old man is? The old man is a righteous gentleman, so he can do that kind of thing! Although my brother-in-law is very good-looking, and I am very tempted every time I see it, I can't do it for the sake of face!

Wang Yun listened to the emperor's question on the side, and couldn't bear it anymore, so he stood up and said: "Your Majesty, how should these ministers deal with the punishment of the state, Your Majesty don't bother!" What's more, what His Majesty just said was not done by Renjun at all! ”

What is not Renjun? That's the faint king! Although Zhu Hongsan didn't read, he also understood what Wang Yu said.

Zhu Hongsan said angrily: "You, Wang Yuan, I see that your master's face has made you the prefect of Huai'an, do you want to oppose me?" ”

How do you know that Wang Yuan stood up straight and said: "Your Majesty, the minister's Huai'an prefect is a ministerial election, not Your Majesty's simple promotion!" ”

Zhu Hongsan saw that Wang Yu still dared to speak back, and scolded angrily: "Do you think I don't dare to abolish your prefect?" Do you believe it or not, I asked you to go to Luzon to be a magistrate? ”

"The court has a law, His Majesty's chaotic orders can be refused, and His Majesty's holy decree can also be refuted in the matter of the officials!"

Zhu Hongsan was furious by Wang Yuan, but he couldn't help it, what Wang Yuan was talking about was a strange system in the Ming Dynasty, a system that checked and balanced the rights of the monarch - the system of giving things.