On the night of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Wuchang City. Bayi?? Chinese??.

Because today is the annual Lantern Festival, the lanterns in Wuchang City are hung high, and the streets are crowded with people watching the lanterns, which is very lively.

On the top floor of the three-story attic on the street of Hanchang County's Wangfu, three richly dressed men sat around the wine table while drinking and laughing, while enjoying the bustling scenery on the street.

"Young master, although Wuchang is not as good as the capital, it is an important town along the river, and the excitement of the Lantern Festival must not be much inferior to that of the capital."

While talking and laughing, Zhu Shengchang, the king of Hanchang County, glanced at the crowd surging on the street, and said with a smile to Li Hongyu, who was sitting opposite, since Li Hongyu came to Wuchang City, he would definitely go to the Chu Palace's mansion with Zhao Xin, so naturally he would inevitably get together with Zhu Shengchang.

Speaking of which, Zhu Shengchang still had a life-saving grace for Li Hongyu back then, if it weren't for Zhu Shengchang's help, Zhu Wanting would not have been able to rush into Wuchangwei's prison so quickly to save people, in that case, Li Hongyu's life would be lost.

Time is flying, and now several years have passed, and Li Hongyu, who came to Wuchang City again, is no longer the little student who was slaughtered by others back then, but an upright young master in Daming, which can really be described as a thing or a person.

"What the prince said is very true, the prosperity of Wuchang market is only inferior to the capital, and it is not comparable to Yangzhou and other places." Li Hongyu replied with a smile when he heard this, raised his wine glass and saluted Zhu Shengchang, and the two of them drank it all after touching the void.

"Lord, the younger brother came back from outside the pass this time with a lot of emotion, originally Shenyang, Liaoyang and Guangning such fortified cities would be easily conquered by Jiannu, if one day those Jiannu enter the customs and go south, then it will be a disaster."

After putting down the wine glass in his hand, Li Hongyu glanced at the crowd of people surging in the market below, and said to Zhu Shengchang with concern.

"The young master laughed, if the young master is here, why be afraid of those slaves!" Zhu Shengchang immediately laughed when he heard this, and said disapprerovingly while pouring wine for Li Hongyu.

Li Hongyu has twice turned the tide outside the customs and defeated the Houjin army, so the Ming Dynasty from the dignitaries to the peddlers and pawns all think that Li Hongyu is the nemesis of Jiannu, as long as Li Hongyu is there, then Jiannu is not to be afraid.

"Lord Wang, don't you know, the little brother almost had to leave his life there in the first battle of Shimen Mountain last year, but fortunately, the county lord of Caixia led the army to rescue him regardless of it, otherwise the little brother would never see the prince again."

Li Hongyu couldn't help but smile bitterly when he heard this, and said to Zhu Shengchang with a heavy heart, "Although the imperial court preached that the younger brother of the battle outside the Guanwai defeated Jiannu and defeated Jiannu and fled, in fact, they took the initiative to retreat, and the main force is still there, and it is very likely that they will make a comeback after recuperation." ”

Zhu Shengchang now in the Ming Dynasty except for Zhao Xin and a few other people no one believes Li Hongyu's words, after all, he just defeated the Houjin army outside the pass not long ago, who would have thought that the Houjin army would take advantage of the internal strife in the Ming Dynasty to enter the south in the future, and then unify the Central Plains.

"Young Master, are you saying that Jiannu will still invade the Ming Dynasty?" Zhu Shengchang couldn't help but be slightly stunned when he heard this, and looked at Li Hongyu in surprise, although this sounded a little unbelievable, Li Hongyu would definitely not make such a joke with him.

"Presumably, the prince already knows that Lord Sun has gone to build the Guanjin defense line outside the pass, instead of leading the army to recapture Liaodong, the reason why this is so is because Jiannu still has a strength that cannot be underestimated."

Li Hongyu pondered for a moment, and said to Zhu Shengchang with a serious expression, "Given that Jiannu is already in full fledgling, it is not easy to destroy it, I am afraid that this is a long war, and it is better for the prince to prepare early." ”

"How to prepare?" Seeing Li Hongyu's solemn expression, Zhu Shengchang suddenly felt that something was wrong, so he asked in a deep voice.

"Straighten out the guards and build the walls!" Hearing this, Li Hongyu looked at Zhu Shengchang solemnly, and slowly said eight words.

"That's easy to do." Zhu Shengchang nodded when he heard this, and agreed in one bite.

Although Emperor Yongle and Emperor Xuande both vigorously reduced the feudal domain, it was the military and financial power of the feudal king in the local area that was eliminated, and the military and financial power of the feudal king was not completely abolished.

Therefore, according to the custom, the feudal kings in each region have the troop configuration of three guards, but the feudal kings in each region have not allocated enough troops in order to avoid suspicion.

Now more than two hundred years have passed, and the vassal kings of various places have long lost the ability and ambition to dominate one side in the early Ming Dynasty, and even if they are equipped with three guards, they will not be able to confront the central government.

In fact, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the vassal kings in various places were reluctant to raise too many soldiers in order to reduce expenses, and it was already very good to have one or two thousand guards to protect the royal palace and the royal families to which they belonged.

Moreover, with the outbreak of internal and external wars, the emperor of the late Ming Dynasty no longer restricted the local vassal kings to restore the deployment of the three guards.

After all, this time is different, even if the local feudal kings are re-equipped with the troops of the three guards, they will not be able to rebel, and after losing their military, political and financial power over the local area, they will not be able to rebel like the Yongle Emperor back then.

Not only that, but the military expenses for maintaining the army were a large expense, and after losing the power to tax the local area, the income of the feudal lords in each region could only rely on the output of the land they owned and the emperor's reward, and they were forbidden to do business.

After two or three hundred years of reproduction, the vassal kings in various places had to spend a huge amount of money just to feed the children of their own clan, and where was there any leisure to raise soldiers.

On the contrary, Emperor Ming hoped that the vassal kings in various places could train their troops diligently, not only to suppress local rebellions, but also to draw troops to defend the capital and the central part of the feudal screen at critical moments, and also save the imperial court from spending money to raise troops.

After all, when it comes to the critical moment of life and death, it is still reassuring that his family can rest assured, as for the declining Weisu army, he has already lost the trust of Emperor Ming.

"Lord Wang, although you want to train your troops, the key is still with Lord Chu."

Seeing that Zhu Shengchang agreed happily, Li Hongyu pondered for a while and said with a serious expression, "If the prince of Chu is unwilling to train troops and repair the city, then the prince is helpless." ”

In the final analysis, the prince of Chu is the master of the Chu Palace, and Zhu Shengchang is just a county king of the Chu Palace.

But it is not easy to persuade the king of Chu to come up with the money for training troops and repairing the city, no vassal king will use his own money to help the imperial court, and the king of Chu will not believe that Wuchang City will be in danger in the future, after all, the prestige of the Ming Empire is still there.

"Young master, don't worry about this, I'll go and convince grandpa that it's a big deal to use the money earned from overseas trade to do these things."

Zhu Shengchang frowned slightly when he heard this, as the county king of the Chu Palace, he naturally knew his grandfather's character, and he would not approve of doing these things, and then Zhengse said.

"Lord Wang, there is another extremely important thing, if this matter can't be done well, the first two things of the prince will be a failure!"

Li Hongyu's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard this, what he was waiting for was Zhu Shengchang's attitude, so he said solemnly, "The people are the water, the king is the boat, the water can carry the boat or overturn the boat, so I hope that the prince can treat the people of Wuchang well, only in this way can he win the hearts of the people, and the people will be willing to work hard for the Chu Palace." ”

"This ......"

Zhu Shengchang was dumbfounded when he heard this, this matter was out of his ability, and it was something that the King of Chu should do, so he seemed powerless, did he want the King of Chu to reduce rent and interest? Those land rents were an important source of finance for the Chu Palace.

"Lord Wang, for the future of the Chu Palace, the younger brother feels that the Chu Palace, which should be in charge of the prince, is the only way to be determined to change and make the Chu Palace's invincible position." Li Hongyu knew Zhu Shengchang's difficulties, so he lowered his voice and said.

"With this king in charge?" Zhu Shengchang was slightly stunned when he heard this, and his face showed a look of surprise, he didn't expect Li Hongyu to say this.

"Lord, you are the second grandson of the Chu Palace, you have the qualifications to inherit the palace, and now there are strong enemies in the Ming Dynasty, and the throne should be lived by those who have both ability and political integrity, so that the Ming Dynasty can be prosperous and enduring."

At this time, Zhao Xin on the side also opened his mouth and whispered to persuade Zhu Shengchang, "His Royal Highness Shisun is not enterprising enough compared with the prince, and he can only stick to the rules in the future, and now the situation is unpredictable, so it is better for the prince to take charge of the Chu Mansion as soon as possible." ”

"Yes...... But this is a great unfilial piety, and it is not in line with the etiquette system of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Shengchang pondered for a moment when he heard this, and then said with a wry smile, "The kindness of the two is understood by the king, but the king really can't do it, otherwise he will be pointed out by the thousand masters." ”

"Don't worry about the prince, the younger brother has already calculated, there will be the imperial history to impeach the prince of Chu, the prince and the grandson for misbehaving in Wuchang, as long as the prince can show the emperor his intention to support the Ming Sheji, then the emperor will definitely hand over the Chu palace to the prince."

Since Li Hongyu opened his mouth to mention this matter, he had already prepared for this, and said to Zhu Shengchang in a low voice, "This matter is related to the future of the Ming Dynasty, and I hope that the prince will make a decision immediately to protect the foundation of the Ming Dynasty." ”

"Okay, since the young master and the scholar think so highly of this king, then this king is willing to give it a try."

Zhu Shengchang is not the kind of indecisive person, and he is quite dissatisfied with today's world, now Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin have given him a chance to make contributions and support the Daming Society, so he will naturally not give up easily, and after a little silence, he nodded to Li Hongyu and Zhao Xin, and agreed.

"The prince is loyal and courageous, and the younger brother admires it very much." Hearing this, a smile appeared at the corner of Li Hongyu's mouth, and he raised the wine glass in front of him and saluted Zhu Shengchang.

"This king is also forced to do so."

Zhu Shengchang smiled bitterly, touched the wine glass with Li Hongyu and drank it all, he believed that Li Hongyu was definitely not alarmist, and he couldn't figure out which day Jiannu would really call.

In fact, Li Hongyu was more worried about the civil strife in the Ming Dynasty, once the local situation in the Ming Dynasty was unstable, then without the arrival of the Houjin soldiers, those rebellious people had already captured Wuchang City, and history is exactly like this, the Chu Wangfu was almost slaughtered by the rebellious rebels.

In addition to the Chu Palace, the Xiangwang Mansion is also training troops and repairing the city, and treating the people with rent and interest reduction.

As long as Xiangyang and Wuchang can be held, then the area north of the Yangtze River in Huguang will be impregnable, and not only those peasant rebels will not be able to attack the Houjin, but they will become a bridgehead against the Houjin.

(End of chapter)