readx; Mao Wenlong escaped death and was entrusted with a heavy responsibility by Zhu Youzhen, of course, he is grateful. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info ↑ Top Novel, but Zhu Youzhen did not restore Mao Wenlong to any position, and in terms of commanding five hundred cavalry, it is only equivalent to a thousand households.

In the past, Mao Wenlong was the chief military officer of Dongjiang Town and the governor of Zhengyipin, and he also understood what the emperor meant: if you want to be reinstated, you have to start from scratch and make new contributions. Moreover, several military attaches sent by Zhu Youzhen to his subordinates, although they did not explicitly say that Mao Wenlong was so smart that he naturally knew that he was spying on him, how could he dare to have half a different heart.

However, in other aspects, Zhu Youzhen can be regarded as taking special care of Mao Wenlong. He sent an order to the three battalions of the Beijing Division, asking Mao Wenlong to be selected arbitrarily among all the soldiers, and whoever was chosen would be taken away unconditionally. As for the war horses, these 500 cavalry were configured according to the standard of one person and two horses, and they chose all the sweat-blooded horses purchased from the Yarkand Khanate at a high price when they were in Shaanxi, which couldn't help but make Hao Yongzhong and Li Laiheng and other generals feel distressed.

Mao Wenlong's selection criteria are also very interesting, the establishment of the three major battalions is still the old health center system, and the smallest unit is 100 households. He chose at most one person in a hundred households, so as to ensure that the selected soldiers did not know each other. And the criterion for selection is not to see who can fight, but to see who can drink.

Originally, Xie Sheng and Hao Yongzhong were very strict in governing the army, and they strictly forbade soldiers to drink alcohol in peacetime, so although many officers and soldiers were old drunkards in the past, they could only endure it now. This time, Zhu Youzhen approved all of Mao Wenlong's requests, and Shi Chunhu and others had to buy more than a dozen jars of inferior soju from the small wine workshop in Beijing according to Mao Wenlong's requirements.

Mao Wenlong's requirements are also very simple: whoever can make three bowls of shochu without getting drunk can be selected! Those who are selected will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver immediately!

Shi Chunhu and the others couldn't help but look at each other, thinking to themselves, first, this soju is not a low-alcohol liquor brewed by traditional techniques in the Central Plains, but a high-grade liquor obtained by distillation. Not to mention the three sea bowls, I feel hot and spicy when I pour a sip of wine, and I can't kill people even if I dry three bowls? Second, the saint didn't prepare silver taels for Mao Wenlong, if he chose 500 people, where did he steal the 50,000 taels of silver?

However, there are really officers and soldiers who are addicted to alcohol and greedy for silver, some of them can indeed do three bowls in a row, and some of them are unconscious after one or two bowls. Because there were really not so many officers and soldiers, Mao Wenlong had to lower the standard, and those who could do two bowls could pass the test, so it took a whole day to screen out seven or eight hundred people from the tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in the three major battalions.

This second screening is quite reliable, Mao Wenlong eliminated the obviously old, thin and withered inside, and there are more than 600 people left. But this last screening made Shi Chunhu even more dumbfounded, because the standard was to see who would gamble!

But there was a decree from the saint, and Shi Chunhu had to endure his anger and find dozens of tables, and these 700 officers and soldiers gathered around a table, and began to throw dice and play money. Some of them have silver on them, some of them don't, and those who dare not go to the gambling table because they have no money are directly eliminated.

The rest of the people immediately gambled enthusiastically, while Mao Wenlong watched quietly from table to table. Gamblers are the most humane when they go to the table, and some people are so arrogant that they put all their bets on it; Some people are cautious, and they don't dare to follow up when they see the other party's hand. Some people ask the other party for money when they win, and those who lose money can't get the money and want to default, and then turn over the book after winning; How can you let the money win, and they quarreled in a few words, and after a while, there were several tables fighting.

Shi Chunhu saw that Mao Wenlong didn't stop him, and he didn't know what kind of medicine he was selling in his gourd, so he thought to himself, isn't this just a group of soldiers selected?

saw Mao Wenlong suddenly yell: "Stop! Then he kept pulling a few out of each table, and in less than a meal, the selection was completed, and it was exactly five hundred. Shi Chunhu saw that these people were really the most fierce, the most daring to bet, and the most unreasonable people just now, and he couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly.

Mao Wenlong smiled at him and said, "Brother Shi, you may think that the old brother's selection method is a mess, right?" ”

Of course, Shi Chunhu thought so in his heart, but it was difficult to say it, and his face was extremely embarrassed.

"You should trust dude." Mao Wenlong doesn't have any official position now, and he doesn't dare to hold it up in front of Shi Chunhu, so he calls himself "brother", but his face is serious, "Your Majesty spares me for the time being, and entrusts me with a heavy responsibility, do I think my head is too much to cut off?" The reason why the brother is so selected has its own reason! ”

Late that night, the cavalry of the ruffians marched out of the city on horseback and disappeared north into the night, bringing with them only enough dry food for seven days, and a large bag of soju per person. As for the one hundred taels of silver, they didn't even see a shadow, but Mao Wenlong gave them an irresistible promise: the loot does not have to be handed over, and whoever grabs it will be theirs!

At the same time, preparations for the royal expedition are also in full swing. At the daytime court meeting, Zhu Youzhen officially announced his decision, and unsurprisingly, he was opposed by many officials.

But this time, Zhu Youzhen didn't give them much time to speak, and said bluntly: "In the previous dynasty, there were also vassal kings who raised troops to make rebellion, Xuanzong personally conquered Zhu Gaoxu, and Wuzong personally conquered Zhu Chenhao, all of which have precedents, why can't I personally conquer Zhu Changxun?" ”

As soon as Zhu Youzhen said this, the ministers were speechless. In fact, they knew very well in their hearts, and there was another time when the vassal king rebelled and Zhu Youzhen didn't say it, that is, the "Battle of Jingjing" of Zhu Di, the king of Yan. The two counterinsurgency campaigns were successful, but only the "Battle of Jingjing", Emperor Jianwen did not personally conquer, which led to the war dragging on for four years and finally reversed. The emperor's personal expedition certainly helped to boost the morale of the officers and soldiers, and quickly put down the rebellion in a short period of time, so he no longer insisted on opposing it.

Before the departure of the army, Zhu Youzhen specially issued an edict to the world, saying that Zhu Changxun, Zhu Yousong, and Hong Chengchou braved the disapproval of the world to collude with thieves and the White Lotus Sect to rebel, and the timing was chosen just after the Manchu invasion and the people were trying to recuperate, which was equivalent to defecting to the enemy and betraying the country, and they were indeed sinners of the Chinese nation through the ages. After seeing the edict, officials and people in various localities should resolutely resist the rebels and not listen to the rumors created by the rebels. Those who are unfortunately coerced by the rebels, as long as they seek an opportunity to break away from the rebels, the court will not blame the past and will not be killed indiscriminately.

This edict was immediately sent to various places with flying pigeons, and Zhu Youzhen also specially asked the Red Lady and Herzhe to send one copy to Luoyang and Xiangyang. Herzhe was puzzled and said, "These two places have rebelled, what is the use of passing on the book again?" Wasted pigeons! ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said: "The rebels are not monolithic. Maybe some people will regret it when they see the book, and abandon the darkness and turn to the light! ”