In order to appease Yu Xiang, Chongzhen issued a verbal praise and encouraged him to make persistent efforts and make miraculous achievements.

Chongzhen recalled Wang Chengen and sent his henchman eunuch Cao Huachun to supervise the army in Henan, Chongzhen thought that Wang Chengen might be bribed, and became suspicious of Wang Chengen and the four Liu brothers.

Cao Huachun's family was humble when he was young, he entered the palace at the age of twelve or thirteen, because of his talent and intelligence, diligence and studiousness, he received a good education in the palace, and he was proficient in poetry, calligraphy and painting, and was deeply appreciated by Wang An, the former eunuch, and relied on as a cronie. Later, he entered the palace to accompany and serve Zhu Youzhen. After Zhu Youzhen succeeded to the throne, he was entrusted with an important task, responsible for cleaning up the unjust, false and wrongful cases when Wei Zhongxian, he lived up to expectations, rehabilitated more than 2,000 cases of Zhaoxue, and won the trust and reliance of Emperor Chongzhen because of his ability to do things.

Throughout Cao Huachun's life, he was friendly with the Donglin Party, was loyal, and had no other evil deeds.

Yu Xiang welcomed Cao Huachun's arrival very much, and cooperated everywhere, except for the top secret matters of steelmaking and gun making, other things were not hidden from Cao Huachun, which made Cao Huachun very surprised, and got Chongzhen's dictation to visit and search for evidence of Yu Xiang's rebellion.

Cao Huachun can also look at the face, and see Yu Xiang with a bookish face, Zhou Zheng, handsome and handsome, a little smart, no matter what, he can't see the slightest bit of anti-bones.

However, since he was deeply entrusted by the emperor, after he arrived, he was vigilant in everything, careful everywhere, searching for clues of Yu Xiang's rebellion, and he was absolutely loyal to Emperor Chongzhen.

Yu Xiang asks for instructions on everything, respects everywhere, and respects Cao Huachun, because Cao Huachun is a person who takes care of the overall situation, Yu Xiang does not reject him.

Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen let go of everything is different, no matter how big or small, hands-on, the way of doing things is extremely rigorous and serious, Yu Xiang took the initiative to adapt to Cao Huachun's style of doing things, later, simply do a hand-off shopkeeper, some things that have nothing to do with the military to Cao Huachun to deal with, Cao Huachun became the vice governor of Henan, because the construction of Henan's clean government is in place, involving personnel deployment, financial expenditures, are responsible for the relevant departments, Yu Xiang on the allocation of property, but there is no real power, therefore, the accounts are clear, at a glance, The huge Henan, the financial accounts are on the bright side, so Cao Huachun is very admired, it is estimated that the Ming Dynasty is also like this in Henan, in the face of Yu Xiang's bright and upright, Cao Huachun was very encouraged, and praised Yu Xiang a few times in a row.

Besides, when Wang Chengen returned to the capital, Emperor Chongzhen also received Cao Huachun's recital, and the content of the recital was consistent with what Wang Chengen said, which dispelled Chongzhen's concerns a little.

Chongzhen summoned Wang Chengen and inquired in detail about the situation in Henan, especially the new education and clean government inspectors in Henan.

Wang Chengen focused on Henan arithmetic, and personally calculated to Chongzhen, although Chongzhen did not know its ingenuity for a while, but felt its charm. Wang Chengen gave a detailed explanation of the office characteristics of the Anti-Corruption Supervision Office and the examples of the cases investigated, and explained in detail the efficient and honest government system that Yu Xiang wanted to build.

Chongzhen was very moved after hearing this, just imagine himself, he has been in politics for more than ten years, he gets up every day when he smells the chicken, wears the stars and wears the moon, and wants to be a sage who has been famous for thousands of years. However, at the beginning of the throne, the national disasters continued, no matter how hard he tried, the disasters continued not to decrease, but more and more, and finally broke out peasant uprisings, foreign invasions, and this Yu Xiang, in just a few months, will govern Henan in an orderly manner, resolve its disaster, which makes Chongzhen ashamed, thinking about it, he can't help but whisper: "Yu Xiang really has the ability to pass through the heavens and latitudes!" So he bluntly asked Wang Chengen: "Wang Aiqing, if this Yu Xiang rebels, how should I respond?" ”

When Wang Chengen heard this, he quickly knelt down and kowtowed, but he didn't answer. Wang Chengen knows that this question is not easy to answer, if he answers it smoothly, he will undoubtedly admit that Yu Xiang is suspected of rebellion, and if he answers against him, it will be disrespectful, and if he doesn't get it right, he will lose his head.

When Chongzhen saw Wang Chengen like this, he had to ask another question: "Do you think that the minister of civil and military affairs of my dynasty, who else can stand out?" ”

Wang Chengen replied: "I have many soldiers in the Ming Dynasty, but Weichen doesn't know much, as far as I know, I'm afraid that no one can beat it." ”

Chongzhen nodded slightly and remained silent.

Wang Chengen thought for a while, and said boldly: "After getting along with Yu Xiang for a few months, I know a little about him, and Weichen has some opinions, I don't know whether to talk about it or not. ”

Emperor Chongzhen said: "But it doesn't hurt to talk about it, you are not guilty." ”

Wang Chengen said: "Yu Xiang Yunwen Yunwu, such as Zhuge Kongming's reincarnation, although his behavior is perverse, at first glance it seems unreasonable, and it is suspicious, but everywhere reveals benevolence, righteousness and loyalty, everything is on the matter, drought and disaster relief, killing corrupt officials and corrupt officials, eliminating bullies and bandits, although it violates the law of the Ming Dynasty, but these people are people who are punished." does not exclude dissidents, Liu Fengyuan and those scholars, not only did he not punish, but influenced them with virtue, did not entangle personal grievances, and reused them, just imagine, if he really has objections, how can he reuse these people. He can have today, it can be said that he is long live single-handedly supported, without long live cultivation, he will never have today, on the contrary, if he is harsh on him, forced to a precipice, whether it is rebellion or rebellion, the consequences are unimaginable. ”

These words were also said by Wang Chengen at the risk of death, Chongzhen heard it clearly, his face was extremely ugly, and he said in a deep voice: "Stand down." ”

After Wang Chengen withdrew, Chongzhen took out the sword that Yu Xiang presented again, and looked at it repeatedly. Ordered someone to have a cup of Xincun green tea and savor it!

…

Yu Xiang issued an order in Henan, in addition to planting some winter wheat near the water source area, the province's planting of Chinese cabbage, white radish, Chinese cabbage, and white radish planting cycle is short, the effect is fast, and the storage time is long, which can minimize the consumption of grain and store the grain. Yu Xiang instructed the salt mine to produce salt day and night, and the salt field to seize the time to dry salt, a large supply of salt, in Henan, the price of salt is extremely low, a few pennies a pound of salt, ordinary people can afford to consume, this is a world of difference for other provinces, some of the province's financial revenue mainly comes from the salt tax, and often the government and businessmen collude, monopolize the salt market, and cooperate to harm the people, but in Henan, the price of salt is ridiculously low, which has caused extreme panic in other provinces, Yu Xiang completely ignores these.

There is no suspense, Henan radish and cabbage harvest, Yu Xiang asked to promote radish and cabbage cellaring technology, this era, the preservation technology is limited, even if the cellar, if it is not good, it will rot in large quantities, and the output is too large, the risk of cellaring is very large.

Based on this, Yu Xiang asked Miss Xu San to set up Xu Ji Food, specializing in pickled radish and cabbage, because the price of salt is low, pickles have a price difference market, because considering that the price of salt may bring a price impact to other provinces, Henan salt is absolutely not allowed to be sold to other provinces, however, Henan pickles can be sold to other provinces at a high price, pickles contain a lot of salt, buy a pickles, not only buy crisp and delicious dishes, but also buy a small jar of salt, yes, Henan pickles sell well in border provinces, promote business prosperity.

Other merchants saw Xu Ji food day into ten thousand gold, have to follow suit, set up pickling company, specializing in pickling and preserving food, for a time, Henan pickles, a wide variety, very popular, Yu Xiang took this opportunity, called on traders in other provinces to pickle vegetables for grain, these grains, transported back to Henan, can be sold at a high price, these traders see profitable, so pickled cabbage continues to export Henan, a steady stream of exchange for grain. In other provinces, merchants do not even accept cash trading, only ask for grain for vegetables, this move is actually very popular with the common people, after all, to settle in silver, there are many inconveniences, grain settlement, two catties but easy to calculate.

Yu Xiang set an example, calling on everyone to take radish and cabbage as the staple food, eat less rice and noodles, greatly reduce the consumption of food, a winter, Henan actually stored a large amount of grain, which is completely different from the history, Henan has no food to eat in winter, and the tragic situation of cannibalism is completely different. A strong business network has made up for the lack of food and materials in Henan.

With the fame of Henan goods, Yu Xiang ordered the establishment of the Henan Quality Supervision Bureau, the random inspection of the products of the merchants from time to time, and formulated the most stringent quality standards at that time, where the quality standards of the merchants, its products are not allowed to be sold, serious, will be punished with confiscation of property, driven out of Henan or even jail, Henan law enforcement must be strict, illegal must be investigated, and pay great attention to trademark protection, is to businessmen are very self-disciplined, Henan brand products are getting louder and louder, quickly recognized by the outside world.

Nowadays, Henan has made great strides into the commodity economy and society, and has become an ideal place for businessmen to do business, with a lot of opportunities to make money. The money was nothing to him, but he enjoyed it. It can be seen that the commodity economy has a deep impact on the whole Henan.

After staying in Anyang for more than a month, Yu Xiang set off for his next destination, Shangqiu.

Shangqiu is located in the eastern part of Henan Province, at the junction of Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui, because merchants, commodities and commerce originated in Shangqiu, so it is known as "the source of the three merchants and the capital of Chinese businessmen", and it is the springboard and channel for Yu Xiang to implement the plan of northerners moving south.

The backbone rivers with a basin area of more than 1,000 square kilometers in Shangqiu include the Whirlpool River, the Huiji River, the Tuo River, the Yellow River, the Huhe River, the Dasha River, etc. It is rich in water resources, known as the granary of the Central Plains, and is the core area of grain protection demarcated by Yuxiang.

After arriving at Shangqiu, it snowed heavily, fluttering and sprinkling, very spectacular, and the ground was covered with a thick layer.

Miss Xu San was childlike and went out to enjoy the snow. Yu Xiang was also very excited, this was the first time he had seen such a large amount of snow, in later generations, the climate was warming, and it was extremely difficult to see snow. Holding their hands, they walked out of the city gate and walked through the snow.

There are few pedestrians on the road, and occasionally I meet a few people wearing hats and robes, hurrying by.

"Thousands of mountains and birds fly away, and thousands of people disappear!" Only then did Yu Xiang truly realize the loneliness of the vast world. A beauty of emptiness!

At this time, a hare ran past everyone, and Yu Xiang suddenly became interested and said, "Whoever can shoot first will be rewarded!" ”

The guards with guns around them had long been itchy and unbearable, and when they got the order, a few horses flew out from Yu Xiang's side like arrows, chasing the hares, only to hear a few gunshots, the earth returned to loneliness, a few horses stepped on the snow, galloped back, Zhao Xiao twisted a fat rabbit in his hand, Yu Xiang was very satisfied, and said loudly: "Reward you with ten jars of good wine, a day off, drink wine and eat meat in the snow!" ”

Several soldiers were elated and could not hide their joy.

At this moment, a few fast horses galloped from a distance, and as the fast horses galloped closer, Jia Binjiu's unique voice came: "Big brother~!" There is military intelligence, there is military intelligence! ”

When the horses galloped closer, Jia Binjiu jumped off his horse and said, "I just got the news that Zhuji Town, Liu Yinlou Town, Zhouzhai Town, and Geji Town were robbed at the same time. ”

Yu Xiang was shocked, these places are bordered by Jiangsu, belonging to the two regardless of the zone, because the emperor's decree, Henan's policies only apply to Henan, yes, Henan's handling of cross-border matters, very tricky, in addition, because Yu Xiang was squeezed out in the court, and the officials of the critical provinces have little contact, in other places in Henan, in order to facilitate management, the critical people will be moved to the grain protection area, so that if they are harassed, the enemy will go deep into Henan, only this Shangqiu, is Yu Xiang's key grain protection area, is Yu Xiang's northerners move south channel, yes, There was no concentration of those on the frontier into the hinterland.

"Who are these people?" Yu Xiang asked.

"They are all officers and soldiers, Zuo Liangyu's team, Zuo Liangyu's army is stationed in Feng County, Nanzhili." Jia Binjiu replied.

Yu Xiang is a little in a dilemma, the army led by Liu Guoneng is stationed in Anyang, and it is too late to transfer troops to Xinyang, and now there are only about 200 special forces led by Zhuge Shanzhen at hand, and there are more than 300 soldiers in Shangqiu led by Shengying, compared with Zuo Liangyu's army, this Zuo Liangyu was born in the army, but it is hard and difficult to deal with.

Yu Xiang decided to go to the robbed market town in person and meet Zuo Liangyu.