When Huang Zhishen, the financial director and civil affairs manager of the Ming Dynasty, rushed to the Zhaoming Palace with a stomach full of sorrow, the palace in the rain was also quiet. Zhaoming Palace is the old Jurchen Palace, covering an area not too large, and the magnificence cannot be compared with the Great Song Palace in Lin'an. Moreover, Chen Dexing does not need eunuchs, and the maids in the palace are all elderly widows, and the number is not much, only two hundred and five, all of whom are under the management of Yang Po'er. There are no beauties who perform singing and dancing music.

Chen Dexing has no artistic cells and is not interested in singing and dancing at all, and his favorite pastime is watching sumo wrestling – usually performed by Yang Po'er and Bao Yin, and sometimes Li Cuixian is willing to do it herself.

There are few female envoys in the palace, and the number of concubines is even less. The thirty-six concubines stipulated in "Chen Li" are not even one-third of the establishment. The concubines are Li Cuixian, Zhao Lin'er, Baoyin, Cui Yue'er, Wang Rong'er, Liu Zhen, Qing'an Palace Master, and Xia Lian'er, who is about to enter the palace, there are a total of eight people. In addition, there are three women who have no official names, Yang Po'er, Mo Yingniang and Xiao Ai. Add it all together and that's eleven people.

In the process of Chen Dexing's rise, the women who were sent to him as gifts or collateral, except for Liu Zhen and the palace master of Qing'an, the rest were not touched by Chen Dexing, so they found a good match in the army.

Two hundred and five female envoys (that is, maids) plus a chief steward, a queen mother, eight concubines, as well as Chen Dexing's children, and Chen Dexing himself, are the permanent residents of Zhaoming Palace - Mo Yingniang and Xiao Ai usually live in the Tiandao Palace (Tiandao Sect Headquarters) next door to Zhaoming Palace, where Chen Dexing also has a residence.

In addition to these people in the harem, there is also a battalion of guards stationed in the Zhaoming Palace. Responsible for the security of the palace, there are also more than a dozen secretaries who also have rooms in the Zhaoming Palace.

The palace of the Notda. That's how less than 600 people live. Not only is it not as good as when it was in the Jin Dynasty, but even when Kublai Khan was in charge of Yanjing. Zhaoming Palace is also more lively than it is now.

The sky was covered with dense dark clouds, and the Zhaoming Palace in the rain was dim, and only the main hall named Zichen Hall had a few lights, illuminating the inside of this hall half-bright and half-dark. In the main hall, more than a dozen or twenty men sat in a row, all on the right side of the main hall. Although everyone is wearing brocade robes, the kind of military general's temperament that has been tempered by a hundred battles on their bodies can't be covered up by anything. This group of men. is Chen Dexing's most basic team, the so-called Qionghualou brothers. Originally, there were twenty-two people, but two of them died on the battlefield in their early years. Now there are still twenty people, all of whom are now concentrated in Yanjing, nineteen of them are now in the Zichen Palace, and one person is Chen Dexing.

These brothers who used to charge together are now all characters. At least he is also a general at the level of division commander, and he is also the division commander of the Guards. The rest of the people are either generals and deputy generals, or the commanders of the fleet or the governors of the Governor's Office, or the heads of the Ordnance Bureau and the Shipbuilding Bureau of the Military Affairs Department. are all hot figures in the Ming army and navy.

However, the status of these old brothers is rising, but they are all on different sides of the world, and there are few opportunities to meet and get together. If it weren't for their eldest brother Chen Dexing being the emperor, I'm afraid they wouldn't have a chance to gather together again.

These old brothers gathered together. Naturally, loud laughter is indispensable, these people usually have a straight face in the army or in the yamen. Enough to put on a shelf and majestic. Today are all shoulder-to-shoulder brothers, gathered together. Naturally, there is nothing to say. However, their topic soon focused on the major event of pacifying the Southern Song Dynasty and dominating the world.

These are the people of them. Most of them are generals who lead troops, of course, they stretch their necks and want to make contributions on the battlefield. And in their minds, the destruction of the Southern Song Dynasty was the last battle for them. After the Southern Song Dynasty, they all earned enough credit, and they were enough to eat for a lifetime.

As for going overseas to seal the country, to be honest, their interest is not very high. Overseas, where it is easy to settle down, there will be few people and barren land, and it will be difficult to go there. And a good place with a lot of people and fertilizer, where is it so easy to knock down? Even if it is defeated, it is difficult to govern.

These generals of Chen Dexing's line are not warlords like Shi Tianze, Xia Gui, and Li Yanguo, and they don't have their own set of people, even if some of the army's henchmen and children can't make up a team to suppress and govern a kingdom anyway.

Therefore, a duke plus 30,000 or 50,000 acres of granges, plus a few mansions and hundreds of thousands of copper coins, is their current goal in life.

While the group was about to rise, they heard the sound of footsteps outside. The door of the main hall was pushed open, and Chen Dexing and Li Cuixian were seen changing into the emperor's court clothes. Next to him are Ren Yijiang, the judge of the Military Affairs Department, and Zhang Shijie, the military division of the General Staff Department. They strode in.

Although the generals and Chen Dexing are brothers, the status of monarchs and ministers is still there, and Chen Dexing is the emperor in a blink of an eye. All the generals of the temple got up and fell to their knees on one knee. Salute Chen Dexing and Li Cuixian. Chen Dexing and Li Cuixian were both smiling, and they smiled and ordered the generals to sit down. The two of them, Ren Yijiang and Zhang Shijie, also sat in their seats.

According to the provisions of the "Chen Li" chapter on monarchs and ministers, when monarchs and ministers meet and deliberate, there are seats. In addition, the queen or queen can participate in court discussions, and there is a special "back seat" in the palace, which is to the right of the "throne".

Seeing that Chen Dexing and Li Cuixian were seated, Land Rover suddenly stood up again and hugged his fist at Chen Dexing: "Big brother, when your enthronement ceremony is over, shouldn't you crusade against Jiangnan?" Can I take the lead in the Land Evil Tiger? ”

The Evil Tiger is the nickname of Land Rover, and he himself likes to call himself the Land Evil Tiger. And this Land Rover's temperament is also similar to that of the evil tiger, good at coming out, being reckless and competing, except for Chen Dexing, he is not convinced, and the whole is the second in the world. However, the big appearances in recent years have not given him much opportunity to perform. In the Battle of Yanyun, the upper army of the Land Rover stayed in the rear and did not have the turn to send troops. He followed the Central Plains War, and he held back his strength to make a head, but was preempted by Li Cuixian and Wang Lufei. This time, seeing that the battle of the Song Dynasty was the "last battle", how could he be willing to let others take the lead? So Chen Dexing didn't mention it yet, so he opened his mouth first.

His words seduced, and the Qionghualou brothers present, except for a few who had never led soldiers, all got up to ask for battle, gossiping endlessly, and one eagerly raced the other.

"Big brother! I Wang Wei also wants to ask for war, I didn't have fun fighting Kublai Khan last time, and this time I can't do without the southern expedition! ”

"I can't miss it...... There are 10,000 brothers in the Nanyang Fleet, who stay in Malacca all day long and have nothing to do, so it is better to go north together, and this Guangzhou City and Leizhou City will be handed over to the Nanyang Fleet to occupy! ”

"The Beiyang Fleet cannot be missing! The eldest brother, the younger brother Gao Da suggested that the Song Dynasty should be cut down by sea, and the three mansions of Lin'an, Qingyuan, and Shaoxing should be taken first! ”

"Big brother, let's split the road, the Nanyang Fleet will take the Liangguang Road, the Beiyang Fleet will transport the land division to take the Liangzhejiang Road, and the land will take the Huaidong Road all the way......"

These Qionghualou brothers have all repeatedly studied the method of taking Jiangnan with their own staff for a long time, and now there is no problem in asking them to put forward a plan for the southern expedition.

Chen Dexing listened to these words and just smiled faintly. He is naturally clear about the thoughts of the Qionghualou brothers, and it is likely that the Pingnan Song Dynasty will be the last time for these "veterans" to establish their achievements...... At least Monk Liu, Gao Da, Chen Shuo, Land Rover, Gu Dali, and Wang Wei, all brothers who are a little older, it's time to enjoy their blessings. Even if they are to be given a feudal kingdom in the future, they should be allowed to let their sons go overseas.

After everyone finished speaking, he nodded and smiled: "This time, I invite you to go back to Yanjing, in addition to participating in the enthronement ceremony of the lone king and receiving the title of duke and marquis, it is naturally to negotiate the Southern Song Dynasty!" This time, the Pingnan Song Dynasty ...... It's our Qionghualou brothers who are returning to their hometown! Everybody's going! The Lonely King will take everyone with him! Regardless of whether you have led troops over the years, you have to follow! ”

"That's right! Gotta follow! ”

And all the brothers echoed the way. Chen Dexing's words are good, this time is not only a war, but also a return to his hometown! Everyone came out of Yangzhou, and the fighting man who was not worth a few dollars in the past is now going to be a duke and a marquis!

Chen Dexing laughed and said, "Everyone go...... Go to Yangzhou, go to Jiankang, go to the flower world of Lin'an! ”

"But......" His tone sank slightly, and the brothers were immediately solemn, and no one dared to talk nonsense, and pricked up their ears, lest they miss a word.

"But this time the troops must not be hasty, you must be prepared! What do we need to prepare? ”

Chen Dexing asked himself, and then replied with his fingers: "The first is of course grain and grass, the soldiers and horses have not moved, and the grain and grass go first!" This time, the soldiers and the people, at least 300,000 people, must be prepared for at least a year, and the rations of Lin'an, Qingyuan, Yangzhou, Jiankang, and other big cities of the Southern Dynasties must be prepared for at least a few months. The Department of Military Affairs and the Department of General Staff have estimated that 5 million stone grains must be raised.

The second is armor equipment, including the soldiers' steel armor, spears, horizontal knives, bows and arrows, etc., as well as cannons for siege field battles...... There are not only three-inch guns, but also four-inch, five-inch and even six-inch cannons! The Lone King has already ordered the Military Affairs Department to prepare.

The third is to reward the three armies with money and goods, and to hire the money and food of the people...... When these three points are added together, it is actually a money word! ”

Chen Dexing laughed, "The battle of Pingnan is actually a comparison of money!" King Gu predicts that the Southern Song Dynasty has nothing to hope for, but it is just a drag word, dragging us poor, dragging us down, and dragging us to the empty treasury of King Lone, maybe we have to retreat. His tone became solemn, "And in the treasury of the Lone King, it seems that there is not much money now...... Later, Huang Million will come and talk to the Lone King about this. Listen to the brethren together, and whatever ideas you have, you can tell the lonely king. No matter what, we have to make up the military expenses to destroy the Song Kingdom! (To be continued......)