Li Xiang and their return journey went smoothly, and they landed in Hangzhou smoothly. Because Xie Xun had too many enemies, they tried to keep it as secret as possible when they went ashore, and as soon as they got off the boat, they let Xie Xun get into the carriage, and then passed through the city, stopping for a while in a wilderness, Li Xiang said goodbye to Xie Xun, and asked Wei Yixiao to return to Guangming Ding with him, and the others went back to the base camp of the Dingshi Army with Li Xiang.

When Li Xiang returned home, Zhu Yuanzhang really didn't know whether to be happy or sad. Happily, he honestly didn't make any small moves during this time, even if Li Xiang came back, he couldn't do anything with him; Sadly, why do you have to make me your deputy when you go out for such a short time? There are a lot of people in the Dingshi Army who are gossiping about me, and they have become the target of public criticism when they have not done anything, which is really wronged!

Li Xiangcai didn't care what he was thinking, he just did things according to his own steps. Now that everything that should be done is almost done, the plot has changed almost for him, and he doesn't want to care about the rest, it's time to completely drive the Mongols out of the Central Plains.

But when doing this, Zhao Min was more embarrassed. In order to avoid embarrassing her, and in order to prevent her from ruining her own affairs, Li Xiang specially arranged for her to live in a separate small courtyard in the general's mansion, and food, drink, and housing were arranged according to the highest standards, but she was not allowed to go out of the courtyard, which was regarded as house arrest. And Zhao Min didn't know what to think, so he really settled down in peace, without complaining, without trying to escape, and really became the eldest lady.

In addition, there is Dai Qisi, in view of her great experience in navigation, so Li Xiang arranged for her to establish a naval army. Although there is no need for ocean-going fleets at present, inland waterways are still very necessary, especially the Yangtze River route, which connects most of the south. Meng Yuan's rule in the south was relatively weak, and most of the rebel armies were concentrated in the south. A single waterway could unite most of the rebel armies for joint operations.

Although the navy has not yet been established, it is necessary to integrate the rebel army. Li Xiang first notified, in the name of the head of the Ming Sect, that the major rudders of the Ming Sect and the rebel armies from all walks of life would send representatives to the meeting. At the meeting, Li Xiang clearly demanded that the rebels from all walks of life obey his command. If anyone does not comply, he will be punished as defecting to the enemy.

Li Xiang did this, although it was a bit arrogant. But almost all of the people who came to the meeting were subordinates of the Ming Sect, and they should have obeyed the command of him, the sect leader. The reason why it is clear again is that some rebel armies have already shown signs of self-reliance, and if they are not suppressed in time, civil strife will inevitably arise in the future.

At the meeting, the rebels from all walks of life naturally swore that they would only be the leader of Li Xiangma, but after going back, some people knew that their strength was far inferior to that of Mingjiao. obediently put away his ambitions and obeyed the dispatch. And some people are still disobedient, what should they do? For such a person, Li Xiang had nothing to be polite to, and immediately inflicted a thunderous blow. Some sent troops to exterminate and absorb them, and some sent masters such as Yang Xiao, Wei Yixiao, and Wusanren to take the heads of the leaders in the past, and then relied on their prestige to subdue them. It didn't take long for the rebels from all walks of life to be reorganized. A total of 700,000 troops.

With so many soldiers and horses, Mingjiao has a great momentum. The Mengyuan court also regarded it as a great danger and sent a large army to conquer it. Li Xiang also did not show weakness and personally led the army to meet the battle. However, he knew that he was not very talented in commanding the large corps, so he just put on a name, mainly with Xu Da as the commander, Yin Tianzheng, Yu Lianzhou, Chang Yuchun, Hua Yun and others as generals. Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Shanchang were in charge of logistics, and Yang Xiao and Wei Yixiao were the overseers, and they were tough with the Mongolian army.

Li Xiang's current command can be described as full of talents, civil servants are like clouds, and military generals are like rain. Although the soldiers and horses have just been recruited and have not yet completed their training, there are also extremely elite men and horses in the headquarters of the Dingshi Army, which can be said to be far superior to the Mongolian army. However, the Mongol army had a great commander, that is, the king of Ruyang, and Zhao Min's brother Wang Baobao, both of whom were geniuses in using soldiers. Only these two people beat Li Xiang's army a little overwhelmed.

In desperation, Li Xiang had no choice but to attack in person, leading his own guards and 10,000 selected soldiers and horses, and suddenly killed when the two armies were unable to hold each other, cutting through the formation of the Mongolian army like a bamboo, and smashing the handsome banner of the king of Ruyang. The king of Ruyang couldn't even send a team of tens of thousands of people to stop Li Xiang, so he had no choice but to retreat. As soon as he retreated, Xu Da let the tens of thousands of troops around him chant in unison, "The Tartars are defeated!" ”

On the battlefields of this era, communication was extremely inconvenient, and most orders could only be notified by flags. The handsome banner of the king of Ruyang is the most important command prop, and now after listening to the shouts of the righteous army, and seeing that the handsome banner of the king of Ruyang is really retreating, the Mongolian army will inevitably riot.

If King Ruyang can stabilize his position, he may be able to salvage the defeat. But Li Xiang stared at him stubbornly, wherever he fled Li Xiang chased him, and if the chasing King of Ruyang continued to escape, he would really be defeated, forcing him to turn around and fight Li Xiang to the death. However, his subordinates did not have the fierce generals who could stop Li Xiang, and they were killed through the formation, and he was also captured by Li Xiangsheng.

King Ruyang was captured, and Wang Baobao still wanted to turn the tide, but how could Li Xiang let him get his wish? After escorting the King of Ruyang back, he continued to pursue him. Wang Baobao was young after all, and he directly shook Li Xiang, but he was also captured alive. Without these two men, the Mongol army could no longer recover its defeat, and the blood of the killed was like a river and it was crushed for thousands of miles.

After winning this battle, the power of the Mengyuan court was greatly weakened, and a large number of soldiers and horses were reluctantly sent, but without a wise commander, it was naturally defeated one after another. Li Xiang's army trained while fighting, and gradually reorganized into a regular army of 500,000 people who were forbidden and fought bravely.

By this time, the Mengyuan court was already in decline, and only a remnant of life remained. But Li Xiang is not without opponents, although Chen Youliang was killed by Li Xiang, the beggar gang still launched another person, and raised a large army based on the disciples of the beggar gang to fight against Li Xiang. In addition, Zhang Shicheng, who was jointly elected by small sects such as the Haisha Gang and the Shenquan Sect, also occupied the southeast area. These two forces have now threatened Li Xiang's position, so they can only suspend the conquest of Meng Yuan and pacify them first.

Whether it is the army of the beggars or Zhang Shicheng, they are all in the southern region, and the navy will come in handy at this time. Given the opportunity to make a big splash, she led a navy to defeat the enemy's navy with a newly developed artillery. Then, according to Li Xiang's instructions, he maneuvered along the waterway and used artillery to support the army's battle. After a set of combination punches, the two rebel armies that were also anti-Mongolian were defeated, allowing Li Xiang to unify most of China.

Next, Li Xiang did not immediately go north to expel Meng Yuan, but built the capital to be the emperor, the country name is Daming, married Zhou Zhiruo as the queen, and canonized Yin Li as a concubine. However, this capital is temporarily in Jinling, and Li Xiang has no intention of staying there, so he will move the capital to Beijing after driving out Meng Yuan. At the same time, the meritorious heroes were rewarded, and the officials were awarded knights, so that the morale of the army was greatly boosted, and they were waiting for Li Xiang to order the Northern Expedition, so that the soldiers who were not satisfied with their titles could earn another credit.

Since the military heart was available, Li Xiang did not hesitate, and soon led the army to the north. Meng Yuan was already a frightened bird, and as soon as he came into contact with the Ming army, he collapsed, and the emperor's ministers could only flee all the way to the desert grassland under the coercion of the rout.

They thought that if they fled to the grassland, Li Xiang would not continue the pursuit, because the Han people of all dynasties would not rule the grassland. But Li Xiang was different, he sent Xu Da to lead the army to continue the conquest, and drove Emperor Mengyuan to West Asia so tightly that he didn't chase so closely, and incorporated the entire area east of the Ural Mountains into the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, due to the continuous use of troops, Daming's finances were also extremely tight. In order to alleviate the financial pressure, Li Xiangli built an ocean-going fleet to trade with the West at sea. At the same time, industry and commerce are encouraged to stimulate economic development.

However, these internal political measures were relatively slow to take effect, and Li Xiang sent people to conquer South Asia, looting the treasury of those small states back to supplement the national use. On the issue of the coach of the Southern Expedition, Li Xiang made another surprise move, and actually pulled Zhao Min out of the boudoir and made her the coach.

Zhao Min knew that the Mongol Yuan was gone, in order to give the Mongols a chance to survive under the Ming Dynasty, she happily agreed, and in the process of conquering South Asia, she was full of tricks, and the natives were defeated, and made great contributions to the Ming Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, it is not a new thing for women to be officials, and Dai Qisi's navy has been changed to the Ming Royal Navy, with Dai Qisi as the commander-in-chief, and another Admiral Zhao Min is not a big deal. It's just that after Zhao Min came back from the Southern Expedition, he no longer served in the army, but married into the harem and became another concubine of Li Xiang. But with her and Dai Qisi as examples, women also occupied a place in the bureaucratic system of the Ming Dynasty, which was rare in all dynasties.

In terms of government affairs, after Zhu Yuanzhang became prime minister for one term, when he was re-elected, he thought that his prestige was insufficient and his merits were not obvious, and he did not dare to run for the second prime minister. In fact, he felt that if he continued to be in power, it would be too dangerous, and it was better to keep his eyes on it.

Since Zhu Yuanzhang is gone, someone else will take the top. After the vote of the Senate composed of meritorious veterans and the parliament composed of representatives of the people from all over the country, Yang Xiao became the second prime minister. However, Yang Xiao was too uncompetitive and his stomach was too small, and when the Ming faction and the Zhengdao faction were fighting for power, he obviously favored the Ming faction, which made people seize the handle for impeachment. As a last resort, Yang Xiao stepped down without waiting for the expiration of his term, and was succeeded by Song Yuanqiao.

After this impeachment, everyone understood the rules of the game, and under the supervision of Li Xiang, no matter how open and secret the fight was, it was carried out under the rules of the game, so that Daming entered a period of stable development.

And Li Xiang finally had his first son two years after marrying Zhou Zhiruo. Soon after, Yin Li also gave birth to a daughter for him. This made Li Xiang feel a great impact on his thoughts, he and He Qi did not have children in reality, but they had it first in the crossing plane, which was really unpredictable.

And after having children, he became even more lazy about the government, and he didn't come forward at all without major events, either teasing the children, or studying martial arts, or taking his wife and children to play in the mountains and rivers. However, the Ming Dynasty has always developed steadily, and even if there were occasional careerists, they were quickly suppressed and dissipated without a trace. (To be continued.) )