Cleaning the battlefield is a fat difference, and Zhu Gui gave this errand to the guards of Tianshui City, in order to buy people's hearts.

And the result was as he expected, when the guard came back, he was already smiling, not only because he confirmed the identity of Zhu Gui's acting king and supervisor, but also because he had already gained a lot of benefits.

Moreover, the defenders of Tianshui City are only 2,000 people, which is already very dangerous, and now that there is a prince in charge, he must be able to sit back and relax, at least he doesn't have to worry about it every day.

Zhu Gui naturally took over the defense of Tianshui City, and arranged the Hebei tribe in a barracks in the city.

In fact, when he entered the city, he had already noticed that the people in the city were pointing at these Mongols, and in order to cause unnecessary trouble, he immediately issued a notice explaining the naturalized status of these Mongols.

Although the hatred between the Han Chinese and the Mongols was difficult to resolve for a while, with him in charge here, there was no need to worry about what problems would arise in the short term.

However, when he learned about the situation in Tianshui City, he couldn't help frowning.

The 2,000 defenders mentioned by the general were actually only about 1,200 men, and nearly half of them were old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers, no wonder he was so afraid of the Mongols.

In this case, the surrender of Kaesong without Kaesong can already be regarded as loyalty.

But now this problem is Zhu Gui's turn to have a headache.

In the event that the Mongols failed in their attack on the city of Ganzhou (which he was quite sure of), it was likely that they would look elsewhere for a breakthrough.

And Tianshui City is the closest and weakest breakthrough to Ganzhou City nearby.

Zhu Gui called the guard: "Why are there only some remnants in the city?" ”

The guard general said with a bitter face: "They were all transferred to Ganzhou City by King Su, and even most of the grain and grass were transferred, and the existing grain in the city was only enough for 30,000 people to eat for half a month." ”

Although Tianshui City only had more than 1,000 defenders, there were as many as 30,000 refugees gathered from the surrounding villages and towns.

Zhu Gui said with a headache: "Gather all the young people in the city." ”

The guard hesitated for a moment, and finally had to nod and leave.

Xu Miaoqing walked out of the inner room at this time, sat down beside Zhu Gui and asked, "Zhu Gui, how long are we going to stay here?" ”

Zhu Gui said: "The geographical location of Tianshui City is dangerous, and there is no room for loss, and the defense here is extremely poor, and it can't withstand an attack at all, so we have to operate here for a while, if you feel bored, you can go to Ganzhou City to find your brother." ”

Xu Miaoqing said: "I don't want to go there, I'll have fun with you." ”

Zhu Gui shook his head helplessly.

In the afternoon.

Thousands of people had gathered in front of the city lord's mansion, but there were less than a hundred young people gathered by the guards.

Looking at these scattered people in front of him, Zhu Gui couldn't help frowning.

"What's going on?" He looked at the guard.

"Lord Wang, this is already the last general's desperate efforts to catch it, and the others will run away when they see us." The guard said aggrievedly.

It is no wonder that the Ming army has lost the trust of the people in this war and has lost the trust of the people, and King Su has recruited young men many times, but most of them have never returned.

So much so that by now, the people's fear of the Ming army is no less than that of the Mongols.

Zhu Gui thought about this clearly, and immediately asked the soldiers to push out a few taxis, and then opened all the bags on them, revealing the rice and white flour inside.

He didn't have to say anything, the eyes of the people around him were straight, and they couldn't help but come over.

However, the soldiers around Zhu Gui made them dare not step forward, but their eyes already explained their thoughts.

The war has lasted for nearly 20 days, and most of the grain has been collected by Su Wang Zhu Ao, and the current people can only rely on the government's relief food to survive, and can only maintain a state of starvation every day.

And these young men who were pulled in are not really afraid of death, they just want to eat a few more full meals before they die in battle.

Zhu Gui stood in the carriage and was led by his own soldiers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this king is the acting king from Datong Mansion, and he is the general of this battle, and this king knows what you are worried about."

"The first decree that this king will issue today is that anyone who joins the army can receive five catties of grain and half a bucket of salt every day."

'Wow', after Zhu Gui's words were finished, the crowd immediately exploded.

What does five pounds of grain mean? A family of four has enough food for a day.

Not to mention half a bucket of salt, in such a time of war, it is a good thing that money can't buy.

There was a trace of doubt and expectation in everyone's eyes.

The guard on the side hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Lord, if you continue to send it like this, the soldiers have been recruited, but the food in the treasury can't support it for a few days." ”

Zhu Gui looked at the guard general and said, "This matter will be solved by the king, you can do your own thing." ”

"Yes." The guard retreated with a somewhat ugly face.

Zhu Gui noticed that the people around him were gathering more and more, but few people still signed up.

So he continued: "Those who sign up, you can distribute food today, those who have a family are preferred, if you take the king's food and want to escape, the king will not spare it." ”

Immediately, some government soldiers immediately set up tables and rosters, and this began to recruit soldiers.

The young men of nearly 100 people immediately lined up in two teams, and when they signed, the soldiers on the other side immediately distributed rice noodles.

This scene immediately relieved the people who were still hesitating, and more and more people began to line up.

It's just that the guard general stood aside and looked a little worried about this scene.

The recruitment operation continued until the evening, and a total of more than 2,000 people were recruited, which was completely beyond Zhu Gui's expectations.

However, at the same time, there were still a lot of refugees blocking the gate of the city lord's mansion, and the guard explained that these were refugees from other villages and towns, and they didn't need to be ignored.

But Zhu Gui asked the soldiers to register these people, and then no one got half a catty of food.

Although half a catty of grain is not much, it is much better than the previous relief grain.

Soon, there was a long queue in front of the City Lord's Mansion again.

This time, even Xu Miaoqing couldn't stand it.

"Zhu Gui, how long can we last if we continue to send it like this?"

Zhu Gui said with some pain: "It's okay, I can hold it for ten days and half a month, I just hope this war will end soon." ”

He could only smile wryly when he saw that he had lost a third of his experience.

There is no way, Zhu Gui can be ruthless to the enemy, but in the face of the eyes of countless compatriots full of expectations, he can't be ruthless.

His political ambition is to plant the banner of the Ming Dynasty all over the world, but from another point of view, is it not so that all the Han people gathered under this banner can live a good life?