The old monk set off to Zhejiang today to plan and implement the construction of point-to-point business routes, and Zhao Yi, who raised the city's shipping department, also went to Ningbo on a business trip, so now there are only two chief officials in the yamen, Xu Jingchang and Jiang Xinghuo.

And at present, although there are still many things, the most important thing is Qingtian, which must be done before the army all sets off, and it cannot be delayed any longer.

Jiang Xinghuo walked out of the yamen, turned over on his horse, and galloped with Xu Jingchang with his escort in Nanjing.

The shops on the street are still bustling, the merchants and peddlers are in an endless stream, the shouts of buying and selling are endless, and the sound of children playing and playing is heard in the ears, and there are many more pedestrians on the street than before, showing the prosperity of the city everywhere.

Xu Jingchang held the reins in his hand, looked at the bustling crowd, and then looked at Jiang Xinghuo who was riding a little gray horse "Da Da Da" next to him, and suddenly felt a lot of emotion in his heart.

From the time he was born, he was taught by his father and sent to the martial arts school where the sons of the founding fathers of Hongwu gathered, where no matter how noble you are, you must abide by one principle, and that is to obey orders.

Obviously, in the war of the cold weapon age, the army that relies on the battle array to maintain the overall organization can only survive in the war by a high degree of obedience to orders, and can use various means to save its own life.

Xu Jingchang learned a lot there, learned how to be a qualified soldier, how to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy, and how to make the enemy hate under your sword and gun.

However, he was never taught how to be himself.

Maybe Xu Zengshou should complete this responsibility, but unfortunately Xu Zengshou died too early, after Xu Zengshou died, Xu Jingchang entered the Daming Military Academy, and his life here, although he has more friends, the content of learning is not how to be a good soldier but to become a good officer, but in essence, it is still those things that are a professional soldier.

Later, Xu Jingchang inherited the title of Duke of Dingguo and had a new assignment.

When he was in Jiangnan, he had nothing else in his life except for working hard to complete his tasks, and he was so busy that he fell asleep every day.

When he returned to Nanjing, Xu Jingchang suddenly relaxed from his busyness and seemed extremely uncomfortable, because the workshops under the Industrial Division were very orderly, and there was not much work to be done by Xu Jingchang himself, except for some planning and deployment.

During this time, it was Jiang Xinghuo, who was also a teacher and friend, who accompanied him, and taught him how to be a good manager and how to be himself.

"Teacher, do you say that life is always parting?"

Since it is not a strict working time, but going out during the lunch break, it is not suitable for the position, Xu Jingchang said naturally.

"Of course."

Jiang Xinghuo paused and said: "Many people can't see each other for a while, for example, I sometimes miss Zhu Gaoxu and Cao Duan, but as long as I get busy, I don't have time to think about these things." ”

"So you still have to cherish the time when you have never separated."

Xu Jingchang looked at the familiar streets of Nanjing, his father Xu Zengshou always had a lot of things to do, and when he asked to come out to play, he would be perfunctory again and again, but now that he has grown up, his father is gone, and he no longer has the mind to come out of the spring breeze when he was a teenager.

But is this really the growth I dreamed of growing up in the past?

If you want to buy osmanthus and carry wine, it is not the same as a teenager.

Xu Jingchang shook his head, and the road under his feet quickly retreated with the sound of the horse's hooves.

There are not many nobles who need them to come to the door in person.

The first is the general soldier of the 3,000 battalions, with Anhou Huoli Huozhen, this is a Tartar official, the battle of Zhending that year, a horse took the lead in kicking Geng Bingwen's battalion, which is considered the number one macho man in the Yan army, and the 3,000 small Tartar battalion under his command is the elite of the Yan army, and his temper is relatively short-tempered, and Zhu Di can't stop him from initiating madness, plus the Chinese language is not particularly good, so it is very difficult to communicate, and the first official who came to Qingtian was beaten back by him with a whip.

Huo Lihuo really didn't dare to hit Jiang Xinghuo, but Jiang Xinghuo specially brought a Mongolian translator, communicated with him patiently, and showed him the letter sent by Zhu Gaoxu, so that he could explain the policy clearly.

After learning that only a part of the land needs to be returned, and the goods will be made up in terms of sea trade dividends in the future, the fire is really smiling.

"Sooner on."

Jiang Xinghuo: "."

The second is Luancheng Hou Li Zhuang, Li Zhuang is not for any other reason, but he is now standing aside, and he does not know much about business management, so the value of the family is these fields, of which the proportion of the part occupied by less legal means is quite high, Li Zhuang is not unacceptable to share some more money from the sea trade every year in the future, the problem is that if Li Zhuang returns the field now, the rent in the summer and autumn seasons will not be collected, and the Luancheng Hou Mansion, which is quite financially tight, will immediately go bankrupt.

This is a very real problem, so what Li Zhuang means is that his family is not ignorant of the general situation, nor is he unwilling to return to the field, but can he slow down a little and wait for the autumn harvest to return to the field?

There are too many people to support in his family, if he takes away all the fields now, then they will all starve to death, and the Marquis of the Dynasty will starve to death in his family, and it won't be good to spread the word, right?

Li Zhuang said sincerely, and he also brought all the account books, and what Jiang Xinghuo learned here was indeed like this, so for a while, it was quite difficult.

But rules are rules after all, if Jiang Xinghuo gives him a "slowdown" because of the difficulties of Li Zhuang's family, then should other nobles do the same? Do you want to "take a break"?

If you all "slow down", then don't do this thing.

However, for the sake of the overall progress of Qingtian, in the end, Jiang Xinghuo still thought of a way for Li Zhuang, that is, to go to Daming Bank to apply for a low-interest loan, Jiang Xinghuo gave him special approval, and then reported to explain.

The last one is the Marquis of Wuding's Mansion.

The situation of the Marquis of Wuding is more special, the first generation of Wuding Marquis Guo Ying has just passed away for a year, and the Marquis of Wuding and the Zhu family are close to each other, Guo Ying's sister is Zhu Yuanzhang's concubine Ning, and when Hongwu founded the country and governed the real estate, Guo Ying did not do this, Zhu Yuanzhang asked him at the beginning, he replied: "I am a commoner, relying on grace, fortunately I have a knighthood, and my descendants have surplus food and clothing, how can I buy these to make my descendants have a luxurious heart?" Zhu Yuanzhang sighed for a long time, and Guo Ying also relied on this careful restraint to survive the turbulent years in the later period of the Hongwu Dynasty.

But the Marquis of Wuding's family, no one has attacked the lord until now.

Paradoxical, isn't it?

In fact, in the history of Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, there was a whole Yongle Dynasty between the first generation of Wuding Marquis Guo Ying and the second generation of Wuding Marquis Guo Xuan!

Yes, that's right, the Marquis of Wuding's Mansion has not had an owner for more than twenty years.

The reason why this is so is for a special reason, when Guo Ying died, Zhu Di issued an order to posthumously crown Guo Ying as the Duke of Yingguo, and he seemed to give enough mourning after him, but Zhu Di never said a word about whether the title of the most critical Marquis of Wuding could be attacked.

At the beginning, when the Ministry of Rites was still Wang Jingzai, he discussed with Zhuo Jing to reduce the treatment of the lord, no matter what, he had to let people inherit the title, otherwise it would not be like it.

The reason why the treatment should be reduced is because everyone knows how much trouble the veteran Guo Ying, the Marquis of Wuding, caused Zhu Di during the Jingnan period, Zhu Di is generally resentful of Guo Ying and Geng Bingwen, Sheng Yong, Ping'an, Mei Yin, and others, and in addition to the Jingjing period, Guo Ying led the army to fight with Zhu Di many times, and there is another point, that is, Guo Ying's son-in-law Zhu Zhi, the king of Liao, refused Zhu Di's solicitation when Zhu Di attacked Daning, and directly stood in line with Zhu Yunwen, the emperor of Jianwen, which also made him suffer from the autumn queen immediately after the Jingjing.

But anyway, according to the rules of the dynasty, there must be a son to attack the knight, right?

But the actual situation is that Guo Ying's eldest son Guo Zhenshang was the twelfth daughter of Lao Zhu, Princess Yongjia, awarded the horse Duwei, and gave up the right to inherit the title, and then the second son Guo Ming followed the King of Liao and served as the treasure of the Liao Palace.

Guo Ying has a total of twelve sons and nine daughters, and the family population is very large, but because there are too many sons, and all of them are born to concubines, so after the eldest and second children cannot attack the title, it is a lot of trouble to fight for this title.

Guo Ying has eleven sons, except for the seventh son Guo Qi, who died early, among the remaining ten sons, eight are eyeing the title

In order to save its own decline, the Marquis of Wuding did not make efforts, and the two youngest daughters of the Guo family married with the line of King Yan after the Jing disaster, one married Zhu Gaochi as a concubine, and the other married Zhu Gaochu as a concubine.

But it is precisely because of this that the Marquis of Wuding was involved in the dispute between the princes, and the whole family became more and more torn, some people supported the eldest prince, and some people supported the second prince.

Not only that, because the family is too big, after the death of Lao Zhu, in the short six years of the Jianwen and Yongle dynasties, the sons of the Marquis of Wuding really bought a lot of land to support themselves, and most of these fields have now become the target of Jiang Xinghuo's inventory.

Other nobles are more or less concerned about their own future and the future of their families, so they are very cooperative in the matter of Qingtian, but these boys in the Wuding Marquis family are all broken jars and broken masters, and they don't care at all, and they shout one by one, "If you want to check me, I will check my brother so-and-so first."

Qingtian's work really can't be promoted, and it belongs to a special nail household, so he reported to Jiang Xinghuo, and Jiang Xinghuo came to see for himself what was going on with these people.

The Marquis of Wuding's Mansion is not the same as the mansion on Marquis Street in Beijing in Jiang Xinghuo's previous life.

Because of the vein of the Marquis of Wuding, although it was more bumpy in the Yongle Dynasty to the orthodox Dynasty, but in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it was time to operate, Guo Xun, the fifth grandson of Guo Ying in the Jiajing Dynasty, attacked the lord in the Zhengde Dynasty, and when it came to the dispute of the Great Rites, Guo Xun gambled, and directly stood in line with Jiajing, who had just ascended the throne by the vassal king, and Guo Xun, who was good at speculating on Jiajing's intentions, spoke for Jiajing on behalf of the Wuchen Group everywhere in the battle, so as to be greatly favored, not only was awarded the military power of the Jingshi, but was crowned the Taishi and promoted to the Duke of Yiguo, The mansion preserved in Wudinghou Street is Guo Xun's.

However, the Wuding Marquis Mansion in Nanjing, in terms of scale, is even much larger than the Wuding Marquis Mansion in Beijing, which has not yet appeared in this time and space.

Because Guo Ying does not own property, and Zhu Yuanzhang likes this loyal and self-guarded in-law very much, so since he does not reward the land, he often rewards the inner court to fund the decoration of his mansion, and wants Guo Ying to live better, Guo Ying can't refuse, so the huge scale of the Marquis of Wuding and the high degree of luxury are very rare.

Jiang Xinghuo and Xu Jingchang's team arrived in front of the Wuding Marquis Mansion, and they were immediately respectfully received by the porter, and the old housekeeper of the porter hurriedly walked out with a smile after seeing Jiang Xinghuo.

"When the national teacher arrives, he will miss the distance."

"Don't dare."

Jiang Xinghuo smiled faintly, then stepped forward.

The old housekeeper hurriedly led the way, took Jiang Xinghuo and Xu Jingchang around the wall, walked through the long passage, and stopped in front of an open carved door of red lacquered wood.

This is the second door.

Further in, it is the middle hall of the Marquis of Wuding.

The old housekeeper wanted to say something, but Jiang Xinghuo walked in unceremoniously and walked directly into the middle hall to sit down, and then instructed him: "Call all the heirs of the Marquis of Wuding." ”

If you change to another family, Jiang Xinghuo's anti-customer-oriented attitude, even if he is not drawn by others, I am afraid that he will have to break up unhappily.

However, at this time, whether it was the old housekeeper or the people passing by, the Marquis of Wuding Mansion was relieved.

The third son, Guo Yong, is currently the right governor of the Chinese military governor's office, and the fourth son, Guo Jian, served as the deputy of the Central Capital Left-behind Division during the Jianwen Dynasty, and is now waiting for a new appointment at home.

The daughter of the second Guo Ming married Zhu Gaochi as a concubine, and the second Guo Ming and the third Guo Yong were born to the same mother, although they are concubines, but it stands to reason that the third Guo Yong ranks high, and he is the right governor of the Chinese military governor's mansion, so he should inherit the title of Marquis of Wuding, the problem is that in the Xungui group, people who are close to Zhu Gaochi are not welcome.

So for the third Guo Yong, all the nobles are basically opposed, and Zhu Di doesn't like him either.

This has led to Guo Yong's embarrassing position in the Wuding Marquis' mansion, where he can neither preside over the family business as the eldest son, nor have he the right to dictate to his younger brothers.

And the fourth Guo Jian married his daughter to Zhu Gaoxu as a concubine, although there is no official to do now, but with this relationship, he is not bad in the noble circle.

The fifth Guo Jian is also close to Zhu Gaochi, and the ninth Guo Fang, as the commander of the standard-bearer guard, is close to Zhu Gaochu, and the influence of the rest without official status is very small, so don't mention it.

In short, at present, the third Guo Yong and the fifth Guo Jian are on the side of the eldest prince Zhu Gaochi, the fourth Guo Jian and the ninth Guo Fan are on the side of the second prince Zhu Gaochu.

And this situation, if there is no accident, may last for more than 20 years until Zhu Gaochi became the emperor, and then the second Guo Ming's son Guo Xuan was canonized as the second generation of Wuding Marquis, and at the same time, Guo Yong and Guo Jian were rewarded, which was regarded as his reward for standing in line.

However, in the current situation in the military circles, it is obvious that the majority of people support Zhu Gaoxu, and when you think of Jiang Xinghuo being Zhu Gaoxu's teacher, Guo Yong, who received Guo Key's notice from the Governor's Office of the Fifth Army, immediately felt a sigh in his heart.

"Today is the coincidence, I'm afraid."

The fifth Guo key is a member of the guard, and this official position is filled by the second son of the old Zhu Zegong, Hou, Bo, Governor, and Commander, as the palace guard, to show Zhu Di the gate, and usually knows more about the situation of the court.

"What do you mean?"

Guo Yong's eyes narrowed slightly, and at this time he had already prepared for the worst.

"The national teacher is a big Buddha, and we can't afford to serve here."

The fifth Guo key is not worth it today, but at this time, he regrets that he is at home, but it is useless to regret it.

"Let's go, I can't avoid it."

Guo Yong sighed, don't look at him as the right governor of the Chinese military governor's mansion, but in fact, these Hongwu nobles are now in a state of being elevated, sitting in the duty room of the yamen of the five military governor's mansions every day drinking tea and reading "Ming Pao", in addition, not to mention that the Northern Expedition will not be able to take their turn, even the errand to the sea is not next to them.

In the standard-bearer guard on the other side, the commander Guo Fang also received a notice.

The Bannerman Guard is one of the 26 guards of the Hongwu Dynasty, stationed in the suburbs of Nanjing, and it is convenient to go home, but in the Battle of Jingyan, the Bannerman Guard has long been emptied, and now it is a rebuilt army, and the combat effectiveness is very weak.

When Guo Fu returned to the Marquis of Wuding's mansion, the old housekeeper hurriedly greeted him, and immediately lowered his eyebrows and said, "The national teacher has been waiting for a long time, please come with me." ”

After speaking, he led Guo Fu to walk inside, and several guards behind him were stopped at the door, no matter how they explained, they didn't let anyone in.

Guo Fang went all the way inside, through several arched porches, and finally reached the central hall.

In addition to Jiang Xinghuo and Xu Jingchang, there were also three men sitting in the hall, which were the third Guo Yong and the fifth Guo Key, as well as the fourth Guo Jian.

And the sixth son Guo Quan, the eighth son Guo Yu, the tenth son Guo Bin, and the eleventh son Guo Gang, these few who have no official status, even in their own homes, can only stand aggrieved.

When Xu Jingchang saw Guo Fang come in, he immediately bowed slightly, which was polite.

The two know each other, and compared with their brothers, Guo Fang is not very old.

Guo Fu saluted Jiang Xinghuo and said with a hearty smile: "The national teacher came here on purpose, and he missed the distance, and he hopes to forgive his sins!" ”

Jiang Xinghuo smiled: "It's me who came uninvited and disturbed your purity, I'm really sorry." ”

After the polite words, Guo Fang thought that Jiang Xinghuo's next disposition would be biased towards him and Guo Jian, but he didn't expect that Jiang Xinghuo would be quite businesslike.

"The land encroached upon by the Marquis of Wuding is all in this account book, and it must be returned within ten days."

As he spoke, he pushed the thick account book in his hand in front of Guo Fang.

Guo Fu doesn't need to turn over to know that it is all fertile and fertile land, belonging to the high-grade field, just collecting rent every year is enough to feed hundreds of people including the Wuding Marquis Mansion and his subordinates, even if this money is a large amount of money for the Wuding Marquis Mansion, but now it is forcibly deprived, Guo Fu is of course dissatisfied in his heart.

But for Jiang Xinghuo's sake, he still held back.

And Guo Yong took it and flipped it over, his face suddenly looked ugly, although he was a military minister and was not very proficient in these, but he still knew a lot about the approximate number.

Although Guo Yong has encountered a lot of obstacles in attacking the title, overall, he is still very confident, because after all, he is now Guo Ying's oldest and top-ranked son, and his father Guo Ying's title should be inherited by him.

Therefore, for these properties of the Marquis of Wuding, Guo Yong has always regarded them as his private property, but this private property does not belong to him now, and he doesn't count it.

It is precisely because of this that Guo Yong used the reason that his brothers were not harmonious in the matter of Qingtian, and tried to pass the buck, in order to keep these high-quality land.

Why are the other nobles so happy? Because Hong Wu Xungui had already obtained a large amount of land by legal means, and the land in Jing Nanxungui's hands was basically rewarded by Zhu Digang, and the proportion of encroachment was very small.

Only the Wuding Hou family, obviously the founding nobles of Hongwu, but because Guo Ying did not buy land and property before, they only began to buy it when Lao Zhu died, and they used not very legal means, so they fell into such an embarrassing situation.

And if these fields are gone, the Marquis of Wuding is afraid that it will be greatly damaged immediately.

Guo Yong looked up at Jiang Xinghuo and asked bitterly: "National Teacher, these are the properties of the Wuding Marquis Mansion's family, can't they be slowed down?" ”

"This is the emperor's order, if you don't want to, go to Your Majesty!"

Guo Yong was suddenly dumbfounded, he didn't want to do this matter, but now that the imperial order has been issued, it is useless for him to regret it, not to mention that Jiang Xinghuo didn't give him room to refuse, so he could only grit his teeth and nod his head and agree.

But these fields are not Guo Yong's alone, and their brothers have a share.

"Your brothers have a good discussion, I and Dingguo Gong avoided for a while, after a stick of incense, I want the result."

After that, Jiang Xinghuo put down the account book and walked out of the door of the middle hall with Xu Jingchang.

In the corridor, Xu Jingchang asked worriedly, "National Teacher, do you think they will give in?" ”

"What if you don't give in?"

Jiang Xinghuo asked rhetorically.

"Do you want that?"

Jiang Xinghuo still doesn't understand what Xu Jingchang means, it is nothing more than whether to favor Guo Fang and others who support Zhu Gaoxu in this incident.

But Jiang Xinghuo shook his head and only said: "This is a business matter, it is upright, Lichu has long agreed to compete openly and fairly, and he cannot show favoritism, but give people a handle for favoritism." ”

Sure enough, as Jiang Xinghuo expected, a moment later.

"The national teacher can rest assured that we will deliver the land within ten days without delay."

Even coaxing and scareping, even if the last Wuding Marquis Mansion was completed, Jiang Xinghuo breathed a sigh of relief.

(End of chapter)