"It's snowing a little hard......"

In the cold winter, when Zhu Gaoxu in the north was still living the days of holding his daughter-in-law on the hot kang, there was a group of thousands of cavalry in Nanjing City in the south heading to the northwest.

Standing on the city wall, Zhu Yuanzhang, dressed in ordinary clothes, stood on the Jiangdong Gate, sighing at this year's wind and snow.

The departing team was led by Geng Bingwen, Marquis of Changxing, and Guo Ying, Marquis of Wuding, who guarded the three thousand cavalry of Hezhou in front of the palace.

They went here to review the defense of the northwest and at the same time prepare for border training.

The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang sent the Hezhou Guards in front of the palace to follow them was also because he received a piece of information that seemed very important to him.

That is, the Khan the Black Son of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, who did send his eldest son to Samarkand in order to discuss a marriage with Timur.

This news is not good news for Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Old ......"

Zhu Yuanzhang muttered, he could feel that his body was not as good as a year after year, especially since entering the winter of this year, his brain was not as flexible as a few years ago, and his body gradually did not obey the call, as if it was slowing down.

"Hu Bing from the west, will he really come?"

He turned around and walked under the city wall, followed by Zhu Yunxi, who was dressed in regular clothes.

The grandfather and grandson walked down the city wall and got into the carriage.

On the way, Zhu Yuanzhang kept thinking about this question, that is, whether Timur really wanted to invade the Ming Dynasty.

His experience over the past few decades told him that it was impossible, and that Timur was more like coveting the Eastern Chagatai Khanate than invading the Ming Dynasty.

This Timur's thoughts, the black son of the fire Khan should not be invisible.

However, even if Timur was thinking of false ways, this was enough to pose a threat to the Ming Dynasty in the future.

"Gotta send someone to bring up the black fireman." Zhu Yuanzhang thought like this, and the carriage he sat in also drove towards the Forbidden City.

Half an hour passed, he returned to the Forbidden City, and Zhu Yunxi also got off at the gate of the East Palace, and Zhu Yuanzhang himself went back to the Qianqing Palace to change back into the emperor's regular clothes.

After cleaning himself up, he went to participate in the Wu Dynasty as always, and the affairs of Wuying Palace, he had already handed over all the power to Zhu Yunwen.

At the moment, he is not sure if his brain will go wrong, and if he will make any bad arrangements.

Therefore, he let Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Jixi and Zhu Gaochi deal with all the slack.

Only after they have dealt with it, Zhu Yuanzhang will pick up the lamp at night to flip through the notes, repeatedly measure every piece of content sent out by each book, and until he is sure that he can, he will send all the notes down.

He was already a little tired and tired of this kind of life......

However, what he is tired of is what others dream of, especially Zhu Yunwen.

[Layue Gui Chou, Zhaoqing Prefecture Lushui County barbarian Li Jingzong and others made a rebellion, Li Jingzong led his party of more than 400 people to attack Shendian Guard, Shendian Wei commander Guo Ang died in battle, Guangdong commanded the envoy to send troops to ask for it]

In the Wuying Palace, feeling the warmth in the hall, Zhu Yunwen's heart was also very hot, enough to melt the snow in Nanjing City.

He has been in charge of Wuying Hall for three months, and in these three months, everything has passed through his hands, although he still needs the nod of his own imperial grandfather, but no matter what, he is more like an emperor now.

Because of this, looking at the defeated music in his hand, Zhu Yunwen showed displeasure, and faced the officials of the Governor's Mansion who brought the music in front of him, Zhu Yunwen threw the music on the table.

"Smack......

The sound of the song falling on the table attracted the attention of Zhu Jixi and Zhu Gaochi, who acted as assistants for Zhu Yunwen.

They were still curious about why Zhu Yunwen was angry, so Zhu Yunwen asked the official of the Governor's Mansion in a cold voice:

"Four hundred thieves, they attacked and killed four thousand Shendian guards, is this the courage of the thieves, or is the Shendian Guard's armament lax?"

"Hui Taisun ......" The official knelt on the ground and said: "In the second battle of Shendianwei Batun, there were only 800 soldiers, and at that time, 400 people went to sea to search for the Japanese invaders, which caused Shendianwei to be attacked. ”

"Did you catch the pirates?" Zhu Yunwen raised his chin slightly and asked, but the official was speechless, obviously not arrested.

"The Japanese of Liangguang, if I remember well, were all driven to the South Seas by Yang Wen and his boat division, right?"

"These pirates have been driven away, why are you still searching for them?"

Zhu Yunwen pressed step by step, and the official had no choice but to kowtow to the ground with his head: "Please forgive the grandson for his sins......"

He seemed to have been waiting for this, so when he saw the official like this, Zhu Yunwen didn't say anything anymore, but waved his hand:

"That's it, maybe you are slacking off, and the edict ordered Yang Wen to inspect the Liangguang Capital Division after the end of the rebellion, control its soldiers and horses to suppress thieves, and supervise the training of the guards and horses of the Liangguang without delay."

......Seeing that Zhu Yunwen was no longer pursuing it, the official also breathed a sigh of relief, and slowly retreated after getting up.

When he disappeared completely, Zhu Yunwen picked up the next note.

This note is a note sent by Yang Wen, and the content is a detailed writing of the land reform and rebellion in Nandan, Fengyi, and Qingyuan.

It was already two years ago that Yang Wenping had been in exile, and since he pacified the last island in Liangguang in June last year, the coastal Japanese pirates have fled to the South Seas one after another.

Yang Wen had nothing to do, and it happened that the Tusi of the three places was not serving the imperial court, so Zhu Yuanzhang sent the Guangxi capital division and guarded the 39,000 officers and soldiers to be under his control.

When the locals heard that Yang Wen led the army to arrive in Fengyi, they fled into the mountains and forests one after another, and they were in danger.

Yang Wen led the main army to attack Fengyi and pacified it.

At the same time, rebellions also broke out in Dukang, Xiangwu, Nandan and other places in Guangxi.

Zhu Yuanzhang sent Yang Wen to the expedition again, and Yang Wen, who was assigned the order, did not delay, and immediately led his troops to quell the rebellion.

After more than two months of arduous fighting, the Guangxi barbarian rebellion was basically put down.

It seems that in order to train him, after Zhu Yuanzhang put down the rebellion, he asked him to preside over the local land reform and return to the stream, and set up three guards: Nandan, Fengyi, and Qingyuan.

At present, it has been a year since Yang Wen carried out the transformation of the three bathrooms and returned to the land, and the results achieved are obvious.

This recital is Yang Wen's retribution to the meritorious generals in the army.

In this regard, Zhu Yunwen also read it carefully, but he saw a familiar name in it.

"East China Sea Division, 100 Household Officials, Yang Zhan......"

Zhu Yunwen felt that this name was a little familiar, but he didn't think much about it, and Zhu agreed to put pen to paper, and sent the performance back to the Governor's Mansion, so that the Governor's Mansion could be promoted.

However, this promotion also made Zhu Yunwen think of one thing, that is, about the promotion of Jilin City, his imperial grandfather seems to have never made a decision.

"......" Zhu Yunwen was silent for a moment, and then smiled at Zhu Gaochi: "Gao Chi, Jilin Wei and Shenyang Zhongwei Left Army Thousand Households have made contributions in Jilin City, has the imperial grandfather been promoted?" ”

"I haven't ......" Zhu Gaochi replied subconsciously, but he soon noticed that something was wrong.

After studying in Wuyingdian for two and a half years, he is no longer the freshman he was back then, Zhu Yunwen just asked casually, and he guessed what Zhu Yunwen wanted to say.

He wanted to open his mouth to pick up what he had just said, but before he could speak, Zhu Yunwen said to the eunuch on duty in Wuying Hall beside him: "Go to the Governor's Mansion to get the promotion." ”

"The slave and maid received the order...... "The eunuch on duty gave a salute in return, and then left.

During his departure, Zhu Gaochi was worried, and it was not until the footsteps came again half an hour later that he looked nervously at the door of the hall.

He watched the eunuch on duty walk up to Zhu Yunwen with the performance of the Governor's Mansion, and watched with his own eyes that this music was taken over by Zhu Yunwen and turned it over.

"Zhang Chun... Lin Su... Wang Yi... Fu Rang......"

Zhu Yunwen read the merits of these people in the Battle of Jilin from top to bottom, and glanced at the promotion given by the Governor's Mansion of the Left Army.

Although Fu Rang, the commander of the third rank, did not directly participate in the frontal battlefield, he still received part of the credit, and the advice given by the Governor's Office of the Left Army was to promote him from the commander of the guard of the third rank to the commander of the second rank.

As for Zhang Chun and Lin Su, they were recommended to be promoted to the commander of the guard, and Wang Yi was promoted to the commander of the guard.

In addition, there are a large number of middle- and lower-level officers' names, which are basically mentioned by one rank.

Looking at these names, Zhu Yunwen really wanted to transfer them all to places where they were 'needed' more.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunwen picked up the red pen and added the place names in front of the promoted official positions one by one.

[Zhang Chun, Commander of Shendian Guard]

[Lin Su, the commander of the right guard of Kaiping]

【Wang Yi......】

Zhu Yunwen paused, as if he felt that he had transferred these generals under Zhu Gaoxu's command too far and his intentions were too obvious, so he wrote after thinking about it......

[Wang Yi, Jilin Wei Commander]

[Meng Zhang, Jilin Wei's commander]

[Fu Rang, Liaodong Commander of the Metropolitan Division]

【Liu ......】

Nearly one-third of them were transferred to the northwest and southwest, and one-third were transferred to Beiping, Liaodong, Daning, Shanxi, and other places not too far from Jilin.

In the last third, Zhu Yunwen left it to Zhu Gaoxu with great compassion.

Looking at the masterpiece completed by himself, Zhu Yunwen raised the corner of his mouth:

"Gao Xu, Gao Xu... You're much easier to deal with than the third uncle. ”

Thinking so, Zhu Yunwen handed the song back to the eunuch on duty, and said kindly: "Just send it like this, there are too many fierce generals around Gao Xu, and it just so happens that many military attaches died in the last year, so they can defend the country and defend the border." ”

Zhu Yunwen's smile was particularly dazzling to Zhu Gaochi, but he couldn't do anything about it.

He watched with his own eyes that the note was issued, and in the end, he had to return the salute to Zhu Yunwen, and then returned to his place to sit down and give him advice on governance.

At this moment, he knew why his second child didn't have expectations for this grandson.

Even if he never offended this grandson and offered him a lot of benefits, he couldn't escape being targeted after all.

"Gao Xu is like this, so what about me......"

Zhu Gaochi asked himself, but there was no answer to him.

"This picture is fine......

Just as Zhu Yunwen casually transferred the people around Zhu Gaoxu away, Zhu Gaoxu, who didn't know it, was still discussing important matters with a few people in the snow-capped mountains.

The ironworks, an important place where Meng Zhang was stationed......

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu was sitting in a stone house, with a brazier in front of him, and Meng Zhang and a young craftsman in his early twenties sitting beside him.

The three of them were looking at a drawing, and what was drawn on this drawing was enough to change the entire military course of the world.

"Your Highness, can we really get this thing, won't we kill it......"

Swallowing his saliva, in the dimly lit stone house, the young craftsman asked worriedly.

In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu smiled and said: "Don't worry, I have already reported to the court, and His Majesty has approved that I can forge a cannon." ”

Artillery, something that Zhu Gaoxu was thinking about, was finally put on the process by him.

Although the mountain was covered by heavy snow, he couldn't bear the loneliness and began to study artillery.

The drawings in his hand depict three kinds of artillery guns of different modulus, and their multiplier ratios are twenty-two, twenty, and eighteen.

In addition to the double diameter, the shape of the cannon is also different from the current Hongwu iron cannon, and is more inclined to the field cannon of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

He did not know the inside and outside of the artillery of this period, so he could only draw on some of the structures he saw from the military museum.

"If the artillery wants to shoot big and far, you have to figure out the multiplier, shape, and modulus, that is, ......."

Sitting in this dimly lit room, Zhu Gaoxu shared everything he knew with the young craftsman without reservation.

These things, for a skilled cannon smith, are almost the same as learning from scratch, but for this young craftsman, there is no difference.

It's not that he already understands it, it's that he doesn't even know how to cast cannons.

That's right, he didn't know how to cast cannons, he was originally a bellsmith, and what he did when he was in Nanjing was to cast bells from clay molds.

Originally, he thought that when he came to Jilin City, he was still engaged in this easy and complicated process, but he didn't want him to cast dozens of iron bells in the past year and a half.

Zhu Gaoxu's requirements for these iron bells are extremely strange, and he does not want to hear them, as long as they are thick enough and have no flaws in the whole body.

Originally, he thought that His Royal Highness would build dozens of cities in the land outside this pass, so he needed so many iron bells.

But ten days ago, after His Royal Highness brought him and several of his apprentices to the ironworks, they actually discussed with him about casting cannons.

Casting a cannon without permission is a crime of killing the head, despite Zhu Gaoxu's assurance, he is still afraid of it.

"Wang Yuan, what I want you to do is to understand the modulus of this artillery, constantly adjust the modulus and multiplier, and then use the same gunpowder to shoot a powerful cannonball."

In the stone house, Zhu Gaoxu looked at this former clocksmith with blazing eyes.

Facing his words, Wang Yuan also swallowed his saliva: "If His Highness is really sparse, then the grass people are willing to give it a try." ”

"Good!" Hearing Wang Yuan's words, Zhu Gaoxu breathed a sigh of relief, and then said to Wang Yuan:

"What you have to do now is to follow this map, draw a variety of artillery of various modulus, and then wait for the beginning of spring to go to Kulawan City with the army."

"When you arrive in Kulawan City, I will ask Meng Zhang to find you a place, where you can make artillery clay molds with peace of mind, and then slowly cast the cannons, and select the most practical molds."

"From today onwards, your salary will be raised to 200 yuan per year, and your apprentices will also be 50 yuan each."

"If you can find the most suitable modulus and cast the artillery needed by the Ming Dynasty, then I will reward you with an additional hundred yuan and a hundred acres of mature land."

"Your Highness!" Hearing the reward of money and food, Wang Yuan's eyes lit up.

In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu also smiled, he did not believe that under the offensive of money and grain, there would be craftsmen who could keep their hearts.

"Alright, you can step back and study it."

Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand, and Wang Yuan happily returned the salute when he saw this, and then walked out of the stone house under Meng Zhang's door.

Meng Zhang at the door motioned for two soldiers to follow him, and Wang Yuan also knew about this and did not make anything wrong.

When he walked away, Meng Zhang closed the door and walked back to his original position and sat down, slightly worried:

"Your Highness, this person is too young, I'm afraid he doesn't have real skills."

"We can't get anyone with real skills." Zhu Gaoxu chuckled, with a little bitterness in his smile.

Yes, how could the Ming Dynasty not have geniuses, it's just that those geniuses can't be used by him.

Only a small person like Wang Yuan, who no one pays attention to, can be co-opted by his current self.

"You are ready to prepare, leave the three to the care of someone you trust, and take some of the blacksmiths with the army to fight after the beginning of spring."

Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth, and Meng Zhang was also excited: "Yes!" ”

Meng Zhang's excitement, Zhu Gaoxu can understand, after all, Meng Zhang came to make contributions at the beginning, but he didn't want to squat in this deep mountain and old forest for nearly two years.

Whether it was Pingxi Yangha or resisting the invasion of Hu soldiers, he did not participate.

Now that he finally has the opportunity to lead his troops to fight, he will naturally not let go of this opportunity.

"How much is the barrel?" Zhu Gaoxu asked again, and Meng Zhang also answered truthfully: "More than seven thousand eight thousand." ”

"Good!" Hearing that so many barrels had been saved, Zhu Gaoxu's smile became even stronger, and he stretched out his hand and patted Meng Zhang:

"Don't leave them behind, they will come in handy when they get to Kulaween."

"Yes" Meng Zhang nodded, but after a moment, his face was a little worried:

"Your Highness, although we have more brothers now, there are many people, and I don't know how many people have mixed in Jilin City, we ......"

"Don't worry about this." Zhu Gaoxu interrupted him and said:

"The people who went on this expedition, except for the fifty people in your hand, the rest are Jurchens who have been classified into Jilin City this year and have been trained, and they don't understand the official language."

"I let you learn Jurchen for two years, just for this thing."

"I see." Meng Zhang suddenly realized that Zhu Gaoxu asked him to learn Jurchen two years ago, and he thought it was for the convenience of fighting Jurchen in the future, but he didn't want to let him lead Jurchen soldiers and horses.

"I have chosen two thousand single men from the Udiha to go with us to Kulawin, and if the Ataiwailan dares to fight, the old and new grudges will be counted together."

Zhu Gaoxu said his plan to Meng Zhang unreservedly, because under Meng Zhang's control, there was basically no leakage of the three battles, otherwise with Lao Zhu's character, it was indispensable to write a letter to scold himself, and then kill all the craftsmen involved in forging the barrel.

In a sense, Meng Zhang is the most trustworthy person in Zhu Gaoxu at the moment, and there is no one.

Let Meng Zhang garrison the upcoming city of Kulawin, this is the most reassuring arrangement for Zhu Gaoxu.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu also changed the topic and chatted with Meng Zhang about interesting things in Nanjing.

The two chatted and chatted, and then asked people to take a few catties of rice wine and dried meat, and drank while eating meat, until late at night, when they returned to their respective bedrooms to rest.

For more than ten days after that, Zhu Gaoxu did not return to Jilin City, but discussed the matter of casting cannons with Wang Yuan and others.

In addition, such as the barrel and firing device, he also discussed with Wang Yuan and other six masters and apprentices, and handed over this matter to them.

Zhu Gaoxu provided the general idea and outline, and the internal mechanism was studied by Wang Yuan.

Originally, Zhu Gaoxu was ready to wait until they had a clue before leaving, but when the year was approaching, he always had to go back to Jilin City to deal with things.

Just before Chinese New Year's Eve, he returned to Jilin City.

Compared with the summer and autumn seasons, Jilin City basically maintains the appearance before winter.

This is also helpless, after all, whether it is cement or Sanhe soil, placed outside Jilin City in winter, it will not take long to be frozen into a ball, and all projects cannot be promoted.

Zhu Gaoxu was used to it, so after returning home in a hurry, he returned to the heart hall to warm up.

Although he went out for more than half a month, Guo Yan did not show any little woman's temper, but instead loosened his clothes for him after he came back.

"It's been a hard trip, I've never seen this much snow in the south."

Untied the red fat jacket stained with mud and snow for Zhu Gaoxu, Guo Yan said distressedly.

"It's just a little muddy, and it's out of the way." Zhu Gaoxu responded with a smile, and at the same time took off his clothes with the help of Guo Yan and put on new clothes.

Just sat down, Guo Yan took off his shoes for Zhu Gaoxu again.

Looking at her appearance, Zhu Gaoxu said embarrassedly: "If it is seen by the Marquis of Wuding, I am afraid that my Jilin City will be razed to the ground on the second day." ”

"Nonsense......" Guo Yan was amused: "My grandfather is not so domineering." ”

While speaking, the two maidservants also brought warm water, and Zhu Gaoxu put his legs in it and took a comfortable breath.

When Guo Yan saw the maidservant girl coming, he also stepped aside, and his eyes were full of Zhu Gaoxu: "How long will it take to go to Kulawen after the beginning of spring?" ”

"If it's fast, it's a month, and if it's slow, it's two or three months." Zhu Gaoxu subconsciously responded, and at the same time glanced back at Guo Yan.

I have to say that Guo Yan's appearance is indeed very suitable for Zhu Gaoxu's appetite, but her age makes Zhu Gaoxu a little worried.

If you get married and have children at a young age, it is easy to encounter accidents during childbirth, and with the current medical conditions, Zhu Gaoxu still wants to wait.

Regarding this, when he wrote the "Parenting Handbook", he told Guo Yan, although Guo Yan heard it for the first time, he also chose to believe Zhu Gaoxu.

She has been in Jilin City for more than half a year, and she has seen Jilin City become more and more prosperous in Zhu Gaoxu's hands, and Zhu Gaochu is not as bad as the noble children he learned about when he was in Nanjing City.

Those noble children in Nanjing City either play polo all day long, or go to the sixteenth floor to find prostitutes, and people like Zhu Gaoxu who can make a career are simply searching for sand in the sea.

"A person like you who doesn't pay attention to etiquette and can still achieve a career, no wonder Grandpa is willing to let me marry you......"

Guo Yan smiled brightly, and Zhu Gaoxu also sighed: "When I first met Marquis Wuding, I never thought that his old man would be my future grandfather. ”

"But...... It's pretty good, too. ”

He glanced at Guo Yan, the smile on the corner of his mouth could not be suppressed, and at this time, the two maids also began to serve a plate of Chinese New Year's Eve meals.

Looking at the five dishes and one soup, and then at Guo Yan who was embroidering his own robe, maybe at this moment, Zhu Gaoxu felt a little at home.

(End of chapter)