On the ninth day of April, when the ice on the Heilongjiang River thawed, Zhu Gaoxu led more than a dozen horses and boats upstream, heading for Jilin City.

During this period, Zhu Gaoxu stopped in Andong City for a while, and got off the boat to see how Chen Chang managed Andong City.

Chen Chang did not disappoint him, the entire Andong City was operating very well, and because many Jurchens on the ground of Azhemi went out of the mountain to accept the appeasement, the defensive pressure of Andong City was sharply reduced.

In order to implement Zhu Gaoxu's Jurchen Sinicization policy, he is leading the military and civilians to build a health school at the moment.

Once this school is built, all Jurchen children under the age of fifteen in the city will receive a Sinicized education.

However, in this way, Zhu Gaoxu also has a new problem.

Not only Blackwater City, but even Andong City and Jilin City need a large number of officials to enter the Weixue Teaching, and this time there are quite a few of them.

The original good mood was destroyed because of Chen Chang's words, but Zhu Gaoxu did not show it.

There is no money and food talents, he should not blame the people below, if he only knows the blame for the people below, what is the difference between him and the emperors who dare not take responsibility at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

The appeasement order was given by him, and he was ready to accept the consequences a long time ago, but he didn't expect the appeasement work to be so smooth and appeased so many people.

Perhaps feeling the heavier burden on his shoulders, Zhu Gaoxu hurriedly walked around Andong City for an hour, then returned to the boat and continued to march towards Jilin City.

On the waterway back to Jilin City, he had already thought about what kind of financial pressure he would face after arriving in Jilin City.

On April 13, his boat passed by the former Jixi Fort, now Jixi Pass.

It seems that he saw his Daxu, and many soldiers and people who were busy clearing the wasteland inside and outside Jixi Pass greeted the boat.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't know if they could see him, so he walked to the side of the boat and waved to them.

After a short time, the boat crossed the Jixi Pass and came to the middle bay of Jilin City, which had been reclaimed for nearly seventy percent.

Zhu Gaoxu briefly looked at the reclamation of Zhongwan, and then set his eyes on Beiwan in the north and Nanwan in the south.

On the South Bay Pasture, many military horses graze behind the fence, or mate, gallop.

On the edge of the Beiwan Zedi, many cattle and sheep bow their heads to graze, forming a picture with the white mountains and black waters in the distance.

Looking at all this, the pride in Zhu Gaoxu's heart is needless to say.

The erection of Jilin City is his greatest achievement in the past few years when he came to Daming.

The four cities of Jilin, which have hundreds of thousands of acres of land, are the existence that Zhu Yunwen is reluctant to abandon.

With this foundation here, even if he fails in the Battle of Jingjing, the Ming Dynasty can consolidate Liaodong and open up the Northeast.

As long as the four cities of Jilin are still there, their exploits cannot be erased.

"Wow......"

Not long after, the boat docked, and the 100 household officials on duty at the Jilin wharf led troops to greet Zhu Gaoxu.

"Your Highness is blessed with a thousand blessings and good health!"

When the officials of the hundred households saw Zhu Gaoxu get off the boat, they hurriedly led everyone to salute.

Zhu Gaoxu walked to the dock, looked at the many Jurchen people who were busy loading grain on the dock, and couldn't help but ask curiously: "I haven't given the order yet, why did I start loading grain for the boat?" ”

In the face of Zhu Gaoxu's doubts, Baihu Guan explained: "The last general didn't know, he only knew that there was a Tang horse to Liaodong just now, and then he ordered the grain to be loaded onto the ship and ready to be transported to Zhaozhou. ”

"Zhaozhou?" Zhu Gaoxu was even more puzzled, and he didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in Yishu hahulu.

"Let Yisha come to the palace to find me." Leaving a word, Zhu Gaoxu took out a good horse from the dock and rode to the Bohai Palace.

Along the way, many people recognized Zhu Gaoxu and knelt down in the field to kowtow to show respect.

Even if Zhu Gaochu did not let the people kneel and kowtow three times, the people were still like this, so Zhu Gaoxu let them do this.

"Your Highness!!"

"Your Highness is back!"

"Long live Your Highness!"

"A thousand blessings and good health!"

Along the way, many rude singing voices sounded one after another, and Zhu Gaoxu was also helpless, so he could only wait to see Yishiha, and let him convey the correct singing sound to the people.

After all, it is not far from Zhu Yunwen coming to power, if he doesn't restrain the people well, maybe Zhu Yunwen will take advantage of the topic.

"Your Highness!"

At least when he came to the gate of the palace, Zhu Gaoxu turned over and dismounted, and more than 20 soldiers were also surprised to come forward to lead the horse for him and hug him.

"Yes, Wang Liu, you are a lot stronger."

Needless to say, Zhu Gaoxu's memory was not to be mentioned, and he remembered the faces and names of many people in the army, so when he saw the chief flag officer on duty at the gate, he called out the other party's name.

When Wang Liu was stunned, Zhu Gaoxu patted him and another soldier on the shoulder: "A little palm print came to me, let him in." ”

After that, Zhu Gaoxu walked into the carrier door, and Wang Liu came back to his senses after a while, puffing up his chest proudly: "Did you hear that!" Your Highness remembers who I am! ”

When he said this, the soldiers around him cast envious glances, which made Wang Liu's waist straighter.

At the same time as he straightened his waist, Zhu Gaoxu returned to the mansion and went to the backyard to find it.

Just a word, he saw Guo Yan outside the former dormitory.

At this moment, she lowered her head and didn't know what she was doing, but the maidservants on both sides saw Zhu Gaoxu and wanted to shout in surprise, but when they saw Zhu Gaoxu's booing movements, they closed their mouths one after another.

Zhu Gaoxu walked behind Guo Yan, perhaps because of his tall figure and backlight, so his shadow quickly shrouded Guo Yan.

Feeling the sudden darkness around him, Guo Yan subconsciously raised his head, and the next moment he met Zhu Gaoxu's eyes.

"Your Highness!" Guo Yan stood up excitedly, turned around and hugged Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu looked down, only to find that Guo Yan was actually taking care of his armor just now.

"You're going to do this?"

He asked in surprise, but Guo Yan smiled and raised a piece of skirt armor on the table: "These days are idle and boring, how is the craft of learning from a few thousands of officials and wives in the city?" ”

She showed off her skills, and Zhu Gaoxu praised her when she saw it: "It's very good." ”

"You haven't seen me for half a year, have you missed me?"

"Your Royal Highness......" Guo Yan blushed with shame at what Zhu Gaoxu said, just looked at the maids on the left and right with their heads down, and whispered: "Naturally, I thought about it." ”

"Just think about it." Zhu Gaoxu sat on the chair and hugged Guo Yan in his arms, which made her blush again.

It's just that this ambiguous atmosphere didn't last long before it was interrupted by footsteps behind him.

Zhu Gaoxu turned his head and immediately saw the stunned Yishu.

Guo Yan followed and looked back, and after seeing Yi Shiha, he immediately broke free from Zhu Gaoxu's arms with a red face, and after tidying up his clothes, he said in a low voice: "The concubine went to make tea for His Royal Highness and Yi Zhangyin." ”

It's about making tea, but it's actually just trying to escape from this place.

She fled away from the Qianqing Palace with two maidservants, but Zhu Gaoxu, a thick-skinned guy, seemed to have nothing happened, and beckoned to Yishu: "Sit down, why are you standing stupidly?" ”

Zhu Gaoxu can act as if nothing happened, but he is uncomfortable if he loses it.

With embarrassment, he cautiously sat on the chair next to Zhu Gaoxu, holding a holy decree and several books in his hand.

"News from the palace?" Zhu Gaoxu saw the holy decree, and he hurriedly handed over the holy decree with both hands.

"This is the will that only arrived at the end of the day, you will know the details by looking at it."

Listening to Yishuha's words, Zhu Gaoxu took the holy decree and opened it in confusion.

When he read the holy decree at a glance and ten lines, the smile on the corner of his mouth could no longer be suppressed, and he couldn't help but shout: "Okay! ”

Needless to say, this will is the northern tour sent by Zhu Yuanzhang.

The northern patrol of the border is not a big deal for Zhu Gaoxu, what he really cares about is that Lao Zhu sent him another 3,000 households, and also raised this year's grain and monthly grain to 540,000 stones.

These 540,000 stones are almost enough to support the four cities of Jilin for six months, how can Zhu Gaoxu not be happy.

With this batch of grain, plus his own money, Jilin City can survive until the end of the year.

Counting the grain harvested in September, he could have lasted until June next year, a month before the outbreak of the Battle of Jingjing.

How could he not be happy with such good news.

"Sure enough! The matter of the North Patrol Side, grandpa naturally won't forget me! ”

Zhu Gaoxu's eyes were burning, he had thought about persuading Zhu Di to rebel after Lao Zhu's death, this was not because he was arrogant, but because Zhu Di had absolute capital at that time.

After Zhu Li's death, Zhu Yuanzhang arranged for Zhu Di to control the guards of the four kings of Ningyan Valley and the soldiers and horses of the Sandu Division to patrol north.

It just so happened that not long after Zhu Di started his northern tour, Zhu Yuanzhang died in the Forbidden City of Nanjing.

The reason why Zhu Yunwen did not dare to attack Zhu Di first in history was because Zhu Di had nearly 200,000 soldiers in his hands at that time, close to one-third of the elite soldiers and more than half of the cavalry of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, Zhu Yunwen first appeased Zhu Di, and then asked Guo Ying, Wu Gao, Liu Zhen and others to return to the garrison with troops, and ordered the four kings to return to the domain.

After everyone complied, Zhu Yunwen asked Li Jinglong to make a surprise attack on Kaifeng City in the name of military training, and in the absence of Zhu Hu's reaction, he directly handed over the military power of the three guards of the Zhou Mansion, and transferred Feng Sheng's old troops in Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places to Liangguang, Yunnan and Guizhou.

When Zhu Di reacted, Zhu Di only had three guards and horses left in his hands, and he had no choice but to be a quail, and he didn't dare to rescue his own brother at all.

Three months later, Zhu Yunwen, who saw that Zhu Di did not move, was even more relieved, and hurriedly replaced the officials of the Third Division of Beiping who had an old relationship with Zhu Di, minimizing Zhu Di's influence in Beiping.

In this way, Zhu Di was forced to shut up, thinking that this was the end.

It's just that he underestimated Zhu Yunwen, and for another three months, Zhu Yunwen issued an edict that the kings could not control the civil and military officials of the palace, and transferred Zhu Di's three guards from Beiping in the following month, and at the same time ordered Song Zhong, Xu Kai, Geng Zhen and others to lead their troops to be stationed in Kaiping, Linqing, and Shanhaiguan around Beiping.

Zhu Di was forced to be helpless, so he could only pretend to be crazy and stupid to make a living.

Seeing that Zhu Di was 'crazy', Zhu Yunwen immediately started his own plan to cut the domain.

In less than three months, Zhu Bai, the king of Xiang, was forced to self-immolate, and Zhu Rong, the king of Qi, Zhu Gui, and Zhu Yang, the king of Min, were deposed......

A year after Lao Zhu's death, four vassal kings were deposed, one was forced to commit suicide, and the other was driven crazy.

Zhu Yunwen's cutting of the feudal domain frightened all the vassal kings and made Zhu Di succeed in dying.

Therefore, when he learned from Zhang Xin that Zhu Yunwen was going to kill him, Zhu Di did not have the slightest suspicion, even if there were only 800 guards, he was determined to raise troops to make it difficult.

Zhu Gaoxu spent a few minutes just thinking about these things, and Zhu Di only experienced a huge gap from controlling more than 200,000 soldiers and horses to pretending to be crazy and stupid, and he was killed if he survived in just over a year.

Fengtian Jingjing was undoubtedly forced out, and there were too many lucks and coincidences during this period, and Zhu Gaoxu did not dare to gamble.

Therefore, he wanted to directly incite Zhu Di to raise troops during his northern tour this year.

Although there is no righteousness, the Yan army will have more than 200,000 soldiers.

At present, the Beiping Metropolitan Division is basically Zhu Di's Yiyantang, and the person left behind in Daning is Chen Heng, who admires Zhu Di, and although there is no one on the Liaodong Metropolitan Division, as long as Zhu Gaoxu moves fast enough, it is completely possible to control Guo Ying and others before the news of Zhu Yuanzhang's death is transmitted to the Northern Patrol team.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu carefully looked at the holy decree in his hand.

Zhou Xing said goodbye to his hometown and returned to his hometown, and the King of Liao, Guo Ying, Wu Gao, and Yang Wen were appointed to lead troops to Quanningwei.

The huge Liaodong will be empty of mobile soldiers in less than two months, except for 30,000 guards and some garrison soldiers left in Liaonan, Liaodong is empty on the whole.

At present, Fu Rang is in charge of Tuntian in southern Liaoning, and Zhu Gaoxu is confident, as long as he speaks, Fu Rang will take his Tuntian soldiers and soldiers to take refuge in him.

As for Zhou Ding, who was 30,000 guards, not to mention that he was kind to him, just because his army was approaching, it was impossible for him to be his enemy with his life-loving character.

That is to say, as long as he controls Gu, Ning, Liao Sanwang and Guo Ying and others in the northern patrol team, the more than 200,000 soldiers of the three capitals of the north will belong to Yanfu.

This scale is a scale that Zhu Dijing has not played for four years.

With an army of this size, coupled with the command ability of his father and son, arquebuses, artillery, and the situation that Guo Ying and other famous generals in the north were under control, Zhu Gaoxu was sure that he would be able to capture Nanjing before the southwest returned for reinforcements.

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu finally knew why An Lushan in history couldn't help but rebel.

When the chips in one's hand are big enough, few people will put up with the existence of a person who is above them and can execute them at any time.

If what he wants can be realized, it is equivalent to An Lushan solving Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi when he raised the army, and Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing were also pulled by Arabia to fight in Central Asia, and there was only one Ge Shuhan in the entire dynasty who could fight.

In such a situation, his hand couldn't stop clenching the holy decree, and the force was so great that even the holy decree appeared with a straight voice.

"Your Highness?"

Yisha was frightened by Zhu Gaoxu's big reaction, and cautiously reminded him.

"I'm fine......"

Zhu Gaoxu pretended to speak flatly, but he was very excited in his heart.

But there is a problem in front of him, that is, how can he convince Zhu Di.

This question is a question that he has not thought of for a long time.

Whether it is persuasion or forcing the palace, or adding a yellow robe, the prerequisite for the usefulness of these methods is that the person who is added by the yellow robe himself has the idea of usurping the throne, but Zhu Di does not.

In history, when he had more than 200,000 troops, he didn't rebel when he owned the entire Beiping City, and he didn't rebel when there was only one Yanwang Mansion and three guards left, until it was finally determined that Zhu Yunwen wanted to abolish himself, and he started the road of Jingjing with 800 guards.

Compared with Zhu Yunwen's way, Zhu Gaoxu felt that the things he was thinking about were too pediatric.

He suspected that if he insisted on forcing the palace, then Zhu Di might rather kill himself than fight with him.

If Zhu Di died, he would not have the ability to control the Sandu Division, at most he would just take Liaodong.

After that, what awaits me is probably the 500,000 elites in the Guannai who go north.

Thinking of such an ending, Zhu Gaoxu let go of his grip on the holy decree.

"That's it, it's not good without an army of more than 200,000 people, even if it goes on step by step, my father and son's cards are much bigger than in history."

Zhu Gaoxu retracted those thoughts, and after sorting out his thoughts a little, he said to Yisha: "Is Yang Bin here this year?" ”

"I came at the beginning of the month, and after staying for three days, the slave gave him deer antlers, ginseng and many herbs, and asked him to take some back to Sanwanwei first, and then return to Jilin City after getting it done, and wait for Your Highness to return to Jilin City to discuss business."

Yisha explained everything and continued; "Last year's sheep herbs, Yang Shanren has already sold them properly, and he also sold a small amount of fur, so this time he brought more than 34,000 guan ......."

Before he finished speaking, Zhu Gaoxu interrupted: "If our sheep are all sold, how much grain can we sell?" ”

"Huh?" Yi Weiha was stunned, he didn't expect Zhu Gaoxu to ask such a question, after all, the sheep flock is the foundation for continuing to sell sheep.

It's just that when he saw Zhu Gaoxu's expression that didn't seem like a joke, he still took out a palm-sized abacus from his sleeve.

After a few beatings, he said with a complicated expression: "If all of them are sold, it should be sold for less than 20,000 yuan." ”

"It's all sold, let Yang Bin exchange for some food early." Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth without thinking, which surprised Yisha, but at the same time, he had to nod his head.

He knew that His Highness had his own considerations, so he chose to obey military orders.

"Over there in Zhaozhou, how much grain are you going to transfer?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked again, and Yizha glanced at the holy decree: "The slave maid inquired about the dispatch of troops from various capital divisions and the palace, except for the soldiers who left the garrison, the rest of the soldiers came out, so the slave maid thought that the palace had to have at least 10,000 soldiers, so he was ready to transfer 50,000 stone grain to Zhaozhou, and Wang Yi would make it into military food." ”

"No, three thousand cavalry is enough." Zhu Gaoxu interrupted Yishuha's words and put forward the idea of only bringing cavalry to participate in the northern patrol here.

Today, the number of cavalry in Bohai has reached 5,000, and there are nearly 9,000 military horses.

This time he patrolled the northern border and was destined not to encounter the enemy, so Zhu Gaoxu did not plan to bring too many people.

If he can find an opportunity to convince Zhu Di, the 3,000 cavalry is enough to control the situation by himself.

If you can't find a chance to convince Zhu Di, it's useless to bring more people over, it's better to bring less and save food.

Zhu Gaoxu can foresee that once Zhu Yunwen comes to power, he will definitely use food to choke his neck.

Grain is the basis for determining whether Zhu Gaoxu can maintain the current difficulty of more than 20,000 troops heading south.

"The slave understands."

He also lost his head and waited for Zhu Gaoxu's next question, and Zhu Gaochu also continued to speak: "On this expedition, I will only take Wang Yi to go, and the construction of the city in Changchun will be entrusted to you. ”

"After the construction of the city is over, Xu Sheng and two thousand trustworthy brothers from Heishui City will be stationed, and the grain sent from Liaodong in the south will be piled up in the granary of Changchun City first."

"Besides, I'm going to ask you to do something for me......"

Zhu Gaoxu used the word please, and he was so frightened that he hurriedly got up and said: "Your Highness has something to tell the slave and maid, but don't torture the slave and maid." ”

"Hehe......" Zhu Gaoxu stretched out his hand and sat down with Yisha, and then explained to him with blazing eyes: "I want you to find Yang Bin and ask him to move his family to Jilin City, and tell him that if he trusts me, he will sell his property and bring 100,000 yuan to Jilin City, and the rest of the family property will be sold to buy food." ”

"In addition, all the fur in the treasury should not be pressed, let Yang Bin sell it at a low price, and buy grain to go north."

"This ......" Hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words, Yizha finally knew why he used the word 'please', because this matter was really difficult.

It was not easy for Yang Bin to lead his family to become the leading merchant family in Huai'an Mansion, but now His Royal Highness wants to let him start over again.

Doing so made him more uncomfortable than killing Yang Bin.

"Slave maid...... Willing to try. ”

Yisha didn't dare to be sure that he could convince Yang Bin, so he only dared to answer with a try.

It's just that this kind of answer obviously can't satisfy Zhu Gaoxu, his expression instantly fell, and he said gloomily:

"If Yang Bin is unwilling, teach him to keep to himself next, sell all the furs in the treasury at a low price, bring 100,000 yuan to the north, and the rest is enough to buy grain."

"If you don't have enough money for 100,000 yuan, then you can borrow it from him, make a white slip, stamp it with a seal and give it to him."

"Yes!" Yisha lowered his head, he knew that Yang Bin had to do what Zhu Gaoxu wanted him to do, otherwise Yang Bin would most likely become the enemy of the palace.

Feeling the pressure from Zhu Gaoxu, even a person close to him like Yishaha couldn't help but feel heavy.

"Your Highness's mind is becoming more and more elusive......"

"You step down, five days later, I will lead the troops out of the northern tour."

Yizha is still sighing, but Zhu Gaoxu has already issued an eviction order.

"The slave and maid are gone." Without staying long, he got up and left the place where he was sweating.

Also after he left, Guo Yan, who had said that he was going to make tea, slowly walked in from outside the hall.

She glanced at the back of the departing Yishaha, slowly walked to Zhu Gaoxu and sat down, and said in surprise: "It's the first time that the concubine has seen His Highness's expression. ”

"There's a lot of expression on my face that you haven't seen yet." Zhu Gaoxu poured himself a glass of water, and while drinking it all, his eyes also looked outside the hall:

"The south, maybe it's going to be unstable......"

(End of chapter)