"Tell me, what did my father send you for?"

In the heart hall, Zhu Gaoxu asked Sun Cheng to deal with the twenty-two Jurchens in the carrier hall, and he came here to meet several young generals who came from Beiping.

Standing in front of Zhu Gaoxu, the few young generals who saw Zhu Gaoxu for the first time were obviously a little surprised by his burliness, so after a while, the person who led him said: "Meng Ying, the official of the hundred households of Yanshan Zhongwei, has seen His Highness. ”

"Meng Ying?" Zhu Gaoxu became interested, if he remembered correctly, Meng Ying should be the son of the founding general Meng Shan, but because Meng Shan was a general who took refuge when Xu Da's Northern Expedition to Shandong, he did not get a chance to perform.

In the battle of Jingnan, Meng Shan decisively chose to follow Zhu Di, although he did not participate in the southward battle, but he defended Baoding for four years, with thousands of people to resist the onslaught of tens of thousands of people in the southern army, so in the success of Jingnan, Meng Shan was awarded the title of marquis.

Compared with Meng Shan, who only has the credit of defending the city, Meng Ying can be said to be one of the few second-generation soldiers who can rise up in the Battle of Jingyan.

In the battle of Baoding, he led 5,000 cavalry to reinforce Baoding, and defeated tens of thousands of southern troops led by Han Tong, the governor of the southern army, outside the city.

When Zhu Di went north, he was responsible for the transportation of grain and salary many times, including the twelfth year of Yongle, if he hadn't led his troops to aid Jiulongkou, then Zhu Zhanji would have been captured by the Wara ambush soldiers in Jiulongkou like his eldest son.

He governed the army strictly, and after 12 years of Yongle, he was basically training the soldiers and horses in Beijing of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, and when he was in Guangdong, Guangdong was also very peaceful, so Zhu Gaochi sent him to Jiaozhi.

Among the military generals who guarded Jiaozhi, Zhang Fu, Meng Ying and Huang Fu were the most peaceful during their tenure.

It's a pity that Meng Ying's eldest brother, Meng Xian, the eldest son of the concubine, participated in the case of Zhu Gaosui's plot to poison Zhu Di, so Meng Ying was also implicated, not to mention being deprived of her title, and Jiaozhi also lost a suitable person for the town guard.

Otherwise, judging from Meng Ying's physical condition that he can live to orthodoxy for eleven years, under his control, Li Li may have to fight guerrilla warfare in the Blue Mountains for the rest of his life.

"I remember you, you are Meng Shan's eldest son, right? You also have a big brother named Meng Xian. ”

Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth to ask, and Meng Ying was also a little surprised, after all, his father was only a thousand-household official, and he was only a hundred-household official.

People like his father and son have more than ten pairs of guards in the three guards of Yanfu, and his father and son do not have much merit, but they didn't expect this Bohai King with outstanding merits to remember him.

"The last general is ashamed that he has not made meritorious deeds, but he wants to make His Highness worry about him."

Meng Ying returned the salute in shame, and Zhu Gaoxu also looked at his age, but he was only sixteen or seventeen years old.

It is not easy to be an official of a hundred households at such an age, and it is obvious that Meng Ying is not as ordinary as he is modest.

"Let's tell me what my father asked you to do." Zhu Gaoxu said, and at the same time said to the two officials on duty in the hall: "Go and prepare a stewed sheep for a few of them, don't chill the heart of the people who come from afar." ”

"Thank you, Your Highness......" Meng Ying and the others expressed their gratitude, and the official also went to let the cook prepare the dishes.

After getting up, Meng Ying stepped forward to talk to Zhu Gaoxu about the reason why Zhu Di sent him.

"His Royal Highness King Yan feels that the situation is urgent, and the prince and the third highness are still trapped in the capital, so he wants to pretend to be crazy to deceive the pity of the court and rescue the prince and the third highness back to Beiping."

"Because I was worried that Your Highness would not be able to withstand the blow, I specially sent a few people to inform you."

Meng Ying finished explaining, and Zhu Gaoxu also knew it in his heart.

Sure enough, under the threat of his own rebellion, Zhu Di had to prepare in advance to rescue Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaosui.

Originally, pretending to be crazy and stupid only happened in the first year of Jianwen, but now it is more than four months in advance.

Zhu Gaochu felt a little regretful about Zhu Di still wanting to save Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaosui, but he didn't care about his two brothers.

To put it mildly, Zhu Di's current military power is not as much as his own, and the only thing that is more than himself is that he has a large number of middle- and grass-roots generals and soldiers in Beiping and Daning.

This is also the reason why after he raised troops and fought for the disaster, many cities and passes in Beiping and Daning surrendered without a fight.

Take his seventeenth uncle Zhu Quan as an example, Chen Heng is in charge of the three guards under his command, and the Daning military power is also in the hands of Bu Wan, Liu Zhen, and Chen Heng.

As long as Chen Heng nodded, one-third of Daning's army would immediately take refuge in Zhu Di, and such an advantage did not exist in Zhu Gaoxu.

Compared with Zhu Di, Zhu Gaoxu has too few brothers, if Zhu Yunwen wants to replace Fu with them, it won't take much effort at all, but if they want to replace Zhu Di's people, they have to work hard.

This can be seen from the fact that Zhu Yunwen started in October of the 31st year of Hongwu until July of the first year of Jianwen, and he did not completely replace Zhu Di's old department.

If Zhu Di can start his army in April or May ahead of schedule, it will undoubtedly be beneficial to himself.

He had just recruited the Jurchen Eight Guards, and their military salaries alone amounted to about 20,000 stone per month, and if they did not raise troops from October to July of the following year, they would have to spend 180,000 stone.

But if you start the army two months in advance, you can save 40,000 stone of food.

40,000 stone of grain is enough for 50,000 soldiers and horses to eat for a month and a half.

"I know, you can rest assured to tell my father that I will not act rashly, and if there is a change in the world, I can contain Liaodong and Daning."

Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth to contain the two capitals of Liaodong and Daning, which surprised Meng Ying and the others.

After all, in their cognition, Bohai is only 16,000 military households, and according to the three battles and seven tuns of the border fortress, there are only five or six thousand soldiers and horses at most.

From this point of view, the capital of his second highness should be greater than on the surface.

Thinking of this, Meng Ying did not delay Zhu Gaoxu's time too much, but returned the salute and withdrew from the Cunxin Hall with everyone.

The officials of the palace followed and arranged for them to be lodging and eating.

Zhu Gaoxu sat in the hall, thinking about how to train soldiers.

It is impossible for Jinyiwei to mix sand in the Six Cities, which is why Zhu Gaoxu chose the people of the Six Cities to train Jurchen soldiers.

The land of the Six Cities is only three hundred miles away from Jilin City, and if something happens, they can quickly support Jilin City.

If the army goes south, the soldiers and horses in the land of the six cities are much faster than Heishui City and Andong City, second only to Zhaozhou City by water.

"The soldiers and horses of Blackwater City seem to have to be transferred to the land of the Six Cities in advance......"

Zhu Gaoxu pondered, and after about two quarters of an hour, he heard footsteps again.

When he looked up, he walked into the hall was Sun Cheng, who was in charge of entertaining the twenty-two Jurchens.

"How? Are you all entertained? ”

"After the reception, they were all drunk and sent back to the inn to rest."

Zhu Gaoxu asked, Sun Cheng also wiped his sweat, and at the same time handed over the document in his hand: "This is what the lower officials calculate for the eight guards, please take a look." ”

Taking the booklet, Zhu Gaoxu flipped through it and looked at it.

Sun Cheng was equipped with armor and weapons for the Jurchen Eight Guards according to the configuration of the Bohai Navy, and the military salary was rationed according to the treatment of Heishui City, so there was generally no problem.

After calculation, if the Jurchen Eight Guards were to make up to 24,000 people, then the monthly military salary would be 7,500 guan and 29,600 stone of grain.

Their needs were twenty-four thousand sets of armor, and their weapons were rationed of all kinds.

With the current output of the three fields, it will not be a problem to equip nearly 50,000 people of the Bohai army with iron armor before the spring of next year, and the only thing that is lacking is food.

"Xia Guan calculated, the grain in the treasury is counted as the approximate grain that has not arrived in the south and harvested in the autumn, and it can be supported until April at most."

"Your Highness, if the imperial court withholds grain and grass at that time, then we ......"

Sun Cheng didn't say much, but Zhu Gaoxu knew what he was going to say, so he thought about it before he spoke: "You let people use horses and boats to catch more fish, everyone's rations, each person will be reduced by half a catty per day, explain the situation to the people, they will understand." ”

Zhu Gaoxu was not wrong in what he said, because under his dissemination, many soldiers and civilians in Bohai already knew about the cutting of the feudal domain in Guannei, so many people were worried that this cutting of the feudal domain would be cut to the head of Bohai.

Today, there are more than 140,000 civilians in the Bohai Navy, and they are basically used to eating big pot rice.

Even if the imperial court cut the feudal domain and divided the cultivated fields in the Bohai Sea to the Bohai naval people, it would only be seven or eight acres per person, and one-third of them were freshly cultivated mature fields.

The people of the Bohai Navy have the habit of saving their rations, but the little grain saved will not help them survive until next autumn's harvest.

Once the imperial court cut off the grain of the Bohai Sea, without Zhu Gaoxu opening his mouth, the people of the Bohai Sea themselves would rebel.

Not necessarily all the people north of the Great Wall are Mongols, whoever goes is Mongols, this is a simple geographical and economic issue.

When the situation in the Bohai Sea is not yet self-sufficient, once there is no foreign help, the people of the Bohai Navy will definitely turn into the Jin army and enter the customs, which is incomprehensible.

Unless Bohai is made self-sufficient, the people can live and work in peace and contentment without relying on the outside world, then they will naturally lose their motivation to go outward.

Zhu Gaoxu had already told the Bohai Navy the predicament he was facing, so after the rations were reduced by half a catty, everyone would not complain about him, but only the imperial court.

When such complaints are backlogged to the point where Zhu Yunwen wants to do something to himself, then he can ignite it and use it to appease the trouble.

"Your Highness, the lower official has calculated it."

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Sun Cheng, only to find that he was holding the slap abacus he was carrying, and put away the abacus and said: "If each person loses half a catty per day, it should allow the Bohai Navy to last until mid-May." ”

"That's enough." Zhu Gaoxu bowed his head, he could be sure that Zhu Di would not delay until July to raise troops to make it difficult.

has his own reminder, coupled with Zhu Yunwen's move of forcibly cutting down Zhou Fan with soldiers, no matter how stupid Zhu Di is, he will not drag it until there are only 800 people under him.

Now what Zhu Di thinks about should be to rescue Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaosui safely first, and he can do anything for this, including what Meng Ying said just now.

"Old man, why bother yourself......"

Zhu Gaoxu has never had a child in his previous life or in this life, so he can't understand Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di's psychology of protecting calves.

For Sun Cheng, Zhu Gaoxu only explained: "Hide the matter well, and privately appoint Meng Zhang as the commander of Andong Zhongwei, Chen Chang as the commander of Zhaozhou Zhongwei, Xu Sheng as the commander of Changchun Zhongwei, and Wang Yi as the commander of Jilin Zhongwei." ”

"Let them prepare men who are proficient in the Haixi Jurchen language, and they must arrive at the land of the Six Cities before the first day of the tenth month, and each of them will train the soldiers and horses of the two guards on the left and right."

"Yes!" Sun Cheng responded, and left the Cunxin Hall under Zhu Gaoxu's eyes.

After he left, Zhu Gaoxu also got up and thought about walking to the backyard.

He went to the former dormitory and also saw Guo Yan embroidering in the former dormitory.

When she saw Zhu Gaoxu coming, her eyes revealed an inquiry, obviously caring about Guo Ying who was going south.

"Marquis of Wuding is not hindered...... Zhu Gaoxu told her about Guo Ying's situation after he went south, basically handing over his military power and being idle at home like a semi-retire.

Hearing this, Guo Yan also breathed a sigh of relief: "Grandpa is fine." ”

"He's fine, but we might be fine." Zhu Gaoxu looked at Guo Yan, and Guo Yan probably guessed what he was going to say, after all, Zhu Yan's matter could be said to be spreading in the four cities of the Bohai Sea during this time.

Guo Yan didn't know that this was Zhu Gaochu adding fuel to the fire, so she just grabbed Zhu Gaoxu's hand and said comfortingly: "The concubine is married to His Royal Highness, so she is naturally His Highness's person, if His Highness does something to protect himself, the concubine can also be considerate and understanding." ”

Guo Yan and Zhu Gaoxu are pillow people after all, and it is not easy to hide many things from her.

"Don't overthink it." Zhu Gaoxu patted her hand: "I'll go to the seedling field outside the city to see, if you don't do some embroidery, I won't be able to wear so much." ”

"I'll always wear it in the future." Guo Yan smiled and bowed his head, and continued to embroider Zhu Gaoxu's clothes.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at her, didn't interfere with her anymore, turned around and walked out of the hall.

Soon after he left, the two maidservants also returned to the palace, with worried faces on their faces: "Princess, don't you really tell the old marquis?" ”

"How can a wife harm her husband?" Guo Yan lowered his head and embroidered with a smile, much more mature than when he first came to Jilin City.

"But what if His Highness wants to ......" The maid was a little scared halfway through speaking, and hurriedly held back and said tactfully: "What if it fails?" ”

"Then I'll die with him." Guo Yan replied without thinking, and looked up at the two of them: "When that time comes, I will arrange someone to take you to the south in advance." ”

"Slaves don't go...... the two maids knelt down, their faces stubborn.

In fact, they knew in their hearts that they were people who had been touched by Zhu Gaoxu, and if something happened to Zhu Gaoxu, they would not be able to live.

"Then live in peace, don't make trouble for Your Highness."

Guo Yan lowered his head and continued to do what he could for Zhu Gaoxu.

Not only her, but many people did this for Zhu Gaochu in private because of Zhu Yunwen's use of force to cut the domain, and some of them were sent out by Zhu Gaochu early.

After the mediation of Fudaha, Yizha led more than 100 people through the boundary of Dongning Mansion in the former Yuan Dynasty, entered Liaodong as a merchant, and went straight to Liaonan in the south.

On August 20, after a long journey of 20 days, they finally met Fu Rang, the governor of Liaonan Juntun, in Fuzhou.

"You're late, if you come a day in advance, you can still see Yang Zhan and a few of them, and they went to the north of Fuzhou to investigate Tuntian this morning."

In the yamen of the Fuzhou commander, Fu Rang poured a glass of water for Yishiha, who came from afar.

Yisha took it and drank it all, and then wiped his mouth: "There will always be a chance to meet it in the future, but you have done a good job in this tuntian, I went all the way south, and the military tuntian along the road is more than double that when we went north four years ago." ”

Yishaha is testing whether Fu Rang can still be trusted, although Zhu Gaoxu believes in Fu Rang, but Yizha still has to cover for him.

Fu Rang knew no less about those deceitful things than Yishaha, so after hearing Yishaha's words, he knew that Yishaha was testing himself.

However, compared to when he was in the capital, he is much calmer now, and even has a feeling of Fu Youde.

"No matter how powerful I am, it is impossible for the four prefectures in southern Liaoning to double the cultivated land in just a few months, not to mention that the animal power here is much less than that of Bohai."

"Seventy percent of those military tuntian fields were reclaimed by the previous four guard commanders, and I took over southern Liaoning from March to now, and a total of 120,000 mu has been reclaimed."

Fu Rang elaborated on the situation in southern Liaoning, and Yizha also asked curiously: "How many tuntians are there in the four prefectures of southern Liaoning?" ”

"Counting the reclamation in a few months, there are almost 870,000 mu." Fu Rang replied without thinking, and then Yi Rang also asked other questions, and Fu Rang couldn't help but smile bitterly: "You guy, I haven't seen the two of you for a year, and you treat me as a criminal for interrogation." ”

"When it's a special time, there's no way to ...... It's not like you're unaware. Yishaha's smile was bitter, and Fu Rang naturally knew that he was talking about cutting the domain, so he patted Yishaha's shoulder.

"A few days ago, the merchants under Yang Bin passed through the southern Liaoning ......" Fu Rang said about Yang Bin's predicament and the amount of money and grain he transported north.

The amount of money and grain was far lower than Zhu Gaoxu and Yishaha's expectations, so after hearing Fu Rang's words, Yishaha's face was a little unpleasant.

Just without waiting for him to get entangled, Fu Rang lowered his voice again: "I used some means to transfer more than 30,000 stones from the reserve warehouse to the convoy, and there should be 150,000 stones after arriving in Jilin City." ”

"You're so bold." Yishu looked at him in surprise, after all, the management of the reserve warehouse in the health center was very strict, and if someone found out, Fu Rang would probably be punished heavily.

"Don't worry, the autumn harvest is less than a month away, and it will be filled up soon, and I can even use some means to fill some for you."

Fu Rang is very familiar with the system of the guard, and during the Hongwu period, many officers of the guard station have started from the reserve warehouse, otherwise the grain in the reserve warehouse will not be less and less every year after the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu.

The loophole he caught was the same as the loophole caught by all the officers of the guard, if he was discovered, then the guard's system should also be replaced.

"Be careful yourself." Yizha believed Fu Rang, so he also began to whisper the words that Zhu Gaoxu ordered to bring to him.

Fu Rang didn't take this content seriously at first, but the more he heard it, the more he felt that something was wrong.

It's just that after listening to it, he didn't feel anything, after all, he had already seen that Zhu Gaoxu was not a peaceful person, not to mention that now Zhu Yunwen was sharpening his knife against him in the south.

For Zhu Yunwen, Fu Rang only had disgust, and he didn't feel like a minister.

But as long as Zhu Yunwen is capable, Zhu Li will not compete for the reserve, and then he will not cause his family to be involved in the situation of competing for the reserve.

The title of Duke of Yingguo is still vacant.

What Fu Rang wants to do most is to inherit this position one day.

Zhu Yunwen is here, he has never had a chance in his life, but now this opportunity has come.

He used his own troops to cut down the domain, and he also sent Zhu Hu directly to a wild and remote place like Menghua, Yunnan.

Coupled with his policy of elevating Wenchen and merging the state and county health offices, Fu Rang has heard a lot of complaints from the military attaches sent by the Liaodong Metropolitan Division recently.

As long as he could show some abilities, Fu Rang would not despise him so much.

Judging from his current policy, his father and his family are really wronged.

"Your Highness said that he will probably do something to you recently, and if nothing else, you will be transferred to the northwest or south."

Yisha explained Zhu Gaoxu's words, and Fu Rang also bowed his head to express his agreement.

Zhu Yunwen originally wanted to transfer them to the south, but Emperor Gao was still there at that time, so he kept his group in Daning and Liaodong.

Now that he is in power and ready to attack the feudal domains, his group of people who stayed in Liaodong and Daning will definitely not be welcomed, and it is normal to be transferred to the south.

"I'm afraid that we will be transferred to the south first, and then we will be removed from our official positions on trumped-up charges after the reduction of the feudal domain."

Fu Rang said bluntly, and at the same time explained to Yishuha: "After we are transferred to the south, I am afraid it will be difficult to contact Liaodong." ”

"I don't know to others, I and Yang Zhan and Lin Su are trustworthy, if it really comes to the last resort, I can only guarantee that I will deal with him."

"That's enough." Yisha breathed a sigh of relief, and then talked to Fu Rang about writing to Fu Rang's three brothers.

"Letters can't be delivered early or late, too early will expose things, too late will not work."

"Don't worry, I know more about this than you do." Fu Rang chuckled: "It's easy to send a letter, I'll choose a few competent people these days and let them go in person." ”

"Calculating the time, they set off before the winter, and they can bring the words to Yunnan in May and June."

"It's better that way." Yishu bowed his head, and then breathed a sigh of relief: "The words are here, my business will be done, and I have to return to Jilin tomorrow, otherwise it will be easy to do bad things." ”

"Good!" Fu Rang didn't stay long, after all, he was actually not safe here.

There are also Jurchen words everywhere in the Bohai Sea as a means to screen Jinyiwei, but the four states in southern Liaoning do not have such means.

In addition, Fu let him himself be a liuguan, and he had only been in the four states of southern Liaoning for a short time, so he didn't dare to guarantee whether the people around him had brocade guards.

Yizha explained the matter, it is better to leave early, and I am afraid that someone will find out if I stay for a long time.

Thinking of this, Fu Rang also got up and prepared to arrange a residence for Yishaha, but at this time, a hurried footstep sounded from outside the yamen.

Yizha hurriedly got up and hid in the corner, and Fu Rang also straightened himself up and picked up a book to cover up.

After a short time, a commander and several officials of thousands of households anxiously walked into the yamen.

"What's the matter, panic." Fu Rang pretended to be angry, frowned and questioned everyone, but he didn't want the conductor to walk quickly to Fu Rang's side, with a little trepidation in his voice.

"Excuse me, there is news from Beiping, His Royal Highness King Yan is crazy......"

"Ming Taizong Record": "At the beginning of August, the king was in danger and pretended to be sick. ”

(End of chapter)