Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 290 Inflated Ambition

"withdraw troops!"

clang clang clang...

"The dog tartar has the ability to continue to come!"

"Whoever doesn't come will have a grandson!"

At noon, with several hours of fierce fighting, the Jin army outside Liaohe County, Daning Prefecture called out to withdraw their troops, and the Ming army at the top of the city also began to taunt them crazily.

Outside Liaohe County, Mang Gurtai's face was ashen while riding on horseback, while thousands of Lianglan Banner soldiers kept retreating with siege equipment.

Looking at Liaohe County, one can see that the barracks outside the city are incomplete, and under the city wall are burning siege equipment and the corpses of soldiers with two blue flags.

"If these smart dogs hadn't relied on the sharpness of the artillery, the master would have chopped off his head today."

"Continue tomorrow, I will kill a few Ming dogs to vent my anger after breaking the city!"

"Enough!" Hearing a group of generals behind him speak, Mang Gurtai yelled with suppressed anger, and then looked at the flag of the Ming army fluttering in the wind at the top of Liaohe City. If the anger in his eyes could be turned into substance, it might be ignited this flag.

"Withdraw troops!" Unwilling, Mang Gurtai could only issue an order to withdraw troops, and a group of people behind him said in puzzlement:
"Master, we still have plenty of time, so it's okay to attack for another day, right?"

"Yes, my lord"

"I said withdraw the troops!" Mang Gurtai looked back at the generals of the two blue flags viciously, causing them to boo and dare not say any more.

Mang Gurtai also knew that there was plenty of time, but according to Tang Qi's report, Xiong Tingbi didn't take He Shixian to the Northern Expedition, but stayed in Daning Mansion.

Daning Mansion is only a hundred miles away from Liaohe Mansion. If he waits for He Shixian's support to hold him back, and Xiong Tingbi sends cavalry to cut off his back, then more than [-] people will be buried here.

Therefore, no matter how much unwillingness there is, Mangurtai can only order the withdrawal of troops.

Accompanied by his order, the soldiers of the two blue flags began to abandon all the siege equipment, and began to return north with tens of thousands of shi of grain looted from some villages.

Although many people died because of the siege, Mangurtai was quite satisfied with the food looted from the village.

I believe that with this batch of grain, even Nurhachi will not be too harsh on him.

The army retreated, and the entire Liaohe City relaxed.

Four hours later, when the sun had sunk below the mountain, the sound of rumbling horseshoes came from the southeast.

The Ming army at the head of the Liaohe city looked outside the city, and saw a cavalry team of the Ming army rushing towards them with a big banner marked with the word "He" outside the dim wilderness.

"Quick! Open the city gate! Zongbing He is here."

The generals guarding the city immediately urged to open the city gate, but before they opened the city gate, He Shixian rushed to the city with dozens of cavalry ahead of time, and shouted to the top of the city:
"Don't open the city gate, where did Jianlu go?!"

"Go back to the general army and go to the northeast!"

The general at the head of the city quickly responded loudly, but He Shixian didn't stop when he heard the words, and immediately led two battalions of more than [-] cavalry behind him to chase northeastward.

Standing on the top of the city, the generals of the Gongwei Battalion can see that many cavalry holding torches are one man and two horses. Compared with the Liao Town cavalry who could only have one man and one horse three years ago, they are simply turning around and singing.

These military horses were all distributed by Zhu Youjian to the various armies of the five armies, and He Shixian had more than [-] cavalry, so he naturally dared to pursue Mang Gurtai.

However, when he led the cavalry to chase for more than [-] li in a row, except for killing hundreds of sentry cavalry, he did not come into contact with the soldiers and horses of Mangurtai's army.

After all, the two blue flags were not seriously damaged in the Battle of Restoring Liao Dynasty, but were the horse infantry with strong mobility in the Jin army. The grain trucks retreated in a hurry.

After all, they withdrew for four hours first, and He Shixian led people to rush from Daning to Liaohe, so the horsepower was naturally not as sufficient as theirs.

However, killing hundreds of sentry cavalry can be regarded as some achievements in defending the soil.

"Send a message to Jinglue, saying that Jianlu will withdraw. If it can be intercepted, please Jinglue intercepts it."

"Yes!"

He Shixian gave the order calmly, and Tang Qi calmly led the people to Kaiyuan after receiving the order.

It's just that when they arrived at Kaiyuan and went northward to Yidong River City, they only saw the fully restored Yidong River City and the cleaned streets.

"A market town and two villages were captured. According to the layout of His Highness's Changping warehouse, no less than [-] shi of grain should have been looted."

Bearing the situation reported by He Shixian and Daning Mansion officials, Xiong Tingbi frowned, and Sun Yingyuan also persuaded:

"Cut the heads of more than [-] Jianlu, and the merits and demerits are equal."

"Hmm..." Xiong Tingbi nodded slightly, it seemed to them that it was more cost-effective to exchange [-] shi of grain for more than [-] real captive heads.

Although the [-] shi of grain can alleviate the famine problem within Jianlu for several months, in Xiong Tingbi's view, it will only take two or three years for the Ming army to wipe out Jianlu.

Not only can the Jianlu be wiped out, but also millions of acres of arable land can be reclaimed in northern Liaoning. This is a very cost-effective thing.

So after reading the military newspaper, he turned to Sun Yingyuan and asked:

"Where is Your Highness now?"

"Should be crossing the Harawin Mountains..." Hearing Xiong Tingbi's words, Sun Yingyuan responded somewhat uncertainly.

It's just that his uncertain response is really what Zhu Youjian is experiencing now...

"Be careful where you step, and tie up your armor, so you don't get bitten by any mounds (snakes)."

"Den!"

In March, the mountains of the Haraun Mountains are verdant, and the forests are pouring. The rivers gathered by the melting winter snow in the forests flow continuously towards the Mongolian Plateau and the Northeast Plain.

In this primitive dense forest, the Ming army in mandarin duck battle jackets was brandishing hatchets and axes, constantly opening up roads.

Dozens of soldiers in the front are opening the way, while hundreds of Ming soldiers in the rear are picking up branches, clearing the road hidden under the weeds and bushes to its original appearance.

"This road is the road that Emperor Cheng Zuwen and his elders walked in those years. I just didn't expect that hundreds of years have passed, and no one has cleaned it. It seems that Horqin and Mobei's Wai Khalkha really only know how to walk on the plains. .”

On the riverside stone of the river valley mountain road, Zhu Youjian sat on this table-sized stone with a smile on his face and kept talking.

Man Gui, who was sitting by the side, wiped off his sweat and said:

"Your Highness, if I had known that this road was so difficult, I would rather stay in Kaiping Mansion and build the city."

Man Gui said, and Sun Shoufa who was beside him also said: "Fortunately, this road has been stir-fried in the past, otherwise Tangqi might not be able to find it."

"That's true..." Zhu Youjian picked up the water bag, opened it, took a sip, then laughed again:
"However, it is precisely this road that is sufficiently concealed to achieve the effect of a surprise attack."

"I'm really curious now, Oba and the others suddenly saw the expression on our pulse out from Mount Harawin."

"Hahahaha..." The generals all around laughed, apparently they also found it very novel to cross the Harawin Mountains.

But at this time, Qianhu, who was in charge of opening the road ahead, also rode his horse and ran from the end of the road, then got off his horse and bowed:

"Your Highness, the people below have hit two bears, take a look..."

"I asked the cook who accompanied the army to clean up, and I happened to be a little hungry." Zhu Youjian waved his hand to signal Qianhu to let go and clean up, and Qianhu also retreated immediately after hearing the words.

Now they have cleared their way to the middle of the middle part of Mount Harawin, and there are at most two hundred and forty miles left to pass through the entire territory of Mount Harawin.

The plank road that Zhu Di left behind was not to connect Kaipingwei and the northeast region. The starting point of this plank road was the current Shangjing City, which is the Ciluwei where Huang Taiji was located.

Its target is Hailaerwei, which is the Hulunbuir Prairie, where Bo Yunnai and the others are stationed at the moment.

A post road that can control the Northeast and Harawen Mountain, but the person who will step on it after Zhu Di is actually Zhu Youjian two hundred years later.

This point, even Zhu Youjian felt very novel.

He had seen the map of Daming post roads and post stations before the Chenghua period. Among them, the most helpful to the current Daming was Zhu Di who presided over the construction from Liaoyang directly to Ciluwei, and then divided Ciluwei into three, respectively leading to Wanli post roads in the three places of Sakhalin Island, Hailaer, and Mowen River (Vladivostok).

In addition to this one, there is also a post road from Xining and Songpan, which directly leads to Lhasa (Lhasa), and then goes south to the foot of the Himalayas and the later Sikkim Pass.

The last one is Zhu Youjian's good ancestor, who presided over the construction during Ming Yingzong's period, from Kunming to the hinterland of Myanmar and the Yun-Myanmar Post Road on the Irrawaddy River Plain.

Among the three post roads, except for the ones in the northeast that are neglected and abandoned, other local ethnic groups such as Wusizang, Duogan, and Toungoo Burma are all taking care of them.

It was originally built as a post road for my children and grandchildren to rule the local area, but I never thought it would become a traffic road for the local people to communicate with each other after they became self-reliant...

Whenever he recalled the post road map he saw in the ancient and modern classics library, Zhu Youjian was very sad.

Judging from the examples of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di's death, Zhu Youjian fully understood the insignificance of personal ability under the torrent of the times.

As long as there are a few of the successive emperors of the Ming Dynasty who can inherit the rich heritage left by Zhu Di and Zhu Yuanzhang, the territory of the Ming Dynasty will not become smaller and smaller.

Sometimes Zhu Youjian sighed, if he didn't come to Chongzhen, but to Zhu Qizhen and Zhu Youtang.

I am afraid that in more than six years, he is enough to double the territory of Ming Dynasty.

But it's not bad to come into this world...

Zhu Youjian suddenly thought of his elder brother, and a group of familiar subordinates such as Man Gui, and the corners of his mouth inevitably twitched, with a hint of a smile on his face.

In such a smile, Zhu Youjian continued to chat with Man Gui and the others about things other than war, and as the sky became darker, he also ordered the army to clear the way in shifts of six, and the rest rested normally.

Because he was in the Harawen Mountains, Zhu Youjian was not afraid that someone would set up an ambush to ambush him, because the surrounding situation simply could not arrange an ambush.

Sitting on the stone, waiting for the cook to bring the bear meat and bear paws, Zhu Youjian, Man Gui and the others had a good meal with the meager military ration rice and the priceless bear paws.

Not only them, the army will always encounter many silly roe deer and various wild animals along the way.

Although the entire army of more than [-] people cannot eat meat, it is good to taste some meat.

After eating and drinking enough, the sky darkened, and the army lit a small bonfire without worrying that anyone would find them.

The soldiers took small flags as a team, and around the bonfire, they began to chat about things in their hometown and interesting things at home before the expedition.

Zhu Youjian took Man Gui and the others to shuttle through the long line, listening to some words heard from all around, and at the same time explained to some soldiers:

"Contact with your family more. If there is a disaster in your hometown, you can ask your little flag officer to play it. Long live the solitary meeting and take care of it."

Most of the soldiers were flattered by such words, after all, in their opinion, these things were trivial matters, and it was not worth bothering King Qi to speak up.

But when they said these words, Zhu Youjian always shook his head and said:
"If the people cannot be fed and clothed, if there is a famine and the people are not rescued, how can Gu have the nerve to be in a high position?"

"Your Highness..."

Some soldiers didn't know how to respond to Zhu Youjian's words, but Zhu Youjian patted them and asked them to continue talking, and he got up and left the place.

He knows very well that the historical record of the Little Ice River drought is limited, because many officials will deliberately conceal the local famine, or lie about disaster relief, and then resell the grain in the local official warehouse at will.

At this juncture, every small natural disaster cannot be ignored.

Compared with hundreds of officials, and even Yanshan students who will be officials for many years in the future, Zhu Youjian is more willing to choose to believe in ordinary people and ordinary soldiers and students who have not entered the political arena.

Officialdom is a big dye vat, anyone who walks in will be muddy.

Even the Yanshan students who were upright at the beginning will turn into corrupt officials who are potbellied, only know how to perfunctory, and do superficial work.

It is impossible for him to see the whole world by himself, and what is needed is not only the Jin Yiwei, but also the power of the people and the soldiers in the army.

Mobilizing the common people to picket corrupt officials is the cheapest cost, but also the hardest action.

If Zhu Youjian can do this, he can even use the money and food from the house raids to provide disaster relief while thoroughly investigating corruption, and the burden on Daming and his shoulders will be much lighter...

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian stopped and looked up at the starry sky.

In the bright night sky, without the pollution of the industrial age, Zhu Youjian can clearly see the Milky Way.

He doesn't know much about astronomy, but he recalled the words of the officials of Qin Tianjian last year and the heavy snow last year, so he couldn't help saying to Man Gui:
"Officials from Chuanqin Tianjian come..."

"Yes!" Man Gui responded, and then sent someone to inform the officials of the Qin Tianjian.

Zhu Youjian took people back to his resting place. He didn't give any special treatment personally. Like many soldiers, he set up a small tent enough to sleep.

Sitting in front of the tent, after waiting for a quarter of an hour, the officials of the Qin Tianjian came on horseback following Tang Qi who had sent the message, got off the horse and said:
"Your Highness Chitose..."

"Okay, I don't need to use the virtual ceremony. I just want to ask, can you see if this celestial phenomenon will affect our army's campaign, and does this celestial phenomenon have any early warning for this year?"

Zhu Youjian raised his chin slightly, signaling the other party to observe the sky, and for the officials of the Qin Tianjian who observed the sky every day, he had seen the sky clearly when the sky fell.

So he didn't look at the sky, so he bowed to Zhu Youjian and said:
"Your Highness, judging from the celestial phenomena, the sky should be clear these few days. As for this year..."

Speaking of this, the official of Qin Tianjian hesitated for a few seconds, and then said: "It seems that there is no difference..."

"No?" Zhu Youjian asked back with a frown, and the officials of Qin Tianjian also bit the bullet and bowed: "It's really no different..."

"Okay, let's go down." Seeing this, a trace of disappointment flashed in Zhu Youjian's eyes.

Last year, the predictions made by the officials of the Qin Tianjian made Zhu Youjian think that the Qin Tianjian was the object he needed to focus on in the future. Now it seems that the Qin Tianjian is not a panacea.

But it is also true to think about it, if Qin Tianjian is omnipotent, then there will not be so many natural disasters in the past and present.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian let out a foul breath, looked up at the night sky, and didn't know what he was thinking.

Perhaps it was because of a tacit understanding, when Zhu Youjian looked up at the sky, in the Hall of Mental Cultivation thousands of miles away, Zhu Youxiao also walked to the window and glanced at the sky above the Forbidden City.

"Long live, this is the memorial sent by the supervisor of ceremonies..."

Zhu Youxiao was looking at the night sky, but Wang Tiqian came forward with a tray and put more than ten memorials on the tray on the table.

Hearing the sound, he turned around, looked at the more than ten memorials, and couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief:
"You and Zhongxian have done a good job during this time."

"The servants are all for long live..." Wang Tiqian responded with his head bowed, and Zhu Youxiao also went to the back of the dragon case and sat down. He picked up a memorial and looked at it. After finding that there was nothing serious, he opened his mouth and said:

"What happened to Lianghuai?"

"The Sixth Division and the Metropolitan Procuratorate are still investigating, but recently people in the court such as Cai Maode, Li Hai, Gu Zongmeng, Wei Guangxu, Lian Guoshi, Jiang Yunyi, etc. seem to be dissatisfied with the matter of Lianghuai." Wang Tiqian replied pretending to be honest:

"This group of people and some officials who were previously dismissed and returned to their hometown think that the imperial court is too harsh on the Lianghuai salt merchants, and they wantonly arrested them before the three divisions have a trial..."

"Hmph!" Hearing Wang Tigan's words, Zhu Youxiao snorted coldly, making Wang Tigan shut his mouth quickly.

"How can a group of rotten scholars like them be allowed to discuss the affairs of the imperial court?"

"Those who continue to make false statements about the two Huaihe Rivers will be dismissed and investigated!"

Zhu Youxiao closed the memorial, and Wang Tiqian responded pretending to be afraid when he heard the words, and withdrew from the Hall of Mental Cultivation while Zhu Youxiao waved his hand.

After he exited the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Wei Zhongxian came out from the corner and whispered, "How?"

"As you wish, dismissal and investigation..." Wang Tiqian narrowed his eyes, and Wei Zhongxian nodded with a satisfied smile:

"This group of Donglin rotten scholars impeach our family every day, and don't show them any color, thinking that our family is vegetarian."

"We can take advantage of this time to look for evidence against some of them." Wang Tiqian offered a bad idea, but Wei Zhongxian thought it was pretty good after hearing it, and nodded slowly:
"I'll let Liangqing and Guoxing handle this matter, they have a way to deal with this group of stubborn rotten scholars."

"Just don't go too far." Wang Tigan reminded Wei Zhongxian, and Wei Zhongxian was also dissatisfied:

"Long live protect our family, King Qi is going out to fight, the burden of the people in the two capitals and [-] provinces of the Ming Dynasty is now on our shoulders."

"Our family doesn't ransack the houses of these corrupt officials and chase after the dirty money. Where can the Ming Dynasty have money to sort out the Yellow River? Where can there be money to pay the salaries of officials?"

"Long live to repair the Nanjing Imperial City, there is more than one million taels of silver at the moment. If these corrupt officials are not checked, where will the money come from?"

"..." Wang Tiqian looked at Wei Zhongxian, who was somewhat presumptuous, and couldn't help but think of the origin of this old man.

As a native of Neishutang, he naturally looks down on Wei Zhongxian, a self-eunuch who entered the palace, but right now he needs to rely on Wei Zhongxian, so he can only persuade:
"The matter is too big, it would be bad to disturb His Royal Highness Qi, don't forget that Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen are still working in the imperial city..."

"Er..." Hearing the words "His Royal Highness King Qi", Wei Zhongxian's arrogance immediately subsided, and he was a little speechless, not knowing what to say.

He looked around, and after confirming that there was no one else, he said:
"Even if His Royal Highness Qi knows, as long as our family explains well, His Highness will not blame our family."

"..." Wang Tiqian looked at Wei Zhongxian, a little speechless, but for the stability of power, he still said to Wei Zhongxian:

"The matter of Donglin is put on hold for now, but the number of the clean army, do you think you can find an opportunity to increase the number of the three guards of the imperial city?"

"This..." When Wei Zhongxian heard that he wanted to increase the number of three guards in the imperial city, he immediately became a little moved.

Since Zhu Youxiao didn't have too many people under him, the three guards of the imperial city that Zhu Youjian gave him were actually under the control of the three eunuchs Wang Tiqian, Wei Zhongxian, and Liu Ruoyu.

Liu Ruoyu and Wei Zhongxian are not in the same faction. In addition to mastering Yiluan Guard, he also masters the Great Han General.

As for Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tiqian, they control the Dragon and Tiger Guards, the Fei Xiong Guards, and the Jing Army respectively.

Wang Tiqian suddenly said that he wanted to expand the three guards of the imperial city, which made Wei Zhongxian happy and at the same time a little apprehensive.

He was afraid that Zhu Youjian would be unhappy after hearing this, so he discussed:
"After all, the three guards of the imperial city were created by King Qi. Even if it is expanded, I'm afraid I have to ask King Qi's meaning..."

"Who knows when King Qi will come back? Besides, even if you don't move to expand, don't you want to make a plan for the ownership of Yiluan Guard and General Dahan among the three guards?" Wang Tiqian whispered, which made Wei Zhongxian take a look subconsciously Hall of Mental Cultivation.

After finding no one else, he whispered: "You mean to push Liu Ruoyu out?"

"This guy is not good for us in the inner court. It's better to get rid of him earlier. Anyway, he is too old." Wang Tiqian said so, while Wei Zhongxian said hesitantly:
"I need to think about it. After all, he is used by Long Live to check and balance us and Cao Huachun..."

Although Wei Zhongxian is sometimes arrogant, he is not a fool. He can see Liu Ruoyu's role.

"Leave this matter to me. I promise it won't take three months. Before King Qi comes back, this old man will obediently go back to his hometown to beg for the elderly." Wang Tiqian was very confident, and Wei Zhongxian said after hearing the words, after a moment of pondering:

"Go and do things. If you need help, go to that woman Keshi."

"Don't worry, I promise you won't be involved..."

Wang Tiqian narrowed his eyes and smiled, and Wei Zhongxian took a deep look at him, then turned and left Qianqing Palace...

(End of this chapter)