Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 54

"My lord, it seems that His Highness the Fifth Highness is a real soldier. He was able to lead more than [-] people to march tens of miles in an orderly manner. This camp is also very orderly."

"More than that, take a look, Mr. Li. Although His Royal Highness used the method of camping in the military book, he didn't follow the rules, but adapted to local conditions. This is very rare."

At the temporary post station in Lishan'ao, when the army was cooking, Yang Lian took two chiefs sent by the Ministry of War to stand on the hill in Lishan'ao, overlooking the movements of the entire army, and never hesitated to praise them.

It's just that as soon as the two principals said something, Yang Lian blew his beard and stared:

"It is precisely because His Royal Highness knows how to fight, that's why he is in danger!"

"Changping is only a hundred and twenty miles from the south to the capital. If the cavalry advances lightly, they will be able to reach the city in a few hours."

"His Highness the Fifth knows the soldiers, and controls the seven guards and one battalion. With such strength, if he tries to rebel in vain, it will be a catastrophe for the world!"

"Eh..." Listening to Yang Lian's words, the two military chiefs didn't know what to say, so they could only silently shut their mouths.

At the same time, smoke rose from the kitchen, and soon the accompanying military officials informed the three of them to go to dinner.

Although Yang Lian was angry that Zhu Youjian used him as a knife, and ended up killing all the middle and high-level generals of the Habayashi Sanwei, he still admired Zhu Youjian.

In fact, sometimes, he also lamented that if Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao were swapped, maybe the situation in Daming would be better.

From the current point of view, the fact that Zhu Youxiao rewarded the Hakka family with incense fields as soon as he succeeded to the throne is indeed a bit of a criticism to the courtiers.

But in any case, the matter has become a foregone conclusion, although Yang Lian subconsciously believes that if Zhu Youjian wants to be emperor, he can do it on the night of Zhu Changluo's death.

When Zhu Youxiao dies, the throne must be Zhu Youjian's, and he didn't do anything, which means he is not interested in the throne.

Of course, this is analyzed from a rational situation, but looking at the [-]-year history of China, when facing the throne, many people who are temporarily not interested in it gradually become interested due to age.

This is what Yang Lian was afraid of.

So even though he knew that Zhu Youxiao sent him to Changping to supervise the construction of the imperial tomb to demote him and distribute him in disguise, he still came here without hesitation.

He wanted to keep an eye on Zhu Youjian, if Zhu Youjian did something wrong, even if he died, he had to spread the news, so as not to disappoint the trust of the first emperor in him.

With this thought, Yang Lian stared at Zhu Youjian's carriage even though he was eating rough noodles.

Zhu Youjian was uncomfortable being stared at by him, but he didn't bother to close the window, so he could only curse secretly in his heart:

"This old thing, it can't be an old glass."

Thinking of the many masculine behaviors of ancient scholar-bureaucrats, Zhu Youjian got goosebumps all over his body.

But as time passed, under Yang Lian's knife-like eyes, he led the army out of camp and continued to march north.

The target was Gonghua City, twenty-three miles away, and Zhu Youjian had already notified the guard of Gonghua City, telling him that the three guards of Habayashi would enter the city to rest.

However, Zhu Youjian was still a little worried that something would disturb the people after the army entered the city, so he said to Lu Wenzhao before leaving:

"Order the whole army to enter Gonghua City before dark, and set off at Mao tomorrow."

"If any soldiers dare to harass the people, behead them as a public display, and the whole family will be dispatched to Liaodong."

"The humble officer takes the order!" Hearing the military order, Lu Wenzhao took it first, and then asked Jin Yiwei to deliver the order.

Dozens of Tiqi ran back and forth more than a dozen times before the general's order was conveyed to everyone's ears.

Also under this kind of communication, the army slowly went north, and finally arrived at the gate of Gonghua City in the dark, and successfully settled in.

During this period, Zhu Youjian met the guard of Gonghua City, where five hundred Ming troops were stationed, which was almost a garrison force.

There are more than [-] households in the city, and the barracks can accommodate at most one guard. Therefore, Zhu Youjian can only arrange for more than [-] people to go to the gate tower.

But no one complained. After all, Zhu Youjian dismissed more than [-] generals in one breath this morning. At this time, Daming's prestige is still there. Everyone thinks that Nurhachi is just the recklessness of Yang Yinglong's generation.

Therefore, none of the soldiers and middle-level households dared to disobey his military orders, and everyone was honest.

As for Zhu Youjian, he moved into the garrison mansion after receiving the garrison of Gong Huacheng, and the same was true for Yang Lian and others.

In order to study, after entering the city, Zhu Youjian took people to inspect the city wall, and Yang Lian, who was about to wash and sleep, saw that Zhu Youjian was going out, so he followed immediately.

"Will Yang Ji also go to inspect the city defense together during the matter?"

Zhu Youjian changed into ordinary clothes, looked at Yang Lian standing in the main hall, and a smile welled up in his heart.

"Naturally, the old man is serving as a military department. Since he can patrol the north, he will naturally patrol all over the country for Long Live."

"Gonghua City is the northern gateway of the capital, so it is natural to inspect it carefully."

Yang Lian spoke grandly, but Zhu Youjian looked at it and wanted to laugh.

The little old man was obviously afraid that he would go to guard Gonghua City by himself and win over him, but he wanted to use another excuse to lie.

But Zhu Youjian didn't mean that, so he smiled and walked out of the defense mansion under the protection of Lu Wenzhao and a dozen Jinyi guards.

Yang Lian followed Zhu Youjian, and after they walked out of the garrison mansion, apart from some rammed earth houses lit with candles in the whole Gonghua City, there were only Ming soldiers patrolling and watchmen on the other streets.

The Ming army in Gonghua City knew before dark that the emperor's fifth younger brother was staying overnight, so after seeing them, they didn't even come up to ask for their badges, so they took a detour and left.

Such behavior made Zhu Youjian frown a little, and Yang Lian even snorted coldly:

"Those who are soldiers, see the dignitaries and don't interrogate them, the level of inspections in Gonghua City is probably very few."

"You can't say that..." Although Zhu Youjian felt that Gong Huacheng Mingjun's behavior was not good, he still said:

"These soldiers are guarding the biggest officials they see in their lives. Now that a prince is here, how dare they come up to question him."

"There are a lot of outlaws in my clan of the Ming Dynasty. Some feudal lords even dare to insult the local governor. If they were soldiers, they would probably be beaten to death directly."

"..." Hearing Zhu Youjian's words, Yang Lian was slightly taken aback. He didn't expect Zhu Youjian to dare to expose this fact.

Therefore, he changed his opinion of Zhu Youjian a little bit, and his tone and expression were also flat and said:

"It's not so much a clan, it's better to be a prince."

"Hmm..." Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, understanding what Yang Lian meant.

Although the imperial clan in the late Ming Dynasty was not as exaggerated as later generations said, it still had hundreds of thousands of people.

However, the salary of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty had been fixed long ago, and it was [-] million taels a year.

Of the [-] million taels, the vassal king took nearly five-tenths, and the remaining hundreds of thousands of taels were five-tenths, so it can only be said that he barely survived.

Although Emperor Wanli was in the middle of his reign, he allowed the children of the clan except generals and lieutenants to participate in the imperial examination.

And after that, the restrictions were relaxed one after another, and members of the clan, generals and lieutenants, could take the exam with the students.

But the way of taking the imperial examination is very cruel.

If the sons of the clan follow the path of imperial examinations to become officials, they must give up their hereditary titles after passing the examination and be appointed by the Ministry of Officials.

Therefore, under the pig raising rules of the Ming Dynasty for more than two hundred years, many clans were not willing to give up the title at all.

Zhu Youjian remembers that in history, it took nearly [-] years for the suzerains and vassals of the Ming Dynasty to open courses, but very few members of the clan passed the imperial examinations.

The only one who was in high school and had some talents was later awarded the official post of Nanyang County Magistrate by the Ministry of Officials, and he also repelled the attacks of the peasant army many times during the Chongzhen period.

In short, the problem of the clan is not as simple as it seems, and it is difficult to solve without great determination and perseverance.

"Ugh……"

Sighing, Zhu Youjian also said to Yang Lian: "I originally thought about patrolling, so it seems unnecessary."

After speaking, he turned to Lu Wenzhao and said, "Go back."

Just like that, a group of people walked out of the defense mansion full of interest, but they didn't even walk out a hundred steps, so they returned disappointed...

(End of this chapter)