My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 481 Missing Things

"In March, at the beginning of spring, Arutai captured Xinghe, and Wang Huan died in battle. Two days later, the Ming Dynasty sent troops to attack Arutai, scaring the enemy into abandoning the city and fleeing..."

In the study where Zhu Zhanhe locked himself up, he kept thinking about the records in the history books of later generations.

According to Zhu Di's plan, he planned to use troops against Arutai only this fall. Unfortunately, the plan could not keep up with the changes. Arutai's active attack forced him to send troops in advance, and Arutai avoided the battle and fled, which led to Zhu Di's actions. The first dispatch of troops did not achieve much results, but on the way back, the Wuhaliang tribe was wiped out.

"What should I do? If I remind Grandpa Huang now and ask him to strengthen Xinghe's defense, I can't explain the source of the news."

Zhu Zhanhe frowned and said to himself, he couldn't tell Zhu Di directly and said that he saw it from the history books of later generations, right?

But if Zhu Di is not reminded, Zhu Zhanhe has an uneasy conscience. If nothing else, Xinghe is an important border defense town in the north of the Ming Dynasty, with heavy troops stationed there. Even if Arutai wants to capture Xinghe, it may not be an easy task. .

But Arutai used a trick to deceive the city gate of Xinghe. In fact, this was also due to the laxity of the Ming Dynasty's defenders. The Ming Dynasty had been suppressing the Hu people in the north for many years, and never thought that the Hu people would dare to attack the Ming Dynasty's fortified city.

It was this carelessness that led to the fall of Xinghe, and also led to the death of Wang Huan and tens of thousands of his soldiers.

It was impossible for Zhu Zhanhe to sit idly by with the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, but if he told Zhu Di, he could not explain the source of the information, which gave Zhu Zhanhe a headache, and he finally walked around anxiously in the study.

But in the end, Zhu Zhanhe suddenly slapped his forehead and said: "How stupid, why do I have to tell Grandpa Huang? Can't it be enough to let others tell Grandpa Huang the news!"

Zhu Zhanhe also got into trouble just now. He just thought that he could not explain the source of the news to Zhu Di, but he forgot that as long as he did not want this credit, he could find someone to spread the news and it would definitely attract the attention of the court.

After figuring this problem out, Zhu Zhanhe immediately felt refreshed. It was just the end of the New Year, and there was still some time before Arutai would sneak attack on Xinghe, so he had enough time to calmly plan.

In the next few days, there was a huge quarrel in the court about the Northern Expedition. Xia Yuanji, the Minister of War Fang Bin, the Minister of Work Wu Zhong and others were all firmly opposed to sending troops. Even Lu Zhen, the Minister of Etiquette, who had always followed Zhu Di's lead, , even did not support Zhu Di sending troops.

In fact, the reasons for the opposition of these ministers are also very good. The continuous use of troops and Zhu Di's previous move of the capital have already made the Ming Dynasty's treasury very tight. This is no longer a problem of money, but a lack of food and materials. Even if you have money, you can't buy them. arrive.

But Zhu Di also had his own reasons. If he sat back and watched the rise of Arutai, and even unified the grasslands, the Ming Dynasty would face a greater threat, which Zhu Di did not want to see anyway.

Therefore, both sides insisted on their own opinions, and each had their own reasons. In the end, Zhu Di was angry and cursed Xia Yuanji and others in Wuying Palace, and then drove everyone out.

When Zhu Zhanhe came to Wuying Hall, he saw Zhu Di walking angrily up and down the hall. His eyes were red and murderous, and all the maids and chamberlains in the hall were frightened and ran away.

"Grandpa Huang, please calm down. Xia Shangshu and the others are also thinking about the country and have no selfish motives."

Zhu Zhanhe hurriedly stepped forward to persuade him.

"No selfish motives? I think Xia Yuanji is deliberately going against me. He actually said that Kaiping's food reserves are insufficient. There is so much food shipped by sea these years, how can it be insufficient? I even wonder if he has embezzled everything!"

Zhu Di slapped the table angrily. He was still not relieved after saying this, and then scolded him again.

"And that Fang Bin, when Jin Zhong passed away, I thought he could succeed Jin Zhong, but I didn't expect that he was a minister of the Ministry of War, but he advised me not to send troops. He was completely unable to see the changes in the situation on the grassland. He was simply a corpse and short-sighted! "

The more Zhu Di talked, the angrier he became. Finally, he suddenly gritted his teeth and said, "If they dare to stop me from sending troops again, believe it or not, I will arrest them all tomorrow and hold them accountable!" "Grandfather, please don't be impulsive. Although Xia Shangshu and Fang Shangshu said It’s a little more intense, but it’s also true.”

Zhu Zhanhe hurriedly persuaded again.

He remembered that in the original history, Zhu Di had conflicts with Xia Yuanji and others because of the Northern Expedition, and Xia Yuanji was eventually imprisoned.

But Xia Yuanji was not the worst offender. The worst offender was Fang Bin, Minister of War. Originally, Zhu Di was angry and did not want to kill the minister, but demoted Fang Bin. As a result, Fang Bin was timid and hanged himself out of fear.

This made Zhu Di very angry. He obviously didn't want to kill anyone, but now he was the minister who forced him to death. In the end, Zhu Di went crazy with anger and directly ordered Fang Bin to be opened in the coffin and killed. Anyway, the outside world said that he was forced to death. Fang Bin, he simply chopped the opponent several times.

"The truth? What truth?"

Zhu Di was stunned for a moment, and then asked Zhu Zhanhe.

"For example, what Xia Shangshu said about Kaiping's insufficient grain reserves. I know this is indeed true."

Zhu Zhanhe hastily explained.

"what happened?"

Zhu Di's face darkened and he asked immediately.

"Kaiping does have a large amount of food reserves, but the previous attack on Japan and my trip to Shandong to relieve the refugees required a large amount of food, and a lot of it was transferred from Kaiping. That's why Xia Shangshu said that the Kaiping Granary insufficient."

Zhu Zhanhe hurriedly explained that of course Zhu Di's consent must be obtained for mobilizing grain, but Zhu Di usually dealt with too many government affairs, and he did not remember such a thing at all.

After hearing that the food was used for the expedition to Japan and disaster relief, Zhu Di finally remembered that this matter was indeed approved by him, which made it difficult for him to have another attack.

"Grandpa Huang, in fact, the food problem is not difficult to solve. The number of refugees in Shandong has been reduced by half, and food consumption has been greatly reduced. Japan has also stabilized and can produce food on its own, so we only need to mobilize a batch of food from the south. , should be able to replenish Kaiping’s losses.”

Zhu Zhanhe suggested again.

"It makes sense. There is still time anyway, and the food problem can be solved slowly."

Zhu Di finally nodded, and most of the anger in his chest disappeared.

Xia Yuanji and Fang Bin probably never dreamed that a few words from Zhu Zhanhe would save them from a trip to the gate of hell.

"Zhan He, recently I asked Jinyiwei to collect intelligence on the northern grasslands. According to the information they collected, Arutai seems to be gathering people and intends to go south. Do you think this is possible?"

Zhu Di suddenly asked Zhu Zhanhe again. Obviously he did not believe that Arutai had the courage to go south to plunder.

(End of this chapter)