Follow Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the country

Chapter 10 Feng Guoyong pleads guilty

After Zhang Cheng left Zhu Yuanzhang, Feng Guoyong found Zhu Yuanzhang again.

At this time, Feng Guoyong walked up to Zhu Yuanzhang and said: "Sir, I have something to say to you alone. I originally planned to say it the night you left, but I didn't expect it to be delayed until now."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang asked: "What do brothers Guoyong want to say?"

At this time, Xu Da and others had already retreated consciously.

Feng Guoyong bowed solemnly to Zhu Yuanzhang, and said solemnly: "I apologize to my superior!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was quite surprised and hurriedly helped Feng Guoyong up: "Brother Guoyong, what are you doing?"

"It is true that the superiors are magnanimous, but the subordinates cannot think that nothing happens because of this."

"After the superior left Haozhou, he surrendered the people along the way. There were many conflicts between the old and new generals. However, as a minister of the superior, he ignored the seriousness of this problem, intensified the internal strife, and even slandered the generals in front of the superior. It is really not conducive to the great cause of ascending to the throne, it only has the disadvantage of alienation."

"As a minister, the subordinates should be responsible for the yin and yang, but they still do things like this. Even if they are killed by the superiors to calm the generals, it is not too much. Fortunately, the superiors are lenient and have allowed me to survive until now, so how can I not not Thanks?"

After Feng Guoyong spoke sonorously, Zhu Yuanzhang was in a good mood and said hurriedly: "Guoyong brothers don't have to be like this! We knew you would realize this, so we didn't mention it. After all, it is inevitable for scholars to be arrogant, but it's not You really can’t realize it.”

"Your Majesty!"

"Actually, apart from the superior himself, I really realize that the biggest internal problem at the moment is the contradiction between the generals and the contradictions between civil and military affairs. It is not the subordinates who realize it themselves, but others who have raised the point."

Feng Guoyong said truthfully at this time.

Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked after hearing this: "Who is it? Is it Xu Da?"

"Zhang Cheng!"

Feng Guoyong replied.

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a moment, then nodded, and thought of what Zhang Cheng had mentioned to him before that even if his family became a noble in the future, it would be impossible for his descendants to not starve to death.

Zhu Yuanzhang admitted that what Zhang Cheng had just said was more reasonable. If it was not possible for the people in the world to starve to death, then no matter how noble the descendants of his Zhu family were, people would starve to death because the world was once again in chaos and ethics were once again out of order. Condition.

But Zhu Yuanzhang did not immediately agree with Zhang Cheng.

Because he has not yet determined whether Zhang Cheng is just a pure idealist who wants Zhu Yuanzhang to fight for the people of the world, or whether he really has great talent in governing the country and can achieve the goal of not starving to death for the people of the world, and then he instigates Zhu Yuanzhang. It's not really just that Zhu Yuanzhang was asked to be a test subject who sacrificed himself for the people of the world.

However, now that Feng Guoyong mentioned that Zhang Cheng was already very insightful into people's hearts, he had to look at Zhang Cheng with admiration. He began to think that Zhang Cheng might not be just a scholar, but a man with wisdom and insight into people's hearts. He is a prudent person, and the words he says are not random, but have a good plan.

Therefore.

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately ordered: "Tang He, go and invite Mr. Zhang!"

When Zhu Yuanzhang sent someone to see him, Zhang Cheng was in a pergola, watching Hua Yun and some old women accompanying the army making shoes.

As for why there are old women in the army, it is naturally because this army was recruited and trained by Zhu Yuanzhang along the way. Some of the troops surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang with their families, so there were old people following them.

What's more, filial piety was emphasized in ancient times, and no one dared to leave their parents at home.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang's team will also be followed by some old people, not all combatants.

At this time.

Zhang Cheng, who was holding a cattail leaf fan in his hand and slinging it behind his back, was slightly bent over. He looked at Hua Yun's thick black hands very seriously as they moved around on a large shoe and drew threads. Hua Yun would look aside from time to time. Like an old woman, she let beads of sweat escape from her forehead.

Hua Yun obviously studied very seriously.

After a while.

Hua Yun just raised his head and noticed Zhang Cheng, so he snorted and continued to make his shoes with his face on his face like a resentful woman.

"Brother Huayun, what are you getting from doing the job of collecting shoe soles now, or what are your thoughts?"

Zhang Cheng still asked at this moment, even though he knew that the person Hua Yun probably didn't want to see the most right now was him.

Hua Yun glared at him fiercely.

But after a while, Hua Yun put on a smile again and said with a smile to Zhang Cheng: "Mr. Zhang, can you spare us? I promise you that I will never make fun of you again, okay?"

"What does this have to do with me? The one who wants to deal with you is the superior."

"That incident with me ended long after you slapped yourself."

Zhang Cheng replied.

Hua Yun hurriedly stood up and came closer to Zhang Cheng. He looked at Zhang Cheng longingly and said, "Then you can tell the superiors and ask him to spare us?"

"It's true that we, the old man, are not capable of making shoe soles into shoe uppers. It's the hand that holds the sword. There's nothing wrong with picking up the crochet hook."

Hua Yun complained. Zhang Cheng nodded: "I can try, but you have to tell me if you have gained anything. In this case, I can intercede for you in front of the superiors and say that you have reflected well."

"Too!"

"When it comes to harvest, there is a lot to gain!"

Hua Yun waved his hand as he spoke, and then sat back, sighing with a somewhat gloomy look and saying:
  "We think of my mother!"

"My mother left early. Before she left, she made several pairs of beautiful shoes for us, which made her almost blind. But one day, the wretched Tatars broke into our home and saw that there was no one in our home. There was nothing to rob, so we took away the few pairs of shoes my mother had left for us that we were reluctant to wear. Now that I find these shoes are made so uncomfortable, I feel even more hateful to the Tatars."

After Hua Yun said this, he rubbed his reddish eyes and cursed, "Damn, there's twine in my eyes again. Making shoes is really not an easy job."

Zhang Cheng just smiled slightly.

He could tell that Tatar snatching the shoes Hua Yun's mother left for him must be a trauma in his childhood, so even though he was a seven-foot-tall man, he still couldn't suppress his emotions when he thought about it.

Although this era was an era when Neo-Confucianism was prevalent, most of the scholar-bureaucrats who accepted Neo-Confucianism did not preach much about the conflicts between Hua and Yi. They even took the initiative to help the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty educate the people, downplay the contradictions, and use rhetoric such as the Mandate of Heaven to get the people to accept foreign rule.

However, after the Mongols took over the Central Plains, ethnic conflicts did still exist, and they mainly existed among the lower-class people, especially the lower-class Han people in the south.

Because according to the thinking of the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty, the southern Han people have the lowest status. For example, in the fifth year of the Yuan Dynasty, Boyan, the prime minister of the Yuan Dynasty, asked the Yuan Dynasty Emperor to issue an edict stipulating that the Mongols and Semu people would beat the Han people and the southerners. People are only allowed to be beaten, and are not allowed to fight back.

In addition, the Yuan Dynasty also implemented a curfew system. During martial law, Han people were prohibited from lighting lamps at night. If there was no martial law, only Confucian scholars and traders were allowed to light lamps at night. However, government officials and Mongolians did not have to abide by the curfew system and could pass as they pleased. Therefore, there were some hoodwinked or lustful people. Breaking into Han people's homes and demanding clothes for clothes and food for food.

Therefore, it is also possible for Hua Yun to have all his shoes taken away by the Mongols.

Of course, because many of the Han landlords also have official positions in the Yuan Dynasty, they do not need to be restricted. Also because of their high status, the Mongolians and Semu people do not dare to bully them casually, and they can often rely on the Mongolians and Semu people for management. Their roughness and cruelty in methods can further squeeze the people, so the ethnic hatred of the Han landlords is not that great, and they even like to be born in the Yuan Dynasty.

But for the Han people at the bottom, there is still hatred for the Tatars. Otherwise, Han people's uprisings would not have continued less than fifty years after the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, and they reached their peak in the Zhizheng period. .

Therefore, it is easy for Hua Yun, a rebel general with a low-level background, to recall unpleasant memories of the Tatars.

It's just that the scholars of this era and the Yuan Dynasty did not support the contradiction of preaching, so although the people at the bottom had hatred, they didn't know why they should resist.

"Mr. Zhang, you are a scholar and know a lot. Why do you think the Tatars can take over the throne of the Han people? Is it really destiny that the Tatars are more noble than us?"

Hua Yun couldn't help but ask about Zhang Yun at this time, obviously feeling a little unwilling to let the Tatars take over the Han people.

Zhang Cheng said: "If this is destiny, wouldn't the sky be blind?"

"I think it's because we Han people failed to live up to our expectations and allowed Tianming to go to the Tatars."

At this time, someone's words suddenly came from behind Zhang Cheng and Hua Yun.

Zhang Cheng and Hua Yun turned around and saw that it was Tang He.

Tang He bowed to Zhang Cheng and said, "Mr. Zhang."

Zhang Cheng returned the favor.

Then, Tang He looked at Hua Yun and said with a smile, "Hey, brother Hua Yun, how many pairs of shoes have you made?"

Finished.

Tang He raised one foot and said, "It just so happens that our shoes have holes in them and are almost worn out. How about you give us a pair of shoes you made?"

"roll!"

"It's not like you don't have a mother-in-law, you still want me to make shoes for you."

"The shoes I make can only be worn by high-ranking people."

Hua Yun stretched out his foot and kicked Tang He, then cursed Tang He.

Tang He turned to Zhang Cheng and said, "Mr. Zhang, the superior wants to see you for something, please go quickly."

Zhang Cheng nodded and walked towards Zhu Yuanzhang.

When Zhang Cheng came, he saw Zhu Yuanzhang sitting on a low couch, with his trouser legs half rolled up and his chest half open. At the same time, he was fanning himself with a new cattail leaf fan in one hand and writing in the other. His broad, slightly dark face was frowning. He was twisting his head, seeming to be deep in thought, not looking at the "Book of Han" on the table.

"Ascend!"

Zhang Cheng called out at this time.

Zhu Yuanzhang hurriedly put down his pen and stood up, kicked off his shoes stacked on the ground, walked barefoot towards Zhang Cheng, and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhang is here!"

"sit!"

Then, Zhu Yuanzhang dragged a chair next to Zhang Cheng and said, "You know better than Brother Guoyong!"

(End of this chapter)