Follow Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the country

Chapter 100: Killing the evil gentry, Ma ordered Guo Zixing to cut into pieces the corrupt officials
  Wa Liang base.

When the red sun sets in the west.

"Be honest!"

Geng Bingwen, who was standing at the city gate, was giving orders to a group of Yuan soldiers who had surrendered and disarmed.

at the same time.

He also picked up the blunderbuss in his hand, grinned triumphantly, and looked around.

After all, he had just won a battle with Zhang Cheng and experienced the power of the gun in his hand.

Therefore, it is inevitable that he would be overjoyed while holding the blunderbuss.

The other rebel officers and soldiers who followed Zhang Cheng in taking down the Waliang base were also very happy.

Because they didn't have much confidence that they could capture the city when they came out to fight.

They were willing to come out because they really had no other better way, and they just felt that coming out was a slightly more righteous act than staying in Chuzhou City and possibly killing each other.

But they didn't expect that they, just fighting the first battle, would capture an important city.

Even though.

They were lucky to be able to take down Waliang Barrier because Yuan Bing didn't understand the power of Shenji Camp's firearms.

However, the victory did increase their confidence in following Zhang Cheng in conducting mobile guerrilla warfare outside, and also made them more trustful in Zhang Cheng, the leader.

Therefore, Tang He, Hua Yun, Zhu Wenzheng, Mao Guang and other rebels who followed Zhang Cheng in taking down Waliang Barrier all conscientiously implemented Zhang Cheng's disciplinary requirements for them after entering the city, even though many of them had not fully realized Understand why Zhang Cheng asked them to do this.

But Zhang Cheng has begun to establish authority in their hearts, so that they will instinctively choose to obey.

As a result, the order in Waliang Lei was not disrupted because of the rebels' attack. Instead, the order in the city of Waliang Lei was improved because the rebels suppressed the Yuan Ting troops who took advantage of the opportunity to plunder.

Many evil gentry and profiteers who were ready to take advantage of the troubled waters were also caught violating laws and disciplines.

Therefore, Zhang Cheng asked Qi Xiang to lead the people from the Gongwei Department to conduct a public trial and deal with these evil gentry and profiteers, and at the same time asked Shu Anguo to preach the basic policies of the rebel army he led and carry out mobilization and recruitment work.

"cut!"

At Qi Xiang's order, the heads of evil gentry and traitorous businessmen were brought to the ground.

Zhang Cheng also asked Wang Guangyang to quickly collect statistics on the materials stored in the official warehouse of Waliang Lei, and organized the craftsmen accompanying the army to immediately start building a "one-kick" iron-making furnace to make firearms.

The iron materials used for ironmaking were those stored by the Yuan Dynasty in Waliang Lei.

Zhang Cheng also asked Wang Guangyang to estimate the number of soldiers that could be expanded based on the materials seized.

Zhang Cheng himself summoned some of Zhu Wenzheng's important generals to hold a summary meeting and asked Zhu Wenzheng and others to seriously summarize their combat experience.

As for the middle and lower-level officers and soldiers, they are organized as usual and take night classes to study. They are trained as instructors assigned to each team.

But just as these things were going on, Zhang Cheng also learned from Wang Guangyang that the Yuan Dynasty's grain, gold and silver and other materials in Waliang base were enough to expand the rebel army to another 5,000 soldiers. Businessman Cheng Renqing received a letter from Zhu Yuanzhang here.

boom!
  Zhang Cheng then criticized the crime on the spot and said: "Damn it! For the sake of profit, he did not hesitate to murder infants and young children!"

Although Zhang Cheng knew that the bureaucratic landlords would not do anything good, he still couldn't help but feel angry after knowing that the first victims of these people were the babies who were the least able to resist.

After Zhang Cheng said this, he immediately wrote back to Zhu Yuanzhang and put forward his own ideas.

After Zhu Yuanzhang received the reply, he read the reply to Xu Da and his wife Ma Shi, who were recovering at home.

"Mr. Zhang said in the letter that we can use the profit from Mr. Zhang's order for a batch of gunfire ordnance worth 30,000 taels of silver and the previous dividends as bait, and asked his sister-in-law to facilitate this matter."

Xu Da started talking while thinking, and therefore asked Zhu Yuanzhang: "What do you want my sister-in-law to do here?"

After Xu Da said this, he glanced at Ma.

Mr. Ma smiled slightly and said, "We know what Mr. Zhang means."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, and then said with a smile: "This Mr. Zhang, let's say he is easy on profits. He also cares about treatment. Let's call him heavy on profits. He is willing to give up his interests in Chuzhou to work hard outside."

"Although we have never met Mr. Zhang, we feel that Mr. Zhang sees things further than we do. It's not that he doesn't care about profits, but he just doesn't care about Chuzhou's profits at all."

"With Mr. Zhang's ability, it is not difficult to build a better ordnance factory and a better trading company."

Ma said with a smile at this time.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded: "Yes! Mr. Zhang is the God of Wealth. He has the ability to turn stone into gold, so he doesn't care about the gains and losses of an ordnance factory."

"no!"

"What the hell are you two talking about!"

"Why can't we understand a word?"

Xu Da couldn't help but ask at this time.

"Brother Xu Da, let Chongba tell you slowly that I have to go to the Marshal's Mansion."

Ma started talking to Xu Da, and then said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Chongba, I just took away the good fabrics and spices from the dividends?"

"You can take as much as you want!"

"Anyway, these are our private property, and they are yours."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said.

Mrs. Ma smiled and then ordered her two maids to follow her to the warehouse at the back.

"lady!"

"What do you think of the fabric?"

After Ma brought a lot of silk fabrics and precious spices to the Marshal's residence, he went directly to see Guo Zixing's wife, Mrs. Zhang.

Mrs. Zhang has always been very fond of Minghui's well-behaved and well-spoken Ma family, and she is even more fond of her now that she has brought a lot of silks, satins and spices.

She obviously also knew Ma's purpose of coming and knew that Ma wanted to give these to her.

As soon as Mrs. Zhang saw these satin spices, she couldn't put them down: "It's so rare to have so many. Is your Chongba family really rich?!"

"I can't say I made a fortune, I just made some profits following Mr. Zhang."

"Just because Chongba thought that in the whole house, you are the one who loves him the most, my wife, so Chongba asked me to pick up some fabrics and spices that you might like and send them to me as a token of filial piety."

Ma said with a smile.

After hearing this, Mrs. Zhang smiled brightly and couldn't help but hold Ma's hand and said, "It's rare for him to have such a heart."

then.

Mrs. Zhang asked: "Tell me, what do you want from me?"

"It's not like I have anything to ask for, madam. It's just that Mr. Zhang asked Chongba to order a firecracker worth thirty thousand taels of silver from the ordnance factory."

"Chongba said that there is profit worth tens of thousands of taels of silver at least. He can no longer keep it for himself, so he thought of using it to honor his wife. She can ask your younger brother to talk to him about it. "After Mrs. Ma said this, Mrs. Zhang's expression froze.

Saying.

Zhang Cheng went out to fight. Although he could bring some mature craftsmen with him, he really couldn't bring most of them with him.

Because in this era, it takes a very long time to make a blunderbuss. Basically, it takes 300 craftsmen to make 300 blunderbuss in a month.

Therefore, it was impossible for Zhang Cheng to take all the craftsmen away. This resulted in the Chuzhou Ordnance Factory's function of making muskets still largely existing, and it is still under the control of Zhu Yuanzhang's people.

Guo Zixing's people haven't had time to take over the place yet.

But it was only a matter of time before the ordnance factory was taken over by Guo Zixing.

Therefore, what Zhang Cheng meant was that instead of waiting for others to take away the ordnance factory, Zhu Yuanzhang might as well offer it and use this benefit to win over people who are worth winning over, thus muddying the waters.

It didn't take long.

After Mrs. Ma said this, she suddenly told her maid with a serious face: "Go and invite uncle!"

"Yes!"

then.

Mrs. Zhang asked Ma with great concern: "I heard that Chongba was wronged in the front, is this true?"

After hearing this, Mrs. Ma immediately knelt down to Mrs. Zhang: "Godmother!"

"You know Chongba. He never dared to pick up money if it dropped in front of him without asking the source. How could he think about making such a profit? Even if he did this just to make me and my children live a better life. It’s a shameful thing, but there’s no need for him to seek this benefit!”

"He can lend money or buy real estate. It's not like he has no capital."

"So, this is clearly a frame-up by those villains! Godmother, a smart person like you should understand how wronged Chongba is!"

"And that Li Mengxin, because he became a fellow scholar, he replaced the food provided to the almshouse with his own moldy food, and then earned interest. However, he was discovered by Chongba. Chongba thought that he was also appointed by his adoptive father. He didn't want to cause trouble, so he quietly replaced the moldy food with his own salary. Li Mengxin must have known about this, and instead of regretting it, he made a mistake and had someone falsely accuse Chongba in front of his adoptive father. , saying that he exchanged the old grain for new grain for the infants in the almshouse."

"Godmother, do you think there is such a bad person in this world?"

"If your godmother doesn't believe it, you can go and have a look with your daughter. My daughter asked them to leave evidence."

When Mrs. Zhang saw Ma's pear blossoms looking rainy and pregnant with a child, she immediately helped her up and comforted her: "Good child! How could I not believe Chongba? When your adoptive father mentioned this matter, I I don’t believe that Chongba is such a person!”

talking.

Mrs. Zhang also said angrily: "That dog officer named Li Mengxin is really evil! He even dares to mess with the children's food rations. Why doesn't the thunder strike him!"

"Don't worry, I will tell your adoptive father about this tonight. If he doesn't pay justice to Chongba, I will never be done with him!"

Mrs. Zhang spoke.

Guo Zixing always listened to his wife Zhang's words. According to historical records, his wife Zhang received Ma's gift and repeatedly persuaded Guo Zixing to eliminate his suspicion against Zhu Yuanzhang.

And that night.

After meeting her brother, Mrs. Zhang came to Guo Zixing's room and said, "Commander, does he know that Mr. Zhang who left Chuzhou asked Chongba to make him a fire gun worth thirty thousand taels of silver?"

"Is this happening?"

Guo Zixing asked.

Mrs. Zhang nodded: "My goddaughter came to me today and told me that it was because the ordnance factory was still in Chuzhou and in the hands of people in Chongba, so Mr. Zhang came to order from him, and Chongba asked Ma He told me about this and said that he intended to give this ordnance factory to Tianyou so that Tianyou could make a profit from it."

"Why does he think we would be willing to sell him this gun, Mr. Zhang?"

Guo Zixing asked with a smile, and then said: "Speaking of which, we were also planning to see what kind of muskets the ordnance factory made, which allowed Zhang Cheng's Shenji Battalion to show such power."

"Commander, why do you think so?"

"If you don't sell fire guns to Mr. Zhang, wouldn't you just offend Mr. Zhang?"

"Do you think he can organize craftsmen to build in Chuzhou, but he can't organize craftsmen to build in Walianglei?"

"Besides, if he directly joins Hu Yuan or other rebels because of this, and asks Hu Yuan or other rebels to make him a firecracker, then the one who becomes stronger will be our enemy!"

"Can you be more open-minded?"

"Besides, this ordnance factory was originally built by Mr. Zhang. Now we are given the opportunity to make money. Why should we refuse? If we refuse, what will the world think of it?"

Mrs. Zhang asked about Guo Zixing.

Guo Zixing pondered, then nodded: "That's true, but today Li Menggeng asked him to supervise the construction of the ordnance factory."

"Can you safely hand this over to an outsider without fear that he will give this blunderbuss to the barbarians?"

After hearing this, Mrs. Zhang frowned and asked.

Guo Zixing did not answer.

Mrs. Zhang chuckled: "I heard that Li Menggeng's younger brother was very bad. He used moldy grains to feed the infants and young children in the almshouse. After Chongba found out, Chongba had to use his own salary instead, and Chongba Not only did Chongba’s adoptive father fail to understand the truth, but he also believed some people’s words and thought that Chongba was exchanging old food for new food from the almshouse.”

"What do you know, a woman!"

Guo Zixing suddenly scolded.

"I don't understand! But I know, Marshal, you haven't succeeded in achieving a great cause yet. Even if you are a corrupt official, how can you achieve anything?"

Mrs. Zhang said.

After hearing this, Guo Zixing immediately stood up, looked at Mrs. Zhang, nodded and said:
  "Okay! Let Tianyou take care of the ordnance factory, and I will personally investigate the issue of the almshouse!"

"Don't go directly. Go incognito. Take only Tianyou and Tianlu at most."

Mrs. Zhang gave instructions again.

"Do you want a woman like you to talk too much?!"

Soon.

Guo Zixing took Zhang Tianyou and Guo Tianlu to the Alms House incognito. After waiting for the grain shipment to arrive, he specifically stopped the soldiers transporting the grain and took a look at the grain and rice shipped to the Alms House.

Subsequently.

Guo Zixing's face was livid, and he threw the rice in his hand at the soldier's face: "Who asked you to transport this moldy food to the children!"

Zhang Tianyou also opened up the newly dug soil at the courtyard gate, pointed at the moldy rice in the pit and said, "Commander, please look, there are so many moldy rice here."

At this time, the soldier hurriedly knelt down and said: "Commander, spare your life, it was Li Tongzhi who asked us to transport this rice, and we dare not say anything!"

Although Guo Zixing was quite wary of Zhu Yuanzhang, he was not really willing to sit back and watch the big landlords and big bureaucrats destroy his foundation. Therefore, Guo Zixing immediately ordered:

"God bless you, lead your troops immediately to capture that Li Mengxin, feed him all the rice, and then chop him up! We want to see who dares to do such an unscrupulous thing behind Guo Zixing's back again!"

(End of this chapter)