Follow Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the country

Chapter 54 Zhu Yuanzhang: It’s rare for Mr. Zhang to look up to us once

As a leader, the most important trait is not to be resourceful, but to be courageous.

Especially in troubled times.

From deciding to rebel to daring to challenge the world order in the process of rebellion, it requires courage.

And Zhang Cheng now had to admit that Zhu Yuanzhang was indeed Zhu Yuanzhang. He was indeed brave and brave enough to risk the disapproval of the world.

Exactly what Zhu Yuanzhang meant just now, if the sky doesn't pity his commoner, what use does he need the sky?
  To say these words requires a certain amount of heroism.

Therefore, Zhang Cheng couldn't help but praise Zhu Yuanzhang at this time.

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this, he smiled knowingly, raised his thick eyebrows slightly, and said, "It's rare for Mr. Zhang to look up to us for once!"

"Mr. Zhou Mu's words may be harsh, but the general's ability to speak well while being decisive and resolute in his actions is truly heroic in the world!"

Zhang Mian then raised his hand and said something.

Zhu Yuanzhang became even more happy after hearing Zhang Mian's words, and said: "Since you think so highly of us, come into our presence and be our counselor!"

talking.

Zhu Yuanzhang told Zhang Cheng: "You can screen and arrange the rest of the demoted officials for us."

Zhang Cheng nodded.

Because Zhu Yuanzhang said this, all the Yuan court officials who were willing to surrender regretted that they did not follow up with such nice words like Zhang Mian and go directly to the scene.

But in any case, because they are willing to surrender, and because the rebels like Zhang Cheng and Zhu Yuanzhang have not yet established a basic base and their strength has not yet grown, they are buying horse bones with a lot of money, recruiting talents, and trying to win over as many big people as possible. Most of the time, therefore, they will still be assigned ministries by Zhang Cheng.

Since Zhang Cheng is the magistrate of the state, he is equivalent to being responsible for the daily military and political affairs of the state. Therefore, Zhang Cheng is basically responsible for screening and arranging the newcomers who have surrendered and recruited.

Historically, Li Shanchang was responsible for this matter.

Li Shanchang screened the civil and military people who would surrender and then informed Zhu Yuanzhang, so that Zhu Yuanzhang could roughly know in advance the nature and abilities of these people and what they needed to pay attention to.

Zhang Cheng did not expect that one day he would replace Li Shanchang and become Zhu Yuanzhang's number one scribe.

And he was not sure whether he would do as well as Li Shanchang in history.

But Zhang Cheng is not completely without confidence.

Because he thought to himself that he could learn and understand this period of history at any time, so that the outstanding figures in history who should have shined brightly around Zhu Yuanzhang due to Li Shanchang's introduction would not be buried in this life.

but.

Zhang Cheng felt that he might be able to dig out a few people who could shine in this life among the unknown people who Li Shanchang never noticed and did not shine in history.

After all, what I am better at than Li Shanchang is that I have seen more businesses through the knowledge and experience of later generations, and learned more about professional and technical talents. In addition, because I have values ​​from later generations, it is naturally easier to Discover people with expertise, rather than being buried because some people with expertise are unsophisticated or too deviant.

But this is just Zhang Cheng's simple thoughts at the moment.

The situation before him was actually more complicated than he imagined.

Because now he needs to screen and recommend people for appointment, no matter how wise or foolish they are or what their expertise is, their origins will undoubtedly be quite complicated.

First of all, there will definitely be officials and gentry who take the initiative to invest, there will also be people who need to be invited by themselves, and there will also be talents that they need to cultivate, and then they will be demoted.

And among those who were demoted, there were divisions between north and south, civil and military divisions, ethnic groups, high and low levels of fame, and hometowns.

Of course, there are also various differences among people from other origins.

It should be noted that Li Shanchang and Feng Guoyong alone would get into a fight over the confiscation of their homes.

Now that there are so many new people, it will make the rebel army more complicated, and the result is one can imagine.

Who is close and who is distant. Who is more assured and who needs more vigilance and dikes.

Who wants to make points so that they can unify their thoughts and opinions, and who wants to give more warnings to correct their thoughts.

It can be said that there are so many things to worry about.

Zhang Cheng, who had never been so worried before, even wanted to go back and retreat, but because he could evacuate at any time, he was eager to give it a try, and finally chose not to retreat.

And as complicated as everything is, it’s best to have a beginning.

Zhang Cheng decided to find out first and preside over an exam.

He asked himself how difficult it was to recognize people.

After all, you know people, you know faces, but you don’t know hearts.

Therefore, Zhang Cheng did not intend to be like Li Shanchang in history, who could recognize the loyalty, treachery, virtue and foolishness of all kinds of talents just by observation.

He felt that it would be easier for him to determine how much knowledge these people knew and what opinions they had.

"You first take the applicants and surrenders to register and let them wait at home for notification. Then I will conduct a unified selection test for them to reassure them. This is not to use this as an excuse to not use them, but to predict their future. Talents must recognize their wisdom, lest the great talents be humbled and the small talents be exalted too high.”

For this reason, Zhang Cheng gave Zhu Wenzheng such instructions after interrogating all the captured Yuan Ting officials.

Zhu Wenzheng raised his hand and said yes.

Then, Zhang Cheng first thought about how to conduct the examination, and found Zhu Yuanzhang and explained his thoughts to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who always paid attention to practical value, agreed very much with his idea, and even thought more highly of Zhang Cheng because of it. After all, Zhang Cheng used the selection method to establish a talent selection system to ensure fairness in the selection of internal affairs talents. Fairness and openness, rather than using the power of talent selection to form cliques for personal gain.

In addition to employing people, there is also the payment of military pay.

Zhu Yuanzhang personally took charge of this aspect, and it was something that must be done immediately.

After all, after the rebels entered the city, they did not loot and had good military discipline. This was because Zhang Cheng, after leading 300 soldiers into the city, persuaded the three chief officials Tang He, Hua Yun, and Tang Shengzong to forcibly stop the 300 soldiers who were interested in each other. Rebel officers and soldiers who were from the same hometown participated in the robbery, and then Zhu Yuanzhang relied on his personal courage to force the entire main force of the rebel army to make a three-part agreement with him, so that military discipline was not broken for the time being.

But you must know that the current face, or prestige, of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhang Cheng is not large enough to allow the more than 20,000 rebels to maintain good military discipline.

Because among the more than 20,000 rebels, many officers and schools actually joined Zhu Yuanzhang because of Guo Zixing's face, such as the soldiers who joined Lupai Village and the troops led by Miao Daheng. In addition, although Zhu Yuanzhang only took with him when he left Haozhou, Twenty-four people, but later Guo Zixing also sent more troops to him because of his good performance during the Southern Strategy. After all, Guo Zixing had promoted him to the general manager, so he wanted to send more people to him. At the same time, there were checks and balances or Surveillance means.

In any case, although Zhu Yuanzhang was ordered by Guo Zixing to develop independently, it does not mean that the official schools under him were completely obedient to his orders.

Zhu Yuanzhang often needed to discuss with these official schools to make decisions.

Otherwise, Zhu Yuanzhang would not have made a three-part agreement with a negotiating nature when he entered Chuzhou City, instead of directly ordering a ban on looting.

Therefore, once they enter the city for a long time, it is difficult for these rebels to ensure that military discipline will not be corrupted, and if there is no military pay to guarantee it.

After all, verbal commitments and ideological work alone are not enough.

Therefore, after Zhu Yuanzhang interrogated all the captured Yuan Ting officials, he went to the school grounds first to take a batch of food and prepare to pay the army.

As the magistrate of the state, Zhang Cheng also followed Zhu Yuanzhang to the school grounds to distribute military pay.

Because every time Zhu Yuanzhang sent out a salary, he, the prefect, had to sign to ensure that no one in the middle would pretend to claim it.

"The general manager has an order. Those who enter the school grounds to lead the troops are not allowed to wear armor or carry weapons, so that the brothers in charge of paying can smoothly manage everyone's payment in an orderly manner!"

Zhang Cheng also specially formulated the rules for paying wages, which required all officers and soldiers in a group who were going to receive wages to remove their armor and weapons outside the door before coming to collect wages.

There was no more house raids for the time being, but Hua Yun, who came to collect his wages with his soldiers, was stopped by Qi Xiang and a group of guards outside the door of the payment hall, and was ordered to collect his wages by Xuan Da. rules.

(End of this chapter)