Follow Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the country

Chapter 98 Zhu Yuanzhang took Ma to the almshouse, and Ma burst into tears.

After hearing this, Guo Zixing thought for a while, and finally nodded and said, "You should follow these three strategies!"

Li Menggeng and Ren Zhigong couldn't help but smile at each other.

Li Menggeng then said: "The commander-in-chief must first call away the counselors and staff around General Manager Zhu!"

"These people have always been shrewd and cunning. If they stay with General Manager Zhu for too long, we must be on guard against them reminding General Manager Zhu to see through your strategy, or even making slanderous lies to instigate the relationship between General Manager Zhu and you."

Guo Zixing nodded and asked, "How should Zhang Cheng be dealt with?"

Guo Zixing really didn't expect that Zhang Cheng would conquer a city in such a short period of time and have the capital to become an independent company.

originally.

He planned to wait for Zhang Cheng to come back in embarrassment and beg him to take him in. Then he would be able to show his kindness to Zhang Cheng.

And Guo Zixing gave Zhang Cheng the power of general manager, which was just a favor to express his trust in Zhang Cheng.

After all, as long as Zhang Cheng goes out to develop independently, even if he does not have the title of general manager, he will have the actual status of general manager.

But now, Zhang Cheng's performance outside was beyond his expectation, so he had to change his strategy and ask Li Mengeng and others first.

Li Menggeng and others did not expect that Zhang Cheng would perform so well after he went out and directly captured the Waliang Barrier stationed by more than 2,000 soldiers.

And Li Menggeng and others can only say now: "Zhang Cheng is already outside and has made great achievements, so we can only show our kindness."

Guo Zixing nodded and admitted that Li Mengeng was right.

Now that Zhang Cheng is out, he really only has united front value, and no longer has the chance to be suppressed or subjugated by himself.

Therefore, Guo Zixing said: "In that case, I will give him an order. I will promote him to the rank of commander-in-chief, so that he can not only recruit subordinate officials, but also set up his own system and collect money and food. From now on, he and I will jointly manage the world."

Guo Zixing will still be generous when he should be generous.

of course.

His generosity is still just a matter of following the current.

Because Zhang Cheng is outside now, he can't control it. Therefore, if Zhang Cheng really recruits more troops, sets up his own system, and issues orders, even if he becomes king, there is nothing he can do to Zhang Cheng, so he will simply continue to show off. Well, let Zhang Cheng still be like Zhu Yuanzhang, and be willing to be nominally the leader after he goes out.

This can be regarded as the benefit that Zhang Cheng got from insisting on going out.

Although it is very risky to go out, the benefits are also great. The biggest benefit is that those in power cannot exclude Zhang Cheng and can only show gratitude to Zhang Cheng.

"The handsome and wise man!"

Ren Zhigong and Li Menggeng both flattered him.

Guo Zixing himself was not very happy and still frowned.

In any case, Zhang Cheng's outstanding performance made him feel pressured and a little jealous.

One Zhu Yuanzhang was enough for him to be wary of, and now Zhang Cheng was also performing very well, which naturally made him more stressed and more jealous of Zhu Yuanzhang.

He didn't know how Zhu Yuanzhang had recruited such a powerful person. He could accumulate a large amount of grain internally and attack cities and territories externally with troops mainly composed of fire guns.

Now Guo Zixing only hopes that Zhang Cheng will not recognize Zhu Yuanzhang as the master because of his goodwill, but is willing to recognize himself as the master and check and balance Zhu Yuanzhang for himself.

The thought of this.

Guo Zixing almost wanted to marry his other daughter to Zhang Cheng, but he was a little afraid that Zhang Cheng would not be willing.

After all, Zhang Cheng's background is different from Zhu Yuanzhang's, and Zhang Cheng may not necessarily look down on the daughter of an ordinary wealthy family like him.

But Guo Zixing then thought about it. Since Zhang Cheng was willing to join the rebel army and resist the violent Yuan Dynasty, and if he was really willing to accept Zhu Yuanzhang as his master, it meant that he might not care about this. Then it should be possible to marry his own daughter and consider him his father-in-law.

When Guo Zixing had this thought in his heart, he ordered that day to summon Li Shanchang, Feng Guoyong, Zhang Mian and other scribes and staff who had not come to vote to see him.

anyway.

In the current Chuzhou City, Zhu Yuanzhang may indeed be stronger than him.

Therefore, Guo Zixing still had to guard against Zhu Yuanzhang and weaken Zhu Yuanzhang, at least to ensure that Zhu Yuanzhang did not have such great control over the newly expanded 30,000 troops, and that he could control all the troops.

After Li Shanchang received this order, he immediately sighed:
  "It's finally here!"

Subsequently.

Li Shanchang came to Zhu Yuanzhang with this summons, knelt down directly towards Zhu Yuanzhang, and cried: "Superior! You can't just sit back and wait for death!"

"Why do you say that, Shanchang?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

Li Shanchang gave Guo Zixing's summons to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Look, superior, Marshal Guo now wants to summon me into his court. This is obviously intended to weaken Li's power and achieve the goal of getting rid of you in the future!"

"As the saying goes, the highest achievement shocks the master. What's more, in the field of power, father and son are incompatible with each other. What's more, you and Marshal Guo are not biological father and son. Now Marshal Guo insists on calling me, obviously to weaken your power, and then It’s easier to get rid of you!”

Li Shanchang said in pain.

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang darkened his face and said, "My father can't do that!"

"Even if Marshal Guo doesn't have this intention, there's no guarantee that others won't."

"Today they have reduced your power. Tomorrow, when you, the superior, have no soldiers around you, not to mention Guo Tianxu, Guo Tianjue, Ren Zhigong, or even a small hundred households can kill you! "

When Li Shanchang said this, he said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Commander, we can't sit still and wait for death!"

"We know what you mean!"

"But we will not betray our adoptive father innocently!"

Zhu Yuanzhang gave Li Shanchang a meaningful look.

Li Shanchang said: "In the upper position, we are not rebelling against the commander-in-chief, we are admonishing soldiers, and we are on the side of Qingjun."

"That's not OK."

"We can't kill each other."

"We would rather give up for nothing and go out and fight again!"

Zhu Yuanzhang said thoughtfully.

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's resolute gaze, Li Shanchang had no choice but to give up trying to persuade Zhu Yuanzhang to annex, and said: "Commander, then you have to talk to the commander and persuade him not to call his subordinates into his army, right?"

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Li Shanchang very moved, then smiled and said: "Shanchang, my father is the one who cares for me. If he calls you, how can I stop him?"

"But the one I am willing to follow is you, the superior!"

Li Shanchang said.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't say anything and just returned to his inner courtyard.

Li Shanchang could only stand up and left Zhu Yuanzhang angrily.

After Li Shanchang returned home, Feng Guoyong was already waiting for him here. After seeing Li Shanchang, he asked: "I guess you have also received the summons, right?"

Li Shanchang nodded and asked, "You don't plan to go?"

Feng Guoyong chuckled: "Who is willing to go? Guo Zixing is short-sighted and has little strategy. He is also irritable and only wants to sit back and enjoy the success. Although he has great ambitions, he has no courage and is not determined enough to become the master of the world!"

After hearing this, Li Shanchang couldn't help but glance at Feng Guoyong, and then said: "I'm going to see the superior."

Feng Guoyong was startled after hearing this, and then asked: "What did the superior say?" "Of course it is hard to disobey the order."

Li Shanchang replied.

Feng Guoyong pondered for a long time, and then he laughed: "The superior position is the superior position after all!"

After that.

Feng Guoyong said goodbye and left.

Li Shanchang also bid farewell to Feng Guoyong.

But neither of them was summoned to Guo Zixing.

Guo Zixing was quite disappointed with this, so he asked Li Menggeng, Ren Zhigong and others: "I heard that Li Shanchang and Feng Guoyong are both very talented people. They have contributed a lot whether they are raiding homes or clearing land. Why are they not doing it now?" Are you willing to come? Especially that Li Shanchang, we even promised him to succeed Zhang Cheng as the governor of the state!"

"Commander, don't be disappointed by this."

"The reason they didn't accept the call is because they haven't changed their timid and cowardly nature. When the commander-in-chief wants to cut off Mr. Zhu's wings, be cautious!"

"They are deeply afraid that if they switch to the commander-in-chief now, if the commander-in-chief loses then, it will be difficult for them to see Mr. Zhu."

"Essentially, they all care more about their own lives and personal futures. They don't really care about the stability of the world."

"So, as long as the commander-in-chief has completely suppressed General Manager Zhu, or when General Manager Zhu no longer has the ability to annex the commander-in-chief's other departments, they will naturally follow the commander-in-chief!"

Li Mengeng came to comfort Guo Zixing.

Li Menggeng was also quite surprised that Li Shanchang and others did not come.

But after thinking about it, he didn't think it was strange either.

Because he also knows that people like Li Shanchang may be a little arrogant, and do not want to succumb to the officials and children like him, otherwise they would not have joined the rebel army so early, and they joined the rebel army on their own initiative. Now that he has voted for Guo Zixing first, naturally There is no motivation to invest again.

Also.

Li Menggeng also admitted that for Li Shanchang, the children of ordinary people and landlords, they have little connection in the bureaucracy, and the cost of trial and error is indeed not low, so they cannot take sides casually in the power arena.

But he, Li Menggeng and other bureaucrats are different. Whether Guo Zixing succeeds or not has little impact on him.

Because if Guo Zixing really fails, he will have a way out. The influence of his Li family among the scholar-bureaucrats can provide him with many opportunities to turn things around.

in other words.

Even if Zhu Yuanzhang wins, he can exchange new resources with Zhu Yuanzhang, allowing Zhu Yuanzhang to continue to reuse him.

For example, recommending a certain talent, dedicating more industry or books containing many important technical information that cannot be found outside, or helping to cooperate with the Yuan Dynasty, or even with the Mongolian and Han aristocrats and overseas merchants.

Therefore, as long as Li Menggeng is not unlucky like Guo Jingxiang, and the advice he provides happens to meet the Lord's objection, it will basically not be too bad.

Guo Zixing was also convinced after hearing this.

But Guo Zixing did not do anything to Li Shanchang and Feng Guoyong because of this.

After all, the world is not yet unified, and he, Guo Zixing, is not very powerful yet, so he has to respect the world's literati and staff and cannot kill people without reason.

What's more, he doesn't need to take action personally to retaliate against counselors like Li Shanchang and Feng Guoyong who are unwilling to stand on their own side.

What made Guo Zixing happy was that Zhang Mian and others were summoned to Guo Zixing.

anyway.

For people like Zhang Mian, as they were demoted from official positions to generals, they naturally no longer had the responsibility to be loyal to anyone, and they naturally followed whoever gained power.

In essence, they and Li Menggeng all belong to a class of bureaucratic scholars.

Even if they are disloyal, because they monopolize a lot of professional knowledge in this era, such as the knowledge of managing internal affairs and the knowledge of leading troops in war, the hegemony contenders will have to reuse them even if they hate them.

But this has caused a phenomenon, that is, the proportion of people around Guo Zixing who are from big bureaucrats and landowners is increasing.

Because these people have many escape routes, they all have one characteristic in common, that is, they have little motivation to succeed in a political matter, but they are very motivated to form a party for personal gain through a certain political matter.

However, neither Guo Zixing nor Zhu Yuanzhang is aware of this hidden worry yet.

Because their understanding of the urinal nature of big bureaucrats and big landowners is still limited.

You know, even a local tycoon like Guo Zixing has never been to many places in his life, let alone a place like the capital, where big bureaucrats are concentrated.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang is not aware of the danger here. He is now just watching the people around him being transferred away one after another, becoming the guests of Guo Zixing and even Guo Tianxu, Guo Tianjue and others.

For Zhu Yuanzhang, the only thing that made him uncomfortable was that he felt like he was gradually moving away from the center of the crowd and becoming isolated.

Humans are social animals.

Once a person realizes that people around him rarely come to talk to him or come to him to discuss matters, he will feel lost.

Zhu Yuanzhang is no exception.

But Zhu Yuanzhang could still bear it.

After all, he had experienced the feeling of being left out.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang was happy that he had more energy to spend with his wife Ma.

and.

After Zhu Yuanzhang met Li Shanchang, he specially brought Ma to the nursing home and took her to meet his sister-in-law and the babies in the nursing home.

"This is what Mr. Zhang suggested."

"Sister, you don't know that in order to adopt more orphans and prevent them from dying in troubled times, Mr. Zhang even proposed a tax-free policy to encourage merchants from all over the world to collect orphans!"

"It's just that Mr. Zhang has gone outside now, so I'm afraid his plan to build a school for these orphans will have to be put on hold."

Zhu Yuanzhang started talking to Ma when he brought him to the almshouse.

After seeing the orphans and children in the courtyard, Mrs. Ma was deeply moved. She couldn't help but burst into tears and said, "Chongba, Mr. Zhang is the one who really cares about people like us! Because these days, who would?" Are you willing to spend money and food on them?!"

Strictly speaking, Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma are also orphans.

That's why Ma said this.

And next, Mrs. Ma smiled lovingly and chatted with these orphans, and said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "Chongba! Since Mr. Zhang has gone outside, I will find a solution for the education in the nursing home." Let your adoptive father know, and you should not go, lest anyone say that you are using the public money and food to deliberately build a brand of benevolence for yourself, and thus make your adoptive father worry."

"Did you hear something?"

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help frowning and asked Ma.

Ma smiled and said: "It's just gossip that we women are spreading behind the scenes. It is said that the maids who serve the Marshal have heard it, and Li Menggeng and other scribes and staff are secretly instigating the Marshal to deal with you."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned even more after hearing this.

At this time, Xu Da ran over: "Sir, you are here, you can make it easy for me to find you! Mr. Zhang asked Hua Yun to come back with news that they have laid down the Waliang base."

talking.

Xu Da handed a letter to Zhang Cheng: "In addition, Mr. Zhang asked someone to bring a message saying that if you have any difficulties, please ask him. You can deliver the letter through the Cheng family. What this letter records is in The mailing address of Walianglei."

Zhu Yuanzhang was very surprised when he heard that Zhang Cheng had captured Waliang Barrier: "You actually captured Waliang Barrier?"

Then, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Ma: "This Mr. Zhang is always unexpected."

(End of this chapter)