Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 339 To Huaian

On the second day, Jinshen, who had not slept all night, was received by the prince after three poles a day. They all kowtowed on the ground excitedly. Yang Chao saw with his own eyes that several old men were actually crying.

Then let the prince comfort them in a gentle tone, and at the same time said a few words of praise for their loyalty, and made a few old gentlemen cry, and finally let them drive by his side, and went south together.

It took a quarter of an hour to meet them, but these people who were moved were excited all day long.

Next, these gentry found Yang Chao one by one. In front of the crown prince, they were embarrassed, and after they came out, they took out their treasures one by one to present to the crown prince, hoping that Yang Chao would hand it over to him.

Yang Chao didn't accept it. Gao Jie's gift can be accepted, that is to accept Gao Jie's kindness, but he can't accept these offerings on behalf of the crown prince, so he pretended to ask the crown prince for instructions, and when he came out, he conveyed the crown prince's will and told these people, the crown prince The crown prince didn't care about pearls, jades and treasures, but only pityed that the hundreds of thousands of people who followed him didn't have enough to eat. If the gentry were interested, they hoped that these treasures could be exchanged for some food to feed the people.

I was touched again by those old gentry who read books and handed down their families, one by one said that they would send people back to Huai'an immediately, and even if they bought land with their families, they would have to get some food to help the refugees.

Du Shouchang, a wealthy businessman, had more demands than those traditional gentry who read books and passed on their families. He also found Yang Chao.

He didn't ask Yang Chao to hand over the treasure to the crown prince, but directly gave Yang Chao 10 taels of silver. Yang Chao didn't ask for it. Yang Chao was not short of money, so he asked him what he wanted.

Du Shouchang was very embarrassed and said that he hoped that the crown prince would go to Huai'an and be lucky enough to visit Du's family.

He said that when King Fu was in Huai'an, he temporarily stayed in the Wanxiu Garden of Du's house. The house that King Fu lived in had not been touched, and the crown prince could not live in King Fu's house. He said that a new garden had been urgently built for the emperor. Prepared by the prince.

It is an honor to drive along, but it is a great honor to live with the crown prince.

Du Shouchang invited King Fu to live in his house, with the intention of currying favor with him, and it may not be that he did not have this kind of affection for the royal family.

But urgently building a new garden is definitely a big deal.

But Yang Chao couldn't be the crown prince's master, or he didn't want to help Du Shouchang.

But Du Shouchang didn't give up. After Yang Chao politely declined, he gritted his teeth and said, "Master Yang, my sister has always admired you. I haven't seen you before, and I don't think about it for a long time. If you can come to Wanxiu Garden, my sister will definitely very happy."

Yang Chao couldn't help feeling chills in his heart. This salt merchant threw his sister out again. Last time when he heard that Yang Chao was impeached by many high officials, he never invited Yang Chao.

But Yang Chao heard: "Didn't Lingmei already promise King Fu?"

The news that King Fu lives in Du's house and has made a marriage contract with Du Hongying has spread a long time ago.

I'm afraid the Du family couldn't wait to promote it by themselves. After all, they cling to a vassal king. Even if they don't see any possibility of King Fu being emperor at that time, it's enough for them to show off. It's worth boasting that a merchant can marry a civil official. Marriage of the vassal king is simply worthy of special mention.

Seeing that King Fu's position is not so stable now, Du Shouchang placed his bet on the crown prince, and wanted to give his sister to Yang Chao in a blink of an eye. Obviously, he was not brave enough to give it to the crown prince.

So Du Shouchang firmly denied: "This is a rumor! What is the status of King Fu, how can he be married to our merchants!"

Yang Chao laughed: "That's not necessarily the case. I heard that Lingmei is very beautiful, and Fu Wang fell in love with her at first sight, so it's not impossible to get married!"

Du Shouchang shook his head fiercely: "Little sister insists on the gift of poetry and books, so she can really show her face easily. Fu Wang has never met my sister, and the words of love at first sight are all rumors."

Du Shouchang's younger sister, Du Hongying, is indeed beautiful, and it has long been rumored in Huai'an that King Fu was engaged to the Du family, except that they lived in the Du family at that time, and the Huai'an civil official group didn't like him very much as a feudal lord. He valued Du Hongying's beauty, otherwise a feudal lord would not have enough to eat, and he would live in any wealthy businessman, not to mention the rich clothes and jade food, and there would be no shortage of beautiful women.

Yang Chao saw Du Shouchang's firm attitude, and he wanted to win over the wealthy Huai'an family. The Du family's eyesight, ability, and power were all first-class. With them as an example, it would be easy to break into Huai'an's gentry class. It is still necessary to give Du Shouchang a face in order to get married.

So he smiled and said: "That's fine. Since Miss Du has a heart, I can't be ruthless. After arriving in Huai'an, I am interested in going to Wanxiu Garden. The Du family's garden is still the first."

Only then did Du Shouchang feel relieved, but he became ruthless again: "If Master Yang likes it, then it's okay to give the garden to him!"

Yang Chao waved his hand: "Gentlemen don't steal people's love!"

Wanxiu Garden is located in Yuzuikou by the West Lake in Huai’an. Its geographical location is first-class. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is the No. 1 garden in Huai’an. The Du family put a lot of thought into it. I’m afraid that Du Shouchang will be distressed for the rest of his life if he snatches Wanxiu Garden away. .

Du Shouchang was actually reluctant, seeing Yang Chao's refusal, he didn't force it, but it was a pity that Yang Chao didn't want his garden, so he might not help him run it, and the crown prince might not be able to live in Du's house.

You must know that the crown prince will be the emperor in the future, and being able to live in his house is second only to his reputation. Du Shouchang is confident that the crown prince will keep something, among other things, a pair of calligraphy will be invaluable in the future. To become the emperor's imperial brush can be used as a talisman to a certain extent.

But how to get Yang Chao to help, Du Shouchang had no choice but to leave resentfully, thinking he had to discuss it with Wang Xiao.

After resting in Suqian for two days, let everyone, including the refugees, have a full meal, and then set off again. As for whether we can reach Huai'an in one day, it is almost impossible!
This is a distance of nearly two hundred miles, and with a huge team of refugees, the difficulty can be seen.

His subordinates suggested that Yang Chao escort the crown prince one step ahead.

But at this time, Yang Chao has already seen that bringing these people has great political significance, and it is a good opportunity to promote benevolence and righteousness. Chao would rather believe that those people were coerced by Liu Bei. After all, Liu Bei was just a warlord, and Zhu Cihong was the heir to the throne. Those refugees would probably not follow if they didn't give them food, let alone Liu Bei.

Therefore, Yang Chao must let the Crown Prince arrive in Huai'an with these refugees. If he goes ahead, he will give people the reputation of abandoning the people. He has already led them all the way, and it is not worthwhile to abandon them now.

Fortunately, these refugees who escaped all the way have good physical fitness, and their ability to endure hardships and stand hard work is incomparable to future generations. Although they arrived in Huai'an in less than a day, they walked more than half of the distance and arrived in Taoyuan County in the evening to set up camp. , It will definitely arrive in another day.

On the second day, I finally arrived in Huai'an. The civil and military officials of Huai'an went out of the city ten miles to meet them at Qinghe.

At the same time, Huangfeng Mansion had already sent people to build a camp, and the contiguous tents were almost connected from Banzha Town to Qingjiangpu. Since the decision to go into effect, the Huai'an government has been doing its best to cooperate with Huangfeng Mansion. But other materials are more than sufficient, such as wood and thatch, enough for Huangfeng Mansion to build a simple tent.

The crown prince still lived in the garden that Du Shouchang urgently built, and he came back at the price of a hundred sailboats.

Yang Chao is not short of money, but he lacks the ability to use money to monetize. Du Shouchang cannot provide troops, but the ships for transporting troops are also important assets.

This time going north, Yang Chao occupied [-] of the Wang family’s tank boats, but they were basically destroyed. This has already hurt Wang Xiao’s nerves. It’s too dishonest to ask for a boat from the Wang family. This is not what an ally should do. You must know that the Wang family only has a thousand ships in total, and the loss of three hundred ships will have a huge impact on business.

Although Du Shouchang wants a hundred ships, this is a deal, and Yang Chao will not be polite.However, it did cause the Du family to suffer a lot. Although the Du family may be richer than the Wang family in terms of wealth, their ships are not as good as the Wang family's shipping business. I am afraid that his family may not be able to produce a hundred sailboats. Buy from other salt merchant families.Their family's salt business will definitely be affected, but if it is entrusted to the Wang family, Yang Chao is indirectly doing the Wang family a favor.

Although the boats provided by Du's family are not as good as Yang Chao's two-masted chasing boats in the Yangtze River, they are all single-masted salt boats, but they are still enough for Yang Chao who wants to monopolize the Yangtze River trade. That being said, it was a great help.

Moreover, Yang Chao really doesn't know where to arrange the crown prince. It is a good way to put the crown prince in the Governor's Mansion, but it is very likely that the civil servants will control the crown prince. Yang Chao has no intention of coercing the crown prince, but we must prevent these The civil servant held the crown prince, so he simply put it on the edge of the West Lake outside the city, and then protected it with heavy troops. It is safe and worry-free, and it can be exchanged for a hundred ships.

The Crown Prince had no objection. They obeyed Yang Chao all the way, knowing that Yang Chao was the only thing they could rely on in Nanjing. Even if the Crown Prince showed a flattering attitude towards Yang Chao, it made Yang Chao Some are embarrassed.

The news that Yang Chao escorted the prince to Huai'an soon spread to Nanjing.

This made the Nanjing court even more noisy.

Along the way, the closer Yang Chao got to Jiangnan, the more tense the situation in Nanjing became.

The ministers and King Fu are discussing almost every day. The civil servants have basically unified their opinions and sent someone to verify the identity of the prince first. People who know the prince come to perfunctory.

But this perfunctory has exposed inner tension.

In the original history, Fu Wang did become the emperor. At that time, the case of the false prince was reported. Fu Wang sent someone to verify it at the first moment, but this time the real prince came, but he did not dare to verify it. In fact, Fu Wang knew very well that a The prince really threatened him too much, he was not sure how the prince would deal with him if he came to power!
(End of this chapter)