Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 280 Preparation
When Zhu Youjian took a bath and changed his clothes, Zhou Kui had already left the palace.

"Well, that's right. Qiu Shui's culinary skills have improved a lot, and it's not much better than that in the imperial dining room. This meal is really delicious! What's the matter with Uncle Jiading? Why didn't the empress leave him after eating? Could it be that the food in the palace is too bland? It is said that Jiadingbo’s mansion employs more than a dozen famous chefs from all over the world, and every meal must be carefully cooked with excellent ingredients. A meal for his father and son often costs dozens of taels of silver, which is well-off in the capital. The expenses of the family for a year. Although his family is very rich, but at this time of difficult state affairs, as a relative of the state, it is better to restrain yourself!"

At the two ends of a long table in the side hall, Zhu Youjian and Zhou Hou, who were sitting opposite each other, were nearing the end of their meal. Zhu Youjian put down the chopsticks in his hand, took a sip of tea, put down the teacup and said.

There are a total of seven or eight dishes on the table, all cooked by Qiu Shui, Zhou Hou's personal servant. Typical Suzhou cuisine, it seems that every dish is a boutique with excellent color, fragrance, and Zhu Youjian's favorite The most popular dishes are Biluo shrimp, squirrel mandarin fish and squid eel paste.

Since welcoming Zhouhou when he became the king of Xin, Zhu Youjian fell in love with Suzhou cuisine after eating a few dishes cooked by Zhouhou himself, and Zhu Zhenqing, who traveled through time, also liked the taste of Suzhou cuisine very much.In addition to cooking for her husband, Zhou Hou also passed on her cooking skills to several female officials and maids around her. Among them, Qiushui's cooking skills are the best. Now her cooking has far surpassed Zhou's. later level.

Whether it is the former Chongzhen or the current Zhu Youjian, they do not like extravagance by nature, and the meals are mainly simple and exquisite.Since the emperor often enjoys meals in the Kunning Palace, the imperial dining room is much more leisurely, but it also makes the eunuchs in charge and the imperial cooks feel embarrassed and worried, thinking that the meals made by themselves do not please the emperor, so the emperor eats them Meals in the Imperial Dining Room.In the end, the eunuch in charge found Wang Cheng'en through several relationships, and begged the old ancestor to say a few good words in front of the emperor for the royal dining room, so as to make everyone feel at ease.

After Wang Chengen, who knew people's hearts well, went to appease them in person, the royal cooks realized that it was not because they did not cook well, but because the emperor wanted to save money for the common people and soldiers, so he was so frugal.Under Wang Chengen's reassurance, everyone in the Imperial Dining Room was moved inexplicably, whether true or false, and finally completely relieved.

Of course, this awe-inspiring rhetoric was announced to the outside world. In fact, it was just that the emperor naturally liked simplicity.

Zhu Youjian knew that Zhou Kui either asked for money or an official every time he entered the palace.This time, although he entered the palace under the banner of giving supplements, in the end there were still other things involved, so before Zhou Hou could speak, he blocked Zhou Hou's mouth with words.

For the greedy Zhou Kui and his son, Zhu Youjian couldn't express his disgust from the bottom of his heart.But if Zhou Hou asks for something, it's not good to always refute her face.After all, they are a husband and wife who have gone through hardships together. Besides, Zhou Hou's dignified conduct is indeed a rare good match, and she is also worthy of the status of the mother of the world.

"Is what the emperor said true or not? As far as my concubines know, although the Jiadingbo Mansion is rich, it is far inferior to other honorable and wealthy merchants. Although it has been favored by the emperor in recent years, it has accumulated some money. , can’t it be so extravagant? Uncle Jiading visited the palace several times to visit his concubines. In addition to official uniforms, he always wore worn-out robes. It has been several years since I bought new clothes. The concubine couldn't bear it, and even gave him thousands of taels of silver to make money for his family and make it difficult for his family. Could it be that the words of the emperor just mistrusted other people's rumors? Concubine I don't believe it no matter what!"

My father is naturally stingy and greedy for money, Zhou Hou is the most clear about this, but Zhou Hou doesn't believe it at all if his daily life is so extravagant.

Although my husband has given the Zhou family land and farms since he came to the throne, and in the past few years, several foreign relatives have participated in some businesses of the Four Seas Trading Company, but it is not enough for the Zhou family to become rich quickly, right?Without money support, even if the father and brother want to be extravagant, they have no capital.

"Hehe, empress, don't be deceived by her appearance. Uncle Jiading is really a man of wealth and wealth; This method is used to amass wealth, and the family property is at least hundreds of thousands of silver taels! Only the queen is in the palace and has no way of knowing about it, and outside the palace, everyone in the whole capital knows about it?"

Because Zhu Youjian mentioned the matter of asking honorable nobles to donate to the country, Zhou Kui began to pretend to be poor under Zhou Yi's suggestion. Destroy the family to relieve the difficulties, and use it to capitalize the country.These dirty actions of the Zhou family have long been known to Zhu Youjian by the factory guard, which also deepened his dislike for the Zhou family.

Hearing Zhu Youjian's affirmation of Dafu, Zhou Hou realized that he had been deceived by his father and brother for a long time, and in shame and anger, he put Zhou Kui's entrustment aside.

After taking a nap for half an hour, Zhu Cihong and the other children hadn't returned to the palace yet, Zhu Youjian comforted Zhou Hou and took Wang Chengen to Qianqing Palace after a few words.

Yang Sichang, Wang Jiazhen and other military officials who had been waiting in the Zhaoren Hall came forward to salute Zhu Youjian, and then Zhu Youjian ordered to watch the seats for several people, and the little eunuch served tea to Zhu Youjian. The meeting officially started.

Hong Chengchou's report on the Jinzhou battle was delivered to the Ministry of War at this time today. Because the battle situation was not urgent, several important members of the Ministry of War discussed it before submitting it to the palace.It happened that Zhu Youjian went to Kunning Palace, and Wang Chengen reported the matter to him after he took a nap.

"Qizuo Shengshang, according to Hong Heng's nine reports, the battle in Jinzhou is now at a stalemate. Jianlu failed to invade Songshan, Daxingbao and other places. He has retreated a little, but he is still between the two cities of Songjin. Looking at his actions, it seems that We are in a dilemma. The governor of Ji Liao said that during the period, the enemy and we also had several small-scale confrontations. Our army killed and wounded more than a hundred Jian captives, and our own casualties were similar. Although the enemy's fighting spirit has not weakened, its Being in a hostile environment, the enemy’s food and grass should be difficult to supply if things go on like this for a long time, and he concluded that the enemy chieftains will retreat in less than a month. Therefore, I ask the strategy in this book, and I ask the court to decide how to deal with it in the future!”

Yang Sichang cupped his hands and played.

After Yue Tuo's traditional state-building strategy of dividing troops and looting failed, he now feels a little bit stuck.Let’s retreat, not reconciled, and also afraid of other consequences caused by the failure of our teachers; let’s go in, the Ming army guarded the castles tightly, no matter how the Qing soldiers lure the enemy, the Ming army will at most go out of the city and line up in the city, and resolutely will not leave the cover of artillery fire Go and fight the Qing soldiers.

At the beginning, the confident leader went south to take revenge, thinking that even if Jinzhou could not be defeated, he would be able to capture several fortresses and plunder a large amount of food, grass, materials and population, but the cruel reality made him suddenly wake up: the Ming court suddenly strengthened Jinzhou. The troops in the area, while resisting the Qing soldiers going south from here, also restrained Zu Dashou's Liaoxi general.Moreover, although the number of Ming troops who had just left the pass was small, they had sharp firearms and high morale.If the Ming army could not be effectively killed, if the Qing soldiers wanted to plunder Daming, they would still have to walk through the continuous mountains and then go to the breach.But how could the Ming court strengthen the defense force in Jinzhou area, but how could it sit back and watch the fortress closer to the capital be breached?
Hong Chengchou's judgment was correct, Yue Tuo did have the intention of withdrawing troops, he had sent a messenger back to Shengjing to report the current situation to Huang Taiji, and then Huang Taiji would make specific judgments and decisions.

"Yang Qing, has the main force of the Jianzhou Western Expedition ever returned? If the main force returns with a full load, I expect the slave chiefs will send troops to the south for reinforcements. The intention is to try to use the superior force to severely damage the Yongwei Battalion, so as to damage the morale of our army. Make my Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers have the strength to stand against them!"

After thinking for a while, Zhu Youjian spoke.

Wang Jiazhen, the left servant of the Ministry of War, nodded and saluted and replied: "The Holy Majesty's judgment is very accurate! Judging from the information that the officials of the Ministry of War have passed back from Xuanda, Ningxia, Yansui and other border towns, it seems that the Western Expedition for the establishment of slavery There is a sign of the end, and the peace outside the side wall is becoming more and more peaceful. The ministers and others infer that the main force of the slave building has either returned to Shengjing, or is on the way back.”

Zhang Wenyan, the right servant of the Ministry of War, continued: "Your minister also held a meeting after receiving the report from the governor of Jiliao. The conclusion is the same as what the Holy Majesty said: under the strict seal of the imperial court, various materials in Jianzhou are increasingly in short supply. There was a trip to the west, and its intention was nothing more than to plunder the population and materials to strengthen its strength. However, the barrenness of the Tartars and the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty were simply not comparable. I want to supplement the needs from our Ming Dynasty. The Yongwei Battalion suddenly appeared in Ningjin, and the battles in Yizhou and Songshan showed its majesty. between!"

Zhu Youjian nodded in agreement with the judgment of the Ministry of War.

Yang Sichang got up and cupped his hands and said: "Since the Holy Majesty agreed with the decision of the Ministry of War, the minister and others suggested that the Sichuan soldiers and the Qin soldiers should make corresponding preparations separately and then go north and leave the customs. The more than [-] men and horses in the Beijing camp who have already left the customs and Ningyuan are waiting for orders. In order not to make the enemy aware of the existence of the follow-up main force of our army, wait until the enemy's main force reaches Jinzhou before heading north; Lu Jiandou should also start to gather surrounding cavalry to gather with Xuanda and Yansui. The same is true for Liu and Zhang of Denglai Crossing the Sea! Therefore, the war in the next spring ordered by the Holy Majesty is likely to start within a few months!"

"The verdict of the Ministry of War is correct! These numbers of soldiers and horses will be dispatched to pass on quickly tomorrow, and the food, grass, materials, personnel and tools needed for this war must be fully prepared. Sun Qing from Shaanxi and Mrs. Qin from Sichuan led their troops to go out before they left the customs. See you, Your Majesty Jing! Another decree is issued to Lu Qing, not to take the lead in the battle, and the [-]-horse cavalry led by the original brave guard battalion must personally protect Lu Qing's safety, and if the general is lost, the entire army will be killed!"

Zhu Youjian gave the order decisively.

(End of this chapter)