Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 220 Starting with Yan Fan

"Why are you dead?!"

"How could he die!"

"I asked you to catch him, not to force him to death!!"

On March 24, when the news came back to the capital that King Zhu Bai of Hunan had committed suicide in the palace, Zhu Yunwen, who had always been calm, also lost his temper.

He smashed the utensils, causing Huang Zicheng, Qi Tai and Fang Xiaoru in the hall to lower their heads and dare not respond.

They could see that Zhu Yunwen was very scared now.

He loved fame and face, but his mask was finally torn off by the news of Zhu Bai's self-immolation.

There is a huge difference between cutting down the feudal vassal and abolishing the common people and forcing one's own uncle to death.

"From now on, I will become the king who forced my uncle to death..."

Zhu Yunwen stood where he was and walked out mentally.

"Your Majesty, the top priority is to attack Yan Mansion quickly. The three guards of Yan Mansion must be transferred away, lest King Yan pretend to be mad!"

Seeing that Zhu Yunwen had calmed down, Qi Tai hurriedly said: "Taking advantage of the fact that spring has just begun, we should first send troops to the Bohai Sea to cut off King Yan's arm as planned, and then start to cut down the Yan vassal."

"That's right!" Huang Zicheng was worried that Zhu Yunwen would blame the person he recommended for forcing King Xiang to death, so he quickly said: "The censors sent earlier are already here. If Bohai and King Yan learn that the imperial court cut off the five vassal kings and King Xiang set himself on fire, News, it will definitely lead to rebellion."

"Your Majesty can tell the world that King Zhu Bai of Xiang conspired to cause rebellion, failed and burned himself to death. In addition, his posthumous title should also be mainly evil!"

"In addition, after cutting off the vassal Bohai, the court could also say that King Bohai colluded with King Xiang to cause rebellion, so as to make the court stand on the right side."

If Qi Tai is killing people, then Huang Zicheng is killing people.

After the two people's advice, Zhu Yunwen slowly came back to his senses. He said coldly: "You go ahead and handle this matter. Don't make any more mistakes..."

He was a little disappointed with the two of them, and the two of them knew that they were in the wrong, so they withdrew from Wuying Hall after complying with the order.

After they left, Fang Xiaoru comforted Zhu Yunwen: "The emperor inherits the way of heaven to govern all directions, and he practices justice and justice. Everything your majesty does is based on justice, so why bother yourself?"

"Besides..."

With Fang Xiaoru's comfort, Zhu Yunwen came back to his senses a little, and the news that King Zhu Bai of Hunan burned himself to death also began to spread.

But before the news spread completely, the news spread that the four kings, including Qi, Dai, Su and Min, had cut off their feudal vassals in one go.

In the first year after Zhu Yuanzhang's death, Zhu Yunwen cut off the vassal status of six uncles in one go. One was forced to commit suicide, one was deposed as a commoner, and the other four probably could not escape the end of being deposed.

For a time, the government and the public were in turmoil, and even the wealthy Jiangnan gentry who supported Zhu Yunwen did not agree with him forcing his uncle to death.

As Zhu Bai said before his death, Zhu Yunwen became an example of Zhu Yuanzhang's humiliation, and Zhu Bai became a regrettable existence for everyone.

But for Zhu Yunwen, he no longer cared about Zhu Bai's death. He was more concerned about the dynamics of the vassals.

However, to his surprise, Zhu Bai's death and his actions of killing five kings in a row did not lead to the death of any vassal king. This made Zhu Yunwen's self-confidence inflated.

Like Zhu Bai, the vassals did not believe that they could fight against the imperial court with the help of their own guards.

This has been true from the beginning when Zhu Yunwen cut down the vassal vassal, let alone now.

Among the vassal kings that Zhu Yuanzhang canonized during his lifetime, there are currently less than eleven, and the remaining kings such as Han and Shen have not yet become vassals.

After leaving the vassal kings with over 10,000 troops such as King Zhou, King Qi, and King Xiang, the remaining [-] vassal kings only had [-]+ guards in total, and they were scattered throughout the country.

Of course, what is more important is that Zhu Di, the leader of the vassals, is seriously ill, and the two kings of Qin and Jin are both nephews and cannot coordinate the overall situation.

Therefore, in the face of Zhu Yunqi's strong attack on the vassals, the vassals could only hope that Zhu Yunqi would not harm them, and they would never dare to think or do to raise troops to cause chaos.

In such an environment, the vassals were like quails, and although the military attaches had resentment, they actually wanted the vassal king to cause chaos so that the military attaches would have a chance to show off.

King Xiang, King Qi and other vassals have been eliminated, and the situation has become clear. The next person to be removed from the vassal is either King Chu or King Yan.

"This rice seedling must be carefully cared for. It is not easy to cultivate such a rice seedling."

At the beginning of April, when the whole world was preparing to cut down the feudal vassal of King Chu or King Yan, the snow from Liaodong to the Bohai Sea had begun to melt.

However, Zhu Gaoxu didn't take it seriously. He was still leading the people to transplant rice seedlings from the nursery fields to the cultivated fields with peace of mind.

Five thousand acres of seedling fields have produced enough rice seedlings to be transplanted to 20 acres. For Zhu Gaoxu, each of them is very precious.

The people of Bohai did not know that this was the calm before the storm. They were all immersed in the atmosphere of spring plowing and happily planting rice.

The number of acres of land in the Bohai Sea has exceeded one million acres, reaching more than [-] acres. This is more than [-] acres more than Zhu Gaoxu expected, and can also produce tens of thousands more kilo of grain.

It's just that he can't eat these grains after all.

After cultivating rice with the savage Jurchens who had just surrendered in winter, Zhu Gaoxu also went ashore and washed the mud off his feet with the cold and bitter Songhua River water, and then lowered his trousers.

Yi Shiha came over from the concrete path, holding a booklet in his hand.

Seeing him, Zhu Gaoxu knew why he was here.

He took Yi Shiha to the bank of the Songhua River. Liu Wu and others were spying in the distance, but they couldn't hear what they were saying, couldn't see their lips and teeth clearly, and couldn't read them with lip language.

"How's it going? How much is left?"

Walking by the river, Zhu Gaoxu asked Yi Shiha, and Yi Shiha said seriously: "There is a lot of fishing on the Sancha River. We have saved a lot of food with fish meat this winter, but now we can only last until the beginning of June at most." Nine."

The winter is long, and each city has recruited many virgins, so food consumption has increased. It is difficult to feed 10,000+ people just by relying on fishing.

Taking the forty-odd horse boats built under the supervision of Jilin City as an example, although the Sancha River is rich in fisheries, the fishing technology of this era is far inferior to modern times, let alone mechanized later generations.

More than 400 horse-drawn boats went out and went back and forth for at least ten days. Although they could bring back [-] to [-] million catties of fish when fully loaded, after they were evenly distributed to the people, they could barely reach one fish per family per day.

Although a lot of rations were saved, the new rations for recruiting the Jurchens quickly filled the gap.

"The ninth day of June..."

Zhu Gaoxu murmured about the days when the food was finished, and then glanced at the people who were farming.

"Your Highness, we have to take action first."

Yi Shiha reminded Zhu Gaoxu, but Zhu Gaoxu shook his head: "We can't take action first, we have to let them take action first."

"If I take action first, the people of Jilin City will not be able to unite as one. But if they take action against me first, and let the Bohai Navy people follow suit, then our 10,000+ people will be grasshoppers tied together."

"But if we continue like this, we will run out of food, and then there will be nothing we can do." Yi Shiha was worried about the food problem, and Zhu Gaoxu was also worried, but he understood one thing better.

"The date set by the imperial court for the Liaodong capital to allocate grain is the first day of April, but it has been delayed for six days."

"My big brother won't delay it until May. That will only make me alert. He will definitely take action before June."

Speaking of this, Zhu Gaoxu asked Yi Shiha: "Has Cui Jun explored the roads in Dongning Mansion?"

"After exploring, we can leave." Yi Shiha nodded, and Zhu Gaoxu also said: "The ice in the middle and lower reaches should no longer affect navigation."

"You sent people to Heishui City and ordered the reserves of Heishui City to be the front, rear, left and right battalions of the Shenji Battalion, with 3000 people in each battalion."

"Pay attention to Jilin's rear battalion to be stationed in Heishui City. The remaining three battalions brought craftsmen, clay molds, artillery and muskets to Jilin City by boat."

"Forty or so horse boats should be able to take them back to Jilin City in one go. Calculating the time, it should be the end of April."

Zhu Gaoxu asked Meng Zhang to bring the Third Battalion of Shenji to Jilin, and it was at the end of April. The meaning is self-evident.

"Do you want to tell His Highness King Yan?"

Yishiha asked carefully, and Zhu Gaoxu also nodded: "Although I think my father should be prepared, it is better to inform him."

"You ask Gan Yue from Zhaozhou City to take someone to inform my father. He knows the situation of the Wuliangha boundary and can pass through the Wuliangha boundary."

Zhu Gaoxu sent Gan Yue, a surrender of Wuliangha, not only to inform Zhu Di, but also to resolve the conflict between Gan Yue and Zhu Di who blocked Zhu Di in the Bald City of Wuliangha.

Yishiha agreed after hearing this, and Zhu Gaoxu also returned to Jilin City not long after.

There are few people in the Prince's Palace of Bohai, especially Guo Yan, two maids, and more than ten soldiers from the Queen's Palace.

What can be hidden in the outside world is already known to everyone here.

Everyone in the Imperial Household knows that His Highness is planning something big. Although they don't know what big thing it is, they know that everything His Highness does has a reason.

Zhu Gaoxu found Guo Yan, comforted her, and then asked Guo Yan to write a letter to Guo Ying, asking how Guo Ying was doing, in order to confuse Zhu Yunwen.

But Zhu Gaoxu didn't know that he didn't need to confuse Zhu Yunwen at all, because Zhu Yunwen was already ready to take action.

On the fifth day of April, Jiangyin Marquis Wu Gao, who served as the general military officer of Liaodong, began to mobilize the Liaodong Dusi army.

He dispatched Liu Zhen and [-] soldiers from the four states in southern Liaoning to Jiulian City next to the Yalu River to defend North Korea. He dispatched his younger brother Wu Shouan to lead [-] troops to garrison Shanhaiguan. He left his son Wu Sheng to control the three guards of Guangning and guard against the King of Liao. Rebellious.

On the tenth day of April, he led about 3 soldiers from various guards in Liaodong to arrive at the [-] Guards. At the same time, he transferred Zhou Ding, who had an old relationship with Zhu Gaoxu, to Jinzhou.

Zhou Ding wanted to send a message to Zhu Gaoxu, but he did not dare to send the message because of Wu Gao.

After transferring Zhou Ding, Wu Gao also began to transfer food and grass to [-] guards in case the vassal reduction failed.

On April [-], the inspection censor Zheng Gongzhi sent from the capital arrived at Thirty Thousand Guards with the imperial edict.

Wu Gao met with Zheng Gongzhi. After Zheng Gongzhi arrived at the [-] Guards Yamen, he blocked the people around him and carefully asked Wu Gao: "How many soldiers and horses will the Marquis of Jiangyin prepare to send with me to Jilin City?" Wu Gao's father was the Marquis of Jiangyin, the founding general in the Hongwu period. Wu Liang, and he himself was cautious and cautious in using troops.

He was reluctant to use troops to cut down the Bohai Sea.

Although he only had an acquaintance with Zhu Gaoxu, he had seen Zhu Gaoxu's three thousand cavalry during his northern tour last year. Those three thousand cavalry were brave and good at fighting, and their horses were fat and strong. They were much stronger than the four thousand cavalry in Liaodong.

In a head-on confrontation, he may not be able to defeat the enemy with cavalry, and Zhu Gaoxu still has 3 infantry under his command. In addition, the Liaodong defense line is long, so it is very difficult to defend an attack of 6000 people with [-] people.

Now Zheng Gongzhi wants him to send troops to help reduce the vassal state. If the reduction of the vassal state fails and Zhu Gaoxu is prepared, then he will have to send thousands of troops in vain, which he naturally does not want to do.

But after all, the emperor issued the decree, and there was nothing he could do no matter how unwilling he was.

"I plan to dispatch 2000 people and censors to Jilin City. I wonder how many people the imperial court can have in Jilin City to help?"

Wu Gao was eighty-eight in his forties and worked calmly and orderly. Naturally, he wanted to know the imperial court's confidence in cutting down the vassal Bohai.

But facing Wu Gao, a martial artist, Zheng Gongzhi obviously didn't trust him very much, so he just smiled and said: "It's enough."

"..." Listening to Zheng Gongzhi's defense, Wu Gaolue frowned, but still didn't say anything. He just explained: "If something cannot be done, Zheng Yushi can bring his troops back first. The king of Bohai County has the courage of ten thousand people, so you can't do it." act rashly."

"Haha... Got it." Zheng Gongzhi smiled, but in his heart he sneered at Wu Gao's words.

Of course, there was a reason why he dared to think so.

In front of Wu Gao, he took out two copies of the imperial edict, and Wu Gao bowed quickly when he saw this.

Holding the imperial edict, Zheng Gongzhicai slowly said: "Qi's Ministry of War has already thought of a way. The first thing to do is to remove Bohai's guards in Jilin City."

"Please ask the Marquis of Jiangyin to first dispatch 1000 people and [-] civilians to transport [-] dan of grain to Jilin City. At the same time, read out the imperial edict and ask the King of Bohai County to dispatch the commander Wang Yi and Jilin Wei to patrol the ground in Wuliangha."

"After the 3000 soldiers and horses are mobilized, the lower official will lead [-] people to pretend to load grain, seize the opportunity to enter Jilin City, and ask the Bohai County Prince to go south to explain the private opening of mutual markets."

Qi Tai's method of dealing with Zhu Gaoxu was simply to transfer Zhu Gaoxu's headquarters, and then use Liu Wu and his soldiers to launch a surprise attack.

When Wu Gao heard this simple plan, he felt that Qi Tai and the others had completely mistook Zhu Gaoxu for those vassal kings in the mainland who did not know how to fight.

"This move may not be effective against the Prince of Bohai County. Most of his soldiers and civilians are naturalized Jurchens and do not know the royal ways. Once the court takes action, those Jurchens may rebel with swords."

Wu Gao knew the characteristics of the Jurchens very well. They living outside the customs were far more vicious than the Mongols living in Mobei. Once Zhu Gaoxu was harmed, they would probably attack him in groups.

"The Marquis of Jiangyin will need to send troops then." Seeing that Wu Gao could guess this step, Zheng Gongzhi stopped covering up and told Qi Tai's plan in full.

Qi Tai's plan was divided into three steps. The first step was to mobilize Wang Yi and Bohai's main troops. The second step was to launch a surprise attack on Bohai Palace by troops led by Zheng Gongzhi and Liu Wu.

The third step was for Wu Gao to lead his troops to Changchun in the name of the Northern Patrol. Once Zheng Gongzhi provoked a popular uprising, Wu Gao led four thousand Liaodong cavalry to raid Jilin City to suppress the rebellious Jurchens and convert them to the common people.

If the suppression fails, Wu Gao can cover their retreat and rely on the infantry of Changchun Station to retreat outside the pass and seal the city in seclusion.

With the population and food in Jilin City, as long as they defend for a few months, Zhu Gaoxu will have to surrender.

This plan is good, but the premise is that Zhu Gaoxu must transfer Wang Yi and others away.

Therefore, Qi Tai also gave a backup method, that is, once Zhu Gaoxu did not transfer Wang Yi and Jilin City soldiers and horses, Wu Gao would immediately seal the border and confront Zhu Gaoxu until he ran out of food.

After hearing these two methods, Wu Gao felt that there was no problem, so he agreed with Zheng Gongzhi's suggestion.

The next day, Zheng Gongzhi sent a seventh-grade Wenlin Lang who accompanied Wu Gao, along with a thousand soldiers and horses and two thousand civilians, to use a carriage to pull three thousand stones of grain to Jilin City.

Since Zhu Gaoxu opened the mountain road from Jilin to Changchun, the journey that once took half a month now only takes ten days.

During these ten days, Zheng Gongzhi and Wu Gao need to wait quietly for Zhu Gaoxu's actions after receiving the order to decide how to deal with him.

They were waiting, and Zhu Di, who was in Beiping City, also got news from the south through the note Xu sent when delivering food.

"Old Twelve... set himself on fire?"

In the messy Cunxin Palace, when Zhu Di saw the note written on it, "The King of Xiang burned himself, and the four kings of Dai, Qi, Su, and Min were killed." He immediately thought of Zhu Di when he went south to pay homage to his father. Cypress.

How could such a person be forced to set himself on fire...

He was in a daze and no longer had the strength to break things.

Prince Palace Chief Shi Gecheng, who was secretly observing, also felt the silence of Cunxin Hall when passing by it. He tried to get closer, but was stopped by the guards.

"Ge Changshi, the princess has told you that no one is allowed to approach your highness, not even the prince or the third highness."

Two teams of guards stopped Ge Cheng, and Zhu Di, who was in the hall, also heard the sound outside the hall, and immediately started to pick up the broken table legs and smashed them against the doors and windows: "You have crippled Lao Wu! You will not die well!!"

The sound of smashing sounded again, and Ge Cheng was confused but did not dare to expose it. He could only return the favor with a smile, and then left the Cunxin Hall.

Soon after, he found the chief chef of the palace, where he met several chefs who were responsible for Zhu Di's daily diet, and asked about Zhu Di's diet these days.

The cooks looked at each other in confusion when they heard this, and finally said: "These days, the princess personally cooks and delivers it to His Highness."

"What about the food that was not collected? For example, the food that was knocked over?" Ge Cheng continued to ask.

"No, never..." The chef wanted to say something else, but suddenly he bowed to the kitchen door: "Your Majesty!"

Ge Cheng was startled and turned around quickly, and sure enough he saw Zhu Gaochi standing at the door of the kitchen.

"What are you talking about?" Zhu Gaochi looked at Ge Cheng who was inquiring about the news, feeling a little confused.

My father is already crazy, why do I need to pry for information?
"The official is just here to ask how His Highness King Yan is eating, whether he is eating regularly, and whether there are any signs of recovery."

"Since the Crown Prince is here, I will take my leave first."

Ge Cheng bowed and left, but Zhu Gaochi was confused. He looked at the steamer next to him, opened it and separated it with his sleeves, took out two meat buns, and told the cooks: "Prepare some food for me at Shizifu." ,I'm hungry."

"Yes..." The chefs agreed, and Zhu Gaochi also walked out with two meat buns.

After he walked away, the chefs said, "Didn't you just have lunch an hour ago?"

"Just do as you are told and don't say anything." The other chef shook his head and then started cooking according to Zhu Gaochi's favorite taste.

Amidst the sound of them preparing dishes, Ge Cheng left Prince Yan's Mansion, found the previous teahouse, and knocked on the door in a courtyard near the teahouse.

After a while, the door slowly opened and he walked in.

Inside, the man dressed like an old farmer stood in the courtyard, and Ge Cheng also turned around and said, "I feel something is wrong with King Yan."

"What's wrong?" The old farmer frowned when he heard this, and Ge Cheng also said: "Since King Yan went crazy, Princess Yan has cooked for him, but how can a madman eat every meal? There should be some Smashed food is the right thing.”

"I asked the chefs today, and they said they had never seen any food being swept out of the Cunxin Hall, and I have never seen it after recalling it."

"So you think King Yan is pretending to be crazy?" The old farmer reacted and narrowed his eyes at the same time: "I have to tell His Majesty first."

"No! We should directly tell the chief envoy to Peking, Zhang Bing, and the commander-in-chief, Xie Gui and Zhang Xin." Ge Cheng interrupted:

"If King Yan is really pretending to be crazy, then we should take action immediately."

"But the three guards of the Yan Mansion are still stationed outside Beiping City. Taking action rashly may cause a counterattack." The old farmer shook his head: "You and I can't make the decision in this matter, so we still have to tell His Majesty."

"Then hurry up!" Ge Cheng shook his head after hearing this, and then left the yard.

After a while, the carrier pigeon was also released from the yard, and this scene was seen by the teahouse manager. He asked the waiter to inform the ascetic monk of Qingshou Temple.

The ascetic monk conveyed the news to Yao Guangxiao. After hearing the words, Yao Guangxiao got up and walked from Qingshou Temple to Prince Yan's Mansion.

After rushing to Prince Yan's Mansion, he was summoned by Mrs. Xu not long after, but this time there was one more person in the front palace.

"Princess, this..."

Yao Guangxiao looked at Zhu Gaochi who appeared in the hall and hesitated to speak.

Seeing this, Mrs. Xu also motioned for him to sit down, and then said: "Gao Chi guessed it, so there is no need to hide it from him."

"I see..." Yao Guangxiao nodded and sat down. He was not surprised that Zhu Gaochi could guess that Zhu Di was pretending to be crazy. He was just curious about how Zhu Gaochi knew.

"May I ask how the prince knew that His Highness was pretending to be ill?"

Yao Guangxiao had a hunch that Zhu Gaochi's knowledge of this matter might be related to Ge Cheng.

"I went to the big chef to ask the chef to cook, and I happened to meet the chef there asking the chefs whether my father's food had been cleaned."

"After he asked me about it, I figured out that with my father's temperament, if it was my mother's cooking, he would definitely finish it, but a really crazy person would not, so I guessed that my father was pretending to be crazy."

Zhu Gaochi explained how he knew everything, while feeling very uneasy.

After knowing that Zhu Di was pretending to be crazy, he roughly guessed that his father might be plotting something big.

"Sure enough..." Yao Guangxiao sighed, and then talked to the two about Ge Cheng's rebellion.

When the two heard this, their hearts tightened. Xu said nervously: "Do you want to advance?"

"Absolutely, but the princess and the prince don't have to worry." Yao Guangxiao said calmly: "Even if we don't take action, His Highness the Second Highness will do it, and judging from the news that the poor monk has learned, the time when the imperial court will take action against His Highness is probably "This month or two"

Yao Guangxiao's words made Mrs. Xu stand up nervously, and Zhu Gaochi also muttered absentmindedly: "Did Gao Xu participate too..."

　"Records of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty": "In April of the first year of Jianwen, Lord Jianwen transferred him to the throne, and Gongzhi conspired to eliminate him, but he was not investigated."

　　"Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty": "In April, he sincerely rebelled against Jianwenjun and became seriously ill."

　　
　
(End of this chapter)