Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 38 Duke’s Mansion of Song Dynasty
"Boom...boom...boom..."

On the evening of the fourth day of May, when the evening drum began to sound, Zhu Gaoxu, who had packed everything, also put on his armor and saber, tied on his military badge and went out.

As soon as he went out, he happened to encounter the dolls next door playing at the door.

They looked at Zhu Gaoxu, who was wearing armor, with expressions of envy on their faces.

Zhu Gaoxu smiled at them, and then walked towards the Yulin Left Guard's station.

West Chang'an Street is full of civil servants and military officers returning home from work. When they pass by and see Zhu Gaoxu, they will bow from a distance.

Obviously, although Zhu Gaoxu had never met them, they already knew his identity and appearance.

"In this city of Nanjing, which is connected in all directions, no one can keep any secrets."

Looking at the officials coming and going who already knew his identity, Zhu Gaoxu could only turn a blind eye and continue on his way.

But what he didn't expect was that when he was halfway there, he saw Wang Jian leading his brothers from Baihu, named Xu, walking towards him.

"What happened?"

Seeing them gathering early, Zhu Gaoxu trotted up to Wang Jian to ask, thinking something big had happened.

"Back to Your Highness, the brothers gathered in advance, so I had no choice but to give the order to set off."

Wang Jian bowed respectfully, and the soldiers behind him also bowed and saluted when they saw Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't know whether this was Wang Jian's excuse or the brother of Xu Zibaihu volunteered. In short, he glanced at everyone:
"In the future, we will gather at a certain time and be on duty at a certain time."

After he finished speaking, he also walked to the side of the team and led the team to the Song Dynasty Duke's Mansion together with Wang Jian.

During this period, Wang Jian did not show any timidity. It was obvious that this early gathering was not arranged by him.

With the answer in his mind, Zhu Gaoxu lost his temper and quietly led the team on their way.

Along the way, they saw almost no civilians. It seemed that except for Mao hour when the city gates opened every morning, there were no civilians near the imperial city.

A moat almost isolates the common people and officials from where they work. Except for when the city gate is open at Mao hour, they will take advantage of it. At other times, they can only stay in their own one-third of an acre of land.

"Screw rustle..."

At this moment, the sky was already dusk, and the sun was gradually setting behind the city wall. The soldiers of Xuzi Baihu continued to advance towards the Song Dynasty Duke's Mansion, and they could also meet other soldiers of the Twelve Guards on the way.

Often when they met, the generals with the highest official positions on both sides would look at each other and say hello with a slight chin.

At the end of the day, Zhu Gaoxu could no longer see any officials. The broad street was empty except for night watch soldiers who were separated by a hundred steps.

The Duke's Mansion of the Song Dynasty and the Duke of Ying's Mansion were not far apart, so before the sky turned completely dark, Zhu Gaoxu brought his brother Xu Zibaihu to the Song Dynasty Duke's Mansion and exchanged the bronze medal with the Geng Zibaihu on duty.

Soon, Xuzi Baihu took over the periphery of the Duke of Song's Mansion, and Zhu Gaoxu also stepped into the Duke of Song's Mansion.

Song Guogong Feng Sheng, as the only general who made a lot of gains during the three-way Northern Expedition of the Ming Army Wang Baobao in the fifth year of Hongwu, he can be said to be the twin presence of the Ming Dynasty alongside Fu Youde.

He has no children, only one biological daughter, one adopted daughter, and his nephew Feng Cheng.

Although he has no heirs, Feng Sheng's daughter, nephews, nieces, and grandnieces all have a close relationship with the Zhu family.

Feng Sheng's two daughters were married to Zheng Guogong Chang Mao (Chang Yuchunzi) and Zhou Wang Zhu Ji respectively, while his niece married Mu Ying, who had died of illness, and gave birth to the current Xiping Hou Muchun, his grandnephew. The daughter married King Zhu Song of Han.In other words, Feng Sheng's two sons-in-law are Chang Mao and Zhu Rui, and his nephew-in-law and grand-nephew are Muchun and Han Song respectively.

Although the son-in-law Chang Mao has passed away, and the Chang family was involved in the Lan Yu case and was deprived of their title, the power of the Feng family still exists.

Zhu Gaoxu was arranged to rest in the back-seat room in the front yard, and here, he could also feel the quality of the servants in the Duke of Song Dynasty.

Although they were unarmored, their quality was not inferior to that of the Habayashi left guards who practiced every other day, and their night patrols were quite organized.

Zhu Gaoxu inquired before coming and found that compared with Fu Youde's status as a demoted general, Feng's background was not bad.

Feng Sheng and his brother Feng Guoyong were powerful in the late Yuan Dynasty, and they formed a stronghold to protect themselves after encountering war.

At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang had only a few thousand soldiers and horses, but the Feng brothers led hundreds of people to defect to Zhu Yuanzhang. It is not an exaggeration to say that they were primitive stocks.

Not only that, Feng Sheng's brother Feng Guoyong also suggested that Zhu Yuanzhang attack Jining (Nanjing) as the capital. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang also listened to his suggestion.

It seems that the Feng brothers are indeed loyal to Zhu Yuanzhang, but the bad thing is that they already had their own men before they defected to Zhu Yuanzhang, and after Zhu Yuanzhang made a surprise attack on Hengshan Stream, hundreds of people under the Feng brothers also got Got promoted.

Some of these people died in battle in the future, and some survived, received promotions, and commanded more troops.

This situation did not awaken Zhu Yuanzhang until Feng Guoyong's death.

Feng Guoyong's former subordinates are already in high positions, and their troops have become the tribe of the Feng brothers.

This situation was the first that Zhu Yuanzhang had ever encountered.

He handed Feng Guoyong's song to Feng Sheng. In fact, he also knew that he could not conduct the song.

In the days that followed, Zhu Gaoxu didn't know what Zhu Yuanzhang did. In short, the Feng brothers' tribe finally dispersed, leaving only the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty.

Originally, Zhu Yuanzhang was relieved of Feng Sheng, but Zhu Gaoxu's good fifth uncle ran from Kaifeng to Fengyang privately, and met Feng Sheng there in private.

Feng Sheng's in-law influence has spread all over the Central Plains, Yunnan, northwest and other places. If Zhu Yu intends to stand on his own a hundred years after Zhu Yuanzhang, the consequences will probably be greater than the threat of Jin Wang Zhu Fan and Fu Youde.

"The situation in the early Ming Dynasty was more complicated than I thought..."

Zhu Gaoxu looked at the heavily guarded Song Guogong Mansion. While sighing in his heart, he couldn't help but secretly curse his good uncles.

If they stay on their own terms, even if the in-laws of nobles and feudal lords form a huge group, Zhu Yuanzhang may not take action.

As a result, most of them are not only cruel, but also restless.

In the end, none of them died, but a large number of nobles who were in-laws with them died.

Zhu Gaoxu found out that among the nobles who were married to vassal kings and county princes, only a few people such as Xu Da, Wu Liang, and Tang He died well. Others such as Lan Yu, Cao Xing and others were involved in the Lan Yu case. In the middle, he was killed, and his descendants were either killed or exiled.

Except for Lan Yu who directly blocked Zhu Yunwen's path, the others were all because of Zhu Gaoxu's group of good uncles.

"Fortunately, I have no feelings for them..."

Zhu Gaoxu looked at the Duke of Song's Mansion in the dark night, with a trace of contempt in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)