Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 88 Jin Mansion is in trouble
"Dang...dang...dang..."

In the early morning, with the ebb and flow of the Yangtze River, July [-]th arrived as scheduled.

As usual, people go about their daily lives and work after the morning bell rings. The difference is that today there are many Gongsheng students who get up early on the streets.

In the past, it was rare to see a few Gongsheng students in the inner city, but now they were heading to the outer city in groups, and their target was the large teaching field located in the south of the city.

After spending two hours, many tribute students arrived as scheduled, and in front of them were the emperor, grandson, and a young man they were not familiar with sitting on the high platform.

"That's a lot..."

On the high platform, Zhu Gaoxu, who was wearing a scarlet round-neck robe, looked down at the tens of thousands of Gongsheng students below, feeling a little longing in his heart.

In the Hongwu Dynasty after the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the literacy rate of the people could be said to be extremely low. Zhu Gaoxu understood better than anyone what the tens of thousands of literate Gongsheng students represented.

No matter which dynasty or generation these tens of thousands of tribute students are thrown into, or even into later generations, they are still extremely talented and learned people.

If they could be deployed in a province, it would probably greatly promote local humanistic education.

"Boom-"

While Zhu Gaoxu was in his reverie, the sound of drums in the cathedral brought him back to reality, and Zhu Yuanzhang also stood up.

He walked to the high platform, stood and spoke word by word to tens of thousands of tribute students: "Farming is the source of food and clothing, and the source of people's livelihood."

"Nowadays, there are droughts and floods all over the world, so we must be prepared..."

As Zhu Yuanzhang spoke, more than a hundred powerful men under the high platform spoke in unison. These people were all trained people who could read lips and could convey Zhu Yuanzhang's original words to the ears of all the Gongsheng students in the great teaching field.

Because of such people, Zhu Yuanzhang could continue talking with confidence:

"Every time I order someone to repair water conservancy projects, some of them fail to do so in a timely manner, causing the people to suffer."

"Today, I will send you to various counties and counties to gather the officials and people to spend time with each other during the farm break."

"Any weir in Pitang Lake that can be saved to prepare for drought relief and to prevent rains should be repaired and repaired according to the terrain, and we should not irritate our people by building construction services."

After Zhu Yuanzhang finished speaking, the words were conveyed by the powerful man, and then many people in the cathedral bowed and shouted: "Long live."

Behind Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth slightly at this moment, with a bit of astonishment on his face.

He never expected that Zhu Yuanzhang would send tens of thousands of tribute students to local areas just to help local people build water conservancy projects such as the Pitang Lake Weir.

Such an approach seemed to many people to be a huge waste, but Zhu Gaoxu knew very well that if Zhu Yuanzhang did not do this, the north and the south would only become more and more separated.

He could see the situation in the north from the memory of his predecessor. Since the battle areas between the Red Scarf Army and the Yuan Army were mainly in the north, the infrastructure construction in provinces except Shandong and Shanxi was almost zero.

Even among wealthy households, the gap between the north and the south is huge.

There is one thing in the memory of his predecessor that Zhu Gaoxu remembers very clearly.

At that time, Hejian Prefecture in Beiping wanted to build a twelve-mile canal. Logically speaking, it could be built only by wealthy households providing money and food, the government sending officials, and civilians sending corvees.

If such a canal is built, more than [-] acres of cultivated land in Hejian Prefecture will benefit.

However, even the rich households in Hejian Mansion couldn't come up with such a sum of money and food, so the yamen had no choice but to go to Prince Yan's Mansion to find his cheap dad to get the money.

In comparison, if a canal of more than ten miles is built in the Jiangnan area, there is no need to trouble the rich households in the county. Only the rich households in the towns can raise funds to build it, and the poor farmers in the fields will also benefit from it. These rich households are called "good people".

Comparing things like this is enough to see the gap between the north and the south, and this gap will only continue to grow with time.

The help of water conservancy construction to agriculture is self-evident. If Zhu Yuanzhang sent tens of thousands of tribute students to the north, and then sent money and grain to build canals, tens of millions of people in the north would benefit, slowly narrowing the gap between the north and the south.

Similarly, if these tens of thousands of tribute students stay in the south for construction, the overall strength of the south will also rise to a higher level.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but look around. Looking at the group of civil servants he didn't know, he felt quite emotional:
"No one dares to stand up and share a piece of the pie for Jiangnan in such a beneficial thing. It seems that my grandfather is really afraid of killing them..."

While Zhu Gaoxu was sighing with emotion, he couldn't help but cast his eyes on Zhu Yuanzhang in front of him. After finishing everything, Zhu Yuanzhang said "flatten", then turned around and walked back to his seat to sit down.

"Wang Gongbu, Yuhubu!"

"The minister is..."

After Zhu Yuanzhang sat down, he called out the two of them, and Zhu Gaoxu also took the opportunity to look at them.

Having been with Wuying Palace for a long time, he naturally knew the two civil servants who came forward.

Wang Jun, the Minister of Industry, and Yu Xin, the Minister of Hubu, are the important persons in charge of this decentralization of Gongsheng students.

Among them, Wang Jun was just going through the motions, because he is now sixty-five years old, and it is expected that he will become an official in these two years.

On the other hand, Yu Xin, who was in his forties, attracted Zhu Gaoxu's attention.

Yu Xin is now in his forties. He was the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs who took office last year. He was also a political talent who managed internal funds for the royal family in the Ministry of Household Affairs in his early years.

In the early Ming Dynasty, household officials had always been the hardest hit by corruption, but if Zhu Gaoxu remembered correctly, this phenomenon would end after Yu Xin took office.

During his tenure, Yu Xin sorted out and improved Hongwu's finances in the later period. He stayed in office for 13 consecutive years and managed the household department in an orderly manner. The three emperors who came to power during this period did not worry about money and food issues.

Because of his excessive talent, when he died, Zhu Di even felt that no one could take his place and cried bitterly.

If Yu Xin had not brought out Xia Yuanji, it would have been difficult for Zhu Di to achieve the feat of conquering the South and the North and going to the Western Ocean.

"It's a pity that I can't use it..."

Looking at Yu Xin, Zhu Gaoxu was a little envious of Lao Zhu.

Although he is good at mathematics and good at financial management, he cannot fight with his left hand and manage politics with his right hand, with both feet on finances.

Therefore, he must find someone who can help him stabilize his rear and be good at financial management.

It's a pity that the three capable ministers he admired have all been awarded high positions by Lao Zhu, and now he can only look back and sigh.

"There must be no mistakes in allocating money and food, and sending corvee servants and Gongsheng from various prefectures and counties to build the weir of Pitang Lake."

Sitting on his seat, Zhu Yuanzhang gave an order to Yu and Xin, and the two of them bowed five times and kowtowed three times without thinking to express their acceptance of the order.

Looking at them, Zhu Gaoxu was very curious about how much these tens of thousands of tribute students could bring to the Ming Dynasty.

"Boom...boom...boom..."

Time flies, and an hour has passed in the blink of an eye.

The Gongsheng students in the large teaching field each led two soldiers to serve as guards and took away the sealed envelope prepared by the Ministry of Revenue.

In addition to the seal, the package also contained ten tolls for Gongsheng's journey to various places.

With this package and two guards, tens of thousands of tribute students began to rush to the world, and their departure also meant that Zhu Gaoxu's affairs in the palace for today were over.

"Pull over!"

The eunuch accompanying him sang the salute loudly, and Zhu Yuanzhang also stood up and walked off the platform. However, this time Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Gaoxu did not follow closely, but bowed to each other:

"Has Brother Xu received any gifts?"

Zhu Yun smiled sincerely, and Zhu Gaoxu quickly bowed in return.

After he returned home yesterday after solving Zhu Gaosui's matter, he found a team of people waiting at the door of his house, carrying five boxes of things on their shoulders.

To be honest, when Zhu Gaoxu learned that these things were sent by Zhu Yunwen, his first reaction was "Isn't this guy Zhu Yunwen also time travel?"

This suspicion reached its peak after he took five boxes of things back home and opened them one by one.

There were twenty pieces of satin in each of the five boxes, including but not limited to expensive plain satin, dark damask satin, woven gold satin, two-color satin, woven gold damask satin, and cloud satin.

Secondly, there are twenty pieces of silk, such as Yun silk, Yunshu silk, Zhuhua silk, Zhijin silk, Zhijin Zhenhua silk, All over gold girl skirt silk, etc.

After that, there are 120 pieces of Luo, silk, velvet, brocade, etc., totaling [-] pieces of high-grade materials.

Compared with these materials, the two hundred coins in the last box seemed insignificant.

If these sixty pieces of materials were all sold, the money that Zhu Gaoxu would get would probably be no less than a thousand dollars.

Taken together, that's one thousand two hundred coins.

Even if Zhu Gaoxu became a county king in the future, he would still need to live without food and drink for two and a half years to be able to save so much money.

Zhu Yunwen suddenly gave him such a generous gift, so it's not surprising that Zhu Gaoxu would suspect that he had traveled through time.

But from today's point of view, Zhu Yunwen's appearance has not changed. It is obvious that he has overthought it.

However, when he thought of the pile of things at home, Zhu Gaoxu still shied away with lingering fear:

"The things that elder brother gave me are too luxurious, how can I afford it..."

"Haha, it doesn't hurt to keep it for use." Zhu Yunwen heard Zhu Gaoxu's thoughts and quickly helped him up without giving him a chance to speak again, and said with a smile:

"There are still government affairs in the Wuying Palace, so I will follow the emperor to handle the affairs first."

"Brother, it's a good time for me to go to the Duke's Mansion to learn my skills so that I can guard the border for the Ming Dynasty in the future."

After that, Zhu Yunwen let go of Zhu Gaoxu's hand and followed Zhu Yuanzhang who had gone away without looking back, leaving only Zhu Gaoxu alone.

Seeing him leaving, Zhu Gaoxu turned around and looked at his back with confusion.

The words "To be courteous for nothing is to be either a traitor or a thief" appeared in his mind, but when he thought of his identity, he felt calm.

"Even if he wants to use me now, he can't use me for anything. Why am I trying to scare myself?"

Pulling his sleeves, Zhu Gaoxu calmed down. To be honest, he was not willing to return the pile of things.

If that pile of things is sold to support the army in the future, it can buy four thousand dan of grain or more than two hundred sets of Mingjia, which will be of many uses.

If Lao Zhu asks, he can just give it back.But thinking about Lao Zhu's information, he probably knew where these things were as soon as they left the East Palace. Since he didn't remind himself today, he probably didn't take them to heart.

After calming down, Zhu Gaoxu walked off the high platform and rode Chi Huan to the Duke Ying's mansion.

He wanted to see Yang Zhan and Wang Xuan again, but when he thought that they had met yesterday, he did not stay to exchange greetings.

"drive!"

The young man rode north, and in just half an hour he returned to the inner city via Zhengyang Gate, heading towards the Duke Ying's Mansion.

In just two quarters of an hour, he arrived at Duke Ying's residence, but at this time, the atmosphere in Duke Ying's residence seemed to be a little wrong.

When he came to the mansion and unloaded Chi Huan's saddle with the groom, the groom also looked around carefully, and then reminded Zhu Gaoxu: "Your Highness, the Duke is not in a good mood today."

"Huh?" After hearing what the groom said, Zhu Gaoxu was stunned and subconsciously looked in the direction of the martial arts field.

After a while, after he added fodder and water to Chi Huan, he walked to the back room where he was reading.

Along the way, all the guards of the Duke's Mansion lowered their heads and acted cautiously, for fear of offending Fu Youde, who was unhappy.

Zhu Gaoxu was very confused about this and felt a little uneasy. He couldn't help but want to ask Fu Zhong what happened.

It's a pity that even after he entered the reverse room, he still didn't see Fu Zhong.

Helpless, he could only try to calm down, picked up Fu Youde's collection of books and continued to read.

But no matter how he looked at it, there was always an uneasy feeling in his heart, as if something was about to happen.

"I told my little sister not to help deliver messages, but she insists on helping!"

"Stop talking, don't you want others to hear it? Think about what you should do first!"

In the backyard of Duke Ying's mansion, an angry voice sounded, followed closely by Fu Zhong's voice.

The voice came from Fu Youde's study. In the study at this moment, Fu Youde was frowning and saying nothing. In front of him, Fu Zhong could still sit on the chair on the left, but his youngest son Fu Rang was sitting there. Walking back and forth, he was obviously very angry about something.

The reason why the three of them were like this was because people from the Jin Palace came to visit again, but this time they learned the lesson from last time and did not send people directly. Instead, they sent Fu Youde's youngest daughter, the personal bodyguard of the Jin Dynasty's concubine Fu. The maid came to deliver a message.

The content of the message was not much, it was just that Jin King Zhu Fan wanted to know whether Fu Youde could support him.

The matter of the King of Jin's fight for the heir has long been rumored, and the reason why he dared to do so was because in the "Lanyu Case", Zhu Fan personally solved the nobles and military attachés of the Blue Jade Party entrenched in Shanxi.

Afterwards, Zhu Yuanzhang handed over the troops and horses of these people to Zhu Fan's control. As a result, Zhu Fan's military power was now far greater than that of Zhu Di and Zhu Quan who checked and balanced him.

After gaining military power, Zhu Fan kept the adult Jin Crown Prince Zhu Jixi in Nanjing, constantly increasing his presence around Zhu Yuanzhang, and obviously did not take Zhu Yunwen seriously.

It is precisely because of his various actions that Zhu Yunwen is hostile to him, and it is particularly difficult for Lao Zhu to be caught in the middle.

It was impossible for him to kill Zhu Fan's lineage, because they were his children and grandchildren, but it was even more impossible for him to leave Zhu Fan alone.

The reason why Zhu Fan thought he could control Shanxi's soldiers and horses was, to put it bluntly, all because his in-law Fu Youde had been in Shanxi for a long time. Fu Youde was known to more than [-] soldiers and horses along Shanxi.

If Fu Youde nods to support Zhu Fan now, then Zhu Fan can seize the shortcoming that Zhu Yuanzhang will not kill him, and at the same time wave the flag in Shanxi and Jiangnan to fight for the reserve.

While Zhu Yuanzhang was alive, he did not dare to do anything else, but if Zhu Yuanzhang died, he would have to discuss the throne with his great nephew in Nanjing.

Zhu Yuanzhang understood his thoughts, Zhu Yunwen understood them, and Fu Youde understood them even better.

It is precisely because of Zhu Fan's actions to fight for the heir apparent that Fu Youde is currently in a dilemma.

Faced with this situation, what can Fu Youde do?
Zhu Yuanzhang would not kill his own son, but he could kill the people his son relied on.

Fu Youde is the person Zhu Fan relies on.

"We still have to tell His Majesty about this matter. If we don't, then we will really..."

Fu Zhong sat in his seat and expressed his opinion in a heavy tone, but he did not dare to say it completely because that would be a bit unlucky.

"I'm going to find Your Majesty now!"

Fu Rang on the side heard this and immediately prepared to go to the palace to find Zhu Yuanzhang, but before he could walk out of the study, he heard a voice coming from behind him.

"Slow down!" Fu Youde interrupted Fu Rang's actions, and Fu Rang turned back in confusion:

"Dad, this matter is too late, our family can just..."

"I know!" Fu Youde interrupted Fu Rang again and closed his eyes in pain:

"If you say this, your little sister's life will be at risk..."

"..." After hearing Fu Youde's words, Fu Rang and Fu Zhong's expressions immediately turned ugly.

Yes, the emperor will not kill his children and grandchildren, but what about his own little sister who has no blood relationship and no heirs?
She knows everything and is the one who acts as a mouthpiece. Unless she dies, who can guarantee that she will not continue to spread the word next time?

"Then what should we do..." Fu Rang seemed to have had all his strength taken away from him. After walking a few steps, he slumped down and sat down next to Fu Zhong.

Looking at his appearance, Fu Youde pondered for a few seconds, then raised his head and looked out the window: "Let the boy in the front yard say it, but he needs to change his words..."

"Let Gao Xu speak?" Fu Zhong clenched his fists, with worry on his face:
"Although Gao Xu has been close to us recently, Yan and Jin have been at odds for a long time. There is no guarantee that he will not add fuel to the fire in order to attack the Jin government."

"That kid is not that kind of person." Fu Youde gave a firm answer and called to Fu Rang: "Calculate the time and he should be here. Go to the front yard and ask him to come over."

"Me?" Fu Rang looked ugly, but he still stood up and walked out of the study after sighing.

Fu Youde's arrangement made Fu Zhong very uneasy. Although he got along well with Zhu Gaoxu these days, he still did not dare to leave such a life-related matter in his hands.

But compared to him, Fu Youde is much more confident.

"Father..." Fu Zhong calmed down for a long time, and then couldn't help but say:

"We can all be contacted by my little sister, then Marquis Yongping and Marquis Dingyuan..."

"..." After hearing his son's words, Fu Youde didn't have much expression on his face. Perhaps he had already thought of his two friends.

The eldest daughter of Yongping Marquis Xie Cheng is the concubine of King Zhu Fan of Jin. If the King of Jin succeeds in his bid for the throne, the benefits he can obtain will be greater than his current status, and he may not be granted the title of Duke.

As for Dingyuan Marquis Wang Bi, the founding general who cleared the lakes, Hunan, Fujian and Zhejiang, flattened the Youyan Pass, first entered southern Sichuan and western Yunnan, and swept away the sea of ​​​​fish, he is also inextricably linked to the old Zhu family.

King Zhu Zhen of Chu was his son-in-law, and soldiers from Yunnan, Shanxi and other places knew him well.

If the two of them and Fu Youde responded to Zhu Fan, even Zhu Yuanzhang would feel a headache, but it would just be a headache.

Zhu Yuanzhang can deal with them, but it does not mean that Zhu Yunwen can deal with them.

"We'll wait until the Third Highness comes. Your Majesty will definitely not attack them while I'm here."

Fu Youde knew very well that if Zhu Yuanzhang really wanted him to die, he would definitely issue a sudden decree to kill him, or hint to him that he would never kill Wang Bi and Xie Cheng first to arouse the enemy.

"Father..." Looking at Fu Youde's old face, Fu Zhong couldn't help but say:
"After all, you have created such a huge empire for His Majesty. Besides, you are nearly seventy years old. Why does Your Majesty..."

Fu Zhong couldn't finish his words because Fu Youde raised his hand to interrupt him.

Although he was old, Fu Youde's thoughts were still very clear. He sighed:

"Some things are not that he wants to do it, but that he has to do it. Any other person would probably do such a thing. The only blame is that I coveted royal in-laws back then, thinking that this would bring happiness to my descendants. Who would Can you imagine..."

After this period of reflection when teaching Zhu Gaoxu, Fu Youde has gone from blindly blaming Zhu Yuanzhang at the beginning to gradually understanding him.

Now he doesn't blame Zhu Yuanzhang, but given the current situation, these veterans are not much different in age from Zhu Yuanzhang, and their bodies are stronger than Zhu Yuanzhang himself.

Even if the person on the dragon chair is not Zhu Yuanzhang, I am afraid that someone else would not be able to tolerate the founding minister below and the vassal king. What's more, since the death of the prince, the vassal king has always been like a peacock with its wings spread, asking questions. Sifang showed his desire to compete for reserves.

"If the late prince does not die, alas..."

Fu Zhong sighed, as if he felt that it was useless to talk about it now. Zhu Biao had been dead for two years, and everything was a foregone conclusion.

Perhaps their fate had already been decided when Zhu Fan sent them the news.

Thinking of this, Fu Zhong's nose felt sour, and he knelt in front of Fu Youde, bowed five times and kowtowed three times.

He knelt down and touched the ground with his head. With tears in his eyes, he said hoarsely: "If His Majesty really wants you to die, I will never live!"

"Absurd!" Fu Youde got angry after hearing this, got up and kicked Fu Zhong.

Fu Zhong didn't expect that his father would kick him. He was stunned for a moment and just raised his head to look at the tall Fu Youde.

Fu Youde's eyes widened, and his big beard looked like a mountain tiger, which brought a great sense of oppression to Fu Zhong.

"I don't have that kind of useless son. The children of the Fu family will either die of old age or die on my horse!"

Fu Youde's words are far-fetched, because right now he cannot guarantee that he will die.

As if thinking of this, Fu Youde was suddenly discouraged. After sitting back in his seat, his face was a little embarrassed.

Fu Zhong also came to his senses after a moment, slowly stood up and tidied his clothes, then raised his hands and bowed deeply to his father.

Seeing his appearance, Fu Youde also lost his temper. He looked at the door of the study, as if waiting for Zhu Gaoxu's arrival. At the same time, he told Fu Zhong as if he was giving instructions on his deathbed:

"If His Majesty really wants to take that step, you don't have to worry about your own safety."

"Your identity and that boy from the Yan Mansion, no matter what, can save the life of the manor, and nothing will happen to you."

"Gao Xu?" Fu Zhong was stunned. He thought that his identity as consort could save his life, but he never expected that Zhu Gao Xu would be the savior of their entire family.

He couldn't help but turn around and look towards the door of the study.

Coincidentally, at this time, Zhu Gaoxu was led into the courtyard of the study room by Fu Rang, who was confused, and looked at Fu Youde and Fu Zhong...

(End of this chapter)