Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 93 Prudence
"Use the small to make a big difference, and you should inspire morale. Use the big to fight the small, and be vigilant..."

In the early morning of the [-]th, as the catchy sound of reading rang out, three figures appeared in a small courtyard of Fujun Qianweifang.

If you look carefully, you can see that the three people in the courtyard are Zhu Gaoxu, Yang Zhan, and Wang Xuan.

At this moment, Yang Zhan and Wang Xuan were studying a notebook given to them by Zhu Gaoxu, while Zhu Gaoxu himself was sitting on a stone bench in the courtyard, frowning, as if something was bothering him.

Yang Zhan was more delicate, because after sensing something was wrong, he hit Wang Xuan with his elbow and motioned him to look at Zhu Gaoxu.

Although Wang Xuan reacted slowly, he looked over at Yang Zhan's reminder.

The two of them walked to Zhu Gaoxu's side while they were reading. Finally, Yang Zhan sat down with a playful smile: "Your Highness, what troubles you encountered?"

"Yeah..." Wang Xuan was stupid and couldn't speak, so he could only echo.

Facing the two people who came to him early in the morning, it was difficult for Zhu Gaoxu to reveal the issues he had discussed with Feng Sheng yesterday.

Right now, he is still too weak and cannot even protect the people he wants to protect.

How could such a weak person involve two people with no background?

Lao Zhu would hesitate again and again if he wanted to kill Fu Youde and Feng Sheng, but he would not hesitate to kill two sons of one thousand or one hundred households.

"It's okay..." Zhu Gaoxu forced out a smile and patted the two of them on the back:
"You should read the book carefully and memorize everything I have written so that you can guard the border for the Ming Dynasty when you return."

"This..." After hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words, Wang Xuan and Yang Zhan looked at each other, showing a bit of embarrassment. Finally, the thick-skinned Yang Zhan spoke:
"Your Highness, we don't want to go back, we want to go north with you."

"No!" Zhu Gaoxu flatly refused. Such a reaction made Yang Zhan and Wang Xuan feel cold.

Looking at their expressions, Zhu Gaoxu also knew that his words were a bit hurtful, so he could only change his words to comfort:

"I won't let you follow me because Beilu is wearing a lot of armor, and I'm not sure I can fight him. I don't want you two to bleed needlessly."

"Besides, you went to the north. With your current skills, you are just a small flag officer and soldier. How can you help me?"

Zhu Gaoxu patted the two of them: "If you sincerely help me, you will go to Yunnan and Chongming for training first. If you become a thousand households in the future, I will transfer you two to the north without you having to ask."

"Besides, if you stay in the south and build achievements, you can also say a few words for me in the south."

He meant what he said and couldn't tolerate the disbelief of Yang Zhan and Wang Xuan.

When the two saw this, they could only nod their heads to express their willingness to stay in the south.

Seeing the two men nodding, Zhu Gaoxu also breathed a sigh of relief.

"By the way, Your Highness." Wang Xuan suddenly scratched the back of his head and said with a naive smile:
"Thanks to your blessing, my father was transferred to the Golden Tooth Guard and put under the command of the Golden Tooth Guard."

gold teeth...

Hearing Wang Xuan's words, Zhu Gaoxu immediately reacted: "It seems that the people below have found gold and silver mines in northwest Yunnan, but I don't know how many places they have found."

Zhu Gaoxu pondered for a moment, then raised his head and said to Wang Xuan: "Remember to write a letter to your father and ask him to guard Jin Teeth."

"Yes!" Wang Xuan nodded vigorously. As a child of a military household in Yunnan, he knew the situation of Jin Teeth better than Zhu Gaoxu.

The Golden Teeth Guard is located at the westernmost end of the guard post under the jurisdiction of Yunnan Dusi. It was an important guard post to ensure the security of western Yunnan during the Hongwu period.

The local army was mainly composed of former garrison soldiers and immigrants from other places in the early Ming Dynasty. In the following four major cases, a large number of criminal officials and civilians were successively admitted, so that the local army exceeded the standards of the normal guards. Quantity and very difficult to manage.

In the past, this place was not a good place, but after the discovery of gold and silver mines in northwest Yunnan, the importance of the Golden Tooth Guard became self-evident.

If this place is managed well, the amount of gold and silver produced every year will be a real achievement, so Zhu Gaoxu specially told Wang Xuan:

"I will write a book for you in a few days. You and your father follow the instructions above. I think it won't take long to take control of the place."

Zhu Gaoxu did not dare to speak out his method directly, but was prepared to use the method suggested by the content in the book to hint.

Wang Xuan might not understand those contents, but his father would certainly understand and would find it difficult to refuse.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu breathed a sigh of relief, but Yang Zhan next to him also hugged Wang Xuan tightly and bowed with a smile:

"I also have to thank Your Highness. If it hadn't been for you, I'm afraid my father wouldn't have been able to become a Qianhu official in this life."

"My uncle appointed your father the official of Qianhu?" Zhu Gaoxu asked knowingly, and Yang Zhan nodded in response:

"Half a month ago, my father was awarded the title of Dai Qianhu of the East China Sea by Wei Guogong. He has [-] sailors and ten large ships under his command."

Yang Zhan knew very well that without Zhu Gaoxu's recommendation, it would be impossible for Wei Guogong to know that his father was a little person, so he was very grateful to Zhu Gaoxu.

Looking at his appearance, Zhu Gaoxu also patted his hand: "Just ask your father to cooperate with Yang Wen in encircling and suppressing the Japanese pirates. If you can take over the command afterwards, it won't be a shame for me."

"Don't worry, Your Highness, I will go to the ship after my exams and work with my father to clean up the Japanese pirates for Your Highness!" What Yang Zhan said here was to clean up the Japanese pirates for Zhu Gaoxu. Those words were a bit excessive, but fortunately he said it in a low voice, so it should be Will not be heard by outsiders.

"There is no need to say such things in the future. Be careful, walls have ears." Zhu Gaoxu did not look around, but looked at Yang Zhan and explained seriously.

Yang Zhan did not dare to neglect and nodded immediately.

"Your Highness, won't you enter the Wuying Palace today?"

Wang Xuan glanced at the time and changed the topic, but Zhu Gaoxu shook his head:
"Last night someone from the palace sent a message saying that today His Majesty is taking his grandson and my three brothers to the great church, and there is no need for me to follow them."

Zhu Gaoxu said this, but he was also very confused about why Zhu Yuanzhang would not let him go.

Is it possible that the eldest son of the third family has entered the palace and his second son becomes redundant?

Zhu Gaoxu unconsciously tightened the tea cup in his hand, and the same question also sounded on the road in the outer city more than ten miles away...

"Grandpa, why don't you let Gao Xu come today? If Gao Xu comes, you should be able to see the skills he has learned recently, right?"

In the fields outside the city, when the imperial leopard guards pulled out a long line, the four carriages being guarded became the focus of much attention.

In the large carriage, Zhu Yunwen, who was sitting upright, was processing the memorial and casually asked Lao Zhu.

Contrary to his upright posture, Lao Zhu leaned on his chair and closed his eyes to relax.

After Zhu Yunwen asked the question, Lao Zhu closed his eyes and said calmly: "That boy's ability in marching and fighting has already distanced himself from you. If you ask him to come, he will take the limelight alone."

Zhu Yuanzhang's words were all for Zhu Yunwen's face, but Zhu Yunwen didn't care about his face during the march.

He always believed that he was the future emperor, and the achievements of his generals were all due to himself.

Therefore, he not only hopes that Zhu Gaoxu will come, but also wants to use Zhu Gaoxu to sow discord between the three houses.

"Haha, if Gao Xu can perform brilliantly, it will be a blessing to me, the Ming Dynasty. It will be better if he takes the limelight. Then the world will know that my Zhu family has another tiger."

Zhu Yunwen said with a smile, then lowered his head to deal with the memorial.

Just the moment he lowered his head, Zhu Yuanzhang opened his eyes slightly and glanced in his direction.

With just one glance, he seemed to see through Zhu Yunwen's little thoughts, and his face couldn't help but show a bit of exhaustion.

Since he passed the age of 65, he has felt that his health is deteriorating, and he is usually worried that he will not live until the day when Zhu Yunwen can stabilize the court.

Of course, apart from Zhu Yunwen, he was most worried about Jin Wang Zhu Fan, the third son of his family, who was far away in Shanxi.

Zhu Fan's fight for the throne was something he never expected.

When Zhu Biao was still alive, Zhu Fan often wrote to Zhu Biao, telling his sincere words that he suppressed Qin Wang Zhu Cang, Yan Wang Zhu Di, and Zhou Wang Zhu Ji for Zhu Biao.

It has to be said that with Shanxi's position, it is indeed in a condescending position towards the Qin, Yan, and Zhou vassals, so he also has the capital to say such things.

When Zhu Biao was alive, neither Zhu Biao nor Zhu Yuanzhang thought that Zhu Fan would compete for the throne.

Even after Zhu Biao passed away, Zhu Yuanzhang never thought that Zhu Fan would skip his second son Zhu Chong to compete for the heirloom, but it turned out that this thing did happen.

Zhu Fan's attitude made Zhu Yuanzhang a little suspicious of some of his sons.

He is now worried about Zhu Yunwen's attitude towards his uncles, and also worried about his uncles' attitude towards him.

It's just that this worry often slows down after he recalls Daming's strength.

"There are millions of elites in the world, and even if some of my sons are ambitious, it's hard to make any waves..."

Zhu Yuanzhang complied, and at this time the motorcade successfully entered the cathedral.

In the large teaching ground, tens of thousands of soldiers who were transferred to perform martial arts were waiting in formation. Zhu Yuanzhang looked out the window and looked at the forest of guns, feeling very satisfied.

He closed his eyes again and said at the same time:

"Today we will have a rest at the cathedral for the night. Tomorrow you, Gao Chi and the others will review the troops and horses at dawn."

"Yes..." Zhu Yunwen raised his head and responded, then continued to lower his head and concentrated on processing the memorial.

Not long after, Zhu Yuanzhang's cavalry stopped in front of the troops, and then he led Zhu Gaochi and others to begin a brief review of the troops.

Just when they were reviewing the army, there was a knock on a courtyard door.

"Tuk Tuk..."

"Your Highness, I have brought my brothers to see you."

In the Fujun Qianweifang, when a familiar voice sounded at the door, Zhu Gaoxu, who was chatting with Yang Zhan and others, also motioned to Yang Zhan to open the door.

Upon seeing this, Yang Zhan quickly stood up and opened the door, and Zhu Gaoxu also stood up curiously and turned around.

"Your Highness Chitose..."

At the gate of the courtyard, when Yang Zhan opened the door, Wang Jian, named Baihu, named Xu, appeared in front of him with more than ten brothers wearing short brown clothes.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu in the courtyard, they also bowed one after another.

"You are here!"

Seeing Wang Jian, Zhu Gaoxu's face was filled with a smile, and then he walked forward to welcome them one by one, and at the same time said:
"Come in, don't stand stupidly at the door." "Lin Wuliu, Wu Zhangyi and you guys go to the backyard to carry the table, and Fan Guang and you three brothers go to prepare the dishes."

"Wang Jian, take Li Si and others to buy ten kilograms of rice wine. The food will be delivered later."

Zhu Gaoxu had a photographic memory. He remembered the faces and names of every brother in the Xu family, and greeted them one by one without any burden.

Such a move made the brothers from hundreds of households with the name Xu who came to eat very excited. After all, in their opinion, being able to remember the name and appearance of a future prince like Zhu Gaoxu was not a treat that everyone could have.

Amid the greetings, they poured into the small courtyard.

Fortunately, the front yard of the small courtyard is big enough, otherwise it would not be able to accommodate the 17 people inside and outside.

With their help, three folding round tables were carried out from the backyard, washed with well water and placed in the front yard. They also filled up the horse feed that Chi Huan was about to finish.

In just a quarter of an hour, the dishes, tables and chairs were all washed, and Wang Jian also took people out to buy ten kilograms of wine.

"Your Highness, the rice wine is gone. We brothers bought ten jins of gold basins of dew."

Wang Jian showed off and picked up the wine jar in his hand. Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu also smiled and said: "You are willing to give up."

Jinpen Dew is a medicinal wine from Chuzhou Prefecture in Zhejiang Province. It is made from ginger juice and fermented rice. Drinking this wine in autumn and winter can prevent wind and cold from entering the body.

However, as famous as it is its price, Zhu Gaoxu remembered that the price of this wine was sixty cents per catty, which means that ten catties of wine cost six hundred cents.

Such an expense is not a small expense for Wang Jian, an official with a hundred households whose official salary is only thirty or forty guan.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu did not directly give him money. Instead, he walked back to the house and took out two ounces of money and threw it to Wang Jian: "This golden basin has not enough dew to drink. Buy another twenty pounds. If you can't finish it, drink it next time." .”

"Okay!" Wang Jian didn't think much, took the money and took the two of them out.

Half a quarter of an hour after they left, two young men came to the gate of the restaurant where Zhu Gaoxu often ate, carrying four octagonal eight-story food boxes.

Zhu Gaoxu greeted the brothers in the courtyard to serve the food, and at the same time threw a small amount of money to the two young men, about a few tens of fen, which made the two of them grinning and grinning, and they quickly followed to help.

Without much effort, ten dishes were placed on each of the three tables, including chicken, duck, beef, sheep, fish, shrimp and vegetables. Each table cost several hundred yuan, so the restaurant also gave away ten kilograms of rice wine.

Before leaving, the two young men told Zhu Gaoxu that he had spent seventy-eight dollars of the money he had saved in the restaurant.

Zhu Gaoxu was also unambiguous and asked Yang Zhan to go back to the house and take out ten coins for the two of them.

The heavy copper coins made the two young men's eyes shine. After thanking them, they took the money and left the yard.

It happened that Wang Jian and the others also came back with wine at this time, and Zhu Gaoxu invited everyone to sit down and eat.

Wang Jian also wanted to return the remaining 700 yuan to Zhu Gaoxu, but Zhu Gaoxu used the excuse that "next time the wine is not enough, I need you to buy it."

After a while, everyone sat down. The three tables were filled with food and wine. On the stone table next to it was a large wooden steaming barrel, with more than [-] kilograms of rice cooked for everyone to eat.

Seeing that everyone was seated, Zhu Gaoxu also picked up the pottery bowl filled with wine, stood up and greeted:

"Although I, Zhu Gaoxu, am a member of the clan, I am no different from my brothers."

"Since I entered the capital, I have been able to get where I am today thanks to the care of all my brothers. I will drink this bowl of wine first!"

"it is good!"

After that, Zhu Gaoxu drank the dew from the golden basin in one gulp, which attracted a round of cheers.

When he finished drinking it, he realized that the taste of the golden basin dew was not much different from that of ginger soup. Although there was alcohol, it was only four to five degrees at best.

"Your Highness! I respect you!"

"Me too!"

"And me!"

"Me too..."

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu finish drinking, the brothers from the Xu family, led by Wang Jian, stood up and toasted Zhu Gaoxu. Wang Xuan and Yang Zhan also stood up with smiles.

Everyone picked up the wine bowl and drank it all in one gulp, then sat down amidst Zhu Gaoxu's greeting and began to eat meat and drink wine.

It was not uncommon for military households during the Hongwu period to eat meat and drink wine. However, such a sumptuous banquet could only be tasted during the holidays, so even though everyone was chatting, their movements did not slow down.

The meal that had been prepared since Chenshi was finally eaten at three quarters of Chenshi, and it took a whole day to eat.

At noon, Zhu Gaoxu asked Lin Wuliu and others to go to the restaurant to add food, and seemed to want to eat with everyone until dark.

After Lin Wuliu went out, Zhu Gaoxu sat down drunk, with a smile on his face.

Looking at the lively scene in front of him, he couldn't help but think of some things from his previous life.

However, compared to the meal before he was discharged from the army in his previous life, the meal he had this time was somewhat 'dirty'.

Zhu Gaoxu picked up a bowl of wine and started drinking with Yang Zhan and others, while constantly laughing at himself in his mind.

He invited Wang Jian and others to dinner, naturally not just for the sake of eating, but to enhance everyone's emotions and achieve his own goal.

In the future, when he wants to go north, he can't do it without his own direct lineage and team.

Yang Zhan and Wang Xuan were young and had not experienced war, but Wang Jian and his brothers from Baihu, named Xu, were all elites. Both in size and physique, they were much stronger than ordinary guardsmen.

If Zhu Gaoxu can persuade most of the people from Xu Zi Baihu to go north with him when he goes north in the future, then he can definitely expand his army by one thousand with the 100 people from Xu Zi Baihu.

He wanted to avoid relying on the power of the Yan government as much as possible and avoid his father Zhu Di placing men in his army, so he could only rely on external forces, especially small people like Wang Jian.

Liu Bang became Emperor Taizu Gao of the Han Dynasty with the land of a hundred miles in Peixian County, and Lao Zhu became Emperor Taizu Gao of the Ming Dynasty with the land of Huaixi...

He, Zhu Gaoxu, does not require a founding team. As long as he has a provincial team, he can gradually realize his plan.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu, who was drunk, happily joined the chat with Wang Jian and others.

They had a lot of jokes when chatting, no less than later generations, and even the games at the drinking table were full of strange things.

By the time Lin Wuliu came back, they had already started playing horns.

Although Zhu Gaoxu was young, he was the strongest and tallest among them all. Even if three or five people stepped forward to wrestle with him continuously during the fight, they were easily thrown to the ground by him.

The one who fell laughed, and the one who was thrown also admitted defeat and stood up with a smile.

At this moment, this small courtyard seemed to be the happiest courtyard in the Fujun Qianweifang.

If the sound of the dusk drum hadn't interrupted everyone, I'm afraid they would still be playing around.

After Zhu Gaoxu got drunk, he was sent to the bedroom to rest by Yang Zhan. He and Wang Xuan paid attention to their drinking capacity, so in the end they were the only two who were still sober.

Yang Zhan asked Wang Xuan to go to the Yulin Zuoweifang to call other brothers of the Baihu family named Xu who had something to do, and returned to the Fujun Qianweifang before the dusk drum beat the Baitong.

More than ten people cleaned up, and then called a few donkey carts, dragging the drunken Wang Jian and others back to Yulin Zuoweifang.

When Zhu Gaoxu woke up late at night and got up, he didn't feel a headache, but felt refreshed.

He turned over and caused a noise, and Yang Zhan's voice immediately sounded outside the bedroom: "Your Highness, are you awake?"

"Wake up!" Zhu Gaoxu replied, and saw fire appearing outside the house.

Before he could put on his shoes and get up, Yang Zhan put on his middle coat and coat and opened the bedroom door.

He held a lantern and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Zhu Gaoxu looking refreshed. At the same time, he explained:
"You were drunk last time. Lao Wang and I have taken care of the things in the courtyard."

"In addition, someone came to the palace at Hai hour last night and said that His Majesty, the Grandson and others stayed at the cathedral all night last night, so I will give you a day off today."

"Good news..." Zhu Gaoxu breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that Lao Zhu had given him another day off. He stood up and walked out of the yard with Yang Zhan. After drawing some well water to moisten his throat, he raised his head and glanced at the night.

Seeing his actions, Yang Zhan also said: "It is now the fourth quarter of the Yin hour, and in four quarters of an hour it will be the Mao hour."

"Mao Shi..." Zhu Gaoxu stretched out and smelled the smell of alcohol on his body again, so he couldn't help but walk to the kitchen.

But as soon as he walked into the kitchen, he saw a pot of smoky but calm warm water in the kitchen.

"I know that Your Highness, you need to wash up after getting up, so I have prepared it early."

Yang Zhang opened his mouth to answer the question, but then he smiled and said: "The brothers from hundreds of households with the name Xu who came to help today also said that the place where you live, Your Highness, does not meet your status at all, and there are not even a few maids."

"I don't really need those..." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head. He didn't think it was time for him to enjoy happiness.

There is not much time left for him by Lao Zhu. From now on, it will only be less than four and a half years.

It is still too difficult for Zhu Gaoxu to recruit a team to join Jingnan in four and a half years. Even he is not sure whether he can do it.

"Go back and rest." Zhu Gaoxu saw the blood in Yang Zhan's eyes and patted him to signal him to rest.

Yang Zhan didn't show any politeness. After Zuoyi explained something, he left the kitchen and went to sleep in the penthouse.

After he left, Zhu Gaoxu also went back to the house to get clean clothes, put warm water and well water in buckets, and carried them to the bathhouse in the backyard.

A quarter of an hour later, he returned to the bedroom with his wet hair, ready to wait for it to dry before pulling it into a bun.

Having lived alone for half a year, he has long been familiar with these life skills, which is why he did not choose to find a maid.

Of course, the reason why he didn't find a maid was because he didn't trust outsiders.

Yang Zhan and Wang Xuan were the people he was looking for in the military camp. At that time, Lao Zhu was unlikely to notice him, so they were relatively safe.

But since he returned to the inner city, he felt that everyone around him was related to Jin Yiwei.

There are many secrets in him, and now is not the time to find a personal person.

(End of this chapter)