Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 99 Thinking behind closed doors
"Your Highness!"

At the gate of Jiangdong, when the officials from hundreds of households saw Li Zhong and Zhang Guang in armor escorting Zhu Gaoxu back to the city gate, he quickly stepped forward to greet them with a bow.

Zhu Gaoxu nodded when he saw this, and then took out a small sling of money from his arms, tried it with his fingertips, and visually estimated that there were dozens of coins.

"Thank you for your hard work. Please treat the brothers in the office to a drink."

He threw the small piece of money to Li Zhong. Li Zhong didn't seem to think about it. He hurriedly took the money and finally accidentally dropped the money on the ground.

He bent down to pick it up, and when he looked up again, he only heard the sound of farewell from his officials and the sound of horse hooves receding.

When he came to his senses completely, Zhu Gaoxu had already rode Chi Huan into the corridor of Jiangdong Gate, and his figure gradually disappeared.

"Okay! I'm just saying that this job must be profitable. After classes are over this year, you two will buy ten kilograms of rice wine for the brothers to drink."

Baihuguan patted Li Zhong on the shoulder with a smile, and Zhang Guang next to him also smiled and bowed. Only Li Zhong was still stunned, looking at the direction in which Zhu Gaoxu disappeared for a long time, refusing to come back to his senses.

"what are you looking?"

Baihuguan patted Li Zhong on the shoulder hard, looked back and curled his lips and said: "Don't look at it, we will only see such a person a few times in our lifetime."

After saying that, he motioned for Li Zhong and the others to follow.

After following him, Zhang Guang couldn't help but said: "People like His Highness, what do you think they do every day?"

"What else can I do? Of course I want to learn the art of war and strategy." Baihuguan said with a smile, but he didn't know that the Second Highness he was talking about was walking fast on the same road at the moment.

The sound of horse hooves was very conspicuous on the street, and the people passing by were looking at Zhu Gaoxu and Chi Huan.

After they finally got out of the market town inside Jiangdong Gate, Zhu Gaoxu shook the reins of his horse and rode with Chi Huan towards Qingliang Gate.

As the sun was rising, there were already many farmers working in the fields on both sides of the road outside the city.

They looked at Zhu Gaoxu with his bright clothes and angry horse with envy. When he walked away, they could only lower their heads and look at themselves with their feet stuck in the mud.

In just two quarters of an hour, Zhu Gaoxu arrived at Qingliang Gate, and after briefly showing his token, he rode into the inner city.

Different from the east and south of the inner city, Qingliang Gate in the west of the city can see Qingliang Mountain not far ahead as soon as you enter the city.

There are many people coming and going on the mountain road, including pilgrims going up the mountain and small vendors carrying burdens on both sides of the stone road at the mountain gate.

Zhu Gaoxu came to the entrance of the stone road and got off his horse. He led Chi Huan and walked back and forth on both sides of the stone road. He bought some Jiangnan snacks that were common in the early Ming Dynasty, such as tea soup, fire buns, glutinous rice cakes, and milk skins.

Speaking of which, there is a big difference between the Jiangnan snacks in the early Ming Dynasty and the Jiangnan snacks in later generations. However, no matter how this difference changes, the preference for sweet food and raw fish is still the unchanging custom in Jiangnan.

Most of the sweet snacks in the early Ming Dynasty came to the court after emerging from the folk. Milk and sucrose were poured into the pastry. The shape is very similar to abalone, so it was named "Bone Abalone" and it became famous as a sweet snack in Jiangnan. snack.

It doesn't taste greasy, but has a slight milky sweetness, similar to a yogurt cone.

If you are thirsty after eating too much, there are vendors selling drinks on wooden carts who will specially recommend it.

For example, Zhu Gaoxu was stopped by a vendor and opened the cover of the wooden cart.

"Would you like something to drink? I have thirsty water, Sushan, and five-color drink here..."

As the vendor introduced, he opened the wooden board to reveal more than twenty small bamboo tubes inside, as well as a wooden bucket of ice cubes and a bucket of fruit next to it.

When he saw the ice cubes, Zhu Gaoxu was not surprised. After all, ice cellars have been among the people since the Tang and Song Dynasties.

In the city of Nanjing, some business-minded people will spend a lot of money to build an ice house underground at home, then filter the water from the Qinhuai River in winter, put it into ice making equipment, and wait overnight to get hundreds of dollars. Kilograms of ice.

They put the ice cubes in ice houses and sell them at a high price next summer.

"What's there?" Zhu Gaoxu asked, looking at the twenty-odd bamboo tubes, and the young vendor introduced them one by one with a smile.

"Thirsty water" is the name of the drink. Adding the name of the fruit to the thirsty water is the drink, which is equivalent to orange juice, lemon juice, apple juice and other fruit and vegetable drinks in later generations.

As for "Sushan", it is a smoothie. Just like thirsty water, the fruit pulp is added by the vendor after adding the name of the fruit, and mixed with milk and honey to make a fruit smoothie.

Five-color drinks are flower and fruit teas with various spices, fragrant flowers, and fragrant fruits as ingredients. In short, there are many kinds, which dazzled everyone like Zhu Gaoxu.

This beverage vendor alone told Zhu Gaoxu how long the history of Han people's beverages was and how many types they had.

"Let's have some 'sugar, mung bean, licorice, ice and snow cold water'."

Zhu Gaoxu picked the one with the longest name, and the vendor laughed when he heard it: "This thirsty water is enough for the last portion. I made the right choice."

As he spoke, he moved his hands skillfully, and soon handed a drink in a bamboo tube to Zhu Gaoxu, and handed Zhu Gaoxu a bamboo straw as thick as chopsticks.

Zhu Gaoxu took a sip out of curiosity. It tasted similar to mung bean soup, with a bit more herbal flavor, but it was not unpleasant to drink, but rather refreshing.

"How much money?"

Zhu Gaoxu took a sip and was satisfied and prepared to pay. When the merchant saw this, he also smiled and bowed: "I promise you to take care of the business. I will charge you three coins. If you have any treasure notes, I will only ask for nine coins."

"Bao banknotes?" Zhu Gaoxu paused in taking out the money. He didn't expect that the vendor would actually ask for the treasure banknotes, and he only wanted five treasure banknotes.

If he remembered correctly, when he exchanged copper coins a few months ago, the usual treasure banknotes could only be exchanged for three hundred coins, which was ten to three. But now the nine coins treasure banknotes can actually be worth three coins, which is almost close. Ten to four.

"How come the price of this treasure banknote rises so fast?"

Zhu Gaoxu slowly took out three pennies from his arms and handed it over. The vendor didn't think much and explained:
"Now the Susong Prefecture and the Second Prefecture use banknotes to deduct taxes. A regular banknote can cover the same amount of tax. Therefore, wealthy merchants in the two prefectures have offered a high price of [-] yuan to buy the treasured banknotes."

"It's not yet time to pay the autumn tax. It is estimated that by that time, the price of these treasure banknotes will continue to rise. Therefore, the small merchants and hawkers doing business recently are trying to collect treasure banknotes as much as possible to sell them to Su Song's second mansion. peddler."

After the hawker finished speaking, he bowed to Zhu Gaoxu again and then continued to sell with his wooden cart.

Zhu Gaoxu stood there and looked at his back, unable to help but fall into deep thought.

He came up with the idea of ​​using banknotes to offset taxes. Naturally, he knew that this method could slowly bring the value of the banknotes back to their original face value.

But the problem is that in his assumption, such a rebound will take several years or even ten years, instead of the [-]% to [-]% rebound in just a few months like today.

Even if Su Song's Second Mansion accounts for one-tenth of the world's tax revenue, logically speaking, such an increase will not occur. After all, there is no electronic communication equipment in this era, and the only way to spread the news is through people.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu lowered his head and took a sip of his drink, then led Chi Huan out of Qingliangshan Market.

After that, he visited several popular markets in Nanjing, and without exception, he heard the sound of vendors collecting precious notes.

Such voices did not exist in the past. After all, the people in Jiangnan resisted Baoqian not just for a day or two, but for more than ten years.

"Even if the imperial court adds fuel to the flames, it would be difficult to create such a situation. I'm afraid this matter is not that simple..."

Zhu Gaoxu stood on the street, looked at the bustling crowd, took a sip of his drink, then got on his horse and hurried back home.

While he was rushing home frantically, Zhu Yuanzhang in the Wuying Palace was also frowning while holding a memorial, and the reviewer of the memorial was standing at a loss.

Opposite him, Zhu Yunwen lowered his head while reviewing the memorials, while Zhu Shangbing and Zhu Jixi raised their heads from time to time and paid attention to him with playful eyes.

Needless to say, this person is naturally Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Gaojiu's good brother.

"After reviewing this memorial, is it possible that you didn't find any problems?"

Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a moment and then raised his head to question Zhu Gaochi. Upon hearing this, Zhu Gaochi quickly bowed: "Grandpa Huang, there are some textual errors in the memorial."

"Since you know, why don't you reject it?" Zhu Yuanzhang frowned: "Did you ignore it?"

"This..." Zhu Gaochi bowed and responded: "Sun'er feels that the memorial should not be dismissed because of this small mistake."

"Moreover, most of these memorials were submitted to military generals. Many of them were illiterate in their early years and only learned to write in recent years."

"Sun'er believes that if civil servants make such mistakes, they should be punished, but military generals do not need to be so harsh, as long as the memorial can accurately convey military information."

Zhu Gaochi's words did have his own insights. Zhu Yuanzhang did not speak in a hurry, but asked him: "During the Tang Yao and Shang Tang periods, floods and droughts broke out all year round. So what can the people rely on to survive the disaster?"

His change of topic made Zhu Gaochi a little flustered, but Zhu Gaochi still gave the answer after thinking about it: "Sun'er believes that the people in the Tang Dynasty, Yao and Shang Tang, were able to survive the disaster because the wise monarch had good policies to care for the people."

"If there were no sage monarchs to provide these policies, the people would just be displaced and their bodies would be exposed in the wilderness."

"Well..." Zhu Yuanzhang stroked his beard with a smile on his face, seeming to be very happy with Zhu Gaochi's insights.

He turned to look at Zhu Yunwen, who had always lowered his head, and commended him: "Yunwen, your brother has the sense of a gentleman."

Although Zhu Yunwen did not raise his head, he had been paying attention to the conversation between the two. Therefore, when he heard Zhu Yuanzhang opening his mouth to commend him, he also had an idea, slowly put down his pen, and then bowed and said:
"What grandpa said is true. Gao Chi, like Gao Xu, is the future official of the imperial court."

For a moment, there was silence, and everyone in the hall looked at Zhu Yunwen in surprise, and their eyes seemed to ask him why he mentioned Zhu Gaoxu at this time.

You must know that Zhu Gaoxu contradicted the emperor just yesterday. Even if he was the emperor's grandson, he could not make the emperor calm down in one day.

"Humph!" Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly and said nothing more.

"My grandson is unscrupulous in his words. Please forgive me, grandpa..."

When Zhu Yunwen saw this move, his face was frightened. He quickly stood up and bowed to apologize, but he was very happy in his heart.

What Zhu Gaoxu can think of, he can naturally think of.

Since last night, Zhu Yunwen had suspected that Zhu Gaoxu's remarks did not touch his grandfather at all, and the reason why his grandfather did not take action was simple, that is, he did not want to kill Fu Youde and Feng Sheng.

Zhu Gaoxu's remarks only gave his grandfather an excuse to stop. Therefore, his grandfather did not blame Zhu Gaoxu, but was very happy in his heart.In order to test his idea, Zhu Yunwen specifically mentioned Zhu Gaoxu. Unfortunately, he did not see any happiness on his grandfather's face, only anger.

"As the grandson of the emperor, in order to help outsiders come to criticize me, does he think he can talk nonsense just because he is my grandson!"

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly converged his eyes and glanced at the people in the hall with a gloomy look. For a moment, everyone was like a light on their backs and did not dare to move.

In this situation, even Zhu Yunwen, the instigator, felt the pressure and couldn't help but lower his head.

"Grandpa, calm down!"

At the critical moment, Zhu Gaochi hurriedly walked out and knelt down. After bowing five times and three times, he buried his face on the back of his hands and explained to Zhu Gaoxu:
"Gao Xu is still young, and sometimes he offends Grandpa Huang with his unscrupulous words. Please calm down Grandpa Huang..."

His voice became smaller and smaller, and it was obvious that he was also afraid of Zhu Yuanzhang at this moment.

But if he is afraid, he can stand up and explain to Zhu Gaoxu, which makes people lament his feelings for Zhu Gaoxu.

But even though he had done this, Zhu Yuanzhang still did not calm down. Instead, he glanced at Zhu Gaochi and told the eunuch beside him in a very calm tone:

"I have been given an oral order that Yan Erzixu shall be confined to his house in front of the wall for three months and shall not see anyone."

"Instruct Sheng Yong, the commander of Yu Lin's left guard, to send someone to protect him and be responsible for three meals a day."

Every time he said these words, Zhu Gaochi couldn't help but tremble a little, and finally he shook into a sieve.

"The emperor..."

"Let's all take a lunch break!"

After Zhu Yuanzhang finished speaking, Zhu Gaochi wanted to say something more, but Zhu Yuanzhang announced his lunch break before he could speak. At the same time, he stood up and walked out of the hall. The surrounding eunuchs, Zhu Yunwen and others could only perform a bowing ceremony to see him off.

After he left, two eunuchs came forward to help Zhu Gaochi. He was already sweating profusely at this moment, and he was almost carried back to his position by the two eunuchs.

Looking at his appearance, Zhu Shangbing and Zhu Jixi couldn't help but feel a little sad, but Zhu Yunwen's attention was not on him at all, he just frowned and recalled his grandfather's actions just now.

After thinking about it, he glanced sideways at the eunuch on duty at Wuying Palace: "You do as grandpa said, and ask the people below not to be too harsh."

Yishiha, who was standing in the hall, saw Zhu Yunwen's order and bowed in return without haste: "I accept your order..."

Afterwards, Yi Shiha walked out of Wuying Hall.

But compared to the calmness inside the palace, he looked a little worried when he walked out of the palace.

With this worry, he found an eunuch he trusted, took off his belt and handed it to him, and relayed the emperor's punishment to Zhu Gaoxu.

The young eunuch had never met Zhu Gaoxu, so he just regarded it as an ordinary errand. He took the badge and turned around to prepare to mobilize troops at the left guard of Yulin.

"Wait!" Seeing that he was about to leave, Yishiha gritted his teeth and grabbed his arm after much thought.

"What's the matter, Brother Yi?" The little eunuch turned around with a puzzled expression, and the next second he saw Yi Shiha repeating to him seriously:

"Remember, let the people below treat His Highness with respect. Maybe he will be able to get out of trouble in these few days."

"Yes!" The little eunuch thought this was the emperor's intention, and bowed in return with a smile to show that he had listened.

Afterwards, he stood up and walked out of the palace, while Yi Shiha looked at his back with a hint of helplessness on his face: "Your Highness, this slave can only do this..."

Since entering the palace, this was the first time that Yi Shiha had seen someone like Zhu Gaoxu, so naturally he didn't want him to suffer. This was why he had been helping in a secret way during this period.

Of course, his help was not without asking for anything in return, but the reward could not be obtained from Zhu Gaoxu for the time being.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Yi Shiha turned around and returned to Wuying Hall, and the young eunuch also took his token and headed to Yulin Zuoweifang.

In just half an hour, Yulin Left Guard Commander Sheng Yong saw the token of the eunuch on duty at Wuying Palace.

"His Majesty's oral order..."

The young eunuch, who was seventeen or eighteen years old, held the token and delivered the instructions, while General Yulin Zuowei, who was dressed in a mandarin duck war coat, knelt down to listen to the instructions.

What they were kneeling on was not Yi Shiha, nor the little eunuch, but the token of duty at Wuying Palace.

The eunuchs on duty at Wuying Palace rotated. Individual eunuchs had no power, but whoever got the token had the power to preach on behalf of the emperor.

Without this brand, they are nothing.

In the past, when eunuchs from the outer court came with tokens, the soldiers of Habayashi Zuowei would bow their heads and obey. However, after the content of the eunuch's instructions was announced, the people below couldn't help but look sideways at their colleagues around them.

The only one among them who was not affected was the commander Sheng Yong who was kneeling at the front.

"Your Majesty, please give me the order!"

Sheng Yong took the duty badge from Wuying Palace and led the generals to stand up slowly. When the young eunuch saw this, he also bowed and smiled and said:

"By the way, Commander Sheng, the palace has orally stated that it is only a ban, and nothing else is prohibited. If you want to send someone, it's best to send some people who are more polite, so as not to upset the person in the palace."

"I understand." Sheng Yong responded with a slight frown, thinking that the errands in the palace were as difficult as ever, and Zhu Gaoxu had to be grounded, so he could not be wronged.

It's a pity that no matter how difficult it is, Sheng Yong still has to arrange for someone to do it.

Thinking of this, he turned around and said to an ordinary figure in the crowd: "Wang Jian, the official of a hundred households!"

"Yes!" Wang Jian in the crowd subconsciously responded, and everyone looked at him after hearing the words.

At this time, Wang Jian's forehead was covered with fine sweat, and he was obviously frightened by this sudden command.

However, the generals could understand him. After all, Wang Jian was deeply cared for by the Second Highness of the Yan Mansion. Now that the Second Highness of the Yan Mansion was in trouble, it was naturally difficult for him to accept it.

Looking at Wang Jian, Sheng Yong said calmly: "Choose two Xiaoqi brothers from your office to take turns guarding the residence of the second son of the Yan family, Zixu. In addition, you will receive twenty guan of money from the Wei. Don't eat harshly. "

"Yes!" Wang Jian bowed with sweat on his forehead.

Sheng Yong was relieved when he agreed. After all, Zhu Gaoxu was benevolent to Wang Jian. If Wang Jian received money to guard Zhu Gaoxu, there would be no need to worry that he would deduct the money and food from the guards, let alone Zhu Gaoxu would be unhappy.

"Dismiss the class!"

"Yes!"

Sheng Yong shouted loudly, but the generals responded loudly as usual, and then dispersed, all busy with their own affairs.

However, the young eunuch did not leave. He just walked into the main hall of the Yulin Zuowei Yamen and sat down. Apparently, he wanted to wait for Sheng Yong and Wang Jian to settle the matter before receiving the order and returning to the palace to resume his orders.

Seeing this, Sheng Yong also glanced at Wang Jian and reminded in a low voice: "Go back quickly."

"Yes..." Wang Jian looked ugly, but he still bowed and bowed, then turned around and went to the backyard of the Yamen to collect money and food.

Not long after, he carried the cloth bag containing twenty coins and walked out of the Yamen. When he reached the door and was about to go out, he did not forget to look back at the courtyard, and left nervously after receiving Sheng Yong's nod of permission.

Half an hour after he left, a hundred brothers with two flags and a name of Xu, wearing armor and holding long and short soldiers, gathered on the streets of Yulin Zuoweifang.

At this moment, they didn't know what was going on, they just thought they were going out to patrol the streets.

None of them spoke, but looked curiously at Wang Jian, who was walking towards them with his iron armor in his arms.

Despite their gazes, Wang Jian also walked up to them and said with an embarrassed look on his face: "Brothers..."

Wang Jian quickly conveyed the oral instructions from the palace to his brothers named Xu Baihu, but they immediately exploded when they heard that he was going to guard their own "Zhu Baihu".

"That's right! How could such a wise person like His Highness be grounded?!"

"Yes! Was it that the oral edict was transmitted incorrectly, and that the Jin Mansion and the Zhou Mansion were mistakenly transmitted to the Yan Mansion?"

"There must be a mistake. His Majesty's preference for the Second Highness has been spread for a long time. How could he be willing to ban the Second Highness!"

"Boss, please go and ask..."

As expected by Wang Jian, when the brothers of Baihu, named Xu, heard that they were going to guard Zhu Gaoxu, they immediately exploded.

Among them, two junior flag officers, such as Lin Wuliu and Wu Zhangyi, looked in disbelief and couldn't help but utter doubts. The other brothers were even more indignant.

However, in the face of their doubts, Wang Jian could only show the token of Yulin Zuowei Yamen and said solemnly:
"I also hope that the transmission was wrong, but I heard clearly at the time that the people in the palace were talking about His Highness..."

As if he was worried that his brothers would be upset, Wang Jian added: "But you can rest assured. People in the palace also said that this is temporary. I think His Highness will be fine in a few days."

"It's better for us to go on this errand than for others to do it. At least we won't be harsh on His Highness."

As soon as Wang Jian said his words, the people below gradually calmed down, and Lin Wuliu and Wu Zhangyi also looked at each other and said:
"Just leave this matter to the two of us."

"Okay..." Wang Jian was a little tired. He looked at Liangqi's brothers and said, "Don't tell the other brothers about this, so as not to make them feel uncomfortable."

"If other brothers ask, just tell me that you have arranged a street patrol, and you all should be stricter."

Wang Jian glanced at Wu Zhangyi and Lin Wuliu, and said to them: "A, Xiaoqi, will go back to rest first, and Du Gu will go to change shifts. B, Xiaoqi officer Lin Wuliu and the soldiers in the banner will go with me to the residence of His Highness the Second Highness. "

"Yes..." Although they agreed, the brothers of the two banners all showed signs of fatigue. Wu Zhangyi and others even returned to the alley dejectedly, as if they had lost a battle.

Seeing them leave, Wang Jian could only bite the bullet and take Lin Wuliu to the front guard square of the government army, but their steps seemed very heavy...

(End of this chapter)