The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Chapter 254 The old thief of King Chu
"The thieves broke through the Hanchuan River. There are still natural dangers in Jianghan. The king also has the responsibility to defend the land. Why did he run away after hearing the news?"

After hearing this, Zhu Huakui asked hesitantly: "Can Wuchang Mansion really be defended?"

Xu Xueyan said with great certainty: "There are many defeated troops and refugees outside Jiangxia City today. As long as the king is willing to fund the recruitment of troops and assist in the defense, we will definitely be able to stop the traitors in Jiangbei!"

Zhu Huakui sat on the golden dragon chair, tapping the armrests with his fingers, thinking.

Zhu Huakui has a fair and rosy complexion and a full head of black hair (hair dyed in the Ming Dynasty), but has obvious wrinkles and a gray beard.

This Ming Dynasty King Chu is already 70 years old!

Succession to the throne of Chu for 60 years!
Unlike Zhu Yiming, the old king of Xiang who is equally old but has no reputation, King Zhu Huakui of Chu can be said to be a typical example of a villain who is rich and long-lived!

He was persuaded by Xu Xueyan at this time. Naturally, he did not really feel that he had the responsibility to protect the land. The main reason was that he was reluctant to part with the tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land and numerous assets of the Chu Palace.Moreover, even if it is gold, silver and jewelry, he may not be able to take much with him if he flees in a hurry.

Moreover, the Yangtze River is known as a natural danger. He felt that it would be difficult for the thieves to cross the Yangtze River, and they would have to waste a lot of effort. At that time, it would not be too late for him to run away.

After thinking for a while, he said: "I will trust you just once - go and withdraw 5000 taels of silver and recruit troops."

Xu Xueyan's expression froze after hearing this and said, "Only 5000 taels of silver?"

Zhu Huakui was angry, "What does 'talent' mean? Isn't 5000 taels of silver enough? This is a matter for the local officials. If I am willing to give out 5000 taels of silver, it is already generous!"

When Xu Xueyan saw it, he knew that it would be difficult to get more money from Zhu Huakui.Considering that the recruitment of soldiers was urgent, I planned to use the 5000 taels of silver first, and then try to ask Zhu Huakui for it later.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Huakui said again: "These soldiers are recruited to protect our Prince Chu's Mansion. You should lead them. Don't let the local officials get their hands on them. Well, let's just call them 'Chu Mansion Soldiers'."

Xu Xueyan was even more speechless.

But he understood that if Zhu Huakui didn't care about this matter, he wouldn't even be able to get the 5000 taels of silver. He could only nod and said: "I will remember it."

Xu Xueyan withdrew 5000 taels of silver from the palace and asked for an additional [-] shi of grain, then went to recruit troops outside Jiangxia City.

A few days ago, many defeated officers and soldiers came from Jiangbei, as well as some young and strong refugees.

Xu Xueyan believed that now that the Yi army had arrived at Hanchuan and was about to attack Hanyang and Jiangxia, he had only recruited soldiers and had only a few days to train them, so recruiting defeated troops became the best option.

Little did he know that some of the defeated troops were disguised by the Shengjie Guards of the Wei tribe...

In the Ming Dynasty, there were many government yamen in Jiangxia, such as the bureau yamen of the provincial government, the yamen of tixuedao, the government yamen, the government school, the county government, and the county school.

In addition, after the fall of Jiangbei, some officials fled here, and many officials gathered here.

Among these people, the main one was Wang Yangji, who participated in the political affairs of the branch. The prefect Wang Weiping and the general magistrate Li Yuying were the deputy. After receiving the news that Hanchuan was captured by the Yi army, they discussed matters in the government office.

Let’s first discuss whether it is possible for the Yi army to cross the river and attack Wuchang.

Let’s discuss how to defend Wuchang Prefecture if the Wei army crosses the river.

Finally, there was an argument about the allocation of money and food for troops.

A group of officials talked to each other for an hour, but no one discussed a specific plan to defend against the enemy.

At this time, one of Wang Weiping's personal followers came in and reported the news to him. His eyes suddenly lit up and he said to the officials: "Everyone, the Chief of the Chu vassal took money and grain and is recruiting defeated troops outside the city.

Instead of being thirsty here and arguing about the allocation of some money and food, it is better to ask the King of Chu to allocate some money and food to reward the soldiers and guard against the thieves. "

"That's right!" Wang Yangji (duplicate surname) was the first to agree, "In the past, the Chu vassal, together with the three vassals of Qin, Zhou and Shu, were known as the four most wealthy vassals in the world. Now that the traitors are coming, the King of Chu should do his part! "

Many officials in the Ming Dynasty believed that Zongfan was the biggest worm in the Ming Dynasty. They were proud of being able to harvest wool from Zongfan, so other officials also agreed with this matter.

All the officials immediately came to the Chu Palace together and asked Zhu Huakui to spend money and food to defend against the enemy.

After hearing this, Zhu Huakui said with a straight face: "I, the Prince of Chu, have to support more than 3000 clans and tens of thousands of servants. How can there be any extra money and food? Even though I have some savings from past dynasties, I have used them all when I paid tribute to the emperor many times in the past few years. .”

The officials were speechless after hearing this.

Li Yuying, the general judge, couldn't help but remind him: "My lord, what you said happened during the Wanli period. The Prince of Chu's palace has more than 2 hectares of fertile land, and he has control over the fishing courses of the Hebo Institute in Wuchang Prefecture. There are also countless shops and manors. Isn't this right? Will there be no money or food?" Zhu Huakui was exposed and became angry and shouted: "If I say no, I won't have it! Do you want me to take my family and move out of the Prince of Chu's Mansion, and you can come in and search?!"

After hearing this, the officials present fell silent.

But everyone was complaining in their hearts.

Driving the feudal lord's family out and running in and out to search for money and food, isn't this rebellion?How dare they.

In addition, this is not the first time that Zhu Huakui has used this trick - more than [-] years ago, before the famous "bang robbery case" broke out, Zhu Huakui had used this trick.

Therefore, although Wang Yangji and others did not dare to enter the palace to search, they did not believe that the palace of Prince Chu had no money.

At this time, the prefect Wang Weiping thought of a compromise.

"Your Majesty, now that the bandits are coming, we really need food to recruit soldiers and horses, strengthen the people, and reward the soldiers. How about this, how about you take part of the money and food and treat it as borrowed by the court from the Prince of Chu's Mansion?"

Zhu Huakui sneered after hearing this and thought to himself: Do you think this king is stupid?By lending money and food to you, doesn't it mean that the Prince of Chu's palace has money and food but is unwilling to help the officers and soldiers to defend against the enemy?
So he began to show off his 70-year-old acting skills.

"Why don't you believe it when I say that the Prince of Chu's Mansion has no money? During the Chenghua period, the Prince of Chu's Mansion had three fires in one month, almost burning it to the ground.

Later, King Wugang acted as agent for the palace affairs twice and embezzled a large amount of property from the Chu palace.

Therefore, although the Chu Prince's Mansion looks quite big and magnificent, there really aren't many valuable things inside.

The most valuable thing is the golden dragon chair under my butt that was gifted by Taizu - how about you move it to raise some military resources? "

Hearing this, Wang Yangji, Wang Weiping and others were completely speechless.

Who dares to touch the golden dragon chair given by Taizu?

As for saying that Prince Chu’s Mansion has no money, that’s a lie!

However, Zhu Huakui's performance made them understand that it was absolutely impossible to steal a piece of wool from Prince Chu's Mansion today.

So a group of people could only leave in dismay.

······
Chongzhen 14th year, October [-]th.

Liu Sheng led the Guards, the 12th, 18th, and [-]th brigades of the Standing Army, and three militia regiments, totaling more than [-] land and sea troops (some of the troops stayed behind in the captured cities, and were not satisfied with the numbers), left Hanchuan, and followed the Go down the Han River and go straight to Hanyang!
The waterway from Hanchuan to Hanyang is less than a hundred miles.

The army sailed down the river and arrived outside Hanyang City in half a day.

There are only more than [-] battalions in Hanyang City. Counting the rural soldiers, they only number [-], and their morale is extremely low.

Therefore, in just one hour, the Yi army defeated Hanyang City!
Fleeing officials and soldiers crossed the river to Jiangxia, bringing news of the fall of Hanyang City, causing panic among the officials and people of Jiangxia.

Because in order to encourage the people to help defend the city, officials of the Ming Dynasty had previously promoted the Yi army as terrifying thieves who burned, killed, looted and committed all kinds of evil.

After learning that Hanyang had been defeated in less than an hour, and that the Yi army had "10,000+", the people panicked and did not believe that Jiangxia City could be defended.

The gentry and wealthy merchants fled first, followed by the common people, temporarily blocking the city gates and causing chaos one after another.

Wang Yangji and other officials and the Ming army were unable to control the situation and could only act in a hurry.

Chu palace.

Zhu Huakui was equally anxious when he heard that Hanyang had fallen.

He called Xu Xueyan, the chief historian, over and asked angrily: "Didn't you say that Wuchang Mansion can be defended? In the blink of an eye, Hanyang was conquered, and the bandits were on the other side of the river!"

　First more.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)