Ming Taizi's Total War

Chapter 85

However, when Shi Yigong heard that his son Shitouer was called the emperor's elder brother, he had doubts in his heart, thinking, is the emperor very young?Otherwise, why would Shitouer call him brother?What kind of person does the emperor who rules the world look like?
With curiosity, Shi Yigong dared to stand on tiptoe, but found that the banner of the soldiers in front blocked his sight, so he jumped up to look.

Although it only lasted for [-] seconds, Shi Yigong will always remember Zhu Cixiang. He was a high-spirited and ambitious young man.

Soon, Zhu Cihong's royal boat arrived at the pier beside Yangzhou City. If it was the past, when the canal was not deserted, there were endless boats from the north and the south. It would take a long time for Zhu Cihong to enter the wharf for such a big royal boat. A lot of effort.

"Master Chen Diange, Supervisor of Yangzhou Shi Kefa, come to see Your Majesty." An old man wearing a red official uniform and a black gauze hat came over and kowtowed in front of the gangway where Zhu Cixiang was about to come down.

He is the famous Shi Kefa in history, known as a national hero, a loyal minister and general with integrity.

But in Zhu Cihong's view, Shi Kefa is just a pedantic and timid scholar, although he lived and died with Yangzhou City in history and fought to the last moment.

But this does not mean that Shi Kefa is not timid. Historically, he has always had illusions about the issue of sending troops to the Central Plains, always hoping to unite with the captives and suppress the bandits, and make good friends with the Manchus.

Little did they know that this was seeking skin with a tiger, and even Man Qing was unwilling to make false claims with you for a while. As soon as Man Qing entered the customs, he decided to divide his troops into two groups, one to fight Li Zicheng and the other to fight Nanming.

If it weren't for Li Zicheng's strong combat power, the Manchu and Qing had to mobilize all their forces to deal with it, and Nanming might not even be able to survive the 17th winter of Chongzhen.

"Shi Ge Department, let's get down, have they all come?" Zhu Cihong said to Shi Kefa in a very friendly tone.

Although there are many things that are unsatisfactory about Shi Kefa, he is after all a bachelor of the palace, a person with much higher qualifications and reputation than Ma Shiying, let alone Qian Qianyi.

Therefore, the treatment of Zhu Cixi and Shi Kefa is very different from the treatment of others. Of course, there is also admiration for the national hero.

When Zhu Cihong mentioned them, he was referring to the warlords of the four towns in Jiangbei, as well as the military and political officials in Jianghuai, Zhongyuan, and Shandong.

Sending troops to the Northern Expedition is a big project. It requires the cooperation of officials from all places and systems. Otherwise, it may lead to the same situation as decades ago. The imperial court raised tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of troops to defeat the Jurchens who only had tens of thousands. Instead, the whole army was wiped out.

"They are all here. I have asked them to wait in the Governor's Office of Water Transport. Your Majesty, do you want to go there immediately?" Shi Kefa asked tentatively.

Although in today's imperial court, Shi Kefa is considered to be the first group of people to deal with Zhu Cihuang, but he can't practice the ability to figure out the holy will well.

"Don't worry, I'll take a look outside the city first to see the people's situation. Don't all the military families of Gaojie's four towns live outside Yangzhou City?" Zhu Cilang asked.

He remembered that history was like this. Gao Jie initially wanted to occupy Yangzhou as his base. Unexpectedly, he encountered fierce opposition from the soldiers and civilians of Yangzhou City. Gao Jie was so angry that he wanted to attack the city.

In the end, it was the bachelor Shi Kefa who came forward and supervised the division here, and then drove Gao Jie to Xuzhou. However, although this good place in Yangzhou could not be occupied by troops, Gao Jie and the others settled their generals here.

"Yes, Gao Jie's military family is mainly in the north of the city, Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo's military family are located in the east, west and south, and Liu Zeqing's military family is mainly in Huai'an."

Shi Kefa had been in Yangzhou for many days, and he knew everything about the situation here, so when Zhu Cihong asked, he could tell right away.

Seeing that Shi Kefa was easy to deal with his own problems, Zhu Cihong thought to himself, it seems that Shi Kefa is not a nerd, and he cares more about the actual situation than ordinary literati, and he is much more clear.

Since ancient times, scholars have felt that they are superior to others since they have read books. Ordinary tasks, such as people's livelihood, military affairs, and government affairs, are not taken seriously by them. Sometimes, if they understand too much, they will feel that they are devaluing themselves.

It cannot be said that there are very few people like Shi Kefa, but when compared with most vulgar literati, one can immediately see his specialness.

"Okay, then go back to the city and drive me into the governor's yamen of Water Transport, let Gao Jie and Huang Degong retreat first, and wait for my summons in the city."

Zhu Cixiang did not intend to go directly to the city to meet them. Although they all had certain military power and a great deal of independence, some people even did not take him seriously.

But the more this happens, the less Zhu Cixiang can give them a good look. He must let them know who has the final say, who is the master and who is the slave.

"Yes, I'll go right away." After saying that, Shi Kefa took Zhu Cihong's chariot and chariots and horses and entered Yangzhou City.

Zhu Cihong, on the other hand, took advantage of the many guards around him, changed his clothes, and changed into the appearance of an ordinary son.

He only brought Zhang Chao and a dozen Jinyi guards who looked like thugs followed him.

Zhang Zhong was asked to choose a place to camp the Jinyi Guards, Banner Guards, and Beijing Camp outside the city. The Imperial Guard and his troops were stationed at the Yamen of the Governor of Caoyun, which was selected as Zhu Cixang's palace.

Seeing the emperor's stew swaggering into the city, the soldiers also dispersed, either looking for a place to set up camp, or returning to their garrison.

Seeing that there was no excitement to join in, the people who were onlookers also went back to their homes and went to their mothers. For a while, the crowded riverbanks and wharves suddenly became as if they had experienced a war, and there were no traces of individuals.

"Unexpectedly, in today's troubled times, Yangzhou is still so prosperous outside the city. It really is the richest city in the Jianghuai region."

After bypassing the city wall, Zhu Cixiang and his party came to the north of the city and saw an endless stream of pedestrians passing by. Both sides of the road were lined with small vendors doing small business.

Yangzhou's wealth is mainly because it is on the canal, and because of the Lianghuai salt administration, a large number of wealthy salt merchants came here.

They used the money they earned from the imperial salt industry to create such a prosperous and beautiful city here.

"Boss, how do you sell these candied haws?" Zhu Cihong walked up to a peddler holding a scarecrow full of candied haws and asked.

"My lord, a string only costs five cents, how many do you want to buy?" The peddler thought that Zhu Cihong was here to taste something new, so he stretched out five fingers and said.

"Bring me one, Zhang Chao, and give him the money."

After Zhang Chao heard this, he wanted to take out a few copper coins from his pocket, but after digging for a long time, he found that he didn't have any copper coins on him.

(End of this chapter)