Chongzhen Undergraduates

Until this time, Zhu Youjian secretly rejoiced that he was wise.I thought about going south by water transport before, but I was afraid that it would be unsafe for the silver to get on the ship, so I changed to land transport.

Zhu Youjian is still wondering why he didn't see the fleet when he passed the canal all the way from Tongzhou to Dezhou.

In fact, in the 15th year of Chongzhen, when Li Zicheng became Kaifeng, he had already dug up the big river, and the Yellow River had been diverted. The current canals on the boundary of Shandong no longer have the ability to pass water.

Dongchang Mansion is the Liaocheng of later generations, that is, the Dongchang Mansion that the heroes of Liang Shang once attacked. Liangshan is not far from here. Unfortunately, there is no water, so there is no water park.

"Mr. An, who is stationed in Dongchang Mansion now?" Cheng Xianzhen, as a senior official, has already started to accompany Zhu Youjian.

Although the people around him never told Cheng Xianzhen the real identity of Zhu Youjian, but he had seen the prince's respectful attitude towards Zhu Youjian several times, and basically guessed who Zhu Youjian was.

"Brigade Commander, there is a Dongchang Guard in Dongchang Mansion, and the current commander is Deng Zhirong. After the capital was besieged, Guo Sheng, a treacherous general, led the army to attack Dongchang. Five hundred families fought against each other, and only a few escaped in the end.

Later, when Dezhou was restored, Deng Zhirong led the troops to recover Dongchang Mansion. The officials now think that the guard of Dongchang Mansion should be Deng Zhirong. "

Cheng Xianzhen didn't know what kind of official the brigade commander was, but there was no doubt that the other party was the emperor. Since everyone didn't care about him being called the emperor, he called himself an official.

"Do you know this Deng Zhirong?"

"Have met once."

"Send someone in the name of the prince to pass the decree to open the city and station it." Zhu Youjian wanted to rest again. Since he passed Dezhou, he had a big rest every two days and a rest the next day. There was no rush along the way. The atmosphere is like a trip that you can go on and on, and you can do whatever you want.

It's not because he's lazy, or because he wants to have fun with Chen Yuanyuan.Zhu Youjian counted the days, and estimated that the people who went south to pass the decree had already arrived in Nanjing, and whether it would be successful or not was a foregone conclusion.

You can't keep going with so many old and weak women and children on the road like this. The adults can bear it, but the elderly and children can't bear it either.Coupled with the fact that he has too few troops on hand, he always feels uneasy if he doesn't bring more troops with him.There is no one in the south who is close to me, if someone comes to force the palace or something, I will be caught blind at that time.

Zhu Youjian felt that it was easy to go to the south, just go to Nanjing.But it's not easy to keep a firm foothold after crossing to the south. As a traveler, he knows what the situation in the south is like now, better than those gangsters in Nanjing.

Today's Jiangnan is in political chaos, divided by warlords, and the forces of all parties are intertwined.It can be described directly in four words: a plate of loose sand!Even if Zhu Youjian goes to Nanjing now, there is no way to gather this loose sand in an instant.Warlords will still go their own way, and officials will still sing against him.

Cheng Xianzhen left, entered Dongchang Mansion, and came back after a meal.From a distance, Zhu Youjian saw a young man in his 20s behind Cheng Xianzhen, dressed in bright armor and neatly dressed, it was not ordinary at first glance.With a square face, high nose bridge, sword eyebrows and almond eyes, flowing beard, and slender figure, she definitely looks good.

Zhu Youjian heard from Cheng Xianzhen that this person is the seventh grandson of Deng Hu, the commander of Dongchangwei, and the hereditary commander, that is, the seventh generation of officials.Zhu Youjian thought to himself: No wonder he is handsome, even if he is defeated quickly in battle, if it is not for his fate, he probably would have died long ago.Fortunately, he is loyal to Daming. This is mainly because when Daming is dead, he is no longer a commanding and frugal envoy. Not being loyal will not work.

"You are Deng Zhirong?" Zhu Youjian probably guessed this person's ability.

"It's a humble job." Deng Zhirong looked at Zhu Youjian strangely, thinking: Didn't you say that this is the prince's subordinate?Why did a masked general come out to give lectures.But thinking about it, there are still fourth-rank officials in front of the prime minister's door. In this prince's army, the rank must be higher than himself, and he feels inferior to him when he speaks.

"How many people do you have?"

"There are 800 people, all of whom were recruited recently."

"How many servants are there?"

"Huh?! There are 50 people." At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the military system was broken. Except for the number of troops recognized by the court, all warlords, big and small, supported their own soldiers, called "Jia Ding".

Once a war is fought, it is all up to these servants to do their best, and all combat effectiveness depends entirely on the number of servants the general has.The servants' salaries are high, but they are all paid by the generals themselves. As the saying goes, whoever eats the food works for whomever.Therefore, the main force of the Ming army was not loyal to the emperor at all, but to the generals who raised them.

"Take them all out of the city and reorganize on the spot. No soldier is allowed in Dongchang Mansion. You can be a staff officer with Cheng Xianzhen." After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, he took the lead and rode his horse towards the mansion.

Deng Zhirong was very depressed. He knew that this group of people would seize his military power as soon as they came up, and they would not open the city gate, but it was too late to regret it now. He looked at Cheng Xianzhen and said, "You have hurt me!" Looking at his expression, he muttered and complained to Cheng Xianzhen.Cheng Xianzhen kept tugging at him and giving him winks, telling him not to get angry.

Deng Zhirong didn't know that Cheng Xianzhen was doing it for his own good, and continued to swear non-stop.Zhu Youjian turned around and said to Cheng Xianzhen: "Looking at his appearance, he feels that being a staff officer is too wronged. How about it, from now on, transfer him to the Huotou army to burn fire. I don't think he is enough to be a chef. Ge, at least not as good as mine."

Zhu Youjian's culinary skills are obvious to all. Cheng Xianzhen was lucky enough to eat the dishes cooked by Zhu Youjian himself, which can be said to be comparable to the best chef in Texas.Letting Deng Zhirong be the one who started the fire is already Zhu Youjian's kindness.

"What? Why do you ask me to be the cook. I want to see the prince." Deng Zhirong was not happy when he heard that he was asked to go to the Huotou Army to light the fire. Work hard.

"Brigade Commander, he has no intention of speaking, don't mind. Deng Zhirong come and apologize to the Brigadier Commander." Cheng Xianzhen hurriedly said good things to Deng Zhirong.

"What kind of ball officer is the brigade commander? I've never heard of it. If you want me to apologize, he'll kowtow to me three times before talking." Deng Zhirong raised his head proudly and scolded in front of a group of nobles. Zhu Youjian.

The nobles around were shaking their legs in fright. Although they were all hereditary official positions, they didn't just say a word in front of the emperor. It seems that Deng Zhirong is doomed today.

"No, I don't need him to apologize. As long as he can serve as a fire soldier in the Huotou army for ten days, I will let him return to his post." Zhu Youjian looked at Deng Zhirong with a smile, with a provocative expression on his face.

For this kind of dandy, there is no need to beat or scold him, just let him suffer a little bit, taste the bitterness of the bottom, and punish him a little, don't care, after all, he is not a bad person, he is just a little stubborn.

"That's what you said, don't think I'm afraid of you. The mere ten-day fire-headed army can still scare me." Deng Zhirong turned his head sideways, turned around and strode to the barracks.

Zhu Youjian lamented: The team that recruited others expanded quickly!In the past few days, I have been recruiting soldiers along the way, but it is a pity that I have only recruited a total of more than [-] soldiers, and most of them are refugees who cannot survive.

Years of wars and turmoil in the north, various forces come and go, and good sources of soldiers have long been taken away by others.If those who stayed were not completely unable to survive, no one would go to the army to die.

I recruited more than 2000 people through hard work, and I got more than [-] people when I randomly opened two cities.When the two sides were compared, Zhu Youjian scolded himself, he was so stupid, and he didn't find the right way at all.

"Chief of Staff Cheng, what are the closest prefectures to Dongchang Mansion?" Zhu Youjian had a bad taste and gave these newly recruited officers their titles according to the military system of later generations.

"Report to the Brigadier, the nearest prefectures are Jinan, Qingzhou, Hejian, Daming, Zhending, Guangping, etc." Cheng Xianzhen described the surrounding situation like a treasure.

Cheng Xianzhen's words made Zhu Youjian's mouth water. It turns out that there are still so many lands in the north, not counting the lands in southern Shandong, western Henan, and northern Jiangsu.Fortunately, I said something more, if I just give up like this, it would be a pity in vain.

"There are so many prefectures, why don't you organize resistance?" Zhu Youjian really didn't understand. This place is not far from the capital, and it is a plain area. How could the Chuang army control such a large territory at once? The army has always been active in the west.

"There are no more soldiers. Over the years, conscription has been like harvesting wheat. Almost all the young and strong who can fight have been conscripted. I just went to see Deng Zhirong's [-] soldiers, half of them were children, and half of them were children." Old man. There are only a few dozen family members who are young and strong." Cheng Xianzhen said with a mournful face: "The people I brought before were mainly recruited from the generation of Ludong, and the quality of the soldiers is better than Deng Zhirong's situation."

The flame of hope that had just been ignited was extinguished in an instant, and Zhu Youjian was very disappointed. It seemed that he still didn't understand the actual situation enough.In such a large area, there is actually no source of troops, which shows the extent of the wars in recent years.

"Where did everyone go?" Zhu Youjian did not give up. The Han nationality is the most resilient nation. As long as there is a place where they can survive, they can always thrive.

"Drought, war, and floods continued. The people couldn't survive, so they could only run to the mountains."

"You mean Lu Dongnan?"

"Yes, only there have not been major disasters in recent decades."

Hearing this, Zhu Youjian thought of a familiar ditty in later generations: "Everyone says everything, Yimeng Mountain is good~" and sang it casually.Cheng Xianzhen listened to Zhu Youjian's strange ditty, and shook her head helplessly, the emperor's temper is really strange, he was discussing things carefully, and suddenly started singing.

"It sounds good, it's really good. The brigade commander's little song is no worse than Yuanyuan's." Chen Yuanyuan walked into the room slowly, playing the rhythm with Zhu Youjian's singing.When Cheng Xianzhen saw Chen Yuanyuan approaching, she retreated knowingly.

"It sounds good. I want to go to the place where the song is sung. Are you going?"

"Go, of course I will go wherever you go." Chen Yuanyuan was full of interest, and when she heard that she was going to the place where the song was sung, she stood up happily.

"I want to go, but it's not for today. We haven't lived in the house for several days. There is a big bed room in it. I want to take you in for a visit." After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, one With a smirk on his face, he took Chen Yuanyuan's little hand and walked inside.Chen Yuanyuan blushed, and followed in with a half push.

Chapter 34: Lonely magistrate

When Zhu Youjian's team arrived in Feicheng, they did not expect to encounter resistance at all.

Originally, they planned to take the team to Jinan Mansion first, but Cheng Xianzhen said that Jinan Mansion was already empty.In the 11th year of Chongzhen, the Houjin soldiers entered the pass and robbed North China for more than half a year, and their soldiers arrived in Jinan Fucheng in the south.The city of Jinan was broken, and the Jin soldiers killed [-] people, and Jinan never recovered.

There was no way, Zhu Youjian had no choice but to set his sights on Tai'an Prefecture.Tai'an Prefecture is blocked by Mount Tai in the north, sheltered by the Yimeng Mountains in the west, and is located in the hilly area in the hinterland of central Shandong.For other areas of Shandong in the late Ming Dynasty, it was considered a paradise.

Leaving Dongchang Mansion, passing Dong'e, you will enter the hilly area, and then go east for a hundred miles to Feicheng.Relying on a large number of carriages and horses, Zhu Youjian's team rushed to the city of Feicheng in one day and one night.

"Chief of Staff Cheng, why is the gate of Feicheng closed tightly, as if a war is imminent?" Zhu Youjian was very surprised. He had already set up the banner of the prince on his side, so it is not impossible to miss the information about Feicheng.Could it be that the Chuang army is still stationed in the city?