I saw Zhang Shicheng's face was thin and somewhat shrewd, while Zhu Yuanzhang's face had an extraordinary appearance, and he had the aura of a superior person who was not angry and had authority.

"Zhang Shicheng's survival depends entirely on Marshal Du. I dare not not do so!"

After Zhang Shicheng said this, he wanted to salute again, but Zhu Yuanzhang stopped him with force.

After some polite concessions, the two finally asked Zhang Shicheng to give up his plan to continue.

"Marshal Du, the soldiers and civilians in the city are on standby. Marshal Du is also invited to come into the city to review!" Zhang Shicheng said loudly.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Han looked at each other. They both had the same idea, that is, not to enter the city for the time being.

Gaoyou City is in a miserable state, and you can inspect it if you go in.

If Zhu Yuanzhang was in danger, the Red Scarf Army outside the city would be too late to rescue him.

After all, Zhu Yuanzhang admired Zhang Shicheng, but he didn't completely trust him.

"Marshal Zhang, the soldiers and civilians in the city are exhausted now, so there will be no inspections!" Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said.

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Yuanzhang called over another accompanying military ration officer.

He pointed at the ration officer and said loudly.

"We order you to take out half of the food and fodder for the army and give it to Marshal Zhang. The brothers in Gaoyou City have not had a full meal for a long time. You must hurry up. If there are still brothers in Gaoyou City before dark,

We are hungry, we want your head!"

"Commander, you obey!" the military ration officer immediately went down to handle the matter.

When the sergeants behind Zhang Shicheng heard this, they couldn't help but burst into cheers.

They had been without food for more than a month. They were so hungry that their eyes were already glowing green, and they wanted to eat the corpses of Yuan soldiers on the ground.

Now when they heard that Zhu Yuanzhang generously took out half of the army rations, everyone cheered.

When Zhang Shicheng heard these cheers, he fully understood in his heart that Zhu Yuanzhang not only frightened the Gaoyou rebels with his powerful soldiers and horses, but now also used his righteous behavior to convince the Gaoyou defenders from the bottom of his heart.

Zhang Shicheng has now lost more than half of his troops, and most of the surrounding towns have been destroyed by the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. From now on, there is no other way out except to follow Zhu Yuanzhang's footsteps.

If one day he and Zhu Yuanzhang fall out, I'm afraid Zhu Yuanzhang can kill Zhang Shicheng with just a finger.

"Marshal Du, please ask Marshal Du to send someone to take charge of Huaidong affairs in the future!" Zhang Shicheng suddenly said.

In fact, this was Zhang Shicheng's last temptation.

If Zhu Yuanzhang agreed and sent his own people to monitor him, then Zhang Shicheng would definitely be dissatisfied and secretly think of other ways to deal with it.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang's reaction immediately wiped out Zhang Shicheng's last thoughts.

"We are responsible for everything. The marshal here in Huaidong is still Brother Zhang. When the Tatars are cleared out, everything will be the same as before. Let's continue to join forces!" Zhu Yuanzhang said with a bold smile.

With these words, Zhang Shicheng was truly convinced.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhang Shicheng subsequently agreed to maintain their previous nominal affiliation, with Zhu Yuanzhang serving as Marshal of the South Route Army and Zhang Shicheng serving as Marshal of the Huaidong Army.

Other transactions such as salt and grain remain unchanged.

However, in order to prevent the northern and southern Yuan armies from counterattack, Zhu Yuanzhang will send troops to help defend and establish two Huaidong military camps in the north and south.

One is in Huai'an in the north, with five thousand infantry stationed to guard the Huaihe River.

The other one is in Taizhou on the north bank of the Yangtze River, stationed with eight thousand water infantry to guard against the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Yuan armies, as well as pirates and Japanese pirates.

Yes, that's the Japanese pirate.

Since the Yuan Dynasty, Japan has also entered the troubled times of "North and South Struggle for Hegemony". A large number of Japanese became Japanese pirates and frequently attacked the Central Plains, Korea and other places.

Under Zhu Yuanzhang's grace, Zhang Shicheng and others agreed without hesitation.

After all, killing the Tartar emperor and defeating a million-strong army all foreshadowed Zhu Yuanzhang's luck, timing and ability.

Zhang Shicheng had no intention of competing with him and simply hugged his thigh sincerely.

"Don't worry, Marshal Du. From now on, everything here in Huaidong will follow the arrangements!" Zhang Shicheng said loudly.

Zhang Shicheng's posture was very low, which made Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Han very happy.

Especially Zhu Han, the historical hero Zhang Shicheng will probably no longer exist, and Zhang Shicheng, a loyal supporter of Zhu Yuanzhang, has already appeared.

"We will leave all the Tartar trophies captured in the army, as well as all the food, armor and weapons, to you to restore the people's and military strength."

Zhu Yuanzhang said as he pulled Zhang Shicheng into the camp and sat down.

"What, is everything Marshal Du said true?" Zhang Shicheng suddenly looked surprised when he heard this.

His younger brother, generals and counselors behind him also looked surprised.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and nodded. "Yes, we have discussed it with Ahan. Huaidong and Huaixi are all one family. Huaidong must be allowed to restore its civilian and military strength as soon as possible. Not only is it beneficial to resist the Tatar counterattack, it is also a good thing for the people.

.”

In fact, what Zhu Han and Zhu Yuanzhang had discussed earlier was that if Zhang Shicheng was honest, they would leave military supplies to support him. If Zhang Shicheng still had the idea of ​​"self-reliance", then they would take them all away without even a grain of food.

Leave it to him.

In today's troubled times, food is the most important thing.

When Zhang Shicheng heard this, he almost burst into tears.

Gaoyou City was besieged for several months, and countless soldiers and civilians died of starvation.

I originally thought that I would have to humble myself and beg for some food to survive.

I never expected that Zhu Yuanzhang would be so generous and gave himself all the captured military supplies with one mouthful.

"Marshal Du's great kindness will be remembered by Zhang Shicheng for the rest of his life!" Zhang Shicheng said with cupped fists and cupped hands.

The Huaidong Rebels behind Zhang Shicheng also showed admiration for Zhu Yuanzhang.

Everyone felt that because of Zhu Yuanzhang's magnanimity and selflessness, they in Huaidong were already good enough to be humble and small.

Zhu Yuanzhang's words did not end, he waved his hand and smiled.

"However, all the food and military supplies are left to Huaidong. We will take away all the large and small copper and fire blunderbuss in the Tartar army."

Zhang Shicheng didn't care. "The marshal makes the decision in the whole screen, and I agree with both hands!"

Everyone in Huaidong has already seen that among the soldiers and horses under Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Han, the artillery is the most powerful.

A single cannon attack can destroy hundreds of steps of the enemy camp!

Such a powerful thing must be extremely lacking in copper.

They took away all the bronze muskets, and naturally they had to go back and resmelt them.

"In addition, there are also captured horses and prisoners. Let's add two to one to make five, one person and half." Zhu Yuanzhang finally said.

Zhang Shicheng didn't care much about this issue.

He had no ambition to gallop northward. The river network in the Jianghuai area gave the cavalry little room to play. He only needed to guard the Yantian and Gaoyou Yangzhou areas. A few thousand cavalry would be enough, and he did not need too many horses at all.

What's more, horses consume too much grain and fodder.

The cost of raising one horse is enough to feed three or four soldiers. For Zhang Shicheng, having too many horses is simply a waste.

As for the Tatar prisoners, Zhang Shicheng and others did not want them.

He didn't even want to feed the horses, let alone the Tatar prisoners.

These Tatar soldiers are killing people and setting fires in Huaidong. If they stay in the activity, they will die. They will never be kept as hard labor.

After Zhang Shicheng expressed his thoughts, Zhu Yuanzhang was greatly relieved.

He was neither greedy for horses nor wanted prisoners, which meant that Zhang Shicheng really had no intention of expanding his army to realize his ambitions.

Zhu Yuanzhang thought to himself: "It seems that Qi Wu was right. Zhang Shicheng's greatest ambition is probably to guard Huaidong and become a very wealthy salt merchant. He is not a serious king or tyrant at all."

With Zhang Shicheng's attitude, Zhu Yuanzhang naturally took almost all the horses and prisoners without any courtesy.

There are a large number of industries and mines in Chuzhou that require coolies to fill human lives. These Tatar prisoners must dig some rocks and minerals to atone for their sins before they die.

The two sides quickly reached a consensus on all post-war reconstruction and new order.

The infantry in Chuzhou and Huai'an and the navy in Taizhou are the foundation for their solid alliance.

Zhu Han and Zhu Yuanzhang led their troops to rest briefly in Huaidong, and at the same time asked Xu Da and others to lead their troops all the way north to pursue the remaining Meng Yuan soldiers.

By the time everything was over, nearly half a month had passed.

At this time, the news that the Red Scarf Army Zhu Yuanzhang killed Emperor Meng Yuan and annihilated an army of one million yuan had spread throughout the world.

Amid the admiration of all the heroes in the world, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Han had already left Huaidong Gaoyou and returned to Chuzhou.

This time, Zhu Han and his brothers made a lot of money by taking the initiative.

Not only did he become famous all over the world, but he also obtained a large amount of seized materials, and he also made a potential rival, Zhang Shicheng, his subordinate.

"From now on, if we want to keep a low profile, I'm afraid it will be impossible."

Regarding this change, Zhu Han also reminded his brother.

"Qiwu, you originally said that you wanted to delay becoming king, just so that the Tatars wouldn't notice you. Now it's better. The whole world has noticed us." When Zhu Yuanzhang said this, there was no trace of sadness on his face.

, on the contrary, he smiled broadly.
To be continued...