Chapter 53: Spring Return (Part 2)

"Fortunately, they didn't say that King Wu would not pay any food when he came." Zhu Chongjiu flipped through the secret report sent by General Zhu's Military Intelligence Department from the north and threw it on the table with some depression.

Because the ice flood this year came a little later, and some other internal reasons, the main force of the Huai'an Army has not crossed the river so far, but has sent a small group of troops to establish several outposts on the north bank. Based on the intensity of the enemy's resistance and the information at hand, Tohuan Timur obviously was not prepared to put the main battlefield on the bank of the Yellow River. The Huai'an Army's subsequent crossing work would basically not be too disturbed. There would be no suspense in the goal of pushing the main force to the front line of Jeju in mid-February. What is even more exciting is that the gentry and powerful northern regions who were expected to cause trouble for the Huai'an Army began to change their attitudes. Many people risked being scouted by the Mongol Yuan government to exterminate their clans and conquered their clans and nephews to Xuzhou to follow suit, as if the guys who had paid money to support Chahan Timur and Li Siqi had nothing to do with them.

To put it in a popular saying in Zhu Dapeng's time and space, the situation in front of him is very good, not ordinary, but unexpectedly good. However, under a great situation, there are some trivial things that make Zhu Chongjiu feel speechless, as if he was having a state banquet, but suddenly found a plate of fried stinky tofu hidden inside.

"In fact, it's okay to add a piece of Wu that doesn't pay grain when he comes." Liu Bowen's evaluation of the military intelligence department on the hidden front in the north was different from Zhu Chong's nine majors. "Anyway, in the new land of restoration, the grain tax in the next two years will definitely not be collected, and the lord's future treasury needs will not rely on the local treasury needs. Therefore, it's better for the lord to take the initiative to do favors."

"But after all, I will still have to collect it sooner or later, and you know that this is not the only thing I worry about." Zhu Chongjiu glanced at him and shook his head gently.

It is obvious that Liu Bowen was deliberately interrupting and did not want to distract himself from these trivial matters. After all, so far, all matters about the Northern Expedition have been carried out according to the scheduled plan of the General Staff, both slow and orderly, and perfectly almost like a clock that has just appeared. Every tick is correct, but the cold smell of steel inside is a little more, lacking the smell of life.

However, Zhu Chongjiu sometimes couldn't be distracted. Although his current thoughts were incompatible with his companions. Apart from Sesame Li, who had been dead for many years, there was no other person in this world who understood the allusion of "The King of Wu came and did not pay food", but now he vaguely saw himself slowly moving towards the King of Li Chuang of that year.

Relying on the people's dissatisfaction with the Ming court and their expectations for light taxes, they quickly smashed the old order. However, after turning from a rebel to a ruling man, they found that many responsibilities that originally required the opponent to take on were transferred to him, but under his command, there were only 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers to fight, 20,000 to 3 million yuan of available wealth, and many beautiful promises made before quickly turned into dreams. He had clearly promised not to pay food, but turned around and found that if the people did not allow the people to pay food, the King of Chuang would starve to death.

"Is it the food price in the north or the nursery rhymes sung everywhere, the lord is worried too much." If Liu Bowen could guess what Zhu Chongjiu thought, he would definitely shout for justice. In fact, he did not pay much attention to Zhu Chongjiu's emotional changes in recent days. The reason why he spoke to relieve the other party was just to do his duty as a minister. "Although the increase in grain prices far exceeded the estimates of the General Staff, as long as wild vegetables grow in the field, many people will not starve to death. Besides, the lord has tried his best to guide the people to escape famine in advance. The person who forced them to stay in the city was not you. As for those nursery rhymes, since ancient times, they have used all means."

"Yes, the responsibility is not on me. How much starve to death should be recorded in the Mongol Yuan." Zhu Chongjiu glanced at Liu Bowen again, and his face became more and more lonely. This is the pain of time travelers. Even those who have walked the nearest can hardly understand his thoughts. After all, the thoughts of both sides passively lost the "wolf blood" of the nomadic people for more than 70 years through hundreds of years of evolutionary miles. The Chinese heroes in this time and space have a far cold and ruthless heart than the predecessors of the Song Dynasty.

"But I have heard a word." Before Liu Bowen could continue to understand, he added with a wry smile, "No matter how noble and bright the ultimate goal is, we should not pursue it with evil means, because the purpose is a tree and the means are seeds. How can the evil seed grow into the tree of justice?"

This sentence is even further apart from the minds of the servants, which made Liu Ji stunned for a long time before stroking his beard and shook his head to respond, "This is probably what the hidden master said. Why did I never see it in the book of the lord taught by the master? Please forgive me for saying it bluntly. This sentence sounds really shocking at first glance, but the master's words may be about how to establish one's life in the prosperous times, rather than how to open up peace in the troubled times."

The hidden master is the respectful title of Zhu Chongjiu compiled by the general administration for the teaching master compiled by Zhu Chongjiu. Especially in the eyes of civil officials such as Liu Ji and Luo Ben, his lord who could hold Huaiyang with a pig knife was definitely not a ignorant man. But like Zhang Liang at the end of the Qin Dynasty, he was taught by a certain hermit of unknown origin and praised by him as a disciple who was praised by him. As for Zhu Chongjiu, he compiled and usurped several books copied by Lu Shuanger in another time and space that could only be considered as the textbook level of ordinary high schools or pheasant universities, such as "Mathematics", "Physics", "Basics" and "Basics of Economics", etc., those who have been exposed to him will automatically imagine Zhu Chongjiu's unique skills, and his status is equivalent to "Taigong's Art of War" and "Three Notes on Huangshigong", (Note 1)

Zhu Chongjiu really couldn't explain the mystery of the fusion of the two souls and the intersection of the two time and space, so he smiled at Liu Ji and others to make up for the imagination. The advantage of doing this is that in the eyes of the people around him, he was no longer the reincarnation of Maitreya Buddha, but at the same time it also caused a huge adverse consequence, that is, after reading all the unique skills he contributed, Liu Ji and others no longer believed in every sentence in the book, but began to try to argue or question.

"It is said that Taigong Shang once said that it would rather take the lead in straightness than seek in the verse." Like Liu Ji, Luo Ben also felt that Zhu Chongjiu's sudden mentality was a bit out of place. "But Taigong Shang's words were to teach King Wen how to govern the country, but not how to fight for the world. Since ancient times, military strategists have advocated that there are differences between inside and outside."

"Yes, my lord himself once said that as long as I can save my Huaiyang children, I don't care about using some extraordinary means during the Northern Expedition." I was afraid that Zhu Chongjiu would violate the kindness of a woman at a critical moment, Chen Ji, the head of the Military Intelligence Department, also quickly followed Luo himself and helped him. The three wisps of beard that had just left looked extremely drifting.

Although Su Mingzhe, the head of the State Council, did not have any help, he suddenly took out a thick stack of books in his hand like a magic trick. Without looking carefully, Zhu Chongjiu knew that this was to create convenience for the Huai'an Army's Northern Expedition, and the General Administration Office had made a detailed investment in recent months based on the color and markings on the surface.

That was a very huge number, almost equivalent to the tax revenue of the Grand General Administration for a whole year. Fortunately, in addition to tax revenue, the Grand General Administration also held the dividends obtained from Huaiyang Business in the past two years and had just confiscated Pu Shougeng's home. Otherwise, according to this method, the Huai'an army would have to cut off the food and salary before they could reach the city of Dadu.

Whether it is a sound refutation or a silent reminder, everyone here expresses the same content. Those who achieve great things do not care about the details. In order to ensure the success of the Northern Expedition, any means can be used as long as they are effective. Morality and compassion can only be applied to their own people, and cannot be given to the enemy's army and people.

The so-called people are the Huaiyang General Administration Office, the Huaiyang Business Office, the Huai'an Army, and the Huaixia Fuxing Society, which has just been revealed, at most, and at most expand to all the people under the current rule of the Daiyang General Administration Office. The common people in the fallen places in the north should not be counted.

"Several misunderstandings, Zhu did not suddenly show his compassion, nor did he accuse the MIIS for being too insidious in recent times." In response to the unpleasant and honest advice within the General Administration, Zhu Chongjiu could usually follow his advice, but at this moment, he chose to be stubborn. "I just think that if you can do it openly and not use these extraordinary means, nursery rhymes will be easy to compile and spread quickly enough, but if you are not careful, you may use it and harm yourself. As for the famine created by the North at present, although the responsibility is not on us, it is undoubtedly because of us at first, so Zhu cannot wait any longer."

After a moment of pause, his eyes quickly swept across the faces of everyone. Most of the people saw hesitation, confusion, depression and disappointment. "So, Zhu decided that we would not wait anymore, Deji, pass on my general order."

"At." The General Staff Officer Dianjun, Hu Dahai's adopted son, took a step forward, with an excited face.

"I sent an order to General Wang Xuan and Feng Changshi from the water route, and the Sixth Army immediately launched an attack on the Yuan army in Yidu Road. Within two months, I must take down Jinan, threaten Dongchang, and gather the affected people from all over the country, provide relief on the spot, and the food and grass needed will be directly adjusted by Yangzhou Liuhoufu."

"Yes." Hu Deji agreed loudly again, grabbed the special steel tip pen, and began to write the military order by hand.

"Huang Zheng, the head of the Industrial Bureau, and Yu Changlin, the head of the Household Bureau, you two, will be responsible for organizing the civil and craftsmen and craftsmen to build a floating bridge on the Yellow River. The expenses can be slim, but the bridge must be built strong enough to at least withstand the ice flood at ordinary scales."

"Get orders." Huang Laowai and Yu Changlin are both practical people. Whether they support it or not, they will set off to the north now, and they will stand up decisively to receive the order.

"Lord" Zhang Song, the head of the Interior Department, stood up and wanted to speak but stopped. Although he did not speak before, he and many civil officials present agreed in private that the time for the Huai'an army to launch an attack was delayed for a little later for ten days and half a month, which would be more beneficial to him. After all, the famine in the north had just begun, and there was just beginning to be dirty between the local governments of the Mongolian Yuan and the powerful households. The Huai'an army waited for many on the south bank of the Yellow River today, allowing the disaster in the north to continue to spread and conflicts continued to brew. Perhaps many cities may defeat them without fighting.

"General Xu Tiande, the North Expedition." Zhu Chongjiu stopped, ignored him directly, and quickly turned his eyes to Xu Da, who was silent all the time. "From now on, you will immediately implement the Tianzi No. 1 action plan of the Privy Council, and don't delay any more. After crossing the river, you will be fully responsible for some matters on the front line. Liu Bowen is responsible for giving you advice and logistics supplies. Zhu personally organizes mandatory transportation and supply in Xuzhou."

"Affect the order." Xu Da suddenly grinned and raised his hand to give Zhu Chongjiu a standard military salute. His dislike of talking does not mean that he has no idea. The decision Zhu Chongjiu suddenly made was exactly the one he was looking forward to the most.

After so long and his status has changed so tremendously, the Grand Commander is still the original Grand Commander, and he still hasn't forgotten the dreams he told everyone when he was in Xuzhou.

Xu Da understood that he had not forgotten either.

Note 1: The purpose is a tree, and the means are a seed. This is a famous saying by Martin Luther King.

Note 2: According to the records of the Grand Historian and the biography of Liu Hou, Zhang Liang met an old man while walking. The old man rudely ordered him to pick up shoes for him many times. Zhang Liang read it at his age and endured the anger. When the old man saw that he was a child, he gave him a book called Taigong's Art of War and claimed to be Huangshi at the foot of Gucheng Mountain in Jibei. With this book, Zhang Liang assisted Liu Bang to gain the world. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, someone pretended to be the name of Huangshi Gong and wrote "Three Notes on Huangshi Gong" because of its high level. Later generations knew that it was fake, but still regarded it as a classic military strategist.
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