On the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, my brothers arrived in Zhenjiang.
In order to welcome the arrival of the five His Highnesses, a few days in advance, Zhenjiang Prefecture and Dantu County cleared out the official ship wharf, removing all the cluttered people and unsightly objects that should be thrown away and collected.
Then we laid loess on the pier, laid out a red carpet, arranged guards, music groups, carriages and horses... In short, we were fully prepared.
On the early morning of the seventh day of the lunar month, Magistrate Cao, Magistrate Zhou, representatives of the local gentry, and those wealthy Jiangnan people invited by His Royal Highness the King of Chu all got out of their warm beds early, dressed neatly, and rushed to the official ship dock in cars and sedans.
Although Zhenjiang in the twelfth lunar month is not as cold as in the north, it is still wet and cold. The cold makes people shrink their necks and smell the smell. The gentlemen are sitting in the car, holding the heater, still shivering.
If it weren't for the purpose of welcoming your Royal Highnesses, they wouldn't have suffered this fate.
Cars and sedans came from all directions in Fucheng and gathered on the pier. The gentlemen waited for a long time. It was not until the red sun jumped over the river and a golden light shone in front of them that someone shouted: "It's coming, it's coming!"
Everyone quickly got out of the cars and waited eagerly on the pier. Sure enough, they saw a long line of warships coming from Guazhou Ferry, but they could not see the end of the line.
"How many battleships are these?" Jiangnan's wealthy families whispered to each other: "The arrogance of these gentlemen is too great, isn't it?"
"Don't you know? This is the Chaohu Navy. They were the ones who took His Royal Highness the King of Chu and his army to the north." A well-informed person said: "I heard that tens of thousands were wiped out in Henan.
Where are the rebels?"
"Isn't that right?" At this time, the fleet was getting closer, and someone with sharp eyes saw: "The flag of the Chaohu Navy is not hanging on the bow. The flag of the Chaohu Navy is hanging on the bow...it is...Ti, Ji, Shi, Ship, Division?"
"Business Department?" These two words were the most unpleasant to be heard by the big businessmen, and they immediately felt uncomfortable.
Although when they talked to Zhou Zhixian, each of them seemed to have nothing to do with them and had nothing to do with the sea trade. But in fact, every one of their families was richer than the princes because of their connections.
They managed to close down the shipping department with great difficulty. Of course, they don't want this kind of yamen that competes with them for profit to resurface again.
"Mr. Pingjiang, what do you say in Nanjing?" Everyone looked at Lu Zhonghe. Over the years, this man has become the leader of a large family in the south of the Yangtze River.
Firstly, where is the prestige of the Lu family; secondly, through some unknown means, he has become good friends with the big shots in the Zhongshu Province. His 'good friend' in the Zhongshu Province was abolished last time.
It was a great effort.
"The other side said that this matter was not the emperor's intention." Lu Zhonghe said calmly: "It's just a whim of the young man."
"Is that so..." When everyone heard this, they all breathed a sigh of relief, and then shook their heads and said: "To engage in such a big battle on a whim, isn't the emperor too arrogant to indulge his son?"
"Alas, there is no way." Xie Yunzhang, the head of the Xie family in Hangzhou, sighed: "Didn't the former fan Ye Boju speak out for this reason, but he was betrayed by the emperor and taken to the capital? Although the righteous people in the court tried their best to rescue him, but
I heard that he was already in prison and starved to death."
"Really?" Everyone was horrified. The reason why they are more honest than before is because Boss Zhu never kills people without blinking an eye.
"Mr. Li Ting, be careful what you say." Lu Zhonghe coughed and said to everyone: "This is not Jiangnan. We should be careful in our words and deeds. It is the right thing to go home safely for the New Year."
"Yes, what Mr. Pingjiang said makes sense." Everyone naturally followed the good example and shut up obediently. This place is really too close to Nanjing, which makes people feel uncomfortable.
~~
When the battleship of the Municipal Shipping Department slowly docked, the oppressive feeling as high as a city wall hit our faces, making the people on the shore involuntarily become nervous.
This was exactly the effect that His Highness the King of Chu wanted to achieve. To this end, the Marquis of Nan'an brought all the large ships of the Chaohu Navy to the bottom of the box. They also filled them with flags, axes and axes, and displayed swords, guns and artillery. The main purpose was to serve as a deterrent.
After the gangway was set up, a cannon sounded from the flagship, and war drums sounded one after another on each ship.
Amid the sound of neat drums, groups of fully armed officers and soldiers disembarked from the ship in unison. Then they stood facing each other on both sides of the road.
Each of the soldiers in bright armor held their hands on the hilts of their swords and stood still. Their postures were upright and majestic. They brought a sense of oppression to the big families in the south of the Yangtze River, which was even stronger than those giant ships. After all, no matter how big the giant ships were, they could not reach the shore.
.But these officers and soldiers who are full of fear can kill them at any time.
"Why are there so many soldiers?" Lu Zhonghe and others looked at the officers and soldiers, who were densely lined up in two rows, from the pier to the government office three miles away, and they were still getting off the ship in a steady stream.
They couldn't help but be secretly frightened, knowing that His Highness the King of Chu was demonstrating against them. In fact, they were not afraid of any elite army, because the Ming army would not kill people for no reason; but they were afraid of this army, which was controlled by a twelve-strong army.
In the hands of a three-year-old boy.
Children at this age are neither serious nor serious, they are irritable and irritable, and it is not surprising that they can do anything when their brains are twitching or impulsive.
It took half an hour for the escorting troops to stop disembarking. Someone counted silently and found that the strength of the troops was 15,600...
This is not over yet, and then there is a long guard of honor for the prince composed of various flags, umbrellas, golden melons, lying melons, broadswords, red stirrups, yellow stirrups...
And it’s the honor guard of the five princes combined...
For such a huge formation, the manpower of King Chu's army alone was simply not enough. The escorts and honor guards of several of his royal brothers were also among them.
The reason is of course very sufficient. Your Highnesses have just been attacked. For the sake of safety, it is not too much to increase the vigilance, right?
This is also the reason why the two brothers have crossed the Yangtze River so late. They must first write a letter to discuss with the eldest brother and let the eldest brother convince the emperor. Then the governor's office can issue the guard transfer order to the princes. Otherwise, even the princes' personal troops cannot do whatever they want.
Leaving Beijing.
After being released by the Governor's Office, each branch of the royal army crossed the river to Guazhou to join up with the brothers, and then marched to Zhenjiang in a mighty manner. Such a massive effort to mobilize troops and mobilize people had only one purpose - to open the eyes of these big families in the south of the Yangtze River and wake them up.
God, give them a memory they will never forget.
In this way, when they want to go against Shibosi in the future, they will naturally recall everything they saw today.
If this shock can make them wake up in time and pull back from the brink, Lao Liu's hard work will be considered in vain.
~~
After the ceremony was completed, the bells and drums on the pier rang loudly, and the gongs and drums were noisy. Sixty-four large suonas also played the "Yinfeng Diao" to welcome the saint's departure.
The sixth son of the current Emperor Hongwu, His Royal Highness Zhu Zhen, King of Chu, finally appeared on the deck surrounded by a group of servants.
"I respectfully welcome His Highness the King of Chu. His Highness is a thousand years old!" Magistrate Cao and Lu Zhonghe hurriedly led the crowd to bow down.
After four bows, Zhu Zhen walked slowly out of the boat with the help of Wang Defa, who was wearing a python suit.
