"Do we still have the ability to bargain?" Zhang Fu said this, his eyes became sharp.
"Hey..." Liu Sheng rubbed his temples, and after a long time he sighed as if he had resigned himself to his fate: "No."
"Uncle Shi, don't worry," Zhang Fu was very satisfied with Liu Sheng's attitude, and said in a rare statement: "I will use my wealth and life to ensure that nothing happens to you!"
"Can you keep it?" Liu Shengyan glanced at Zhang Fu and said weakly.
"I think we should be able to save it!" Zhang Fu said in a deep voice: "First of all, if it were me at that time, I would have chosen to attack Qingzhou instead of rescuing the King of Han." What Zhang Fu said was the truth.
The White Lotus Sect was so powerful that it was cut off all of a sudden. It could only be trapped in Le'an Prefecture and became a thing of the past. It was all because of Liu Sheng's decisive decision to seize the White Lotus Sect while the fierce battle between the King of Han and the White Lotus Sect was going on.
Qingzhou, the hometown and the most important place!
But no one expected that the invincible King of Han would be wiped out by the ragtag White Lotus Army in one battle... Liu Sheng's wise decision at the time became the reason for his death!
"Furthermore," seeing Liu Sheng's expression of deep understanding, Zhang Fu went on to say, "The King of Han is also to blame! As a vassal king, he privately held an army and left the fiefdom to fight without permission. He also instigated the imperial army to rebel and murdered important officials of the imperial court! The emperor is just another one.
To protect one's shortcomings, one has to consider whether it is worth it to kill his trusted general in order to avenge this treacherous son!"
"Well..." Liu Sheng nodded, as if he had been persuaded by Zhang Fu, and grinned: "My nephew said this, my heart is much brighter." He laughed loudly: "It seems that I have jumped into the wrong place.
!”
"Who says it isn't?" Zhang Fu was also in a good mood and laughed together with Liu Sheng...
The next day, Liu Sheng ascended the throne and handed the seal of command to Zhang Fu in front of all the generals. He also scolded Zhang Fu with his beard and eyes: "From now on, the British Lord is your commander. You must obey my orders.
Obey the Duke’s orders honestly! If anyone violates the military order, he will be beheaded by the Duke, don’t blame me for not warning you! Did you all hear clearly?”
"Obey the order!" the generals responded loudly.
"Please give me a lecture, the Duke!" Liu Sheng walked down the steps and gave up his position as commander to Zhang Fu.
Zhang Fu stood on the steps, looking at the generals in the tent with deep eyes. After a while, he slowly said: "Master Anyuan has worked hard and made great achievements. The emperor thought that he was old and allowed him to return to the capital to recuperate. I will take over the command.
Although the White Lotus Sect has accepted the recruitment, the nature of thieves has not changed, and they are most prone to recurrence. Therefore, the generals must not relax even a little bit, and they must be strictly vigilant and enforce orders and prohibitions. I know rewards and punishments clearly, and I will neither be merciful nor grudge rewards!
"
After a brief lecture, all the generals naturally accepted the order in unison. Zhang Fu ordered the generals to retreat and said to Liu Sheng: "Uncle Shi, please stay a little longer and help me stabilize the morale of the army."
"Hey, I've packed my luggage," Liu Sheng waved his hands and said, "I won't join in. With your great reputation as an English father, you still can't control those guys who have never seen the world?"
Seeing that he couldn't keep him, Zhang Fu had no choice but to have a banquet to see Liu Sheng off. After a banquet, he personally saw Liu Sheng out of the camp. When they said goodbye, he also presented Cheng Yi and told him that he had already protected Liu Sheng.
After finishing the scene, I rode back to camp.
On the way back, the deputy general Zhang Fu on the side said with a displeased face: "Brother, you are just a common man waiting to die, why bother with all this effort?"
Zhang Fu glanced at his third brother and said coldly: "If it weren't for you, a common man waiting to die, why would I bother to wade through this muddy water!"
Three years ago, Zhang Fu followed the King of Han in rebellion and took control of the capital for the King of Han. After his defeat, he was punished for his crimes, but the emperor spared him for the sake of the British prince, and imprisoned him for only half a year, then sent him back home to reflect on his mistakes.
This time Zhu Di ordered Zhang Fu to go south and take over Liu Sheng's army. According to Zhang Fu's original intention, he refused to take over this hot potato.
With Zhang Fu's current status and weight, if he changed his ways and refused to accept the offer, the emperor would not be able to do anything to him. But the emperor proposed that Zhang Fu should follow him south, and now Zhang Fu could not refuse. Because the British
My father-in-law valued his family's honor as high as the sky, but there was a traitor named Zhang Fu in the family, which made the British father-in-law feel like a ray of light on his back, and he could not sleep peacefully.
This opportunity to clear Zhang Fu's name and allow him to be re-employed will undoubtedly wash away the shame of the British government. This is a temptation that Zhang Fu cannot resist. Moreover, when the emperor mentioned Zhang Fu at this time, he was reminding Zhang Fu that before
I sold you a favor, now you have to pay me back!
p>After all kinds of considerations, Zhang Fu had to bite the bullet and take on this burden...
Hearing Brother Nai's scolding, Zhang Fu was a little annoyed, but he didn't dare to show it on his face and followed Zhang Fu for a while in silence.
Zhang Fu sighed and said in a deep voice: "The situation now is very delicate, and it may become uncontrollable. At this time, calming people's hearts is more important than anything else. If we can take over the military power smoothly, let alone gifts.
Marquis Anyuan is here, so what if he kneels down to see you off?"
"Brother is too careful," Zhang Fu muttered in a low voice, "I have the handsome seal in my hand, so what else do I have to worry about?"
"Hmph! Others think it's a handsome seal, but if they don't, it's just a piece of scrap metal!" Zhang Fu said with a stern face: "You have led many veterans, and you don't even understand this truth?"
"Is there anyone in this world who dares to deny the seal of command awarded by the emperor? Do you want to rebel?!" Zhang Fuyou was unconvinced and continued to mutter.
"Shut up!" Zhang Fu shouted in a deep voice: "Ignorant fool, if all my Zhang family were like you, we would have been exterminated many times!" After that, he glanced at the other deputy general beside him and said: "
Tell me, what abnormality did you see in the military camp?"
"Returning to the Lord, there is indeed something unusual." The deputy general did not give Zhang Fu any face and replied in a deep voice: "It is said that this army was founded by Anyuan Hou and trained by him personally. The officers and soldiers should have a very strong affection for him.
Profound. But from the moment we learned that Marquis Anyuan was leaving until Marquis Anyuan left, there was almost no abnormality among the officers and soldiers of the entire battalion. This is the biggest anomaly!"
"Yes," Zhang Fu nodded approvingly and said in a deep voice: "In a short period of time, it is almost impossible to cut off the contact between Liu Sheng and these officers and soldiers." He paused and said, "We can only closely monitor the army.
If there is any abnormal movement, we will step up efforts to control the officers. Those who do not obey orders must be replaced without mercy!"
"Yes!" The generals responded loudly.
"Everyone, if you don't want to ruin your reputation in Shandong, just cheer up!" Zhang Fu said in a more serious tone.
"yes!".
The emperor ordered that lanterns from all over the country be suspended for one year, and various New Year celebrations were also suspended. The city of Beijing in the first month of the year was no longer as lively as in previous years. People were at a loss what to do and could only gather in teahouses and restaurants to listen to books and chat, and spend the time.
Great time...
Inside the front door, Chunfeng Teahouse, the largest in the capital, is filled with guests. The teagoers are wearing Chinese New Year clothes, clasping fists and saluting each other, saying auspicious words to each other such as "good luck in the new year" and "good luck". Then seven or eight people gathered together.
There was a table, with melon seeds, walnuts, and various dried fruits, and a big bowl of hot tea, and we chatted in a haze.
"It's such a boring year." A man wearing a coarse cotton robe and a beard held two walnuts in his hand, squeezed them hard, and the walnuts broke into pieces. "There is no oil or water in my stomach, even
I can’t even watch a lantern festival, it’s boring, it’s really boring!”
"Just be satisfied," said a thin middle-aged man wearing a satin robe with patched cuffs. He politely took a piece of walnut kernel from the man's hand and put it into his mouth to chew, "At least the whole family is not hungry yet.
How many people’s families don’t have enough to eat during the Chinese New Year?”
"Except Mr. Liu, you rich men from the south of the Yangtze River," the bearded man stuffed the remaining walnut kernels into his mouth and said vaguely, "have you never lived such a hard life?"
"Hey..." Liu Yuanwai said with a depressed face: "When my family was in Jiaxing, we had 800 acres of fertile farmland and 15 hectares of ponds. Not to mention the fine clothing and food, we had about the same. How could we have imagined that in just a few years, we would be in this state?
Such a field!"
"Hey, it's all the fault of the current emperor..." The old man, who had been drinking tea with his head down, couldn't help but sigh: "If Lord Hong Wu were still here, I would be angry to death again."
"Be careful, Father Qiu," the tea guest on the side quickly advised the old man: "Now that Dongchang is in charge of Jinyiwei, he is arresting people all over the capital!"
"The old man is buried up to his neck in loess and is afraid of a ball," Qiu said excitedly: "Eight years ago, our weaving shop in Hangzhou had six looms and more than a dozen weavers, who sat there for a year
Even if we don't move, we will have an income of thousands of taels! But Emperor Yongle gave an order, and we had to sell our property and move to the windy and sandy Beijing city! What's even more hateful is that at that time, we could only sell the shop to the Zhizao Mansion.
The Zhizao Mansion only gives me treasure money that is hard enough to wipe my buttocks! This is even more hateful than an open robbery! At least I can run away from an open robbery. With Emperor Yongle, if I dare to run away, I will be beheaded!"
Father Qiu burst into tears. He wiped away his tears and sobbed: "A few years ago, I could still make a living by weaving for others, but now I can't do it anymore because I'm too old. Everything in Beijing is extremely expensive. I think I'd better start early."
Find a rope and hang Li Suo!"
Everyone hurriedly tried to persuade them, "What's unlucky about the Chinese New Year?" But they all felt the same way. Nowadays, the value of Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes has depreciated to the point where you can only buy two steamed buns with ten guan denominations, and the majestic Ming Dynasty has appeared in the capital.
The trade is in decline, and many shops are closed. The common people are almost in ruins. Every day, hundreds of poor people starve to death and are taken to the death camps in the suburbs of Beijing...
Especially those people who were forcibly moved by Zhu Di from various places in the south. They were originally wealthy households in various places in the south of the Yangtze River, but now they have reached the point where they can't even afford to eat. You can imagine the gap and resentment in their hearts...