Liu Guoneng had 30,000 troops, while Li Wanqing only had 10,000 troops. The two troops totaled 40,000 troops.

Zhou Yuji followed Zhu Cixiang's wishes and selected those with fighting ability, retaining only 10,000 troops for reorganization. The other 30,000 people took back their weapons and sent them home. The homeless ones were farmed in the nearby Huizhou Prefecture.

Many of the bandits were common people who were kidnapped along the way and were originally unwilling to become thieves. When they learned that the government was letting them go, many people were extremely excited.

However, many people have long been homeless, and most of them are willing to stay in Huizhou Prefecture to cultivate wasteland. After all, the government will give them 40 acres of land for free, and the Huizhou Prefecture will also be tax-free for three years. The conditions are still very attractive!

Liu Guoneng and Li Wanqing went to Fengyang, the central capital, to meet Zhu Cixiang in person. As they entered Fengyang City, they were increasingly shocked and felt that they had gone to the wrong place.

Liu Guoneng and Li Wanqing both came to Fengyang three years ago. At that time, they fought in with various rebels. After entering the city, they basically burned down the entire Fengyang City and killed many people. The entire Fengyang Mansion

They were all in a mess by various rebel armies.

Unexpectedly, in just three years, Fengyang Mansion has developed so well! Fengyang City has also been rebuilt so well and is prosperous, unlike areas that have experienced serious wars.

In fact, the reconstruction of Fengyang City is mainly attributed to Zhu Dadian and Yang Yufan. Since they took office in Fengyang in the eighth year of Chongzhen, they have been vigorously rebuilding Fengyang City and invested a lot of manpower and material resources. In addition, Lu Xiangsheng was the prime minister of Fengyang in the eighth year of Chongzhen.

The suppression of bandits also made a lot of contributions to the reconstruction of Fengyang City.

Liu Guoneng and Li Wanqing came to Fengtian Hall. As soon as they saw Zhu Cihong on the golden throne, they immediately knelt down to confess their sins and beg for forgiveness.

Seeing that the two men were sincere, Zhu Cihong did not embarrass them and asked them to go directly to the imperial mausoleum to kowtow and confess their sins.

Since they want to appease, the imperial court must show magnanimity. It is easy to kill them, but this will only make all the rogue bandits unable to believe that the imperial court surrendered on its own initiative, making it more difficult to suppress the bandits.

After the two men kowtowed obediently and confessed their crimes in the imperial mausoleum, Zhu Cihong appointed Liu Guoneng as deputy general of Huangzhou and Li Wanqing as general of Suizhou. The two men led an original army of 10,000 troops to garrison Huangzhou and Suizhou in Huguang respectively.

Zhu Cixiang arranged them in Huguang, firstly so that they could go north to deal with Li Zicheng in the future, and secondly so that Huang Degong, who was stationed in Wuchang Prefecture, would watch them. They only had 10,000 people, so I bet they couldn't make any trouble.

Liu Guoneng and Li Wanqing were surprised by the Crown Prince's arrangement. They originally thought they would send themselves to beat Zhang Xianzhong and get some blood, but they did not expect the Crown Prince to be so moral, which moved them a little.

After the two units of Liu Guoneng and Li Wanqing were resolved, the time entered March, spring plowing had been completed in various places in Southern Zhili, and the three divisions of the Tianwu Army had also completed their expansion.

Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai were reluctant to surrender and kept delaying negotiating terms, which made Zhu Cixiang very impatient. He ordered Zuo Liangyu, who was stationed in Jiujiang Prefecture, to lead the army to deploy defenses in the Jingdezhen area to prevent Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai from entering Jiangxi to cause rebellion. At the same time, he also sent an order

Zhou Yuji, who was stationed in Taiping Mansion, led the Tianwu Army's Third Division with 10,000 troops.

People and horses entered Huizhou Prefecture to prevent the traitors from detouring to southern Zhili again.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※

In the spring of March, white flowers are shining, it is a good time of year. On the official road leading to Zhongdu in Fengyang Prefecture, a donkey cart is driving slowly.

The driver of the donkey cart is an old man who is close to the age of his ears. He is dressed in cloth, has a round white face, and a foot-long beard dragging under his chin. Although he is old, his eyes are bright. At this time, he is looking around in surprise.

environment of.

"Sir, did we go to Yangzhou Mansion by mistake?" an old woman asked in astonishment on the donkey cart.

The old man driving the donkey cart was Cheng Guoxiang, the former Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue. In the first month of the 10th year of Chongzhen, when Zhu Cihong was preparing to lead his army south to suppress the rebellion, he asked the Ministry of Revenue for ten days of food and grass. Cheng Guoxiang scolded him and was later dismissed.

The chief minister of the cabinet, Xue Guoguan, reprimanded him, but Cheng Guoxiang was not convinced. He cursed the treacherous officials in power and immediately resigned and returned to Huizhou.

The hometown of the state capital.

When Cheng Guoxiang returned to his hometown, he lost his salary from the court, and his life became even more difficult. He relied on his savings from previous years to survive. He had no children and only his old wife to keep him company. Although his life was poor, he could barely make ends meet.

Cheng Guoxiang, who had lived in Shezhou, Huizhou Prefecture for a year, suddenly received a summons from the crown prince half a month ago, asking him to meet him in Fengyang, the central capital.

Cheng Guoxiang secretly thought in his heart that what was supposed to come had come. The Crown Prince probably couldn't swallow the breath he had made at the beginning and wanted to cause trouble for him. Cheng Guoxiang was not afraid at all. He wanted to see what reason the Crown Prince had to deal with him. The worst he could do was to scold him again.

Fan, teach him the way to be a king! Why fear death?

Since entering Fengyang Mansion, Cheng Guoxiang has felt more and more that something is wrong. Is this still Fengyang Mansion? He passed by here to return to his hometown last year. The direction and place were correct, but why has there been such a big change?

Especially after entering Zhongdu, looking at the streets and alleys, merchants gathered and people came and went. It was very lively. From the pedestrians on the streets, we could see that it was obviously different from the past. They were neatly dressed, their faces were red, and they walked with a swagger.

confidence.

Cheng Guoxiang remembered that when he passed by this place last year, the economy was in recession, and many of the people he saw were in ragged clothes and with shrinking expressions. At that time, he saw the same thing, and he was deeply worried about it and lamented it. Now...

Nowadays, there are many foreign merchants and people coming and going in Zhongdu City. They have different accents, including those from Wannan, Huai'an Prefecture, Henan Prefecture, and even Yingtian Prefecture.

Cheng Guoxiang rested for a while in front of a steamed bun shop and bought two steamed buns for four cents. By the way, he asked a young man with a foreign accent who was eating steamed buns and asked him what he was doing in China and whether he was watching the crown prince's recruitment.

The soldier's notice came here to serve the country?

The young man with a Henan accent smiled and said: "Uncle, you are joking. I only know more than 20 characters. How dare you go to Juxian Building to pretend to be a scholar with such a shame! I came to Fengyang to find a way out.

, not only can you have enough to eat here, but you can also earn some money to feed your family!”

Looking at the longing look in the young man's eyes, Cheng Guoxiang was stunned for a moment. He had not seen such an expression from Xiao Min for many years.

The streets of Fengyang City have been swept very clean. They are completely different from the dirty and messy places in the past. The most important thing is that there are not even a beggar or homeless person in the city!

Cheng Guoxiang also discovered that there were many public bathhouses in the city, which were provided by the government for free. Many people came out of the bathhouses carrying bamboo baskets and were very satisfied. However, Cheng Guoxiang also discovered an indecent thing. There was actually a women's bathhouse in the city.

What an insult to gentlemen!

Cheng Guoxiang marveled at everything in Fengyang Mansion. There was not a single bandit in the territory and everyone had enough to eat. In the current period of the Ming Dynasty, it was more stable than the capital.

Cheng Guoxiang said sincerely: "Golden scales are just like things in a pond. They turn into dragons when encountering storms. The Crown Prince is a genius. Not only has he trained an invincible and powerful army, but he also has the ability to govern and secure the country."
Chapter completed!