Chapter 40: Intrigue (2)

"It's over, it's over, the 500,000 troops of the imperial court were wiped out!" Zhu Zhi lay on the couch with his legs crossed and savored the fragrant tea and muttered to himself.

Bai Zhu looked at the medical books beside him, looked at Zhu Zhi's appearance, and smiled and said, "Husband, are you worried about the court or gloating about this?"

Zhu Zhi sat up suddenly, stared at Bai Zhu with wide eyes and said, "Is that so, do you think I am gloating? Where did I make you feel it?"

Bai Zhu's smile became stronger: "Who doesn't know you? The news of the war that day was coming, and you were as happy as a child. The same is true today. Look at you, you are relaxed on it, and you don't look like you are worried."

Zhu Zhi nodded and said solemnly: "It seems that don't be proud of being seen by the outside officials. Do you think this will make the point of the country?" As he said that, Zhu Zhi turned around and frowned, looking worried.

"Puchi" Bai Zhu laughed out loud by Zhu Zhi's serious look, "Come on, my good husband, just your scheming, let alone me, even the guards serving outside can see it."

Zhu Zhi lay on the couch again and said, "The court is full of food, Li Jinglong can lead troops, and sows will climb trees."

Bai Shu said: "Husband, you really don't worry about the court at all? If the court is defeated, what benefits will it do to you?"

Zhu Zhi was silent for a while and said, "Xiao Shu, do you think I should work hard for this court?"

Bai Zhu was also silent for a while, and then solemnly said: "It is your man's business. No matter what you do, I will follow you!"

Zhu Zhi stared at his woman, stood up slowly, walked to her side, stroked her hair and said, "Are you afraid of being disgraced and having a different body or head?"

Atractylodes raised his head and stared at Zhu Zhi's eyes. He nodded tenaciously and said, "Marry chickens and follow the chickens. Atractylodes will always be yours for the rest of his life. Even so, he is willing to do so, just Xie'er..."

Zhu Zhi was in a turbulent mood and hugged her tightly: "No, I promise, you and him will live a happy life."

...

On the eighth day of the September 19th, Yang Wen, who had been on the expedition for four months, finally led the Liaodong army of four guards to Liaoyang. The military pay and food were spent on the way, but the results were pitifully small. The four hundred heads made 40,000 people busy for four months, one hundred heads a month. And only geniuses knew how many real soldiers were there?

For Liaodong, Yang Wen's return suddenly made the atmosphere a lot tense. Since Ye Wang surrendered Zhu Zhi, Liaodong has been a dominant rule. Yang Wen, as the nail of the imperial court, seemed very embarrassed to place Yang Wen in Liaodong. The Liaodong army was equivalent to ordering two sects, and it was okay that Yang Wen was not there. Now, when he came back, how to allocate power became the biggest problem. Just as everyone was waiting for the Guangliao dispute to begin, Yang Wen repeated the scene of the Liao king returning to the vassal. He was stationed in Liaoyang for ten days and did not move, and only sent a deputy general to Guangning to pay his respects.

Zhu Zhi seemed to be completely invisible to Yang Wen, and ran to the military camps outside the city to shoot arrows every day. He claimed to the outside world that the Liao King was ready to go south.

The officials waited in the city for a few days, but they waited for Zhu Zhi who was lying in the carriage. What's more serious is that Zhu Zhi's left arm was broken. At the critical moment when Yang Wen returned to Liaodong, the prince actually fell down immediately, but his left hand was broken. The ministers entered the mansion to visit. Seeing the second concubine Atractylodes' tears falling, the elders sighed together. After a few words of comfort, everyone had to retreat.

The news of the King of Liao being injured spread wildly on the ground in Liaodong. When Yang Wen heard the news, he immediately rushed to Guangning to express condolences even more urgently than a rabbit. In the side hall of the royal palace, Zhu Zhi met the notorious Yang Wen for the first time in history.

To Zhu Zhi's surprise, Yang Wen looked very handsome, a big man of 1.8 meters tall, with a burly figure, five long beards on his red face, as if he was the rebirth of Guan Yunchang. Zhu Zhi enthusiastically invited Yang Wen to sit down in the hall and presented him with fragrant tea from Jiangnan.

Zhu Zhi said: "General Yang is here just in time. Originally, these Japanese kings wanted to go north to Liaoyang to discuss the matter of raising troops to go south. I didn't expect that I was clumsy and broke my hand." As he said that, he looked at the splint helplessly. He hung his bandage.

Yang Wen quickly stood up and accompanied the crime: "Your Highness, how dare I let you go to Liaoyang? I just returned from the expedition. The guards were trapped and there were too few horses. The generals still had to arrange their troops to repair them, so they delayed their days and were negligent. I hope to forgive my crimes. I wonder how your highness is injured?"

Zhu Zhi said, "Haha, I originally wanted to wait for the governor to come back to stabilize the rear and go south to supervise the army to guide Beiping. Now that you are back, it's great. After you arrange your defense in two days, I can go south. This little injury is nothing."

Yang Wen said: "Your Highness's fracture is not a minor injury, you must recover from it. Let the last general lead the army south."

Zhu Zhi waved his right hand and said, "Oh, the governor has worked hard for several months, so how can he go to the battlefield immediately? It's better to take two months off first. Don't rob me of this skill of Pingyan's rebellion."

Yang Wen said: "Your Highness, this is a matter of killing the general. You have to go to fight for rebellion with such severe injuries. How could Wen stay in Liaodong and be lazy? This trip must be made by the general, otherwise the general will not be able to explain to the emperor, and you will inevitably be given a few censors' books."

Zhu Zhi just shook his head: "Governor, this time going south is a big deal. You also know that the court just suffered a great loss in Zhending. If this battle is no longer fought, Yan Ni will become a climate. So you better not fight with me..."

Yang Wen had already stood up and knelt down: "Your Highness, do you think of me? It is the duty of the last general to share the worries of the court. The last general is willing to issue a military order. If he fails to win, please punish him." His expression was extremely firm.

Zhu Zhi was happy inside. He had only heard of being a traitor rushing to be the first, but he didn't expect to jump into the fire pit to rush to be the first. But he looked quite regretful and sighed, "Get up quickly, get up. Governor, it seems that you have to compete with me for me, then, thank you for your hard work. But, Governor, do you have to remember your promise to me?"

Yang Wen stood up and said, "Your Highness is well prepared and just wait for the good news from the last general."

Zhu Zhi closed his smile and said, "General Yang is brave and famous all over the world. If you take action, I don't worry. But Yan Ni is very arrogant. He just made Geng Hou suffer a defeat. The situation is quite tight, but he doesn't know when General Yang will lead the army to set off?"

Yang Wen thought for a while and said, "The army in the Northern Expedition is full of people. If they have to wait for them to repair it, at least one month later. But time doesn't wait for anyone. I think it's time to prepare, and you can set off in ten days."

Zhu Zhi thought, Yang Wen was not vague at all for Jianwen. He cleaned up a pit and asked him to jump. He really jumped in without hesitation. However, Zhu Zhi could not let others suffer grievances in his face. He hurriedly said: "According to the scout report, the Yan army returning to Peiping has grown to 80,000, of which 40,000 are cavalry. I think you can recruit Dingliao Central Guards and go south together, but Fei Ge sent a letter to let Dingliao Central Guards quickly replenish their troops and horses. Be sure to prepare for the set-off within ten days so that they can have some confidence in the force. As for the 30,000 guards, don't move first. If they are allowed to go south, Guangning's troops will be empty." Yang Wen was very grateful to see Zhu Zhi so generous, and quickly agreed.

The orders to mobilize troops were issued one after another, and the entire Liaodong also entered a high level of preparation for war. Huang Kui was very satisfied when he saw Zhu Zhi actively preparing for war according to the agreement between the two sides, and agreed to Zhu Zhi's request and went to Goryeo as an envoy of the court. At the end of September, after the situation of increasing troops by the Yalu River was completed, Huang Kui was escorted by eight Yue-class battleships of the First Battleship, and was escorted by the deputy commander of the Navy, Yuyi.

In early October, Guangning, which had been deserted for a while, re-entered the state of war. After two months of mobilization, Liaodong's economy was tilted towards war. Luo Yi, a grain ship from the south and Japan, was constantly mooring at Songshan Port, and Liaodong Dusi tried all his strength to buy food and grass from the surrounding areas, and he was willing to raise the price. Guo Ming asked his brother-in-law to argue with heartache, why did he spend money in vain? Zhu Zhi only gave one sentence to see if the fourth brother is more than me.

Liaodong is like a large arsenal, mobilizing in full. In the iron plants of Anshanyi and Guangning, hundreds of subway smiths fry a large amount of steel, and these steels are immediately sent to the arsenal, weapons and armor to the military camps. After Zhu Zhi land transformation, industrial production has now formed assembly line operations, and production efficiency has been greatly improved. Zhu Zhi spared no effort to hire more blacksmiths from Jiangnan, Shandong, and the steel production in Liaodong land reached a record high in September.

The Jinzhou shipyard also sent eight 3,000-material transport ships onto the ship platform as if crazy. In the past, it took two months to lay the keel, and was shortened to one month under the new three-shift working system. After the hull was completed, sail rigging had been waiting in the port. Salini estimated that in just three months, these eight transport ships could be launched.

Other aspects such as horses, military uniforms, and vehicles were also sent to Guangning. In turn, the silver in the Liaodong Dusi treasury was sent into the bags of merchants like flowing water. Today, Guangning has become a huge barracks, arsenals, granaries and paradise for merchants. Countless wealth flows in this famous city outside the border, flowing from the government into the pockets of merchants, and from the merchants into the pockets of that merchant.

The two million taels of silver accumulated by the Liaodong Dusi made Guo Ming feel distressed as if he was hanging himself. He spent 800,000 taels of silver, but there were still countless orders waiting to be issued. Zhu Zhi took out one million taels of silver from the three million taels of secret silver treasury without hesitation and sent it to Guo Ming. But his brother-in-law still complained. Judging from the budget calculated in August and September, if he continued to develop at this speed, by June of the third year of Jianwen, the Liaodong treasury would be in the bottom of the sky. Not only would the original silver be consumed, but all the taxes would be filled in every year. From this perspective, he could only last for two years.

But Zhu Zhi confidently put the budget table on the desk. He knew very well that as long as Liaodong persisted until the third year of Jianwen, everything would be fruitful.
Chapter completed!