Chapter 53 Spring Return (Part 2) "Fortunately, they didn't say that King Wu would not pay for the food when he came." Zhu Chongjiu turned over the secret report sent from the north by the General Intelligence Department, and threw it on the table with some depression. Due to the late flood season this year and some other internal reasons, the main force of the Huai'an Army has not yet crossed the river. It has only sent a small force and established several outposts on the north bank. Judging from the intensity of the enemy's resistance and the intelligence at hand, To analyze, Tuohuan Timur obviously did not plan to place the main battlefield on the bank of the Yellow River. The Huai'an Army's subsequent river crossing work will basically not be interfered with too much. The goal of advancing the main force to the Jeju line in mid-February will not be affected. What suspense will arise? What is even more exciting is that the powerful northern gentry who were originally expected to cause trouble for the Huai'an army have begun to change their attitudes. Many families risked being confiscated and exterminated by the Meng Yuan government and continued to send their direct descendants. The nephew rushed to Xuzhou to serve, as if the guys who had previously provided money and people to support Chahan Timur and Li Siqi had nothing to do with them. To paraphrase a popular saying from Zhu Dapeng's time and space, the situation in front of him was very good, not generally good, but unexpectedly good. However, under the good situation, there were some trivial things that made Zhu Chongjiu feel very speechless, as if he was eating. While serving a state banquet-level meal, I suddenly discovered a plate of deep-fried stinky tofu hidden inside. "In fact, it is not wrong to add that the King of Wu will not pay the grain when he comes." Liu Bowen's evaluation of the military intelligence office's actions on the hidden front in the north was very different from Zhu Chongjiu's, "Anyway, in the newly recovered land, the grain tax this year and next will definitely not be collected. , and the lord's future treasury needs will not depend on the local grain and tax, so it is better for the lord to simply take the initiative to do favors." "But after all, it will still be collected 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. Obviously, Liu Bowen was deliberately interrupting and did not want to distract himself from these small things. After all, up to now, all matters related to the Northern Expedition were being carried out in accordance with the predetermined plan of the General Staff Headquarters, unhurriedly, methodically and perfectly. It was almost like a clock that had just appeared, every tick was accurate, but there was more of a cold breath of steel inside, and it lacked some of the flavor of life. However, Zhu Chongjiu could not help but be distracted sometimes. Although, his current thoughts were incompatible with those around him. Except for Sesame Li, who had been dead for many years, no one in the world understood the meaning of "King Wu will not pay for his food when he comes." An allusion, but now, he could vaguely see himself slowly getting closer to the King Li Chuang of that year. Relying on the people's dissatisfaction with the Ming Dynasty and their expectations for light taxes and low taxes, they quickly smashed the old order to pieces. However, after turning from rebels to rulers, they found that many responsibilities that originally needed to be shouldered by their opponents were passed on to them. It has come to his own head, but under his command, he only has 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers to fight, and 2 to 3 million in available wealth. Many of the beautiful promises he made before have quickly turned into a dream. , turned around and found that if the people were not allowed to pay for the food, King Chuang himself would starve to death. "Is it the price of food in the north or the nursery rhymes that are being sung everywhere, my lord is worrying too much." If Liu Bowen could guess what Zhu Chongjiu was thinking, he would definitely cry out for injustice. In fact, he didn't pay much attention to Zhu Chongjiu's mood in recent days. Change, the reason why he spoke to the other party was just to fulfill the duty of a courtier, "Although the price of food has increased far beyond the prediction of the General Staff, as long as wild vegetables grow in the fields, not many people will starve to death, and the lord has already You are not the one who is trying your best to guide the people to escape and force them to stay in the city. As for those nursery rhymes, since ancient times, when leading troops in battles, they have used all possible means." "Yes, the responsibility is not mine. How many people starve to death will not be accounted for. It should be recorded on Meng Yuan's side." Zhu Chongjiu glanced at Liu Bowen again, and his expression became more and more lonely. This is the pain of the time traveler. Even those who are closest to him find it difficult to understand his thoughts. After all, Hundreds of years of evolution separate the minds of both parties, and they have passively lost the "wolf blood" of the nomads for more than seventy years. The heroes of China in this time and space are far more ruthless in heart than their predecessors in the Song Dynasty. "It's just that I heard a saying." Before Liu Bowen could continue to explain, he added with a wry smile, "No matter how noble and bright the ultimate goal is, it should not be pursued by evil means, because the goal is the tree and the means are the seeds. How can a seed of evil grow into a tree of justice? "This sentence is even further away from people's thinking nowadays. Liu Ji was stunned for a long time before stroking his beard and shaking his head in response, "I'm afraid this sentence is hidden. As the Master said, why haven¡¯t I seen it in the book that the Master taught me about the Lord? Please forgive me for speaking frankly. This sentence does sound shocking at first, but the Master¡¯s words are probably true. How to establish oneself in prosperous times, rather than how to create peace in troubled times. "The hidden master is what everyone in the General Manager's Office has to say about Zhu Chongjiu.The compiled honorific title for the mentor, especially in the eyes of civil servants such as Liu Ji and Luo Ben, the lord who can hold Huaiyang with a butcher's knife is by no means an illiterate brute, but someone like the late Qin Dynasty. Like Zhang Liang, he was taught by a hermit of unknown origin and was highly praised by him as a secular disciple. As for Zhu Chongjiu, he compiled it one after another based on his own memory, and commissioned several copies copied by Lu Shuang'er to be placed in another place. A time and space can only be regarded as ordinary high school or pheasant university textbook level books, such as "Mathematics", "Physics", "Basic Economics", etc., and those who have been exposed to it automatically think that it is Zhu Chongjiu's master's secret knowledge, and its status is equivalent to that of Zhu Chongjiu. "Tai Gong's Art of War" and "Huang Shi Gong's Three Strategies", (Note 1) Zhu Chongjiu really couldn't explain the mystery of the fusion of two souls and the intersection of two time and space, so he smiled and acquiesced to the ideas of Liu Ji and others, and did this The good thing is that in the eyes of people around him, he is finally no longer the reincarnation of Maitreya Buddha, but at the same time it also leads to a huge negative consequence, that is, after reading all the secret knowledge he has contributed, Liu Ji and others will No longer superstitious about every word in the book, but start trying to argue or question. "It is said that Taigong Shang once said in the past that it is better to take what is straight than to seek from music." Like Liu Ji, Luo Ben also felt that Zhu Chongjiu's sudden mentality was a bit inappropriate. "But Taigong Shang's words are It is to teach King Wen how to govern the country, but not how to conquer the world. Since ancient times, military strategists have advocated that internal and external differences are different. " "Yes, my lord himself once said that as long as my Huaiyang children can sacrifice less, I don't mind using more during the Northern Expedition. Extraordinary means." Fearing that Zhu Chongjiu would be unfaithful at a critical moment, Chen Ji, the head of the Military Intelligence Department, also quickly followed Luo Ben to support him. The three strands of mustache he had just grown looked very elegant. Although Su Mingzhe, the head of the Government Affairs Council, did not help, what he suddenly pulled out like a magic trick was a thick stack of account books. Without looking carefully, Zhu Chongjiu knew just by the color and markings on the surface that this was for the Huai'an Army. The Northern Expedition creates convenience, and the investment of the Grand Administrative Office in recent months is detailed. That is a very huge amount, almost equivalent to the tax revenue of the General Manager's Office for a whole year. Fortunately, in addition to the tax revenue, the General Manager's Office also holds the dividends received from Huaiyang Company in the past two years, and has just received another Pu Shougeng's house was raided. Otherwise, according to this trick, the Huai'an army would have to cut off its food and salary before they could reach the capital city. Whether it is a vocal refutation or a silent reminder, everyone here expresses the same content. Those who achieve great things do not stick to trivial matters. In order to ensure the success of the Northern Expedition, any means can be used as long as it is effective, but morality and compassion can only be used. It applies to one's own people and cannot be given to the enemy's troops and people. The so-called own people are the Huaiyang General Manager's Office, Huaiyang Commercial House, Huai'an Army and the Huaxia Fuxing Society, which has just been temporarily revealed. At most, it can be expanded to all the people under the current rule of the General Manager's Office, and those in the occupied lands in the north Li Shu should definitely not be counted. "Some of you have misunderstood. Zhu is not suddenly showing mercy, nor is he accusing the Military Intelligence Department of being too insidious in recent times." Under normal circumstances, Zhu Chongjiu can obey the unfaithful advice from within the General Manager's Office. Ruliu, but at this moment, he made an exception and chose to be stubborn, "I just think that if you can do it honestly, try not to use these extraordinary methods. Nursery rhymes are easy to make up and spread quickly enough. But if you are not careful, I am afraid that others will take advantage of it and harm yourself. As for the man-made famine in the north, although we are not responsible for it, it was undoubtedly caused by us in the first place. Therefore, Zhu cannot wait any longer." After a slight pause, his eyes quickly swept across everyone's faces, and what he saw were mostly hesitation, confusion, depression and disappointment. "So, Zhu decided that we won't wait any longer. Deji, pass on my general order." "Here." Hu Deji, the adopted son of Hu Dahai and the general staff officer of the General Staff Headquarters, stepped forward with excitement on his face. "Send an order to General Wang Xuan and Feng Changshi from the waterway. The Sixth Army Corps will immediately launch an attack on the Yuan army on Yidu Road after receiving the order. Within two months, Jinan must be captured and Dongchang threatened. We also gathered the people affected by the disaster and carried out on-the-spot relief. The necessary food and grass were directly supplied by Yangzhou Liuhou Mansion. " "Yes." Hu Deji loudly agreed again, grabbed a special steel-point pen, and began to write military orders by hand. "Huang Zheng, the head of the Works Bureau, and Yu Changlin, the head of the Household Bureau. Starting tomorrow morning, you two will be responsible for organizing the people and craftsmen to build a pontoon bridge on the Yellow River. The cost can be relaxed, but the bridge must be built strong enough, at least We can withstand the heavy floods on a normal scale." "It's an order." Huang Laowai and Yu Changlin are both hard-working people. Regardless of whether they support heading north now or not, they both stand up and take the order decisively. "Lord" Zhang Song, the head of the Internal Affairs Department, stood up and hesitated to speak. Although he had not spoken before, he and many of the civil servants present were speaking in private.He believed that it would be more beneficial to him to delay the attack by the Huai'an army for ten days and a half. After all, the famine in the north had just begun, and the conflict between the local officials of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty and the powerful families had just begun. Due to the evil situation, the Huai'an army waited for today on the south bank of the Yellow River, allowing the disaster in the north to continue to spread, conflicts to continue to brew, and perhaps many cities could be defeated without a fight. "General Xu Tiande of the Northern Expedition." Zhu Chongjiu ignored him without stopping, and quickly turned his gaze to Xu Da, who was always silent. "From now on, you will immediately implement the Privy Council's Tianzi No. 1 action plan. Don't do it again." After the delay, you will be solely responsible for the frontline matters. Liu Bowen will be responsible for making suggestions for you, and Zhu will personally organize the transportation of supplies in Xuzhou. " "Yes," Xu Da suddenly grinned. He raised his hand and gave Zhu Chongjiu a standard military salute. Just because he didn't like to talk didn't mean that he didn't have his own thoughts in his heart, and the decision Zhu Chongjiu suddenly made was exactly what he was looking forward to most. After such a long time and such a huge change in status, the Grand Governor is still the same Grand Governor, and he still has not 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 the tree and the means are the seeds, this is the famous saying of Martin Luther King. Note 2: According to historical records and Liuhou Zhuan, Zhang Liang met an old man while walking. The old man rudely ordered him to pick up his shoes many times. Zhang Liang was considerate of his age and obeyed. , the old man saw that his boy could be taught, so he gave him a book called Taigong's Art of War, and called himself "Huangshi at the foot of Gucheng Mountain in Jibei". With this book, Zhang Liang assisted Liu Bang to conquer the world. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, some people pretended to In the name of Huang Shigong, he wrote "Three Strategies of Huang Shigong". Because of its high level, future generations still regarded it as a military classic even though they knew it was fake.