"Sir, I admire you for your filial piety!" Zhu Cixiang said with sincerity, "But your hometown, Henan, has been plagued by wars. Where is there a pure land where you can keep your filial piety? Why don't you stay in the imperial court and serve as the Grand Scholar of Dongge University?"

, assist me in suppressing thieves and captives, and wait until the world is at peace, then go and observe filial piety for your majesty."

Hou Xun was indeed satisfied. If he was not satisfied, he would have to drink wine as a penalty instead of toasting!

And he is different from Shi Kefa and Qian Qianyi. He was released by Zhu Cihong and brought all the way to Dagukou. This is equivalent to being labeled as a member of the prince's party! If he refuses the prince's invitation now, it is simply

Stubborn.

Hou Xun no longer shied away, and immediately stood up and bowed to Zhu Cihong, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that it is very good, and I am willing to do my best!"

His statement happened to be overheard by Feng Yuanyang, who was rushing to ask Chongzhen when he could go south to Jinling.

Feng Yuanyang and his brother Feng Yuanbiao were also members of the Donglin Party and had a very good relationship with Hou Xun, so they immediately recognized Hou Xun's voice and were shocked - was he defecting to the prince on behalf of the Donglin Party?

Will Shi Kefa and Qian Qianyi agree?

"Feng Futai, Mr. Qiansui invites you."

When Feng Yuanyang was considering whether the Donglin Party would collectively defect to the crown prince, Huang Xiaobao had already come out to announce his entry.

Feng Yuanyang quickly followed Huang Xiaobao into the lobby. Well, it was actually just an ordinary hall, not big at all.

"I, the Governor of Tianjin, Feng Yuanyang, visited His Royal Highness the Crown Prince..."

Seeing old man Feng tremblingly about to kneel down in front of him, Zhu Cixiang smiled and waved his hand and said: "No courtesy, no courtesy... Feng Futai is a minister of great merit! If you hadn't made arrangements for me and His Majesty,

There is no way out. I am afraid that our Ming Dynasty has been destroyed by rebellion! When I arrive at Liudu, I will ask the Holy One to confer a count on Futai, so that the descendants of Futai can retire with the country!"

"What the veteran has done is his duty, why should he take credit for it?" Feng Yuanyang said polite words, but in his heart he was a little grateful to Zhu Cihong.

"Why did Feng Futai come here today?" Zhu Cixiang asked with a smile.

"Your Highness, the Holy One has come to ask this old minister, when can we leave for the south?"

Now in a hurry to go south? Zhu Cixiang thought to himself: He must feel that no one here in Dagukou will listen to him, and he wants to try his luck in Nanjing, right?

"Now is not the time," Zhu Cixiang frowned, "Now there are tens of thousands of people gathered here in Dagukou, there are half a million dan of food, there are many carriages, horses and luggage, and there is still money in the mansion of the Generalissimo of the Fu Army.

More than four million yuan needs to be distributed and shipped.

Moreover... Wu Sangui, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, is still stationed in Yongping, and there is also the commander-in-chief Gaodi at Shanhaiguan. Both of them have no less than 50,000 troops! If King Qin's army also arrives from the south, they may be able to conquer the capital!"

...

What? What did you say? Then...the prince said he wanted to conquer the capital?"

When Emperor Chongzhen heard the words of Zhu Cihong brought by Feng Yuanyang, he couldn't help but want to jump on his feet and scold the traitor.

Who in the capital city was eager to escape at that time? In order to escape, they even launched a palace coup at Huangjimen... This is treason!

Now we have arrived at Dagokou, and the ships are all ready. We can sail to Denglai immediately, and we can reach Nanjing in a month at most... He actually said that he would conquer the capital again!

Now that you want to conquer the capital, why did you bother to flee from Beijing in the first place? You don't mind going through all the trouble!

"Your Majesty," Feng Yuanyang continued, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also wants me to take the sea route to Shanhaiguan to meet with Wu Sangui and discuss the attack on the capital."

"What's the prince's plan?" Chongzhen asked.

Feng Yuanyang said: "The prince believes that the Donglu outside the pass will definitely not give up the opportunity to take advantage of the situation, and will most likely mobilize troops to detour through the entrances of the Yanshan Mountains of the Great Wall and attack Beijing.

However, Li Zicheng's foundation in Beijing was not stable, and he was ruthlessly plundering and extorting wages. He had lost the support of the people and would never dare to defend the city. If he heard that the captives were coming, he would either abandon the city and leave, or fight outside the city. No matter what the rebels choose, the capital

The city will fall into the hands of the Donglu. As for us, we only need to strictly guard Shanhaiguan, wait for the opportunity to regain Tianjin Wei and clear the country, and then move eastward across the sea to rebuild Dongjiang Town.

This formed a way to block the captives' southward plundering route, control the east-west movement of the captives, and constantly harass the Liaodong coast. This put the captives in a situation where they could not attack, had difficulty moving, and had no guarantee of their retreat. If it could be delayed for a long time, the captives would have to

Negotiate peace with me, and by then I will be able to regain the capital with a yearly coin."

"This, this, this..." Emperor Chongzhen was stunned when he heard this.

This method seems to work! How did I give birth to such a powerful son?

"Your Majesty," Song Quan, the governor of Shuntian on the side, whispered, "I am 70% to 80% sure of this plan! If we can succeed, we will have a chance to revive the Ming Dynasty!"

Yes, I will be too great when the time comes! Chongzhen thought to himself: If Brother Chun returns to the capital, the ministers will probably cry and shout for him to ascend the throne and become emperor, right?

"Your Majesty," Feng Yuanyang was still hesitant and looked at Chongzhen, "do you want to make this trip?"

Chongzhen thought for a while, "Go ahead... If you don't go, he will let someone else go." He suddenly lowered his voice, "But I have a secret order for Wang Yongji, so you can bring it to me.

...Remember, never let the prince know!"

Does the prince know? Feng Yuanyang said to himself: Your son is a human spirit. Does he not know that he is close to the emperor? Does he not know that Wang Yongji still has 2,000 supervision bids on hand, as well as Shanhaiguan Commander-in-Chief Gao Di’s 10,000 yuan?

Can you give orders to others?

"I accept the decree."

Feng Yuanyang naturally had to accept the emperor's decree, so Old Feng still respectfully accepted the handwritten edict written by Emperor Chongzhen - now Emperor Chongzhen only has handwritten edicts to issue. There is no cabinet vote, and even the emperor's

Twenty Baoxi were also controlled by Huang Dabao, Zhu Cixi's confidant.

Without Zhu Cihong's order, it would have been impossible for Emperor Chongzhen to issue a formal edict!

...

"His Royal Highness, do you really want Feng Yuanyang to go to Shanhaiguan?"

"Your Highness, he belongs to the Emperor!"

"Your Highness, my son Sangui can rest assured, but Wang Yongji and Gao Di still have more than 10,000 troops..."

"There's no need to worry. The sea transportation is in my hands, and the land route is cut off by rogue bandits. They won't be able to get through."

In the mansion of the Generalissimo of the Fu Army, four guards commanders including Wu Xiang, Cao Youyi, Li Ruolian and Shen Tingyang were advising Prince Zhu.

Zhu Cixiang listened to them while looking down at the accounts of Huang Jiang and Su Sheng's money and grain income and expenditure in the Camp Office.

It is already mid-April, and his new army has just paid out a monthly salary. The level of military pay Zhu Cihong paid to his army is not low!

The guards at the lowest level of the Shuai Mansion also receive a monthly salary of one tael or five taels. The knights of the Shuai Mansion can get 2 taels, the captains get 3 taels, the small flags get 4 taels, the general flags get 5 taels, and the trial of 100 households gets 6 taels, and the 100 households get 6 taels. There are seven taels, the deputy of a thousand households jumps to 10 taels, the number of a thousand households is fifteen taels, the governor is twenty taels, the commanding officer gets thirty taels, the commanding colleague gets 40 taels, the commander gets fifty taels. The governors on the left and right received a monthly salary of 100 taels, while the general Zhu Cixiang received a monthly salary of 200 taels.

Now everyone in the Fujun Generalissimo's office is paid according to this standard, including Zhu Cixi's three lecturers, as well as Bi Jiucheng, Huang Xiaobao and others, who have all been awarded corresponding military ranks. According to the military rank, the camp office will pay them. .The only exception is the Navy Guard, which is in charge of Shen Tingyang. The Navy Guard is outsourced to the Shachuan Gang. All personnel, including the officers and soldiers of the former Tianjin Guard Navy, are paid for by Shen Tingyang. All ships, including those originally belonging to the Tianjin Guard Navy All sand boats are also handed over to the sand boat gang.

Moreover, the Shachuan Gang also obtained the authority to manage Beiyang maritime trade! Without the consent of the Shachuan Gang, no merchant ships are allowed to engage in trade in the Beiyang waters.

Therefore, the Shachuan Gang has the right to levy taxes on merchant ships traveling to and from Beiyang!

In exchange, Shen Tingyang not only had to undertake the Beiyang maritime operations, but also transport personnel and supplies to Zhu Cixiang, and also provide a certain number of artillery, blunderbuss, and gunpowder for free.

In addition, starting from the 18th year of Chongzhen, Shen Tingyang also needs to pay 300,000 taels of "tax-covered silver" to the Fujun Grand Marshal's Mansion every year - this amount of money is not a burden to Shen Tingyang, because His original expenditure on paying tribute to various parties was more than this amount!

Shen Tingyang was one of those legendary Ming Dynasty officials and merchants who did not pay taxes, but not paying taxes did not mean that he could not pay tribute to various big shots.

Now Commander-in-Chief Shen is the Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Guard of the Fujun Grand Marshal's Palace, a dignified third-rank military attache, and a close confidant of the Crown Prince!

Asking him for a bribe is almost the same as asking Luo Yangxing, the commander of Jinyiwei, for money... Moreover, Zhu Cihong has repeatedly issued decrees strictly prohibiting others from accepting bribes from Shen Tingyang, so Shen Tingyang now only needs to ask Zhu Cihong, the prince of Fujun Just pay the money, three hundred thousand taels is really not much!

"Wumei," Zhu Cixiang called Shen Tingyang's number directly after reading the account book, "Has the ship been arranged? Chen Yuanyuan is also going together, so we can't make any mistakes."

"Don't worry, Lord Qiantose," Shen Tingyang said with a smile, "I will choose the best ship and the best sailors."

Zhu Cixiang nodded: "The 7,000 people sent to Governor Su and the New Army's Left Division as well as the 100,000 stone grains must be shipped as soon as possible. The earlier they arrive in Dengzhou, the earlier I can feel at ease!"

"I have made arrangements," Shen Tingyang said. "Within three days, as long as the wind direction is suitable, we can start the operation."

Because there were too many people and materials gathered in Dagukou, it was a bit difficult to transport them. Although Shen Tingyang now has one hundred or dozens of large sand ships, he still cannot transport all the people and materials in Dagukou at once.

In addition, Zhu Cixiang had to leave a group of sand ships at Dagukou on standby - if Li Zicheng took the wrong medicine and led the main force to attack Dagukou, Zhu Cixiang and Chongzhen would have to escape by boat, so the personnel and supplies would be divided into installments. The batches were shipped away.

"Okay!" Zhu Cixi nodded approvingly, "By the way, Wu Mei, I have something to discuss with you."

"What are your orders, Lord Chitose?"

Zhu Cixiang said: "Can you lend me the Navy's turtle-dove-footed muskets and Folan cannons?"

"How much does Chitose Master want?"

"I'll give you 1,000 turtle-dove-footed muskets and 12 Franco cannons...can you get them?"

Shen Tingyang thought for a moment and nodded: "I can tell...it is that the ship's defense will be lacking, but it will take a month or two to make up for it."

Zhu Cihong thought for a while and then said: "If I give an order to Zheng Zhilong and ask him to purchase 1,000 bird muskets or turtle dove foot muskets, and 12 red barbarian cannons, can he agree?"

Shen Tingyang smiled and said, "1,000 fire cannons are running low. Let's ask the Zheng family for 5,000 fire cannons. A turtle dove holding its feet up to the sky is worth four taels of silver, 5,000 is only 20,000 taels, and 12 Hongyi cannons are at most 2,000 taels." Silver is not much money to Southeast maritime merchants. It's just that the supply of goods is difficult, as Jiangnan does not produce firecrackers and cannons.

However, the Zheng family has supplies. Their Anping Town produces firecrackers and artillery. The supply of firecrackers in Guangdong is also controlled by their family. There are also supplies from Japan. Japan is rich in firecrackers and can buy tens of thousands of them. It comes...it just takes a while."

"Then I need 10,000!" Zhu Cixiang said to Shen Tingyang, "Wumei, your 1,000 turtle dove legs and 12 franc machines have to be lent to me.
Chapter completed!