The Grand Canal, with flags flying on both sides of the river, travels thousands of miles on the water.

Among the long series of canals filled with soldiers' supplies, there was a Qinhuai painted boat slowly passing by on the canal. The sound of silk and bamboo coming from the boat could be vaguely heard.

The owner of this Qinhuai painting boat is very famous. It is Liu Rushi, one of the eight beauties of Qinhuai. Liu Rushi is the side room of Qian Qianyi, who has just become the elder of the pavilion. This time Qian Qianyi took her with him when he went north. And this time

The boat, which is full of exquisiteness and elegance, was purchased by Qian Qianyi's disciple Zheng Sen at a high price and given to Liu Rushi in order to make his teacher and his wife comfortable on their way north.

Zhu Cixiang was sitting in the boat now, but he had no intention of enjoying the singing and dancing that Liu Rushi arranged for him. He was even less interested in Liu Rushi, who was a bit round and round, wore no makeup, wore a scarf, and dressed up as a man.

He just smiled and looked at the white-faced scholar standing behind Qian Qianyi, who was slightly short and thin.

This scholar was in his twenties, with handsome features, a mustache, and a gentle smile on his face. He was Qian Qianyi's favorite disciple, Zheng Sen, who was admired by future generations as "Zheng Chenggong."

Although Zheng Sen is only a student at the Nanjing Imperial College now, he is already the rich man that Zhu Cixiang wants to win over. Zheng Sen's father is much richer than Zhu Cixiang's father. He is truly rich in the world - usually in the South China Sea,

They had to pay protection fees for merchant ships passing by in the East China Sea! It was much more "rich all over the world" than Emperor Chongzhen.

The richest man in the late Ming Dynasty was none other than Zheng Zhilong, the father of Zheng Sen!

Thinking of this, Zhu Cixiang smiled slightly and said to Zheng Sen: "Why is Senior Brother Zheng standing aside?"

Senior brother?

Qian Qianyi, Zheng Sen, and Liu Rushi were all stunned. Although Zhu Cihong made Qian Qianyi a lecturer and was technically a teacher, according to convention, Zhu Cihong would not call Qian Qianyi his "mentor" or "mentor".

"Teacher" will only be called "Mr. Qian". Qian Qianyi himself is not a "teacher", so why did his disciple become "Senior Brother Zheng"?

"Senior brother, come and sit." When Zhu Cihong saw Zheng Sen in a daze, his attitude became even more enthusiastic. He replaced the word "Zheng" and called him "senior brother" directly, and asked Zheng Sen to sit next to him.

"Your Highness asks you to sit down, so you can sit down." Qian Qianyi was of course a good teacher who was aware of current affairs. He immediately understood what Zhu Cihong meant and smiled and asked Zheng Sen to sit next to Zhu Cihong.

Zheng Sen heard the teacher's words and saluted Zhu Cixiang, "Students obey the order..."

"Alas," Zhu Cixiang waved his hand and interrupted, "How come senior brother calls himself a student in front of me? The generations are all messed up. You and I are both Mr. Qian's disciples. You are the first to enter the school, and you should be regarded as senior brother and me.

The one who has started the journey is junior brother. From now on, you can call me junior brother and call yourself brother."

"Thank you for sitting down, stupid brother..." Zheng Sen bowed bravely and walked to Zhu Cihong. The maid who was already waiting for him moved Zhang Xiudun for him. Zheng Sen sat down next to Zhu Cihong, but only touched it.

The smaller half of the buttocks looks very restrained.

"Senior brother, sit down and relax." Zhu Cixiang smiled and said, "Senior brother will often walk around me from now on, and there is no need to be so reserved."

Walking around? Zheng Sen was stunned again and looked at Qian Qianyi furtively. Qian Qianyi was also confused. He had never recommended Zheng Sen to Zhu Cihong.

In fact, he didn't even want to take Zheng Sen north, but Gong Dingzi, who came to Nanjing to invite him, didn't appreciate Zheng Sen very much and extended the invitation, so he brought Zheng Sen...

"Are Qiantose Master going to confer an official title on Omu?" Liu Rushi on the side said with a smile, and it was really just right.

Zhu Cixiang nodded and said with a smile: "Senior brother is Mr. Qian's disciple, and his writing skills are certainly not bad. It is the time for me to employ people, so I should make special use of them." He paused and said, "Mr. Qian, can you let me do it?"

My senior brother went to serve as a recorder for the Generalissimo’s Palace Chief Shi Sichong and concurrently served as the Secretariat of the East Palace?"

The Chief Secretary of the Generalissimo's Mansion is equivalent to Zhu Cixi's general office. The chief officers are called Chang Shi and Tong Changshi, and are held by Bi Jiucheng and Su Ziwen. The Recorder is a subordinate of the Chief Shi and is not a high official.

The Eastern Palace Assistant is a member of the prince's official team, and his task is to manage the prince's books. He cannot be called "sir", so he is not considered the prince's teacher.

Although these two official positions are not big, Zheng Sen does not actually need to hold them - the Chief Secretary has many records, and Zhu Cixiang also has a secretary beside him - but this appointment is important for promoting Zheng Sen in the Shibazhi Group.

The status is very useful.

Although the Shibazhi Group is headed by Zheng Zhilong, this group is not the Zheng family's private property, but more of a Jianghu gang. In order for Zheng Sen to become the young master, he must be recognized by other gang members, including uncles of the Zheng family.

And with the support of Prince Fujun, Zheng Sen can stand out in the Shibazhi Gang!

Similarly, Zhu Cixiang also needs a senior brother who is close to him to control the Shibazhi Maritime Group!

Qian Qianyi understood Zhu Cixiang's intentions in a blink of an eye, and immediately smiled and said to Zheng Sen: "Damu, you still haven't thanked Master Qiansui!"

Although Zheng Sen didn't think through all the key points, he also knew how important Zhu Cihong's support was to him. He quickly stood up and kowtowed to Zhu Cihong, "I thank you for your thousand years, Zheng Sen."

Zhu Cixiang smiled and raised his hand, gesturing for Zheng Sen to get up and return to his seat, "Senior Brother, there is no need to say thank you. Today is a stormy day, and I have been ordered to support the army. I need the assistance of a man with both civil and military skills like Senior Brother."

"Thank you, Your Highness, junior brother!" Zheng Sen's tone was still respectful, but he had changed his tone.

"Your Highness, Junior Brother..." Zhu Cixiang smiled, "Let's call him like this from now on."

...

In the city of Dayuan Prefecture, these days, the security has been strengthened a bit compared to the past. The common people inside and outside the city, as long as they have the strength, have been recruited by the Dashun Army, and they are digging earth, stacking rocks, and repairing the city walls like crazy.

The moat outside the city has been deepened and widened, the battlements of the parapets have also been thickened and heightened, and preparations are being made for various battle situations to defend the city.

The Dashun soldiers stationed in various parts of Shanxi also shrunk for the first time. They were mainly concentrated on the line from Guguan (Jingxing) to Taiyuan Fucheng, preparing to resist the Tatar army that was about to invade Shanxi.

Between June and the coming July, there was a strange calm among the Ming, Shun, and Qing dynasties.

The Qing Dynasty, which had successfully taken control of Beijing, basically stopped its offensive operations after expelling the Dashun Army from Northern Zhili. The western front stopped at the Taihang Mountains, and the southern front stopped at Daming Mansion, Zhangde Mansion, and

The northern part of Jinan and Dongchang Prefectures.

On the Dashun side, they reduced their forces in Shandong, Henan, Shanxi and other places, gave up large areas of territory one after another, and transferred their main troops to Shaanxi and Taiyuan Prefecture in Shanxi.

Put on a posture of competing for the world from west to east with the Qing and Ming families.

And Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi, seems to be the focus of the next decisive battle between Shun and Qing!

On the streets of Taiyuan, there are always large groups of blue-robed soldiers coming and going. I don’t know whether they want to set up defenses in the city, or go out of the city to build fortifications on Dongshan Mountain.

In the Jin Palace, several Dashun officials were whispering to Li Zicheng in the main hall. Li Zicheng looked a little thinner, but his eyes were even more piercing. He was not sitting on the throne either, but

He was standing behind a desk, looking at the map spread out on the desk, frowning, as if he was thinking hard about something.

Today's situation is different from that of the same period in history. The Qing Dynasty does not seem to be that powerful. And the Ming Dynasty has vague signs of ZTE! On the map of Shanxi spread out on the table, the Ming Dynasty still controls the territory of Datong Prefecture.

Datong Mansion has a king, a governor, and two general soldiers!

One of the kings is the thirteen-year-old acting vassal king Zhu Cijiong, the first governor is Wang Yongji, the governor of the three sides, and the second general is Jiang Yu, the chief soldier of the Datong garrison, and Gao Di, the chief soldier of the Xuanfu garrison. Not only is the strength not small, but the momentum is even greater.

vast!

Precisely because of the existence of the Ming army in Datong, the pressure Li Zicheng faced from the Qing army was greatly reduced. Datong's goal of acting as a vassal was quite large, and it could always contain some of the Qing army. If the two parties could join forces, Shanxi would also have something to do.

of.

However, Datong's attitude towards Dashun and Daqing gave Li Zicheng a bit of a headache.

"Your Majesty, the envoys we sent to Datong were killed by Wang Yongji and Jiang Quan! There are also rumors that Wang Yongji and Jiang Quan sent envoys to Beijing, preparing to join forces with the Tatars to attack us!"

"Your Majesty, our spies lurking in Beijing came to report that the Tatars are negotiating with Dai Fan on the canonization matter, and they want to make Dai Fan the prince of the Tatars. After the negotiation is completed, they will attack Taiyuan together with Dai Fan."

"Your Majesty, if the Ming army in Datong surrenders to the Tatars, then we will be in trouble. Moreover, there are gentry who oppose us in various places in Shanxi and are raising troops. It is impossible to stabilize the situation. It is better to take a step back and return to our hometown in Shaanxi.
Chapter completed!