In February of the fourth year of Wude (1413 AD), Zhu Gaoxu was happy to have a son and a daughter. Concubine Shu gave birth to a prince, named Zhantan; Concubine Xian gave birth to a princess, named Shoulao.

Not long after, Zhang Fu also took prisoners to Beijing.

Originally, if the people from the south walked through Zhengyang Gate, they could reach the imperial city as soon as possible. However, the court arranged a route for Zhang Fu along Fengtai Gate, Jubao Gate, and Hongwu Gate Avenue. Because Jubao Gate was the commercial area of ​​the capital, it was the most densely populated place, and the martial arts of the court were just displayed to the common people along the way.

The Ministry of War and the Governor's Office of the Five Army each sent a civil servant and a nobleman to greet him, and the infantry and cavalry sent from the Beijing camp were supported, setting up a grand show for Zhang Fu.

The city gates specifically sing drums for the captives, and the "dong dong..." drums sounded, and the power resounded throughout the southern city of the capital. Zhang Fu was wearing heavy armor and rode his war horses all the way. The officials and civilians along the way, regardless of their official positions, all avoided the road and bowed to him. Countless people watching along the way were cheering and cheering, just like celebrating the festival.

Behind Zhang Fu was a long line of prison vans, and the rebel leaders below Lili were all in the streets in the team. The prisoners were not in their current posture on the road for thousands of miles, otherwise they would have been tortured to death. They were only made like this when they were about to enter the city, and their heads were exposed from the hole above the prison van, so they could only stand in the car, and their bodies were not afraid of moving.

Among the noisy crowds on both sides, many people cursed at the prisoners passing by, shouting all kinds of dirty words, and some people threw rotten vegetables, mud, and all kinds of smelly eggs.

As for the Annan rebels who have never influenced the people of the capital and are people who have never met each other, these things are not important. After all, those who are loaded in the prison car must be bad people. And people in the world always have all kinds of dissatisfaction. At this time, they are openly venting their indignation at the rebel prisoners, and they do not have to bear any legal and moral responsibilities at all.

Just over four years after Zhu Gaoxu ascended the throne, it is now the third time that the ceremony of offering prisoners was held. The ceremony was very useful for him to consolidate the throne and enhance his authority. Although the purpose of the war was not this. Civil officials did not advocate military military affairs, but they were very supportive of offering prisoners, and people always had some contradictions.

Zhu Gaoxu had no intention of deciding Li Li and others to determine them by right or wrong, but only determined that they were enemies and opponents. Therefore, after offering prisoners, he beheaded them all.

At the celebration banquet, Zhang Fu and others received many rewards, including brocade robes, jade belts, saddles, treasure scabbards, and newly minted silver coins and other items from the mint. Then the emperor issued an order to send people to Annan Kingdom to commend Li Bin, the Marquis of Fengcheng, and rewarded the property. He was promoted to Ma Gan, who captured Li Li alive, and was the commander of Beijiang Guard, and rewarded Ma Gan and his subordinates with one million new money.

The next morning, after the Imperial Gate heard the government, Zhang Fu was summoned to meet at Rouyi Hall.

Yesterday's rituals and music, people's noisy congratulations had stopped, and the inside and outside of the Rouyi Hall was very quiet. Zhang Fu also calmed down. In addition to the noisy, he began to think about the details of this major event.

If you eradicate Lili, you will definitely be happy to the emperor. However, one of the things that is not perfect is that you use King Annan Chen Zhengyuan as bait. Chen Zhengyuan is very important to the court, and Zhang Fu used him to set up an ambush, which obviously did not look very good.

When Zhang Fu kowtowed at the door, he saw Qi Tai, the Minister of War, also inside. When Zhang Fu entered the hall to kowtow again, Qi Tai hurriedly stood up and avoided the distance, for fear that Zhang Fu would kneel together with him.

Zhu Gaoxu waved and said, "I'm free, I'll come and sit down and talk."

Zhang Fu said: "I thank the emperor for giving him a seat."

When he got up from the ground, he saw that the paper in front of Zhu Gaoxu was a little wrinkled, as if it was the confession of Li Li and others.

Zhang Fu then said, "The Master clearly understands that the thief Lili has a great prestige in Annan Kingdom and is very cunning. I have been guarding for two years but I have no chance. After I received the news from Ruan Jingyi, I was afraid that Lili would notice it, so I kept it confidential before sending troops and failed to inform the Annan royal family so that King Annan would travel south as scheduled."

Zhu Gaoxu looked up at him and said, "I know that there are often risks in the battle formation. Those who command the troops make a quick decision and should know the responsibility for the consequences. Since the Marquis of Xincheng made such a decision, there must be your reason and you must have weighed the importance of it. Now that the Marquis of Xincheng has won a great victory, the Marquis of Xincheng is a wise move."

After hearing this, Zhang Fu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, clasped his fists and said, "The Lord is wise." He then suddenly said, "I congratulate you on your honor to win the third prince and the eldest princess."

Zhu Gaoxu smiled and said, "Master Xincheng lives in the capital's residence for a while, and you have to work hard too."

After hearing this, Qi Tai also started to laugh.

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Zhang Fu and continued, "The Marquis of Xincheng has a general and continues to earn money. There should be no problem with the title that the Zhang family deserves. You don't care about your family, who will inherit the title of the future Duke?"

When Zhang Fu suddenly heard this, his expression of joy was revealed on his face and hurriedly said, "I am willing to drive forward to the priest."

He came to his senses after he said that, and only felt that the emperor was really thoughtful. He didn't say when he was granted a title to the Duke, but only said "It should be no problem", and got a carrot and hung it on a stick. There was no way, who told Zhang Fu to show that he was talented and the emperor still wanted to use it?

However, Zhang Fu, who had been the "General of Pinghan", was quite satisfied with his current future. For a moment, he felt that the spring outside the hall was very bright, just like his current future.

Zhu Gaoxu's voice said: "According to the confession of Ruan Jian and others, did Chen Zhengyuan go south know from the envoys of Chameng?"

Zhang Fu immediately replied: "It is true. I have met Ruan Jingyi in the Annan Governor's Office and confirmed this. According to Ruan Jingyi's report, Li Li also sent someone to Hue and met the ministers of Chameng."

Qi Tai said: "Chancheng Kingdom and Annan Kingdom have always had grudges. It is reasonable for our dynasty to support the Annan Kingdom royal family, and even Champaign made a hindrance."

Zhu Gaoxu said coldly: "I have said a long time ago that when the Ming Dynasty conquered the Annan Hu family, Chameng sent troops to attack, but it was only for his own benefit and wanted to take advantage of the situation. Now, once the interests of Chameng Kingdom affect the interests of Chameng Kingdom, they are unwilling to let the Ming Dynasty's lord arbitration, but will immediately form an alliance with our enemy! The original tribute vassal relationship was so fragile."

Qi Tai agreed, "What the emperor said is that many small foreign vassal states pay tribute to the court is nothing more than adding to our vassal states. Those countries are not the same as those of the North Korean states. The imperial edict is for foreign vassal states, only North Korea and Annan."

Zhang Fu said: "Follow me, the soldiers and generals of the southern countries are weak in battle. The Annan Army has obtained the ordnance and tactics of our dynasty. This time, the attack on Chameng Kingdom has a great chance of victory. We will severely punish Chameng Kingdom for his crime of betrayal and teach his monarch and ministers to respect the power of the saint and heaven."

...As expected, as Zhang Fu expected, the capital received news that the Annan Army had captured the Hue area within a few days.

The news came from the sea, and a fleet of several sea ships arrived at Longjiang Port. On the ship were Zhang Shun, a civil servant stationed in Annan, the North Office of the Defense Department, and Luo Pan, the envoy of Chameng Kingdom.

Zhang Shun was a Jinshi of the third-class Jinshi in the Jichou class during the Wude period, and was also a person who had just entered the official career for a few years. In the early years of Wude, Zhu Gaoxu did not conduct large-scale pursuance after entering the capital, so there were few vacancies with a little power; if the more than 80 Jinshi in the Encai class did not want to be local officials, most of them could only be small officials in some Qingshui yamen.

Some of them were arranged to serve as officials in new yamen such as the Shouyu Department, and Zhang Shun was one of them. They were not very satisfied with the position of the new yamen at first, but soon Liu Ming's rise to prominence inspired everyone; the new Jinshi seemed to have a better chance of doing something practical than getting promoted.

The people who came to Chameng were not kings but envoys, so the emperor did not need to receive them. He only needed officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Governor's Office of the Five Army. After the power of the Governor's Office of the Five Army was weakened, one of the official duties of the nobles was to receive envoys from the foreign vassals.

So Zhu Gaoxu summoned Zhang Shun first in Rouyi Hall.

Unexpectedly, after Zhang Shun met, he immediately began to tell the crimes of the Annan Army. He said that after the Annan Army entered the Hue area, it burned, killed, robbed and committed all kinds of evil. Most of the corpses on the road were civilians, and almost all the women who could be found were insulted by soldiers. The Annan King's Army was like a bandit.

Zhang Shun said with pain: "The Ruan Jingyi, who was named for the Ming Dynasty, led his troops to the city of Shunhua and publicly promoted it in the army that as long as he attacked the city, the soldiers could do whatever they wanted within ten days! Some people in the Chameng Army had slaughtered in Shenglong and other places, and this time the Annan people were for tooth. However, I heard that there were many people in Shunhua City, not the Cameng people, but the Annan people. I kindly dissuaded Ruan Jingyi, but he actually said that the Annan army had no military pay, and only in this way could they motivate the soldiers..."

Zhu Gaoxu didn't think there was any problem at all, but he still listened carefully. He suddenly asked, "Which province are you from?"

Zhang Shun paused and bowed, "My hometown is Guangdong Provincial Administration Commissioner."

"No wonder." Zhu Gaoxu said quietly.

The two civil wars of the Ming Dynasty almost failed to affect Guangdong. When Zhu Gaoxu was fighting in the south, he tried every means to pay military salaries to his soldiers and restrained them, so he did not do much bad things to the common people. Therefore, scholars like Zhang Shun seem to lack knowledge of the barbarity of the war. After all, books rarely describe the detailed process of opening up the territory.

At this time, the young Zhang Shun looked confused.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "When you see that our official army has good military discipline in Annan, you think the official army is like this? Zhang Yushi may have some misunderstanding that the army of most countries is not like this. The military discipline, combat effectiveness and treatment of the official army in our Beijing camp at this time are by no means comparable to other countries, so the generals can easily restrain the soldiers."

Zhang Shun bowed and said, "I am stupid."

Zhu Gaoxu said kindly: "I have always been cautious about war."
Chapter completed!