The Ming army took a break in Jianchang and then continued to move towards Chengdu after replenishing the food and grass.

After several days of march, the Ming army was almost at full speed without any delay.

Although Zhu Youlang's body is pampered, he is not dragging him down.

After all, Zhu Youlang's plan will be realized earlier if he arrived in Chengdu one day.

The closer you are to Chengdu, the more people there will be in the village.

You can probably see some shadows from the peak of Shu.

However, these villagers who built villages to protect themselves were very alert to the army, as if they were going to run away if there was any signs wrong.

Some villages are even fully armed and there is no difference between them and the fortresses.

Zhu Youlang couldn't help but sigh that people's lives were inferior to pigs and dogs in troubled times, so they could only protect themselves in this way.

It's so lamentable.

Zhu Youlang imagined that the people were rushing to deliver food to the front, but it did not appear. It seemed that it would take time to completely win back the people's hearts.

The letter written in the name of Di Sanxi has been sent, but I don’t know when Hong Chengchou will see it.

I hope it will be helpful to the Ming army's attack on Chongqing.

"Your Majesty, if it goes well today, you should be able to arrive at the capital."

Li Dingguo drove his horse to approach and said respectfully.

"oh."

Zhu Youlang responded lightly, paused for a moment and stared at Li Dingguo Road: "I have thought about what to say to Liu Yao and others, and the King of Jin does not need to worry."

Li Dingguo was stunned for a moment, then understood what the emperor meant and clasped his fists with gratitude: "I thanked Your Majesty for your behalf."

Zhu Youlang smiled slightly: "Continue the march."

It is only a few dozen miles away from Chengdu and you will be able to reach it soon.

What surprised Zhu Youlang was that when the army reached several miles from Chengdu, he saw Liu Yao and others leaving the city to greet him.

The general, deputy general, and all the civil and military officials were waiting for the journey, and it was a big battle!

"I am the general of Chengdu, Liu Yao, to pay homage to Your Majesty, my emperor, Sheng'an."

A general in his forties, with a bearded face quickly stepped forward and knelt down and saluted.

"General Liu, please calm down."

Zhu Youlang raised his hand and said in a whisper.

"Your Majesty, I learned that Your Majesty is going to visit Shu, and I have ordered people to repair the palace and prepare the food and grass."

Liu Yao took the initiative to report: "There are 13,000 soldiers and 7,000 auxiliary soldiers in Chengdu. There are 103 guards around the garrison, with a total of 5,000 soldiers."

I was still very satisfied with Zhu Youlang, a hard-working general like Liu Yao.

As the commander of the First Army, you don’t need to have all the information, but you must have a clear understanding of the key information.

Zhu Youlang glanced and found that the Laochuan army represented by Liu Yao did not show hostility towards Li Dingguo and others, at least not on the surface.

Could it be that he was thinking too much?

"Thank you for your hard work in General Liu. Can the Northern Expedition Army be stationed in the city?"

"this…"

Liu Yao couldn't help but look embarrassed when he heard this.

“Is there any difficulty?”

Zhu Youlang was a little displeased.

It is natural for a large army to travel a long distance, camping in the wild is inevitable.

Now I finally had the opportunity to go to the city to rest and enjoy the feeling of sleeping under the eaves. If Liu Yao didn't cooperate, it would be unreasonable.

In Zhu Youlang's opinion, Chengdu is the largest and most prosperous city in the actual controlled area of ​​the Ming Dynasty, and even Yunnan is far from reaching Kunming.

No matter what, Chengdu can hold these soldiers.

Liu Yao thought for a moment, gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty doesn't know, the city of Chengdu is no longer the same as before."

Zhu Youlang frowned and said, "Let me tell me."

"Your Majesty, there may not be enough houses in the city for the soldiers to live in."

Zhu Youlang only found it funny, and this reason really doesn't make sense.

Chengdu is also a first-class city. How could it be that there are not enough houses for the soldiers to live in?

"Are General Liu looking for happiness with me?"

"I dare not."

Liu Yao was shocked and sweated in a cold sweat, and quickly explained: Your Majesty has something to do. Many merchants and people in the city have escaped, and these houses are all ownerless houses. It is impossible for the army to requisition. But, but..."

“But what?”

"But no one lives in these houses for a long time, and there are probably snakes and rats inside."

Liu Yao sighed.

This... Zhu Youlang really didn't expect it.

"How many people are there in Chengdu now?"

"It should be ten or twenty thousand, right?"

Liu Yao obviously did not know as well as the number of soldiers in Chengdu. However, it seems that it would not be much worse, it should be this number.

The once extremely prosperous southwest city has declined to this point, with only 10,000 or 20,000 people in the whole city?

Zhu Youlang was shocked and his heart was bleeding!

In this way, the situation in Chengdu is not much better than that in Kunming!

Zhu Youlang did make an empirical mistake.

Although he was very interested in the history of the late Ming Dynasty and even the Southern Ming Dynasty in his previous life, he was not an expert in professional research on the history of dynasties and did not have a good grasp of some details.

In his opinion, a lean camel is bigger than a horse, and even if Chengdu is declining, there should be 100,000 people.

But the reality is that after several wars, Chengdu is still alive, and it has nothing to do with the extremely prosperous Jinguan City in history.

This is really amazing.

It took Zhu Youlang a long time to calm down and said helplessly: "It is my fault for Chengdu to come to this point."

There is no problem with Zhu Youlang saying this.

The emperor was the supreme ruler of the feudal dynasty. Who is he responsible?

Can the problem be solved by just passing the blame like Chongzhen?

Zhu Youlang did not play the role that a king of a country should have. He was not willing to take any responsibility as a king except running away, and he refused to take any responsibility as a king.

"I'm afraid."

Liu Yao hurriedly buried his head and did not dare to look at the emperor in front of him.

"I'm talking about my heart."

Zhu Youlang sighed and said, "I have tried to conduct three sentences a day because I am worried that my personal virtue will affect the welfare of the people. Now it seems that what I have done is not enough."

After a moment of pause, Zhu Youlang continued: "As for the problem General Liu said, I think it is better to clean up the house than to live in a tent? The soldiers are really working too hard."

The emperor said everything to this point, and if Liu Yao refused again, he would be too ignorant.

He quickly clasped his fists and said, "Since that's the case, I will order the soldiers to cooperate in cleaning up the house."

“So very good.”

Zhu Youlang nodded with relief.

Originally, Zhu Youlang prepared a set of rhetoric to reconcile the conflict between Liu Yao and Li Dingguo.

But now it seems that it is not useful.

At least on the surface, Liu Yao performed very well and did not mean to Li Dingguo.

The Ming Dynasty really can't stand the tossing now.

Only by understanding each other and overcoming difficulties together can there be a glimmer of hope of turning the tables. If you want to continue to flee internally, it will be really dark.

"If there is nothing else, go to the city."

Zhu Youlang was also a little tired when he marched from a long distance and wanted to take a good rest.

…

…
Chapter completed!