After staring at Zhu Su blankly for a while, Cao Yuan suddenly came back to his senses under Zhu Su's encouraging gaze.
Realizing that he was being rude, Cao Yuan lowered his head to the east, cupped his fists and said to Zhu Su, "Go back to the east of the hall."
"Although the young man once guarded the city east of King Cheng in the past month."
"But is it actually out of helplessness..."
Cao Yuan had a wry smile on his face.
"At that time, the entire city of Pingjiang was surrounded by Xiwu... and was surrounded by his powerful tomorrow's soldiers. The city was completely depleted of ammunition and food, and King Cheng's troops either surrendered or collapsed."
"In order to defend Pingjiang City, King Cheng recruited soldiers among the people. The villain and most of the men in the camp were recruited into the army at that time..."
Speaking of which, Zhu Su was already very popular. Why would he want to give warnings to the soldiers? If he said that he was popular, he would not be able to recruit more men.
When he saw the mess in the west of the city that looked like a dead city, he guessed that the Pingjiang city defense battle that year was particularly brutal. Even so many houses were demolished to defend the city, how could Keke not forcibly sign the civilians as the strong men to defend the city?
?
Listening to Cao Yuan's story, the subsequent development was just as Zhu Su expected: After that, Pingjiang City was destroyed, and Cao Yuan, who was an ordinary soldier at the time, surrendered to Lao Zhu along with his troops.
Then their remnants of the army were dispersed and reorganized, and were organized under the command of many of Lao Zhu's own generals.
Cao Yuan and others were placed under the command of Wu Liang, Marquis of Jiangyin. In the subsequent battles, they followed Wu Liang, Marquis of Jiangyin, in the northern and southern campaigns, and were promoted to Qianhu due to their meritorious service. Later, Wu Liang was transferred to the command of the Suzhou Guard, and Cao Yuan became the commander of the Suzhou Guards.
I moved to my hometown in Suzhou.
"Master, I have shed blood and sold my life for the Ming Dynasty!" Cao Yuan, a man as tall as a tower of iron, shed tears of grievance.
"General Cao has thousands of families in the army, so why should he keep calling himself a 'little man'?"
"General, there is no need to be aggrieved. I will not treat any meritorious ministers who have made great contributions to the Ming Dynasty harshly."
Zhu Su comforted him with a warm voice. It became clear now that he was coming from the east. Wu Liang, Marquis of Jiangyin, was ordered to go to the southwest with Mu Ying, Deng Yu and others to train troops and wait for the opportunity. Perhaps he realized that Cao Yuan and others were not interested in Suzhou.
The local people may not want to be far away from their hometown again, so they kept Cao Yuan in the east and continued to serve as a thousand households in Suzhou Wei Zhong.
Yang Lu, the first commander of the Han Dynasty, turned his grievances on those soldiers who had surrendered to the east under Zhang Shicheng because of the ineffective campaign.
It made those people feel wronged. Even when Chang Mao was around, they still couldn't gain Chang Mao's trust and were treated differently to a certain extent...
"There is something that I need to apologize to you all for." Zhu Su raised the wine bottle at the head.
"Mr. Chang Guo is loyal and upright, and he is devoted to my king's plan. Perhaps because he is too worried about my king's safety, I mistakenly make you have a certain degree of wariness..."
"I very much ask you not to take it personally. If there is any mistake, I would like to offer you a drink on behalf of Duke Chang."
As he said that, he picked up the wine bottle and drank it in one gulp.
Seeing that the dignified prince actually apologized and toasted to their military households, Cao Yuan and others were stunned for a moment.
At this time, Chang Mao also stood up and said: "There is no need for the master of the palace to toast for us. We, Chang, can do it ourselves."
"We can't blame us for being suspicious. We always have a straight head, but we really can't see through people's hearts."
"We don't have to be submissive. We are afraid of Yongxuan's failure! Just practice hard. If you believe in us, you will naturally believe it after seeing people's hearts for a long time."
"When the time comes, I will sincerely believe that we will all come to our house to have a drink when we go to Yingtian!"
"I don't dare, I don't dare. Thank you, Your Majesty, I respect you!" Cao Yuan stood up and saluted.
"Young one... I will definitely fulfill my duties faithfully and dedicate myself to my whole life!"
"Live up to the trust of the Emperor and the country!"
"I will definitely fulfill my duties with dedication and dedication, and live up to the trust of the emperor and the country!" Several other households also said in unison.
Cao Yuan's answer was still cautious, but his legs holding the wine bottle were rarely trembling. The other people's voices were also loud and sincere.
Seeing that change, Zhu Su felt a slight movement in his heart. He originally wanted to win over the soldiers a little, but it seemed that the effect was far beyond expectations.
Cao Yuan was originally the Marquis of Jiangyin, Wu Liang, who had a leg to the east of Qianhu. If he had not truly cherished Bu Ju, Wu Liang would not have left him there. There would be no danger of his loyalty.
At this time, they were in dire straits. He came here, but he unintentionally helped them, which was like giving help in the snow.
Originally, I wanted to use them as eye-catching bait, and the main force that really captured Zhang Chen's remnants was actually the "Taicang Guard", another guard station in the Susong area.
Cai Ben, the commander of the Taicang Guards, was born in Chang Yuchun's Dongfang Guards. He borrowed the flag of the Chang family to mobilize the Taicang Guards. Although it was a bit troublesome, it was more reliable than the Suzhou Guards who relied on Yang Lu.
But since it turned out that Cao Yuan's soldiers were mentally capable... Zhu Su couldn't help but think about the feasibility of using those soldiers to do something.
…
…
…
In the distance over Taihu Lake, there is a round blood-colored falling moon, which happens to set on the Dongting Mountain in the lake.
The towering Suzhou City Wall was also dyed in a brilliant color by the red moon.
This is already the last sunset next year.
In the fifth year of Hongwu, it was the 30th month of the twelfth lunar month.
Cough slowly.
The originally dirty and dilapidated west part of the city is no longer what it used to be. Although it is not as lively and prosperous as the east part of the city and the south part of the city, it still has some appearance.
The shacks and shacks that were once messy all over the place have been cleared away, creating a large open space.
A three-story high-rise building stands in the middle of the open space, right on the bank of the river flowing through Suzhou. In the West City, which is full of shabby shacks, it looks extremely abrupt. Although this building is very unfamiliar,
In terms of lacquer carvings, the main part has been completed. Although it is not dark tomorrow, lights have been hung in the building. It is vaguely visible that people are coming and going in the building, which is quite lively.
"Boss Zhao! Long time no see, long time no see! We haven't seen each other for a long time. We must have been summoned by King Wu from the east of the palace to meet in Shen Garden, right?"
Outside the building, a pot-bellied businessman greeted another businessman with a Wei Jiao face.
"It turns out, Boss Fang, I'm glad to meet you." Zhao Yunyan, a rice merchant, turned around and saw Boss Fang, who was also a Suzhou businessman, and said politely.
"Has Boss Fang been invited by the prince to come here?"
"Who wouldn't say no! If that prince hadn't invited me, who would have asked me to come to that dirty place in the west of the city?" The businessman surnamed Fang looked around, raised his legs to his mouth and whispered in a low voice.
"I want to know if there is a place for the refugees in the west of the city! Don't get sick when you come to that place!"
Zhao Yunyan smiled and did not shut up. Ruming that the place to the west of the city was much cleaner than the east of the city where he lived, and it didn't look like a place where people would get sick.
"Hey, that Chinese New Year guy actually came to the Hongmen Banquet again..." Seeing that Zhao Yunyan didn't answer, the boss was not surprised and continued to complain, minding his own business. "I don't know how much blood I asked for that time...
…”
"Boss Fang, why should you complain?" Zhao Yunyan said. "The invitation just said that he would be invited to wait for the New Year's Eve banquet. If so, you can be sure that he will be asked to wait for bleeding that time?"
"What's the matter?" Boss Fang said firmly. "The prince is young, so he must be addicted to red wolf traps. How can a nobleman like him look down on him and other merchants?"
"Could it be that you really know how to invite him to a banquet?"
"Alas...we can't just catch our merchants to gather wool."
"Be aware that sheep are anxious and can bite people!"