If we miss the problem of food and grass, even if Zhu Su is well versed in the ancient Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di is growing up gradually, and there are brave and resourceful generals like Zhang Dingbian, and upright civil servants like Ru Taisu, there is nothing we can do about it.
After all, Zhu Su didn't have a system, so there was a sudden sound in his mind, and then a bunch of wheat and potatoes appeared out of thin air, right?
If that's true, I'm afraid he would have been taken by the suspicious Lao Zhu as a monster who stole his son's body, and he would be caught and sliced into pieces.
Fortunately, after March, good news came from Qian'an County in the south: several ships carrying the flag of the Ming Army appeared in the long-abandoned port of Qian'an. Then another wave of messengers came to report: That
A fleet, led by Zhang He, was heading south to the southeast to raise supplies for the Ming army!
Everyone in the camp was overjoyed. Zhu Su even left Zhu Di to go to the camp, and he went straight to the south to meet Zhang He. Zhang He also knew that time was precious, so he did not repair it after landing, and took his people directly to Changli.
Soon after Zhu Su led his talents into the north gate of Changli, Zhang He also entered the city from the south gate at almost the same time.
"General Zhang He, I have met with the emperor! I have been waiting for you for a long time! Fortunately, the general did not miss the big event!" Zhang He had already heard about the advanced situation while he was on the road, and saluted after seeing Zhu Su.
"Not long, not long!" Zhu Su quickly helped Zhang He up. To be fair, Zhang He was already very fast. Although Yuan Ting had walked through the shipping channel before, it was not the first time in the Ming Dynasty. There was no sea map in Zhang He's legs.
It can be said that a new route has been opened up from scratch.
Not to mention that the original ship to Liaodong had been destroyed when he left, and Zhang He did not have a ship large enough for a long voyage at the time.
If he had not been Zhang He, and had witnessed with his own eyes his ability to lead the fleet from a fatal situation to safety in a storm, Zhu Su would never have thought of letting him temporarily transport military supplies by sea and land.
After asking Zhang He how things were going along the way, he found out whether Zhang He's trip was also full of twists and turns. After he arrived in Qian'an, he temporarily commandeered a private boat and ventured across the sea to Leling, borrowing the legs from the Ming army in Leling.
After building a large ship, he borrowed enough ships from Donghai Qianhu Station, which was responsible for coastal defense, and then returned to Suzhou all the way at sea.
According to Zhu Su's instructions, Wei Guan, the prefect of Suzhou who had an old relationship with Zhu Su, as well as the Suzhou Guards and Taicang Guards were sent to collect sufficient food and grass, and then quickly headed there with the boat. Finally, they succeeded in waiting for Zhu Su.
Before they ran out of food, they returned to Changli.
"General Zhang, thank you for your hard work." Zhu Su sighed sincerely. Although Zhang He said it easily, Zhu Su could guess the difficulties and dangers involved. He, Zhang He, was the deputy commander of the Fuzhou Guard, and also communicated with the generals of Leling, Donghai and other places.
The Ming army did not know each other. How could those people lend warships to each other so easily? Even if they took out Zhu Su's token, I wonder if most of the vassal kings in the court were young at this time and no one held important power. Those people
It's hard to say whether the proud soldiers of the Ming Dynasty will give him the face of the fifth prince.
Didn't he meet Gong Changhou Guo Xing and others, so he never paid attention to his so-called prince? Zhang He must have received a lot of red eyes all the way there, and maybe there were many conflicts. Not to mention that Zhang He passed there all the way.
How difficult the sea is, it must be extremely dangerous.
Didn't he know that his reputation would not be easy to use, so he asked Zhang He to go to Suzhou to adjust grains. After all, the leaders of both the military and political parties in Suzhou had an old relationship with him, so he should keep his mouth shut. If he went to other places Go to ask for food. If the official in charge shirks the request and reports it to the capital first, everything will be over.
"That's wrong, the master of the palace. When he returns this time, the general will bring three people with him." Zhang He suddenly remembered something. "These three people said that they are not old acquaintances of the master. Without their help, the general will be helpless." In a short period of time, such a huge amount of food and grass was collected."
"Huh?" Zhu Su was stunned, but also a little curious. "Who is it? Let them come and see you."
As expected, three people from Shaoqing were brought in by Zhang He's legs. When the three of them saw Zhu Su, they all bowed their heads and worshiped: "Young man Yang Lu (Shen Sen, Zhao Yunyan), I have seen Wu Diandong!"
"Commander Yang?" Zhu Su was also shocked when he saw that the person in charge was actually Yang Lu. At this time, Yang Lu was dressed as a businessman and his back was stooped. He was no longer like Xian Qi when he was the commander of the Suzhou Guard. He looked high-spirited. When he heard Zhu Su calling him, he hurriedly bent to the east and said with a flattering smile: "The villain is no longer in command. If you know that the villain is an ordinary commoner outside Suzhou City, the east of the hall called him directly. Just give people a bad name."
"Uh... Yang Lu." Zhu Su calmed down. "I was fired? How did I become like Ru Ming?"
After listening to Yang Lu's account, Zhu Su understood the cause and effect. Although Yang Lu was helpless and involved with Zhang Chen's remnants, Zhu Su did not intend to stay in Yang Lu because he was very cooperative when he was in Suzhou. He wanted to help Yang Lu. Lu is covering up.
But Zhu Su did not report to the capital, which does not mean that the affairs of Tiandong could be hidden from Lao Zhu's eyes and ears. The Jinyiwei reported Yang Lu's situation to Yingtian without Zhu Su's permission. When Lao Zhu heard this, he was furious. She wanted to kill Yang Lu and abandon the market on the spot. However, Empress Ma thought of Concubine Yang in the palace and tried to persuade Yang Lu that Yang Lu had not made a big mistake, so that Lao Zhu took back his life.
However, regardless of this, Yang Lu was directly kicked out of his official position, severely punished, and fined ten thousand taels of silver. His family fortune, which had been strong in the past, suddenly became thinner. He provoked the imperial court, and was even more imprisoned by Suzhou in the East. Exclusion. Even Concubine Yang in the palace was implicated and was reprimanded by Lao Zhu before being thrown into the cold palace. It is also unknown whether Zhu Su's future brother, who will be named Prince Ning, will have a chance of being born. .
Yang Lu experienced the ups and downs of the world in one month, and his heart was miserable. He was no longer what he was in the past. It wasn't until Zhang He returned to Suzhou and was prompted by someone that he cheered up. He thought about whether his Ruming situation was all because of his offence. It was the fault of the Fifth Prince Zhu Su. If he could not be forgiven, he might still be able to build up his family business again.
So Yang Lu sold the rest of his family's assets and used them all to buy grain and grass to send to Zhu Su, with the intention of gaining Zhu Su's favor.
"That's it." Zhu Su nodded. "My heart has become clear to you, but the urgent need for the country's crisis shows that my heart is not bad. It is up to me to reinstate the official position. I will meet with my father." Huang Mei said, I will be in Suzhou in a few months and live a good life."
"Thank you Diandong! Thank you Diandong!" Yang Lu kowtowed like a fool, but he was relieved when the fifth prince expressed his forgiveness. In this way, the officials and merchants in Suzhou City would not deliberately exclude and make things difficult for him, even Concubine Yang in the palace. , it is not impossible to seek favor again.
As for the dissipated family wealth, in that era, compared to the royal favor, frivolous wealth was nothing.
Although he, Yang Lu, was helpless, he was never a fool who couldn't figure it out.
"Shen Sen...why am I here?" Zhu Su looked at a person in the east, Shen Sen, the young head of the Shen family.
"Your Majesty." Shen Sen kowtowed heavily to Zhu Su. "His Shen family doesn't support the merchants of His Majesty. So if His Majesty is in need, he will naturally do his best."
"Did the Shen family sell a lot of their property in exchange for fifty thousand shi of food and grass? I'm here to help the east of the palace defeat the enemy!"
Zhu Su nodded. What Shen Sen said was awe-inspiring, but how could Zhu Su not know what the Shen family was thinking? It was simply because the Shen family's second-in-command, Shen Wang's son, had secretly hoarded food and uttered arrogant words, leaving the Shen family in the east. I was so frightened that I came here to atone for my sins.
"Humph, the Shen family is running out of successors. You can use that kind of courtesy to break up the family. But what you say is that it seems that you are selling the favor of the Zhu family, just to save face." Zhu Su thought to himself.
"It's better to be like Yang Lu, who directly said whether he wanted to atone for his sins. If Shen Wansan was here, he would not act like that." A businessman began to stick to the hypocrisy of face and refused to admit his faults. , this is basically not a sign of forgetting their roots, and it is often not the beginning of their downfall.
No matter what happens, the Shen family is not the richest man in Jiangnan, and they have made a lot of money by cooperating with me in the glass business. Now I have the leverage to control them, and I can weaken the Shen family at any time, and I just happen to use that "Jiangnan" "The richest man", to a certain extent, was manipulating the trends of the merchants in the south of the Yangtze River.
"What about me? Who am I? Have you seen me before?" Zhu Su looked at the last person. He said that he was an old acquaintance of his. Why didn't he have any impression of him?
"I've met the master of the palace! I'm Zhao Yunyan. In the past month, the master of the palace held a banquet in Shen Garden. I was one of the merchants." The man said, his tone was neither humble nor arrogant.
"There is a banquet in Shen Yuan..." I remembered that time I summoned Suzhou merchants to make them spit out all the food they had hoarded. So, was this person one of those unjust merchants who hoarded food? Zhu Su's eyes suddenly turned evil when he looked at Zhao Yunyan.
"Your Majesty, the villain didn't hoard on purpose. It was because he already had a grain merchant in his family. Moreover, the price of the villain's grain shop had increased by five cents, and he had never closed the shop to ban sales. "Yes." As if he could see Zhu Su's bad intentions, Zhao Yunyan went on to add.