The three men were eager to perform their duties, but were afraid that Zhu Gui would regret it, so they returned to Nanjing overnight with the three-eyed gun.
Zhu Gui thought about this issue again and again. The Battle of Jingnan was directly caused by Zhu Yunzhen's reduction of the vassal vassal, so before that, Zhu Di should not take any action.
Therefore, even if he obtained the three-eyed blunderbuss early, which was supposed to appear during the Yongle period, it would only be used to deal with the Mongols, and it would not have much impact on the overall situation.
After confirming his idea, Zhu Gui went to sleep peacefully.
The next day, he issued another announcement stating that within the next year, the four states and seven counties under the jurisdiction of Datong Prefecture would also begin to carry out reforms.
The reform is divided into two steps, namely repair and land distribution. You can refer to the situation in Datong Prefecture.
As soon as this announcement came out, the people of Datong Prefecture did not have much reaction to it. Instead, they thought it was natural.
The happiest people are those businessmen who have joined the Datong Chamber of Commerce.
As long as the official roads in Datong Prefecture can be repaired, it will also speed up the circulation of goods in Datong Prefecture, thereby making more money.
As for the reactions from the surrounding seven counties, there has been no feedback yet.
However, news came back from Hu Shidao that the gentry and wealthy families in several prefectures and counties seemed to have made extraordinary moves.
Hu Shidao carefully guessed that these people might have contacted a group of horse bandits entrenched in Shanxi.
The so-called horse bandits are different from general highway robbers. Since they were in a frontier area, they had many conditions to obtain Mongolian horses, hence the name.
These horse bandits are particularly hated because of their quick comings and goings and their committing style which is more cruel than bandits.
After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, a large-scale campaign was carried out to clear up the banditry left over from the late Yuan Dynasty.
However, although more than 20 years have passed, banditry has continued to be suppressed due to the encouragement of Zhu Yuanzhang's deeds.
In addition, Shanxi is too far away from Nanjing and is often intruded by the Mongols, so banditry in Shanxi is more serious than in other areas.
In fact, most of these people are local people who can't live anymore and some Mongolians, including many salt dealers.
However, due to the policies of the Prince's Palace during this period, many salt dealers had secretly escaped, which also resulted in the size of this group of horse bandits being much smaller than when they were in their heyday.
But precisely because of this, they blamed all the reasons on this young prince who had just arrived.
Coupled with the invitations from the landowners and gentry in these states and counties, the two parties hit it off immediately.
In Wuzhou Mountain, dozens of miles away from Datong Prefecture, is the territory of the largest horse bandit gang in Shanxi.
Gang leader Scarface sat on the highest chair in the party hall, listening to the military advisor next to him read the letter, and then looked at several boxes filled with gold and silver below.
"With this little money, we brothers are going to go against the imperial court? Do you think we, the Wild Wolf Gang, are easy to bully?"
The gang leader spoke, and the horse bandits who were still looking at the jewelry in a daze immediately agreed.
"That's right, you have to pay more."
"Ten more boxes of silver will be enough."
The fat man in charge of the negotiation was so scared that he wet his pants at this moment.
But who makes him want to spend less money?
"Gang leader, heroes, these, these are just deposits. As long as things can be done, the wealthy families in the four states and seven counties will give another gift."
"It's interesting. We can still talk about it. Let's do this. We, the Wild Wolf Gang, will send someone to take charge of solving the trouble. But if you want to lure people out of the city, come to this location."
Scarface took out a wrinkled map, pointed at a gorge and said.
The fat man came over and saw that this place was not very far from Datong Mansion. He also saw that the other horse bandits were looking at him with eager eyes, as if they would eat him alive if he disagreed, so he immediately nodded and agreed.
"Okay, I'll give you seven days. Within seven days, you will lead people to this location, and we will be responsible for solving the problem. If it exceeds seven days, we will not refund the money, so get out."
Scarface waved, and immediately a bandit on horseback pushed the fat man and rolled out of the cottage.
The fat man stumbled down the mountain, and his fearful expression suddenly became calm. He found a pigeon cage under a nearby tree, wrote something on a piece of paper and tied it to the pigeon's leg, and then let the pigeon go.
"You fools want to go against the imperial court. You are so brave. I am not prepared to accompany you to death."
…
Hu Shidao took advantage of the darkness and entered Datong Mansion through the back door with the letter.
After receiving the request, Zhu Gui immediately came to a secret room to meet him.
"Your Majesty, as expected, my subordinates have obtained certain information, and the horse bandits from the Wild Wolf Gang have decided to take action."
After saying that, he handed the letter to Zhu Gui.
After Zhu Gui saw it, he sneered.
"These hateful guys, I originally wanted to give them a chance, but I didn't expect them to be so short-sighted and want to murder me for their own benefit. It seems that peaceful reform is no longer possible."
"General Xu, come in."
Zhu Gui said to the house next to him.
Xu Yingxu walked out of it.
"Did you get any solid evidence?"
It turned out that the two of them had been discussing for a long time how to promote innovation.
However, the two had differences regarding the policies of these landlords and gentry.
Xu Yingxu advocated alliance and it was not advisable to use troops. This would only damage the image of Prince Dai's palace and cause unnecessary danger to the other party.
But Zhu Gui has long seen through the nature of these blood-sucking guys, as can be seen from Fang Shiru. They only exploit and stingy the common people, but are willing to spend a lot of money in order to maintain their status in the outside world.
For this reason, Zhu Gui could only find Hu Shidao, an intelligence dealer who had changed careers, to look for evidence.
Zhu Gui handed the letter to Xu Yingxu.
Now that the two parties have reached a cooperative relationship, they only need more specific action steps.
This is no different than treason.
"I can't believe it..."
Xu Yingxu sighed.
"It seems that my reputation is not as good as the emperor's. Anyway, let those who dare to underestimate me see that no one in the Zhu family is easy to offend."
Zhu Gui stood up and said coldly.
That night, the two launched a new round of combat plans, this time mainly aimed at mobilizing the garrison garrison.
Since the garrison has the duty to defend the territory, Xu Yingxu can only mobilize a thousand people this time. Fortunately, there are nearly 200 cavalry among them. Coupled with Zhu Gui's continuous replenishment of equipment and weapons during this period, the combat effectiveness of the garrison has been improved.
A lot.
It's just that this time it's not a city defense battle. They have to face off with a group of horse bandits in the wild. The time and place are not on their side.