Cleaning the battlefield was a lucrative job. Zhu Gui gave this job to the Tianshui City defender in order to win people's hearts.
And the result was as he expected. When the guard came back, he was already smiling. This was not only because he had confirmed Zhu Gui's identity as the acting king and supervisor of the army, but also because he had received a lot of benefits.
Moreover, there are only two thousand defenders in Tianshui City, which is very dangerous to begin with. Now that a prince is in charge, he can probably sit back and relax, at least he no longer has to worry about it every day.
Zhu Gui naturally took over the defense of Tianshui City and arranged the Hebei tribe in a barracks in the city.
In fact, when he entered the city, he had already noticed that the people in the city were pointing fingers at these Mongolians. In order to cause unnecessary trouble, he immediately issued a notice explaining the naturalized status of these Mongolians.
Although the hatred between the Han and the Mongols is difficult to eliminate for a while, with him sitting here, there is no need to worry about any problems in the short term.
But when he learned about the situation in Tianshui City, he couldn't help but frown.
The two thousand defenders mentioned by the defender were actually only more than 1,200, and nearly half of them were old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers. No wonder he was so afraid of the Mongols.
Under such circumstances, not surrendering to Kaesong can be regarded as a act of loyalty and bravery.
But now it's Zhu Gui's turn to have a headache.
Once the Mongols failed to attack Ganzhou City (he was very sure of this), they would probably look for a breakthrough elsewhere.
Tianshui City is the closest and weakest breakthrough point to Ganzhou City.
Zhu Gui called the guard: "Why are there only some remnants of the army in the city?"
The guard said with a bitter face: "They were all transferred to Ganzhou City by King Su, and most of the food and grass were also transferred away. The existing food in the city is only enough to feed 30,000 people for half a month."
Although there were only a thousand defenders in Tianshui City, there were as many as 30,000 refugees gathered from the surrounding villages and towns.
Zhu Gui said with a headache: "Gather all the young men in the city."
The guard hesitated for a moment, and finally could only nod and leave.
At this time, Xu Miaoqing came out of the inner room and sat next to Zhu Gui and asked, "Zhu Gui, how long are we going to stay here?"
Zhu Guidao: "Tianshui City's geographical location is dangerous and cannot be missed. Moreover, the defense here is extremely poor and cannot withstand an attack at all, so we have to operate here for a while. If you feel bored, you can go to Ganzhou City to find your brother.
."
Xu Miaoqing said: "I don't want to go there, I still want to have fun with you."
Zhu Gui shook his head helplessly.
In the afternoon.
Thousands of people have gathered in front of the city lord's mansion, but there are only less than a hundred young people gathered by the guards.
Looking at the scattered people in front of him, Zhu Gui couldn't help but frown.
"What's going on?" He looked at the guard.
"Your Majesty, it was the last general who worked hard to capture this. The others ran away when they saw us." The guard said aggrievedly.
It's no wonder that the Ming army retreated one after another in this war and lost the trust of the people. King Su had recruited young men many times, but most of them never came back.
So much so that now the people's fear of the Ming army is no less than that of the Mongols.
Zhu Gui thought about this clearly, and immediately asked the soldiers to push out several taxis, and then opened all the bags on them, revealing the rice and white flour inside.
He didn't need to say anything. The people around him looked straight and came over involuntarily.
However, the soldiers around Zhu Gui made them afraid to step forward, but their eyes already showed their thoughts.
The war has lasted for nearly twenty days, and most of the food has been taken away by Su Wang Zhu Kai. Now the people can only rely on government relief food to survive, and they can only survive from starvation every day.
And these young men who were brought here were not really not afraid of death, they just wanted to eat a few more meals before dying in battle.
Zhu Gui stood on the carriage and was led by his own soldiers.
"Dear dear friends, I am the acting king from Datong Mansion and the general of this battle. I know what you are worried about."
"The first decree I will issue today is that those who join the army will receive five kilograms of grain and half a bucket of salt every day."
‘Wow’, after Zhu Gui finished speaking, the crowd immediately exploded.
What does five kilograms of grain mean? It is enough for a family of four for a day.
Not to mention half a bucket of salt. In such war-torn times, that is a good thing that even money cannot buy.
There was a hint of doubt and expectation in everyone's eyes.
The guard on the side quickly stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, if we continue like this, we will recruit soldiers, but the food in the treasury will not last for a few days."
Zhu Gui looked at the guard and said, "I will take care of this matter myself. Just do your own thing."
"Yes." The guard retreated with an ugly expression.
Zhu Gui noticed that more and more people were gathering around him, but there were still very few people signing up.
So he continued: "Those who sign up can receive food distribution today. Those with families will be given priority. If you take my food and still want to escape, I will not give you mercy."
Immediately, some government soldiers set up tables and rosters, and began to recruit troops.
The nearly a hundred young men immediately lined up in two teams. After they signed, the soldiers on the other side immediately distributed rice and noodles.
This scene immediately reassured the hesitant people, and more and more people began to queue up.
It's just that the guard stood aside and looked a little worried while watching this scene.
The recruitment operation lasted until night, and a total of more than 2,000 people were recruited, which completely exceeded Zhu Gui's expectations.
However, at the same time, there were still a lot of refugees blocking the door of the city lord's palace. The guard explained that these were refugees from other villages and towns, so they should not be ignored.
But Zhu Gui asked the soldiers to register these people, and then no one got half a catty of grain.
Although half a catty of food is not much, it is much better than the previous relief food.
Soon there was a long queue in front of the city lord's palace again.
This time even Xu Miaoqing couldn't stand it anymore.
"Zhu Gui, if this continues, how long can we hold on?"
Zhu Gui said with some pain: "It's okay, I can survive ten days and a half. I just hope this war will end soon."
Seeing that he had lost one-third of his experience, he could only smile bitterly.
There was no way, Zhu Gui could be ruthless to his enemies, but he could not be ruthless when facing the eyes of countless compatriots who were full of expectations.
His political ambition is to plant the Ming flag all over the world, but from another perspective, isn't it to allow all the Han people who gather under this flag to live a good life?