When a eunuch ran up on horseback and shouted this imperial edict loudly, countless heads of people surged on both sides of the river.
The family members of the horse thieves who were surrounded by the officers and soldiers were unarmed and no one knew who was shouting. More than two thousand men, women and children boiled like corn kernels dropped into a pan of oil.
People in high spirits began to attack the phalanx of the government and army, but the biggest difference between civilians and the army was not the weapons and equipment, but that one had no military discipline and relied solely on blood, while the other had strict military discipline and uniform actions.
At least for the student soldiers, this comparison is very appropriate.
After hearing the emperor's decree, Zhang Yunlin did not hesitate at all. He led his brothers, urged the horse to run fast, and fired countless arrows into the crowd.
Qian Zhu was stunned for a moment, raised his long sword, and pressed forward somewhat slowly. His heavy armored infantry became famous in the first battle in Shandong, and they could easily capture two thousand civilians.
Song Jixian shook his head in pain, and finally ordered his military formation to raise their shields to block the oncoming crowd.
Huang Yuan and Ji Gongxun were also in Qian Zhu's formation at this time, each leading more than a hundred men. Although they did not dare to disobey Qian Zhu's military orders, they were extremely ruthless. Anyone who came near them would be killed.
Kill them one by one.
Zhu Shou was riding on a white-hooked crow, wearing the uniform of the Emperor Wu Bian, watching the battle on a high hill about two or three miles away from the Xiaohe battlefield.
The emperors of the Ming Dynasty wore Mianfu, Tongtianguanfu, Lebean clothes, ordinary clothes, Wu Bian clothes, etc., each of which had different occasions for wearing it. You can't go wrong at all, otherwise it will be inconsistent with etiquette.
The Wu Bian uniform Zhu Shou wore was worn when he was personally campaigning and sending generals. It was not custom-made at this time. The base color was red, with twelve slits, studded with pearls and jade, and it looked bright red.
Ma Qinglian rode a red horse and followed him. Seeing the tragic situation in the distance, she couldn't help but said angrily: "Why did you kill them?"
Zhu Shou is not on good terms with Concubine Wang. Concubine Li Ning has just given birth to a child, and the only one following him all day now is Concubine Ma.
Princess Ma is a master who wields a heavy sword to cut people. She is not afraid of killing people, but she can't see the massacre of women and children.
"Those who seek rebellion will be punished by the Nine Tribes," Zhu Shou was too lazy to educate his little wife. He replied softly, "Kill him in the name of rectifying the world."
"But they are a group of women, children, and old people!"
"The child has grown up," Zhu Shou said solemnly. "He is a horse thief!"
After hearing this, Princess Ma was at a loss for words. She felt that something was wrong, but she could not refute it. After a while, she said: "You are the emperor, you can forgive their serious sins, give them food to eat, and give them clothes to wear. They will just
I won’t become a horse thief anymore. I wonder if I can still be a scholar, a scholar, and a general.”
The only person who dared to speak like this in front of Zhu Shou was a silly girl like Ma Qinglian who was not familiar with the world.
"I am the emperor, but there are hundreds of millions of people in the world," Zhu Shou sighed, "I can save a thousand, but can I save ten thousand? What about a hundred thousand? What about a million? Manpower will eventually be exhausted."
Ma Qinglian didn't understand politics or economics. After hearing the emperor's words, she was immediately speechless.
The battle ended soon. Both sides of the river were covered with corpses. Most of them were the family members of the horse thieves, and only a small part were the student troops under Song Jixian.
Song Shen gave the opponent an opportunity to take advantage of his initial hesitation. Some middle-aged and elderly men with relatively strong skills defeated many martial soldiers, and many of them were killed.
"If you don't kill him," Zhu Shou looked at Song Jixian who was kneeling on the ground and said in a deep voice, "then he will kill you. Is there any warmth at all in the battle formation? From this moment on, all the bandits' family members will be killed.
It’s up to you to carry out the execution!”
In the next few days, the mission of more than 4,000 martial arts student troops is to sweep away all horse, mountain, and water bandits along the way along Baoding, Zhending, Shunde, Guangping, Dongchang, and Hejian Prefectures.
.
Zhu Shou did not follow them anymore. Instead, he formed an officer corps with three generals and three supervisors to act together. However, after each sweep, Song Jixian would lead his soldiers to clean the battlefield and kill everyone.
No matter male or female, old or young.
"Your Majesty, we can't continue killing like this!" He Jian, the newly appointed Zuo Cheng of the Wushu Academy, knelt in front of Zhu Shou and earnestly advised, "God has a good nature, and killing prisoners has been unlucky since ancient times!"
"What if it's Mongolian?"
Zhu Shou didn't have a good impression of the old man, but he decided to explain it because the old man's question represented the thoughts of most students.
"Those who are not of my race must have different minds! Naturally, we must eradicate the roots," He Jian knelt on the ground and replied, "Although these thieves and their families in several provinces are plotting rebellion, they are also the people of our Ming Dynasty. We will choose the culprits and kill them as a warning to others.
That’s it, don’t kill indiscriminately!”
"Is He Zuocheng so kind-hearted on the battlefield?" Zhu Shou smiled and said, "From what I can see, I'm afraid that's not the case."
"In the battle formation, you are fighting to the death. How can you be kind and say it? Naturally, kill as many as you can until they are all clean." He Jian raised his head and whispered, "But these people are common people! They are not enemy troops.
.”
Zhu Shou smiled and said: "The Mongolian people are all enemies. You have also led an army in battle. Do you know what is the most respected morality on the grassland?"
He Jian sighed. As a disciple of Confucianism, he naturally did not dare to say such words as "wolf-like" for fear of offending the world.
"If I send these young people to the grassland, what will be the situation waiting for them?" Zhu Shou asked again.
Of course, the whole army was wiped out. How could the Mongolian army be so easy to mess with? He Zuocheng, who had been polished in the battle, sighed again.
"Do you have an answer in your heart?" Zhu Shou asked finally.
"The old minister is ignorant and does not understand the grand plan of the Holy One." He Jian had no choice but to hand over his hand and apologize.
But Zhu Shou had no intention of sparing him, and said softly: "No, you don't understand. You are a disciple of Confucianism. You are stoic by nature, but you don't have a trace of bloody spirit. What I want to build is an iron-blooded army."
, you only need to take good care of the martial arts academy for me. This kind of hard work is not something you can do."
He Jian didn't dare to say anything anymore, but that didn't mean that the other big guys didn't dare to say it. The civil servants strongly opposed Zhu Shou's approach. In their view, it was a strong trample on Confucian culture.
Although the eunuchs did not express any objection and even actively infiltrated the student army to gain so-called "military merit", this did not mean that they agreed.
Chen Jing said to Zhu Shou privately: "The leaders and eunuchs are all discussing the massacre in the southern mansions, and they are quite dissatisfied in their words."
Zhu Shou smiled and said, "What can you do to stop them?"
Chen Jing thought for a while and said in a low voice: "Increase the number of volumes of "Records of the Capital" to guide the conflict between Han and Yi."
"The Capital Chronicle" is a free newspaper published in December last year. The owner is Cheng Guogong Zhu Fu, but everyone in the capital knows that the emperor himself is the one who provides the money and makes the final decision.
Zhu Shou shook his head and rejected Admiral Chen's opinion. It is better to block the situation than to block it. If you want these people to stop discussing, then let other things distract their attention.
Zhu Shou, who came from the later dynasty, undoubtedly had the most professional way to deal with such group opinions.
Nothing can attract the attention of the people more than fighting abroad.
The emperor is preparing to conquer Turpan! The main force in the expedition is the student army who have been busy suppressing bandits recently.
A piece of news spread quickly to every corner of the capital like the wind blowing through the streets in summer.
The interest of the people suddenly changed, from discussing the philosophical issue of whether killing the rebels was consistent with Confucian ethics to the survival issue of how to make a little money during the war.
In addition to distracting attention, Zhu Shou also decided to balance power between the cabinet and the six ministries.
Li Dongyang and Yang Yiqing cannot be allowed to dominate. Then we must vigorously support the bosses of other factions.
Zhu Shou is slowly understanding the workings of the Ming Empire. In the past three years, his thoughts have gradually changed, from an otaku who is even afraid of killing chickens to an emperor who knows how to hide his personality.
He also seemed to somewhat understand the four levels of the emperor that Empress Dowager Zhang proposed before. The last level might be to hide one's personality.
To be a good emperor, you must not treat yourself as a human being.
He didn't know whether his idea was right or wrong. Empress Dowager Zhang would not tell him because he was her only son; the other bosses did not dare to tell him because he was the emperor!
That night, Zhu Shou hugged Ma Qinglian and lay on the dragon bed in the palace.
Ma Qinglian has a very good figure, and her long-term martial arts training has given her body a strong elasticity that other concubines do not have.
But Princess Ma seemed to be in a bad mood, moving around in Zhu Shou's arms, preventing him from falling asleep.
The two of them had just finished making love. Zhu Shou's hands pinched Princess Ma's soft body. Sensing her uneasiness, he asked softly: "Can't you sleep?"
Ma Qinglian snorted and replied: "Can you stop killing people?"
The maids standing around saw the emperor and the empress moving, and quickly gathered over and stood beside the bed.
Zhu Shou waved his hand to ask them to move away, and said softly: "Why are you still thinking about this?"
He always spoke to her in the tone of a commoner couple, which resonated with Empress Dowager Zhang and allowed Ma Qinglian to easily win her position in the palace.
Ma Qinglian's body was naked. She turned around, looked at Zhu Shou, bit her lower lip, and whispered: "I..."
I was halfway through talking, but I couldn't say anything else.
Zhu Shou smiled and encouraged her to continue speaking with his eyes.
"Your Majesty, I seem to be pregnant!" Princess Ma finally mustered up her courage, "I don't want to have too much murderous spirit."
Zhu Shou touched her belly, which was still as flat as smooth satin, and said with a smile: "Okay, if you are a man, you will inherit the throne of the powerful king of the remote mountain town. If you are a woman, you will be named the eldest princess."
.”
Princess Ma pinched him gently and said angrily: "There is no one called the King of Weiyuan Mountain Town. What do you want his brothers to think?"
Only then did Zhu Shou remember that he had two sons, Zhu Zaiji, who was over one year old, and Zhu Zaizhen, who was just born. He smiled and said: "Then we call him King Weiyuan. Well, prince has the same word. That's called King Wei."
!”
Princess Ma turned her back to him and whispered: "You bully me."
Zhu Shou patted her shoulder and said with a smile: "I'm just kidding you, silly girl. Since I'm preparing to attack Tulupan, let's call him King Gan. When Tulupan is defeated, I'll seal this kid off."
There, guard the border for the Ming Dynasty." (To be continued...)