Chapter 445 Mao Xiang, Jinglong offers advice

Chapter 445 Mao Xiang, Jinglong offers advice

Chapter 445 Mao Xiang, Jinglong offers advice

Lu Yunyi followed Duke Liang Lan Yu and slowly walked out of the Wuying Hall.

Compared to the heavy heart I felt when I came here,

At this moment, the huge stone in his heart had been completely put down, allowing him to take a good look at the palace in front of him.

But after walking out of the hall, the heat blowing in his face made him lose his mood to appreciate it, and instead he felt irritated.

too hot.

But soon, Lu Yunyi's eyes narrowed.

At first glance, I saw a middle-aged man in his forties standing in front of the temple.
He was not tall, and was wearing the official uniform of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, a wide-legged hat, a round-collared robe, a purple leather belt around his waist, and black boots on his feet.

Standing there, there was a chilly atmosphere in the air.

Perhaps noticing his gaze, the man also looked over at him.

He glanced at Lu Yunyi, then looked at Lan Yu and bowed:
"Your subordinate greets the Duke of Liang."

Lan Yu's face turned slightly cold.
He did not like the title of Duke of Liang, and most people in the court called him General.

He snorted softly: "Mao Xiang, I haven't seen you for a while, what case are you investigating recently?
If you need my help, just let me know."

After these words were spoken, Mao Xiang's expression returned to normal.

But Lu Yunyi behind Lan Yu felt his hair stand on end and his pupils suddenly contract.

He looked back and forth at the middle-aged man. Is he Mao Xiang?

The first commander-in-chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, a native of Changyi Township, Dingyuan County, Fengyang, and the eldest son of Mao Qi, a founding hero.

He joined the army in his early years, traveled north and south, and made military achievements.

In the ninth year of Hongwu, he was promoted to deputy governor of the Grand Military Governor's Office.
In the 12th year of Hongwu, he was responsible for commanding and dispatching the Yiluansi, which was the predecessor of the Jinyiwei.

If we start from the time when the Hu Weiyong case was thoroughly investigated in the 12th year of Hongwu to now in the 22nd year of Hongwu,
He has been in charge of the Jinyiwei for ten years, and it is hard to imagine what secrets he holds.

When Mao Xiang heard Lan Yu's words, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly:
"Duke Liang is joking. The Jinyiwei never relies on external forces to do things."

After saying this, Lan Yu's face looked a little ugly, and he snorted coldly:
"Someone is committing crimes in Huguang, what are you Jinyiwei doing?
Do you have to wait until the enemy reaches your doorstep before you react?"

Hearing this, Mao Xiang's face turned serious and he slightly cupped his hands:

"Reporting to Duke Liang, Huguang is nearly 2,000 miles away from Yingtian.

The correspondence was slow, and the incident in Yuezhou Prefecture happened suddenly, so the Jinyiwei had no time to react.

I came here today to apologize to Your Majesty."

"Don't fool me. What you said is useless nonsense. What have you been doing?"

Lan Yu was furious. He took a step forward, put his hands on his hips and looked at him, and asked word by word:

"Have the people in Yunnan who assassinated Jiujiang and Lu Yunyi been found?"

"Reporting to Duke Liang, not yet."

"Are you afraid to look for it or haven't found it yet?"

Lan Yu took a step further and looked down at Mao Xiang.

"Reporting to Duke Liang, we didn't find it." Mao Xiang's expression remained unchanged.

Seeing that Lan Yu stopped talking, Mao Xiang slowly raised his head, looked at Lu Yunyi, and said with a smile:

"Your subordinate greets General Lu."

"You are too polite, Master Mao."

Lu Yunyi looked normal, but he felt strange inside.

The commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard is a third-rank official. In front of him, who is a third-rank official, it is correct for me to call myself a humble official.

But although he was powerful, he was still far inferior to the Jinyiwei.

After ten years of development, the Jinyiwei told the outside world that they only had power in the capital and never infiltrated other provinces.

But along the way, whether it was Huguang, Guangxi, or Yunnan,
The Jinyiwei have great power and countless informants.

If you count carefully, the 5,000 people in the front army scout unit are nothing.

"General Lu fought in many battles and made great achievements. He is a young talent of the Ming Dynasty.

But as a member of the Imperial Guard, I still want to remind you. "

Mao Xiang's face was calm, with some scrutiny in his eyes, and he spoke slowly and gently.

Lu Yunyi was stunned, then smiled lightly and straightened his back.

At this moment, there seemed to be a sharp edge rising straight into the sky, like a sharp long knife.

"Master Mao, please speak."

His behavior was neither humble nor arrogant. Lan Yu on the side was very satisfied and nodded repeatedly.

Mao Xiang seemed a little surprised that Lu Yunyi was so calm, so he smiled:

"General Lu, I have seen too many young talents who have made great achievements in their youth and have been appreciated by His Majesty and the court.
But most of them are unable to stick to their original intentions and become like everyone else.

Some people even faced imprisonment.

I want to remind Lord Lu to think twice before doing anything, to discipline your subordinates, and not to do anything that violates the imperial order."

Lu Yunyi's expression was calm, but his sharpness became more and more obvious.

There is even a bit of condescending scrutiny,
He chuckled, his cold eyes met Mao Xiang's calm eyes, and he spoke lightly:
"Master Mao has also fought in wars and knows the hardships and dangers of the battlefield.

We in the army fought outside, shed blood and served our loyalty.

How can I serve the court and be loyal to His Majesty?
This general and my soldiers all understand this clearly, so there is no need for Lord Mao to remind us."

After these words were spoken, the scorching hot weather seemed to have become a little colder.

A trace of surprise flashed across Mao Xiang's eyes.
He also didn't expect that the young man in front of him would be so courageous.

But soon, he started laughing.

Some generals and ministers who committed crimes did not even dare to look him in the eye.
Perhaps, only those with a clear conscience have such courage.

"General Lu is absolutely right. I was the one who said too much."

Mao Xiang smiled, bowed to Lan Yu, then stood quietly aside without saying anything more.

Lan Yu looked between the two of them, with a hint of amusement in his eyes.
"Let's go, go back and pack up, and I'll welcome you tonight."

"Yes"

Lu Yunyi followed behind Lan Yu and slowly walked towards Gongdao.

After leaving the Wuying Palace, Lan Yu asked:
"Do you have a feud with the Jinyiwei?"

Lu Yunyi was calm, but a haze flashed in his eyes. He had already thought of what to say:

"General, during the battle of Luchuan,
The Jinyiwei of Yunlongzhou sent the news of our departure from the city to the people of Youyu tribe.

If I hadn't turned around and attacked the Golden Tooth Guards, they would have suffered heavy losses."

Speaking of this, Lan Yu suddenly laughed:
"Because of this, you killed all the members of the Yuyu tribe?"

Lu Yunyi looked at Lan Yu in astonishment, then he reacted.

This matter was reported to the court by Marquis Xiping and was delivered directly to Your Majesty.

"Is there something to hide?"

Seeing him like this, Lan Yu laughed:
"It's not easy to bear the reputation of killing prisoners.
If there is any hidden secret, please tell me as soon as possible. I will ask the Governor's Office to change it in the commendation afterwards."

"Reporting to the general, there is indeed a hidden story."

Lu Yunyi walked closer and lowered his voice.

He told about some of the methods of the Fishing Department.

This included the subsequent chaos in Yunnan's Xiping Marquisate, which took the opportunity to clean up many people related to the Youyu Tribe.

The more he listened, the more solemn Lan Yu's expression became, and he murmured:

"There is such a thing? This Fish Club is quite capable."

"General, I think this method is simple and easy to understand.
If word gets out, there will definitely be people who will follow suit, and we’ll just kill them all.”

There was a gleam of ruthlessness in Lu Yunyi's eyes.

Lan Yu nodded: "Well, you have been wronged.

If this is the case, you will still have to bear the blame for killing the prisoners, and this matter cannot be made public."

Lu Yunyi suddenly laughed, his smile was simple:

"General, this title is not a bad thing for us in the army.

Having achieved such great success, there must be some shortcomings.
Otherwise, I will be punished in the future."

Lan Yu was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

This attracted the attention of the guards on both sides of Gongdao.

"You are a fast learner, kid.

In the final analysis, it is because you have made such great contributions.

Mao Xiang is right, there are many eyes watching you, so you have to be careful."

"General, I understand.

This time when I return to the capital, I want to settle down for a while and have a good rest. Fighting is too tiring. "

Lan Yu looked at Lu Yunyi's embarrassed appearance and laughed again:
"It's right to be tired. Those who are capable should do more work. After a few days of rest, we can set off for Xinchengwei as soon as possible.
Managing the sweet potato business is more important than the fish scales and yellow book."

Lu Yunyi's eyes turned and he lowered his voice again:

"General, the assassination in Yunnan,

Duke Cao and I both have doubts, what should I do? "

Lan Yu's face turned serious and he waved his hand:
"Don't worry about this, it's all the result of the court struggle.

Once the imperial court wins, there will be a result.

Before that, you have to do what you are supposed to do and don't get caught by others.

As long as you firmly hold on to the merits of sweet potatoes, this storm will not affect you. As for the fighting in the court,

Lan Yu paused and looked at Lu Yunyi:
"These are matters for us adults. There is no need for a young man like you to charge into battle."

He reached out and patted Lu Yunyi on the shoulder:

"Okay, go back and wash up, and I'll welcome you tonight.

This time you come back, you will live in the house I gave you. I have arranged for someone to clean it a few days ago.

All the guards, maids and butlers are carefully selected from our own staff, so you can use them with confidence.

By the way, I have also arranged a house for you in Daning, which is bigger than the one in the capital.
Would you like me to send someone to bring your family over? There is plenty of room for the whole family to live here.”

Lu Yunyi thought for a moment and said:

"General, I have been away from home for two years. I want to go back before taking office."

Lan Yu nodded and said, "Okay, I will have someone send you a few leave application documents with a big seal on them.

You can write down how long you want to take off, and you can stay at home for a longer period of time."

"Thank you, General!"

Lan Yu laughed, and the two of them chatted with each other and soon walked out of the palace.

"Okay, let's go back quickly. We'll get drunk at Zuixianlou tonight!"

Lu Yunyi cupped his hands and clasped his fists: "Yes!"

The atmosphere in Wuying Hall was not as solemn as before.

Li Jinglong put the armor on his head aside, took off the armor on his body, and changed into casual clothes.

He was sitting at the table, eating his meal voraciously.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat aside, holding his hands in his pockets, looking at him with a smile, and reminded him from time to time:

"Eat slowly. The imperial kitchen prepares so much food every day.
You are not in the capital, and no one will eat it, so it is a waste."

"Your Majesty, the food in the palace is still delicious. The food in the army is hard to describe."

Li Jinglong said vaguely, then looked at the eunuch fanning himself behind him and ordered:
"More wind, it's so hot."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hands quickly: "Turn on the fan, I'm also very hot."

The young eunuch quickly waved his palm-leaf fan.
Not far away, Crown Prince Zhu Biao raised his head from the vast pile of memorials.

He looked at the two people at the table helplessly, sighed, and continued to look down at the memorials.

At the table, Zhu Yuanzhang saw that he was eating happily and reminded him:
"Eat less, in the army you have to eat only coarse food.

Don't eat too much greasy food all of a sudden, or you'll upset your stomach.

Also, you are in the army now.

This armor must be worn, especially on the battlefield, and cannot be taken off no matter how hot it is.

Compared to fate, hot spots are just hot spots.

If the war is over, don't take off your armor immediately, wait a while.

That armor-removing wind can be fatal.

Back then, Chang Yuchun relied on his good health and was always the first to take off his armor to cool down after a fight.
I told him many times, but he didn't listen.

Look, something bad happened when he got older.

Jiujiang, although you are young now, you can't be careless.

Then Lu Yunyi is cautious, you should take off your clothes when he does. "

Li Jinglong also slowed down his chewing and nodded repeatedly:

"Your Majesty, don't worry, Yun Yi has carefully instructed us.

He also made some kind of prickly heat powder, which contained talcum powder, angelica root, borneol, menthol, etc.

Apply it on your elbows to prevent prickly heat. It’s great!”

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a moment and nodded with relief:
"Lu Yunyi is really smart. He came up with so many unheard-of things."

Having said this, Li Jinglong quickly swallowed what was in his mouth.

He began to talk excitedly, all of which were new things in the army.
He spoke eloquently and without stopping.

In the end, even the crown prince, who was handling memorials, was brought over.

After an unknown amount of time, the prince interrupted Li Jinglong!

"What were you talking about? War economics? What is that?"

Li Jinglong rubbed his hands together, as proud as a rooster, and then he patted the seat next to him and said:

"Come, come, Your Highness, please sit down and I will talk to you!"

At this moment, Li Jinglong's desire to show off has reached its peak.

He wants to show off his power in front of people!

This made him unable to help but laugh out loud.

So he took out the speech he had prepared long ago and talked freely.
Time passed, and soon half an hour passed.
Li Jinglong's mouth was dry and his voice became hoarse.
Only then did I understand clearly [the continuous increase in war costs], [the impact of national size on war costs], [the relationship between war costs and national strategy], and [the cost of war can only be paid by defeating the enemy and seizing their wealth].

And so on, there are a series of words that are easy for Lu Yunyi to say but difficult and obscure for him to say.

He was no longer as excited as before.

Because he found that His Majesty and the Crown Prince were much smarter than he thought.

In the end, the two of them even started discussing and left him aside.

This made him sad and felt that he had made a wrong decision.

When Wuying Palace was completely quiet, Crown Prince Zhu Biao thought for a moment and said:

"Father, although this method was used to scare the Luchuan envoy,
But I think this method can be used to calculate the success or failure of a war."

Zhu Yuanzhang understood what Zhu Biao said and nodded slightly.

Li Jinglong looked confused. What was he measuring?
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the eunuch not far away and asked:

"Have you written it all down?"

"Your Majesty, I've made note of it."

“Well, give this method to the Hanlin Academy and let them summarize it and remove the redundancies.

Then it was handed over to the Governor's Office, and they were ordered to use this method to calculate past wars and see if there were any discrepancies with the results. "

"Yes!"

The chief eunuch quickly agreed and kept the matter in mind.

Li Jinglong understood, and then it suddenly dawned on him, it turns out that this is possible?
Suddenly, a great sense of frustration came over me.
Li Jinglong's originally straight back bent down.
Zhu Biao did not let him go, but asked:

“What else have you seen in the army?
Tell me, are firearms really as magical as described in the battle reports? "

Li Jinglong's eyes lit up, he straightened his back again, and asked about his expertise!
He is the commander of the musketeers!
"Ahem. Your Highness, the power of the musket may be even greater than what is recorded in the documents."

Then, Li Jinglong personally told some stories about the use of muskets against the enemy on the battlefield.
In order to convince His Majesty and the Crown Prince that he was not lying, he even memorized all the casualties and gains.

Finally, Li Jinglong leaned forward and whispered:

"Your Majesty, Your Highness,

Yun Yi and I came up with a good idea.

It's a good way for the imperial court to gather arms manufacturing, and it can also be used to win over the hearts of the army!"

"What method?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's brows were furrowed like a river.
They stuck their heads out cooperatively, and the old and the young huddled together.

"hey-hey."

Li Jinglong chuckled and told the story of the bamboo tube filling method.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao, who had originally listened to this as a funny story, became more and more solemn the more they listened.
Finally, the two looked at each other and both saw some surprise.

The reason why some people in Huguang dared to rebel against the imperial court unscrupulously was that
This is because Huguang was the most important place for the manufacture of military equipment in the Ming Dynasty.

Some people have land and soldiers, and if they are not careful, chaos will break out again.

Therefore, the imperial court was always very cautious in dealing with Huguang, and was restrained.
This situation improved after the establishment of Liaodong.

This bamboo tube filling method was a great way for the imperial court to set up a unified workshop to prepare the gunpowder needed for firearms.

Seeing the strange expressions on their faces, Li Jinglong spoke excitedly:
"Your Majesty, Your Highness,
This method can also be used on a trolley. We have already discussed this when we came here.

Wheelbarrows are good things in the military, and even better things in the civilian world.
But Your Majesty once said that porters and rickshaw drivers supported the Ming Dynasty, so we cannot ignore them.

So we think that the imperial court should set up workshops in various places.

Remove the work of making wheelbarrows from the weapons workshop.

It was handed over to a special workshop to build, and then those people without livelihoods were hired to make carts.
Although I cannot accept the unemployed Li Fu completely,
But it is always a means, and it can be added slowly.
Things from all over the country were made by workshops under the control of the imperial court, and important military equipment was also made by the imperial court's workshops.
This way, even if someone wants to stir up trouble, they won’t be able to do so.”

Zhu Yuanzhang had deep eye sockets.

As the ruler of the empire, he never considered the best scenario, but the worst scenario.

If there are pros and cons, then choose the lesser of two evils.

Obviously, among the options at hand.

The one thing he valued most was strengthening the court's control over local areas and making power more centralized.

After thinking carefully for a long time, Zhu Yuanzhang spoke in a deep voice:
"Wait for Wenying and Ting'er to arrive, and have them all come to the palace for dinner. Let's have a family feast."

Crown Prince Zhu Biao nodded: "Yes, father."

Li Jinglong, who was standing aside, felt that he was being left behind again.

He quickly talked about the benefits of opening a workshop.

For example, how much money can be earned, how many people can be fed, and how much impact can be eliminated from new things.

But obviously, neither the father nor the son listened.

(End of this chapter)