Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 4 Old General
In the study, Zhu Lang looked excited and paced back and forth in front of the table.
Wu Jisi looked at the young man pacing behind the table, wondering why Zhu Lang had such a big reaction after hearing Jiao Lian's name.

Although he didn't know the reason, it didn't prevent him from discovering that Zhu Lang seemed to think highly of Jiao Lian and even favored him.
As a loyal minister beside the prince, whatever the prince likes, Wu Jisi likes!
"Speaking of which, General Jiao and the prince have a great affinity."

Wu Jisi's eyes turned and he suddenly said

"Fate, what fate?"

Zhu Lang, who had been pacing in front of the table, paused.

"The prince was trapped in the rebellion of Zhang bandit three years ago. It was General Jiao who led his troops to defeat the bandit army and rescued the prince," Wu Jisi said.

"You mean, it was Jiao Lian who defeated Zhang Xianzhong's rebellion and rescued me to Guangxi Province?" Zhu Lang was stunned.
"Yes, General Jiao led the army that day, braving the arrows, holding a 15-foot-long spear, and smashed dozens of bandits with his strength. The rebel army had never seen such a brave general, so they immediately collapsed, crying for their parents, and running away in panic."

"General Jiao saw that the enemy army was in chaos, so he shouted loudly from the bottom of the city and led his 108 guards to rush to the top of the city, killing them from east to west and from west to east.
"Thousands of bandits were killed, their armor and weapons abandoned, heads rolled, blood flowed like a river, but General Jiao didn't even blink an eye, he is truly a rare brave general in ancient and modern times"

"It's just that the city was in chaos that day, with so many people and eyes, so the prince might not have noticed General Jiao."

Wu Jisi looked at the young man, whose cheeks were red and who began to pace in front of the table again, and then he made a summary with a sense of unfulfilled desire.
"Good, good rescue, wonderful rescue"

Listening to Wu Jisi's words, Zhu Lang's eyes became brighter and brighter. Suddenly, he clenched his fist and slapped it hard on his palm. There was a crisp sound, which startled Wu Jisi and his partner behind the table.

"Old Wu, you did a great job on this. I'll give you a credit."

Zhu Lang looked at Wu Jisi and said with joy

Originally, they just wanted to let the two of them go to test the depth of the fish pond, but who knew that they would actually catch a big fish directly? How could Zhu Lang not be surprised?
"Your Majesty, thank you for your praise. I have only done my share of the work. It is not a great achievement. It is because of your foresight and planning that you discovered General Jiao, this gem."

Wu Jisi was humble in words, but his face was full of pride.

The prince really can't live without me, Old Wu. Without me, Old Wu, how can the prince know about General Jiao?
"Li Daban is not bad. I asked you to check the troops in Guangdong Province. You also did not leave out the foreign troops in Guangxi Province. You really put in a lot of effort."

Seeing Li Guoyong looking a little depressed, Zhu Lang remained calm and praised him with the little trick of praising people he learned in his previous life.

As expected, Xiao Li, who was originally a little depressed, immediately showed joy on his face.
"Also, who is the remaining person in Guangxi Province?"

Zhu Lang waved his hand to interrupt Li Guoyong who was about to flatter him again, and looked at Wu Jisi.
"The third general in Guangxi Province was named Zheng Wenxiong, the lieutenant general of Xunzhou. It is said that he was very strict in military discipline, but he had no reputation.

His influence is not as great as that of General Chen and General Jiao. I don't think he has many soldiers under his command, probably only about one or two thousand."

Wu Jisi's inference is reasonable. In today's world, the reputation of a general is proportional to the number of soldiers he controls. The more soldiers he has, the more famous he is.

Zuo Liangyu has hundreds of thousands of mercenaries, so the world knows Zuo Zhen's reputation. Regardless of whether this reputation is good or bad, with these hundreds of thousands of brave soldiers, even the Prime Minister of the Cabinet wants to win him over.
Later, he even led his troops to Beijing to purge the emperor and prepare to replace him.

However, Zuo Liangyu died halfway through the battle. The Ming Dynasty used millions of taels of military pay from the two provinces of Huguang to support an army of more than 100,000 people, but they surrendered to the Qing Dynasty without firing a single arrow. This is really ridiculous.
"Then what is the fate between Zheng Wenxiong and me?" Zhu Lang looked at Wu Jisi expectantly.
"Well, I don't know, but I heard that General Zheng seems to be from a noble family, and his ancestor seems to have a duke."

Wu Jisi's expression froze, and he said
"He never led the troops and saved me. Didn't he go to kill Zhang Xianzhong's rebellion? Or did he have any sister-in-law who married into the palace? Or did he send money to the Gui Palace when he was in Guangxi?"

Zhu Lang still did not give up and continued to ask
"This... I really don't know."

Wu Jisi wanted to cry but had no tears. How could he know such a thing? If Zhu Lang had not instructed him to collect information about people in Guangxi Province, how would he know who Zheng Wenxiong was?

“Forget it, I was greedy.”

Zhu Lang exhaled, and then laughed at himself.

Yes, having Jiao Lian is lucky. As the second son of a feudal prince, how could he have any connection with these military commanders?

Zhu Lang sat back at his desk, his mind racing, and he reviewed the plan he had just made.

The room was extremely quiet, with only the occasional tapping of Zhu Lang's fingers on the table. Seeing Zhu Lang resting with his eyes closed, Wu Jisi and the others did not dare to disturb him. They just stood behind the table with bated breath, waiting for Zhu Lang's instructions.
"You two are old friends of the mansion. You have been fleeing from Hengzhou, Guangxi and Guangdong provinces. When your lives were in danger, you two stayed with me. To me, you two are servants in name but family members in reality."

"Now I will take the throne and regent, and I will definitely give you two a future."

Zhu Lang spoke softly, looking at the two people behind the table.
"I dare not. We only wish to serve the prince and die for him in this life."

The two knelt down in front of the desk and bowed respectfully.

"But you must know that although I have ascended the throne and become regent, the royal palace is sparsely populated, and all the affairs of the court are in the hands of the ministers of the previous dynasty. Even if I ascend the throne, I am nothing more than a human seal."

"I am just a refugee prince. If it weren't for coincidence, the ministers of the previous dynasty probably haven't even heard of my name. I have no name and no power, and the ministers in the court will not listen to my orders." "You two are my only confidants who can be trusted, so there are some things I need to make clear to you in advance."

Zhu Lang's face was serious.
"Please give me your instructions, Your Majesty," the two said respectfully.
"First, if someone comes to you to get information, don't say a word about anything that shouldn't be said."

"Second, if someone wants to ask you for help, whether it's to get an official position or to get something done, you can still take their money and dance as usual, but don't give them any promises. Come back and write me their names and the things they want to do."

"I understand," the two of them replied in unison.
"Today we have never said anything to the prince about General Yan or General Jiao. We just came to congratulate the prince and congratulate him on his ascending the throne as regent."

Wu Jisi suddenly blurted out
"Hahaha, okay, okay, that's it, I can rest assured that you guys are like this," Zhu Lang chuckled and clapped his hands gently.

"Now you have to do one thing for me. Collect all the information about Li Mingzhong."

"Find out about this man's background, who he is close to, who he has grudges against, what the situation is like in the army, where the food and wages come from. I don't ask you to find out everything, but find out as much as you can."

"Remember, don't let anyone know about this. Be careful to be secretive when you're investigating. It's better to have less information than to let people notice that you're investigating these things. Got it?" Zhu Lang said seriously.

"I understand"

The two were stunned for a moment, but when they saw Zhu Langsen's cold gaze, they were startled and responded in unison.
Li Guoyong and the other two were both trembling in their hearts. The prince had just been persuaded to take over as regent today, and then he asked them to secretly investigate the situation of the army in the city. They didn't dare to think deeply about the matter.

Wu Jisi looked at the handsome young man with a cold expression above him, and suddenly a sense of awe rose in his heart.

In fact, they had already discovered the difference between their own prince and

Originally a wealthy and idle prince, he began to work hard every day to strengthen his body, practice bow and sword

His temperament also changed drastically. He put aside the antiques he once loved and even sold a few of his favorite vases to supplement the expenses of his family.

In the past, the prince was close to these old people in the palace, but the master was the master and the servant was the servant. In front of the prince, they were still servants who could come and go at will and whose life and death could be decided by a word. They served the prince every day, always in fear, afraid of making the prince unhappy.
But things have been different recently, and Wu Jisi couldn't tell what was different.
The prince was still close to them, but this closeness was different from before. If you had to say it, it was like what the prince had said before, it seemed that he really treated them as family members and treated them equally.

It was precisely because of this change that the two became more devoted to Zhu Lang.

"This matter is very important. The ministers of the previous dynasty are eager to persuade me to ascend the throne. They won't give me much time. I need to find out Li Mingzhong's situation before they complete their persuasion."

"You only have one day to investigate these things. You must gather information about Li Mingzhong tomorrow afternoon," Zhu Lang said softly.

"We'll do it right away," the two men said in a serious voice.
"This is a critical moment. Thank you for your hard work."

"Serving the prince is not hard at all."

The two bowed to Zhu Lang and stood up to go out.

"and many more"

Zhu Lang stopped the two of them at this time, took two oil paper bags from behind the table, and handed them to them.
"I asked the kitchen to prepare some date cakes. It's past lunch time, so I'll take them on the way."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

The two took the square paper bag containing the date cake, their eyes slightly red, and thanked
In fact, they may not really go on duty on an empty stomach.

No matter how urgent Zhu Lang's orders were, they couldn't even skip meals. But eating by themselves and being remembered by Zhu Lang were two different things.
Zhu Lang waved his hand, and the two of them bowed and left.
Zhu Lang stood at the door until he saw the two figures disappear at the gate, then he returned to the study.

Zhu Lang sat back at the table, frowning in thought. He didn't remember who Li Mingzhong was.
But in the current situation, Ding Kuichu controls 20,000 troops outside Zhaoqing City, and is nominally the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, controlling the military and political power of Guangdong and Guangxi.

To put it bluntly, if he really wanted to, dethroning the emperor would be just a matter of thought.

At this time, the 6,000 Guangxi wolf soldiers in Li Mingzhong's hands became extremely important.

As long as they can win over this army, or even without winning it over, as long as Li Mingzhong does not surrender to Ding Kuichu, these 6,000 people will make Ding Kuichu afraid to act rashly.

With 6,000 people to check and balance him, Ding Kuichu could not take risks. He had to fight within the rules of the court.
Only at this time can he, the regent, and the officials like Qu Shisi and Lu Daqi, who only have titles but are defenseless, play their roles.
"Li Mingzhong, I hope you are really a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Lang muttered to himself, leaving only the faint sound of his words echoing in the room.

(End of this chapter)