I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 528: What have I gained after fourteen years as regent?
"What's so funny? Aren't you a failure enough? You have been the regent for fourteen years and ended up in such a situation today. You have no troops to advance to and no place to retreat to. It's pitiful for us. If we follow someone like you, we will be dragged to death by you!" Du Yongliang continued to shout crazily.

Chen Hong immediately tried to stop him from speaking, but many people also began to look sad.
Zhu Houxuan waved his hand to stop Chen Hong. He stood alone in the snow, looked up at the snowflakes slowly falling from the sky, and said slowly: "Hearing what you said, I seem to have failed."

Zhu Houxuan's words made everyone's expression change.
"I have been the regent for fourteen years. I have worked hard every day, and I dare not relax for a moment. What have I gained?" Zhu Houxuan reached out to catch a falling snowflake and watched it melt in his hand.
"I don't like the civil servants and gentry. I reformed the salt administration, the tax system, the household registration system, measured the land, and distributed the tax on each acre. They accused me of competing with the people for profits and harming the gentry."

"I cannot win the hearts of the nobles, military officers and eunuchs. I reformed the garrisons, eliminated the Beijing garrisons, dismissed the hereditary officials of the garrisons, recovered the garrison lands, reduced the number of eunuchs, and recalled the eunuchs from all over the country. They accused me of being greedy and cruel, and of rejecting loyal and good people."

"I don't like the royal family. All my reform policies are the same for them. They don't change because they are royal family. They call me mean and ungrateful, cold and heartless."

"I have offended all the most powerful people in the world. They hate me to death," Zhu Houxuan smiled bitterly.

Zhu Houxuan's voice was not loud, but it hit everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.

Others may not know what Zhu Houxuan has done over the years, but don’t the people around him know?

Whether Zhu Houxuan did the right thing or not, they are adults, they are well-informed, and they also have their own judgment standards and worldviews.
"Your Highness!" Chen Hong suddenly knelt down, and many of his entourage also knelt down.

"Your Highness has done nothing wrong! It is God who has been unkind to you! Your Highness, please take care of yourself!" Chen Hong said in a sad voice.

The others also looked sad and urged Zhu Houxun to take care of himself.

Even Du Yongliang, who had been cursing Zhu Houxun, looked sad.
Zhu Houxuan ignored them and asked again: "What have I gained from being the regent for fourteen years?"

Everyone was silent.

"Didn't you get anything?" Zhu Houxuan's voice suddenly became high-pitched. He turned around abruptly and looked at everyone with a terrifying gaze.

"No!" Zhu Houxuan said loudly.

"What I have won is the hearts of the people! The hearts of all the people in the world!" Zhu Houxuan said in a sonorous voice.

"I dare not say more, but tens of millions of people in northern Ming Dynasty have lived and worked in peace and contentment in the past fourteen years. The society is stable and the business is prosperous. As long as you work hard, you can live a good life!"

"So the people in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty have their hearts on me!" Zhu Houxun said proudly.

The north of the Ming Dynasty was indeed the place that benefited the most from Zhu Houxuan's various policies and industrial revolution in the past decade. Because it was close to the capital and within the power radiation range of the Royal Group, the implementation of various policies was relatively good. Zhu Houxuan pointed to the distant Beijing City again, "It is the largest city in the north of the Ming Dynasty! The most solid fortress! But in front of the hearts of the people of the world, it is just a lone boat in the ocean! It can be destroyed in no time!"

The people around were excited by Zhu Houxuan's words, and everyone's morale became high.
"Hahahaha!" Just then an inappropriate laugh sounded.
No one needed to turn around to know that it was Du Yongliang who was laughing.

"I thought there was some clever trick, but it turns out you have to rely on ordinary people to attack the city! Ordinary people have never been on the battlefield, have never seen blood, what can they use to attack the city? That's the capital city, you have all seen the city wall of Beijing, the wall is fifteen meters high, twenty meters thick at the bottom, and sixteen meters thick at the top, and there are loyal guards holding powerful guns and heavy artillery to guard the key points, and there is an extremely sufficient amount of food and ammunition in the city. What can you use to attack such a city defense? If you use ordinary people to attack the city, even if they die in the millions and bleed profusely, you still can't capture the city of Beijing!"

"It can be broken with just a spin, how ridiculous!" Du Yongliang's madness did not diminish at all.

Although many people were angry at Du Yongliang's behavior, they had to admit that what he said made sense, because untrained people had low military literacy and tolerance for casualties, not to mention attacking such a strong city.
Even the workers of the Royal Group are like this. Although they are more organized and disciplined, they still need time to train, but there is not much time now.
"Then you just have to watch!" Zhu Houxuan was not angry at all and said with a smile.

"A few years ago, I said something to my brother," Zhu Houxuan said, looking at the city of Beijing in the distance, "Now the only one who can defeat the Ming Dynasty is the Ming Dynasty."

"This sentence also applies to the current situation." Zhu Houxuan's eyes flashed with a strange light, "The only ones who can defeat the Guards are... the Guards!"

Northern Zhili, Shunde Prefecture, Neiqiu County, Guanjiazhuang.

Guan Dali opened the window and looked outside. He saw a vast expanse of white and sighed, "What a heavy snow! Auspicious snow means a good harvest! We will definitely have a good harvest next year!"

After saying that, he closed the window to prevent the cold wind from coming in, then rubbed his aching leg and muttered quietly, "Why haven't you come back yet?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the gate open and a little boy of about twelve or thirteen entered the yard. The boy was covered in snow, his face was red from the cold, and there were two snots hanging from his nose.
He quickly rushed into the warm house, leaving a trail of footprints in the yard.
"Why did you come back just now? Hurry up and give your father a perm!" Guan Dali shouted in a rough voice.

A middle-aged woman dressed as a peasant came out of another room and used her sleeves to brush the snow off the little boy. A dog was also wagging its tail enthusiastically at the little boy.
"Hurry up!" Guan Dali urged while sitting on the kang.

"I understand, boss!" responded the middle-aged peasant woman.

She took the wine jug from the little boy and said to him, "Bei'er, go to the kang and warm up for a while."

At this time, a little girl of about five or six years old poked her head out and called out sweetly, "Brother."

Guan Bei felt in his pocket and took out two colorful candies and handed them to the little girl.
The little girl took the candy and laughed like a silver bell.
Guan Dali looked at his two children with a smile on his face.
The wine was quickly heated and served. Guan Dali picked up the wine pot and took a big sip directly from the wine pot without using a wine glass.
After taking this big gulp, he breathed a sigh of relief, and felt his whole body was refreshed, and the pain in his legs was also relieved a lot.
(End of this chapter)