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

Chapter 599 Nanjing Government
As for Zhu Houcong, although he owned one capital and six provinces, many of them were just extras and did not have much potential for war.

If we were to ask which provinces in the south of the Ming Dynasty were the richest, then Nanzhili, Huguang, Zhejiang and Jiangxi would definitely be among the top four. Before the industry developed in the north, these four provinces were ranked the top four in the Ming Dynasty.

The only wealthy provinces that Zhu Houcong finally got after all his hard work were Nanzhili and Zhejiang. Nanzhili was the current Anhui and Jiangsu. Zhejiang was also a first-class wealthy place with a very active private economy. Songjiang Prefecture used to have the reputation of "clothing the world".

As for other provinces, Fujian is mountainous and still relatively poor in this era. Guangdong is much better than Fujian. Guangxi and Yunnan are also in the stage of land reform and the degree of development is still relatively low. They can only produce some combat soldiers. Sichuan has developed well, but it is still difficult to support Nanjing in its current situation.

Therefore, the Nanjing government hated Prince Ning so much that he took away the two richest provinces in the world right away. Moreover, Prince Ning also cut off the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, so that the Nanjing government could not use the Yangtze River to transport supplies and troops to other provinces.
However, both sides are still very sober and know that this is not the time to fight each other. There is still a big enemy hanging over their heads in the north, so they have exercised restraint and sent envoys to each other.

Prince Ning even privately told the envoys from Nanjing: "Whoever enters Beijing first will be the emperor."

The Nanjing envoy did not dare to say anything more to King Ning.
Nanjing, Fengtian Hall.

Zhu Houcong, wearing a dragon robe, sat on the dragon throne, looking at the crowd of people kneeling before him in the hall, and a thousand heroic sentiments surged in his heart.
Yes, that's the feeling! This feeling is so right! My life should be like this! Instead of being trapped in that small place of Anlu and being an idle prince.
Zhu Houcong was now extremely intoxicated. He felt that he was on the right path. He felt that he had regained half of his life that was stolen from him by Zhu Houxun.
He met a lot of people these days, all of them were from wealthy families in various places. He knew that these people were his main supporters, so he acted very friendly. He found that he could see through their minds clearly, which seemed to be his innate ability.
Seeing those people's emotions fluctuate because of his few words, he felt very proud.
All of this smells like power. He seems to be born for power. He can now control this power with ease.
The people kneeling in the hall were also quietly observing Zhu Houcong. After so many days of contact, they were quite satisfied with Zhu Houcong. He met their needs in every aspect, except that he was a little too smart. However, this was not a big problem.

No one had any objection to Zhu Houcong sitting on the throne now. Although they were now calling themselves "Fengtian Jingnan" and not "Emperor", everyone knew what was going on.
After the grand court meeting ended, Zhu Houcong returned to the Qianqing Palace. Soon Yan Song and Xia Yan came in with several civil and military officials to pay a visit to Zhu Houcong.

Zhu Houcong looked at these people with great interest and said, "Yan Qing and Xia Qing, please introduce them to me."

"Your Highness, this is Xu Pengju, Duke of Wei, and this is Guo Xun, Marquis of Wuding," Yan Song said attentively.

"So it's you two. Even though I'm in a remote place like Anlu, I've heard your reputations well!" Zhu Houcong said with a smile. "Thank you for your praise, Your Highness. I'm ashamed to accept it!" said Xu Pengju, Duke of Wei, and Guo Xun, Marquis of Wuding.

Guo Xun, the Marquis of Wuding, secretly fled to Nanjing with his family at the beginning of the year. The old nobles in the capital have had a hard time in recent years. Since the reform of the Beijing Camp, the establishment of the Beijing Camp has been reduced to 2 people. These people are also subject to various interferences from the Guards. The already declining Five Military Commandery has become even more declining, and weeds have grown at the gate of the government office.
With the birth of a group of new nobles from the Guards, the old nobles became even more decadent, and either lived a life of idleness and waiting for death or were on the way to living a life of idleness and waiting for death.

Zhu Houzhao became even more disdainful of those old nobles.

The old nobles once thought of sending their own children to the Guards to make achievements, but the final effect was not very good.

The main reason is that the Imperial Guards have been participating in wars, and the areas where they fight and serve are thousands or even tens of thousands of miles away from the capital, so the conditions are still very difficult.
Don’t think that the difficulties and hardships that Zhu Houzhao could overcome can also be overcome by an ordinary noble son. In fact, for most noble sons who were born in the greenhouse of Beijing, they could not overcome such hardships.
Moreover, the Imperial Guards implemented a rotation system. A unit of the Imperial Guards would not be stationed in the interior all the time, but would definitely go to the frontiers, which made it impossible for the sons of nobles to escape.
This led to a large number of noble children quitting the active service of the Guards because they could not endure the hardship, and only a few were able to persevere.
However, under such circumstances, the few who persisted became the oddballs among the nobles and were ostracized by them.
This made the old nobles even more destitute, and it was under such circumstances that Guo Xun fled to Nanjing.
"This is Zeng Xin, the current Vice Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing. He once toured the southwestern provinces and participated in suppressing rebellions. He is an expert on military affairs and is also quite familiar with the staff system established by the late emperor. He is the candidate for Chief of Staff recommended by the ministers." Xia Yan pointed at a middle-aged man with a clear face and continued.

Zhu Houcong looked at Zeng Xin and said with a smile: "I have also heard of Zeng Qing's name."

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Zeng Xin said gratefully.

Zhu Houcong looked at the three people in front of him and easily saw the ministers' intentions.
The first is Duke of Wei Xu Pengju, a marshal who commands all the troops. After all, there are a large number of garrison soldiers in the Nanjing government’s army, and only Duke of Wei has the reputation to command the overall situation.

In fact, Zhu Houcong was very satisfied with the candidate of Duke of Wei, mainly because he was now rather superstitious. The reason why he was so superstitious was, firstly, because he practiced Taoism and was a devout believer in Taoism, and secondly, because of his recent circumstances.

He thought of the fact that Zhu Di also received help from Xu Zengshou when he was in Fengtian Jingnan. Xu Zengshou was from the Duke of Wei family. Later, Xu Zengshou was named Duke of Dingguo for his merits. From then on, Xu Da's descendants were Dukes of two countries.
Zhu Houcong believed that letting Xu Pengju, Duke of Wei, lead the army at this time was actually in line with God's will.
Moreover, the civil officials were more confident in choosing Xu Pengju. After all, the Duke of Wei's family had always been in Nanjing, and they knew each other well.
(End of this chapter)