Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 166 Fanfare
Many doubtful questions came to his mind, and one after another, they appeared in front of Yang Chen.

It is indeed as the other party said, sometimes my arrangements are inconsistent, but this is also the only choice.

Zhou Shizhong was a person close to Hu Weiyong. As soon as he arrived at Zhenjiang Prefecture, he did nothing but attacked Zhou Shizhong directly. Once this matter reached Hu Weiyong's ears, I'm afraid Hu Weiyong would inevitably be wary of him.

By then, it will inevitably affect some plans. In order to proceed smoothly, Yang Chen can only choose measures without alerting the enemy.

Find more powerful evidence that Zhou Shizhong persecuted the people.

According to Cui Shulan, Zhou Shizhong used his influence as a prefect to spread the word among clans in many county towns and villages that the prince's policies were actually not in their best interest. If they could find evidence of Zhou Shizhong's slander against the prince, they could deal with him with justification.

In the Ming Dynasty today, you can offend anyone, but if you offend Zhu Biao, he will definitely find ways to punish you.

After Yang Chen's reminder, Zhu Chong quickly reacted and a smile gradually appeared on his face:

"I understand. It turns out that Brother Yang wants to consider my brother."

"Although Zhou Shizhong is hateful, I wish I could enforce the law for my father right away. However, I think Brother Yang's consideration is not unreasonable. We just went to Zhenjiang Prefecture and did nothing after arriving. We haven't established our foothold and are not ready. If we act rashly against him, the local people may not trust us. Although the people are human beings, they are also very stupid. They don't know what is right and what is wrong. If I act brazenly, the people will only think that we are here to enforce the law violently. If we fail to gain the trust of the people, it will not be good.

So I wonder what you, Brother Yang, should do next. You can't let him continue to serve as prefect, right?

I'm worried that after a long time, he will use various methods to shirk his guilt. If we let others speak up for him, we won't be able to do anything to him for the time being, right?"

Yang Chen had already thought of a solution, thinking that Zhu Chong would say this, so he slowly said:
"Don't worry, no matter how hard Zhou Shizhong tries to find someone to convict him, there is absolutely no way he can escape punishment. I will just tell you the general plan.

Your impatience will ruin everything that will happen next.

This time, all of us came here, firstly to deal with the local grievances in Zhenjiang Prefecture, and secondly to develop ourselves.

Try to handle the former as best as possible without affecting the latter.

The people were fooled by Zhou Shizhong for a while. We must let the people know that we are here to bring them a good life, not to destroy theirs. Only in this way can everything be accomplished smoothly.

When we arrive at Zhenjiang Prefecture, we will first accept Zhou Shizhong's arrangement, and then tomorrow you and I will let him take us to Bianshui County to take a look.

Find a suitable place and investigate the connection between Zhenjiang Prefecture and its subordinate Ningming County, Jintan County, and Qingshan County before taking action against Zhou Shizhong.

After we have dealt with this matter, we can concentrate on our work in Zhenjiang Prefecture."

Hearing this, Zhu Chong's pupils shrank slightly. He didn't expect that Yang Chen, who looked like a bad guy, was actually very evil. According to his idea, as long as he arrived at Zhenjiang Prefecture, he would defeat Yang Chen with his strength, pull out the knife and then put it back, cut Zhou Shizhong's neck, and then shout in the prefectural city that from now on, there was no prefect, only him, Zhu Chong. Then the next step would be much easier.

Unexpectedly, Yang Chen actually considered that the people would be wary of outsiders like them, and if not handled properly, there would definitely be sequelae.

Only by eradicating the poison left by Zhou Shizhong can everyone in Zhenjiang Prefecture, from bottom to top, obey the arrangements.

"Brother Yang, I will do whatever you say. I will listen to you!"

When they were at the last distance from Zhenjiang Prefecture, Yang Chen saw many "strange houses" along the way. These houses looked like separate castles in the Western world.

The only thing missing was a city gate. It was not as tall and majestic as the castles in Yang Chen's Western movies and TV dramas. All of its walls were made of ordinary mud, about seven or eight meters high, which could be considered a city wall.

It would probably be difficult for ordinary people to capture it.

He pointed to the buildings and asked what they were:
"Zhu Chong, look at these strange buildings. They look like city walls, but they are not as high as city walls. You have lived in Ming Dynasty for so many years. Have you ever seen something similar? Tell me about it."

This was the first time that Yang Chen had really traveled far away. In the past, he would send his subordinates out to inquire about information. No matter how smart the subordinates were, they would never tell Yang Chen many things that seemed ordinary to him.

For example, Zhou Shizhong’s behavior this time is a very simple example.

With the help of Yang Chen's finger, Zhu Chong quickly saw those very strange buildings.

Zhu Chong thought for a moment, and thought of how to explain it in words that the other party could understand, and then he said:

“Those things are called docks. You may not know what they are. They usually appear in chaotic times.

There are such cities in many places. They are defensive cities built by local people, represented by clans, within the scope of their own living territories. Whenever there are chaotic times, burning, killing, looting and plundering will naturally happen. Many refugees have lost their hometowns, so they begin to gather together and find crowded places to rob. Some people even rob from south to north. In order to ensure that their territories will not be invaded, many places with affluent lives call on people to build these cities to resist the invasion of refugees.

Whenever they see that these cities are too difficult to capture, most refugees will choose to give up. This fortress seems to be the one that my father fought with Chen Youliang and others to build. "

After Zhu Chong's brief introduction, Yang Chen finally understood what this thing was.

The history of fortresses has been circulating in the Central Plains since the end of the Han Dynasty. After many foreign invasions, the people also realized that it was completely impossible to rely solely on the protection of the dynasty. Once the dynasty collapsed, they had no means to resist the enemy, and what awaited them was the death penalty.

In order to have a certain degree of protection, fortifications such as forts, which were built spontaneously by the people, came into being. They contained not only living areas, but also granaries, kitchens, armories, and cellars for Tibetans.

There are also secret passages leading to the outside world to prevent the enemy from surrounding the fort and leaving them with no way to go. They can escape through the secret passages directly from the fort to the world several miles away.

There are many villagers living in this way, especially in places where there are many disputes. The Fujian Hakka Tulou still exists after hundreds of years.

The fort was built to deal with invasions from outsiders. When Yang Chen saw these buildings, he sighed subconsciously.

"Alas, the people must have a hard life to be so wary of this and that. In the final analysis, it is because the imperial court is too weak, otherwise they would not be so worried about outsiders invading their homes."

Facing Yang Chen's words, Zhu Chong also felt the same way for a moment. As a member of the Ming royal family, he knew best how bad the current situation of the Ming Dynasty was.

There were troubles in the east, south, west and north. The Tubo in the east proclaimed itself king. Although it submitted to the Ming Dynasty on the surface and was willing to let the Ming Dynasty become its master, in reality, the Ming Dynasty had no jurisdiction over any place and could only allow the other party to manage the Tibetans and ethnic minorities. At most, it could send people to the capital every year to pay tribute, and also demanded gifts from the Ming Dynasty, otherwise they would refuse to pay tribute.

Sovereignty is not in the hands of the Ming Dynasty at all.

In addition to the Nanyang Japanese pirates in the south, there is also the ancient Dian Kingdom in the southwest, which was established by the Yuan Dynasty. This old king has been occupying the geographical advantage to obstruct the Ming Dynasty's unification of Yunnan and distract the Ming Dynasty's attention.

All in all, the Ming Dynasty is far from being as harmonious as it appears on the surface, and only those in power know how bad the situation the Ming Dynasty is facing now.

Zhu Chong didn't know what to say, he just looked up a few hundred meters away. They had arrived at Zhenjiang Prefecture.

The closer he got to the city gate, the more solemn and dignified his expression became:

"Brother Yang, look, there are people guarding the front."

Looking into the distance, Yang Chen discovered that it was true. There were two teams of people standing on both sides of the city gate, as if they were ready to line up to welcome Yang Chen's arrival.

At the city gate, there was an old man with an aged face and gorgeous clothes, with young girls serving him on both sides.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to see clearly what the people coming from afar were like. When he noticed that Yang Chen and others gradually appeared in his field of vision, and recognized that this was the team he was waiting for, he immediately walked down the stairs behind the city gate.

The girl behind him wanted to follow him, but was stopped by him in a stern voice.

"Go back! Go back to the prefect's mansion and wait for me. Tell the people in the mansion to prepare a banquet. I want to entertain the guests well tonight. Remember, tell the three brothers to behave themselves. If anyone causes trouble for me, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

Although the old man is very old, his voice is very powerful and his movements are nimble. He doesn't look like an old man at all.

The two maids bowed quickly in response to this lesson.

"I understand, Master Zhou. I will do it right away."

When Zhou Shizhong arrived at the foot of the city gate tower, the two welcoming ceremonies prepared around him instantly started.

Zhenjiang Prefecture is at least equivalent to a prefecture-level city. There are nearly 100,000 people living in the city alone. Add to that the countless villages and three county towns around it, and there are naturally a lot of people coming and going. They looked at the prefect who was rarely seen on weekdays and actually came out at this time and at this point, with a flattering expression on their faces.

Everyone began to doubt the identities of Yang Chen and others.

"What do you think is going on with the prefect today? How could he be so shameless as to greet this group of strangers?"

"I don't know. I saw this group of people on my way here today. They seemed very noble. They must be important people coming from the capital."

"I don't know who they are, but I just hope they'll be fine and not let Zhou Shizhong do any harm to us."

"Hush, hush! Do you want to die? If Governor Zhou hears this, your whole family will die!"

The whispers among the people soon formed a chaotic sound wave that spread widely among the crowd.

The Chinese people's ancient habit of watching the excitement was also integrated into the scene. Soon, a large crowd gathered outside the city gate.

Before Yang Chen arrived at the city gate, Zhou Shizhong hurried forward to greet him:
"Hahaha! I, Zhou Shizhong, the prefect of Zhenjiang Prefecture, welcome Lord Yang, the Inspector of the Capital! Your Highness the Prince of Qin must be very tired after a long day of traveling. I have ordered everyone in the mansion to prepare a banquet to entertain you. Please follow me!"

Yang Chen was still on horseback for the time being. Facing Zhou Shizhong's flattery, he did not respond immediately. Instead, he used the shortest time to observe what this guy was like.

To be honest, Zhou Shizhong is completely different from the corrupt officials Yang Chen has seen.

He is tall and thin, in his fifties, and has no value at all. His first impression is definitely that he is kind and polite. Unfortunately, Yang Chen knows from Cui Shulan's words that this guy is not that simple.

You have to know that once people have money, they will become addicted to power and sex, or become overly greedy.

At the moment, Zhou Shizhong looks like a normal man in his fifties, without any sign of obesity. The only special thing is that smiling face, which makes him look vaguely sinister for some reason.

All in all, Yang Chen decided to be extremely careful when getting along with this guy.

Since the other party was polite, Yang Chen decided to be a little more polite as well, using courtesy before force.

He got off his horse and responded politely to Zhou Shizhong:

"It turns out to be the prefect. I wanted to keep a low profile today, but I didn't expect you to hold a welcoming ceremony here. Thank you for your help. Just now you said you prepared a welcoming dinner. I wonder if you can accommodate 365 people in my mansion at once? And there is also accommodation."

Seeing Yang Chen explaining his current problems one by one, Zhou Shizhong was overwhelmed. He knew that Yang Chen had an extraordinary background and was also aware that he was a trouble.

But I never expected that this guy would actually take advantage of me.

When he was silent, he spoke:
"Don't worry, Your Excellency the Censor. I have already made all the arrangements. Not to mention more than 300 people, even if it's 1,000 people, I can arrange them for you securely.

His Majesty had already given instructions before you came.

There is a newly built villa on the edge of Ningming County, covering a total area of ​​200 acres. These are all good places donated voluntarily by the people. As long as you go there, all these things will be handed over to you for your personal use.

At that time, you can do whatever you want. "

According to Zhou Shizhong's plan, Ningming County is a garbage place close to a toxic salt mine. People living here not only have to frequently prevent the risk of being submerged by floods in the Yangtze River Basin, but also have to endure the noise caused by waves and flowing water.

Anyway, Zhenjiang Prefecture has a population of hundreds of thousands, and Ningming County is a notoriously poor place. There are even many bachelors who leave this place in order to get married.

Now that Yang Chen has appeared in time, he not only has a reputation to take over this rotten place, but he can also obey Zhu Yuanzhang's orders and hand it over to Yang Chen for disposal.

Unlike Yang Chen, Zhu Chong promised him that he would not attack Zhou Shizhong directly, but he did not say that he could not lose his temper. He stared at Zhou Shizhong and snorted coldly.

What he hated was the hypocritical appearance of Zhou Shizhong, who bullied the families of his subordinates. Zhu Chong had already decided his miserable fate, but the time had not come yet.

Zhou Shizhong felt puzzled.

I thought that I didn't seem to have offended His Royal Highness the King of Qin.

In the end, he could only stand aside with a smile on his face and welcome everyone into the city.

When the people inside saw the long line of people appear, they all chose to give way. If they were hit, they would have to suffer in silence.

(End of this chapter)