Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 234
After staring blankly at Zhu Su for a while, Cao Yuan suddenly came to his senses under Zhu Su's encouraging eyes.

Realizing that he was impolite, Cao Yuan hurriedly lowered his head, clasped his fists and said to Zhu Su, "Return to Your Highness."

"Although the young one used to defend the city under the command of King Cheng."

"But that's actually out of helplessness..."

Cao Yuan showed a wry smile on his face.

"At that time, the whole city of Pingjiang was surrounded by the Western Wu...we were besieged by the soldiers of Ming Dynasty. The city ran out of ammunition and food, and King Cheng's troops either surrendered or collapsed."

"In order to defend Pingjiang City, King Cheng wanted to summon soldiers among the people. The villain and most of the sons in this battalion were conscripted into the army at that time..."

Speaking of this, Zhu Su has already roughly understood.What wantonly omen soldiers, to put it bluntly, they are brawny men.

He had seen the mess like a dead city in the west of the city before, and he guessed that the Pingjiang city defense battle was particularly tragic back then.Even the houses have been demolished so much to defend the city, how could it be possible not to force the common people to serve as strong defenders of the city?

Listening to Cao Yuan's eloquence, the subsequent development was exactly as Zhu Su expected: Afterwards, Pingjiang City was broken, and Cao Yuan, who was an ordinary soldier at that time, followed his team and surrendered to Lao Zhu.

Afterwards, these remnants of them were reorganized and reorganized, and were organized under the command of many of Lao Zhu's own generals.

Cao Yuan and others were placed under the command of Wu Liang, Marquis of Jiangyin. In the subsequent battles, they followed Wu Liang, Marquis of Jiangyin, to fight in the north and south, and they were promoted to Qianhu through hard work.Afterwards, Wu Liang was transferred to the commander of the Suzhou Guard, and Cao Yuan returned to his hometown in Suzhou.

"Your Highness, the villain has also shed blood for Daming, and he has sacrificed his life!" Cao Yuan, a man like a steel tower, actually shed tears of grievance.

"General Cao is one of the thousand households in the army. Why does he keep calling himself a 'little man'?"

"There is no need to be wronged, general. This king will not treat any meritorious minister who has made contributions to our Ming Dynasty harshly."

Zhu Su comforted in a warm voice.The reason for what happened next is also clear. Wu Liang, Marquis of Jiangyin, was ordered to go to the southwest with Mu Ying, Deng Yu and others to train troops and wait for the opportunity.Perhaps it was because he realized that Cao Yuan and others were natives of Suzhou, and perhaps he did not want to be far away from his hometown again, so he kept Cao Yuan and continued to serve as a thousand households in Suzhou Weizhong.

But Yang Lu, the next commander, took his anger out on them, the former soldiers under Zhang Shicheng's command, because of the futility of the conquest.

As a result, these people were wronged, and even in Chang Mao's hands, they still couldn't gain Chang Mao's trust and were treated differently to a certain extent...

"There is one thing, the king still needs to apologize to everyone." At the top, Zhu Su raised his wine bottle.

"Chang Guogong is loyal and upright, and he is dedicated to the king's plan. Perhaps because he is too worried about the safety of the king, he is wary of everyone..."

"Please don't take it too seriously. If there is anything I'm sorry for, I will offer you a toast for Duke Chang."

As he spoke, he picked up the wine bottle and drank it down.

Cao Yuan and others were momentarily stunned to see that the majestic prince apologized and toasted these military households.

At this time Chang Mao also got up and said: "Your Highness does not need to toast for us, we are old Chang, just come and toast by yourself."

"Don't blame us for being suspicious. We are always straight-headed, and we really can't read people's hearts."

"You don't have to be submissive, you don't have to be afraid of being crooked when you stand upright! Just practice hard. If you want us to believe in you, you will naturally believe in people's hearts after a long time."

"At that time, I sincerely treat you all as Paozhe, go to Yingtian, and come to our mansion for a drink!"

"Don't dare, dare not. Thank you, my lord, for your respect!" Cao Yuan quickly stood up and saluted.

"Little one...after the end of the day, he will definitely be dedicated to his duty and devote himself to his duty!"

"Live up to His Royal Highness and the country's trust!"

"I will be devoted to my duties, do my best, and live up to the trust of His Royal Highness and the Duke of the country!" The other hundreds of households also said in unison.

Cao Yuan's answer was still cautious, but the hand holding the wine bottle was rarely trembling.The other people also had loud voices and sincere feelings.

Seeing this change, Zhu Su felt a slight movement in his heart.I originally just wanted to win over the army a little bit, but it seemed that the effect was far beyond expectations.

This Cao Yuan was originally a thousand households under Wu Liang, Marquis of Jiangyin, and if he really wanted to do something wrong, Wu Liang would not have kept him here.Loyalty comes naturally.

But at this time they were in dire straits, and when I came here today, I unintentionally gave them a hand, which was tantamount to sending charcoal in a timely manner.

Originally, they just wanted to use them as bait to attract attention, and the main force who really captured Zhang Chen's remnants was actually another guard in the Susong area, "Taicang Guard".

Cai Ben, the commander of the Taicang Guard, was originally from Chang Yuchun's personal guard, borrowing the flag of the Chang family to mobilize the Taicang Guard, although it was a bit troublesome, it was more reliable than the Suzhou Guard who relied on Yang Lu.

But now that people like Cao Yuan are available...Zhu Su couldn't help thinking about the feasibility of using these soldiers to do something.

……

……

……

In the distance above Taihu Lake, a round, blood-colored sunset happened to set on Dongting Mountain in the lake.

The majestic and towering city walls of Suzhou Prefecture were also dyed a touch of color by this round of red sun.

This is the last round of sunset this year.

Hongwu five years, the [-]th day of the twelfth lunar month.

Sizheng.

The west of the city, which was originally dirty and dilapidated, is no longer what it used to be.Although it is not as rich and prosperous as the east of the city and the south of the city, it has a certain appearance.

The original messy shacks and remnants have been cleared up, and a large open space has been created.

A three-story high-rise towered in the middle of this open space, right on the bank of the river flowing through Suzhou. It looked extremely abrupt in this area of ​​dilapidated shacks in the West City.Although the building has not yet been painted and carved, the main part has already been built. Although the sky is not yet dark, lights have been hung in the building.It can be vaguely seen that there are people coming and going in the building, which is quite lively.

"Boss Zhao! Long time no see, long time no see! It's been a long time since we met. The last time we met, we were summoned by His Royal Highness King Wu, right in the Shen Garden?"

Inside the building, a businessman with a big belly greeted another businessman with a square face.

"It turned out to be Boss Fang. It's a pleasure to meet you." The rice merchant Zhao Yunyan turned his head and saw this Boss Fang, who is also a businessman in Suzhou, and bowed his hands in return.

"Boss Fang was also invited by the prince?"

"Who isn't! If it wasn't for the prince's invitation, who would come to such a dirty place in the west of the city!" The businessman surnamed Fang looked around, put his hands on his lips and said in a low voice.

"You know, the west of the city is where the refugees stay! Come here, don't get sick!"

Zhao Yunyan smiled and said nothing.Now the land in the west of the city looks cleaner than the east of the city where he lives, and it doesn't look like a place where people will get sick.

"Hey, it's a big Chinese New Year, yet another Hongmen banquet..." Seeing that Zhao Yunyan didn't answer, Boss Fang didn't take it for granted, and continued to complain on his own. "I don't know how much blood will bleed this time..."

"Boss Fang, why complain?" Zhao Yun said. "The invitation only said to invite me to the New Year's Eve dinner. If you can, you can be sure, this time I'm waiting to bleed again?"

"Then what else?" Boss Fang said firmly. "The prince is young, so he must have become addicted to empty gloves and white wolves. How can a nobleman like him think highly of us and other merchants?"

"Could it be that you really will invite me to wait for a banquet?"

"Hey...you can't just catch the sheep of our businessman if you squeeze the wool."

"It should be noted that sheep are impatient and bite people!"

Boss Fang spoke with depression.

(End of this chapter)