First Minister of Ming Dynasty

Take iron smelting as an example. In the early Ming Dynasty, the tax rate for iron smelting was [-] and [-] taxes... If this is called emphasizing agriculture and suppressing merchants, then many businessmen can wake up laughing. Hurry up and increase your efforts!

What makes Zhang Ximeng better than Lao Zhu is that Zhu Yuanzhang hopes to let the business resume its own development by resting and recuperating without interfering.Zhang Ximeng, on the other hand, advocates supporting and controlling businessmen. I can help you develop, but in terms of taxation, no one should try to play tricks.

The purpose of developing commerce is to enrich the finances and enrich the country and the people.

All in all, Zhang Ximeng intends to seriously discuss the issue of commercial taxation after acquiring Huizhou, and establish a set of means to manage business.

When business prospers, the issuance of precious banknotes will have more effects...Equalization of land, enlightenment, commerce, precious banknotes...Zhang Ximeng sketched out a powerful picture of four-wheel drive.

When it comes to painting big cakes, we are professionals.

When Lao Zhu heard this, he couldn't help laughing, "Mr. is really thoughtful. In this case, let Xu Da lead the army to capture Huizhou, Chang Yuchun lead the army to capture Guangde, and then let Hu Dahai and Deng Youde take Jiande !"

Lao Zhu was about to swallow three pieces of food in one mouthful, and his appetite really got better and better.

However, this is also the strength of Zhu's army. In the whole Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Zhejiang, no one can stop Zhu's army from advancing.

Surprisingly, envoys were sent just as Zhu Jiajun was about to move.

Fang Guozhen!

This master of repeated horizontal jumps sent his son Fang Guan to meet Zhu Yuanzhang with documents.

"My nephew pays respects to Marshal Zhu!"

Fang Guan knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Lao Zhu.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled slightly, "Your father sent you here, what's the matter?"

Fang Guan raised his head and said with a raised head: "Zhu Yuanzhang is here, my father is going to use Wenzhou, Taizhou, and Qingyuan to belong to Marshal Zhu, please take him in!"

Old Zhu laughed suddenly, he came over to pull Fang Guan up, and said with a smile: "Your father rebelled against the Yuan Dynasty early, and he is also a hero among our rebels. Compared with him, we are all juniors...We captured the land on the right side of Zhejiang, It is to eliminate the forces of the Yuan court, but you have no intention of plotting against your father!"

Fang Guan was stunned, and said again: "Zhu Yuanzhang is indeed a gentleman, and my nephew admires it...It's just that my father is in a difficult situation, the Yuan court is demanding, and Zhang Shicheng is trying to get involved...I, we are too difficult!"

Zhu Yuanzhang watched Fang Guan cry silently, secretly amused... Fang Guozhen is indeed a master of repeated jumps, is he really planning to surrender to Lao Zhu?

Like a joke!

After so many years, who has seen Fang Guozhen's sincerity?

Relying on the convenience of boats, this guy roams along the coast, but it is difficult for Zhu's army's navy to dominate in the Yangtze River. He is not Fang Guozhen's opponent at all. At this time, if he plots against Fang Guozhen, he will be in a daze.

"My lord, the Yuan court relied on water transportation by sea, and Zhang Shicheng was at both ends. General Fang is indeed in a difficult situation." Zhang Ximeng smiled and said: "I suggest that we form an alliance with General Fang, asking him to supply us with sea salt, and we provide food for General Fang. Mutual benefit in peacetime, and in wartime, if General Fang needs it, we can send troops to help, in a word, watch and help each other, and the two sides are on equal footing."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, and then said to Fang Guan: "Nephew, do you think this is okay?"

Fang Guan was stunned for a moment, overjoyed, and fell heavily on his knees: "Thank you uncle, uncle is kind!"

Chapter 195 Liu Bowen's Homecoming

Fang Guan really didn't expect that things would go so smoothly. Zhu Yuanzhang was so amiable that he was like a good uncle at the end of Yuan Dynasty.His father, Fang Guozhen, was a veteran leader of the rebel army, and his character was indeed worrying.

Fang Guozhen's uprising was very early, two or three years earlier than Liu Futong's, but no one regarded Fang Guozhen's uprising as the beginning of the Red Scarf Army.

This guy was accused of being a bandit, so he had no choice but to raise troops. Yuan Ting sent people to fight against him. He won the battle and captured the opponent.It stands to reason that he won a big victory, which is a very good thing.

But then this one did a Song Jiang act. He released the captured Yuan general and wanted the Yuan court to appoint an official.

Seeing this, do you feel that Fang Guozhen was possessed by the rain in time, and that at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, it was right to call Baoyi!

I'm sorry, but I'm not as stupid as Song Jiang. He immediately captured Wenzhou Mansion.

After Yuan Ting was furious, he sent troops again, but was defeated by Fang Guozhen again, and then the scene of recruiting and surrendering was staged again.

After surrendering to Yuan Ting, Fang Guozhen saw that the opportunity was wrong and trapped and killed Yuan Ting's guard in Taizhou.

It's come to this point, what else do you want?Fight with Yuan Ting!

No, if we fight hard, wouldn't it be in vain that we, the master of repeated horizontal jumps, would spend huge sums of money to bribe high-ranking officials in the Yuan court and find him a position.

But Fang Guozhen disliked the official again, and he took Taizhou himself.

Yuan Ting was also made lose his temper by Fang Guozhen, and he no longer knew how many times this person surrendered and then rebelled.

It stands to reason that Yuan Ting already hated Fang Guozhen to death, and wanted to crush him to ashes.

However, at this time Yuan Ting had already suffered a disastrous defeat in Gaoyou, and even a few giant bandits couldn't deal with it, so a small thief like Fang Guozhen was irrelevant.

Moreover, Yuan Ting still pinched his nose and gave Fang Guozhen the official position of transporting thousands of households by water.

I don't know if it's because of falling in love with each other, or if Fang Guozhen has changed her sex. Fang Guozhen, who has been jumping around countless times, wants to be a loyal minister of the Yuan court, and is going to attack Zhang Shicheng who has already crossed the river.

In fact, just look at the map. Fang Guozhen occupies a line along the coast of Zhejiang. If he wants to develop, the best choice is Pingjiang Mansion.

Same goal as Zhang Shicheng!

Fang Guozhen was going to fight Zhang Shicheng, but at this time Zhu Yuanzhang rose rapidly, and went south from Jinling to seize the state capital of eastern Zhejiang with great momentum.

Fang Guozhen was really afraid that Lao Zhu would swallow him up in one go.

Then he sent his son Fang Guan over to complain to Lao Zhu, hoping to take the opportunity to test Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude.

Ling Fang Guozhen did not expect that Zhu Yuanzhang easily agreed to form an alliance and was willing to provide food, which is so easy to talk about!

With Zhu Yuanzhang's help, at least in the face of Zhang Shicheng, he will have enough confidence.

Fang Guozhen was overjoyed, he rubbed his hands happily.

"It seems that Zhu Yuanzhang is also a local thief! He started from Huaixi, so naturally he doesn't know the benefits of the sea, so it just gives me a chance to show my skills!"

Fang Guozhen thought for a while and said: "My son, how do you think Zhu Yuanzhang is dressed?"

Fang Guan thought for a while, "It's very common. It's the military attire. Next to him is a young counselor who seems to be Zhu Yuanzhang's confidant. He is still wearing civilian clothes, not even silk."

Fang Guozhen smiled, "Okay, since that's the case, let's open his eyes... You choose some high-quality silk, by the way, and take the gold and jade saddle that is your father's, and give it to Zhu Yuanzhang together!"

"What?" Fang Guan was shocked, "Father, you took a lot of effort to snatch that saddle. Didn't you say you wanted it to be a family heirloom? Why did you give it to Zhu Yuanzhang?"

"Fool! Do you want a saddle, or Pingjiang mansion? When you enter Suzhou, let alone a saddle, even a golden horse or a jade horse is ready-made! You remember it for me, and you must be good friends." Zhu Yuanzhang, with him, it is easy to capture and kill Zhang Jiusi!"

Fang Guozhen was full of ambitions, so Fang Guan could only bring a gift and visit Zhu Yuanzhang again.

The last time he saw Lao Zhu was in Xuancheng, but this time, Zhu Yuanzhang had already arrived in Jinhua County.

In less than a month, Zhu's army captured Ningguo Road, Huizhou Road, Guangde Road, and Jiande Road one after another, and took most of Wuzhou Road (not Wuyuan, but Jinhua).

The speed and efficiency of the Zhu family's army's march was simply staggering.

Fang Guan came to see his dear Uncle Zhu again, and felt that this uncle was much taller and more oppressive.He knelt down immediately.

"My nephew is ordered by my father to present a gift to my uncle. Among them are [-] bolts of fine silk, [-] dans of tea, and a gold and jade saddle. Uncle please accept it!"

Speaking of Fang Guan, people brought up gifts. The silk and tea were all carefully selected by Fang Guozhen, and the gold and jade saddles were even more jeweled. However, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't show much in his eyes.

He just said indifferently: "My father has a heart, and we don't have any good things, only the sword that I carry with me, so I will give it to your father!"

Lao Zhu took off his saber and handed it to Fang Guan.

Fang Guan took it in his hand and looked at it, but there was no jewelry, he was indeed a poor man!But he didn't dare to underestimate it, after all, Zhu Jiajun's reputation is here.

Fang Guan thought for a while, then said: "Uncle, my nephew has another request, I hope uncle will agree."

"Say it, we will agree to whatever we can."

"It's like this. My father has an enemy who disappeared recently. I heard that his wife and children are at home. My father is going to send someone to raid his house and arrest his family members for revenge... just in case Uncle will lead the troops there, and I ask uncle for permission."

Old Zhu was puzzled, "Whose family is your father going to arrest?"

"Of course it's old man Liu Ji!"

"Liu Ji?" Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, "We heard that this man is quite talented!"

"Yes! That's the old man!" Fang Guan gritted his teeth, "Uncle, you don't know, he is the governor of Yuanting's Zhejiang province. This old man has a very bad heart. He keeps saying that my father is capricious. The chief culprit advocates killing my father! Tell me, can you not avenge this revenge?"

There was a flash of strangeness in Zhu Yuanzhang's expression, and then he said to the other party: "Liu Ji's hometown is in Qingtian, which is in the territory of Chuzhou, not your father's territory!"

"That's right! Chuzhou is indeed not under my father's rule. Now that my uncle has arrived, I don't dare not inform my uncle, and ask my uncle for permission."

Fang Guan kept looking at Lao Zhu, watching his words and expressions.

Zhu Yuanzhang was startled, and then smiled, "Your father and we are allies, and Chuzhou is not under our rule. Even if you want to send troops to take down Chuzhou, we have nothing to say, let alone arresting people, let alone arresting people." What can I say... But where did Liu Ji go? Do you know? Dealing with orphans and widows doesn't seem like a gentleman's behavior?"

Fang Guan sneered and said: "Uncle is really kind-hearted. Old man Liu Ji wanted to die by himself. No wonder others. He really doesn't know where he is now. Hearing from his subordinates, the old man may have sneaked into Beijing and wanted to give money to Yuan. Letter to the court. Uncle, this man is loyal to Yuan Ting, he is a stubborn old thief, if he does not kill, it will not be enough for the common people to be angry! Not only to kill, but also to exterminate the nine clans! It is better if no one is left!"

Zhu Yuanzhang took a deep breath, and finally didn't say anything... "Go down and have a rest, look around, when we have a chance, we still want to meet your father, cook wine with green plums, talk about heroes!"

Lao Zhu sent Fang Guan away with a few words.

Turning around, he called Zhang Ximeng over.

"How is that Liu Bowen in the prisoner-of-war camp?" Old Zhu asked curiously.

"It's not bad." Zhang Ximeng didn't know what Zhu Yuanzhang meant, but said truthfully: "He should be a little awkward and unwilling to fully cooperate with us. But according to my observation, it should be the sour temper of a literati, who is used to being arrogant. I don't want to bow my head. This person is not bad in nature. These days, Timur has taken ten times the workload of the roster and atlas... He is the one who verifies the land grants in Xuancheng, but Timur's skills are limited , don’t ask, someone must help him, and the person who helped him is probably Liu Bowen.”

Zhu Yuanzhang let out a sigh of relief when he heard this, looked up for a while, and smiled helplessly, "Sir, you said that according to the logic, a person who still has a great Yuan in his heart will die as soon as he dies, and we shouldn't care about it. But if it's a disaster Wife and children, or innocent children and women, do you think we can remain indifferent?"

Zhang Ximeng asked in surprise, "My lord, do you mean the Liu family?"

"Yeah!" Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Liu Ji has been away for a long time, his subordinates broke up, and some people ran to Fang Guozhen's side... But in the past, Liu Ji advocated severe punishment for the first offender, and Fang Guozhen should be killed. Now the Fang family wants to take Liu To vent our anger on the family, we have already asked Fang Guan to stay for a few days, to delay for a while. The lives of Liu Bowen's wife and children are in our hands!"

Zhang Ximeng really turned pale with fright, he never expected that the storm he brought would really get bigger and bigger. He took down Liu Bowen in advance, which actually led to the danger of Lao Liu's family being ruined.

"My lord, life and death, thunder and rain, all come from above. If Fang Guozhen can kill Liu Bowen's wife and children, and force Liu Bowen to serve the lord, it seems good!"

After Zhang Ximeng finished speaking in a low voice, he found that Old Zhu's face was tangled up. According to reason, Zhu Yuanzhang was indeed the most ruthless lackey of the Yuan court, but Liu Bowen was the stubborn one.

If you surrendered earlier, how could we ignore your family?

First of all, the family members of Timur and others were taken over by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Our old Zhu is not unreasonable, but you Liu Bowen is too unreasonable!

After a long time, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly smiled helplessly, "Sir, send someone to pick up Liu Bowen on a fast horse! Let him solve his family affairs by himself!"

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed again, "How innocent are children!"

Zhang Ximeng smiled immediately, and sure enough, Lao Zhu's heart was still warm.

The next thing to watch is Liu Bowen!

In order to bring Liu Bowen over, Zhang Ximeng asked Guo Ying to do it in person, and within a day and a half, Liu Bowen rushed from Xuancheng to Lao Zhu's barracks.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't see him, but let Zhang Ximeng handle it.

Zhang Ximeng talked about the matter again, "The lord wants you to go home first and save your wife and children. As for where to go, you can figure it out!"

When Liu Bowen heard that Fang Guozhen wanted to attack his wife and children, his eyes were about to burst.

He is old enough to have children, one is eight years old and the other is six years old this year!

Fang Guozhen, a thief, was able to do it!

Liu Bowen was startled for a while, then suddenly knelt down on both knees, kowtowed vigorously to Zhu Yuanzhang's handsome tent, got back on his horse, and went straight to his hometown...

Chapter 196 The Prisoner of War Camp Review Incident

Today is New Year's Eve, and tomorrow will be the 16th year of Zhizheng.

The atmosphere of the New Year enveloped everywhere, and everyone was beaming, even the prisoner-of-war camp was no exception.

Liu Bowen went to save his family, and the rest gathered together to celebrate the New Year.

First, Timur led a few people to make dumplings, and in the first few days, he paid three times the vegetable gold. Finally, he was able to buy some meat, and the eyes of the big guys turned green.

Naihe also said that Timur is a stingy guy, he strongly advocated that he save half of the vegetable gold, wait for the New Year, buy a few chickens, and within a few months, he can eat eggs.

As for this year's dumplings, there are less meat and more vegetables, and they taste sweet!

In the past we just ate too much meat, but now we can eat vegetables, which is a blessing.

The big guys have nothing to do with him, so they have to follow suit.

If you can't eat meat, you must have some fun!However, Datou Wu also took a rest, and the troupe had no one to perform.

"What do you think this is? During the Chinese New Year, the theater troupe is most needed, so why don't they perform?" Xuexue couldn't help complaining.

Gong Bo then said: "They say they are an opera troupe, but they are actually generals in the army. Didn't you see that! Wu Datou has been promoted to a thousand households. After a while, we will call him a general! Work harder and sing more. At this time, the whole family is reunited, and it's time for people to rest!"

Xuexue sighed helplessly, "Back when I was in the mansion, the theater troupe alone raised three, and several dancers from the Western Regions, all of them were stunning beauties... Now I don't know whose hands they fell into. , It's really pathetic!"

He mentioned the past, and this sentence opened up a lot of thoughts. Looking back at the present and looking back at the past, the big guy couldn't help but sigh.

Even Harazhang and Sanbaonu gathered here. They are the children of Tuotuo. They grew up in the palace and played with the prince... When it came to the New Year, it was a lively scene. The palace was brightly lit and the trees They are all wrapped in red silk, and everyone is wearing new clothes and hats.