lady, please calm down

On the seventeenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Chen Chu, Mao'er and a group of ministers personally saw off the last group of people bound for Luzon at Donglongshan Ferry in Lin'an.

After returning to the city, Chen Chu took this opportunity to invite the Chen brothers, Cai Yuan, Xu Bang, Sang Yanting and Luo Ruji who were accompanying him to the Yande Hall to discuss matters.

Needless to say, the first four are the old ministers of the previous dynasty, and the only mascots left in the court. Their purpose is to appease the people in the south of the Yangtze River, so that the entire court will not be filled with people from Huaibei and Central Plains, making half of the people in the south of the Yangtze River feel occupied.

Sang and Luo were also very clear about their roles. Most of the time, they were willing to be the emperor's yes-men in the court. Apart from clinging to the emperor, they were determined not to conflict with the Huaibei nobles.

This is their way of survival.

However, during today's meeting, Chen Chu opened his mouth and told a shocking piece of news, which made Sang and Luo feel mixed emotions.

"On the seventh night of this month, Chai Chong and Qin Huizhi were arrested in Quanzhou. They were just taken to Lin'an last night and are being held in the camp north of the city. What do you think should be done with them?"

Sang and Luo were quite surprised, but the reason for their complicated feelings was not only because Qin Huizhi had helped Luo Ruji and Chai Chong had been their king and father.

The previous emperor was captured, such a big thing, but they didn't know about it until the other party was secretly sent to Lin'an. It can be seen that Your Majesty never trusted them enough.

But then, the two found that even the Chen brothers and Cai Yuan, His Majesty's right-hand men, looked stunned, as if they had heard of this for the first time. Despite their confusion, they felt better.

Since this matter was not kept secret from just the two of them, the extremely scheming Luo Ruoji believed that the emperor's deliberate question of "what to do" was a test to see if he still had feelings for his former master.

Luo Ruji immediately suppressed his grief and concealed his expression, saying with joy: "Congratulations, Your Majesty! The false emperor has been captured alive, and the world can be at peace! The false emperor invaded Huaibei first, and when the Heavenly Army marched south, he refused to surrender and tried to stop the chariot with his arms, and started a war without reason. He deserves death! To serve as a warning to those who want to rebel against the emperor!"

Hey!
Sang Yanting looked at Luo Ruji in shock.

Even Cai Yuan looked at Luo Ruoji with an ambiguous look.

Chen Jing'an quickly stood up and said, "Your Majesty, this is not possible! Now that the fake emperor has been captured, we should save his life and wait and see what he says and does in the future before making any plans!"

Fearing that Chen Chu might be instigated by Luo Ruji, Chen Jing'an almost said something like "let's talk about it later".

Yes, throughout the changes of dynasties, there have been very few precedents of directly killing the emperor of the previous dynasty. If one believes that one's own dynasty is the legitimate heir, one must inevitably acknowledge the legitimacy of the previous dynasty.

Even the barbarians of the Jin Kingdom, although they humiliated the Zhou Dynasty's retired emperor Chai Ji, still spared his life. Of course, the eunuchs and military leaders who killed the emperor like a chicken during the late Tang Dynasty were not included in this list.

But a "civilized person" must behave like a civilized person. The reason why Chen Jingyan persuaded Chen Chu was that, firstly, it would not make much practical sense to kill Chai Chong now or not. Not only would it not show the emperor's magnanimity, but it would make Chen Chu look more like a guilty and insecure military leader. Secondly, even if Chai Chong was to be killed, he could not be killed so blatantly. He could feed Chai Chong well for a year or two and then let him get an "acute illness" and die suddenly.

The latter is what civilized people do.

Luo Ruoji has completely lost his mind in order to show his loyalty!
One of Luo Ruoji's principles was not to conflict with the Huaibei nobles. Seeing that Chen Jingyan disagreed with his approach, he remained silent.

Chen Chu looked at the two people who had different opinions, but did not express his opinion. Instead, he looked at Cai Yuan with a smile and asked, "In your opinion, Lord Han Guo, how should Chai Chong be dealt with?"

Cai Yuan slowly stood up, but saw Chen Chu waving his hands from top to bottom, indicating that the old prime minister could just sit down and answer. Cai Yuan did not make trouble and sat back down. Then he said: "Since it is difficult to deal with, it is better to keep the arrest of Chai Chong a secret."

At this point, Cai Yuan smiled at Chen Chu and said, "Before Chai Chong and Qin Huizhi were brought to Lin'an, Your Majesty kept it a secret even from us. I think he must have had a plan in mind."

As soon as Cai Yuan finished speaking, Chen Jing'an reacted suddenly. Yes, the capture of the previous emperor was a great news for Da Chu, and it should have been announced to all directions.

But Your Majesty sent the two of them secretly to Lin'an, and the outside world didn't know anything about it. Doesn't this mean that Your Majesty had already made up his mind about this matter?

Chen Jing'an subconsciously glanced at Cai Yuan out of the corner of his eye. In terms of talent, Chen Jing'an believed that he was not inferior to Cai Yuan, but in terms of understanding of His Majesty, there was probably no one in the world who could compare to this father and daughter of the Cai family!

As if to explain Chen Jingyan's thoughts, Chen Chu laughed and said, "The one who knows me is the Duke of Han!" Then he said, "After interrogation, I learned that before Chai Chong was captured, he was about to flee to Southeast Asia. What a pity!"

'What a pity'?
What's the pity?
Could it be that only if Chai Chong really escaped would everyone be happy?
"Your Majesty wants to..." Cai Yuan probably guessed something.

Chen Chu nodded, "For more than ten years, Jiaozhi has taken advantage of Zhou's weakness to repeatedly invade Guangnan Road and steal Fushuizhou. Now, I heard that Chai Chong fled to Jiaozhi and was treated as a guest of honor by the Jiaozhi king, who simply treated our Great Chu as nothing! I have informed them in a letter and ordered their king to return Chai Chong to our dynasty within one month. If he does not obey my order, should I punish him?"

At this point, Cai Yuan and the Chen brothers understood that the emperor was looking for a reason to take action against Jiaozhi!
Only Xu Bang was unable to react in time and blurted out: "Hasn't Chai Chong been captured by us? The King of Jiaozhi can't hand him over even if he digs the ground three feet deep!"

Several people looked at Xu Bang as if he was a fool. The latter finally reacted and said subconsciously: "So that's it!"

It is a good thing that Jiaozhi cannot hand over talented people. If the King of Jiaozhi really sends Chai Chong back, what reason is there to send troops to attack?
Since ancient times, people have paid attention to the fact that a teacher has a legitimate reason to teach.

The Great Chu is powerful and has hegemony over public opinion. If we say Chai Chong is in Jiaozhi, then he is in Jiaozhi!

This reason is much more reasonable than the tube of laundry detergent in later generations.

But understanding is one thing, and accepting is another. When Chen Jingyan heard that Chen Chu was planning to use troops against Jiaozhi again, he immediately said, "Your Majesty, since the eleventh year of Fuchang, when Qi and Jin fought in Hebei, our dynasty has been using troops year after year. Now that the country has just been established and the world has just been stabilized, we should rest and recuperate before making future plans."

In the eyes of the civil officials, the territory of Great Chu is now large enough. Not only has Hebei Road, which has not been touched since the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, been returned to Great Chu, but the fertile Liaodong has also been incorporated into the territory.

The Western Xia had now become a hollow entity, with the crown prince held hostage in Lin'an. The last bit of the army that had been assembled after the defeat in Tokyo was also left behind by Chen Chuqiang and stationed in Liaodong and Hebei respectively.

The tens of thousands of troops led by Duke Zheng are still stationed in Xingqing Prefecture, the capital of Western Xia. If this continues, it will not take a few years for Western Xia to abandon the emperor and submit to the central government, and transform the country into the Great Chuzhou Prefecture.

Isn’t such a large territory enough?
You know, it is most beneficial for military generals to keep fighting. Compared with the situation in Zhou Dynasty when civil officials always had supremacy over military officials, the civil and military officials in Da Chu have reached an unprecedented equal status. If the reputation of military generals continues to rise, military generals will bully civil officials in the future just like they did in the early years!

In addition to this reason, there is another reason why Chen Jing'an came to the south this time. He was asked by his colleagues to advise Your Majesty not to linger in Lin'an any longer and to return to Beijing as soon as possible.

However, once the war breaks out again in the south, in order to shorten the time of information transmission and facilitate command, Chen Chu will most likely continue to stay in Lin'an.

This was not good news for the officials in Tokyo who were afraid that Chen Chu would move the capital.

Facing Chen Jingyan's persuasion, Chen Chu responded firmly: "I have made up my mind!"

Then he said meaningfully: "I could have not told you about Chai Chong. I could have just said that I had received information that Chai Chong had fled to Jiaozhi. But I took the initiative to tell you because I didn't want any deception between the monarch and his subjects."

Historically, the influence that ministers could exert on the founding monarchs was not great. Chen Chu was courteous to the wise and humble, and was willing to accept advice. That was his personal cultivation and his respect for the ministers. But once he made up his mind, he only needed the ministers to execute it. Over the years, those who played the game of "selling their integrity to gain fame" in front of him never had a good ending.

Chen Jing'an was unable to prevent the Xuande Gate Incident from happening back then, and Chen Jingyan naturally could not persuade Chen Chu from making his decision to seize Jiaozhi.

Inside the Yande Hall, silence fell due to the not-so-harmonious conversation between the emperor and his ministers.

After an unknown amount of time, Chen Chu suddenly sighed and explained with rare patience: "Duke Ying is right. Since the Huaibei Army set out to attack Hebei in the eleventh year of Fuchang, I and my soldiers have been on the alert and on the battlefield for seven years."

At this point, Chen Chu paused and said earnestly: "That's why the war can't stop abruptly!"

Over there, Cai Yuan had transformed into Chen Chu's mouthpiece and said slowly, "Yes, for several years, the entire Huaibei has been in a wartime state. Under the Iron Smelting Institute, there are more than 9,000 craftsmen and workers in various workshops, who have been making armor, weapons, and muskets for our soldiers of the Great Chu over the years; tens of thousands of women workers in various textile mills make military uniforms, tents, blankets, and bedding for our Chu army; leather factories make military boots and lined leather armor, and there are also canning factories and portable military ration workshops."

At this point, even those who were slow to react understood.

Xu Bang, in particular, looked at his eldest brother with envy. It was not that he did not want to speak up for Chu Ge'er, but he was always a few breaths slow to react.

Just like now, if Cai Yuan hadn't enumerated all the military industries in Huaibei that were dependent on combat, he wouldn't have thought of these.

It seems that not everyone can be a mouthpiece.

Cai Yuan continued, "Behind all these, there is a family. Tens of thousands of workers are related to the food of hundreds of thousands of people. If the war suddenly stops and the weapons of the Chu Kingdom are put into storage, how can these workers support their families?"

At the head, Chen Chu immediately added: "After years of expansion, our Huaibei Army already has 200,000 people. In addition, the Hebei Han Liao Xi Army, Liaodong Tuntian Army, Liu Qi's old wing army, the Northwest Army, and the former Zhou army in Jiangnan, roughly speaking, have reached a million people. The war has stopped suddenly. How to resettle so many people?"

The father-in-law and the son-in-law sang the same tune, as if the country would be destroyed if they did not fight.

But others really can't find any logical loopholes. As the saying goes, it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. Many industrial workers in Huaibei have long been accustomed to relatively generous salaries. If the army cuts orders one day, everyone's income will plummet or they will be directly laid off. Workers who already have certain organizational skills will inevitably become a destabilizing factor.

As for the millions of soldiers, they need to be placed with great care.

After all, for most people, they can only talk about ideology after they have eaten their fill.

But how to place it is also a problem.

Chen Jing'an pondered for a while, and finally said dejectedly: "The ancient sage once said: Even if a country is big, it will be in danger if it forgets war, and it will perish if it loves war. Will our dynasty continue to fight forever?"

"Of course not."

Chen Chu shook his head. "But we need a buffer period. The court uses tax adjustments as a means to encourage various workshops to enter the overseas trade product production industry, guide Huaibei to complete the transformation from military industry to civilian industry, and use the four continents and five oceans to support the country of Da Chu. If we can induce an industrial revolution in this process, we can ensure the prosperity of the people of Da Chu for three hundred years.

At the same time, we will gradually eliminate local troops with deep family imprints in various places, and train a professional army based on the Huaibei Army. But before that, I need to fulfill my promise to the soldiers in my early years."

Upon hearing this, all the ministers looked up.

Chen Chu continued, "When the Tongshan Rebellion broke out, I promised everyone that I would lead everyone to a good life. Isn't the good life that you brothers are looking forward to a hundred acres of good farmland and a three-story house? But the Central Plains and Jiangnan are densely populated, and I can't get so much good farmland to reward everyone. But the 3,000-li Liaodong fertile plain, the Xixia Hetao, and the Red River Delta in the north of Jiaozhi, where rice can be harvested three times a year, have large tracts of good farmland.
By then, when the war is over and my brothers retire from active service, I will give each of them one or two hundred acres of land to pass on to their descendants. Then, each of them will buy five or seven or eight Jiaozhi natives to farm for them, and one or two pretty Silla maids to serve them. During the busy farming season, they will make a pot of tea and sit under the shade of a tree watching the Jiaozhi people farm for them. During the slack season, they will take the Silla maids to bed and have sex with them.
Hey, let these rough guys who have been fighting for more than ten years live a life of a master, wouldn't it be nice? In this way, I will not let down the soldiers who fought side by side with me! "

Speaking of which, the arrangements made by Chen Chu for his brothers, in the eyes of real masters of aristocratic families, were low-lifes of a man. They included killing a hundred hens on a whim just to eat a plate of fried chicken tongues, occasionally gathering with celebrities of the time to talk about worldly affairs, and traveling around the mountains and rivers with a 28-year-old Yangzhou skinny horse who was proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting in his spare time.

What kind of "master's life" is it to watch servants working the fields and sleep with poor Silla maids?

You don't understand the master's happiness.
But when it comes out of Chen Chu's mouth, it's different. It's full of His Majesty's humanistic glory of "Don't forget your brothers even if you become rich and powerful"!

Officials from Huaibei all felt deeply about this. When there was a fire in Caiwei Pavilion, the Cai and Chen families gained a good son-in-law, and Xu Bang even reached a position that he had never dared to think of before.

In fact, even Xu Bang himself knew that his talents were obviously inferior to those of his other brothers, but Lao Wu still pulled him together, trying his best not to let him fall behind on the road to progress of his brothers.

Thinking of this, Xu Bang was moved, and said secretly: I don't have enough talent, but I am loyal to my fifth brother!

The eldest son, who was on duty in the hall today, had a deeper understanding of the comradeship because he was in the army. When he heard the retreat route arranged by Chu Ge'er for his brothers, his eyes turned red.

It was not until Xiao Yi, who was standing beside him, saw it that he hurriedly wiped his face.

In order to avoid being laughed at by Xiao Yi, the eldest son, who was not good at joking, also said jokingly: "Your Majesty, is there a share for me in that pretty Silla maid?"

"Hahaha"

The eldest son is henpecked, and everyone in Huaibei knows it.

Perhaps because the atmosphere was relaxed at the moment, Xiao Yi immediately said, "Even if His Majesty gave you a pretty Silla maid, would you dare to accept her? It would be a light punishment for my sister-in-law to complain to the Queen. If my sister-in-law doesn't let you sleep in the room, what will my eldest brother do?"

"Hahaha"

The originally serious occasion was then broken up into laughter.

Chen Chu also laughed and said, "Only the soldiers who went to Hetao, Liaodong, and Jiaozhibei to strengthen the border after retirement can enjoy this treatment."

The eldest son smiled innocently and continued, "If Your Majesty needs it, I can also bring Cui Yuan to reinforce the border."

Just a casual remark, but one can see the sincere loyalty of this honest man. To enrich the frontier, he is going to be far away from his homeland. Such generous treatment is very attractive to the middle and lower level soldiers.

But who are you, Yao Changzi?
You are His Majesty's brother in life and the leader of His Majesty's personal army whom He trusts the most and dares to entrust his life to. If you go to the frontier, away from His Majesty's favor, isn't this destroying your own future?

The civil servants below could see that Yao Changzi said without hesitation that he was willing to go to the frontier not really for the one or two hundred acres of fertile land and the Silla maids. He just felt that Chu Ge'er needed people to fill the frontier, so he went.

Chen Jing'an had to admit that after reading so many books of sages, it was difficult for him to understand this kind of feeling.

But Chen Chu looked at the winter scenery outside the palace, and suddenly sighed, "Brother, you should stay by my side. Now my brothers are scattered all over the world for important matters, and we rarely see each other all year round. If you leave me again, I will really be alone." (End of this chapter)