Daming: I can’t kill such a greedy prince-in-law?

Zhu Biao is now completely convinced by Ouyang Lun. As long as Ouyang Lun says it, he, Zhu Biao, will do it without any scruples.

In addition to Ouyang Lun's clearly stated plan to conquer the Northern Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Biao also knew that during the military reforms over the years, the Science and Technology Institute under Ouyang Lun had developed a lot of new weapons and equipment, such as the two-wheeled motorcycles and three-wheeled vehicles used to suppress the rebellion in Yunnan last time!
In addition to these, there were other equipment, which even Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor, did not know about.

Of course, as Ouyang Lun’s fanboy, Zhu Biao knew a lot about him.

"Brother-in-law, there is one more thing I want to discuss with you."

Zhu Biao said.

"Your Majesty, please speak."

Ouyang Lun nodded. He knew that Zhu Biao had called him to the Fengtian Hall privately to ask questions.

"This time I am personally leading the expedition against the Northern Yuan Dynasty. In addition to the imperial court's army, should I also use the armies of my princely brothers?!"

Zhu Biao asked.

"That depends on your Majesty. As the commander-in-chief of this expedition against the Northern Yuan Dynasty, you have the right to decide whether to ask the princes to assist. But what I want to say is that whether you ask the princes to assist or not, as long as your Majesty follows my plan, it will not be difficult to conquer the Northern Yuan Dynasty."

Ouyang Lun said confidently.

"Brother-in-law, don't keep me in suspense at this time. I'm just a little confused, so I asked you. I still want to hear your opinion on this matter!"

Zhu Biao said solemnly.

Seeing Zhu Biao asking Ouyang Lun questions with such respect made officials such as Lan Yu nearby extremely envious. Although Emperor Zhu Biao of the Northern Yuan Dynasty was the commander-in-chief in this expedition, it now seems that Ouyang Lun, as the military advisor, was the real commander!

"I think that the Ming Dynasty is the orthodox court of China. Since Your Majesty has personally led the army, the princes should contribute their efforts. Although the princes will share some of the credit and spoils, it is better to share happiness with others than to enjoy it alone. If everyone shares the credit, everyone will be happy."

"I suggest that Your Majesty personally give orders to the princes, asking them to actively prepare and assist the Ming central government in destroying the Northern Yuan Dynasty. In this way, even if the princes gain merit in this expedition against the Northern Yuan Dynasty, these merits will be awarded to them by Your Majesty. For the Ming Dynasty, internal unity will be achieved, and for Your Majesty, brothers will be friendly and respectful to each other. This is a model for thousands of people, and the people of the Ming Dynasty will feel more at ease!"

"well!"

"My brother-in-law is right. He is absolutely right!"

Zhu Biao clapped his hands repeatedly and said excitedly, "Then everything will be arranged by you, my brother-in-law. I will personally issue an order later to ask the nine princes, no... I will ask all the princes to come out to help. This time the victory belongs to everyone in my Ming Dynasty!"

"Your Majesty is still a man of vision!" Ouyang Lun nodded.

Compared with Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao did not have such a strong aura and his methods were not as tough, but the good thing was that he was very obedient!

Not as selfish as Zhu Yuanzhang.

"What do you think, dear friends?"

After Zhu Biao finished speaking, he turned his gaze to Lan Yu and several other officials.

What else could the other officials say in response to Zhu Biao's question? Now that the commander-in-chief and the military advisor had already discussed it, what was the point of their objection?

But that’s not necessarily the case. What if the pioneer Lan Yu chooses to refute?

Swish--

For a moment, everyone turned their eyes to Lan Yu.

Forehead.
Feeling the gazes of so many people, Lan Yu felt a little embarrassed. He naturally understood what the other officials meant. He himself also wanted to oppose what Ouyang Lun and Zhu Biao were discussing, but he was just a vanguard and had no chance of winning if he confronted the commander-in-chief and the military advisor head-on.

Moreover, Ouyang Lun's method seemed to be very useful. With Lan Yu's brain, he really couldn't think of a better method than Ouyang Lun, not even a way to refute Ouyang Lun's words.

"Your Majesty is wise. I will obey your Majesty."

Lan Yu thought for a long time and finally uttered this sentence.

Zhu Biao was naturally happy to hear this. Seeing that Lan Yu lowered his head, the other ministers naturally had no other ideas and spoke one after another.

"Your Majesty is wise!"

"With Prince Consort Ouyang's careful planning, this expedition against the Northern Yuan Dynasty will surely be a success!"

Zhu Biao nodded and thought for a while, then continued to make arrangements: "This time, my brother-in-law is the military advisor of the army, so he will naturally be in charge of the overall situation. It would be inappropriate for you to be the chief logistics officer. So, let Guo Zi be the chief logistics officer. He was brought up by you, my brother-in-law, and now he is the Minister of Revenue. There will definitely be no problem!"

"What does my brother-in-law think?"

"Of course I have no objection." Ouyang Lun nodded.

After getting Ouyang Lun's nod, Zhu Biao turned to look at Guo Zi, "Guo Zi asked you to take care of logistics, is that okay?"

"No problem, no problem!"

"Your Majesty, I promise to complete the task and listen to Prince Consort Ouyang!"

Guo Zi had wanted to agree to it a long time ago. Following Ouyang Lun, he had to eat nine meals a day in three days. No one understood this better than him. As long as his boss was Ouyang Lun, he only had to do his job without thinking.

Just when everyone thought Zhu Biao had finished making arrangements, he thought for a moment and said, "I think Xu Huizu performed well last time, so let's get two vanguard officers this time, one Lan Yu and one Xu Huizu. Of course, Lan Yu is the first vanguard officer!"

"Brother-in-law, what do you think?"

"I have no problem with that. Your Majesty, please make the decision." Ouyang Lun nodded.

Xu Huizu?!

Why does Your Majesty want to drag Xu Huizu into this?
First, Guo Zi was appointed as the chief logistics officer, and then Xu Huizu was appointed as the vanguard officer. This was equivalent to Ouyang Lun completely controlling the power of the army to conquer the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

So angry!

This is too much!

Lan Yu was extremely angry, but there was nothing he could do. If this matter was proposed by Ouyang Lun, he could have refuted it by saying that it was nepotism. However, the appointments of Guo Zi and Xu Huizu were both proposed by Zhu Biao. How could he refute it?

Could it be that Emperor Zhu Biao appointed people based on personal connections? !

Doesn't he still have problems as a vanguard officer?

But if he doesn't say anything and doesn't stand up to refute, he is afraid that he will have no say in this army in the future.

Thinking of this, Lan Yu no longer held back and spoke directly.

However, Lan Yu did not speak to Emperor Zhu Biao, but to Ouyang Lun, "Prince Consort Ouyang, this Minister Guo is your old subordinate, and Xu Huizu is your brother-in-law. One is in charge of logistics, and the other is a vanguard officer. I'm afraid it's a bit inappropriate, right?" "Your Majesty may not understand, but you, Prince Consort Ouyang, should understand!"

"Understand? Understand what?" In response to Lan Yu's question, Ouyang Lun directly asked: "Is there any law in our Ming Dynasty laws that prohibits the relationship between superiors and subordinates, and between sister, husband, wife and brother from appearing in the same army?!"

"But you are appointing people based on personal connections! This is a big taboo!" Lan Yu shouted.

"Nepotism? Haha, has General Lan Yu forgotten who promoted his adopted son in the army and allowed him to claim other people's military merits and embezzle military pay and spoils?!" Ouyang Lun did not care about Lan Yu's face at all and continued to say, "Isn't this the real nepotism?"

"And what I do is to promote the virtuous without avoiding relatives!"

"Guo Zi did one thing after another when he was the Minister of Revenue. I don't need to talk about it at all. Xu Huizu is even more outstanding. He just won great merit in the previous battle to pacify Yunnan. There is no doubt about their abilities, and they have made many contributions to the Ming Dynasty."

"And those of your adopted sons," Ouyang Lun shook his head slowly, and pardon my bluntness, "are all garbage!"

"You!" Lan Yu widened his eyes.

"Besides, the appointments of Guo Zi and Xu Huizu were just confirmed by His Majesty himself. I didn't take the initiative to propose it!" Ouyang Lun said coldly: "I will not ruin the future opportunities of two pillars of the country just for the sake of avoiding risks!"

"Finally, if this is nepotism, then I am His Majesty's brother-in-law and you are His Majesty's brother-in-law, how does this apply?!"

"Are you still going to accuse His Majesty of favoritism?!"

Forehead.
Lan Yu was not as eloquent as Li Shanchang, and was stunned by Ouyang Lun's words. "Well, then, according to what you said, nepotism is a good thing!"

"Oh, by the way, it's a good thing. If we don't appoint people based on personal connections, do we have to appoint people based on personal connections?"

Ouyang Lun said with a smile.

Lan Yu was completely stunned, his eyes were blank. At this moment, he actually felt that Ouyang Lun was right.

"Lan Yu, I arranged this person for you, so stop questioning me!"

Zhu Biao said.

"Yes." Lan Yu also wanted to question, but he didn't have the ability to do so.

Zhu Biao continued, "Brother-in-law, I can think of these things. Can you tell me how to arrange the rest?"

Ouyang Lun also entered the state of military advisor at this moment, thinking: "Your Majesty, please open the map!"

"it is good!"

Zhu Biao nodded, and then ordered Wang Zhong to put down the large map hanging on the wall.

wow-

Everyone came to the big map.

Candlelight flickers in Fengtian Hall

Zhu Biao pointed at the map of Mobei and said, "Brother-in-law, according to the intelligence from the Jinyiwei, the remnants of the Northern Yuan have been entrenched in Mobei for a long time. This time, my Ming Dynasty will still send 300,000 troops. How do you think we should use the troops?"

Ouyang Lun took up the jade whisk and walked forward, pointing to the map and said, "Your Majesty, please look, we should follow the strategy of Emperor Wu of Han to divide the troops and attack together. I plan to use the strategy of "two fronts breaking the formation and three armies advancing together" - send Duke Lan Yu of Liang as the left vanguard in the west, Xu Huizu as the right vanguard in the east, and Your Majesty will personally lead the central army to stay in Xinghe. If the three armies attack at the same time, the Pseudo-Yuan will be overwhelmed."

After that, Ouyang Lun used the tail of his whisk to scratch the large sheepskin map on the wall again and continued, "Tomorrow, 50,000 light cavalrymen from Lanyu will leave Ningxiawei and march along the northern foot of the Helan Mountains. The first battle must be to break through the Langshan Pass and burn the forage yard set up by the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Halawusu. When the enemy's main force arrives in the west, we will immediately turn to the northeast and attack the ancient city of Helin along the Luqu River to destroy the place with overwhelming force."

Zhu Biao was silent for a moment: "Brother-in-law, there are also strong people in the Northern Yuan Dynasty. What if the Northern Yuan Dynasty sees through this plan? And uses their own tricks against us? What should we do?"

Ouyang Lun picked up the red pen and started to draw on the map. As he drew, he said, "It doesn't matter. We still have the right vanguard Xu Huizu. We can let him lead 30,000 heavily armored infantry and cavalry out of Datong. After passing Xuanfu, this army will be divided into two routes: the open route will advance northward from Kaipingwei and attack Yingchang with great fanfare; the secret route will send 5,000 elite troops to cross the Yinma River at night, sneak along the northern foot of Yinshan Mountain for 600 miles, and suddenly attack Shajing City to cut off the enemy's escape route to the east and cut off the Northern Yuan's route to continue to retreat northward."

"Even if they noticed, it was too late by the time they reacted."

Ouyang Lun put down the red brush in his hand and said in a deep voice: "The left and right vanguards are just for show. When the two vanguards disrupt the enemy's formation, Your Majesty will personally lead the 200,000 central troops from Xinghe to go out of the border along the wide official road built by our Ming Dynasty in recent years, and use three-wheeled vehicles and other tools to quickly advance northward. At that time, let the armies of the princes in various places act as decoys, and go out on their own, spreading flags and banners widely so that the enemy can hardly distinguish the real from the fake."

Zhu Biao nodded: "Such a large-scale deployment of troops, and the troops are divided into at least three groups, how will the logistics be maintained?"

Ouyang Lun continued, "The Ming Dynasty used pipelines, and also used three-wheeled motorcycles and two-wheeled motorbikes as tools. Secondly, the western route used the Yellow River to transport grain and grass to Dongshengwei, and 3,000 camels were conscripted from the tribes south of the desert for transportation. The eastern route borrowed the beacon towers of the Great Wall to build twelve linked grain stations, each of which stored three months' worth of grain. Lan Yu and Xu Huizu were also ordered to take enemy supplies every time they captured a camp, so as to support the war."

After saying that, Ouyang Lun pointed to Buyuer Lake and said in a deep voice: "If God blesses the Ming Dynasty, the two fronts will meet in the southeast of this sea within 60 days. By then, the spring snow will begin to melt, and it will be the time when there is a shortage of food in the northern desert. The pseudo-Yuan Khanate will be running out of food and fodder. We can complete the encirclement with three routes. The only thing is to guard against the "wolf pack tactics" of the Northern Yuan Taiwei Harazhang. We need to order the Liaodong Commander-in-Chief and the Prince of Yan and the Prince of Ning to guard the logistics and food routes!"

Ouyang Lun just finished speaking.

A north wind suddenly blew outside the hall. As the candlelight swayed, a chess game of annihilation of a nation across the Gobi Desert gradually became clear.

"Just follow what my brother-in-law said, my dear ministers, go down and get ready!"

"Yes!"

Lan Yu, Guo Zi and other officials received the order and withdrew.

Soon, Ouyang Lun and Zhu Biao were the only ones left in the Fengtian Hall.

"Brother-in-law, how do we set out?!" Zhu Biao's eyes flashed with excitement. Although as Zhu Yuanzhang's eldest son, Zhu Biao had also experienced wars, he basically followed Empress Ma behind the scenes to be responsible for logistics. In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang's protection of Zhu Biao meant that Zhu Biao almost never went to the battlefield in person.

Now, as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Biao led the army in person. This was the first time!
"Three days later!"

"It will take some time for the army to set out. After three days, when the army is almost ready, we can set out!"

Ouyang Lun thought about it and spoke.

"Okay, I'll leave everything to my brother-in-law!"

The Ming Emperor is going to personally lead an expedition against the Northern Yuan Dynasty!!

The news quickly spread among the civil and military officials in the court.

This incident made many civil and military officials feel very complicated. They originally thought that it would be a good opportunity for the Huaixi Party to rise again, but unexpectedly it became a personal show of Emperor Zhu Biao!

Not only Zhu Biao, but also his son-in-law Ouyang Lun!
The news that Zhu Biao obeyed Ouyang Lun's orders also spread, which made the civil and military officials even more uncomfortable, and they were envious and jealous of Ouyang Lun.

Ouyang Lun was the first person in history to be a royal consort and a minister to such an extent.

Of course, everyone may have some complaints, but no one dares to neglect the important matter of the conquest. (End of this chapter)