The Holy Emperor of Ming

Chapter 223
“Your Majesty, if you ask Yang Guang directly for a general at the Xiantian level, I’m afraid Yang Guang won’t give him one.

Moreover, most of these innate-level generals were elite troops during the unification and founding of the Sui Dynasty. They were loyal to the Sui Dynasty, and even if they came to the Ming Dynasty, I'm afraid they would find it difficult to serve. "Li Jing said sincerely.

When everyone heard it, they thought it made sense.

"Then tell me, what should we want?" Zhu Houzhao asked.

“Your Majesty, why not ask Yang Guang to send us a group of generals at the peak level of the acquired realm.

The Sui Dynasty experienced the founding war and two wars with Goguryeo. Although it was defeated, it did train a large number of middle-level officers.

These officers still have potential, and those who can come to our Ming Dynasty must not have a strong family background. As long as their whole family is brought with them, they will surely serve our Ming Dynasty loyally.

I think it would be easy for Yang Guang to be willing to give officers of this level." Li Jing pondered.

Zhu Houzhao immediately thought of Han Shizhong and others sent by the Song State and thought they were good.

Han Shizhong, who broke through to the innate realm at such a young age, has extraordinary potential.

In his mind, his potential is even greater than that of Mu Kun and others. Currently, he is second only to Lao Wang and Li Jing, and is not inferior to Gu Xichao.

Not only Han Shizhong, but several others also have the hope of breaking through to the innate realm as they gain experience in the army.

Another crucial point is that they had no background and were not valued in the Song Dynasty, but when they came to the Ming Dynasty, they were valued and immediately willing to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

This also applies to the Sui Dynasty.

After thinking about it, Zhu Houzhao agreed decisively and said forcefully, "Okay, we need those at the peak of the acquired realm, thirty, no, fifty.

Tell Yang Guang that I will send people to verify each of them. Don't try to deceive me and use warriors at the peak of the acquired realm to fill the numbers."

When everyone heard this number, their hearts skipped a beat.

No matter how strong the Sui Dynasty's national foundation is, there are only a hundred or so generals and officers at the peak of the acquired realm in the army.

Yang Guang would definitely not agree to asking for fifty people at once.

But they didn't say anything, nor did they stop Yang Guang from bargaining.

As for the time wasted on bargaining, since it was Yang Guang begging them now, there was no need to rush.

"What about the civil servants?" Zhu Houzhao asked again.

“Your Majesty, the famous civil servants in the Sui Dynasty are basically all from official families. If we want them to abandon their family businesses and come to the Ming Dynasty, there are probably only a few who have the courage to do this.

Just like the Wenzhaoxian Hall, few scholars from the Sui Dynasty come here. "Li Jing said calmly.

"No vision." When talking about Wen Zhaoxian Hall, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but curl his lips, very dissatisfied.

In the past two years, the effect of Wenzhaoxianguan has been very poor, and there are basically no Chinese scholars.

"Hmph, after I destroy the Sui Dynasty, even if they want to serve the Ming Dynasty, I will not easily accept them." Zhu Houzhao said unsatisfied.

No one dared to say more about this matter.

After deep thought, Zhu Houzhao said viciously: "Then we don't need civil servants, we need a group of talents from all walks of life.

I want both doctors and craftsmen, and those with strong abilities, about 200 of each.

Lao Guo, Lao Zhang, tell Yang Guang that if he dares to fool me, I will let him know the consequences. "

"Yes." Guo Bujing and Zhang Fengfu responded.

"What else should we ask for?" Zhu Houzhao asked again unsatisfied.

"Your Majesty, you may ask for some more food." Liu Jian suddenly spoke.

He said solemnly: "After Yang Jian's Kaihuang reign, the Sui Dynasty built many large granaries across the country, and there is sufficient grain.

Yang Guang was able to quickly organize a million-man army twice, both times relying on these large granaries, which shows how abundant the grain was in the Sui Dynasty.

As for the Ming Dynasty, no matter how much grain we have, it is never too much. It is more important than silver."

Everyone nodded, it was indeed true.

The Ming Dynasty court is not short of money now, and unless there are no unexpected events in the future, it will not be short of money.

If you want to launch a large-scale military operation, food is relatively more important than silver.

"Okay." Zhu Houzhao nodded and laughed, "Then ask Yang Guang for 20 million dan of grain."

Everyone's brows jumped again, but no one had any objection.

Yang Guang could bargain.

It’s not like they won’t allow it.

Order all the things you want and send them to Yang Guang as quickly as possible.

Zhu Houzhao began to discuss with Guo Bujing and Cao Zhengchun how to deal with Pang Ban?

three days later.

Yang Guang, who was thousands of miles away, received the message and became furious when he saw it.

"How dare the little boy Zhu Houzhao bully me like this." Yang Guang said angrily in frustration.

Soon, Yang Lin, the mainstay of the Sui army, arrived.

After reading the conditions proposed by Ming Kingdom, his gray eyebrows raised and anger surged.

But he endured it.

"Your Majesty, Zhu Houzhao's asking price is too high, but we can bargain.

But we must be quick and not let Pang Ban run rampant for too long.

So, we directly set a price and sent it to Zhu Houzhao.

He also wants to kill Pang Ban, and as long as the price is right, I think he won't refuse." Yang Lin said calmly.

Yang Guang suppressed his anger, looked at Yang Lin, and said in a deep voice: "Uncle Wang, you have also seen Zhu Houzhao's conditions. What price do you think should be set?"

“First, the Yang Gong treasure house can be taken away by the people of Ming State.

Yang Su was rich enough to rival a country back then, but the treasures he hid were limited after all, and they are not very important to our Great Sui Dynasty today." Yang Lin said firmly. "Yang Su, hum." Yang Guang spat out two words in hatred. In his opinion, the treasure house had long been harboring ulterior motives.

He only regretted that he did not wipe out the entire Yang family earlier, causing him to suffer such heavy losses.

But he still nodded and agreed.

“For the second point, fifty generals are impossible, we can only give ten at most.

There are fifty doctors and craftsmen with superb skills. "Yang Lin continued.

Yang Guang thought about it and nodded in agreement.

“Zhu Houzhao was asking for a completely unreasonable price for the last bit of grain.

But now our Great Sui Dynasty does not lack grain.

We can give him two million shi, but they will have to bear the transportation costs themselves." Yang Lin said in a deep voice.

Yang Guang pondered for a moment and nodded with difficulty.

After making the decision, he lost no time and immediately informed the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, Zhu Houzhao was meeting Wang Shouren who had rushed back to the capital.

The local officials who guard a certain place cannot return to the capital or go to other places without the emperor's order.

But Wang Shouren was an exception, an exception given to him by Zhu Houzhao.

If there is anything important, you can return to Beijing at any time.

"Old Wang, why are you back?" Zhu Houzhao looked at Wang Shouren in surprise, and then said proudly: "It's just right, you didn't even attend my wedding.

Now that you are back, I will take you to see my wife.

I married eleven women at once, and each of them was the most beautiful and the most outstanding, much better than you."

Wang Shouren was subjected to ruthless boasting as soon as he came up, but he just smiled and didn't care, as he was used to it.

"Your Majesty, I would like to congratulate you and wish you to give birth to a prince as soon as possible." Wang Shouren bowed slightly and said with a smile.

"It won't be long, maybe in a year, I will have ten children.

I will teach them martial arts and you will teach them reading, hahaha." Zhu Houzhao laughed happily and confidently.

"Yes." Wang Shouren nodded in response.

He paused, his expression slightly solemn: "Your Majesty, I rushed back urgently to kill Pang Ban."

"Old Wang, what do you think?" Zhu Houzhao asked indifferently.

"Your Majesty, I think this might be a trap." Wang Shouren said solemnly.

"Game?" Zhu Houzhao looked surprised.

"That's right." Wang Shouren nodded and said solemnly, "Your Majesty, after receiving your message, I have been repeatedly analyzing it for several hours, and the more I think about it, the more I feel that there is something strange about it.

According to common sense, Pang Ban's entry into the Sui Dynasty was a brilliant move that could accelerate the collapse of the Sui Dynasty and prepare for the Mongol Yuan Dynasty's entry into the Sui Dynasty.

But even if Pang Ban and Meng Yuan were not worried that there was a hidden realm of heaven and man within the borders of the Sui Dynasty, and attacked Meng Yuan or Pang Ban just because they disliked them, did they ever think that the Sui Dynasty would attack Pang Ban at all costs?
They must understand this point, and they are also confident that the Sui Dynasty does not have enough strength now to deal with Pang Ban.

But would they not have considered the situation where the Sui Kingdom asked for help from our Ming Dynasty?

Besides, Meng Chixing died not long ago."

Zhu Houzhao understood.

Suddenly he said, "Old Wang, what you mean is that the Mongols may have set a trap for our Ming Dynasty?

Lure our Ming Dynasty to send strong men to kill Pang Ban."

"That's right." Wang Shouren nodded. It was for this reason that he used this privilege and exception to prepare for military affairs and immediately rushed back to the capital.

This matter was too serious, so he could only tell it to His Majesty in person.

“Your Majesty, in the past, even if the Mongols set up a trap, we would not be afraid given the current strength of the Ming Dynasty.

At most, Pang Ban cannot be killed.

But the Eighth Division has just broken through to the Heavenly Man Realm, and the Mongols have enough strength to inflict heavy damage on our Ming Dynasty." Wang Shouren continued.

As he spoke, he sighed again, feeling somewhat afraid, "Fortunately, there are countless people from the Jinyiwei and other countries who are keeping an eye on the Eighth Division.

Even in the depths of the Mongols, where there were great sacrifices, they never gave up and learned in time that the Eighth Division had broken through.

Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have any doubts.

At that time, the consequences would be disastrous.”

Zhu Houzhao raised his eyebrows, thought about it seriously, and quickly agreed with Lao Wang's inference.

He immediately yelled in anger: "Damn the Mongols, how despicable and shameless they are to set a trap for me."

Only when he saw that His Majesty believed it did Wang Shouren finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Zhu Houzhao became more and more angry the more he thought about it.

He also believed that the intelligence provided by the Embroidered Uniform Guard had made a great contribution. If he didn't know that the Eighth Division had broken through to the realm of heaven and man, Lao Wang would not have doubted it.

Lao Wang had no doubt that the masters he sent to kill Pang Ban would suffer heavy losses when facing an additional person at the celestial realm.

It is possible that the entire army will be wiped out.

Thinking of the consequence, he felt a little chilly.

"Do you think that I can't kill them just because there are more people in the Heavenly Realm?" Zhu Houzhao said coldly with a ferocious look.

Wang Shouren looked serious, but did not speak immediately. He just looked at His Majesty.

Zhu Houzhao pondered for a few breaths, and suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. He said unhappily: "Old Wang, the strength of our Ming Dynasty is still not enough."

Wang Shouren was relieved that His Majesty was not impulsive.

(Chapter 1.)
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(End of this chapter)