Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 204 Farewell Xuanfu and set off for Datong!
Zhu Youtang listened to Wang Zhi's words expressionlessly without expressing any opinion.

Seeing that Zhu Youtang was unmoved, Wang Zhi knew that his words had not impressed Zhu Youtang, so he immediately gave the main reason why he recommended Wang Chun.

"And the most important point is that I am convinced that Wang Chun is loyal to the Emperor of Ming Dynasty and to Your Majesty."

Sure enough, after these words were spoken, Zhu Youtang's expression changed slightly.

For Zhu Youtang, a person's ability is actually not that important.

What matters is whether he is loyal to himself.

No matter how capable a person is, if there is a problem with his loyalty, he is absolutely useless.

Moreover, the more capable a disloyal person is, the greater the threat he poses to Zhu Youtang.

As an emperor, Zhu Youtang does not employ people based on personal connections. Does that mean he will employ people based on their merits?

Zhu Youtang was somewhat interested: "Oh? Why do you think so?"

"I have watched Wang Chun grow up since he was a child. I know his character very well."

"Moreover, Wang Chun's father is Wang Yue. Wang Yue and I have worked together for many years. His loyalty is evident to all."

"Wang Yue has a good way of educating his children. He teaches by words and deeds, so Wang Chun is not far behind."

"If there is any disrespect, Your Majesty can punish both the father and the son!"

What Wang Zhi was talking about was still the issue of blood relationship.

There are many cases in history where a person's loyalty brought along his entire family.

And the facts have proved that this approach is indeed effective.

Zhu Youtang thought about it and finally decided to trust Wang Zhi's judgment.

"Okay, then I will promote Wang Chun to be the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu."

"I will appoint him as...General Mingwei, to guard Xuanfu."

"Wang Shi... you will be appointed as the Lieutenant General of Xuanfu first. You will be responsible for escorting the prisoners to exile in Jiangzhou and building a road connecting Jiangzhou and the capital. You will set off tomorrow."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Wang Zhi smiled and bowed to accept the order.

He was not able to have children, so seeing his old friend's son finally survived, he felt relieved.

Zhu Youtang then gave another order: "Pass the order down and have Xu Chang and Gao Shun finish the work as soon as possible."

"Once Xuanfu is stabilized, we will immediately set out to inspect Datongfu!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Wang Zhi and Liu Jin both bowed and accepted the order.

Zhu Youtang waved his hand and said, "Alright, let the Imperial Household Department draft the decree."

"Yes, Your Majesty. I, your humble servant, will take my leave."

After Wang Zhi and Liu Jin left, Zhu Youtang went back to rest.

However, Wang Zhi and Liu Jin had to continue to convey Zhu Youtang's orders.

In fact, they were all very tired. They had not had a good rest since entering Xuanfu, and they even worked all night yesterday.

But time was tight and the emperor's order was difficult to disobey, so they could only implement Zhu Youtang's order first and then rest.

When Zhu Youtang went on tour, he brought all his office supplies with him, naturally including the eunuchs in the Silijian who were responsible for drafting imperial edicts.

Wang Zhi first went to the duty room of the Imperial Household Department and asked them to quickly draft an imperial edict. Then he went to the Xuanfu military camp without stopping.

At this moment, the Xuanfu military camp has not yet rested, and everyone is sharing their joy.

Gao Shun and Xu Chang knew that the Xuanfu soldiers would be more excited tonight, so they did not try to stop them too much.

Wang Chun and Wang Shi were also in their own military camp, laughing and chatting with a group of soldiers.

The soldiers in Xuanfu were extremely happy as each of them had his own silver in his arms.

Wang Chun and Wang Shi were also happy, but they were more delighted that their father, Wang Yue, was re-employed by the Emperor.

Suddenly, Wang Zhi came to the military camp with the Western Factory soldiers.

Now, all the soldiers in Xuanfu knew that the man before them was the famous Western Factory Director Wang Zhi, and they also knew that he was a favorite of the current emperor.

So when they saw Wang Zhi walking into the military camp, everyone immediately stopped smiling and saluted.

"I greet Lord Wang!"

When Wang Shi saw Wang Zhi, a smile appeared on his face and he looked very excited.

He was about to move forward, but was stopped by Wang Chun, who shook his head quietly at him.

Wang Shi quickly stopped smiling and stood behind Wang Chun obediently.

Wang Zhi took in the whole scene and nodded slightly to show his approval.

Afterwards, Wang Zhi took out the imperial edict issued by Zhu Youtang from the hand of a Western Factory guard.

"Your Majesty has issued an order. Wang Chun, the centurion of Xuanfu Army, is here to obey."

When they saw the imperial edict in Wang Zhi's hand, the pupils of all the Xuanfu troops present shrank, and then they quickly knelt down to listen to the order.

At this moment, Zhu Youtang was like a god in the hearts of the Xuanfu army.

Even though it was just Zhu Youtang's imperial edict, they were extremely excited and did not dare to show the slightest disrespect.

"I will obey your orders!"

Wang Zhi unfolded the imperial edict and read it aloud.

"Immediately promote Wang Chun, the centurion of Xuanfu Army, to be the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu Army, commanding all military affairs of Xuanfu and guarding Xuanfu!"

"When you are promoted to the King of Xuanfu Army, you will be appointed as the Lieutenant General of Xuanfu Army. Tomorrow, you will lead 10,000 Xuanfu Army soldiers to escort the exiled prisoners to Jiangzhou and build a road connecting Jiangzhou and the capital. I decree this!"

After Wang Zhi finished reading Zhu Youtang's imperial edict, Wang Chun and Wang Shi were both shocked by this great surprise and were speechless. Wang Chun went from being an ordinary centurion to the new commander-in-chief of Xuanfu, in charge of all military affairs in Xuanfu.

Wang Shi even jumped from an unknown soldier to a third-rank lieutenant general of Xuanfu.

The gap between them is more than just a one-step climb to heaven!

The Xuanfu soldiers around them looked at the brothers Wang Chun and Wang Shi in disbelief, feeling that it was extremely unreal.

A quarter of an hour ago, they were still arm in arm and calling each other brothers.

How come the next moment, Wang Chun and Wang Shi became unattainable in their entire lives?

The Xuanfu soldiers around were in very complicated moods.

There was shock, confusion, envy and jealousy in the eyes when they looked at Wang Chun and Wang Shi.

At the same time, many of Wang Chun's soldiers felt extremely excited.

It is said that when one person attains enlightenment, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.

They are Wang Chun's subordinates, and also the people Wang Chun is most familiar with and trusts the most.

After Wang Chun became the general of Xuanfu, their status naturally rose.

Wang Chun and Wang Shi were no less shocked than the others.

After the shock, there was uncontrollable ecstasy.

The two men immediately kowtowed to the leader and said, "We will obey the emperor's order and thank your majesty for his grace!"

After the two received the order, Wang Zhi patted them on the shoulders and gave them earnest instructions.

"Your Majesty has entrusted you two with such an important task because he trusts me, your father, and you, yourselves."

"From now on, you two must fulfill your duties and be loyal and dedicated. Do not betray His Majesty's trust and bring shame to me and your father."

"Understand?"

"understand!"

Wang Chun and Wang Shi's faces turned red with excitement, and they replied loudly with all their might.

Wang Zhi nodded: "Very good."

"There is no time for you to rest now. Wang Shi will immediately prepare for the relevant matters of escorting the exiled prisoners tomorrow."

"Wang Chun, you will go to Governor Xu Chang now, take over the military affairs of Xuanfu, and handle the final work of the Xuanfu mutiny."

"Yes!"

After receiving the order, the two did not rest and immediately went to deal with their new tasks.

Liu Jin also immediately passed the news about Zhu Youtang to Xu Chang and Gao Shun.

That evening, a series of personnel transfers in Xuanfu had quietly begun.

At the same time, the supreme power of Xuanfu was also continuing to transfer in an orderly manner.

The next morning, Wang Shi led 10,000 Xuanfu soldiers, escorting more than 110,000 prisoners sentenced to tattooing and exile, and set off for Jiangzhou to build a road connecting Jiangzhou and the capital.

The biggest advantage of tattooing and exile is that it does not affect the labor force of the prisoners.

They set off, pushing 500,000 shi of grain with them.

After arriving in Jiangzhou, they will immediately start building official roads from the capital to various places in Jiangzhou.

If you want to effectively control the border areas, a good and smooth road is essential.

Convenient transportation is the basis of all administrative management.

After the roads are built, these people will be encouraged to reclaim wasteland and grow crops.

Once they multiplied and adapted to the local environment, the Ming court would no longer care about them.

However, during this period, there were problems such as acclimatization and harsh conditions.

How many people can survive until that day is still unknown.

In the three days after Wang Shi led the army to set off, Xuanfu finally calmed down completely, and the production and life of the people of Xuanfu slowly returned to normal.

Xu Chang also completely transferred the control of Xuanfu to Wang Chun.

And under Zhu Youtang's order, Xu Chang transferred control of his 100,000-strong Ming expeditionary force to Gao Shun.

When all the finishing work was done, Zhu Youtang finally decided to lead his army to leave Xuanfu and go to Datong to continue patrolling the border.

That morning, Zhu Youtang left the Xuanfu government office in a dragon sedan chair.

Behind his dragon sedan chair, there was another small sedan chair, and sitting inside was Zhu Youtang's new concubine, Mona.

Outside the city of Xuanfu, Gao Shun led an army of 70,000 in the Xianzhen Camp and 80,000 in the three major camps in the capital, totaling 150,000 troops, respectfully waiting for Zhu Youtang to leave the city.

In Xuanfu, Wang Chun also led more than 50,000 Xuanfu soldiers to respectfully escort Zhu Youtang out of the city.

At the same time, thousands of Xuanfu people, upon hearing that Zhu Youtang was going to leave Xuanfu, came spontaneously to see him off.

Zhu Youtang's imperial procession led the way, with Zhu Youtang and Mona's carriage in the middle. On both sides were thousands of factory guards, protecting Zhu Youtang's safety at all times.

Wang Zhi, Liu Jin and Mou Bin served beside Zhu Youtang's dragon sedan, ready to be at the service of his orders at any time.

Zhu Youtang brought the civil and military officials from the capital with him to join the expedition and they followed closely behind.

However, among these people, dozens of them had already been put in shackles and were under strict surveillance by the factory guards, waiting to be taken to the capital to be executed together.

Among this group of high-ranking officials in shackles, the most prominent ones were the two Shangshu, Xu Pu and Liu Daxia.

The shackles in the Ming Dynasty usually weighed thirty-five pounds. Wearing such heavy shackles and walking around was an unbearable torture.

These officials will have to carry these shackles and travel to all the border towns of the Ming Dynasty, and finally walk back to the capital for interrogation.

(End of this chapter)