For a whole month, Xu Hao was busy in Qinhuangdao to settle the people who took refuge, re-established the water master school to teach his disciples, ordered Mu Yi to seize the time to train adult people to practice muskets, Yang Shiqi, Yu Peng, Zhang Xin and other literati were recommended to go to Beiping to be officials, Zhu Gaochi agreed to merge Xiao Wei's water division, and everyone belonged to Shanhaiwei.

In the courtyard outside the study, Xu Hao walked around with his hands behind his back, and Wang Xuanqing pointed to a pile of letters on the bookcase and said, "Why can't I understand it at all?" ”

Mu Ningxue explained: "These are all officialdom four or six letters, which are originally extremely profound, but with more allusions in the books of predecessors, ordinary people can't understand it." Nowadays, most of the correspondence in officialdom uses this format, and Hao'er is the most tired of it, and it is cumbersome to deliberately go around and say something. Of course, people with shallow knowledge don't know what to say, but in fact, it is easy to understand when they know the allusions. ”

Wang Xuanqing smiled bitterly: "I have read a lot of books since I was a child, and now I know that I am too far behind you. ”

Xu Miaojin, who was sitting on the side fanning the wind, said with a smile: "This is still the fourth six after the Song Dynasty, if it is the six dynasties of the Han and Wei dynasties, it is difficult to explain, you don't know the words in the book." Ah! It's really ten times deeper, and in my opinion, even the great Confucians of this dynasty are difficult to explain clearly, and even many readers can't even read sentences. In the final analysis, the punctuation marks made by Hao'er and the half-literate and half-white squares that are gradually becoming popular today are immeasurable merits, and as long as they are popularized in the future, ordinary people will have to read and understand the official documents of letters. ”

Wang Xuanqing asked, "What is four-six?" ”

Xu Hao, who walked in, said: "It's just four words and one sentence, or six words and one sentence, and there are also three words and five words and one sentence, anyway, it's the hell four or six, just make it clear, you have to show your talent, in the final analysis, it's just to be superior." ”

Wang Xuanqing said with a smile: "The ancestor sacrifice you made a few years ago, I remember that the whole article is four words and one meal. It can be seen that it is also four or six. ”

This remark immediately made Xu Hao speechless, unable to say anything to refute, and everyone watching laughed.

Xu Miaojin said with a smile: "To tell you the truth, we still have our help in the operation, Hao'er is not good at this at all, in order to appear more solemn to the ancestors." Although it is considered four or six, it is rhyming, and the flat sentences are followed by the sound sentences, and the sound sentences are followed by the flat sentences, which is the body of the endowment. If it's really four or six, it won't rhyme. The sentence should be flat and flat, and it should be read in harmony. But there are also famous people who don't pay attention to this truth. ”

Xu Hao sneered: "The times are developing, the Fu of the Qin and Han dynasties, the poems of the Tang Dynasty, the words of the Song Dynasty, and the songs of the Yuan Dynasty, my dynasty will be the master of novels in the future." Why? The improvement and promotion of paper printing, the advent of a large number of books, and the continuous improvement of the literacy rate due to everyone's desire for knowledge, so reading and literacy is no longer the right of a few. Culture will inevitably become more and more simple and accessible to the people, which is a good thing and the general trend. ”

Xu Miaojin said: "Then why are you a little upset?" ”

Xu Hao smiled bitterly and returned to his seat and said, "I didn't expect King Yan to be blocked in Jinan City for a month, and there are many reasons for this. I can't tell you more about it. Now Liaodong Yang Wen is anxious to redeem his merits, and is ready to wave his army north to attack Daning Mansion, and then go south to Beiping, or lead warships to attack Qinhuangdao, or go to Zhigu and Qu Neng's tens of thousands of troops to converge and cut off the canal. In short, once the battle situation is stalemate, I have to consider giving up here, and everyone has to retreat to Beiping as soon as possible. ”

Xu Miaojin was shocked: "Then isn't your hard work all in vain?" ”

Wang Xuanqing was speechless: "The prince has even defeated a million army, but he can't help Jinan?" ”

Xu Hao smiled bitterly: "Jinan is the barrier south of the Yangtze River, the pivot of the world, the geographical location is very important, Jinan can cut off the north-south passage, draw the Central Plains and defend itself, because King Yan does not want to fight too hard, so that he offends the soldiers and civilians of Shandong." Coming to Jinan again, there was a powerful political Tie Xuan, plus the governor Sheng Yong, Chen Hui and other good generals, Li Jinglong was dismissed from the military power and recalled to the Beijing division, I am afraid that this time King Yan will finally return in vain. ”

Wang Xuanqing said disapprerovingly: "Then why don't you replace the fourth brother to help fight?" With your ability, it must be easy to capture Jinan. ”

Xu Hao smiled more and more bitterly: "Second sister-in-law, you are too much to promote me, I don't even have one-tenth of King Yan's ability, and there are many people who are stronger than me like Hengsha." ”

Qingwen walked in quickly, handed the letter in her hand to Xu Hao, and said, "Li Qiu just sent it." ”

Xu Hao took it and opened it to see that it was the imperial court that appointed Tie Xuan as the political envoy of Shandong, Sheng Yong, the governor of the left capital, Sheng Yong, the governor of the left capital, Chen Hui, the deputy general, Qu Neng as the governor, and Xu Huizu as the general army of Shandong.

There are so many capable ministers and good generals who swear to defend Jinan to the death, Xu Hao has a hunch that even if he relies on artillery, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, may not be satisfied. The battle has come to this point, not to mention Xu Hao himself, even if Zhu Di and all the soldiers are already tired of it, how many innocent lives do they have to die to achieve hegemony?

In fact, Zhu Di, who had suffered a lot of war wounds, was already tired, so he was eager to get Jinan City, even if he couldn't attack Jingshi and ascend the throne as emperor in a short time, he could at least get half of the country, and then make every effort to rectify the army and horses, and then lead hundreds of thousands of troops to the south in one fell swoop when the time is right.

The Yan army surrounded but did not fight, hoping that the generals in the city would take the initiative to surrender because of the exhaustion of food, Zhu Di considered that he had never had power in Shandong, and did not want to offend the squires and the people by killing too many people, and what he wanted was the will of the people.

The imperial court, which was worried about Jinan being breached, was busy sending Shang Baocheng Li De to rush in addition to being promoted to an official position.

In the handsome tent, Li De said sincerely: "Your Majesty has issued an order to pardon the sins of the prince, restore the fief guard, and hope that the prince can turn the war into jade silk for the sake of the country, retire and return to his hometown, and guard the north for my Ming Dynasty." ”

Zhu Di sneered in his heart, and his face was full of emotion, telling Li De about the causes and consequences of the army and all kinds of helplessness, and finally said: "The five princes were demoted to commoners, do you think I can be spared if I was captured at that time?" Why am I so guilty of being so jealous? The junior Dabao did not let me and others return to Beijing for funeral, and in less than a year, he killed his uncles, why did you come to sue me? After raising the army, I wanted to try to save my life on the basis of reason, but how many troops did the imperial court send to besiege and kill, if it wasn't for the soldiers who worked together to help me, my family would have been gone. ”

Li De nodded frequently and sighed again and again, but he didn't complete his mission. When he returned to the court, he explained the truth of King Yan, and the angry Emperor Jianwen was greatly dissatisfied and put him in prison.

Just as the Yan army continued to besiege the city of Jinan, forty Yan warships arrived at Weiliangfangkou in Gaizhou, Liaodong, that is, Yingkou in later generations, after five days and five nights.

Mu Hui, who was standing at the bow of the boat, put down the clairvoyant mirror, and was very satisfied that except for a few small fishing boats around, he did not find the naval battleship, and ordered: "Embark on the shore." ”

Dozens of small boats were lowered in the undulating sea, Xiao Wei led five hundred sergeants to row to the shore in small boats, and after going ashore. They then forcibly attacked the coastal outposts, and the 200 military households guarding them surrendered without much resistance.

In Liaoyang City, where the Liaodong Metropolitan Division is located only a few hundred miles away from Gaizhou Wei, Yang Wen was shocked when he received the news that the Yan army was killed, and hurriedly raised the defenders overnight with 10,000 people to meet the enemy in a hurry, not wanting the Yan army to disappear without a trace.

Just as Yang Wen was standing on the coast looking at the empty sea, puzzled, urgent reports came from various coastal guards one after another, and they were all attacked by the Yan army ashore.

The unexpected move made Yang Wen dispel the idea of entering Daning, for fear that the rear would be occupied by the Yan army. Leaving 10,000 people to guard Liaoyang. He personally led 30,000 people to kill outside the Shanhai Pass, in order to put pressure on the Yan army not to act rashly, and strictly ordered all the guards in Liaodong to strictly guard against it.

Shangshu asked the imperial court to send a large number of warships to support, and soon Emperor Jianwen ordered the transfer of nearly 100 large warships from various naval divisions to Liaodong. In addition to the warships of the Yan Army, it was also to transport grain and grass to the front-line soldiers and to receive the Liaodong Army into the pass to participate in the war.

On June 12, in the dense forest ten miles outside Cangzhou City, Zhang Fu asked puzzledly: "Why do you want Mu Hui to harass Liaodong alone." Why not just storm Liaoyang? ”

Xu Hao, who was sitting on the trunk of the tree, said: "The risk is too great, besides, a few dozen warships can't carry many soldiers and horses, and the sea is not a big river." It takes at least two or three years to build a new ship, and it also requires a large number of skilled sailors and various sailing talents, and the conditions are indispensable, unlike river boats that can be launched in ten days if there is ready-made wood. ”

Zhang Fu said in a deep voice: "It is your duty to harass Liaodong, and you summoned me to bring the Shenji Battalion to come without the military order of King Yan, is it too much to rely on the order of the prince alone?" ”

Xu Hao said casually: "Don't say anything, this time I take all the responsibility." ”

Zhang Fu waved his hand and ordered the surrounding lieutenants to leave, and said in a low voice: "Are you afraid that the prince will not agree, so you persuaded the prince?" Aren't you afraid of being suspicious of the prince? ”

"What do you say?" Xu Hao asked rhetorically and drew on the ground with a tree branch, "For more than a month, all the soldiers and horses have besieged Jinan, so that Xu Kaiqu Neng and other generals have a chance to breathe, and the stragglers should seize the time to build city defenses and train soldiers, so I want to take advantage of the lack of preparation of the officers and troops to break the strategy of the imperial court as each other's horns as soon as possible." ”

Zhang Fu squatted down, looked at the map and said: "If the prince is ruthless, 200,000 elites can not only defeat Jinan and occupy most of Shandong to cut off the grain route, but then how can these generals of the defeated army in Henan be the opponents of our army?" ”

"What if you don't take Jinan?" Xu Hao snorted coldly angrily, and said: "Looking at King Yan's posture, you have to besiege it for several months before you make a plan, you must not underestimate Sheng Yong Tiexuan and others." If you come to the general, you can't just know everything and obey the military orders, won't you judge the situation by yourself? King Yan is trapping the enemy on the front line, and I will do nothing while I am in the rear? ”

Zhang Fu smiled bitterly: "Anyway, you are on the orders of the prince this time, and I will listen to you." ”

Xu Hao sneered: "Your character is too steady, you only know how to obey the king's orders in everything, even if you are a courtier, you need to stand up and dare to act at a critical moment, don't blindly only know that you are loyal to the monarch but not patriotic, otherwise half of the luck of the Ming Dynasty will be buried in your hands." ”

Zhang Fu was shocked and said, "How do you say this? I know you know the past and the future, could it be me? ”

Xu Hao sneered and did not explain, the British Gong Zhang Fu, who was the first person in history, not only did not dissuade Yingzong when he stupidly obeyed Wang Zhen's personal expedition, but went to die with him, and his name and his own life, hundreds of thousands of elite Ming soldiers were all buried, and Zhang Fu, who was wise and martial during the conquest of Jiaozhi, was completely like two people.

Thinking that Zhang Fu is the first person to make meritorious contributions to the Yongle Dynasty, the patriarch of the Four Dynasties who enthroned the throne of Renzong Shun, and the hereditary grandfather of the country who has been spared death three times, how dare a mere Wang Zhen deal with him?

In fact, after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, no powerful eunuch dared to deal with the dignified British public, after the civil fort, the Ming Dynasty swept away the forge ahead for many years, and became conservative and did not want to forge ahead, as the first military attache Zhang Fu, what else to say?

Xu Hao has never understood why the virtuous civil and military generals of the Manchu Dynasty during the Yingzong period were so afraid of a eunuch Wang Zhen, if the respected Zhang Fu and Sanyang Laochen could have the courage of the queen mother, dare to boldly reprimand Wang Zhen and change some systems, they would not be the first eunuchs to be the precedent of eunuch chaos.

Zhang Fu and other officials in history have paid a tragic price for this, so what about the future of Xu Hao? (To be continued......)