Chapter 5: Savings Capital Author: ?? Year: ?? Month: ?? txt ?? Traditional Chinese

  Zhu Yuanzhang's first pot of gold

  Zhu Yuanzhang arrived in Dingyuan again, and for him, Lazhuding was already a familiar place. He quickly organized an army of over a thousand people. He heard that there was a three-thousand-strong army at Zhangjiabao near Dingyuan, which was now isolated and helpless, needing to find a new boss. So Zhu Yuanzhang caught the attention of this army.

  He personally came to Zhangjiabao, took a look at the leader of the village, and was overjoyed: "So it's you."

  The village head knew him and had dealt with him before, and the village head called him "Master Zhu".

  When two people meet, they naturally want to talk about their relationship. Who do you know? Do I know them? Oh, who are you talking about? We're familiar with each other, or we're even brothers. And then there's Zhang San passing away and Li Si falling ill... the more we talk, the better our feelings become, so let's have dinner together.

  At the dinner table, Zhu Yuanzhang finally spoke out his intention. Since you currently have no master, why not follow me and mix together? In the future, when we make a name for ourselves, you will have your shares. The mountain stronghold owner was indeed a down-to-earth person and immediately agreed.

  Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed, but he forgot the Chinese custom that what is said at the dinner table can only be believed half of the time, and sometimes not even that much.

  Zhu Yuanzhang later estimated: At that time, it was really necessary to sign a contract.

  Three days later, Zhu Yuanzhang's envoy arrived at the camp, and the leader warmly received him:

  Come on, sit down quickly, don't be polite. What brings you here this time? Let's go together, we still need to consider this.

  What? I've already agreed?

  When was it? Three days ago? I don't think so. (looking back at hands) Think about it, did we have it then? Right, no we didn't.

  Misunderstanding, misunderstanding! What you said we will definitely consider carefully, don't let Zhu Gongzi be anxious.

  What's wrong, you want to leave? Don't go, sit for a while. Oh, if you have something urgent, I won't keep you. Go back and give my regards to Master Zhu. Come visit when you're free!

  Thus, Zhu Yuanzhang was thoroughly deceived once again.

  But Zhu Yuanzhang was not an easy person to bully, he let his men invite the bandit leader to dinner, specifically instructing them to prepare a famous dish that had been prepared for a long time. The bandit leader heard that there was a banquet and came quickly, as soon as he arrived at the camp, Zhu Yuanzhang tied him up, the meal was not eaten, but instead became a captive himself. Then Zhu Yuanzhang issued an order in the name of the bandit leader to have the people in the mountain stronghold relocate, thus three thousand people became Zhu Yuanzhang's subordinates.

  The next target was Hengshan Mountain, where there were 20,000 troops. However, this was not a force that could be persuaded to surrender. The commander of the army was named Mu Da-heng (his name reveals his identity). He had previously followed the Yuan army in attacking Huizhou, hoping to take advantage of the situation and plunder it. Unexpectedly, they were unable to capture it, so he led his troops to guard this place. Zhu Yuanzhang led 4,000 men to launch an attack on him.

  This was Zhu Yuanzhang's first battle in which he led a smaller force against a larger one.

  Zhu Yuanzhang was very clever to avoid the daytime and chose to launch a night attack on this armed force at night. A rustic like Miao Daoheng was naturally no match for him, and he surrendered without much resistance. As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang's troops became 20,000 men.

  Zhu Yuanzhang reorganized the troops, unexpectedly, he did not say some words like "shared life and death" or "shared fortune", but instead criticized these surrendered soldiers, letting them reflect on why such a large army had no fighting power and easily surrendered. Then he concluded that this was because of lack of discipline and training, to achieve success, one must strengthen training and establish strict discipline.

  These words are reasonable and well-organized, everyone who heard them was convinced.

  It was after this that Zhu Yuanzhang's troops had an essential difference with those mobs of peasant uprising armies, and in his hands, there was a crack troop.

  At this time, two brothers from Dingyuan came to Zhu Yuanzhang. One was called Feng Guoyong and the other was called Feng Guosheng. Zhu Yuanzhang thought that both of them were talented people, so he kept them. This Feng Guosheng was later the Feng Sheng who shook the world and swept away the Mongols.

  In the 13th year of Zhizheng (AD 1353), Zhu Yuanzhang decided to attack Chuzhou, and it was at this time that a man walked into his military camp.

  This was a middle-aged man dressed in bookish attire, with a gentle and elegant appearance. Zhu Yuanzhang initially didn't pay much attention to him, but seeing that he wrote well, let him serve as a scribe. The man also didn't mind, continuing to do his job diligently. One day, while roasting by the fire in his tent, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to be muttering to himself: "Fighting every day and everywhere, when will it ever end?"

  "This man replied calmly: 'During the chaos of the Qin dynasty, Han Gaozu Liu Bang was also a commoner. He was magnanimous and wise in his appointments, and it only took him five years to establish his imperial career. Now that the world is no longer the same as before, General, your household is in Huaiyang (public Huai), not far from Liu Bang's hometown. Even if you don't have the aura of a king, you can still get some benefit from it.' He stopped here and then said the two most critical sentences:"

  "As long as the marshal can learn from Liu Bang and act according to his actions, the world will certainly be yours!"

  Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the scholar in front of him with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. Yes, this was indeed his own direction, Liu Bang had achieved it, why couldn't he? He straightened up his posture and paid respects to the person in front of him.

  This man is Li Shan-chang, the first meritorious minister of the founding dynasty.

  Chuzhou is strategically located and has been described by Ouyang Xiu of the Song Dynasty as "all mountains around Chuzhou", which shows that it is indeed a place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

  But the defenders of Chuzhou were far from being as formidable as the terrain, at the beginning of the war, Zhu Yuanzhang's brave general Hua Yun led more than a thousand cavalrymen to break through the enemy's position with a central breakthrough tactic, the Yuan army was defeated, and Zhu Yuanzhang led the whole army to capture Chuzhou in one fell swoop.

  After occupying Chuzhou, Zhu Yuanzhang welcomed three important people: his nephew Zhu Wen Zheng, brother-in-law Li Zhen and nephew Li Wen Zhong. Please remember these names, they will all be the main characters in that earth-shaking war later on.

  It seems that Zhu Yuanzhang was born in a place with many talents, and the strategists and generals he recruited were not inferior to those of any era. How many talents are there in Anhui!

  At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang had elite soldiers and strong generals, with strategists as numerous as clouds, and he occupied Xuzhou, a strategic location that was easy to defend and attack. His vision was no longer limited to the small city of Haozhou or Xuzhou, but the whole world.

  He was twenty-six years old this year.

  The Last Hurdle

  Zhu Yuanzhang's smooth sailing seemed to bring no good luck to his father-in-law, Guo Zixing was being rectified at this time, in today's words, it can be said that he was struggled against, every meeting was four people criticizing one person, Sun Derang had thought of taking action several times, thinking that Zhu Yuanzhang was not far away, it would be bad to deal with him afterwards, so he squeezed Guo Zixing out of the city of Haozhou and let him step down, to find his own way.

  At this time, Guo Zixing finally understood the difficulties of life. He had no other choice but to go to his son-in-law Zhu Yuanzhang for help. But thinking about how he had treated him before, would he still treat himself kindly?

  Upon arriving in Chuzhou, his worries were dispelled. Not only did Zhu Yuanzhang not hold past grudges against him, but he also yielded the position of commander-in-chief to him. What was even more astonishing was that Zhu Yuanzhang made a decision that no one could have anticipated.

  He decided to hand over the command of his 30,000 elite soldiers to Guo Zixing. The position of commander was nothing but a mere formality, but handing over military power was shocking. Guo Zixing was overwhelmed with emotions. In fact, he had never trusted this son-in-law and even considered harming him. He once asked Zhu Yuanzhang why he was being treated this way. Zhu Yuanzhang sincerely said that without him, there would be no today for himself, and he could not forget Guo's kindness.

  Guo Zixing finally understood that he was wrong and Zhu Yuanzhang was right.

  When they learned of this news, the people who had originally tried to kill Zhu Yuanzhang also admired him greatly, including Guo Zixing's son Guo Tianxu.

  A person's strength is never shown by violence; those who challenge this principle will inevitably be eliminated from the ranks of the strong by history, as has always been the case.

  Guo Zixing brought his own tens of thousands of people, and the grain in Chuzhou was not enough to eat. Zhu Yuanzhang attacked Hezhou, and after capturing it, he lived there, leaving Chuzhou to Guo Zixing.

  At this time, Sun Dezhai in the city of Hezhou had many soldiers but little food, and he forcibly demanded to go to Hezhou to mix rice for eating. Zhu Yuanzhang was already worried, but at this time he received another message: Guo Zixing learned that Sun Dezhai came, also brought several tens of thousands of people, wanting to fight Sun Dezhai. So the small Hezhou suddenly squeezed in over a million people, and two enemies happened to meet, so they fought.

  But can't fight, why?

  Because there were too many people, Hezhou was just a small county town. Suddenly, hundreds of thousands of people came, and the city inside and outside was flooded, just like our Golden Week tourist destinations today. Not to mention fighting, it's hard to even turn around.

  If we can't fight, then let's talk!

  It seems that Sun Dezhai is still reasonable, he said that after all, he is an outsider, and it's better for him to leave. Zhu Yuanzhang immediately went to see him off. At this time, Sun Dezhai was in the city, his soldiers were outside the city accompanied by Zhu Yuanzhang, but no one expected that there was still someone who was secretly plotting.

  This is Guo Zixing, who doesn't care about reason. He only remembers that Sun Delu has humiliated him many times and no longer cares about loyalty. Seeing that there are no soldiers beside Sun Delu in the city, he orders his men to capture Sun Delu, which puts Zhu Yuanzhang in danger outside the city.

  Sun De's soldiers heard that their commander had been captured, and they were convinced it was Zhu Yuanzhang's doing. Meanwhile, Zhu Yuanzhang also received the news, and the situation became extremely tense. Seeing things weren't going well for him, Zhu quickly turned his horse around to leave, but the soldiers were prepared and threw an iron chain over his head: "Come down, you!" Sun De's soldiers captured Zhu Yuanzhang and went to negotiate with Guo Zixing.

  Guo Zixing was drinking and appreciating Sun Derong's expression when the news came that Zhu Yuanzhang had been captured, he suddenly became dizzy. Sun Derong didn't want to let him go, but Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't be missing either, so he decided to release him.

  But who should be released first became a problem. At this time, Xu Da stepped forward and was willing to exchange himself for Zhu Yuanzhang. After Zhu Yuanzhang returned, he would release Sun Derong, and after Sun Derong returned, he would release Xu Da. This had simply become a tongue twister, what a bother!

  Finally solved the problem, but Guo Zixing's enemy escaped at the last minute. He couldn't swallow this breath and got heart disease. After a month, he actually died. It can be seen that people with narrow hearts really can't do great things.

  But this was not bad news for Zhu Yuanzhang, who had been benevolent and righteous to the end. Now he could finally let go and do what he truly wanted, as his true career was waiting for him.