met free Chapter 509 You don't understand, we have to fight for this.
Chapter 509 You don't understand, we have to fight for this.
Yang Shaofeng was not particularly afraid of Emperor Zhu.
However, I am quite afraid of Empress Ma.
To put it bluntly, Emperor Zhu at this time was just the lucky son-in-law of the Ma family who became emperor; he had not yet transformed into the complete Zhu Yuanzhang and was within the range of people who could be provoked.
But Empress Ma was different.
Empress Ma was someone who had both knowledge and skills.
If you offend Zhu Chongba, you can still ask your mother-in-law for help. But if you accidentally offend your mother-in-law, Zhu Chongba, your father-in-law, will most likely just stand by and watch the show. He's completely unreliable.
What's even more infuriating is that Empress Ma, the founding empress of the Ming Dynasty, never got involved in court politics; the messages she sent were all about family matters.
In September of the third year of the Hongwu reign, Empress Ma sent an envoy with winter clothes, conveying the message that it was cold and that the weather should be warm enough to keep her parents-in-law from worrying.
In February of the fourth year of the Hongwu reign, Empress Ma sent an envoy with two sets of children's clothes, saying that she had personally sewed them for her grandchildren. Now that the clothes were ready, she was just waiting for the day she could hold her grandchildren in her arms.
Yang Shaofeng was so frustrated that he had nowhere to vent his anger, and after thinking it over, he could only add to Lao Deng's frustration by writing a memorial to the throne.
If Empress Ma were to instruct Old Deng from behind...
Yang Shaofeng glanced at Empress Ma cautiously and replied, "I will write a memorial as soon as I get back."
Seeing Yang Shaofeng's slightly guilty and cowardly appearance, Emperor Zhu suddenly felt extremely pleased.
Tsk tsk.
Our girl is right.
You can't just order this dog around, but if you can get Zhou Jingxin and the others to work properly, that's the same as being able to get this dog to work.
With a quick glance around, Emperor Zhu stroked his beard and said, "Don't rush the memorial; take your time. Right now, the most important thing is to let Bao'er familiarize himself with the situation in Dengzhou."
Seeing Yang Shaofeng's bewildered expression, Emperor Zhu simply stated clearly: "Besides the martial arts training in Dengzhou, we also plan to have Bao'er accompany us on the northern tour."
"After all, more than half of the fourth year of Hongwu has passed, and in a few more months it will be the fifth year of Hongwu."
"Hu Yuan's situation should also be resolved as soon as possible."
"Only by completely eliminating Hu Yuan," Emperor Zhu said meaningfully, "can we free up our hands to do other things."
Upon hearing that Hu Yuan had been completely dealt with, Yang Shaofeng felt an urge to curse.
Hu Yuan, Hu Yuan, besides sending troops to fight and kill, do you, old Deng, have no other options?
No, even if you old man have no other way, then why don't you use the methods I mentioned before?
Send envoys to each tribe to talk separately. Support a few of the obedient ones and beat the disobedient ones to death. Isn't that a simple game?
Anyway, the Ming Dynasty has no shortage of cement now. We can build a few more cities and roads, and transform the grasslands from nomadic settlements to fixed pastures. This is not a difficult concept, is it?
Even if all else fails, surely we can at least buy large quantities of cashmere from grassland herders?
After thinking it over carefully, Yang Shaofeng simply cupped his hands to Emperor Zhu and said, "Father-in-law, I have some ideas."
Emperor Zhu smiled and preemptively said, "We know your methods, and we know they are useful, but no matter how good your methods are, we cannot use them."
Ok?
Knowing something is useful but choosing not to use it?
Are you crazy?!
Before Yang Shaofeng could figure out how to make a sarcastic remark, Emperor Zhu said directly, "Let's be frank with you now."
"It's not that I don't want to use it, it's that I can't."
"If you want the mineral resources on the grasslands, we can send troops to take them openly and legitimately."
"We should send our troops to defeat the tribes on the grasslands in a fair and square manner, and only then can we build cities and collect cashmere."
"We must not only destroy the Hu Yuan, but we must also defeat them in a fair and square manner until they perish and their race is wiped out."
"Not for anything else, just to prove a point."
"We know how much we have to pay to prove ourselves."
"A lot of people will die."
It will cost countless amounts of money and supplies.
“If you hadn’t set up the Dengzhou border market, if a powerful enemy had come from the sea one day, some people might have even accused us of closing our country off from the world and said that the disaster of the sea ban was caused by us.”
"But you don't understand, we have to fight for this."
"If we don't win back this pride, the people of our Great Ming will never be able to stand tall."
"Only by winning back this pride can we Han people stand tall and not be afraid of being bullied again."
"Even if you can get a discount for a while, you can't keep it off forever."
"There will always be someone who stands up, props it up, and makes it stand straight."
……
Since Li Wenzhong arrived in Dengzhou Prefecture, Yang Shaofeng's comfortable days have been completely over.
According to Li Wenzhong, you're not honest, you like to hide good things, this time you have to give some up.
For example, that body-strengthening technique.
For example, that training manual.
For example, there's that Black Dragon Eighteen Hands thing.
Li Wenzhong showed great interest in anything Yang Shaofeng had casually shown off.
Moreover, Li Wenzhong not only studied on his own, but he also got Zhu Lao Er, Zhu Lao San, Zhu Lao Si and a few others to study together.
What's even more infuriating is that Zhu Laosi is like a curious child, always asking "why" questions while learning.
So, why do we need to march in step and walk in sync?
Why does body-strengthening exercise involve climbing up and down?
Why is a physical training exercise of less than one kilometer more tiring than running ten miles with a 20-pound load?
Why is it called the Black Dragon Eighteen Hands instead of the Ningyang Eighteen Strikes?
While Zhu Laosi's question was somewhat answerable, Li Wenzhong's question was rather disgusting.
What subjects will Dengzhou martial arts school plan to establish?
Where can we find a suitable teacher?
How to select suitable students?
What is the teaching process?
What are the arrangements for graduating students?
If people are to be selected from the existing guard posts, shouldn't the guard posts be adjusted first?
What if the soldiers in the garrison can't read?
There were a whole host of questions like these, some of which Yang Shaofeng found rather amusing.
What if those damn soldiers in the garrison can't read? Why don't they teach them to read first?
Those poor people in Ningyang County were illiterate at first, but now they can read more than 500 characters on average.
They even asked what would happen to the graduates.
Given Zhu Chongba's ruthless nature, if he were willing to let the students of Dengzhou Martial Arts School become common soldiers, I would immediately kowtow to him.
Two are fine too.
So, you guys were sent by Empress Ma to deliberately make things difficult for me, so that you could vent your anger for Zhu Chongba, right?
Yang Shaofeng felt uneasy no matter how he thought about it.
No.
Did you know we got the wrong script?
Originally, I should have been lying around in Dengzhou Prefecture like a lazy bum, flirting with my two beautiful wives while writing memorials and letters to Zhu Chongba and Zhu Biao, those two old and young Deng brothers, to annoy Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen.
It shouldn't be like this now, with that old Zhu Chongba and his wife lingering in Dengzhou Prefecture and refusing to leave, and it certainly shouldn't be like you guys coming to me every day asking all sorts of questions.
This guy is a pure and simple Heavenly Gang!
In a bad mood, Yang Shaofeng simply summoned the yamen runners transferred from the ten counties of Dengzhou, as well as some of the personal guards of the Imperial Son-in-Law's mansion.
"These are the people I'll personally train."
“Your cousin can train the one hundred soldiers who have been transferred from various garrisons in Dengzhou together with the four princes.”
"How about we settle this in the martial arts arena and the examination hall in three months?"