Watching Zhang Weixian leave, Zhu Youxiao turned to Chen Hong and said, "Let this matter out, and pay attention to collecting what the ministers have said. Do you understand?"

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I understand." Chen Hong quickly agreed.

In the days that followed, the court remained relatively calm. Once the decision was made, all that remained was implementation, which actually became much simpler.

Qu Dalun and Chen Sihai are both capable, and it doesn't take much effort for them to set up a yamen. They have already started organizing people to measure the land so that they can collect taxes based on the land.

At the same time, the two of them also began to investigate the nobles and relatives of the nobility, to see how much land they had and where these lands came from, and they also tried every means to dig out the land hidden by the nobles and relatives of the nobility.

Apart from that, there is really nothing else.

The news of the establishment of the General Staff Office has been released, and various departments have responded roughly.

The nobles and relatives of the nobles were excited about the establishment of the General Staff Office, but there was some opposition from the civil servants. However, the opposition was not very strong because the General Staff Office was less noticeable.

His Majesty needed someone to advise on military affairs, so he established this office. Although it was dividing the power of the cabinet and supporting the nobles and relatives of the nobles, it was really difficult to oppose this matter.

After all, the nobles and relatives of the nobles had already put forward conditions and were willing to pay taxes. Your Majesty was setting up a new yamen to give them benefits and appease them.

If they didn't agree with this, it would be too much. So although there was a little bit of opposition from the civil servants, it was not that strong. The main reason was that the attitudes of several cabinet ministers on this matter were very vague.

Ever since Zhu Youxiao took control of the court, it has become difficult to see large-scale opposition voices.

After experiencing the previous events, everyone knew how to get along with the new emperor, so things like kneeling and making suggestions were basically unlikely to happen again.

Many people, feeling that the court was doomed, resigned and returned home. This kind of thing happened quite a lot during this period, but few people paid much attention to it.

Anyone can take over if the court is short of money. If you don't want to be an official, there are plenty of people who want to be one.

This is the situation now.

In such an atmosphere, the Ming Dynasty finally ushered in the New Year.

This was Zhu Youxiao's first New Year in this era. He originally had some expectations, but when he saw the things he had to do during the New Year, Zhu Youxiao no longer felt any expectations.

If I had to sum up this Chinese New Year in one word, it would be tired.

In addition to rewarding court officials and offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors, there are also a lot of other messy things.

Zhu Youxiao decisively chose to retreat.

He would not do anything that he could avoid doing, and would let Empress Zhang handle everything. He would only step in when it was absolutely necessary, otherwise he would never step in.

Even so, Zhu Youxiao did not have any free time.

New Year's Eve soon arrived. Zhu Youxiao held a grand banquet in the palace, and then took Empress Zhang back to his bedroom.

I have neglected Empress Zhang somewhat these days, so I will have to spend more time with her from now on.

Naturally, there was nothing else going on in the court because the holiday had been over long ago, so there was nothing to bother Zhu Youxiao, and his life was quite peaceful.

On the morning of the third day of junior high school, something finally happened.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Chen Hong who rushed in, raised his eyebrows slightly and asked, "Looking at you like this, is there something good going on?"

"Your Majesty, this is great news!"

With that, Chen Hong dropped to his knees, raised a memorial above his head, and said, "Your Majesty, great victory in the southwest! This is the victory report sent by Yuan Keli, the governor of the southwest. The southwest has won!"

After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao stood up suddenly with an excited look on his face.

He hurried over, took the question book, and began to look through it impatiently.

The last battle report said that She Chongming mobilized troops to fight against the Ming army in Jianwu (west of Daba, Sichuan Province and south of Xingwen), Changning (east of Gong County, Sichuan Province), Gong County, Yibin, and Zunyi, and both sides won and lost.

This victory report followed the previous battle report. Sun Chuanting set up a decoy army in Naxi, pretending to attack, while the main force suddenly marched from Changning to Yongning.

Qi Yuangong and Qin Liangyu's White Spear Soldiers won victory after victory in battle, and captured Yongning in just half a month, and then captured Linzhou (now Gulin, Sichuan Province).

She Chongming and his son led the remaining troops to retreat to Longchang, Shuixi (located in the southeast of Xuyong County, Sichuan Province, now in Guizhou Province), and joined forces with An Bangyan in Guizhou.

By this time, She Chongming and An Bangyan were surrounded by the Ming army.

On one side was Yuan Keli's attack, on the other side was Sun Chuanting's attack. Sun Chuanting also changed his previous fast attack style and changed to a steady and cautious style, gradually encircling and suppressing, coordinating with Yuan Keli seamlessly.

Neither of them took any risks, but just gradually advanced the division into small pieces, giving the rebels no chance at all.

Afterwards, Yuan Keli and Sun Chuanting marched into Longchang in seven groups, captured She Chongming's wife An, his brother She Chonghui, and many civil and military officials of the rebel army, including the Grand Secretary, the General, the Prime Minister, and the Governor, and beheaded more than 10,000 people.

The two sides then engaged in a decisive battle, She Chongming was killed in battle, and An Bangyan was captured.

Yuan Keli wrote very clearly in the memorial whether he needed to return to Beijing to surrender the prisoners.

If it was just the Southwestern Army that fought the war, they would definitely not return to Beijing to surrender the prisoners. However, Sun Chuanting brought troops from the capital, and they were also going to return, so they could just bring those people back.

That's why this proposal was made, which was to return to Beijing to surrender the prisoners.

The main purpose of offering captives was to show off military achievements and demonstrate national strength.

However, the surrender of captives from the southwest really cannot achieve such an effect.

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