The Ming Crown Prince Zhu Cilang decided to raise an army to support the king.

But problems also followed.

The first is soldiers and the second is food.

With Ni Yuanlu's deception, both problems were solved.

But starting a rebellion was a big deal after all, and everyone began to discuss the details day and night.

After five or six days of discussion, there seemed to be some progress, but in fact there was not much progress.

The most important person to lead the troops has not been decided yet.

The nobles wanted to lead the troops themselves, while the Donglin Party recommended Ma Shiying to lead the troops.

The two sides began to fight for military power.

Seeing that further fighting would lead to no results, Ni Yuanlu simply suggested that the army sent to support the king be divided into three groups.

"Divide the troops into three groups?" Zhu Guobi and Ma Shiying were both stunned.

"That's right!" Ni Yuanlu nodded and said, "The Eastern Route Army went directly north from Nanjing to Xuzhou, passing through Shandong and entering Northern Zhili."

"The Western Route Army arrived at Fengyang from Nanjing, passed through Henan and entered northern Zhili."

"The third route is Zheng Zhilong's navy. His mission is to defend Dengzhou and Laizhou in Shandong after the Eastern Route Army enters Northern Zhili, to prevent the navy of the Ping Liao Army from landing from the rear and causing an attack from both sides."

"This way, the three armies will have three commanders. You can each lead your own troops and there is no need to argue anymore."

Zhu Guobi frowned and turned to discuss with Liu Kongzhao, Xu Wenjue, Zheng Zhilong and others.

Ma Shiying also turned around and discussed with the Donglin Party members present.

After a moment.

Zhu Guobi and Ma Shiying said at the same time: "Our army is not large in number. If we divide our forces, we will be easily defeated one by one. How should we deal with it then?"

Ni Yuanlu smiled: "At the beginning of the uprising, we will indeed encounter the problem of manpower, but every time we conquer a city, we can gather a lot of troops. Although they are all weak defenders, once their numbers increase, the problem of combat power will be covered up by their momentum."

Ma Shiying continued to frown: "What you said does make sense, but the premise is that the people support us. Without the support of the people, soldiers from all over the country will not join us. Even if they join temporarily, they will take the opportunity to escape during the march or on the battlefield."

"There is another extremely important matter. How to stabilize the situation in Jiangnan?"

"Once the army sets out, Nanjing will be short of manpower. If the governor of a certain province in Jiangnan obeys Xie Sanbin's orders at this time and leads his troops to attack Nanjing, our rear will be in danger!"

Zhu Guobi, Marquis of Funing, nodded vigorously: "Yes, yes, this is indeed a problem."

Xu Wenjue also worriedly said: "If this trouble is not solved, the army will not be able to march north with peace of mind."

Xincheng Earl Zhao Zhilong asked directly: "I have heard that Lord Ni is very wise and resourceful. Do you have any solution to deal with it?"

Ni Yuanlu took a deep breath and forced himself to remain calm.

He knew the point was coming.

This matter is very important to him.

If it is done well, not only will Ni Yuanlu be able to escape unscathed, he may even be honored with various honors after his death.

It's screwed...

Ni Yuanlu will have a miserable end.

Ni Yuanlu took another deep breath and said slowly: "Everyone, I have a plan to make the people support us."

"Oh?" Ren Jun, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, was a little unconvinced. "Master Ni, tell me about it."

Ni Yuanlu said calmly and loudly: "Currency reform!"

Ren Jun and the others were stunned and asked in confusion: "Currency... reform?"

"That's right, it's the currency reform!" Ni Yuanlu put his hands behind his back, paced back and forth and analyzed slowly: "I want to ask everyone present, when did the situation in the Ming Dynasty become chaotic?"

Cao Rong, the right assistant minister of the Nanjing Ministry of War, immediately gritted his teeth and said, "The chaos started when the currency reform was enforced, and it has continued to this day."

Ni Yuanlu asked the others: "Do you agree with what Minister Cao said?"

“I agree.”

"Yes, the chaos did start when the currency reform was enforced."

Ni Yuanlu continued to ask: "Then I would like to ask everyone, how do people react to this policy?"

"It's unbearable, and there are endless complaints! Officials demand bribes from the people under the pretext of enforcing government orders. If the people don't give them money, the officials will bring soldiers into the people's homes to search for money. There is no sense of security at all."

"Yes, it's too much! What did the people do wrong? They just left some money at home, but the local government accused them of all kinds of crimes, causing public outrage."

Hear this.

Ni Yuanlu smiled in his heart and did not expose everyone's lies.

The people they are talking about are not ordinary people, but landlords and gentry.

Ordinary people simply did not dare to confront the government.

Under pressure, they had already exchanged all their silver for Ming Yuanbao.

Those who dare to keep money at home are all powerful people.

They were unwilling to have their wealth forcibly taxed by the imperial court, so they could only use this method to resist.

As these people were gradually falling into his trap, Ni Yuanlu asked again: "Excuse me, who is leading the forced implementation of the currency reform?"

The victim Cao Rong immediately replied: "It's Xie Sanbin!"

"Okay!" Ni Yuanlu stopped and faced everyone: "Before we send out the troops, we must issue a manifesto to all places. The contents of the manifesto mainly include two points. The first point is that Xie Sanbin and the eunuch party control the government and intend to rebel. We are not raising an army to rebel, but to serve the king!"

"The second item is to abolish the decree for forcibly implementing currency reform. This move can not only win the hearts and minds of the people and gain their support, but also prove that our target is Xie Sanbin, not His Majesty!"

Everyone looked at each other, and their eyes began to sparkle at the same time.

"Great!" Ma Shiying was the first to praise.

"That's great! This way, our team will win the support of the people and will be unstoppable!" Cao Rong nodded.

"Master Ni is worthy of being the prince's teacher. He can actually come up with such a good plan!"

Ni Yuanlu stretched out his hands and signaled everyone to be quiet: "Everyone, I haven't finished what I want to say yet!"

Everyone immediately quieted down and listened attentively.

Ni Yuanlu said: "The provinces where the currency reform has not progressed smoothly are Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangxi! Once the decree for the forced implementation of the currency reform is abolished, these provinces will naturally support us."

"With their support, how could there be chaos in the rear?"

Everyone thought about it and nodded in agreement subconsciously.

Except for Fujian, the other three provinces all border Nanzhili.

If troops from other provinces want to attack, they need to pass through their territory first.

With their support, it is like having a barrier.

Ma Shiying thought of a question and asked, "Master Ni, Zhejiang and Fujian are in the southeast of Nanzhili, and Jiangxi is in the southwest. With their support, there will be a barrier in these two directions."

"The army will march north, and there will be no enemies in the north."

"The only uncertainties are Huguang in the west, and... Sichuan in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River!"