After successively capturing Yangzhou Prefecture, Huai'an Prefecture and the important city of Xuzhou, the morale of the Qinwang Army reached its peak.
With the help of local gentry, order in the city was quickly restored.
The people also firmly believed that they were going north to serve the king, not to rebel.
“Hahaha,” Duke of Wei Xu Wenjue laughed and came to Zhu Guobi’s side: “At this rate, we’ll be able to reach the capital in three months at the latest.”
Zhu Guobi nodded, "It went much more smoothly than I imagined."
As they were talking, Liu Kongzhao, the Earl of Chengyi, walked in from outside with a serious face: "It's too early for you two to be happy."
"What do you mean by that?"
Liu Kongzhao said: "After taking Xuzhou, I immediately sent people to Yi County, Shandong Prefecture to post the Crown Prince's call for the king's support, but they were driven back by the local people. From this point, it can be seen that Shandong will not surrender easily."
Zhu Guobi said viciously: "If they don't surrender, we will kill them until they surrender!"
"It's not that simple!" Liu Kongzhao's expression was solemn: "It's easy to capture a city, but it's hard to stabilize the situation. We were able to capture Xuzhou with the help of the Jinyiwei, but we were able to quickly stabilize the situation in Xuzhou because of the support of the gentry."
The others nodded: "That makes sense."
Liu Kongzhao changed the subject and asked, "Have you ever thought about why the Xuzhou gentry supported us?"
Zhu Guobi asked uncertainly: "Because we abolished the currency reform?"
Liu Kongzhao shook his head: "That's right! They will support us only if it is profitable. Once we leave Xuzhou, we will reach Shandong. This method will not work there."
“Why doesn’t it work?”
"Because Shandong has already completed the currency reform, the silver in their hands has been exchanged for Ming Yuanbao. For them, abolishing the currency reform will not only not benefit them, but will make them feel unbalanced."
unbalanced?
Zhu Guobi thought about it and suddenly understood.
Currency reform is strictly speaking a tax.
The imperial court in the capital has already collected their taxes, and now the imperial court in Nanjing wants to stop collecting taxes.
Those who have already paid taxes will definitely feel uneasy.
After all, what is worrying is not the scarcity but the inequality.
Liu Kongzhao continued, "If we can't give them benefits, they won't really support us. Even if we can capture Shandong, various rebellions will occur after we leave."
Everyone frowned after hearing this.
What Liu Kongzhao said makes a lot of sense.
Without the support of the gentry, there will be no support from the people.
Without the support of the people, they would have a hard time.
"This..." Zhu Guobi was in a dilemma: "What should I do? I can't exchange all the Ming Yuanbao in the hands of the people for silver, right?"
"Definitely not," Xu Wenjue shook his head. "First, we can't find that much silver. Second, this is a losing business. Our military pay and food have not been fully resolved. How can we do a losing business?"
Zhao Zhilong, the Earl of Xincheng, who had been silent the whole time, sighed, "Well, since there is no other way, we can only wait for a tough battle!"
"Not necessarily." Liu Kongzhao stretched out his right hand and waved it in front of everyone: "I do have a way, but I don't know if I should tell you."
Zhu Guobi stepped forward and patted Liu Kongzhao on the shoulder: "It's urgent, why are you still talking? Come on!"
Liu Kongzhao squinted his eyes and looked around, then lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "Duke Yansheng!"
Um?
Zhu Guobi reminded him seriously: "Duke Yansheng is dead. He was beaten to death by the people of the capital. Because he was charged with smuggling and collaborating with the enemy, the court has never allowed his son to inherit the title."
Liu Kongzhao smiled and asked, "Do you think the charges against Duke Yansheng are true?"
Zhu Guobi shook his head: "I don't believe he would smuggle and collude with the enemy!"
"If you don't believe it, the scholars in the world will not believe it either."
Zhu Guobi hadn't figured it out yet, so he asked, "What do you mean?"
Liu Kongzhao said seriously: "In exchange for the title of Duke of Yansheng, we can gain the support of the Confucius Mansion. With their support, scholars all over the world and the people of Shandong will also support us. In this way, Shandong will be within our grasp."
Zhu Guobi analyzed it for a while and nodded in agreement.
No one else objected.
However, this matter was so important that they did not dare to make a decision on their own. They could only send a fast horse to Nanjing to deliver a letter to obtain the prince's consent.
After writing the letter, everyone signed it in order.
After watching the messenger leave, Zhu Guobi remembered another thing.
He walked up to Liu Kongzhao and lowered his voice: "Brother Liu, I have something I want to ask you."
"Speaking."
"This expedition to support the king went so smoothly that I always felt something was wrong."
Liu Kongzhao asked: "What's wrong?"
Zhu Guobi stroked his beard and said, "I can't explain it, but I just feel something is wrong. Brother Liu, you are very smart, help me think about what's wrong."
Liu Kongzhao looked bewildered: "You have to tell me what's wrong so that I can help you analyze it, right?"
After thinking for a while, Zhu Guobi recounted the entire battle of Xuzhou to Liu Kongzhao and asked, "It's because it went so smoothly that I felt something was wrong."
Liu Kongzhao lowered his head and began to think.
Just when Zhu Guobi was about to lose his patience, Liu Kongzhao raised his head and said to everyone: "You said...how come the Jinyiwei in the capital had Shi Kefa's official seal? It was not cast temporarily, but prepared in advance and carried to the front line, helping us to sneak attack Pei County and capture Xuzhou!"
Everyone looked at each other, none of them understood the reason.
Liu Kongzhao had a guess in his mind, but he didn't dare to say it out loud.
Because once it is spoken out, disagreements will arise within the army that is supporting the king.
It is neither conducive to unity nor to continued loyalty to the king.
So he chose to keep his mouth shut.
But before he closed his mouth, he added: "It seems... there are people from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in the Imperial Guards."
Everyone looked at each other again and nodded.
This explanation is so reasonable that there is no reason for them not to believe it.
"How do we fight next?" Xu Wenjue asked.
Everyone came to the table at the same time and stared at the map on it.
To the north of Xuzhou is Yanzhou Prefecture, Shandong.
The seat of Yanzhou Prefecture was in Ziyang.
There is a city called Qufu less than a hundred miles away from Ziyang.
There is a Confucius Mansion there, with a tablet of Confucius placed inside and his descendants living there.
If you want to gain the support of the Confucius Mansion, you must first capture Qufu.
Liu Kongzhao pointed at the map and said, "Next we will go north along the canal, first attack Jining, then Ziyang, and finally reach the city of Qufu. By then the prince's letter will have arrived, and he will not object to our opinion. It will depend on whether the people in the Kong Mansion are willing to cooperate."
Zhu Guobi asked: "What if we cooperate?"
"Everything is fine."
"What if you don't cooperate?"
"Then they will suffer a lot!"
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