Five thousand people in the capital are like a drop of water in the ocean.
After all, there are twelve guards in the imperial palace alone.
But the concept of these five thousand people is completely different, because under Zhu Ying's command, there is no mission to be executed and they are completely under Zhu Ying's command.
Zhu Yuanzhang asked Lan Yu to select people. The meaning was very clear. It was obvious that he wanted Lan Yu to select the soldiers from Huaixi to follow him and form a core group of trusted generals with Zhu Ying as the core.
"Brother, how many people can you spare?" Lan Yu asked after thinking for a while.
Lan Rong frowned and said in confusion: "You came to me because of this matter. You are in charge of the Central Military Governor's Office. If there is no predecessor, can you transfer it at will?"
Lan Yu is currently promoted to the rank of general. He can easily command not only 5,000 men, but even 50,000 men.
Lan Yu shook his head and said, "You can't do that. Although His Majesty hasn't said anything and His Royal Highness Changsun doesn't know about this yet, I can only send out a thousand men at most. The rest can only be selected from other places, and we have to select the most elite soldiers."
When Lan Rong heard this, his gaze towards his brother Lan Yu suddenly changed, and he couldn't help but ask, "Are you still afraid of avoiding suspicion?"
Lan Rong knew his younger brother's character best. He was fearless and had grown up with his brother-in-law Chang Yuchun, and had learned that spirit from him.
He was always the bravest and led the charge in battle, and although he was known for his strategy, he was reckless and reckless in other aspects.
When Lan Yu heard his elder brother Lan Rong teasing him, he did not respond. Instead, he said in a deep voice, "Brother, you have never met His Royal Highness Chang Sun, and you don't even know His Royal Highness's background."
"I saw the information about His Majesty's eldest grandson yesterday. Now I know why His Majesty is so sure of His Majesty's true identity."
"To be honest, His Royal Highness Changsun may not look like a brave general, but his personal bravery is far superior to mine. The other day when we had a meal at the Chang Mansion robbery, I had a small test with His Royal Highness Changsun and was defeated miserably."
Lan Rong was a little bit incredulous when he heard this: "What did you say? You were defeated by His Royal Highness Chang Sun. How is this possible?"
As the eldest brother, he knew best the abilities of his younger brother Lan Yu. Maybe he was slightly inferior to his brother-in-law Chang Yuchun, but he was also an absolute warrior.
My younger brother Lan Yu said this, he could only be truly intimidated by His Royal Highness Chang Sun.
However, Lan Yu's subsequent narration was the beginning of Lan Rong's shock.
As Lan Yu revealed the detailed information about Zhu Ying, Lan Rong's mouth could hardly close and his eyeballs were about to fall to the ground.
"This, this is too legendary."
Lan Rong couldn't imagine that an eight-year-old child had built up such a huge force in ten years.
It's so exaggerated, it's like listening to a myth.
Is this something a human can do?
Even before meeting Zhu Ying, the seed of Zhu Ying's invincible figure had already been planted in Lan Rong's heart.
Starting from the Western Regions, to the desert and grassland.
His Royal Highness Chang Sun created a huge power group without any help.
"As expected, your majesty's grandson is a true grandson of the dragon, a natural emperor. Only this kind of bloodline can create such glory."
Lan Rong was amazed. In the current Ming Dynasty, there was no concept of "wow".
Otherwise, Lan Rong would have been justified in uttering dozens of "fucks" in a row.
It was at this time that Lan Rong truly understood why His Majesty had so much trust in His Royal Highness Chang Sun and did not think that he could be controlled by ordinary people.
There must be ten more fucks for this kind of person.
Just like Zhu Yuanzhang looking at Lan Yu, Lan Yu also looked at his elder brother Lan Rong with a smile on his face, feeling an inexplicable pleasure in his heart.
"So, His Royal Highness Changsun's five thousand men must be mobilized from different places. Otherwise, it will arouse His Royal Highness Changsun's suspicion, which will be more trouble than gain."
Lan Yu spoke.
Lan Rong nodded. This was absolutely correct. Judging from these things alone, he was able to control such a large and scattered force.
His Royal Highness Chang Sun's thoughts and means are beyond ordinary people's imagination.
He is truly your Majesty's eldest grandson. His methods are just as good as yours.
In fact, in Lan Rong's heart, he always felt that His Royal Highness Changsun's methods were more sophisticated than His Majesty's.
"How do you plan to allocate personnel?" Lan Rong asked seriously.
Lan Yu hesitated for a moment and said, "I plan to send out 500 elite soldiers each, and gather 5,000 for Your Highness to command. It would be best if they can understand the priority of firearms. Your Highness is particularly good at firearms, so there will be no shortage of firearms in the future."
Lan Rong felt the same way and said, "Then I will mobilize the 500 most elite soldiers to provide for Your Highness."
Lan Yu said again: "I will write a letter and ask Taiping to come back and follow His Highness."
Lan Rong couldn't help but ask, "Why don't you ask Nao'er to come over?"
Lan Yu shook his head and said, "Nao'er's personality is too erratic, while Taiping is more honest and steady. When working in front of His Highness, he should be more steady."
Lan Yu knew his two sons, Lan Naoer and Lan Taiping, very well. Although Lan Naoer was the eldest son, Lan Taiping obviously met the requirements better.
Besides, as the eldest son, Lan Naoer will inherit everything from him in the future. The second son, Lan Taiping, will follow His Royal Highness the Chang Sun and will also be able to achieve something in the future.
…
Qinhuai River.
Zhu Ying didn't expect the old man to come at this time, and he even asked someone to tell him to go to the palace that evening.
How come he came here directly?
"Why, we can't come here yet?" Zhu Yuanzhang pretended to be angry.
Zhu Ying was helpless, feeling that the old man always had this childish mentality recently. However, when she looked at the old man with gray hair on his temples, she understood in her heart.
"How could that be possible? Wherever my grandson lives is also my grandfather's home. It will be the same no matter when I come over." Zhu Ying replied.
Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy to hear this, and then said: "You can sleep in the palace today, and later I will take you to see someone who used to tease you when you were a child."
Zhu Ying nodded. He knew without thinking that it must be an elder who knew of his existence and wanted to meet him.
They met in the palace at night. Based on this information alone, it is not difficult to guess that the person they met must be a concubine in the harem.
The person who could be mentioned by the old man personally must have a very honorable status in the harem. However, Zhu Ying is not familiar with the harem and can only know who he is after meeting him in person.
"Yueqing, make some tea and bring it directly to the study room later." Zhu Ying ordered casually.
"Yes, Boss." Ye Yueqing, who was accompanying Zhu Ying, bowed his head slightly and said this, then left.
"Why, are you the worm in my stomach? Do you guess that I have something to talk to you about?" Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile.
"Grandpa, it's already this late, and you should let your grandson prepare dinner. If I still can't guess it, it would be a disgrace to your reputation." Zhu Ying said with a smile.
Zhu Yuanzhang felt very comfortable hearing his eldest grandson indirectly flattering him.
How could the flattery of the eldest grandson be the same as that of others? However, if you think about it carefully, you will find that you are praising yourself as well.
The grandfather and grandson entered the study, and Jiang Lin and Liu He, who came with them, were waiting in the yard.
Zhu Yuanzhang took a sip of the tea brought by Ye Yueqing, took out a memorial from his arms, handed it to Zhu Ying and said:
"Look, these things really make me feel very depressed, so I came here to see if there is any solution for you."
Zhu Ying took the memorial. He originally thought that the old man came to talk about the situation of work-for-relief.
I didn't expect it to be something else.
Without any hesitation, he opened the memorial and read it carefully.
It is still the familiar classical Chinese, but Zhu Ying is now more accustomed to it, and even without the punctuation, it is smoother.
Huh.
After reading only the first few paragraphs, Zhu Ying let out a sigh in his heart. He was about to start reading from the back. Most of the memorials were extremely complicated and a lot could be omitted.
However, there was only this one book at the moment, so Zhu Ying read the beginning. What made Zhu Ying surprised this time was that he found that this memorial was different from the others. It told the whole story from the very beginning.
Zhu Ying then began to study it carefully from the beginning.
This memorial described something related to the famine in Henan Province. Zhu Ying was a little surprised at first. Regarding famine, work-for-relief was quite effective, so it wouldn't be necessary for the old man to come to him in person.
However, as he watched, Zhu Ying's expression became more and more serious, and his brows were furrowed.
The scale of this disaster is really too huge, and the number of people involved is beyond imagination.
Although there are no specific statistics between the lines, the disaster situation almost covers nearly half of Henan Province.
It is not just one disaster, but several disasters occurring simultaneously.
Floods in the south, droughts in the north, locust plagues in the east, and even the most dreaded epidemic.
It is entirely conceivable that the entire Henan region has now almost become a living hell.
The number of approximately 300,000 people mentioned in the memorial is completely meaningless. Such a major disaster must have affected at least millions of people.
Only then did Zhu Ying understand why the old man came to see him in such a hurry.
In today's Ming Dynasty, facing a disaster of this magnitude, there is no other way except to print a large amount of banknotes and buy food for disaster relief.
After closing the memorial, Zhu Ying also realized the old man's thoughts. If it was really that simple, why would the old man have come to find him specially? It seems that he had encountered some difficulties.
It is not difficult to guess that most likely there is not enough food, or even the purchasing power of the treasure notes is insufficient.
As the boss of the Qunying Chamber of Commerce, Zhu Ying understood very well that under such special circumstances, those grain merchants who hoarded goods at high prices, especially those in places far away from the capital, would...
Most of them only accepted transactions involving real gold and silver. If government officials came to purchase with Ming treasure notes, they would lie and claim that they had no grain in stock.
After a moment's hesitation, Zhu Ying asked, "Grandpa, how many stones of grain have you prepared for the famine in Henan?"
Zhu Yuanzhang hesitated for a moment and held up three fingers.
Zhu Ying frowned and said, "Although 300,000 dan is not enough, it can solve the urgent problem. However, we need to mobilize more grain in the future to stabilize the current situation."
"It's not enough just for food, plague..."
Before Zhu Ying could continue speaking, he was interrupted by Zhu Yuanzhang, who said helplessly, "It's not 300,000 dan, it's 30,000 dan."
"What!"
Zhu Ying exclaimed and stood up from his seat.
What can 30,000 dan of grain do? Wouldn't that mean watching the people of Henan starve to death? From transportation to mobilization, it will take at least half a month.
Moreover, it can be seen from the memorials that the famine has lasted for nearly half a month, which is already the limit for the victims.
Many people would definitely starve to death along the way, but with enough food, most of the people would still be able to survive.
But how long can these 30,000 stones of food last? Even if it is the thinnest porridge, it will definitely not last until the next wave of food arrives.
By then, the number of people who starved to death would be so great that the ground would be littered with corpses.
Those people who were extremely hungry would probably even have their bodies roasted and eaten. It was hell on earth!
"How could we not know? We are also people who have survived the famine. For the entire Henan Province, 30,000 dan of grain may not even be enough for a few bowls of porridge per person."
"We have already asked the Silver Bureau to print banknotes. Currently, 30,000 dan of grain is still the limit that the Ministry of Revenue can mobilize."
Zhu Yuanzhang said with great sorrow that the people of Henan were all his subjects. How could Zhu Yuanzhang feel good watching them starve to death?
Zhu Ying was silent for a moment, then called Ye Yueqing who was outside over.
"I am waiting at the Ming Dynasty Chamber of Commerce. How much money and grain can be mobilized? All of it. I mean all of it!"
Zhu Ying asked Ye Yueqing.
Ye Yueqing said without hesitation: "Two million strings of banknotes, more than 870,000 taels of silver, and about 1.6 million dan of grain."
Zhu Yuanzhang, who was standing aside, opened his eyes wide and looked at Ye Yueqing in disbelief, even suspecting that he had heard it wrong.
He knew that his eldest grandson was rich, but he never thought he was so rich.
How much was the Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue last year? If Zhu Yuanzhang remembered correctly, the annual income was only more than 3 million taels.
Da Sun was just a businessman, but the liquid silver he controlled accounted for more than half of the annual income of the Ming Dynasty's treasury. This was simply too exaggerated.
This was something Zhu Yuanzhang had never thought of.
The most critical of these is 1.6 million shi of grain.
This is more than five times the amount of grain mobilized by the Ministry of Revenue.
Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang also knew that this sounded a bit exaggerated. In fact, the amount of grain controlled by the Ministry of Revenue was far more than 30,000 shi, even up to 3 million shi.
However, this amount of grain is the amount that can be mobilized on the premise of ensuring the supply of the capital and other disaster-stricken areas.
It is impossible to ignore other disaster-stricken areas just because of Henan Province. The officials and people in the capital will not eat. That will only cause the entire Ming Dynasty to be in turmoil.
After Zhu Ying heard this, he calculated in his mind and then said solemnly:
"According to my instructions, in addition to the two-month staff expenses, the remaining liquid silver shall be used to purchase food and send it to Henan for disaster relief."
"My grain merchants will mobilize all their reserve grains. As long as they can ensure their own food, the rest will be delivered."
"Also, in the name of the Qunying Chamber of Commerce, we will lend food to all the grain traders. We will lend as much as we can. The interest rate doesn't matter. As long as we can borrow the food, it's fine."
"We must prepare enough food in the shortest possible time to alleviate the famine in Henan."
Zhu Ying paused for a moment and continued, "As for the problem of medicinal materials, we will immediately mobilize all the doctors in the Chamber of Commerce to study the situation of the plague and come up with a usable prescription in the shortest possible time."
"According to the prescription, send all relevant medicinal materials to the plague area in Henan."
"Instruct the doctors to strictly follow the Chamber of Commerce's standards for dealing with the plague and not to be negligent."