The military generals in the study were smiling very happily, and Zhu Gaoxu also showed a suitable smile.

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu understood a truth even more: even if he was a brother who shared life and death, as long as he had a different position, his mood would be completely different... Of course, the generals could laugh out loud, because as long as there was a war, they would have military achievements! But Zhu Gaoxu had to consider another thing, money and food.

When it comes to money, no one kisses anymore.

When the Yunnan government mentioned the use of military service to Meng Yangsi a few days ago, the commander Cao Long was very silent, which shows his attitude.

The year before yesterday, Zhu Gaoxu brought tens of thousands of people to Yunnan Province. Of course, the prince's expenses were borne by the court's treasury. But the court's approach was to pass the burden on the three Yunnan departments...

The Ming Dynasty taxes collected a large amount of physical goods. Due to the limited transportation costs, most of them were stored in the local treasury. The more the imperial court spent locally, the more officials had to try to exploit them to enrich the treasury. The men brought by Zhu Gaoxu consumed the money and grain of these treasurys, and the guards had to farm farms, and occupied a large amount of official land in prefectures and counties, which compressed the income of the government.

In any case, the Yunnan government cannot refuse such expenses; but now it is necessary to use military expeditions, and the cost of transporting military supplies is extremely high, so it may require each government to pay for it. The three departments and prefectures and counties will naturally not be willing.

Zhu Gaoxu thought a lot this time, and there were two choices before him: first, report to the court first, wait for the court to decide on the matter, and even the Ministry of War would appoint a general officer to be responsible for the battle; the benefits of doing so could pass on the contradictions to the Central Court of the Ming Dynasty. Second, fight quickly, as long as the time is short, the money and food spent can be controlled within the tolerance of all parties.

Therefore, the benefits of immediately reporting and retaliating against Meng Yangsi are many. The only disadvantage is that the risk is a bit big, because Zhu Gaoxu not only has to win, but also has to be fast!

But if he chooses to wait for the central court to make a decision, there will be no shortage of problems... He is very self-aware. There are too many people in the capital who don’t like him, so there will definitely be someone who will jump out to impeach him, sue him for causing trouble and provoke the war.

"Zhao Baihu, how many people have come from the Si family?" Zhu Gaoxu asked.

Zhao Ping stopped his smile and thought for a while, clasped his fists and said, "There are at least three thousand people, or five thousand, and there are twenty or thirty war elephants. There are many mountains and dense forests over there, which is difficult to estimate."

Zhu Gaoxu asked again: "How long have you resisted in the village?"

Zhao Ping's expression was a little ugly and said, "Go back to the prince, the last general was broken into the village gate that day. He was not lucky at that time. He had just repelled the local people and suddenly it started to rain heavily, and all the firearms were useless..."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded frequently while listening carefully.

So Zhao Ping continued to narrate: "The village only has a dirt wall, a ditch, the wall is too short and is easily climbed by natives. After the firearms stopped when it rained, the natives sat on the battle elephant, and their position was higher than that of our brothers on the wall, and they just threw javelins at the defenders.

Although the brothers fought to the death, they had no choice but to have enough people. The gate of the village was too thin and was opened by the war elephant."

"Well..." Zhu Gaoxu made a voice.

Zhao Ping said: "The general had to gather troops and horses in the camp gate to form a formation, and was tied with sharp weapons. The battle elephant in leather armor rushed into the battle formation. It was outnumbered and defeated. The general's sentence is true. The prince can ask people to ask other soldiers who are lucky. However, if it didn't rain that day, the general may be able to guard for a few more days!"

Zhu Gaoxu experienced the "Jingnan Campaign" and had seen various firearms. He knew what Ming munitions were. He knew that the Ming army at this time had a very limited range, whether it was cannons or muskets. Muskets and guns in his impression were not the same thing!

He waited for Zhao Ping to finish his words, thought for a while, and then asked, "Elephants are afraid of firearms?"

Zhao Ping hurriedly said, "The prince was very careful! At that time, we didn't have the Hongwu cannon. The war elephant was most afraid of the bowl gun, which was loud and the fire was scary; the copper fire gun could also play a role. Once we set the firearm, the elephant would frighten and turn around and fight back against the enemy's own troops. Later, it rained, and the sound of the gong was louder and could scare the elephant. The livestock was timid and less courageous than the war horse."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded thoughtfully again. He thought to himself: In ancient times, cavalry were popular in military forces, not elephants. Reality has confirmed that elephant soldiers must have great weaknesses.

He asked in detail about the characteristics of the Xiang soldiers, and then asked Zhao Ping, the tactics and characteristics of the chieftain army. Zhao Ping talked about many things about the native army, such as poor military discipline, cruelty and fearlessness of death, each tribe fights on its own, familiar with the terrain and climate, etc.

After Zhu Gaoxu asked, he asked Zhao Ping to go back and rest; then summoned Diao Ya, a native of the Qianhu Station in Tengchong.

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu had made the decision to make a quick decision against Meng Yangsi and made up his mind to do so! But he was still trying his best to understand the situation and continue to think about the advantages and disadvantages.

...In the garden behind the pear garden, there was unexpectedly a little noisy. There were many people sitting on the chairs on both sides, all talking.

Most of them were relatives of Chen Xu. Mrs. Chen’s husband’s family was descendant of Chen Wansan and her mother’s family was descendant of Xu Fujiu; so some of these people had the surname Chen and some had the surname Xu.

In addition, there are also fellows from other families who have invested in the Shen family business group.

"We all have to rely on each other. But those who fight thousands of troops are a bottomless pit! How many days can everyone withstand this little family fortune?" The person who spoke was a man over fifty years old, and he was the uncle of the same clan of Mrs. Chen's stepdaughter Chen Manshu.

After the son-in-law of the Shen family said something, everyone nodded and agreed, thinking it made sense.

Mrs. Chen had no choice but to persuade him, "Brothers, don't be impatient, the King of Han did not ask us to pay for money and food. A few days ago, Xu Cailiu was in the Han Palace. Please ask Xu Cailiu."

After all, Mrs. Chen's husband has passed away, and she has never given birth to a man or a woman for the Shen family. At this time, almost all the people who questioned him were from the Shen family, and the people from the Xu family endured it and said nothing.

Another middle-aged man spoke, the surname Chen, but his relationship was a bit far away. His tone was relatively gentle and he said earnestly: "We have not seen the methods of the emperor's family. If we didn't want to pay money from our pockets, they would take care of others? Besides, if we pay money, we can't lose a little! What's the best thing for the Shen family to pay for the city and reward the army?"

Several people agreed, "Yes, yes..." "The teacher who never forgets the past and the future..."

The man looked back and sighed again, looked at Mrs. Chen on the side chair and said, "Mrs. He is still a bit too hasty when he comes and goes with the King of Han."

He lowered his voice and said in a deep voice, "I think this matter is over... Maybe it's a matter of the beginning! The King of Han was so happy that he decided to open up the territory early in the morning. So he first used the guise of jade to lure us on the boat; then they had the final say and insisted that we had a share. In the end, if you put the knife around your neck, do you give me the military money or not?"

Immediately someone whispered: "The people from the Zhu family are the most unreliable!"

At this moment, a middle-aged woman in a gray-white dress walked in, walked gently to Mrs. Chen, bowed her head and said a few words in Mrs. Shen's ear.

Mrs. Chen's expression changed slightly. The discussion around her suddenly became less. Everyone looked at each other curiously, guessing what the servant said just now.

"Brothers, it's too early to make a conclusion now, so wait a few days to see." Mrs. Chen said, "I have something urgent to do, please leave first." She turned her head and said, "I'll tell you to entertain relatives and friends of the two families."

"Yes." The woman replied.

Mrs. Chen had already stood up, and the guests had to get up and return the greeting and say goodbye to Mrs. Chen.

She walked through the corridor on the eaves, stepped back and forth, waited for the middle-aged woman to come. Together, they walked to a bridge-like wall. Mrs. Chen asked softly, "The King of Han is in the theater?"

The woman said, "Yes, the people over there still asked him to go upstairs and sat in the original private room."

After the two of them walked for a while, the woman finally couldn't help asking, "I'm brave enough, do you think the King of Han is reliable?"

Mrs. Chen hesitated slightly and said, "After all, Taizu is an emperor who conquers the country. The King of Han has been frugal and has not been so cruel since he was a child... But people's hearts are separated from their stomachs, who can say it accurately?"

When I came to the theater, it was just after afternoon; the first play was sung on the stage, and there were not many guests in the hall. The theater generally did not sing opera in the morning.

Mrs. Chen walked into the door of the private room and saw the King of Han sitting there alone, looking at the actors on the stage. Today, the guards beside him were all in the corridor and did not enter the private room.

Before Mrs. Chen could speak, Zhu Gaoxu turned around. Mrs. Chen bent her knees and held her hand in front of her abdomen and said, "I have seen Your Highness."

"I'm fine, please sit here, madam." Zhu Gaoxu greeted, "It seems that this female actor who is singing the opera is not Li Louxian?"

Mrs. Chen said: "Go back to Your Highness, it's not a time when there are too many people. Li Louxian's play today should be in the hour of You."

"Well..." Zhu Gaoxu nodded. He often had this movement and tone.

Zhu Gaoxu then asked: "Have Li Louxian recovered?"

Mrs. Chen had to answer according to his words: "Your Highness is concerned about her. She has recovered a long time ago. Fortunately, she only took a few times or two of arsenic and frost, so she got better quickly. I heard from the doctor that I am most afraid of treating those who often take arsenic and frost..."

Speaking of this, she couldn't help but ask carefully: "Is the prince here today to watch Li Louxian's play?"

After asking, Mrs. Chen was anxiously waiting for Zhu Gaoxu's answer, and nervously saw him shaking his head. He replied, "I'm not here to see the show, but to meet her. Last time, I didn't agree that we would meet again when she has a good body? What I said will usually do."

Mrs. Chen looked at him with a complicated expression.

Zhu Gaoxu paused and said, "I will lead troops to Meng Yangsi in a while. If I don't take time to see her these days, this matter will be delayed."
Chapter completed!