I'm really not the carpenter emperor

Immediately at the corner of the street, Zhu Youxiao glanced around, holding the emperor's sword in his hand, and said: "I heard that Xu Keqiu didn't ask for credit for the soldiers, but there is such a thing..."

When the words fell to the ground, the generals who had prepared for the worst in their hearts were all shocked.

I thought that the emperor came to Xingshi to inquire about the crime, but I didn't expect that it was for them to decide.

Wang Shouzhong and Huang Shoukui in the crowd were even more ashamed. First, the former stood up and said in a trembling voice:

"Return to Your Majesty, Futai is dead—"

"Dead?" Zhu Youxiao's eyes tightened, and his hand on the sword paused. After a moment, he said calmly:

"How did he die?"

Wang Shouzhong and Huang Shoukui exchanged glances, but the former continued to speak.

"Returning to Your Majesty, it's because I didn't manage my subordinates well and caused trouble in the school grounds, and it's because I didn't protect well enough that something so serious happened..."

When Huang Shoukui heard the words, his eyes widened with anger, and he said without thinking:

"Your Majesty, don't blame him. It was the minister who secretly manipulated Mr. Deng Qian to kill Futai. Your Majesty should punish the minister!"

Zhu Youxiao snorted coldly, didn't speak, but put his feet on the ground, and drove the horse forward along the street.

After a while, a group of people came to the gate of Cangli.

Zhu Youxiao dismounted, handed the mount to Huang Degong, pushed open the gate, stepped into the courtyard with one foot, looked around for a while, and then asked:

"How long is the grain stored in this chestnut enough to feed the entire city's defenders?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, if the rebels continue to besiege the city, there will be enough food for the defenders for a year..." Sichuan Inspectorate Sun Haogu said respectfully.

"What if Cangli is burned?" Zhu Youxiao came to Cangli, looked around, and said when he came out:

"How long can I eat it?"

Sun Haogu had doubts in his heart, and said again: "In less than three days..."

"In my opinion, this Ma Hong is a great hero!" Zhu Youxiao clapped his hands, "Ask him to come see me!"

Not long after, an officer and soldier in armor came over and said tremblingly: "Mr. Ma Hong, see Your Majesty."

"I..." Before Zhu Youxiao could speak, Ma Hong knelt on the ground, bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, I'm guilty—"

Seeing this, everyone looked at each other.

With a smile on his lips, Zhu Youxiao bent over and helped him up, saying: "You are not guilty, I say, you have merit!"

Hearing this, Ma Hong was taken aback for a moment, not knowing why.

Zhu Youxiao walked out of Cangli, got on his horse, squinted at the many civil servants behind him, and said coldly:

"Tell me, who told you to say that confession just now?"

"This……"

Ma Hong was hesitant, but at the same time he was secretly surprised that he hadn't told anyone about this matter, how did the emperor know about it.

"I told you to say it, so you say it." Zhu Youxiao sneered a few times, and said, "I'm afraid it took a lot of effort for you to let the meritorious people plead guilty?"

"You are so brave!"

Ma Hong was a little scared, but still refused to speak.

Zhu Youxiao didn't continue to ask, but just took out a secret note, hit Sun Haogu's face, and said with a sneer:

"Sun Aiqing, my good servant! Should you say something?"

The ones that were thrown over were exactly the secret music that the Jin Yiwei's first army had heard when they entered Sichuan. Since the day of the expedition, they have been sent to the imperial court every three days without interruption.

When Zhu Youxiao was still in Luoyang, in fact, he already knew the big things and small things in Central Sichuan like the palm of his hand.

The matter of Xu Keqiu and Ma Hong, as well as the fact that Sun Haogu and others were colluding, stubborn and conservative, and completely disregarded the overall situation of countering the rebellion in order to protect their own face, have long been known.

If it weren't for Ma Hong who kept Cangli safe and allowed the rebels to capture Chongqing in advance, it's really hard to say what the battle situation will be like now.

"Your Majesty, this subject, this subject is also thinking about the country!" Sun Haogu fell on the ground, trembling and said:

"Ma Hong beheaded the gatekeepers and entered Cangli without permission. This time, he just happened to catch up with the spies and set fire to him. If there are no spies like Huo next time, and others rely on this to break into Cangli, will the minister be punished or not?"

"Besides, Xu Keqiu is a great official in the frontier. His Majesty has to ignore him when he died in the school grounds. It has chilled the hearts of civil servants all over the world!"

Zhu Youxiao glanced at him, and he knew in his heart that he was taking advantage of the loopholes in the Ming law, and this matter alone could not be dealt with.

At this time, a big Han general brought a child in his arms and said, "Mr. Deng Qian knew that he had committed a serious crime, so he left this child and committed suicide at home..."

Hearing this, Wang Shouzhong's eyes tightened.

Mr. Qian, surnamed Deng, lost his mother-in-law two years ago. He has to serve as a soldier and take care of the baby, and he is often in arrears of food and salary. Such a life is already difficult.

He wanted to take the blame on himself, why couldn't he think about it like this?

Just as he was thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao got off his horse again, came to Sun Haogu, and ordered, "Look up."

Sun Haogu was at a loss, and did as he was told.

In the blink of an eye, Zhu Youxiao raised his foot and kicked over violently, and heard Sun Haogu cry out, rolling to the ground.

Zhu Youxiao sneered and said, "I'm here this time to convict you!"

"Decree, dismissal, imprisoned, Jin Yiwei escorted back to the capital, told Wei Zhongxian, let him investigate carefully!"

Chapter 125 Construction Competition

Once the apocalypse comes, this is the beginning of troubled times.

In such a world, nothing is as good as the sword in one's hand. Power grows out of the barrel of a gun. As for the words of civil officials, thank God that they don't add trouble.

Is Ma Hong guilty? He was indeed guilty first, but it is precisely because of this crime that 10,000+ soldiers and civilians in Chongqing City were saved.

Zhu Youjiao knew this, so he tried his best to protect the general named Ma Hong under the watchful eyes of everyone.

This time it was not him who was protecting, but all the officers and soldiers in Chongqing City.

But as soon as the words fell to the ground, the civil servants were dissatisfied again. They have always been fearless when it comes to remonstrance, whether you are the emperor or not, you can scold you as much as you want.

Sun Haogu struggled to get up and said loudly:

"There is no evidence, but the emperor treats his minister like this, and he refuses to accept! My heart is chilling!!"

When the words fell, all the civil servants echoed in unison.

"You're chilling!" Zhu Youxiao was stunned for a moment, and then he smiled angrily, and said, "What do you tell the Southwest soldiers who are fighting the rebels to think?"

Zhu Youxiao pursed his lips, his eyes flickered with cold murderous aura, he finally held back, with his hands behind his back, and said lightly:

"You are not convinced, you are not convinced..."

"Well, I will give you a chance. If you are arrested and returned to the capital this time, and Dongchang doesn't find anything out, then you will be reinstated, and I will punish you!"

"How about...?"

The emperor had already spoken to such a point, Sun Haogu raised his head, with complicated emotions in his heart, but he could only look at his back.

"emperor--"

As soon as he uttered two words, Zhu Youxiao said lightly: "You, step back."

Sun Haogu seemed to be 20 years old in an instant, sighed heavily, and tremblingly performed the normal ceremony, and left with Jin Yiwei.

After a while, Zhu Youxiao got on his horse, stared and said:

"Jiangjin General Soldier Wang Shouzhong, Chongqing General Soldier Huang Shoukui."

"Chen is here!"

After a while, the two went out together.

"The two of you indulged your subordinates and caused troubles in the city. You should have been punished. Please remember the past achievements and let the past not be blamed."

"Of course, capital crimes can be avoided, but living crimes cannot be forgiven. I will continue to guard the southwest for the imperial court and make meritorious deeds!"

"As for the military salary owed for many years, it will be issued together from now on!"

Everyone originally planned for the worst, but they didn't expect this result. They all wept with joy. Wang Shouzhong and Huang Shoukui looked at each other, convinced.

"Thank you, Your Majesty Long En, long live, long live!"

Zhu Youxiao glanced at them, snorted coldly, and rode on the horse, his back gradually disappearing into the depths of the street.

In the area around Chongqing, when the money brought from Luoyang Prince Fu's Mansion was used to pay wages in full swing, the siege of Chengdu had entered its final stage.

……

Since July, Zhang Tong has been rebel all the way, in Xichuan like a broken bamboo, falling into three prefectures and eleven counties, breaking through Hezhou in early August, and reaching Chengdu.

So far, Chengdu has been besieged for more than a month.

Although Chengdu is an important place in the southwest, due to ineffective officials, there is not much grain in the warehouses. After a month of siege, it has been exhausted.

In order to intimidate the defenders in the city and take Chengdu as soon as possible, Zhang Tong almost tried his best.

At night, he ordered the chieftain soldiers to stand on the hills outside the city, each holding two torches, and lit both ends of each torch to create the momentum of an army of 40.

"Look, a lot of people..."

The guards on the city stood at the top of the city and looked into the distance, their hearts were really shaken.

Within a few miles around, people in the rebel camp screamed, soldiers and horses kept coming in and out, and even the mountains were lit with fire, which was continuous and terrifying.

But since then, the rebels outside the city have been like this almost every night. When the defenders see it, they are not surprised, they just feel that it is ordinary.

A few days later, the rebel camp suddenly rang loudly, accompanied by rumbling footsteps, and countless chieftain soldiers waved their banners and attacked again.

Only this time, Zhang Tong, who had been attacking the south gate for a long time, attacked the west gate instead.

The newly-appointed Sichuan General Soldier Hou Liangzhu pressed one hand on the city bricks, and kept giving orders, but soon, he noticed a problem, pointed to the front and said:

"Why is there a boulder there?"

The place he pointed to was just thirty steps away from Ximen.

There is a stone slope there, blocked by a huge boulder in front of the slope, the stone is covered with vegetation, solid and hidden, it is simply a natural offensive position.

Sure enough, as soon as Hou Liangzhu's words fell, some rebels found this place, quickly led their troops to occupy it, and fired arrows at the top of the city.

Soon, Hou Liangzhu ordered the defenders to concentrate on shooting at Shipo.

But the boulder was very solid, and the rebels hid behind the slope and threw shots at the top of the city. The crenels were useless, and the defenders were helpless.

"It's hard to hit them with firecrackers..."

One of the generals frowned. Just as he finished speaking, he heard a sound of piercing through the air, and an arrow landed at his feet.

"It can't go on like this!"

Hou Liangzhu looked around and saw that the defenders' morale was shaken, he immediately made a decision, and said: "Send people to transfer troops, and transfer half of the gunners from the remaining sects!"

"Use firecrackers to shoot intensively to suppress the enemy behind the slope."

After occupying the stone slope, the rebels temporarily suppressed the Ming army at the top of the city, but before they had time to be happy, there were a steady stream of bird musketeers transferred from the other three schools.

As soon as these musketeers went to the city, they fired their firearms one after another, and the broken stones flew across, roaring endlessly, and the rebels were suppressed again.

During this time, the Ming army was not idle.

Hou Liangzhu dispatched Minyong from the city to demolish some houses in the city when the firepower of the musketeers was suppressed, and hurriedly built pheasant towers.

When the rebels stood up again, they were surprised to find that there had been a pheasant tower piled up on the top of the city, which was several feet higher than their own slope.

The Ming army stood on the pheasant tower, shooting downwards from a high position, killing and injuring the rebels in a large area, and quickly killed the attacking rebels, and retreated in a hurry.

Hearing the cheers of the Ming army soaring to the sky, Zhang Tong drew out his saber, and after reorganizing the army, he attacked again.

The Ming army built pheasant towers, which were condescending, and the rebels were not just sitting around these days. They hurriedly made a local siege machine-Xianglou.

Xianglou, a type of siege tower, is taller than the pheasant towers built by the Ming army. It was made by the rebels outside Chengdu in recent days.

On this day, the rebels installed wheels at the bottom of the building, and dozens of people, under the defense of shield vehicles, pushed the building forward, followed by the army.

Once someone is knocked down by the Ming army, another person will soon make up and push forward desperately.

As for Hou Liangzhu's method of defeating the enemy, it is more simple and crude.

On the one hand, he called on Minyong to continue to pile up the pheasant towers, which were higher than the box towers. On the other hand, he selected vigorous soldiers to form a death squad, carrying gunpowder, oil grass and other things on their backs, and burned them with their lives.

These soldiers are agile and have the cooperation of the Ming army at the top of the city. Although the rebels try their best to stop them, there will still be fish that slip through the net.