Chapter 98 Sending Zhu Di on his last journey

"Report."

Luo Wen stood at the door and shouted loudly.

Luo Mingyue glanced at Luo Wen and said, "Come in."

"General, the leader of the water bandits just confessed to us today that someone hired them to come here, and their purpose was not to rob, but to attack and burn down the industrial area."

Luo Mingyue put down the documents in his hand and looked up at Luo Wen: "Did the leader of the water bandits reveal who it was?"

"Chen Youcai from Chenjia Village, Qian Bosheng and Lin Qi from Dahe Village..."

"Chen Youcai?"

By the way, Chen Youcai is a relative of hers.

Chen Youcai's father and her grandfather, Chen Jia Lao Xiucai, are brothers, so Chen Youcai can be considered Luo Mingyue's cousin.

Of course, the Chen family became prosperous because of the Luo family.

In fact, people in Chenjia Village only have a little money.

"Notify the county magistrate to arrest the people on the list and confiscate all the property of all the participants. All the male members of these local families will be sent to the mining area, and the female members will be sent to the embroidery workshop and tea mountain."

"Yes, Chief."

Luo Mingyue didn't have much contact with the Chen family. She still remembered that the old scholar was very picky and rejecting of her.

So she had no feelings for the Chen family at all.

"Where has my dad been lately?"

"The old man said, let's go and see Zhu Di off for the last time." Luo Wen had no respect for the Zhu family.

She and her classmates were all rescued by Luo Sen and Luo Mingyue, who then taught them knowledge and martial arts. Everything she has was given by the Luo family, including her last name.

She doesn't submit to anyone except Rosen and Luo Mingyue.

……

At this moment, Zhu Di was lying in his tent on the Mobei grassland.

He had a premonition from the moment he set out on the expedition.

Sure enough, when he arrived at the grassland, his body weakened rapidly.

This led to the expedition coming to an abrupt end.

In the night, Zhu Di felt his body getting colder and colder.

At this moment, a hand grabbed Zhu Di's wrist.

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Di felt a warm current flowing into his body. Zhu Di suddenly opened his eyes and saw an incredible scene.

Rosen! Am I dead?

Otherwise, how could we see the dead?

"Do you want to go out for a walk?" Rosen asked.

Zhu Di propped himself up and put on his robe.

When Zhu Di followed Rosen out of the tent, he found that the guards outside seemed to be under a spell and did not react to his and Rosen's coming and going.

Rosen and Zhu Di walked out of the army camp and came to a steep slope.

"Are you here to collect souls?" Zhu Di asked.

"No, I'm here to see you off for the last time." Rosen said calmly, "Zhu Laosi, you wanted to kill me back then, didn't you?"

"Shouldn't I kill you?" Zhu Di asked back, "You casually took out 20 million taels, and you have so many new manufacturing technologies at hand. I can't sleep or eat until you die."

"But I have never thought of taking away your Zhu family's kingdom." Rosen said, "If I wanted to, you wouldn't even have a chance to quell the rebellion. You wouldn't even have a chance to leave Yingtian Prefecture. The money I have is enough to raise an army."

"I can't possibly bet my Zhu family's kingdom on whether you would be tempted. People's hearts are the last thing you can afford to bet on," Zhu Di replied.

"Yes, people's hearts are the most unacceptable thing to bet on." Rosen nodded: "So I faked my death that year to get away."

Zhu Di's pupils contracted: "You are not dead!?"

"Well, I'm not dead, and after I went back, I started planning. I planned to let my daughter become the founder of the new dynasty. She will become an empress and create a foundation that will last forever." Rosen said.

"you you……"

"Even though you and I agreed not to leave the capital for thirty years, I would still consider you a friend, because I can understand why you put me under house arrest. I can even accept the view that great favors can be great revenges, but I am not someone who will sit and wait for death. But you should never, ever, ever try to kill me. No one can take my life, not even the emperor."

Zhu Di's heart was beating fast, and he felt a bit regretful in his shock and anger.

What he regretted was not that he had the intention to kill Rosen.

Instead, he regretted not taking action sooner, which allowed Rosen to realize his intentions.

"The Ming Dynasty is becoming increasingly powerful. You don't have this opportunity."

"The Ming Dynasty is only strong relative to this era." Rosen said, "Have you ever seen a gun that can fire 50 bullets at a time and can shoot as far as a mile? I have one in my hand. I once thought about whether to give you the manufacturing method of this gun, but your behavior finally made me give up this idea. The more I give out, the more you will want to kill me."

"Are you telling me this now to make me regret it?"

"Yes, I just want to make you regret it." Rosen nodded. "I still have rice seeds that can be harvested twice a year, and one mu of land can produce 20 kilograms of staple food. I still have a total of billion taels of silver, and I still have million taels of gold. I have a flying machine, and I have weapons that can flatten a city with one shot."

"Since you have such powerful means, why didn't you use them in the past? You could have replaced the Ming Dynasty yourself a long time ago." Zhu Di's eyes were ferocious, like a man-eating beast.

"Because I always think that the Ming Dynasty is the most orthodox dynasty. From ancient times to now, the Ming Dynasty has the most legitimate position. Your father expelled the Tartars and restored the Han people's clothing. Just for this reason, you deserve my respect. Even if you took the throne from that bastard Zhu Yunwen, it never changed my mind. I even think that you are more suitable to be the emperor than Zhu Yunwen. I admire you even more for moving the capital to Shuntian Prefecture to face the threat of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. It was not until you wanted to kill me that I finally understood that I was so stupid to leave my life to an iron-blooded emperor."

Zhu Di felt very complicated when listening to Rosen's statement.

He could tell that what Rosen said came from the bottom of his heart.

"Great favors bring great hatred...haha..." Zhu Di laughed a little sadly: "Why did you give me 10 million taels in the first place? If you only gave me 1 million taels, I wouldn't be so afraid of you."

"Because I know you want to march north. After you succeed in the Jingnan Campaign, you will not be able to march north in the short term due to lack of money. So I want to support you and make you the Great General of the Northern Expedition so that you can realize the goal of drinking from the Hanhai Lake and sealing the Wolf's Lair as soon as possible. But when you attacked Yingtian Prefecture, I also realized that I gave you too much. So for the past twenty years, I have been reflecting on myself. Too much is as bad as too little. Great kindness can be a great hatred."

That night, Rosen and Zhu Di had many heartfelt words to say.

"If you rule the Central Plains someday, please keep a share of the incense for my Zhu family."

"I will not take the initiative to kill your Zhu family. This is the last bit of friendship I have with you." Rosen said.

A morning sun rose on the horizon of the grassland, and the fiery red sun dazzled both Rosen and Zhu Di.

Zhu Di slowly lowered his head and was never able to raise it again.

Leave the grassland and return to Kaiyuan County.

As soon as he returned home, Luo Mingyue came out.

"Dad, you didn't even tell me that you were going on a long journey. There are so many things going on in Kaiyuan County now, and you still have the mind to see old friends?" Luo Mingyue came up with an aggressive attitude.

"How can there be so many things in such a small Kaiyuan County?"

"Dad, we don't have enough meat."

"How can it not be enough? Haven't we opened ten pig farms? Isn't that enough to provide meat?"

"Our products have begun to impact the businesses in the nearby capitals, causing many people to lose their livelihood opportunities. I have people attracting these people to Kaiyuan County to make a living. Now the population of our Kaiyuan County has reached 200,000."

"Organize a team of 4,000 people, including 2,000 commandos and 2,000 support soldiers, to plunder the grasslands and take back all their people, cattle, sheep and horses. Oh, and bring armed helicopters with you, as they will be very useful in intimidating them."

Kaiyuan County is only more than a thousand kilometers away from the grassland, and there are no major passes along the way. It’s just that you need to pass through many mountains and forests along the way, and you cannot take the pipeline.

"How much can four thousand people loot?"

"Didn't I tell you that we also need their population? Let the grassland people be responsible for driving the cattle, sheep and horses."

"Just take Taiyuan down."

"It is not appropriate to expose us now. What we need is a complete Central Plains, not a fragmented Shenzhou."

"No, what I mean is that we can pretend that it is the Northern Yuan that is attacking. As long as we take control of Taiyuan City, Kaiyuan County and the grassland can be connected. Then it will be much easier for us to transport meat."

"No, the Central Plains and the grasslands are enemies for generations. Once Taiyuan falls, the Ming Dynasty will certainly mobilize the entire country to attack. We are not ready yet. Going to war with the Ming Dynasty will be extremely tragic."

Their plan was to expel Confucianism and establish a new dynasty, so they needed enough time to cultivate talents.

"Besides, the Ming Dynasty is now at its most powerful. Even after Zhu Di's death, the Ming Dynasty is still the most powerful country in the world. If we go to war with the Ming Dynasty directly at this time, the result will be that both sides will suffer losses, and our plan will be delayed."

"So when will it start?"

"Once we get enough meat from the grassland this time, we will control Kaifeng and the surrounding areas. The surrounding areas have a population of at least one million, which is enough for us to digest for a few years. As for when to launch the movement, we must train at least 10,000 students so that they can replace Confucian scholars and occupy the vast majority of positions." Rosen said.

"Is that enough?"

"Of course this is not enough. We also need to control more than 20% of commercial activities to ensure that when the Confucians fight back, we will not be helpless."

The reason why Confucianism was able to control the dynasty's power institutions for a long time was largely because they represented the gentry group themselves. Once the emperor tried to weaken the power of Confucianism, the gentry group would control commodity prices, such as rice, salt and iron.

Even a powerful figure like Zhu Yuanzhang had to compromise with Confucianism and re-ennoble the Kong family as Yanshenggong.

This is the powerful weapon of Confucianism that is invincible. If the Luo family seizes the world in the future, but rice, salt and iron are still controlled by the Confucian gentry group, then the Luo family will repeat the same mistakes and need to compromise with Confucianism.

Therefore, in order to break free from the constraints of Confucianism, three requirements must be met.

First, there is sufficient talent reserve, which is the basis for replacing literati.

The second is to be able to provide a stable supply of rice, salt and iron. As long as the prices of rice, salt and iron are not chaotic, the Confucianists and gentry groups will not be able to threaten the new dynasty.

The third and most important point is to master absolute force.

When Confucians find that conventional means cannot satisfy their wishes, they will inevitably encourage the people to overthrow the rule of those in power, so the use of force is the prerequisite for everything.

Moreover, Rosen will be prepared to massacre the Confucianists and gentry groups, and look forward to it happening.