After abandoning the territory for the west, Zhu Yuanzhang naturally took over Yan'an Prefecture. He sent Xu Renjie as the general, Wang Er and Xue Hongqi as the deputy generals, led the army to advance northward, pulled out the Hengtian King and his group and took Yulin and other cities back into their hands, but he himself stayed in Yan'an and refused to leave because in his opinion, Hengtian King was already vulnerable and no longer needed to lead his troops himself. For him, cleaning up the mess in the internal affairs of northern Shaanxi was even more important.

Xu Renjie was appointed as a general, so he was naturally very proud. He happily led more than 10,000 people to attack Hengtianwang in the north. It took more than a month to pacify northern Shaanxi. I won’t mention it here for the time being.

Let’s talk about the internal affairs of northern Shaanxi. Zhu Yuanzhang took over northern Shaanxi from the hands of the 100,000 yuan and found that it was already very miserable. A group of people in the 100,000 yuan were not engaged in production, but only knew how to loot. After more than a year of rule over northern Shaanxi, it has seriously damaged northern Shaanxi. In addition to a few cities, it barely survived, and the villages outside the city have almost been destroyed.

(Note: In fact, it is not just like this in northern Shaanxi. At that time, this situation was basically the case in the Central Plains. In the tenth year of Chongzhen, Yang Sichang advised Emperor Chongzhen. The original text is as follows: south of the Yellow River, north of the Yangtze River, seven or eight thousand miles east and west, only the prefectures and counties are still there, and the other villages are dilapidated and embarrassed. Yesterday, I came from the two prefectures of Xiangyang in Huguang and Jingzhou and Kaifeng in Nanyang, Henan. I saw that there was no green grass for hundreds of miles in the place. The people ate each other and couldn't bear to say anything.)

It would be quite difficult for Zhu Yuanzhang to rebuild this destructive dead land.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang was not afraid. He had long had the experience of dealing with such a mess. When he defeated the Yuan Dynasty in his previous life and dominated the world, the Central Plains, which had once been fertile and rich in humanities, had long been broken by the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty. Guanzhong, Lianghuai, Huguang and other places suffered repeated wars, with huge population losses and social and economic declines. So Zhu Yuanzhang organized a "Hongwu Immigration" to migrate the population from the prosperous area to the sparsely populated area.

The Hongwu large immigrants achieved unprecedented success, laying the foundation for the renewed prosperity of Central Plains culture. With the experience of this large immigrant, what is the point of Zhu Yuanzhang's efforts to build a mere northern Shaanxi?

Due to the war in northern Shaanxi a few days ago, many people from northern Shaanxi moved south to southern Shaanxi. Now he first notified these people that if they were willing to return to their hometown in northern Shaanxi, they would distribute more land to them and send silver money to households. On the way to immigrate, Zhu Jun soldiers were escorted to ensure their safety. When they arrived, Zhu Jun officials would receive and resettle them. Land was allocated and agricultural tools were given...

As soon as this order was released, many people came happily. The Chinese people had the most plot in their hometown. When they heard that returning to their hometown had such benefits, anyone who refused to go back would be a fool. The people who flocked to southern Shaanxi suddenly rushed back to open up land and used the potato cultivation techniques they learned from southern Shaanxi to grow new grain.

Next, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Chongtianzhu and others to return to northern Shaanxi. He also accepted many families of the Hengtian King Army and now he has also put them back to northern Shaanxi. On the one hand, he reclaimed wasteland, and on the other hand, they can be used to store soldiers who are about to collapse.

Because King Hengtian will be killed by Xu Renjie soon, after his death, his subordinates will definitely be dispersed. At that time, they can use these families to reclaim the soldiers of the scattered soldiers and use them. These abacuses were ready when he accepted these families a few years ago, so it was natural and easy to do.

The only troublesome problem is that they have gained so much territory. The 100 officials who passed the imperial examination not long ago are not enough. Zhu Yuanzhang waved his pen and specially approved the 100 to 200 failed candidates in the scientific examination.

These candidates thought they had not passed the exam, so they returned home in dismay. Unexpectedly, they suddenly received a notice from Zhu Jun. They said that they were also hired by exception. They were immediately overjoyed and rushed to Yan'an to take office. After Zhu Yuanzhang thought carefully, he asked someone to bring Ma Xinyu over. Ma Xinyu had studied with Li Qingshui for several months and had a little experience in central coordination. Now he had to rush the duck to put it on the shelves and let him handle the affairs of northern Shaanxi.

In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang also vigorously discovered scholars in northern Shaanxi, just like those of Luochuan Li Panlong. He also hoped to find more people to serve him, but this was more difficult to find. The three mixed people, including the 100,000, the King of Heaven, and the Pulley of Heaven, almost killed the scholars in northern Shaanxi. It is really difficult to find a few.

On that day, Zhu Yuanzhang was dealing with political affairs and was very busy. Suddenly, he heard a spy come in and report: "Brother Zhu Ba, when we were looking for local scholars, we accidentally discovered a poetry club. There was a guy in it that was very annoying. He talked about how to deal with us all day long in the poetry club... Other scholars applauded. It seemed that he was going to be ruined by him. Should such a person be arrested and killed?"

"Oh? There is such a thing?" Zhu Yuanzhang laughed in silence: "What did he say?"

The spy said it clearly, shook his head and said, "It's all right, I don't understand it very well. I only know that it's something that is not good for us Zhu Jun, because everyone who listened said... said...he...what you say this is right. This is the weakness of the thief..."

Zhu Yuanzhang knew that even if these spies under his command could read two words, he would not blame him, and smiled and said, "Then take me to listen."

Zhu Yuanzhang put on the clothes of Confucian scholars, and Ma Xiaotian only brought two or three brothers, and also pretended to be a servant. When Hongniang saw that there was a lot of fun, she dressed up as a little maid. Once she left, Ma Xinyu stopped doing it and insisted on going. Fortunately, he didn't need to dress up and looked like a scholar in nature. Zhu Yuanzhang felt that there was a scholar following him, and maybe he could handle many scenes with him, so he also took him and the group left the Yan'an Prefecture and headed to a poetry club in the north of the city.

When I arrived at the place, I found that this place didn’t look like a poetry club at all. It was like a farmhouse compound. After occupying Yan'an for 100,000 yuan, I killed many scholars. Many scholars fled here and used the cover of the farmhouse compound to escape the persecution of 100,000 yuan. This poetry club naturally would not have a name. If it weren’t for the spies, others would not have thought of what this place was.

Zhu Yuanzhang and others walked to the door, and a farmer came out to block it and said, "You are so happy, what are you doing here?"

Ma Xinyu stepped forward and bowed, whispered: "Ma Xinyu, who was born in Baishui, reads the books of sages... I heard that there is a secret poetry club here, and I came to make friends through literature."

The farmer's eyes flashed: "There is no poetry club here, who did you hear the random words?"

Ma Xinyu whispered: "Wansheng has a good brother I met in the academy. He was killed by a 100,000-year-old man. Wansheng wanted to save him. Before he died, he told Wansheng that there was a academy here and asked Wansheng to help him when it was convenient... Now Baishui Zhu Ba has occupied this city. Zhu Ba and I are both from Baishui. I have deceived him and have sneaked into this city. I want to pick up the brothers hiding here and escape from Yan'an Mansion."

After he said this, the farmer believed it three points, and Ma Xinyu was full of nerdness. After two points, he believed it five points.

Ma Xinyu said again: "Please believe in Wansheng. If Wansheng is a thief, why do you need to talk to you? If you bring the thief soldiers to level the place in one fell swoop."

The farmer thought, this was true. If he was really a bad person, he knew that there was a secret poetry club here and would have brought bandits to kill us long ago. There was no need to be so artificial.

So the farmer made way open the door, put Zhu Yuanzhang and his group into the yard, and whispered: "The yard is teaching, you can go in by yourself."

Zhu Yuanzhang and his group entered the inner courtyard and saw fifty or sixty scholars sitting in a large warehouse in the grass valley. They were listening to the lecture of the person in front. This person was about twenty-seven or eight years old, wearing a Confucian shirt and full of righteousness. He looked like a person who was well-read in poetry and books. At this time, he was facing the scholar sitting in front and said, "Although we are trapped by bandits,... we only need to last a year or two here, the officers and soldiers will break through this city, and we will be saved by then..."

After hearing his words, Ma Xiaotian laughed in his heart and whispered: "Where did he get the confidence that officers and soldiers can defeat our Zhu Jun in a year or two?"

Hongniang said: "It seems that he is very knowledgeable... he shouldn't talk nonsense... Is it because our Zhu Jun has any major flaw?"

Ma Xinyu did not speak in a low voice, and he directly sang: "This brother, I have just arrived late, and I heard you have such a high opinion. I dared to ask why the officers and soldiers must break this city?"

The man was stunned. When he saw a new person, he suddenly felt refreshed and said happily: "It turns out that a new brother has arrived. Sit down quickly. When I saw someone taking off the thief's hands and hiding in this place, I was very worried."

When he heard that he claimed to be his own official, Zhu Yuanzhang and others were shocked. This person was actually an official in the court? Everyone pushed Ma Xinyu for a moment. Ma Xinyu understood and clasped his fists and said, "I'm sorry for being born in Ma Xinyu when I asked him rudely. Are you calling yourself an official?

The man smiled and said, "I am from Xinxiang, Weihui, Henan Province. I was named Zhang Jinyan. In the fourth year of Chongzhen, I was loved by the emperor and was appointed as the magistrate of Qingjian. I took the lead halfway through Yan'an Prefecture and was trapped by the thief. I have been hiding here for more than a year. To be ashamed, I have not seen Qingjian County so far. I am really a nameless county magistrate. Alas... I am so frightened."

So that's it. Ma Xinyu and others understood his origin and thought to themselves: This man was trapped by thieves on his way to take office, which is such a tragic naughty child.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard his name, he was slightly surprised. Isn’t this man... just Zhang Jinyan, the Minister of War who opened the Beijing gate and surrendered and released Li Zicheng into Beijing?

It turns out that in normal history, after Zhang Jinyan passed the Jinshi exam in the fourth year of Chongzhen, he waited for a few years, and then became the magistrate of Qingjian, and later became the magistrate of Sanyuan. He then went to Beijing to serve as the head of the Ministry of Revenue. He was promoted to the editor of the Hanlin Academy and the Military Department, and the Minister of War. On the morning of March 19, the 17th year of Chongzhen, Zhang Jinyan attacked Zhengyang Gate and welcomed Liu Zongmin into the capital. Then Chongzhen hanged himself in Jingshan and the Ming Dynasty was destroyed. The Minister of War who opened the Zhengyang City Gate was named in history.
Chapter completed!