Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

The carriages and horses rolled over the cracks in the bluestone road outside Jubaomen, and a few bits of mud splashed out and fell onto the newly bought candy-shaped paper clothes in the hands of children on the roadside.

The child almost cried "Wow", but when he saw the tall horses of the cavalry, he held it back.

"Mahe!"

Zhu Di took a nap while sitting in the carriage. When he woke up, he held the curtain with one hand and called outside.

However, it was Ji Gang who was accompanying him. He pulled the reins and explained softly: "Your Majesty, Ma He has gone to Fujian."

Zhu Di rubbed his eyebrows, but he was a little confused from his summer nap.

Not long ago, Ma He was sent to the Fujian Shipyard by Zhu Di to prepare for the large-scale construction of ocean-going ships. At the same time, he invited Baoding Hou Mengshan, a Hongwu patriarch and the fifty-fifth generation grandson of Mencius, to take charge of restarting the Yuan Dynasty. Shipping companies in Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Ningbo and other cities.

Zhu Di gave an order, and the Ming Dynasty's state machinery was fully prepared for the voyage to the West. This preparation was naturally not only domestic shipbuilding and shipping department, but also included the external exposure before the Ming Dynasty restarted the ocean-going tribute system.

Zhu Di successively sent the eunuch Ma Bin as the chief envoy to the Kingdom of Java, and sent edicts to Sumatra, Zori and other countries in the West; he sent eunuch Li Xing and others as envoys to Siam; he sent eunuch Yin Qing to serve as envoys to Manlajia, Kochi and other countries. .

This kind of mission is undoubtedly for the purpose of gathering information to understand the local customs and customs. It is also a necessary ritual. It is better to be polite first and then to fight.

Zhu Gaochi beside him also woke up and said with a hint of regret: "Mr. Jiang hasn't finished teaching this lesson yet. The second point about food and the third point about cattle and seeds can only be done tomorrow." Listened."

"Of course I can't finish all this in one breath."

Zhu Di didn't say much. Although he didn't hear all the countermeasures today, he had already gained a lot.

And to be honest, I didn't talk too much today, it was enough for Zhu Di to digest and absorb it for a while.

Zhu Gaochi opened the curtains of the carriage and looked outside, asking doubtfully.

"Father, are you going to see Master Daoyan?"

Zhu Di nodded and said: "The old monk has been in Datianjie Temple for several days without any movement. Since he is not looking for me, I will go look for him today to see what he is up to."

After finishing the gossip between father and son, Zhu Di sat up straight. This was the right attitude for a serious monarch and his ministers.

"What's the reaction from the vassals? If something unexpected happens, have the Ministry of War and the Fifth Army Commander's Office prepared a plan?"

Zhu Gaochi, the eldest prince, was the one who actually presided over the work of the cabinet. In a sense, he was the first chief assistant of the Yongle cabinet.

Although Zhu Gaochi did not have the power to review memorials, the mere power of diversion and recommendation had in fact cut off part of the imperial power.

In the case that Zhu Di is not omniscient, Zhu Gaochi can choose which memorials will come to Zhu Di and which memorials will not appear in Zhu Di's field of vision.

Of course, Zhu Di also has his own information channels, and there is more than one. The first one is the old Yan Army intelligence system that is in charge of Dao Yan, which covers the entire northern Ming Dynasty and even Mobei and North Korea. It reports directly to him through Ma He; The second type is the rebuilt Jinyiwei led by Ji Gang, and its tentacles currently only extend to the Jiangnan area; the third type is the palace intelligence system in charge of the third prince Zhu Gaosui, which secretly monitors the royal family including the eldest prince Zhu Gaochi and Prince Ning Zhu Quan. The noble lord and others.

This is one of the reasons why Zhu Di plans to visit the "Prime Minister in Black" Dao Yan. In addition to listening to the advice from the Ministry of War and the Fifth Army Governor's Office summarized by the cabinet, Zhu Di must also understand the truth about the return of the three guards by the northern kings. manner.

After all, what is being reduced is the military power of the vassals. The three guards are simply the lifeblood of the kings along the Great Wall.

But in other words, many people who volunteer to be eunuchs do not care about their lives just for money.

Therefore, as long as you add enough money, you can't give up your lifeblood or anything else.

Zhu Gaochi naturally didn't know Zhu Di's considerations, so he answered honestly.

"According to the recent reactions of the vassals, the prepared King Ning followed his father to Nanjing. King Dai was deposed by Jianwen, and King Gu opened the Jinchuan Gate of Nanjing and surrendered. We are also in Nanjing now. In the second year of Jianwen, our father went out to sweep across Liaodong. At that time, the King of Liao, who had no troops and horses, had been moved to Jingzhou Prefecture by Emperor Jianwen. Among the other Sai kings, in terms of the number and quality of their troops, naturally King Jin and King Qin came first, followed by the other kings Su and Qing. "

"The King of Jin has not surrendered yet, but his third brother Pingyang King Zhu Jiyi has already reported to the court that the King of Jin is dissatisfied with his father. Gu Cheng, the Marquis of Zhenyuan who stayed behind in Beiping, is ready to go straight to Datong from the Jingxuan Mansion."

Hearing that Gu Cheng was ready, Zhu Di obviously relaxed a lot.

As the famous founding general of Hongwu, Gu Cheng was also a very special person in Jingnan. Zhu Di had great trust in his ability and loyalty. With him around, the King of Jin could not make trouble.

"Let King Pingyang fight with King Jin, and the two tigers will compete for food." Zhu Di gave the instruction after thinking for a while.

Zhu Gaochi paused and said: "As for King Qin, King Su in the west has already returned the three guards, and King Qing, who is close to King Su, has also given them back, but King Qin still refuses. King Qin is in trouble. At that time, he was working against us and clearly supporting Emperor Jianwen."

When Zhu Di heard this, he was not furious. Instead, he sighed and said, "My second brother was instigated by the daughter of the Wang family of Ninghe and was ruined. He was not that cruel in the past. But after being made the king, he did so many unruly things." What a pity for such an outstanding woman like Guanyin Nu. Her brother was a hero all his life. Even Emperor Taizu Gao would praise her as 'a wonderful man in the world'."

The reason for this is that the old Qin King Zhu Feng, as Zhu Di's second brother, was Zhu Yuanzhang's first feudal vassal king. He was young and smart, strict and brave, and everyone thought he would become a good vassal king.

But the bad thing is that the virtuous wife Zhu Yuanzhang chose for him was not liked by King Qin's main concubine Guanyinnu (sister of Wang Baobao, King of Henan in the Yuan Dynasty). Instead, he preferred his second concubine Deng Shi (daughter of Deng Yu, King of Mingning River). Under the instigation of the Deng family, they rounded up Tufan pregnant women, castrated Xifan boys, tortured the palace people for fun, and even made empress clothes for the Deng family to wear. Zhu Yuanzhang denounced her as "ignorant of human affairs and as stupid as an animal."

Zhu Gaochi heard the string and understood the elegant meaning, and understood the meaning of his father's rebuke to the late Deng.

——The current King of Qin, Zhu Shangbing, is the eldest son of the Deng family.

"The Duke of Cheng, Zhu Neng, asked for his life at Zuojun Governor's Mansion." Zhu Gaochi considered his words, "His Royal Highness the King of Zhou is very cooperative. The Ministry of War has prepared food and wages in Henan, and Tongguan is also under control."

This is what it means that famous generals are ready with tassels, food, grass, troops and horses, and they can enter Tongguan at any time to suppress the enemy. Suppressing the King of Qin is just a snap of the finger.

Zhu Di frowned slightly and said helplessly: "If you can't use the sword, don't move. Send a eunuch to pass a message to him."

"Father, please give me your instructions."

"The king of Qi worshiped Xun, so he dominated the country; the marquis of Jin was lazy and ridiculed that he had no heirs. Wang Mianzhi."

These are two allusions from the Spring and Autumn Period.

When Duke Huan of Qi accepted the reward from the Emperor of Zhou, his attitude was respectful and courteous, which made Qi the overlord of the Spring and Autumn Period. The Marquis of Jin was Duke Hui of Jin. When he accepted the reward from the Emperor of Zhou, he was arrogant and lazy, so he was ridiculed. Not long after the inheritance of Guo Zuo, the Jin was divided into three families.

Zhu Di took this opportunity to tell Zhu Shangbing, don't be shameless. You can handle the matter of returning the three guards yourself. Failure to return them will be the result of the country being cut off like the Marquis of Jin.

It's probably similar to "Don't say you don't predict what you say."

During the conversation, the carriage suddenly stopped.

Before Zhu Di could ask any questions, Ji Gang took the initiative to open the curtain and report.

"Your Majesty, the monk in the temple has gone crazy, Master Daoyan!"