Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 121
"..."

When the five words "guess who I am" appeared, Zhu Youjian was embarrassed.

He wondered, in this imperial city, is there a second person who dares to cover his eyes like this?
"Brother, there are two good news and one bad news, which one do you listen to first?"

Zhu Youjian spoke helplessly, but when Zhu Youxiao heard that Zhu Youjian had discovered his identity, he suddenly felt bored, raised his hands to signal the maid to change his clothes, and responded:

"Listen first."

"The good news is..." Zhu Youjian pushed the two letters of Liaoshen disarmament to the side, and said:

"Liaoyang's disarmament, after checking the empty quota, saved the court [-] taels of military pay and [-] taels of food and supplies."

"Shenyang's disarmament, after checking the empty quota, saved the court [-] taels of military pay, and about [-] taels of food and supplies."

"In addition, the south field of the Yumajian has abolished the four guards and three offices, and found more than [-] million mu of cultivated land. In the coming year, about three million shi of tenant grain can be harvested, and the imperial court can collect about [-] shi of land tax. and Jiapai."

"The bad news is that there are only [-] soldiers in Shenyang and [-] in Liaoyang."

"Hehe, no problem, I think my brother has already thought of a way to solve the shortage of soldiers and horses in Liaodong." Zhu Youxiao, who had changed back to his regular uniform, smiled at Zhu Youjian, and before Zhu Youjian could speak, he said again:
"By the way, how is my brother's military and horse training? When will Qingling be repaired?"

Zhu Youxiao sat down next to Zhu Youjian without worrying at all. In Zhu Youjian's eyes full of resentment, he glanced at the three letters and the document measuring the acres.

"Soldiers and horses are really good. I think they should be able to be inspected by my brother and all the officials before and after the Waking of Zhes."

"But brother, brother helped you get so many good things, so there is no reward?"

Zhu Youjian anxiously waited for Zhu Youxiao to ask him what he wanted, but he didn't want Brother Huang to be obedient, so he said with a cheeky smile:

"Isn't it right for younger brother to help elder brother? Isn't it strange to ask for gifts?"

"..." Zhu Youjian was speechless, he didn't want to speak, and even wanted to give Wang Lingguan's middle finger to his good brother.

"Haha!" Seeing Zhu Youjian's deflated appearance, Zhu Youxiao said with a smile:
"Just kidding, just say what you want."

"I would like to ask my brother to set Bijie as the mansion, and Sun Chuanting will be the magistrate of Bijie mansion and the army will be prepared." Zhu Youjian was not afraid of impeachment by civil servants at all, and expressed his thoughts directly.

But Zhu Youxiao nodded without hesitation: "Yes! Including the private salt you want, after inspecting the soldiers and horses and confirming that the soldiers and horses are acceptable, I will make them for you."

Hearing this, Zhu Youjian touched his nose, always feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what was wrong.

Why did he feel that Brother Huang was sarcastic?
"Speaking of which, brother, you are also eleven years old..." Zhu Youxiao said suddenly, and then said with a smile:

"On February [-]th, the beautiful girl will enter the palace. Let's see if I can find a concubine for my younger brother."

"I'm still young..." Zhu Youjian was a little guilty, so he changed his tone and said, "How is the scale of this show?"

"Hmm..." Zhu Youxiao pondered: "It is said that they are five thousand beautiful women, but I am not sure whether I can choose the one I like."

"At that time, you and my brother will go to the East Fifth Institute to have a look. It happens that you have not gone to the harem, brother. If you don't go this time, I will have a concubine in the future, and maybe you will not be able to enter the harem."

What is there to go to that place... Zhu Youjian muttered in his heart, thinking that a dozen concubines are a blessing, and dozens of concubines are a disaster.

Only dead cows, no plowed fields...

His great-grandfather, Emperor Longqing, and his cheap father Zhu Changluo, didn't they all die on women's bellies?

Thinking of this, he glanced at the good emperor brother, and then pondered: "The good emperor brother should not be so interested in women."

If Zhu Youjian remembered it well, the good emperor brother had been emperor for seven years, and he had only nine concubines and six children.

In comparison, Chongzhen had one empress and seven concubines, seven sons and three daughters.

"By the way, younger brother should also pay attention. If you have a concubine, you must not be greedy for women!"

"..." Zhu Youjian was thinking about this, when he heard Brother Haohuang's words, he looked up, Brother Haohuang looked at him seriously, as if he Zhu Youjian would become some kind of lecher in the future.

"I'm a gentleman..."

Zhu Youjian responded from the bottom of his heart, but on the surface he nodded repeatedly.

"Long live, it's time to pass on food."

At this time, Wei Zhongxian's voice sounded, and Zhu Youxiao also waved his hands and said:

"Hurry up, I'm so hungry."

"Yes..." Wei Zhongxian saluted slightly, and then asked someone to pass the meal.

Since Zhu Youjian ordered the breakfast, Zhu Youjian ordered two plates of dumplings, two bowls of noodles, two plates of steamed boneless pork knuckles, and tea for gargling.

"Eat so little today?" Zhu Youxiao looked at Zhu Youjian in surprise when he saw that there were two or three dishes of big and small cats for breakfast.

Zhu Youjian touched his nose and said, "I've read some medical books recently, and it said that it's not good to eat too much greasy food."

"After that, I took a look at the meal records of Emperor Gao, Emperor Wen, Emperor Su, and the grandfather, as well as the records of other ancestors."

"After reading it, I found that eating is very particular. I am the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and all the long-lived monarchs mostly eat meat and vegetables."

Speaking of this, Zhu Youjian looked at the good brother with concern and said: "I heard that my brother likes seafood stew very much. It is too greasy, so in the future, brother should try his best to eat light in the morning."

Zhu Youjian's words warmed Zhu Youxiao's heart, and then he smiled and said softly:

"I remember my brother's words, but if I don't eat the seafood stewed indiscriminately, I always feel uncomfortable, and the daily breakfast is either noodles or rice, so I really can't eat it."

"Isn't it delicious?" Zhu Youjian was taken aback for a moment, he didn't expect that his good brother, who grew up in the north, would not be used to eating pasta.

"Not really, it's just that I ate too much and I'm a little bored." Zhu Youxiao showed a helpless smile, and Zhu Youjian volunteered when he saw this:
"Then I'll make some more light breakfasts for you, brother."

"You?" Zhu Youxiao looked at his younger brother suspiciously, and said, "When will you cook?"

"I learned it from reading, brother, don't worry, I'll make it for you tomorrow, so I can guarantee that your food will be fresh." Zhu Youjian rubbed his nose, thinking that this is his special skill.

As someone who helped the poor in Yunnan in his previous life, he dare not say that he is particularly good at cooking, but cooking breakfast can be said to be varied.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian's saliva almost flowed out, and the pasta and dumplings in front of him were suddenly dull.

For him, a southerner in his previous life, it was really embarrassing for him to eat noodles every day. Although the noodles made by Yuchu were delicious, he was really tired of eating them.

It happened that I could take this opportunity to call the imperial chef, chef Dapao, and Paochu Donggong together, and get them the rice noodles that they knew how to make, so that they would not have to worry about what to eat in the morning.

"Gan!"

Suddenly, Zhu Youjian, who was eating dumplings, cursed secretly, biting something hard.

He spat out the thing, but saw it was a silver bean.

"Congratulations to Chitose for getting the money. It seems that Chitose is going to be lucky this year."

Wei Zhongxian had sharp eyes, and when he saw the silver, he immediately blessed him, and Zhu Youxiao also laughed when he saw this, and patted Zhu Youjian on the back.

"I just wanted to eat a dumpling, and it almost broke my teeth..."

Looking at the silver beans in front of him, even though he disliked them, Zhu Youjian wiped them and put them away.

At the same time, Zhu Youxiao also remembered something, so he said to Zhu Youjian:

"By the way, Sun Ruyou and Fang Congzhe submitted thirteen resignations to me in a row, hoping to revive Ye Xianggao. What does my brother think?"

"Restart..." Zhu Youjian's attitude towards Ye Xianggao changed drastically in an instant.

This is naturally because of a change in political stance, so he changed his tune.

Before he didn't want Ye Xianggao to enter the cabinet, the reason was to prevent Ye Xianggao from getting mixed up after being re-elected. As a result, the Donglin Party could not kill the Zhejiang Party.

Now the matter has become a foregone conclusion, the five parties of Qi, Chu, Zhejiang, Xuan and Kun have all had their arms broken, and Donglin is powerful in the court.

At this time, using Ye Xianggao can actually contain the Donglin Party.

At that time, when the five parties of Qi, Chu, Zhejiang, Xuan, and Kun recover, no matter whether it is Wei Zhongxian or whoever, turn them into a knife and kick out other Donglin talking guns and corrupt officials except Liu Yixiu and Yang Lian. If there is no court, then the court will be much quieter.

"In this case, let's restart." Zhu Youxiao said, suddenly his facial features wrinkled, and then spit out a grain of money from his mouth.

"Congratulations brother, it seems that I'm going to be lucky this year, maybe I can choose a good sister-in-law for me." Seeing this, Zhu Youjian smiled unconscionably, but Zhu Youxiao gave him a blank look:
"You're still eating dumplings, and you're starting to mention sister-in-law..."

"I..." Zhu Youjian almost didn't come up in one breath, he didn't expect that good emperor brother would play such a cold joke.

"Haha! Just kidding." Zhu Youxiao said, wiped the silver beans with a paper, then stuffed them into Zhu Youjian's hand, then turned to Wei Zhongxian and said:
"Zhongxian, transfer two hundred thousand taels of silver to Yanshan camp."

"Brother, I still have money!" Zhu Youjian became anxious when he saw Brother Hao Huang's method of directly transferring internal funds.

Now is the time when the imperial court needs money, and his Yumajian is already self-sufficient.

However, although he was in a hurry, Zhu Youxiao turned to him and said with a smile:
"I didn't spend your eleventh birthday with you, and this time it's Chinese New Year, so I just got together to give you lucky money."

"How can there be a saying of two hundred thousand taels of silver New Year's money..." Zhu Youjian smiled helplessly, and Zhu Youxiao responded:
"I said yes, I am the emperor!"

"Okay..." Looking at the appearance of the good emperor, Zhu Youjian had no choice but to curl his lips and said: "Then I will reluctantly accept it..."

"..." Wei Zhongxian looked at Zhu Youjian's reluctance, and roared in his heart, "Give it to me! Give it to me! Give it to me if you don't want it! I want it!"

But after all, it is what is in his heart, if he dares to say it, he will probably be served by a dog head later.

During the time when Wei Zhongxian's heart was bleeding, Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao finished eating dumplings and pasta, and finally rinsed their mouths with bubble tea, and then spit out bubble tea.

The palace lady stepped forward to wash the teeth of the two of them again, and then the good emperor got up and said:
"Yuan Keli, the governor of Shandong that you recommended, has done a good job."

"What's the matter?" Zhu Youjian was very curious, and the good emperor brother said:
"He gave me seven strategies. The first strategy is to train the Liao soldiers; the second strategy is to win over the northern captives; the third strategy is to defend cautiously; Seven strategies to make good use of talents."

"He explained these few items and how to do them very clearly, very organized, and has more suggestions than many ministers in the court."

"To be honest, if my brother hadn't said that keeping him in Shandong could improve the situation in Shandong, I would have wanted to transfer him to Beijing and become Minister of the Ministry of War."

Zhu Youxiao couldn't help sighing, but Zhu Youjian said with a smile:

"Some things cannot be handled by sitting in a high position. It is easier to do it all the time at the bottom, just like my brother and I. I will do things that are inconvenient for my brother."

"Hehe...you are not wrong." Zhu Youxiao responded with a smile, and then said:
"Then Yuan Keli, who took office only one and a half months ago, organized the three battalions of Dengzhou, Jimo, and Wendeng, and gained nine thousand soldiers."

"I estimate that when the nine thousand soldiers and horses are trained well, he will start to attack Beiwosi."

"Isn't that very good?" Zhu Youjian said with a smile: "If Shandong can supply Liaodong, it will reduce the burden on the people of Liaodong."

"In addition, after the Shandong government affairs are clarified, my brother can also set up a separate political envoy for Liaodong."

Because the population of Liaodong was only tens of thousands in the early Ming Dynasty, neither Zhu Yuanzhang nor Zhu Di set up a chief envoy in the local area. Therefore, administratively, Liaodong is under the jurisdiction of Shandong.

If Liaodong can set up a separate chief envoy, it will be able to stabilize the hearts of most people in Liaodong.

Once the way of governing Liao by Liao is cleared up, and the financial situation of Ming Dynasty improves, the taxes of the people in Liaodong will be reduced, and the local army in Liaodong will be abolished and the land will be distributed equally to the people.

In this way, the mess left by the Wanli period and the impact of mining taxes can be minimized, and the Liao people will not make the move of preferring captives to the court.

"As for the establishment of the chief secretary, let's see how many people can be found in Liaodong after my brother..."

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Zhu Youjian, but Zhu Youjian said:

"It's easy for the people of Liao to investigate. After taking over the soldiers and horses of Ji Town, and then abolishing the guards in other places, the soldiers and horses of Liao Town can almost be abolished..."

"Having said that, has my brother ever thought about what the other eight towns will think after the replacement of Ji Town?" Zhu Youxiao specifically asked about this, and reminded:

"In the news from Beizhen Fusi, some generals in western Liaoning have a lot of criticisms about the Zhejiang soldiers and Sichuan soldiers stationed in Liaoshen..."

Zhu Youxiao is beating Zhu Youjian, or reminding him.

Among the conflicts between the southern soldiers and the northern soldiers, the most intense ones are the Liao soldiers and the Zhejiang soldiers.

The problem between the two parties arose during the Korean War. The reason was that Li Rusong ordered the Zhejiang soldiers to attack the most difficult places and ordered the whole army not to harvest the heads of the Japanese pirates.

In the end, everyone did this, but Li Rusong asked his servants to harvest the heads of the Japanese soldiers' corpses.

You know, probably a Japanese army head is worth fifty taels of silver. For this reason, the generals of the Zhejiang soldiers and other guest troops scolded Li Rusong in public.

Afterwards, Li Rusong naturally caused a lot of stumbling blocks for other soldiers and horses. Qi Jin was also in North Korea at the time, so he had certainly witnessed that scene.

Therefore, Qi Jin's revenge on the Liaodong generals is inevitable, and Qi Jin and Qin Bangping led [-] people to settle in Liaoshen.

But regarding this point, Zhu Youjian said:

"Brother, please rest assured, as I said before, the old slave is entrenched in the mountains, and only by fighting to support the internal stability."

"No accident, it should be in these few months, the old slave will raise heavy troops to invade Liaoshen."

"If it's true what my brother said, then it can be credited." Zhu Youxiao frowned slightly, and at this time footsteps also came from outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Wang An and two young eunuchs, who brought a thick stack of memorials, walked into the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and bowed to Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao:
"Long live, it's time to deal with the memorial."

"Okay, I see." Seeing Wang An walk in, Zhu Youxiao was a little displeased.

He was still immersed in the atmosphere of chatting with Zhu Youjian, and suddenly someone asked him to go to work, and no one would be happy to change it.

"Brother is busy first. I'll go to the armor factory to have a look. This time I will stay in the capital for about half a month. Brother don't need to miss me too much."

Seeing that brother Huang had to deal with the memorial, Zhu Youjian also stood up.

Zhu Youxiao nodded, and then expressed his last concern to him:

"After the beginning of spring, the water vapor will be heavy. Remember to ask people to add more firewood in Xuqin Palace."

"Well, I see." Zhu Youjian returned the salute and bowed, and then walked out of Qianqing Palace.

But when he walked out, Wei Zhongxian was waiting at the door, and when he saw him, he quickly laughed and said:
"Your Highness..."

"What?" Zhu Youjian looked at the wrinkled face of the old eunuch, and knew that he must have something to ask for his help.

Sure enough, as he expected, after Wei Zhongxian sent Zhu Youjian up the road to the outer court from Qianqing Palace, he apologized and said with a smile:
"Your Highness, Wang An..."

Hearing Wei Zhongxian's words, Zhu Youjian responded calmly and calmly: "You can also see that it's not that I don't want Wang An to go, even Wang An himself wants to go, it's the emperor who doesn't let him."

"But..." At this point, Zhu Youjian glanced at Wei Zhongxian and said:
"Your subordinate Wang Tigan is a pretty good person. You can try to recommend him as the eunuch of the Rites and Bingbi."

"Thank you, Your Highness, thank you, Your Highness..." Hearing these words, Wei Zhongxian's old face stretched out with a smile, like a blooming chrysanthemum.

"Okay, take good care of the emperor, you don't need to send it off." Zhu Youjian confessed, and then led the people out of the gate of Qianqing palace.

As for Wei Zhongxian, he just stood at the door with a poignant smile, waiting for Zhu Youjian to go away, and then happily turned around and walked towards Qianqing Palace.

On the contrary, Zhu Youjian took a look at the armor production in the armor factory, and then asked someone to leave the [-] taels he brought from Changping to Sun Liang, and then he returned to Xuqin Palace.

For the next month, he practiced horsemanship at the middle left back door every day, or went to the imperial dining room to get some delicious food.

But in this way, it was because rice noodles, rice noodles and other things were a bit to the emperor's appetite, so he was kept for half a month longer.

During the days when I stayed in the capital, I either ate something every day, or went out to the imperial city for a stroll. I saw a lot, but that was actually the case.

On the twenty-seventh of January, there was good news.

"Your Highness! Tongzhi Lu sent a letter, saying that he has arrived in Cangzhou with Qiu Tax, Cao Liang, and Deputy Commander Qi!"

At the beginning of spring, when Zhu Youjian was lying on a recliner in Xuqin Palace, covering his face with a cattail fan and basking in the sun, a young eunuch ran in overjoyed.

"Huh?" Zhu Youjian turned his head to the side and looked at the little eunuch with a cattail fan to block the glare of the sun. After he realized it, he sat up, took the letter in the little eunuch's hand, and opened it to read.

With a glance at ten lines, he quickly read the contents of the letter.

After reading it, he breathed a sigh of relief, because Lu Wenzhao and Qi Yuanfu would part ways halfway.

Qi Yuanfu will take [-] Zhejiang soldiers to Tianjin Wei, take a boat to go north along the coast, and go to Liaoyang to garrison.

If you take the sea route, you should be able to reach Liaoyang in less than a month, that is to say, you can reach Liaoyang before March.

"It's almost there..." Zhu Youjian touched his chin, but he remembered the military rations again, so he said to the little eunuch next to him:

"Send this letter to Qianqing Palace, show it to the emperor, and ask the emperor for me, can you directly transfer [-] shi of military rations to Qi Yuanfu, take a sea boat to Liaoyang, and use it as military rations for the two cities of Liao and Shen in disguise? gone."

"Yes..." The little eunuch nodded slightly, then paused and said to Zhu Youjian:
"By the way, Your Highness, General Qi from Liaoyang also sent a letter, saying that he sent someone to look at the terrain from Liaoyang to the Yalu River, and the southern part of Liaoyang. There are at least tens of millions of acres of arable land."

"but……"

"Speak!" Zhu Youjian frowned, disliking the way others hesitated.

The little eunuch was scolded and said honestly:

"Qi Zongbing said that there are twenty-one five guards in Haizhou, Gaizhou, Jinzhou, Fuzhou, and Yizhou in southern Liaoning. All officers are greedy for ink."

"It's the guards again..." Zhu Youjian felt a headache, he really wanted to abolish all the guards in Daming at once.

There are twenty-one five guards, nearly [-] military households, and nearly [-] million mu of cultivated land.

It was really abolished, and then the general garrisoned the land and distributed it to military households. It is estimated that the price of grain in Liaodong can be slightly stabilized.

But right now the generals in Liaoxi have not been cleaned up, let alone the guards in Liaodong.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian could only say to the little eunuch:
"Reply to Qi Jin, and say that the guards don't need to worry about it, and tell him and Qin Bangping to be more vigilant. The old slave should attack Liaoshen at the end of February or early March."

"Tell him to remember that Liaoshen cannot lose, and if he loses, he will lose everything!"

"Your servant understands..." The little eunuch responded honestly, and then saw that Zhu Youjian was not here to explain anything, so he prepared to go to the Qianqing Palace to deliver a message.

However, shortly after he walked out, a Jinyi guard walked into the courtyard of Xuqin Palace, knelt down on one knee and bowed to Zhu Youjian:
"His Royal Highness, Wang Zhangyin sent someone to send a message, saying that soldiers and horses have been trained, and Qingling has been completed."

"After three days, you can wait for His Highness, Long Live, and all officials to review at any time."

"There's good news..." Hearing this, Zhu Youjian stood up and stretched, and said to Jin Yiwei:
"Send the news to Qianqing Palace and tell the four guards and one battalion of the Imperial Horse Supervisor and the three guards of Habayashi that they can inspect at any time."

"In addition, after sending the letter, ask Cheng En to temporarily transfer the recruited people to various villages, so as not to let the officials see them."

"Yes..." Jin Yiwei returned the salute, turned around and left...

(End of this chapter)