Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 369 Eldest nephew Zhu Ciran
"Your Highness Chitose..."

"Your Highness Chitose..."

On the first day of April, when hurried footsteps sounded on the Qianqing Palace Road, Zhu Youjian led a row of officials into the Qianqing Palace with stern faces.

As soon as they entered the Qianqing Palace, they heard the emperor's curses.

"Using ministers to kill the king is greedy and shameless!"

"As an elder brother, not only does he not show compassion to his younger brother, but he dares to usurp the throne in broad daylight, bully his nephew, and send someone to kill his nephew."

"The man who killed Jin Yiwei? I don't think he, Ba Shatong, knows what is called the teacher of the king, and what is meant to hang people and punish crimes!"

"Drafting an imperial decree, ordering Hong Chengchou to prepare troops, and after defeating Dongyu, call together the troops of Nanzhang and Ganbozhi to attack Bashatong together, and order him to return the government to his nephew Adiyewang"

"The minister of the next country, thank you Daming Saint Emperor!"

The roar of the emperor, the thank you from outsiders, these voices made many ministers who entered the Qianqing Palace bewildered.

"Sir, I respectfully invite Shengan..."

No matter what happened, everyone bowed and saluted after entering the hall, and respectfully greeted Sheng An.

"Brother came just in time. I want to send troops to attack Siam to suppress the ministers."

Standing on the dragon chair, Zhu Youxiao saw Zhu Youjian coming, as if he had a backbone, he hurried down, grabbed Zhu Youjian's hand and walked up to the high platform, and explained to him.

To put it simply, the king of Siam, Song Tan, was seriously ill last winter. According to the Siamese system, his brother Shi Lixin, who was the deputy king at the time, was the legal heir.

However, at the instigation of Bashatong and others, King Songtan appointed his eldest son Tsituo as his successor.

On the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month in the eighth year of the Apocalypse, Tsituo, who was only 15 years old, succeeded to the throne, and Prasathong proclaimed himself Phayaka Luofeng, similar to the regent, who held the real power of Siam.

Ba Shatong is Song Tan's cousin, and also an ambitious man. Since he was a boy, he has been actively planning to usurp power, seize the throne and other rebellious actions.

After taking office, he took advantage of his nephew's young age to monopolize the power, and at the same time sent troops to eliminate Song Tan's younger brother, Sri Shintoki.

At this time, Siri Shin, because he could not inherit the throne, had actually become a monk. According to the Siamese rules, he could not be shot.

However, Prasathon colluded with Yamada Nagamasa, the leader of the "Nipponcho (similar to Chinatown)" in Siam to implement the plan of "leading snakes out of the cave".

When Yamada Nagamasa met Murori Nobu, he told him that the Japanese mercenary army could help him regain the throne.

Shi Lixin believed it to be true, and left the monastery to return to secular life, preparing to seize the throne, and was convicted of "rebellion".

Seeing this, Bashatong sent troops to arrest Sri Shinshi and sentenced him to death. He was dispatched to Phetchaburi, where he was going to be locked in a pit and starved to death.

However, Shi Lixin has been the vice king for many years after all, so he naturally has his own influence.

Before he was starved to death, his subordinates led people to rescue him, summoned the old troops, launched an armed rebellion, and even conquered several cities.

At this time, Ba Shatong went to confuse his cousin, King Tseduo, and launched a counter-insurgency when he said that Sri Shinshin, and urged King Tseduo to mobilize Yamada Nagamasa and other Japanese mercenary groups to join the war.

The war was almost quelled within a few days, and Sri Shintoki was defeated and killed.

As soon as Mori Shintoki died, Yamada Nagamasa became a major obstacle to Bashatong's usurpation of the throne, because Yamada Nagamasa had always been loyal to King Songtan and King Tseduo.

Therefore, Bashatong continued to lure King Tsituo to indulge in his sensuality and slack off the government, while trying to win over, test and eliminate Yamada Nagamasa.

Due to the existence of the Ming Dynasty, the enemies in Japan and southern Siam were all eliminated, and only Toungoo in the west could fight. Therefore, Bashatong sent Yamada Nagamasa to the border, but King Tseduo didn't know it, and he was still sensual.

Finally, shortly after Yamada Nagamasa left Ayutthaya, Basha Tong began to imprison King Tseduo.

King Tsituo was not a fool, and immediately sent his youngest brother, Song Mutica, to abscond.

It was just that Song Mutica's absconding was known by Basha Tong, so he simply did not stop, calling all the officials and scribes of Daming in Ayutthaya City to the palace to attend the banquet.

With more than a dozen officials and more than a hundred scribes, Jin Yiwei sent a large army to wipe out everyone without any precautions, and released news that there was a plague in Ayutthaya City, covering up the facts.

After the whole process, to be honest, Zhu Youjian didn't care about the infighting in Siam. After all, whoever is infighting should obey Daming obediently.

However, as soon as he heard that Ba Shatong dared to kill a member of Daming, he immediately frowned, and Gu Bingqian, Bi Ziyan and others behind him also cursed.

"Shameless bastard!"

"Assaulting and killing angels is a crime to be punished!"

"It's time to send out troops, capture Ba Shatong alive, go north, and behead him in front of the Taimiao!"

The officials were scolding, but Zhu Youjian glanced at Lu Wenzhao, as if asking him why he didn't know that Siam Jinyiwei was killed.

Seeing this, Lu Wenzhao also shook his head, as if he thought that Ba Shatong could not be brave enough to kill Jin Yiwei.

Obviously, Song Mutica's words cannot be believed entirely.

Zhu Youjian glanced at Song Mutica, and Song Mutica felt Zhu Youjian's gaze and lowered his head slightly.

"There is something tricky..."

Zhu Youjian narrowed his eyes, but he didn't want to let go of this opportunity to win Siam.

This is not to say that Ming wants to fully occupy Siam and bring Siam under its rule, but that Zhu Youjian wants to deepen Ming's control over Siam.

Although Siam is very obedient right now, the relationship between the domestic economy and Ming Dynasty is not deep.

The imperial shop is only opened in its capital Ayutthaya City, and there is only one, and the annual income does not exceed 3 taels.

If Daming can take advantage of this opportunity to monopolize the whole of Siam with the imperial store, then even if he has to pay taxes to Siam, he can have an annual income of 60 million taels.

It is unrealistic to fully occupy the local area, not to mention its north-south depth, the cultural attributes of the local area alone are not in line with Ming Dynasty.

You can grant the status of the Siamese king as a consolation envoy, making his country a territory of Ming Dynasty, and then slowly migrate the Han people there in the future, and boil the frogs in warm water.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian bowed to Zhu Youxiao:
"Brother Emperor, I think that I can order Hong Chengchou to send troops to quell Toungoo first, then hoard soldiers and horses in the north of Siam to attract Siam's attention, and finally send the navy to capture the city of Ayutthaya to return the government to Adiyewang. "

"The minister waits for a second opinion..."

When Zhu Youjian spoke, all the officials naturally joined him, even Feng Quan, Shi Fenglai, Yao Zongwen, Han Yu, Zuo Guangdou, Sun Chengzong and others all bowed to him.

"Okay!" Zhu Youxiao nodded slightly, waved his big hand and said:

"Allocate 300 million taels of silver from internal funds, and urge Hong Chengchou to hand over the memorial of "Ping Dongyu" as soon as possible."

"The ministers are taking orders..." Zhu Youjian bowed in response, then glanced at Song Mutica, and finally said to Zhu Youxiao:

"Since that's the case, my younger brother will go back to the residence first."

"Aren't you going to stay for dinner?" Zhu Youxiao wanted to keep Zhu Youjian for dinner, but Zhu Youjian smiled lightly and shook his head:

"There are still hundreds of memorials in the mansion that have not been processed, come back tomorrow."

"That's okay." Zhu Youxiao felt a little regretful, and after sighing, he turned to look at Song Mutica:

"Song Mutica, don't worry, Daming won't sit idly by and watch the civil turmoil. You should rest well in the Siyi Pavilion."

"Thank you Daming Saint Emperor..." Song Mutica was very good at flattering, and he made up the title of "Da Ming Saint Emperor" to please Zhu Youxiao.

Zhu Youjian glanced at him, and then led all the officials out of the Qianqing Palace.

When he walked out of Qianqing Gate, he looked at Lu Wenzhao:

"How credible is what you said about him?"

"It's impossible for Ba Shatong to kill Jin Yiwei, unless he is a fool." Lu Wenzhao said without thinking.

Everyone can see that Daming's national power is in full swing, and the entire Nanyang is under the control of Daming, and the Palembang Mansion of Daming borders Siam, so it can deploy tens of thousands of troops to attack the city of Ayutthaya at any time.

In this case, it is impossible for Ba Shatong to kill Jin Yiwei.

"How long has it been since Siam's Jin Yiwei wrote?" Zhu Youjian frowned and asked, and Lu Wenzhao bowed in response:

"The last reply was half a month ago, and the handwriting was written by hundreds of local households. I suspect that they should have been threatened and imprisoned by Bashatong."

"Bashatong probably wanted to wait for Adiyewang and other crown princes to die, then make the news public, and finally plead guilty to the court."

Lu Wenzhao's words are very reasonable, because when civil strife broke out in the Indochina peninsula and the Ming kingdoms, all the usurpers basically did the same thing.

After killing the crown prince, he is the only blood of the old king. It is naturally impossible for Daming to kill this man and make the royal family extinct. Therefore, most of the time, he would scold him and then appease him.

There are so many actions of seniors in front of Bashatong who can learn from it, so it is naturally impossible for him to kill Jin Yiwei in a flash of brain.

Killing the Crown Prince would be the most reprimanded by Da Ming, but killing Jin Yiwei would force Da Ming to send troops.

"Send someone to Siam to find out the news first, and tell Hong Chengchou not to rush to fight Toungoo, but to repair the road first and then fight. There is no rush."

Just now, in front of Song Mutica and all the officials, Zhu Youjian couldn't refute his brother, but he knew very well that if he wanted to fight Dongyu, he had to guarantee the logistics first.

To ensure logistics, we must first carry out road construction.

Although the road of more than 200 miles is very long, it cannot hold back that Hong Chengchou still has millions of cochin criminals in his hands.

The detonators have already been produced by the Military Armament Academy, and the current Ming Dynasty is no worse than the infrastructure at the end of the [-]th century just because of the explosion of mountains and mining.

What's more, the [-]-mile road is not a new construction by blasting the mountain, but widening the original post road and laying cement.

The Kunlong post road is one foot wide, built with fried earth and stones, needless to say how strong it is.

Hong Chengchou only needs to use detonators to widen the post road, and then lay cement on the original Tanshi post road, and reinforce it with pig iron in some places.

As long as the detonators can keep up, it will take a year or two to build this road.

"What is the production of detonators now?"

Zhu Youjian asked Lu Wenzhao, and Lu Wenzhao also bowed and responded: "The Yanshan Gunpowder Bureau can produce 60 catties a month, and [-] catties of gunpowder."

"In addition, grenades, percussion guns, steam engines and other things are all being studied. Bi Shilang asked Your Highness to go to the Armament Academy when you have time."

"Hmm..." Zhu Youjian nodded slightly when he heard the monthly production of detonators and gunpowder.

He had long wanted to visit the Armament Academy again, but he couldn't get away from his busy schedule recently.

Gather all the vassals, introduce them to Levia, and then attack Toungoo, and the war against the vassals in India, as well as Yan Siqi's Northern Expedition in Japan, the severe drought in the country, immigration...

There are already many things to do, and now this incident in Siam has appeared. It is estimated that he will have to deal with these things in the next few months.

"Let Xu Xiake go to the palace."

"Yes……"

Zhu Youjian explained to Lu Wenzhao, and then sat on the elephant seat, and Lu Wenzhao also sent someone to summon Xu Xiake, while he returned to the Zhenfusi Yamen.

Zhu Youjian, who was riding an elephant ride back to the mansion, was thinking about things all the way. Among them, the thing that made him think deeply was the matter of the kings of South Asia becoming vassals.

For Daming, as long as this place is taken down, the population and market of this place will be enough for Daming to eat for hundreds of years.

With a simple salt tax, nearly 600 million people in South Asia can contribute [-] million taels of tax silver to Daming.

Even if taxes still need to be withheld to the local vassals, Daming can still get one-third of it.

This is just salt, and the amount of other taxes such as tea, wine and iron is even more enviable.

The feudal lords get two-thirds, and Daming gets one-third. The tax money of millions of taels is enough for Daming to further reduce agricultural taxes.

However, it is not so easy to control the place where the feudal vassals live. It will test the governing ability of the emperor and the cabinet team.

So in any case, it is necessary to cultivate talents, especially the cultivation of Zhu Ciran.

When he thought of this, the carriage also stopped at the gate of Prince Qi's Mansion.

Zhu Youjian got up and got out of the car. The Daxingying soldiers at the gate bowed and sang salutes, and he nodded slightly and walked into the mansion.

The soldiers followed, and a group of people guarded him, escorted him to the gate of the inner court and left, while Zhu Youjian walked into the inner court.

It's just that as soon as he entered the inner court, Zhu Youjian saw three figures, one big, two small, and three before taking a few steps.

"Master Xu, you said that all the people in Levia are Kunlun slaves with dark skin?"

"Yes, Your Highness..."

"Is the sea yellow?"

"My outlet towards the coast is yellow, but when I go a little deeper into the sea, it's azure and dark blue."

"Since there is gold in Levia, why don't the local natives mine it?"

"They don't have their own country and culture, they only know hunting."

"Then Master Xu, have you finished visiting the real world?"

"Ashamed to say, I only went to the south of Levia, which the Europeans call the Cape of Good Hope."

"Then can you take me with you next time?"

"This one……"

"Okay, Ran'er, have you both done your homework?"

When Zhu Youjian walked in, he found that his eldest nephew was pestering Xu Xiake at the moment, asking Xu Xiake to explain overseas knowledge to him.

"We're done, Uncle Wang." Zhu Ciran replied to Zhu Youjian, and then pestered Xu Xiake to ask:

"I can go to Director Xu after I finish my homework. Do you know anything about overseas?"

"This..." Xu Xiake glanced at Zhu Youjian with a look of embarrassment on his face, but Zhu Youjian waved his hand and said:

"As a prince, it is normal to know more about overseas countries. Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you be victorious in all battles."

"Yes..." Xu Xiake bowed back when he heard the words, and Zhu Ciran smiled cheerfully when he saw this:

"Then I will go to see Mr. Shi every day."

"Yes..." Xu Xiake could only nod his head, and at the same time sighed inwardly.

"Let's go..." Zhu Youjian walked towards the study, Xu Xiake followed closely after seeing this.

Zhu Ciran wanted to follow, but was held back by Li Dingguo: "I forgot when did Your Royal Highness ask you to return to the palace?"

Li Dingguo's words made Zhu Ciran lose face in an instant, but he had no choice but to be sent out of Qi Palace by Li Dingguo, and someone sent him back to the palace with Zhu Youjian's elephant.

When he returned to the study after seeing off Zhu Ciran, Zhu Youjian and Xu Xiake were already sitting at the main seats, with hot tribute tea on the table.

Seeing this, Li Dingguo sat next to him at the first place on the left, propping his chin to watch His Royal Highness chatting with Xu Xiake.

"It takes at least [-] months to go back and forth to this place in Levia. It may be difficult to arrange people to go there."

"What's more, the land above is barren and needs to be improved before it can be cultivated."

"It's just the environment. What's really hard to control is the high mountains and the long distances caused by the distance. As far as the feudal lords here are likely to disobey discipline."

"Your Highness's thoughts, I'm afraid..."

Holding a cup of tea, Xu Xiake hesitated to express his thoughts.

Just facing his thoughts, Zhu Youjian asked back:
"If it only takes ten months or eight months to go back and forth, do you think it's easy for the feudal clans after the old feudal clan to be controlled?"

"If we set up a supervisory department on Xianlao Lengzu Island and the southern tip of Levia, maybe we can manage it..." Xu Xiake didn't know why Zhu Youjian asked this question, but it didn't prevent him from answering.

"If it departs from the old port, how much is the voyage?" Zhu Youjian continued to ask, and Xu Xiake also replied:

"If the voyage is cut in half, it should take four months to go back and forth."

"Okay..." Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, tapping his hands on the table, as if he was thinking about something.

After a while, Zhu Youjian continued to speak: "How many do you think are willing to go to Levia if the kings are called together?"

"This..." After pondering for a few seconds, Xu Xiake hesitated and said:
"I'm afraid not many people are willing to go there. After all, Levia is no different from the wilderness, and the gap with South Asia is like the gap between South Asia and Daming."

"What if you tell them that there is gold in the local area?" Zhu Youjian's words were astonishing, but Xu Xiake was immediately dumbfounded when he heard the words.

"If you tell me that there is gold, it's a little hard to say..."

He said so, and Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, but then Xu Xiake added:
"If you want them to become a vassal, the lower officials think that the court needs to pay the money and people themselves, and send a group of people there first."

"Not only that, the imperial court must at least solve the food problem first."

As he said that, Xu Xiake told Zhu Youjian about the agricultural problems that he might encounter in the local area.

The first is the local land. Except for a small amount that can be directly cultivated, most areas are tropical rainforests and deserts.

Tropical rainforests are also called rainforest deserts, and the land adjacent to them needs to be intensively cultivated for several years and requires a lot of manpower.

For now, this time when Xu Xiake and others went south, they basically relied on the vegetables on the boat, the rain in the sea, and the fruits from Levia.

There are only a few hundred people in their group. Once tens of thousands of people want to move there, depending on the local situation, they must either prepare silver and buy grain from Ottoman and Persia in the north, or they can only transport enough rice and wheat from Daming.

However, Zhu Youjian actually understood what Xu Xiake said a long time ago, so what he was most concerned about was how much manpower and material resources can be used to reclaim arable land.

"If it is in the south of Levia and Xianlao Lengzu Island, I only see the local Europeans planting corn, wheat, cotton, beans and other crops."

"The lower officials have asked about it. About three years of intensive cultivation by three people, composting and accumulating manure can basically change the local soil quality and use the land to cultivate jade and wheat."

"In addition, the local area is actually suitable for farming and animal husbandry, and it is completely possible to graze locally."

"Currently, the number of Europeans in southern Levia is only two to three thousand. The imperial court only needs to move tens of thousands of people at one time to annex them."

Xu Xiake made the matter clear, and Zhu Youjian touched his chin when he heard this.

Generally speaking, it is still the same sentence, as long as Levia has land and gold, the feudal vassals will naturally go there.

But relocating to Levia, it is naturally impossible to charge such a high price as relocating to South Asia.

The only advantage is that the southern part of the area is basically primitive, and only one battalion of troops is needed to open up the territory of a province.

"For the matter of Levia, after the feudal lords arrive in the capital these days, I will ask them to ask you for advice."

"As for you, you should rest for a while, and when the war in South Asia is over, you can prepare for your second voyage to the West."

"Yes!" Xu Xiake was ecstatic when he heard Zhu Youjian's words, and he also took the opportunity to say something about himself.

"Your Highness, Your Majesty wrote a book called "Journey to the West". I wonder if it can be published? Please rest assured, Your Highness, everything about gold, silver and copper mines has been removed from the book."

"No problem, just publish it." Zhu Youjian waved his hand, and he also hoped that the people of Ming Dynasty would learn more about the outside world, instead of squatting in the inland provinces of the two capitals and sixteen provinces of Ming Dynasty, standing still.

"Then I will leave..." Xu Xiake got up, bowed to Zhu Youjian in return, then turned and left.

After he left, Li Dingguo, who had been silent all this time, opened his mouth and said:

"Why is Your Highness always in a hurry to seal off the feudal vassals?"

"If you don't block it out, will you stay and harm your own people?" In one sentence, Zhu Youjian expressed his position.

It is true that there are some good people and virtuous kings among the feudal clans, but most of them are assholes.

To let them stay in the country is to let the prestige of the royal family be trampled.

Either go out or stay and be honest, this is what Zhu Youjian wants to tell the kings.

"Your Highness, you won't send me out in the future, will you?" Li Dingguo was a little melancholy, but Zhu Youjian said with a smile:

"What? It's uncomfortable to stay in the palace, do you want to go out for a walk?"

"No..." Li Dingguo shook his head like a rattle, and then he said:

"It seems to me that the prince is very interested in going overseas. I'm afraid that the prince will go out at that time, and His Highness will send me to follow him out to protect him."

"..." Zhu Youjian was silenced by Li Dingguo's words. He thought about the scene where his eldest nephew asked Xu Xiake about overseas scenery just now, and seemed to realize that he had done something wrong.

"However, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince probably wouldn't be willing to be willing to go out and starve in the cold..."

Li Dingguo propped his chin and talked in every possible way, but Zhu Youjian didn't know what to do.

He thought about his group of old ancestors, swallowed:
"probably not……"

　It had already returned to normal updates, but for some reason, I suddenly had a high fever last night.

　　No sore throat, just a headache and shaking his head, feeling uncomfortable and in a trance.

　　I don't know if it's a cold or a recovery...

　　The second watch comes out before twelve o'clock.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)