The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

The Imperial Palace, inside the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Youtang called Zhang Zhou over and showed him something, which was a summary of Zhu Houzhao's recent schoolwork and several articles that Zhu Houzhao had just written.

"I have asked the lecturer of the Eastern Palace. Although he is not good enough, he has made considerable progress. The most important thing is that he has been studying seriously recently. I mean, you can go over and see him again. If he wants to go out of the palace for a walk, you can take him for a walk."

Zhu Youtang used to be very doting on the prince, but he was very cautious about the prince's outings.

After all, he only has one son, and if anything happens to him, it will be a difficult situation.

But now that he has a new son and Concubine Xian is pregnant again, he feels that there is nothing wrong in letting the prince go out to gain some experience and gain some knowledge.

Zhang Zhou said, "Your Majesty, do you not want to teach the prince a lesson again?"

Zhu Youtang sighed, "Speaking of which, I haven't paid much attention to the prince's studies in the past one or two years. Even this time when I returned to the capital, I didn't see him many times. I just wanted to let him know through this distance that he can't be arrogant because of his status as a prince. But how can I not feel sorry for him?"

As a father, I want to maintain a good relationship with my children, but I also want to put on airs.

Zhang Zhou suddenly seemed to understand this man who was almost at a loss as to what to do. Perhaps all men would have this kind of concern after they get married and have children.

In history, Zhu Youtang cultivated Zhu Houzhao into a mischievous and naughty emperor, which might be due to this reason.

Zhang Zhou said, "I understand. When should I go to see him?"

"Come back." Zhu Youtang said with a smile, "Recently, I asked the prince to continue studying hard, and also told him that if he can make progress in the next test, he will have the opportunity to go out of the palace. I am not very relieved if he leaves the palace, but if he goes to your place, I will be extremely worried. After leaving the palace, the prince likes to go to your places the most, and wants to see what you are doing."

Zhang Zhou sighed, "I am just doing some research."

"That's good." Zhu Youtang said, "Even I sometimes want to go out and see what you are doing. What you do is different from what everyone else in the court and the country does. You can't blame me for being too curious. It's really that what you do is often fascinating."

Zhang Zhou thought, you are listening to my story, and it is fascinating?

However, when you think about the fact that Zhu Youtang and his son actually have the same essential personality and both have a strong curiosity about unknown things, it is probably understandable.

The fact that Zhu Houzhao eventually developed into a foolish emperor was largely related to his father. As for whether this foolishness was good or bad, it all depended on how he was guided.

……

……

Zhang Zhou had lunch with Zhu Youtang, and then they chatted for a while before Zhu Youtang ordered Chen Kuan to escort Zhang Zhou out of the palace.

"Duke Cai, the emperor has ordered that if you have time in the next two days, you should also go to Duke Cheng's mansion." Chen Kuan rarely had the opportunity to be alone with Zhang Zhou. In addition to explaining what the emperor had ordered, he also wanted to establish a deeper friendship with Zhang Zhou.

Zhang Zhou said: "After Duke Cheng arrived in Beijing, he also wanted to visit me. Is it not appropriate for me to meet him like this?"

After all, Zhu Fu was a high-ranking official in charge of military affairs in Nanjing. As the Minister of War, it would be fine for Zhang Zhou to meet him in an official capacity, but it would be inappropriate if he met him privately.

Of course, no one in the court or the public would impeach him just for meeting Zhu Fu.

There were many people in the government and the public who said that he was doing evil things, especially in private, and they said all kinds of unpleasant things.

However, no one said that he wanted to rebel, mainly because he did not form factions, and as the Minister of War and the Governor-General of the Governor's Office, he did not focus all his energy on these two offices. In the impression of civil officials, those who rebel must be those who are very enthusiastic about state affairs. People like Zhang Zhou, who were inactive when serving as an official, were more in line with the style of a treacherous official.

Chen Kuan smiled and said, "It was ordered by His Majesty. The reason why this Duke Cheng came to Beijing was mainly for the defense of the south. Nanjing has been coordinating some ports and large shipbuilding along the Zhejiang coast for the past two years. In addition to the high cost, the transfer of personnel is also a problem. This time, His Majesty summoned him here to further calculate... and also to further subdivide the military affairs in the south."

Zhang Zhou said: "Your Majesty didn't mention it to me before."

"Your Majesty rarely meets with Duke Cai, so naturally he doesn't want to waste too much time discussing official business. There are some things that Your Majesty actually wants to resolve privately. For example, Duke Cheng previously led troops in the northwest and did not achieve any results. Your Majesty actually plans to train him again."

Chen Kuan talked a lot, and the messages he conveyed seemed very secretive.

But after Zhang Zhou pondered over it for a while, and considering that Zhu Feng didn't even know the purpose of his old father's coming to Beijing, he roughly understood that the Chengguo Mansion was actually very confused and uneasy about coming to Beijing.

Zhang Zhou also knew that the emperor's main purpose was to deprive the old meritorious officials of their power. The Chengguo Mansion and the Weiguo Mansion were both considered the main meritorious officials in Nanjing. Although the Weiguo Duke was now in Zhejiang, helping Zhang Zhou to manage the ports and coastal defense, he would also have some impact on the military stability of the Ming Dynasty.

Chen Kuan said, "Also, His Majesty has ordered that you should not meet the Duke of England recently. He has been submitting petitions recently, requesting to be able to resign from all positions. As His Majesty estimates, he wants to use some power to gradually transfer the affairs of the Beijing Camp from his hands to Zhang Rui's. Zhang Rui has made some achievements in the northwest now, but he is not yet at the point where he can take on the main responsibility alone."

After hearing this, Zhang Zhou understood even more clearly how deeply Zhu Youtang was wary of his old heroes.

Once the emperor wants to achieve success in military affairs, he must first eliminate those hindering forces. The old heroes seem to be serving the royal family, but they are all a group of conservative people. In Zhu Youtang's view, they are all obstacles to clearing the grassland.

This group of people can neither be expected to lead troops in battle on the front lines, nor can they be expected to guard the rear when the emperor personally leads the army to war.

Otherwise, Yingzong would be captured during the war, and the rear would simply replace him with a new emperor.

When an emperor wants to use his ministers to work for him, he will also be on guard against them. The factional struggles are often not a clash of forces, but the emperor's instructions and acquiescence behind the scenes.

Although Zhang Zhou seemed to be doing everything for the emperor, Zhu Youtang often used him as a gun, so that the emperor could wait for Zhang Zhou to help him eliminate potential unfavorable factors.

……

……

Zhang Zhou left the palace and was going directly to Duke Cheng's Mansion.

But he still chose to give the Duke Chengguo Mansion some time to prepare. He first asked Liu Gui to notify Zhu Feng and let Zhu Feng know that he would arrive at the Duke Chengguo Mansion in two hours, that is, before sunset.

After all, he is now the Minister of War and a big shot in the court. It would be better to notify others in advance where he is going.

Obviously, the people at the Chengguo Mansion didn't know what Zhang Zhou was going to do, so in order to prevent Zhang Zhou from coming to their house to call them to task...even though they themselves didn't know where their crime lay, they still quickly asked Zhu Feng to come and ask to see Zhang Zhou.

So before it got dark, in Zhang Zhou's theater, Zhu Feng brought the generous gifts prepared by her family to Zhang Zhou.

"Zhijie, what are you doing? We have known each other for such a long time, why are you still so formal?" Zhang Zhou said.

Zhu Feng said: "I don't know what's inside, but my grandmother found me today and asked me to deliver it." Zhang Zhou smiled.

The gifts sent by the Chengguo Mansion were not sent in the name of the head of the family, Zhu Fu, but were given by the Chengguo Taifu, Zhu Hu, who ordered the matter to be handed over to the grandson Zhu Feng, who had already set up his own family... In this way, even if someone said that the Chengguo Mansion was secretly communicating with Zhang Zhou, they would say that this was just a private relationship between Zhang Zhou and Zhu Feng and had nothing to do with the family.

"Who sent it to you? Does it matter?" Zhang Zhou said, "You represent the Duke Cheng's Mansion, and I'm going to visit you this time, so you just sent me a gift. Everyone knows what you're going to do. Take it back."

Zhu Feng said: "I only have the power to give gifts, not the power to take them back. If Brother Zhang doesn't want to accept them, then just take them with you when you go there."

Zhang Zhou seemed speechless.

Liu Gui beside him said with a smile: "My Lord, this is a gift from you, but when you take it back, what will we tell outsiders? They will think it was sent by my master."

"This..." Zhu Feng was obviously not a person with big ideas.

Zhang Zhou said, "Take this gift back to your own house first, and then I'll send it back to your family. Let's not talk about this now. You're asking on behalf of your family what I'm doing there, right?"

"Yeah." Zhu Feng is also a down-to-earth person.

He just agreed to whatever his family told him to do.

Zhang Zhou said, "I don't know if I understand it correctly. Your Majesty may want your father to stay in the north and fight another battle for a few months... or even until the end of the year before he can return to Nanjing."

"Ah?" Zhu Feng was shocked.

Others may not know what level of ability the old father has, but as his son, he knows a lot about it.

He used to think that his father was very awesome, but after he went to the battlefield several times and learned information through various channels, he realized that his father was actually a mediocre and incompetent person. It was just that he was isolated from the news before, and his family was praising his old father, so he mistakenly believed that his father was a rare talent.

It turned out to be just a worm.

Since you are just a worm, you still want to go to the battlefield. Isn't that tantamount to seeking death?
"Your father probably doesn't want to go, right?" Zhang Zhou asked.

"Yeah." Zhu Feng nodded very honestly.

Zhu Fucai is not the kind of minister with great ambitions. The only purpose of such a person's life is to live a life of idleness and wait for death. Enjoying power is good, and he is also good at suppressing his colleagues, but when it comes to the ability to fight foreign wars, there is basically no hope for him.

Zhang Zhou said: "Then your family may be stripped of power, and the title of Nanjing Military Commander will no longer fall to your father."

"Why is that?" Zhu Feng asked in surprise.

Obviously, what Zhang Zhou said exceeded his psychological expectations.

Haven't military affairs in Nanjing always been managed by the meritorious officials, eunuchs, and the Nanjing Minister of War? Why don't meritorious officials do that now?
Zhang Zhou said: "You can tell by looking at the current defense of the capital. Is there still someone in charge of the situation in the capital camp?"

Zhu Feng thought for a moment and asked, "Aren't you still here, Brother Zhang?"

"Don't talk nonsense, Zhijie. Have you ever seen me take care of the military affairs of the Beijing camp?" Zhang Zhou glared at him.

Zhu Feng seemed to understand something and nodded, "I see. In the past, the affairs of the Beijing Camp were basically decided by the Duke of Ying. It was said that the Ministry of War and the eunuchs in the Imperial Horse Administration could preside over military affairs, but in fact, most of the military orders came from the Duke of Ying's mansion."

Zhang Zhou said, "Isn't it the same in Nanjing?"

Zhu Feng thought about it and had to nod.

The defense of the capital is basically the same as that of Nanjing.

The meritorious officials were responsible for daily training, procurement and most of the daily trivial details, while the Ministry of War could only plan the general direction, and the Minister of War did not have so much time to manage the details of military affairs.

As for the eunuch admirals, they seem to have great power, but they are more of a supervisor. The main purpose of most eunuch admirals is to make money. As long as the money is managed well, there will basically be no problems. When it comes to leading troops to expeditions, the eunuch admirals are just a vase.

The admiral and the meritorious official became the person who actually commanded and mobilized the troops. Since it was rare for war to break out in the capital and Nanjing, it was very difficult for the Ministry of War to intervene.

This will result in the admirals and ministers becoming local lords to a large extent.

It was this situation that the emperor wanted to change. He first let Zhang Mao lead the troops in order to strike at his power and bring him down.

At that time, Nanjing's military affairs were still in the hands of the seemingly loyal Zhu Fu, but when Zhang Mao's problem was solved, wouldn't the next step be to solve the problem of Nanjing's military affairs? If Zhu Fu was sent to the frontier to lead troops, his fate would be very similar to Zhang Mao's.

Zhu Feng said: "Brother Zhang, you must help my father."

"How can I help?" Zhang Zhou said, "Speak to His Majesty and not let your father go to the border town to lead the troops? Or should I speak to His Majesty and let your father return to Nanjing and maintain the status quo?"

"This……"

Zhu Feng didn't know how to answer for a moment.

The emperor obviously wants Zhu Fu to be the second Zhang Mao, so now you should either go to a border town to lead troops and prove your strength so that the emperor can't find an excuse to reduce your power.

If you don't want to go, that's fine. Just divide the power and give it to different people to manage, just like the military power of the Beijing camp now.

If you don't want to take either, then you'd better die.

It is not impossible to die for one's integrity.

Zhang Zhou said, "That's probably all I can say. There are some things I don't know myself. Your Majesty didn't mention your father's matter to me today. It was only afterwards that Eunuch Chen from the Imperial Household Department mentioned it to me. If your father doesn't want to make a choice, that's fine. We can just wait for your Majesty's next arrangement. It might be simpler and more direct."

Zhu Feng asked: "Are you still going there?"

"Go ahead. It's fine to just go through the motions. Since you've come to ask, I'll give you some time. Go back and explain the situation to your father."

Zhang Zhou sighed, "Then I will wait until after dark, and then come to the gate of your Chengguo Mansion. Of course, there is another choice. If your father is afraid that he can't lead the army outside, he can take you with him. He can't do it, but you can, right?" (End of this chapter)