The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Five years later.

In the autumn of the 21st year of the Hongzhi reign, a naval battle was taking place off the coast of Panama.

The Ming side was led by Zhu Houzhao, who was leading six medium-sized combat ships and was fighting against three Portuguese ocean-going gunboats.

"Strike at an angle of fifteen degrees to the right, then reduce it by two degrees, and get closer to the right side... closer... Can't you hear me when I tell you to get closer? Fire! Fire all at once!"

"Boom boom boom!"

"Damn it, my ears are almost deaf! We hit it! That ship is trying to escape, chase it! Raise the flag, ship number six chase from the right side!"

"I let these bastards come and seize my territory. Don't they know this place is mine? It's a transit point between South America and North America. If I can't protect it, I will be too ashamed to see anyone!"

"kill!"

After a fierce battle, two of the Portuguese ships were sunk directly. The remaining one fled in panic, but was still caught up by Zhu Houzhao and his men. In the end, the Portuguese raised the white flag and surrendered.

When Zhu Houzhao returned to Panama City with his spoils, including 32 Portuguese captives and 130 Inca captives, Zhu Houzhao was the Governor of Panama at that time, responsible for the public security of more than a dozen states in Central America surrounding Panama. He was the highest public security officer and the Prince of Central America of the Great Ming Dynasty.

"Your Highness, are you back?"

Qiu Ju was already quite old at this time. After spending several years overseas, he had changed a lot. His hair was all gray. He personally helped Zhu Houzhao off the boat.

Zhu Houzhao said: "You can call me anything you want. Calling me Prince is a bit strange."

"Yes, Your Highness." Qiu Ju said, "Lord Zhang is here and is waiting for you in the Governor's Mansion. He said he has an important matter to discuss with you."

"He's here? I haven't seen him for half a year. He doesn't even care about me. He really doesn't treat me as a human being. Let's go meet him!"

……

……

Inside the Governor's Palace.

Zhang Zhou met Zhu Houzhao, whom he had not seen for half a year.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao had matured a lot. In terms of age, he was still a young man, but he was fully mature. He followed him in his campaigns in the past few years, and later he was put in charge of the transfer of materials between North and South America in Panama, which made him a local lord.

"Mr. Zhang, have you wiped out the Incas? Why did the Portuguese bring them to cause trouble again this time? Three ships. Fortunately, I was prepared. I sent ships to follow them in advance and forced them into an encirclement..."

Zhu Houzhao became excited when he mentioned a previous war.

Zhang Zhou said: "The Incas can no longer resist stubbornly. In a few months, we will be able to completely conquer them."

"Then you are not in South America?" Zhu Houzhao asked curiously, "You came to my place just to see me?

Zhang Zhou took out a letter and handed it to Zhu Houzhao.

When Zhu Houzhao took the letter, his expression was obviously frozen.

"This is a letter your father wrote to you. His Majesty said in the letter that he has fallen seriously ill and may not be able to hold on for much longer. He hopes that you can return to Ming Dynasty to inherit the throne. Until now, you are still the crown prince. His Majesty did not change the heir, but only said that you should be trained outside."

Zhang Zhou said, "You have changed a lot in the past few years. Why don't you just listen to your majesty and go back?"

After reading the letter, Zhu Houzhao was still somewhat moved. He sat down and said, "Speaking of which, I also miss my father and mother, but after so many years, I have let it go. By the way, Mr. Zhang, my son is born."

"Yes, I have prepared a gift for him." Zhang Zhou said, "Twelve cities and six hundred thousand civilians. They are all Incas. They will migrate to Panama in batches and establish a huge state here. Will you go back? His Majesty will be very happy to see you and your grandson return."

Zhu Houzhao shook his head and said, "I originally wanted to say, give me a day to think about it, and then I will give you an answer. But now, I can tell you clearly that I will not go back. This is what I pursue. Let my father remove my position as the crown prince, and let Zhu Houxuan be the crown prince and inherit the throne in the future."

Zhang Zhou smiled and said, "Don't you regret it?"

"Tsk, who are you looking down on? I didn't expect to regret coming out with you. How interesting is this place? I have a wife and two concubines now, but...if my father knew that I was involved with those barbarians outside, he would be very unhappy...but they are also very good and take good care of me. I can't let them down."

Zhu Houzhao acted as if he was loyal and righteous.

Zhang Zhou nodded and said, "I'm glad you can accept it. The emperor of the Ming Dynasty has more power than a governor of Central America."

"But it's more tiring." Zhu Houzhao said, "I think if I want to be the emperor, I can lead my troops back at any time. As long as Zhu Houxuan doesn't do well, I will depose him and become the emperor myself. Mr. Zhang, will you help me?"

"Yes..."

Zhang Zhou smiled and said, "But you are just wishful thinking. How do you know that your brother will be a tyrant?"

"I'm talking about hypothetical situations," Zhu Houzhao said. "Just go and conquer South America. I'm fine staying here. By the way, the newly opened hospitals are already researching new drugs. You'd better go and take a look before you leave. I heard that there is a great shortage of drugs in the south. Bring some back..."

Unconsciously, Zhang Zhou felt that Zhu Houzhao in front of him had matured and had the potential to become a wise and holy ruler.

……

……

In the spring of the 22nd year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youtang died before Zhang Zhou returned.

Zhang Zhou did not receive any news about the exact day of death. It was not until the summer that he received the news of the emperor's death and the ascension of the new emperor to the throne.

Zhu Houxuan ascended the throne at the age of eight. He appointed Xie Qian as his chief minister and also as his regent. Xiao Jing, Chen Kuan and others assisted the prince in his work.

The next year's reign title was changed to Jingguang.

The Americas, as nominally a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, also record the years according to the Ming Dynasty's reign titles.

The eleventh year of Jingguang.

It was autumn again, and Zhu Houzhao had become the actual lord of Central America. That was why he was too embarrassed to ascend the throne, otherwise he would have become emperor himself.

The connected cities and the Panama Canal under construction are the proudest things in his territory. Because of his governance, Central America, as a cargo transit point between North and South America, has also become a trading city. Even many European countries will send fleets here to trade.

That day, Zhu Houzhao got dressed early in the morning and took his eldest son Zhu Zairong to wait for the fleet to dock.

"Father, is the Mr. Zhang you are talking about the one who came here a few years ago?" Zhu Zairong's personality was exactly the opposite of Zhu Houzhao's, he was very calm.

Zhu Zairong was Zhu Houzhao's eldest son, and he had three sons, but those three sons were all born to Native American women. Although Zhu Houzhao also took several women from the Ming Dynasty as princesses in the past two years, none of them had any more children.

"You little brat, behave yourself when you see Mr. Zhang later. You asked so many questions, and you won't be allowed to eat when you go back. If you ask too many questions, I'll ground you."

Zhu Houzhao has been in a bad mood recently.

Perhaps thinking of the methods his old father used to educate him and the thought of meeting Zhang Zhou, he felt even more uneasy. …

……

at last.

The teacher and student met again. Zhu Houzhao went over and hugged Zhang Zhou, and was reluctant to let go.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Zhou asked.

"Sir, you are old," said Zhu Houzhao.

Zhang Zhou smiled and said, "How can a person not grow old? In the blink of an eye, almost twenty years have passed. I have received another piece of news, saying that... His Majesty the Emperor... is seriously ill and has no children. I am afraid that..."

"what?"

When Zhu Houzhao heard this, he immediately became unhappy. "That kid, after all these years, doesn't he even have a child?"

Zhang Zhou said: "Your Majesty is only twenty years old now."

"Damn, you can have several children at the age of 20, what do you usually do?" Zhu Houzhao said, "Look at me, recently... uh."

Zhang Zhou glanced at him and said, "I heard that you have been not doing your job properly recently. You have been thinking about making trouble in Panama City every day, and even did a lot of things that angered the heavens and the people?"

"This... is... uh."

Zhu Houzhao had been living in peace for a long time, so he started to make trouble.

This is also in line with Zhu Houzhao's consistent character.

Zhang Zhou said: "But you haven't had any children recently, have you?"

"That's right." Zhu Houzhao said, "I don't know why. It was fine before, but in the past two years... I don't know why, it seems like I can't have children. Not even one is pregnant."

Zhang Zhou asked, "This time I want to ask you, are you still planning to do the same as last time...hand over the throne to someone else?"

Zhu Houzhao asked, "Did my brother send someone to inform me to go back and inherit the throne?"

Zhang Zhou shook his head.

"This kid, he obviously has a royal brother, but he didn't inform me of this? By the way, Mr. Zhang, has he sent people here in the past two years? I rarely see people from the Ming Dynasty here." Zhu Houzhao said.

Zhang Zhou said: "In recent years, our contact with the Ming Dynasty has become less and less. Later, I heard that the Ming Dynasty sent ships out to sea a few years ago, but they encountered several major storms and were completely destroyed. As a result, the court decided not to send ships out to sea anymore."

"Damn, they want to isolate us all?" Zhu Houzhao laughed, "I think it's because without you, they can't build a big ship?"

Zhang Zhou smiled.

Zhu Houzhao was right about this.

Technology not only requires innovation but also improvement, and the only person who can do this is Zhang Zhou. The Confucian tradition of the Ming Dynasty stifles innovation, and the result is... the large-scale shipbuilding technology is getting worse with each generation.

"It is very likely that your cousin will inherit the throne." Zhang Zhou said.

"Did it happen?" Zhu Houzhao asked.

Zhang Zhou nodded and said, "According to the date, it is very likely that... Your Majesty has... Hmm. If you don't go back, the throne will fall to your uncle's line. I heard that your uncle died last year, and now... your uncle's son will become the king of Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Houzhao said angrily: "How can I let them get away with it? I want to lead the troops back! I want to be the emperor!"

"If you go back like this, it would be a rebellion." Zhang Zhou said.

Zhu Houzhao smiled and said, "I have been too bored these years. Now those Europeans don't come to fight us anymore. Instead, they do business with us. I have made a lot of money. I even bought a few European women as my princesses... But you have been slow to send troops to fight Europe. I am too bored."

Zhang Zhou said: "So you plan to go back and become the emperor of Ming Dynasty first?"

"Yes." Zhu Houzhao said, "I will be the emperor first, and then hand the throne to that kid Zairong, and then come back to meet you, sir. Let's go to Europe together!"

"Are you the emperor?" Zhang Zhou asked with a frown.

"Okay!" Zhu Houzhao said, "Then it's settled."

……

……

October 6, the eleventh year of Jingguang.

Outside Panama City, more than a hundred warships were ready to go.

Zhu Houzhao, the former crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, was planning to take these warships and more than 30,000 soldiers back to rebel and take back the throne that originally belonged to him.

"Sir, wait for my good news." Zhu Houzhao stood on the deck and waved to Zhang Zhou below.

Zhang Zhou said: "Then I wish you good luck first."

Zhu Houzhao grinned and said, "Wait until I send my son to be the emperor, then I will come back to find you, and we will conquer the whole world together! You must wait for me to come back, you can't go alone!"

"I'll give you three years..." Zhang Zhou said.

"Fuck, who are you looking down on? It takes me three years to go back home?"

Zhu Houzhao said with great enthusiasm, "If it's quick, it will be done in three months. When I come back, I will be the emperor of this world, and I will go to places that no one has ever been to."

After that, the fleet started to set off.

The soldiers were in high spirits, and most of them were Inca immigrants, who now identified themselves as citizens of the Ming Dynasty.

But what the Ming Dynasty was was also very confusing to them, because it was something they could neither see nor touch.

Sun Shangqi stood beside Zhang Zhou, looking at the direction the fleet left, and asked, "Your Highness, will you come back?"

Zhang Zhou shook his head and said, "He won't come back."

"Didn't he say..."

"Being the emperor of the Ming Dynasty is his destiny. I hope to hear in the future that he becomes a wise and holy ruler of the Ming Dynasty, rather than a tyrant." (End) (End of this chapter)