King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 818: The Envoy Cries in the Court
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, another half a year has passed. The situation in both countries, Ayutthaya and Myanmar, has gotten out of control, and rebellions have broken out in each country.

Of course, the rebellion was instigated and supported by someone, and it was self-evident who it was, so Zhu Jinghong issued an order to suppress the rebellion.

The three military governors of Yunnan, Guangxi and Annan, plus the Annan Xingdusi, totaling 50,000 troops, and 10,000 troops from the Beijing camp that were transferred in advance, marched into Ayutthaya and Myanmar.

In a war of this magnitude, Zhu Jinghong sent many of his trusted generals to serve as front-line commanders of the front. Governor Wan Zehui could only take charge of the overall situation and was specifically responsible for logistics coordination.

Only three months later, when the situation had stabilized, Britain and France directly joined the war, and then the real war began.

The 60,000 Ming troops plus the Four-Nation Allied Forces totaled 130,000, while the British and French had 30,000 troops plus the rebels totaling 100,000. In terms of military strength alone, the Ming army had the advantage.

Before long, it was the third year of Qiansheng. In the first month of the year, Zhu Jinghong had another son, born to Baoqin, and named him Zhu Muling.

The war on land was going on, but the situation at sea changed suddenly. The confrontation between the navies of both sides became more intense, but neither side was determined to go to war, even though the other side had already fought to the point of being defeated.

In June of the third year of Qiansheng, smoke of war rose again in the northwest. It turned out that Britain and France once again joined forces with Russia and agreed to jointly advance eastward to destroy the Ming Dynasty.

For a time, both the north and the south were in chaos. Such a situation put a great test on the mentality of the coach, but the Ming Dynasty had only one coach.

Fortunately, Zhu Jinghong was well-trained and was not at all panicked in the face of such a chaotic situation. Instead, he boldly recruited generals and promoted newcomers, and encouraged the generals to give it their all with a tolerant attitude.

In May of the third year of Qiansheng, the decisive battle in the northwest broke out. Hou Jing commanded his 30,000 troops and defeated the enemy's 40,000-strong coalition force in one fell swoop. After that, the overall situation in the northwest was stabilized.

In the past ten years, Luosha has suffered a series of casualties. They will not march eastward again for at least twenty years.

In June of the third year of Qiansheng, Tanchun gave birth to a daughter for Zhu Jinghong, and named her Zhu Xianyan.

The pressure in the northwest was greatly reduced, and a great naval war finally broke out, causing turbulence on the ocean.

The Ming army's supply lines were much closer, while countries like Britain and France had to send their troops on long expeditions. Once the colonial ammunition stocks were used up, it would be much more difficult to replenish them.

When the gap in troop strength is not too large, war not only tests the commander's tactical level, but also tests the logistical support capabilities.

The current battle between the two sides can be seen as a war of attrition, so the balance of victory naturally tilts towards the Ming army.

In the spring of the fourth year of Qiansheng, when the decisive battle on the sea was about to break out, the two cunning Britain and France retreated one after another.

The Portuguese and Spanish fleets were slower and were entangled by the Ming army's main fleet, and were eventually wiped out.

Britain and France fled far away, and won the decisive battle at sea without fighting, which was a symbolic turning point in their great defeat.

In the subsequent land wars, Britain and France suffered successive defeats until they finally withdrew to the Indian region.

Although the Ming army won, it was difficult to pursue them due to the high mountains and long rivers. The battle, which lasted nearly two years, finally came to an end.

In June of the fourth year of Qiansheng, Britain and France signed an armistice agreement with the Ming Dynasty. After ceding the Spanish and Portuguese colonies to the Ming Dynasty, they established spheres of influence on land with the Ming Dynasty. Only then was the war truly over.

The war was over, but small-scale fighting did not stop. The Ming army also had to stabilize Southeast Asia and took advantage of this change to split the four countries.

The original four countries eventually became nine, and the imperial court achieved its goal of divide and rule.

In August of the fourth year of Qiansheng, the troops drawn from various military divisions were withdrawn one after another, and then the troops drawn from the Beijing camp also began to withdraw.

The war lasted for more than two years, and the imperial court lost a huge amount of wealth, but it also demonstrated the power of the Ming Dynasty and expelled Western forces. In the future, there will be fewer obstacles to the Ming Dynasty's expansion.

It can be said that this war brought about ten to twenty years of peace, and even won the nation a fifty or even a hundred years of advantage.

In October of the fourth year of Qiansheng, snowflakes were flying in the capital, and in the Shanglinyuan military camp, there was a solemn and murderous atmosphere.

In this battle, Zhu Jinghong recruited a large number of emerging generals, pushed them to the front line, and replaced many old generals.

For the military, these generals with more advanced thinking will greatly enhance the army's combat effectiveness.

For Zhu Jinghong, these generals who he promoted were now distributed throughout the army, which further strengthened his control over the army.

In addition, the endless prestige he has accumulated over the years has made him equivalent to something in the military, the kind that can add buffs to the army's charge.

This is not a joke, but a real thing that happened. When the line infantry charged, the soldiers shouted words like "loyalty to the emperor", which really boosted morale greatly.

I am the country, I am the army, which is an objective description of Zhu Jinghong.

Today in Shanglin Garden, Zhu Jinghong will review the meritorious troops. In addition to the imperial guards and the Beijing camp, the selected dusi and xing dusi have also sent their troops with outstanding military achievements to Beijing.

At this moment, eight phalanxes of the imperial guards, thirteen phalanxes of the Beijing camp, five phalanxes of each line of duty, and fourteen phalanxes of each participating war commander were lined up in a neat row on the parade ground.

Normally, the leader of the square formation is a thousand-household-level officer, but this time they are all commanders, and there are both officers and soldiers in the square formation.

It is the supreme honor to be reviewed by the emperor. Everyone wants to be reviewed, so it is not surprising that this phenomenon occurs.

Amid a freezing cold wind, Zhu Jinghong had arrived at the parade ground in a sedan chair, accompanied by generals from the Five Military Commanderies, cabinet ministers, and officials from the six ministries.

The military parade was supposed to be in military uniform, but Zhu Jinghong thought it was too cumbersome, so today he wore the emperor's regular uniform, which was an ochre-yellow dragon robe and a winged cap.

The senior generals of the Five Military Commanderies each wore the dragon robes bestowed by the emperor, while the civil officials wore ordinary clothes.

When they arrived at the parade ground, Zhu Jinghong was chatting with the generals while the officials of the Imperial Stables had already brought the horses, which were to be used for Zhu Jinghong's military review.

Regarding the military parade, there is a set of rules recorded in the ceremonial code, but Zhu Jinghong doesn't like that set, so today he wants to review the troops on horseback.

In fact, ever since he took over as the leader many years ago, military parades have basically been conducted in this way, even on the front lines.

After talking to everyone for a while, Zhu Jinghong still climbed onto the horse nimbly.

Afterwards, several governors also mounted their horses. Only these top generals were qualified to follow the emperor from a distance.

As for the others, they had to wait in the stands, where the emperor would watch the march.

When the time came, Zhu Jinghong rode forward first. After he had walked about three meters, several generals followed him on horseback.

"I wish your majesty a long and healthy life!"

"I wish your majesty a long and healthy life!"

"I wish your majesty a long and healthy life!"

As Zhu Jinghong marched, every time he arrived in front of a square formation, there were shouts like a landslide.

He is the emperor, but this is only his most basic identity. In the army, he is a god, a god who leads the Ming Dynasty from victory to new victory.

The shouting is just superficial; the burning look in everyone's eyes is more telling.

From the soldiers' perspective, the emperor riding past on horseback in the distance really looked like a god, shining brightly for thousands of miles.

Zhu Jinghong felt this blazing wave, and officials in the distance also saw it.

Everyone knew that this emperor's power was undoubtedly greater than that of the previous emperor, and could even be compared with that of Emperor Taizu.

With such an emperor, no one and no faction could disobey him. It was common for Qian Gang to make his own decisions and follow the laws.

Ten minutes later, Zhu Jinghong came to the stands. The senior civil and military officials present were all submissive, or more precisely, servile. Then the parade began, with each formation marching in turn, passing in front of the stands, with loud cheers one after another.

After the military parade, Zhu Jinghong led his generals away. Later, he would hold a banquet for all his ministers in the Wuying Hall as a summary of the war over the past two years.

After returning to the palace from Shanglin Garden, Zhu Jinghong had no time to rest for a moment because he had not yet read today's chapters and reports.

In addition to the war, there have been major changes in the court in the past two years, especially personnel changes.

Among them, the more prominent ones were the retirement of former Second Minister Zheng Zhiqing, the appointment of Minister of Rites Luo Guangde to the cabinet, and the promotion of Vice Minister of Works Jia Yucun to Minister of Rites.

Speaking of the cabinet, Prime Minister Zhao Yushan is still in office. It has been thirteen years since he took charge of the cabinet. This is an outrageous thing.

But everyone knows that Lord Zhao will soon step down, because the nationwide land survey has been completed in the first half of the year.

Having accomplished this great feat, Zhao Yushan had no regrets, so at this moment he submitted his retirement petition and appeared in front of Zhu Jinghong.

This is the third time this has happened.

He rejected it the first two times, so it is time to approve it now.

This was a memorial without a draft, so Zhu Jinghong had to approve it personally. He picked up a pen and wrote the four words "I reluctantly comply with your request".

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Now there is a problem, who to add to the cabinet, and he has two choices.

One is the current Minister of Revenue He Gujin, and the other is the current Minister of Rites Jia Yucun. Both of them were promoted by him.

In terms of ability, these two people are actually about the same. To be more precise, the six ministries and nine officials, and even the lower-level assistant ministers, have similar personal abilities, so it makes sense to choose either one.

Of course, this matter is not urgent. After all, there are still two ministers in the cabinet, and there is no problem in maintaining daily operations.

About an hour later, Zhu Jinghong finished reviewing the memorial and was about to have lunch when Baochai came to the Qianqing Palace.

"I am truly terrified to disturb Your Majesty's meal!" Baochai smiled, not showing any fear at all.

After motioning him to sit down, Zhu Jinghong asked, "Why are you here at this time? Are those two guys making trouble again?"

The two boys he was talking about were his eldest son Zhu Muzhen and his second son Zhu Muzhen. As for the third son Zhu Mudong, he was only two years old and did not have the ability to make trouble with his brothers.

The eldest brother is now eleven years old, and the fourth brother Zhu Muzhen is now seven years old. The latter is at an age that even dogs hate, so it is not surprising that the brothers are quarreling.

Therefore, when Zhu Jinghong mentioned these two guys, Baochai felt extremely headache, and now she only liked the young Zhu Mudong.

"No... I came here today to report something else to you!"

"What is it that requires you to go there in person?"

"The total amount of rewards given to the ladies of various families is really too large. It will cost two million taels at once. This... you have to agree!"

Just this time's reward would cost two million in silver, which is indeed an outrageous number.

It should be mentioned here that the high-intensity warfare in the past two years has taken a huge toll on the court's finances. The already abundant treasury has been reduced from 30 million to 13 million.

The treasury was not much better, with deposits dropping from 12 million to 7 million.

There are still many areas of expenses after the war, such as the replacement of military weapons and equipment, and soldiers' pensions, so spending another two million at one time is indeed a big deal.

"Spend it when you need to. Why save so much money? Isn't it enough as long as you can make money?" Zhu Jinghong said calmly.

He could indeed remain calm. The court's land and commercial taxes were now abundant, and the annual equivalent of these taxes was about 70 million silver taels. If there was no war, the fixed annual expenditure would be around 30 to 50 million.

In other words, as long as there was no war or natural disasters, the court could have a surplus of more than 30 million yuan a year, so Zhu Jinghong was not afraid of spending money at all.

"Since you say so, I can let go and use it!"

In fact, Baochai knew the result before she came, but she still had to ask for instructions on such an important matter, which showed her prudence and tact.

At this time, Zhu Jinghong asked, "Have you had lunch?"

Sighing, Baochai replied, "I have so many things to do, how can I have time to eat!"

"If you don't mind, eat with me!"

With a smile on her face, Baochai said, "Come to think of it, it's been a while since we've had a meal together!"

There are many women in the harem, each with different styles. Zhu Jinghong is simply too busy to handle them all. It is normal for her, the queen, to be neglected.

Baochai had anticipated this, so she spoke calmly without any complaints.

She shouldn't have complained. After all, she was still one of the people who received the most favor from the emperor, not to mention that she was the Empress of the Central Palace and had three sons.

Soon it was afternoon, and many civil and military officials had arrived at the Wuying Palace one after another, along with envoys from various vassal states.

Inside and outside the Wuying Palace, the Dragon Guards increased the number of guards, and the guards from the Qianqing Gate also arrived early.

At about 6 p.m., when Zhu Jinghong rushed to Wuying Palace, the ministers who had been notified came out to greet him. A total of more than 400 people lined up outside the Wuying Gate.

Zhu Jinghong arrived in a sedan chair, surrounded by people from the Imperial Household Department. At this moment, he was still wearing his casual clothes, but the ochre yellow in the daytime was now purple, making him look a little more friendly.

"Your Majesty, long live your Majesty!"

After getting off the sedan chair, Zhu Jinghong came among the ministers. Looking around, he saw people everywhere paying homage.

This was an extremely formal banquet. In addition to the imperial censors who were there to monitor discipline, there were also people from the Northern Pacification Office and the Eastern Depot watching over it. No one dared to be disrespectful in the slightest.

Zhu Jinghong did not call him directly, but walked into the palace gate, followed by a group of eunuchs.

Just as he was about to ask Yu Hai to tell everyone to stand up, a cry was heard in this quiet scene.

That’s right, it was crying, and the sound was getting louder and louder, which surprised Zhu Jinghong.

Not only did he hear it, but all the civil and military officials at the scene heard it. However, no one dared to move and could only use their ears to determine the direction of the sound.

The censors who were on the scene to supervise discipline had no scruples and looked directly for the source of the sound. They soon discovered the problem.

The people of Jinyiwei were no exception. The commander-in-chief Chen Yuntai was also there. He was seen personally leading two captains and heading towards the crying man.

Just from his clothes, everyone could tell that this person was an envoy from Japan.

The Embroidered Uniform Guards arrested the man and took him away according to the censor's instructions, while Zhu Jinghong turned around again and walked towards the palace gate.

The incident ended just like that, and it seemed insignificant, but most people speculated that there would be a follow-up, perhaps another big deal.

"Let someone ask clearly!" Zhu Jinghong ordered in a deep voice.

"Yes!" Yu Hai agreed.

(End of this chapter)