Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 764 Miscellaneous Matters
At the Qinhuai River ferry, the two princes had a brief exchange and felt sympathy for each other.

However, they could only vent their complaints quietly here. In the end, what the two of them were most curious about was the reason for the summons.

After all, both of them have already been enfeoffed, and it stands to reason that they would not be summoned lightly unless there is something important.

Is there anything major this year? Of course there was. The whole court was trembling with fear over Hu Weiyong's incident, but to be honest, it had nothing to do with the two brothers.

Apart from that, there are external affairs. Although there have been some unusual movements among the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty in the North, Wanzhe Buhua has already been captured. And if you calculate the time when the two brothers received the summons, the Northern Yuan Dynasty had not yet moved.

The situation in Yunnan is similar. Although the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty there are holding on, they have not been able to make any major noise for a long time.

In the end, Zhu Chong, who had experienced military service, put the matter aside for the time being:
"What's the matter? Won't you know it naturally when you see your elder brother?"

Zhu Gang also agreed with this. After all, when the two brothers were scolded by their father, it was all thanks to the eldest brother's mediation that they did not incur more severe punishment from their father.

Outsiders may not be clear about this, but as the Crown Prince's own brothers, the two brothers know very well how much their father values ​​their eldest brother.

However, Zhu Gang also did not forget to warn:
"Now that we have entered Yingtian Prefecture, Second Brother still needs to be more careful in what he does. After all..."

"I know it."

Zhu Chong nodded to show that he understood.

He has now begun to experience some of the happiness in his fiefdom, so it is not difficult for him to be patient when he is by his father's side and learn from his elder brother to be a good son. After all, he will have time to enjoy himself when he returns to his fiefdom.

The plan was very clear, but what Zhu Chong and Zhu Gang did not expect was that after only two years away from Beijing, Yingtian Prefecture had already become extremely unfamiliar.

Since they entered the palace, the once most common Yiluansi disappeared, and was replaced by an agency called Jinyiwei. The two brothers' identities as princes seemed to have no effect in front of Jinyiwei.

Now it is the end of the year, which is the busiest time for the emperor. The Ming emperor is busy offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors and does not have much free time to chat with the two princes. The crown prince who is brought by the emperor's side is equally busy.

In addition, the fourth brother Zhu Di and the sixth brother Zhu Zhen were busy with their studies. In their spare time, the two younger brothers would always get together to talk about maritime affairs and Western countries, which made Zhu Chong and Zhu Gang very unfamiliar and they didn't have much to say.

The fifth brother, Zhu Su, was even busier. Zhu Chong and Zhu Tan barely saw their younger brother a few times from beginning to end. They only heard from their mother that the fifth brother was busy studying classics.

After much calculation, the only person the two brothers could easily find to accompany them was their mother, Empress Ma.

But every time they sat and talked with their mother for a while, they would look up and see her smiling at them. The two brothers were very familiar with that smile. When they were young, their mother would hide something delicious and ask them to guess, and she would have the same expression on her face.

Could it be that there are some changes in Yingtian Prefecture that have not been discovered?
My father's good brothers, General Xu Da and Grand Censor Li Shanchang, should know something. But now they are princes in addition to being princes, so it is inconvenient to visit them. Therefore, we can only put it on the back burner for the time being and wait until after the New Year to see what my father has up his mind.

But for Zhu Yuanzhang, this period of offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors was extremely exciting.

Zhu Biao, who always accompanied Zhu Yuanzhang and was beside him, could see clearly that every time his father read the sacrificial text, when he mentioned the words "Fengtian", "Yingtian" and "Chengyun", his eyebrows almost rose to the bottom of his crown and disappeared. He knew the reason very well. In the records of later generations, the Ming Dynasty might have many problems and might not last long.

But there is no doubt that Dad did a very good job in destroying the Yuan Dynasty and restoring China.

Zhu Biao even suspected that if there had not been a ceremonial officer accompanying the process of offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors, his excited father would most likely have sat down and chattered endlessly to the ancestors about what Emperor Hongwu meant and what it meant to be favored by the light curtain.

However, after the successful completion of the heaven and ancestor worship ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao breathed a sigh of relief almost at the same time. For them, everything for the New Year could be said to be half settled.

The grand court meeting on the first day of the first lunar month also went quite smoothly. After all, for all officials, this was an unprecedented half-month of continuous rest since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. They went through the procedures, expressed their congratulations, got along well with His Majesty, and then adjourned the meeting early and went home to continue enjoying the holiday. That was better than anything else.

In comparison, the officials who need to stay behind during the New Year are feeling extremely sad and dejected - although His Majesty said that they can make up for the rest after February, can the rest then be the same as it is now?

After the grand court meeting, it was time to entertain envoys from various countries. For the ceremonial officer, this process could be considered very sophisticated.

Champa, Zhenla, Java and other countries were regular visitors who came to pay tribute every year, but this time, His Majesty, contrary to his usual practice, took the envoys from these places to talk about local customs and culture, and even gave a banquet to the Champa envoy. He recalled the history of Champa when it was still part of China during the Han and Tang Dynasties with great sincerity, causing the Champa envoy to cough loudly.

There is no need to say more about Ryukyu. This isolated country overseas is fully dependent on the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty received the Ryukyu Kingdom three times the year before last, five times last year, and four times this year, including the New Year tribute. In short: they are old friends.

After all the envoys presented their gifts, the last one to come to the emperor with gifts was the Japanese envoy.

The ceremonial officials were also familiar with the Japanese envoy.

If they were familiar with the Ryukyu envoys like old friends, then they even had some sympathy for the Japanese envoys.

Since the seventh year of Hongwu until now, we have paid tribute every year, but every year we were sternly rejected by Your Majesty.

The etiquette officer remembered that this group of Japanese envoys once said privately that if they still could not win the favor of the Ming emperor this year, they would probably not be able to come again next year.

Afterwards, the ceremonial officer watched as the Japanese envoys raised the gifts above their heads and presented them. Then the leader followed suit, holding a piece of paper and presenting it respectfully.

Seeing the Japanese envoy's nervous expression, the ceremonial officer in charge of the handover shook his head. Similar things had happened six times before, and there would definitely be no changes in the seventh time.

After taking the memorial, he turned around and presented it to His Majesty. After waiting for three breaths, he would surely receive words of rebuke from His Majesty. The ceremonial officer was prepared to be spitted in the face, but to his surprise, the thin memorial was picked up.

The ceremonial officer was surprised, and the Japanese envoy below was also stunned. Then he looked ecstatic, but he dared not make a sound. He could only clutch his thighs tightly and stare at the Ming Emperor, sincerely hoping that things would be different this time.

Perhaps their prayers had been answered. The Japanese people looked at Zhu Yuanzhang eagerly as he read the memorial carefully. Then he raised his chin and asked a question:
"Is it possible that Minamoto no Yoshimitsu could suppress the Japanese pirates?"

(End of this chapter)