Daming Greedy Wolf Star

Chapter 272
As the sun sets, the moon and stars become the only sources of light.

But tonight, Samarkand is truly "brightly lit."

No, there's only fire, no lights.

"His Royal Highness..."

Zhu Sanfeng walked up to Zhu Zhanhe carrying a water bag and handed it over.

"Drinking in the military formation, you are quite courageous." Zhu Zhanhe opened the water bag and said with a smile.

It is a rule not to drink alcohol in the army.

But now, not to mention Zhu Sanfeng, even Zhu Zhanhe has the urge to get drunk before resting.

Counting from the time when he went on the expedition...no, from the time when his plan initially took effect, how many people have died in the Timurid Empire and the Ottoman Empire?
Zhu Zhanhe didn't know, and he had no way to calculate it. He just knew that the remaining population of these two countries together was at least more than [-] million.

However, this is only temporary and this number will continue to decrease.

In Zhu Zhanhe's mind, this number is still too much and needs to be lower.

How much can it be reduced to?Zhu Zhanhe didn't have a specific number, but in his opinion, one million people would be enough.

Governance, he didn’t think about this issue. What he wanted to do was to dig a canal. As for after digging the canal...

They die how they like.

"Where's Jian Xiao?" Zhu Zhanhe suddenly thought of Jian Xiao.

"He and his people are blocking the exit of Sarmahan, fearing that something might slip through the net." Zhu Sanfeng looked at Sarmahan, which was still burning.

With the help of white phosphorus, this fire will burn completely, but equally, the flames possessed by white phosphorus will cause people to feel extreme pain, in which case people will desperately seek a way to survive.

"I wonder what's going on over there with Zheng He..." Zhu Zhanhe looked to the west with some emotion in his tone.

The Timurid Empire existed in name only, and the Ottoman Empire moved its entire country. The person who called the shots in this place was Zhu Zhanhe.

"Sanfeng." After being in a daze, Zhu Zhanhe came back to his senses and turned to look at Zhu Sanfeng.

"This place will be left to you from now on."

"Your Highness..." Zhu Sanfeng was startled for a moment, and then asked with some confusion.

"Sanfeng doesn't know what you are thinking, but Sanfeng also knows that you have been planning for today for seven years, or even longer, starting from the time you asked us to get grain seeds."

"But now, the goal is about to be achieved, but you want to leave?"

Zhu Sanfeng didn't mean to ask, or it should be said that she was not looking for Zhu Zhanhe's thoughts, she just felt that Zhu Zhanhe had planned for this matter for many years, and she didn't know what else could make Zhu Zhanhe Let go of this matter and deal with it.

After all, after following him for more than seven years, Zhu Sanfeng had long since become Zhu Zhanhe's most important right-hand man.

Not only did she know Zhu Zhanhe, Zhu Zhanhe also knew her very well.

"I still have something to do...a very important thing..."

……

The fire in Samarkand only burned for a day and a half, because Samarkand's architectural style and habits are different from those in the Central Plains, and it is located on the edge of the desert, which resulted in few wooden houses in the city.

However, within a day and a half, and with the assistance of white phosphorus, everything Zhu Zhanhe wanted to disappear in the city of Samarkand had disappeared.

All that's left is an empty shell.

Now, this empty shell cannot be thrown away, but it will play an extremely important role in the future, because it will become an extremely important transfer station.

A transfer station in both military and commercial senses.

Three days later, Zhu Sanfeng was left in Samarkand, and Balihei was handed over to her by Zhu Zhanhe, who left with Jian Xiao.

Today's Timurid Empire really has nothing to say.

Timur's empire was once very prosperous, and all the Khwarezm Golden Horde was forced to bow to him. However, it is hard to imagine that such an empire was mainly located on plateaus and deserts.

On the contrary, sitting on the black soil of the Central Asian plains, the Golden Horde was not as powerful as the Timurid Empire.

But now, natural disasters and man-made disasters coexist in the Timur Empire. The originally desolate places are now even more desolate, and the originally noisy and prosperous cities have now fallen into deathly silence.

Zhu Zhanhe was right before he said that once a war started, the first to flee would be officials and businessmen.

In Samarkand, Zhu Zhanhe brought enough food and grass through Balihei's supplies and headed west.

Along the way, he gathered refugees while cleaning up bandits who had been forced to turn into bandits due to natural disasters and man-made disasters.

On June [-], Zhu Zhanhe finally met his greatest contributor to the Timur Empire: Zheng He.

To say that Zheng He was the greatest contributor to the victory over Timur's empire is actually not nonsense or ridicule, but a fact.

If Zheng He's sudden appearance had not completely blocked the connection between Shaharul and the Ottoman Empire, Samarkand would not have been taken so easily.

"Zheng He pays homage to His Highness the Crown Prince."

When seeing Zhu Zhanhe for the first time, Zheng He was stunned for a while, and finally confirmed Zhu Zhanhe's identity through Jian Xiao and Zhu Zhanhe's clothes.

There was no other reason. In the past seven years, he had almost never seen Zhu Zhanhe, and it was the time for young people of Zhu Zhanhe's age to develop.

Zheng He was away from home and had not taken care of his hair for a long time, so his beard sprouted out, making it difficult for Zheng He to recognize him.

"Commander Zheng, no courtesy." Zhu Zhanhe, who was completely out of the period of changing his voice. Coupled with the two years of experience, his voice already had the feeling of a real man.

"Commander Zheng made great contributions to the victory over the Timur Empire this time. I will help you ask Grandpa for credit when you get back."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Zheng He bowed and thanked him first, and then stood up with Zhu Zhanhe's help.

"There is no need for credit. Zheng He was sent to the West as an envoy by the emperor. It would be fine if he did not encounter him. Since he met His Highness the Crown Prince fighting for the country, he naturally had to contribute. This is my duty as a minister of the Ming Dynasty. .”

"It's just that Rong Zhenghe said one more thing. Isn't it a bit..."

Zhu Zhanhe was still smiling, but Jian Xiao's brows furrowed, and his eyes exuded a sinister cold light.

How long?
Ever since Zhu Gaoxu came to the vassal in the ninth year of Yongle, no one has disobeyed Zhu Zhanhe's orders, and no one dared to talk about Zhu Zhanhe like this, even in front of Zhu Zhanhe.

Jian Xiao has gotten used to Zhu Zhanhe's one-sidedness, and Zhu Zhanhe's decision-making alone. Now, hearing Zheng He's words, Jian Xiao immediately felt uncomfortable.

If it were another person, Jian Xiao would have taken it as an admonishment for Zhu Zhanhe's good, but this person happened to be Zheng He...

It is the prince's person.

"Commander Zheng made some sense..." Zhu Zhanhe smiled all over his face, as if he didn't mind Zheng He's words.

"Whether it's appropriate or not is another matter for now. I wonder if Commander Zheng thinks my approach is effective?"

Zheng He was silent when he heard the words.

effective?Definitely.

Now, Zhu Zhanhe has almost become the person that the generals of the Ming Dynasty yearn for the most, not only because Zhu Zhanhe has repeatedly made military exploits and laid down a large area of ​​territory for the Ming Dynasty, but also because under Zhu Zhanhe, there has never been a Leaks.

Before Zhu Zhanhe, the court had wars almost every year, but they could not finish them every year.

Grassland, Annan, Japanese pirates...

Enemies one after another kept harassing the Ming Dynasty, but Zhu Zhanhe would never cause any trouble as long as he took action.

But what Zheng He wants to say is obviously not this, but Zhu Zhanhe's unscrupulous approach before achieving his goal.

There is also...the current power structure of the imperial court.

In the past, although the princelings and the Han kings were constantly attacking each other, the situation in the court seemed to be a situation where the two sides were competing for hegemony.

But in fact, the status of the princelings has always been stable and has never been shaken.

But now?
Zheng He can no longer find words to describe Zhu Zhanhe now, because Zhu Zhanhe is now even stronger than Zhu Di who decided to launch an army to pacify Jingnan.

Back then, when Zhu Di launched an army to quell Jingnan, the imperial court still had the upper hand. In the final analysis, the battle of Jingnan was a four-year battle in which the weak defeated the strong.

But Zhu Zhanhe's current strength is not weaker than that of the imperial court. Not only many generals in the imperial court are supporters of Zhu Zhanhe, but also some civil servants.

In fact, Zhu Zhanhe's strength far exceeded that of the imperial court.

In Zheng He's view, this is a harbinger of instability.

"Commander Zheng, if you can't pick up some words, it's better not to say them."

Looking at the silent Zheng He, Zhu Zhanhe smiled, his tone full of sarcasm.

"Besides, there are a lot of people in the world who can say this, and there are a lot of people who can't say it, and Commander Zheng makes you the one who can't say it."

"You know the situation of the imperial court better than me, a person who has never entered the Central Plains since moving the capital. If it weren't for me, Commander Zheng, it is still unknown whether you would be able to lead the fleet to the Western Ocean this time."

"Oh, by the way, there is one more thing. Commander Zheng has to thank me."

As Zhu Zhanhe said this, he took out a map and placed it in front of Zheng He.

"I decided to provide work-for-work relief to these refugees and let them dig a river like our Grand Canal in Ming Dynasty."

"By the time of the next voyage to the Western Ocean, Commander Zheng will no longer need to continue southward at Cisa and Adan. Instead, he can go northwest from there and directly penetrate into places you have never explored before."

"Maybe you can even visit the holy city in your mind."

After finishing speaking, Zhu Zhanhe stuffed the map into Zheng He's hands.

He was talking about the Suez Canal, of course, and Zheng He was a promising Mouslin believer, and the holy city in his mind was on the northwest shore of the Red Sea before entering the Suez Canal.

Looking at the eye-catching punctuation marks on the map, Zheng He didn't know what to say for a moment.

Yu Gong and Zhu Zhanhe provided the Ocean Treasure Fleet with a new route, which can better publicize the national prestige of Ming Dynasty and is more conducive to Zheng He's travel to farther places.

In private, Zhu Zhanhe gave Zheng He hope.

Zheng He had wanted to go to that holy city a long time ago. However, due to the heavy responsibility of ocean-going missions, Zheng He had the opportunity to go to the holy city three times starting from four ocean-going missions, but in the end he had to give up because of the ocean-going mission.

At this moment, Zheng He didn't know what attitude he should take to face Zhu Zhanhe.

"Okay." Seeing Zheng He stunned, Zhu Zhanhe took the map in his hand, folded it, and stuffed it into Zheng He's chest.

"This is all for the future. Regardless of whether it can be done or not, Commander Zheng will make it impossible for you to go to the holy city in your mind to worship this time."

"So, let's talk about what we need to do now."

"Your Highness, please speak." Zheng He was a devout Mu Silin after all. After knowing that Zhu Zhanhe was very likely to help him fulfill his dream of going to the Holy City to worship, his attitude changed a lot.

"This time, I'm going to ride on your boat."

"This..." Zheng He was taken aback when he heard the words, and then spoke cautiously with some tentativeness.

"I don't know, where are you going back, His Royal Highness?"

"Of course it's Xiangzhou Prefecture." Zhu Zhanhe smiled.

He knew what Zheng He was thinking.

(End of this chapter)