Early Ming Dynasty: Turning Clouds and Rains into New Learning Saints

Chapter 174 Inverted Door

Zhu Yuanzhang's decision to let Prince Zhu Biao pass was actually not a temporary decision.

The son-in-law went to Xiangshan County, and the special zone held a special event, which inevitably attracted the attention of the world.

Especially when the Yongjiahou case broke out, more people began to pay attention to the remote Xiangshan County.

Pieces and pieces, after the situation in Xiangshan County spread to the outside world, the censor, who has the power to hear rumors, has made many memorials, all questioning the situation in Xiangshan County.

Because of many things, even the implementation in the capital is difficult, such as the popularization of cement. However, it is said that all official roads in Xiangshan County have been changed to cement. Isn’t this outrageous!
Also, in Xiangshan County, everything is based on the employment system. Officials and servants are hired, and workers and civilians are hired. Where do they get so much money?
It's just a small Xiangshan County, but it can actually spend a thousand dollars to play literacy games with the people. And I heard that everyone in Xiangshan County can read. How is this possible? To put gold on your face, It’s not like this for gold, right?

Not to mention anything else, even Jiangnan, where the literary style was at its peak, couldn't do this. How could such a remote lower-class county do this?
There are too many such outrageous things.

Even Zhu Yuanzhang himself felt it was too exaggerated.Even if Jin Yiwei reported it regularly, he still didn't believe it.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang understood that if he sent an imperial envoy there, he would probably use the name of the imperial envoy to interfere in the affairs of Xiangshan County, just like Yongjiahou.

The agreed three-year deadline has not yet come, and Zhu Yuanzhang doesn't want those outsiders to make trouble.

Therefore, Prince Zhu Biao suggested that he go and have a look, which could reassure Zhu Yuanzhang without affecting the affairs of Xiangshan County.By the way, we can also sort out all the things related to Xiangshan County, such as the joint-stock system and patents proposed by Zhang Yifan.

However, if the prince's tour is too formal, it will seriously affect the places along the way.And this kind of official action will also make many people think that the emperor is dissatisfied with the consort.

This situation was also something Zhu Yuanzhang did not want.

Therefore, Zhu Biao just took this opportunity to propose to Zhu Yuanzhang: "The princess also wants to be quiet, and wants to go and have a look with her. Otherwise, just be a minister and visit relatives!"

From a certain perspective, Zhu Yuanzhang still had a very strong sense of being a farmer, and he did not reject the idea of ​​visiting relatives.

In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang agreed that Zhu Biao and his wife took their eldest son Zhu Xiongying to Xiangshan County in the name of visiting relatives.

With them were the commander of the Jinyi Guards, Mao Xiang, the prince's master, Song Lian, and Song Lian's most outstanding disciple, Fang Xiaoru.

Although nominally he was just visiting his sister and brother-in-law, everyone knew that when the prince went to Xiangshan County, it was definitely not as simple as visiting relatives.

As soon as this matter was announced, it became a hot topic in the capital.

Prime Minister Hu Weiyong was discussing this matter with his niece-in-law Li You at his house.

Just listen to Li You saying excitedly: "This is a good thing, it means that the kid is so jumpy that even the emperor is beginning to doubt it!"

Hu Weiyong stroked the long beard under his forehead and said happily: "Don't even think about it, how old is he? Sixteen, no, it is already the tenth year of Hongwu, he is seventeen, right? That means he doesn't even have hair. He's just a boy! When he came out of Liujia Village, he didn't know that the sky was high and the earth was high, and the emperor was protecting him, so he thought he could do whatever he wanted!"

After hearing this, Li You thought about what he was doing when he was 17 years old, and then said: "To be honest, I kind of admire him. If nothing else, his bragging ability is really amazing!"

"That's right, it's just Xiangshan County. I checked specifically. It's just a lower-class county with a population of about 5. The combined wealth of the entire county is not as much as the money he boasted about, right?"

Hu Weiyong was in a good mood. After he finished speaking, he added: "This bullshit has gone too far. The emperor is suspicious, and the good days are over!"

They also have some news about Xiangshan County, but it is precisely people with extremely rich political experience who do not believe the news and feel that it is exaggerated.

Zhu Yuanzhang was like this, and so was Hu Weiyong.

In their view, it is absolutely impossible to achieve the legendary political achievements from an inferior county.

Even if it sounds logical, when it is actually done, you will encounter too many problems, and it is often difficult to achieve the desired effect.Only some inexperienced young people, the kind who get excited just thinking about it, would believe in unreliable myths.

No, Hu Weiyong is waiting to see the good show in Xiangshan County.

Not only him, but also Li Shanchang, the first hero of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, had the same idea and was telling his son Li Qi about it.

"See, my father is not wrong, right? When he is strong, he does not need to show off, he just needs to wait. He is bound to make mistakes at such a young age. As long as he makes mistakes, that is when he will turn from prosperity to decline. No Without His Majesty's protection, his good life will not last long!"

Li Qi listened and said with sincere admiration: "Dad is still awesome, it was just the child who was irritable before!"

When Li Shanchang heard this, he took the opportunity to teach: "Remember from now on, you must judge the situation and never force yourself to come forward. When his favor wanes and everyone falls because of his support, it will be easy if you want him dead or alive!"

"I want him to die!" When Li Qi heard this, he said viciously. Then he thought of something and said a little worriedly, "Dad, will the prince protect that kid? I heard that the relationship between their two families is good!"

After hearing this, Li Shanchang shook his head and said: "The prince will not lie to the emperor. Moreover, Song Lian has also gone. He is just a scholar. Once the emperor asks him about it after he comes back, it will be impossible for him to lie even if he wants to. The emperor can tell it with just one glance." figure it out."

When Li Qi heard this, he immediately seemed to have discovered some important secret, and quickly asked his father: "Does this mean that Song Lian also went with him because the emperor does not believe the prince?"

"That's not the case!" After hearing this, Li Shanchang said slowly, thinking about the Zhu Yuanzhang he knew, "The current emperor trusts Empress Ma the most, and then the prince. But, you have to know, when you are the emperor, , especially the Shengming Emperor, will never just listen to someone, and will definitely take various measures."

When Li Qi heard this, he was obviously a little confused, and it showed on his face.

Seeing that his son couldn't understand, Li Shanchang explained in detail: "Everyone looks at things from different angles. Therefore, the prince may tell the truth, but it may not be the truth of the matter. Only by understanding a matter from multiple angles can we truly understand it. Father said this, do you understand?"

After hearing this, Li Qi suddenly became excited and answered his father: "Dad, what you mean is that that boy might fool the prince?"

Li Shanchang: "..."

He thought he had made it very clear, but his son still didn't understand the true meaning of what he just said.

This son is really not smart enough!
When he came to this conclusion, he felt a little tired and didn't want to explain any more. He nodded and said, "It's possible!"

After finishing speaking, Zhang Yifan suddenly appeared in Li Shanchang's mind.

What a pity, this son is not my own son!Otherwise, if you are guided by yourself, you won't be so happy about your success and make such superficial mistakes.

The current emperor is the Shengming Emperor. Even if he is far away, he cannot be fooled!

………………

Amid the gloating expectations of all parties, Zhu Biao took his wife and children south and embarked on the road to visit relatives.

He is the prince, and he has the prince concubine and his three-year-old eldest son with him. No matter how easy and simple he is, he still has a large convoy.

Basically, every time you arrive at a post station, you can wrap up all the stops.

He didn't have to worry about food, clothing, housing, transportation, safety, etc. Naturally, Mao Xiang was in charge of the Jin Yiwei command.

At this time, the prince had not yet officially participated in the government affairs. In other words, Zhu Yuanzhang had not formally requested that all government affairs be copied to the prince first. Therefore, after leaving the capital, Zhu Biao rarely had any leisure time.

Along the way, he gained more family ties with his wife and children, and was able to sit down and talk with Song Lian and Fang Xiaoru. It was the most relaxing and comfortable day in Zhu Biao's life.

However, as luck would have it, when Zhu Biao and his party first entered Guangdong, they encountered a hurricane just like Zhang Yifan last year.

However, if you really want to say it, it's actually not surprising.Originally, summer and autumn are the times when typhoons are most common, so it is not unusual to encounter Zhu Biao when he comes to Guangdong at this time.

Among the group of people, there were older ones, such as Song Lian, and younger ones, such as Zhu Xiongying. Therefore, due to the impact of this hurricane, they were forced to be delayed on the road for many days.

Listening to the howling wind and looking at the heavy rain outside, the princess, who was holding Zhu Xiongying, said to Zhu Biao with some worry: "Yifan and Jingjing are at the beach. I don't know what will happen to such a big wind disaster." ?" In fact, Nanjing is sometimes affected by typhoons. The Crown Princess has experienced this before, but when she arrived in Guangdong and left the deep palace compound, she truly realized the power of the typhoon, and she became a little worried.

After Zhu Biao heard this, he was also a little worried and said: "In places along the coast, there are losses due to wind disasters every year. The difference is whether they are larger or smaller. This is unavoidable."

"I hope it's smaller!" The princess said sincerely after hearing this.

After hearing this, Zhu Xiongying in her arms asked, "Mom, was the delicious food at my aunt's place blown away by the wind?"

When the princess heard this, she couldn't help but look at Zhu Biao. This son had been thinking about his aunt ever since he ate fish floss.

After waiting for about seven or eight days, the rain finally stopped and the sky cleared, and the group continued on their way.

The rain had just passed, and the official road was still quite muddy. Thanks to the large number of followers, there was not much delay on the road.

However, as we went deeper into the territory of Guangdong and got closer to the city of Guangzhou, the damage caused by the typhoon became a bit shocking.

It is not uncommon for trees to be uprooted, roads to be washed away, rice fields to be flooded, and houses to be blown away.

Different from when Zhang Yifan first came, when Zhu Biao and his party went south, they saw local officials personally leading people to provide disaster relief.

When they saw a long line of motorcades and horses coming to the official road, they immediately flocked to the official road to greet them.

There is no doubt that when the prince goes south, even though he says he will not disturb the local government, if the local officials meet him, he will definitely be greeted by him.

After all, the prince is the future emperor. If there is no chance of chance encounter, he must create chance of chance encounter!

Zhu Biao even saw a local official taking off his official boots, rolling up his trouser legs, and doing it himself, sweating profusely.

The subordinate officials or local squires who came with him to pay their respects all took the lead in providing disaster relief.

In this regard, Zhu Biao saw through it without saying anything, but encouraged them that disaster relief was the most important thing and they did not need to worry about their own itinerary.

Fang Xiaoru, who was accompanying him, watched this scene and frowned. Finally, after another group of local officials paid their respects and went back to provide disaster relief, he saluted Zhu Biao and said: "Your Highness, I think you should find someone to find out what the disaster is like." It would be better to ask some real victims of the disaster!"

"Oh?" Zhu Biao asked with great interest after hearing this, "What are the real victims of the disaster?"

This Fang Xiaoru was not only Song Lian's disciple, but also appreciated by his father. He praised him in front of him, saying that after Zhu Biao ascended the throne in the future, he might as well reuse this Fang Xiaoru.

Now, he just had a chance, and he wanted to know what Fang Xiaoru was like?
Song Lian watched his beloved disciple play against the prince. He was not worried at all. He just held a folding fan and fanned himself.

On this side, Fang Xiaoru heard this and replied to Zhu Biao: "We can send the Jinyi Guards to go ahead and bring the victims who are far away from the official road, so that we can ask about the real situation. The victims along the way must be first Warning, you won’t get anything out of me if you ask.”

After hearing this, Zhu Biao smiled slightly and asked: "Then why not go back? In those places after we passed, find the victims who are farther away from the official road to question?"

"What His Highness said is absolutely true. If you kill someone with a carbine, the effect may be better." Upon hearing this, Fang Xiaoru replied without hesitation, "It's just that I am worried about delaying His Highness's schedule, and is afraid that His Highness the Crown Princess and His Highness will be tired!"

Zhu Biao couldn't help but nodded after hearing his answer.This Fang Xiaoru is obviously more capable and flexible than Song Lian's other favorite disciple, Mei Yin.

With this thought in his mind, he said to Fang Xiaoru: "In this case, it's up to you to arrange this matter!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" After hearing this, Fang Xiaoru immediately agreed, and then went to find Mao Xiang.

The convoy's journey was not delayed and continued on its way.

About an hour later, when the convoy reached a relatively remote place, they saw a young man being brought over by the captain of the Imperial Guard.

Fang Xiaoru probably communicated with this young man in advance, so when the young man came in front of Zhu Biao, he was not nervous and speechless, but just called him master.

So Zhu Biao asked about the disaster situation.

As expected, what the young man said was much more serious than what the local officials reported, and the intensity of disaster relief was not that great.

However, generally speaking, the government is still providing disaster relief.

No, just listen to what the young man said: "It was so miserable last year. It was about this time. There was also such a big storm. It happened that the original Marquis Yongjia was building Guangzhou City. He didn't let us back. There was no one at home." It took a lot of time for Qingzhuang to rescue the disaster. In the end, it was because of the prince-in-law’s favor that we were let home to carry out the disaster relief first.”

Hearing the news about Zhang Yifan from an outsider for the first time, Zhu Biao was obviously more interested and immediately asked: "What do you think, the prince-in-law is pretty good?"

As soon as the young man heard this, he became obviously excited and immediately replied: "It's not bad, the people of Xiangshan County really have to cultivate blessings for several lifetimes before they have the Prince Consort County Magistrate. I don't know, We all envy people from Xiangshan! To be honest with you, I want to step in and become a son-in-law in Xiangshan County. But it’s a pity that I’m not that good-looking and can’t compare with them!”

Zhu Biao: "..."

Did he really not expect that Xiangshan County would be so popular among the people?A man who is a dignified man, you are not ashamed at all to say that he knocked on the door upside down?

Perhaps this statement was too exaggerated. Even the princess sitting in the carriage couldn't help but show her head, smiled and interjected and asked: "Is Xiangshan County that good?"

When the young man heard this, he quickly replied: "Madam, you don't know that Xiangshan County is the best. Not to mention anything else, it has good food, good housing, no need to worry about hunger, and you can still have money. It's like a legend." It’s the same place where gods live!”

After hearing this, the Crown Princess glanced at Zhu Biao with surprise on her face, then turned back and asked, "Have you been there?"

"I went there once during the off-season, but it was a pity that it only lasted for half a month and I made a lot of money! I will definitely go there again after the typhoon."

Zhu Biao couldn't help but ask after hearing this: "Is Xiangshan County so rich?"

This young man, who doesn't appear to have any skills, has made a lot of money in half a month, which is much more than working in the capital!

"Then there must be money!" The young man suddenly became excited when he heard this question. "Otherwise, the roads in Xiangshan County would not be all cement roads, and the houses would not be all cement houses. Anyway, we work in Xiangshan County. They can all make money, there are many jobs to do, and those of us in Guangdong, as long as we can go, want to go to Xiangshan County to make money."

When Zhu Biao heard this, he frowned and said, "I ask questions, and you just answer them truthfully. There is no need to boast too much!"

Xiangshan County is just a low-class county that is remote and close to the sea. It only lasts for a little more than a year. Is it such an exaggeration?It feels more exaggerated than what I heard when I was in the capital.

This is clearly not possible!

As a result, when the young man heard this, he immediately yelled: "Sir, I'm just stupid, but I definitely didn't boast. If you don't believe it, just go and see for yourself and you will know!"

Zhu Biao still didn't believe it very much. After asking a few words, he was given some rewards and asked to send him back.

As soon as the man left, Fang Xiaoru, who was listening on the side, said to Zhu Biao: "This person doesn't know about your highness's coming to Guangdong. He just thinks that your highness is a wealthy businessman passing by. In order to show his importance, he wants to ask for more rewards. There must be something wrong with his words." To be honest, I believe him [-]-[-]%, probably about the same."

Zhu Biao listened and nodded. This was similar to his judgment.

But this way, he was relieved a lot. Yifan should indeed be doing well in Xiangshan County.

So, the group continued south and soon arrived in Guangzhou.

　Ask for support!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)