If I fail to overcome the tribulation, I can only return to the Ming Dynasty and become a prince.

Chapter 349
Under Zhu Zhanji's settlement, order was restored in most areas of the Chief Secretary of Jiaozhi, and the originally rebellious state capitals also returned to the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

However, in the face of the poor local environment and the cost of the imperial court's conquest of this place, Zhu Zhanji still felt to some extent that the gains of the imperial court's conquest of Jiaozhi outweighed the losses.

He and Li Bin calculated an account. Their military expenditure alone cost millions of taels of silver to counter the rebellion, and this did not include the expenses of the British Crown Prince. The sum of the money spent by the court on both sides was at least There are millions of taels.

Although Zhu Zhanji knew that this was not the way to settle scores in a war, he still couldn't accept it when he saw that all the money was spent but could not bring benefits to the country.

Therefore, Zhu Zhanji could not help but wonder whether it was worth the imperial court's expedition to Annan for so many years.

In his view, the Chief Secretary of Cochin is a very poor place. The main terrain is mountains and dense forests, and only a small part of the area can be used for farming.

Although the land is indeed fertile and the climate is very suitable for growing rice, the grain produced is not much. It is very rare to be able to meet the Chief Secretary of Cochin's own consumption without additional allocation from the court.

As for the fact that the imperial court obtained a large amount of food through sea trade this time and was able to support his army in countering the rebellion, that was because the surrounding countries produced food.

Because of this, in Zhu Zhanji's view, the imperial court should not continue to invest a lot of energy in Jiaozhi, but should turn it into a vassal like other surrounding small countries, and only require them to pay tribute every year. enough.

The imperial court itself simply does not have that much energy and strength to devote to this for a long time.

After all, what was more important to the imperial court was the two capitals and thirteen provinces. This was the most important territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Except for the core two capitals and thirteen provinces, other places... Judging from the Mobei where Zhu Zhanji has been and the Jiaozhi where he is now, he really can't understand the desolation of Mobei and the smoke of Jiaozhi. Why is there any need to conquer a place where miasma is everywhere?

Especially now that the Ming Dynasty's territory is so large that even the imperial decrees cannot be conveyed to the empire's borders in time, but the emperor is still keen to expand the territory.

It can be said that the expedition to Mobei was to solve the threat of the northern Mongols to the empire's borders, and the expedition to Japan was to improve the empire's finances with silver and gold, but what about Jiaozhi?
Even if the imperial court wanted to open sea trade, wouldn't there still be the Xuanwei Department in Old Port?

But if you don’t understand, you don’t understand. Now, as the emperor’s grandson, he can still clearly understand that he needs to have military achievements to pacify Jiaozhi, and it is best to add political achievements to stabilize the local area, so that he can show his face in front of the emperor. .

Otherwise, he, the emperor's grandson, would be completely outclassed by Zhu Zhanquan.

Zhu Zhanji felt that the relationship between himself and Zhu Zhanyi was just like the relationship between Tang Taizong Li Shimin and the deposed prince Li Jiancheng before the Xuanwu Gate Incident.

He is the prince Li Jiancheng and has a reputation of great righteousness, but Zhu Zhanquan, just like Li Shimin, the general of Tiance, seriously threatened his grandson's status by relying on the prestige brought by his military exploits, political achievements and other achievements.

But unlike Li Shimin, Zhu Zhanjuan showed no interest in the throne.

Although this made Zhu Zhanji feel a lot more at ease, it still could not dispel his fear of his younger brother.

After all, he has known since he was a child that this younger brother is smarter than him and more popular with his grandfather.

If Zhu Zhanquan hadn't slept for eight years, causing Zhu Di to give up on his training, I'm afraid that the position of the emperor's grandson would not be worthy of him at all.

Because whether he was leading troops in war or handling domestic affairs, Zhu Zhanji clearly felt the gap between himself and Zhu Zhancheng.

In terms of military exploits, Zhu Zhanjuan had already conquered the Japanese country, conquered a large territory for the Ming Dynasty, and brought back millions of taels of silver to the court every year.

Although the Japanese state has not been completely defeated now, it is not Zhu Zhankun's problem, but the lack of troops and horses of King Ning and the three kings of Liaodong.

Regarding the initiative of conquering Japan, everyone in the Ming Dynasty and the public has shown absolute support for it. No one dares to say that the conquering of Japan is wrong. At most, it will cost a lot of money to force the vassal king to do so.

Not to mention Zhu Zhanyu's performance during the Northern Expedition was so outstanding!

Asking himself, Zhu Zhanji felt that if he was asked to do those things in a different place, he would definitely not be as good as Zhu Zhanju.

Regarding the logistics of the Northern Expedition, he could not think of such a good way to reduce the consumption of the army and the pressure on the court, let alone the way to divide and suppress Mongolia later.

There was also Zhu Zhanchun's killing of generals and capturing the flag. That was originally the part that Zhu Zhanji was responsible for, but he didn't do it well. Zhu Zhanchun was here to make up for it!
Zhu Di also gave him the opportunity, but he didn't do well. No wonder Zhu Zhanchen did better than him.

At this point, Zhu Zhanji can still recognize his own shortcomings and will not be jealous of his younger brother because of it.

However, for Zhu Zhanji, there is no conflict between recognizing himself and fearing that Zhu Zhanjun threatens his status.

So he knew clearly that if he wanted to stabilize his position as the emperor's grandson, he had to achieve results and prove to Zhu Di that he was not a waste and that he was capable.

Otherwise, even if Zhu Zhanjun showed no interest in the throne and did not want to compete with him for the throne, Zhu Di would still put him in that position to stimulate himself... and to replace him when necessary. The grandson of the emperor.

This can be clearly seen from the struggle between Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaochi.

Zhu Zhanji was not stupid. He could clearly feel that a large part of the fight between his second uncle and his father was controlled by the emperor behind the scenes.

Without Zhu Di's connivance, it would be hard for Zhu Zhanji to imagine how he could beat his father at the level of his second uncle.

If it were in the past, Zhu Zhanji might have thought that his father was cowardly and could not compete with his second uncle. After all, the King of Han Zhu Gaoxu could indeed win people's hearts and he also had sufficient prestige and support in the army.

But when Zhu Gaojiu failed in his rebellion and was sent to Yunnan to become a vassal, and his father officially secured his position as the prince, Zhu Zhanji suddenly discovered that his father had already quietly arranged for the former disciples of the East Palace to be settled. Inserted into every department up and down the court.

Seventy percent of the civil servants of the Manchu Dynasty came from the Prince's East Palace. What a grand trend this is!What a competition for capital!

After all, no matter how high Zhu Gaoxu's prestige in the army was, it could not be compared to the emperor himself who had sealed the wolf in Xu.

Revolt?Zhu Gaoxu had already tried it, but he fell down before the emperor even took it seriously.

Therefore, the reason why Zhu Gaoxu was able to compete with Zhu Gaochi for so many years was entirely because of the emperor's connivance behind the scenes.

But now, the emperor had his mind set on himself and Zhu Zhanchun, which made Zhu Zhanji feel helpless but also had no choice.

He is not Zhu Zhanqun, who can ignore the emperor's will. Even if he is awarded the title of Jiuxi, crowned with ten colors, enjoys the same status as the three ministers of the founding ceremony, enters the court without following, pays homage without recognition, and goes to the palace with swords and shoes, he can still say something to the emperor. No, ignore the temptation of the throne that is so close at hand.

For Zhu Zhanji, who had been trained as a successor since childhood, if he could not sit on the throne, it would mean that his life for so many years would be meaningless.

Therefore, even if he knew that the emperor was asking him to compete with Zhu Zhanyu, like raising gu, the winner would be the king, he had no reason to refuse, he had to sit in that position.If he can't be the emperor, it's better for him to die.

And if you want to compete with Zhu Zhanyu, military merit and political achievements are indispensable.

Otherwise, he is very likely to receive an imperial edict one day and depose his position as the emperor's grandson. Then, like his second uncle Zhu Gaoxu, he will be sent to a remote place to become a vassal, or he may even be killed directly. It's not impossible.

After all, how many people have survived after failure in the ancient struggle for hegemony?

My second uncle?It was because he was such a loser and didn't even have the ability to cause trouble for his father. That's why the emperor spared his life and came to Yunnan to become a vassal.

Thinking of his second uncle, Zhu Zhanji suddenly remembered that when he came to Jiaozhi this time, in addition to countering the rebellion, he also wanted to investigate his second uncle's bullying of the place.

I had been busy with the war and had neglected this matter.

Now that Jiaozhi has been basically pacified, and all the rebels have been wiped out, leaving only some scattered resistance forces, Zhu Zhanji feels that he can leave the rest to his deputy, Li Bin. And he himself should go to Yunnan to see what happened between his second uncle and the Mu family.

On the other hand, he also needs to pay a visit to the British Duke, who is now the most important leader of the Ming Dynasty's military and the only general in the country who can lead the army as commander-in-chief.

After all, whether it was to compete for the throne or to balance the internal forces of the imperial court, Zhu Zhan had to visit the British prince based on emotion and reason.

So after discussing with Li Bin and leaving the affairs to him, Zhu Zhanji took a large number of guards and headed towards Yunnan in the name of escorting military supplies.

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At this time in Yunnan, Zhang Fu's army had joined forces with Mu Sheng in Shunzhou and launched a decisive battle with the Pan army at Aizijiang.

In this battle, the rebels used elephants to fight. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Zhang Fu took the lead and shot down the elephant slave with the first arrow, and shot the elephant slave with the second arrow. The elephant turned back and ran away, trampling on his own troops, and the rebels fell into chaos.

Zhang Fu immediately took the opportunity to lead the attack, and his generals Yang Hong, Han Guang, Xue Ju and others took advantage of the opportunity to advance into the army. The rebels were defeated like rain.

The rebel leader Chen Jikuan, who claimed to be the puppet emperor, fled to Laos. Zhang Fu and Mu Sheng were considering whether to march to Laos.

The war in Jiaozhi was counterinsurgency, and there was no problem in fighting it no matter what. However, Laos was now also a vassal of the Ming Dynasty. Without Laos clearly stating that it wanted to go to war with the Ming Dynasty, marching to attack was a border provocation without authorization and a taboo.

Even if you have made great achievements, there is a high possibility that you will be held accountable by the court. Regardless of your merits, you may still be punished.

And this is on the premise of winning the fight. What if we lose the fight?It would be better to wipe your neck as soon as possible, so as not to inconvenience the family in playing Nine Clans Match Play or Three Clans in a Row.

Even though Zhang Fu and Mu Sheng were both Dukes and their status was very high, they didn't want to take the blame at all.

Therefore, Zhang Fu considered sending troops to the Laos border to ask for Chen Jikou and others. This way, even if the other party did not give him an excuse to start a war, it would not be considered a border provocation without authorization.

Mu Sheng had no objection to this. Compared with the war, he was more concerned about his hometown of Yunnan.

Ever since the imperial court allowed the King of Han to become a vassal, Mu Sheng and Zhu Gaoxu had not been getting along very well.

Just like when he forced King Min Zhu away, Mu Sheng did not hope that the King of Han could gain a foothold in Yunnan.

Although King Min was driven away to a large extent because Emperor Jianwen and Zhu Di both wanted to reduce the vassal status, and the Mu family just followed the trend, over the years, the Mu family has become deeply rooted in Yunnan and has long regarded Yunnan as their motherland. Any outside force that wants to interfere in the palace's sphere of influence will be targeted by the Mu family.

After all, the Mu family today is no longer the Mu family it was when Zhu Yuanzhang's adopted son Mu Ying was still alive.

Loyal to the court?This is inevitable, the Mu family has not yet planned to betray the Ming Dynasty.

But the separatist area becomes a vassal town?Mu Sheng may not have such thoughts in his heart.

Even if not, the various practices of the Mu family now have such a tendency, or it has developed into an established fact.

Therefore, in addition to fighting bravely on the battlefield to earn the title of Duke of Guizhou for the Mu family, Mu Sheng was also constantly deepening and expanding the influence of the Mu family in Yunnan, making the court understand the fact that Yunnan cannot live without the Mu family.

Even if this fact is largely caused by the Mu family themselves, once it becomes an established fact, even if the imperial court wants to move the Mu family, it will have to consider whether it is worth it.

It is precisely because of this that Mu Sheng instigated several chieftains in the Han Dynasty's fiefdom to provoke the Han Dynasty, and said that the king of Han bullied the chieftains, causing the chieftains to rebel.

Will the court believe what Mu Sheng says?Mu Sheng felt that this was not a problem.

In his opinion, Zhu Gaoxu failed in the fight for the throne and was demoted to Yunnan as a vassal, which meant that Zhu Gaoxu had lost power in the court.

The reason why he was not killed was simply that the emperor could not bear to kill his son. It did not mean that Zhu Gaoxu was still a superior vassal king.

When he came to join the feudal clan, he was just driven out of the capital. The emperor was out of sight and out of mind, and kept him until death.

Under such circumstances, the most appropriate choice for the King of Han was to do nothing. Whatever he did would be regarded as unwilling and wanting to rebel.

So Mu Sheng deliberately set up such a trap to lure Zhu Gaoxu into taking the bait.

The result was not what he expected. Zhu Gaoxu, who had a violent and reckless personality, easily took the bait, and several chieftains also took advantage of the situation to rebel according to his arrangements, creating a situation where they were forced to rebel by Zhu Gaoxu.

Then the Mu family reported all this to the court, just like when they said that King Min had committed many illegal acts in Yunnan, the court would deal with it soon.

The way to deal with it is probably to have the Mu family send troops to quell the rebellion.

At that time, as long as people from the Mu family pass by and let the chieftains surrender, both the local influence of the Mu family in Yunnan and the importance in the eyes of the court will be fully demonstrated, making the court aware of Yunnan. It must be guarded by the Mu family.

Just when Mu Sheng was wondering if there were any loopholes in his plan, a soldier suddenly came to report that the emperor's grandson was here.

This shocked Mu Sheng, but then he and Zhang Fu left the tent to greet Zhu Zhanji's arrival.

(End of this chapter)