Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 114 The Three Heroes of the East Palace
"Gong Ying is determined to die. This is a heart disease that I cannot cure..."

In the Yangxin Hall of Qianqing Palace, looking at the heavy snowfall outside the window and listening to Doctor Zhang's feedback in his ears, Zhu Yuanzhang still felt his hands and feet were cold even though he was holding a hand-warming copper stove.

Another old brother was forced to death by him, and this old brother was originally innocent, which made Zhu Yuanzhang have mixed feelings.

"I understand, please step back..."

After a long time, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an order to expel Dr. Zhang who was kneeling on the gold brick. Seeing this, Dr. Zhang bowed and left the Qianqing Palace.

After he left, there were only Zhu Yuanzhang and a row of eunuchs and maids standing in the corner in the huge Yangxin Hall of Qianqing Palace.

For these people who know how to observe words and emotions, they can all tell if the emperor is in a bad mood, so everyone is cautious and worried about disturbing the emperor and being accused.

But their caution made Zhu Yuanzhang even more sad in his eyes.

At this moment, even if he wanted to find someone to talk to, it was difficult for him to do so. Guo Ying was ill at home, and Li Jinglong was always a distinguished person, and his grandchildren...

For a moment, Zhu Yuanzhang thought of Zhu Gaoxu, but at this moment Zhu Gaoxu was also banned by him.

"It's nothing. I also walked through it that way back then. When I'm alone, I'm alone. There's no one I can't live without..."

Zhu Yuanzhang cheered himself up in his heart, but he also knew that this was just self-deception. As he got older, he wanted to be understood and loved after all. No matter how tough he said, he still couldn't hide it from himself.

In silence, Zhu Yuanzhang did not continue to deal with the memorial, but took a rare opportunity to go to bed early to rest.

But after he entered the bed, no one could tell whether he was resting or sad.

"What are you looking at?"

While Zhu Yuanzhang was resting, a voice rang out from a magnificent mansion on Nanjing's Imperial City West Street.

Zhu Jixi, the crown prince of Jin Dynasty, walked into a pavilion wearing ordinary clothes, and inside the pavilion stood a woman wearing fox fur and red clothes.

This woman was tall, probably five feet three or four inches, taller than some men in this era.

Such a tall figure, coupled with the oval face with thick eyebrows and long eyes, gives people a sassy feeling.

Zhu Jixi was attracted by this feeling, so he became embroiled with her after marriage.

"I'm thinking about my dad..."

Seeing Zhu Jixi coming, the woman slowly spoke.

But as soon as she said these words, a bit of embarrassment appeared on Zhu Jixi's face.

"I can't control your ambitions, but right now I can't even see my father. Do you think I'm still a human being?"

The woman turned sideways and met Zhu Jixi's eyes, with a bit of misery in her eyes.

Her words were a bit bold. In the Prince Jin's palace, only Mrs. Fu, who was the imperial concubine, dared to speak to Zhu Jixi like this, so her identity was self-evident.

Seeing Mrs. Fu's appearance, Zhu Jixi was silent for a moment, then stepped forward and hugged her: "My father-in-law will be fine, you don't have to worry too much..."

Even so, Zhu Jixi knew that his father-in-law might not be able to protect himself.

Sure enough, before he could finish his thoughts, Mrs. Fu lowered his head: "The news came from over there. My father is already ill in bed. It was me who hurt him this time."

"..." After hearing the answer, Zhu Jixi's mind suddenly became confused.

He knew very well that once something happened to Fu Youde, all the layout of Jin Mansion would be disrupted.

But faced with such a situation, he himself didn't know what he could do...

Seeing that he didn't speak, Mrs. Fu sneered: "As expected, you are not prepared at all."

"I..." Zhu Jixi wanted to say something, but when the words reached his lips, he couldn't.

Seeing his appearance, Mrs. Fu shook her head: "I originally thought you could save my family, but now it seems that you are not as good as Zhu Gaoxu of Yan Mansion..."

"It's almost done..." When he heard the words 'Zhu Gaoxu', the corresponding face immediately flashed through Zhu Jixi's mind, and he felt an unreasonable anger in his heart.

This anger was not only shared by him, but also by all the direct elders in Wuying Palace.

In the past few months, they could all feel that their grandfather was dissatisfied with the content of Zhu Gaoxu's memorial. Although he did not say anything, his words and deeds revealed that they were not as good as Zhu Gaoxu.

In private, Zhu Shangbing often complained about this to Zhu Jixi, while Zhu Gaochi was always taciturn because Zhu Gaoxu was his younger brother.

Zhu Jixi is very arrogant. He never thinks that he will lose to anyone.

When he was in the main hall, he only thought that Zhu Gaoxu was a vulgar and reckless man. However, after Zhu Gaoxu left the main hall and entered the main church, he discovered that Zhu Gaoxu was the person who had hidden the deepest secrets.

The Zhu Gaoxu he met in Wuying Palace was completely different from before, and he dominated everyone in every aspect.

Even though he was already grounded, it was extremely disgusting to be mentioned.

"What? Just mentioning a name can piss you off?"

Mrs. Fu looked at the angry Zhu Jixi, frowned and turned around, looked at the lake in the courtyard and said calmly: "I don't know when you will stand up and speak for my father and the others like Zhu Gaoxu of Yan Mansion, but I I know that if my father leaves, all the generals in Shanxi Dusi will blame you..."

As she said that, Mrs. Fu turned her head and glanced at Zhu Jixi: "Maybe in the future, when Zhu Gaoxu gains power, they will vote for Zhu Gaoxu, who speaks for my father and the others..."

"Okay" Zhu Jixi frowned. He knew that Mr. Fu was angry, but he, Zhu Jixi, was not made of clay.

Faced with Mrs. Fu's clear words, Zhu Jixi gritted his teeth and said, "I will let the people in the court intercede for my father-in-law."

"What about you?" Mrs. Fu didn't hear what she wanted to hear and continued to ask.

"I..." Zhu Jixi thought about it, but when he thought of his grandfather's face, he couldn't help but feel timid.

"My grandfather won't listen to me. He might kick me out of Wuying Hall and ground me like Gao Xu..."

"Being grounded?" Mrs. Fu couldn't help but laugh at her husband: "You family are really used to it, but being grounded for a few months scared you like this. What about my father and the others?"

"They were banned for two years, but did they ever vent to you?"

At this point, Mr. Fu seemed to be tired. He turned around and walked towards Zhu Jixi. As he walked away from him, he said: "Your family is really unkind and unjust..."

After saying these words, Fu passed Zhu Jixi and walked deeper into the corridor.

Listening to what she said, Zhu Jixi clenched his fists. No matter how much he liked Fu, he still couldn't help but dislike him in the face of such a blatant humiliation.

"If it weren't for Shanxi..."

He gritted his teeth and did not say the next words, but the meaning was already obvious.

For the sake of the power behind the Fu family, he had to endure it no matter how harsh Fu's words were.

Thinking of this, he turned around and walked towards the depths of the corridor, but he did nothing, as if what he said to Mrs. Fu before had never happened.

"It's been more than two months..."

The wind and snow were blowing, and while Zhu Jixi and his wife were quarreling, Dong Gongchun and Zhu Yunwen from the palace stood in front of the window, admiring the flying snow outside the palace, and sighed at the gradually darkening sky.

Behind him, Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng stood on the left and right respectively, waiting for Zhu Yunwen to mention business.

"How many months do you think Grandpa Huang will confine Gao Xu?"

Zhu Yunwen turned around and walked toward the desk, followed closely by Qi and Tai.

After he sat down, the two of them stood in front of the desk three steps away and answered his question: "Judging from His Majesty's previous tone, I'm afraid the ban will not be lifted easily."

Listening to Qi Tai's words, Zhu Yunwen chuckled: "This grounding is an excuse for him to stay in Nanjing."

"Having said that..." Huang Zicheng bowed carefully: "It's good to keep him."

He was testing how strong Zhu Yunwen was in trying to drive Zhu Gaoxu away, but the next second Zhu Yunwen's face darkened: "If you keep him in Nanjing, I'm afraid grandpa will entrust him with important tasks in the future, which will be even more dangerous."

His words were not groundless, after all, Zhu Gaoxu had unknowingly benefited many people.

Theories on reducing feudal vassals, pacifying Japanese invaders, using banknotes to offset taxes, Yunnan gold, silver and copper mines...

The credit for these three things cannot be covered up by Zhu Yuanzhang if he wants to, and some people still understand the truth of the matter.

This can be seen from Zhu Gaoxu's recent rise in fame in the Six Prefectures of Jiangdong.

"Look at the mountains and mines" plus "use cash to offset taxes", these two together are policies that benefit the common people and wealthy households.

There are many people who don't want Zhu Gaoxu to leave, especially those in temples.

Everyone wants Zhu Gaoxu to open more mines, and then persuade the emperor to continue to use banknotes to offset taxes.

Although Zhu Yunwen got the most fame, Zhu Gaoxu was not bad at all, but he was banned and his reputation in the six Jiangdong mansions was unknown.

Except for the six Jiangdong prefectures, Zhu Gaoxu's reputation in Nanjing is getting better and better.

When he was on duty, he met many thousands and hundreds of households in Habayashi Zuowei, and everyone had an impression of him.

Coupled with Wang Jian's lobbying during this period, many people are fighting for Zhu Gaoxu, believing that a wise king like him should not be grounded for several months.

In addition to the Governor's Mansion, Shen Chaofeng, the director of Yangjiyuan in Jiangning County, also knew about Zhu Gaoxu's suspension, so he spread Zhu Gaoxu's reputation with everyone in the Yangjiyuan.

It has to be said that using the disabled people in the nursing home to spread Zhu Gaoxu's reputation has indeed allowed Zhu Gaoxu's reputation to continue to spread among the lower class people in Nanjing.

It was precisely because of the actions of the Jiangning County Nursing Home that Zhu Yunwen was even more afraid of Zhu Gaoxu.

In his opinion, Zhu Gaoxu's original move to the nursing home was to win people's hearts.He has only been in Nanjing City for a short time and has caused so much trouble. If he continues to stay, will one of his people appear among his East Palace guards one day?
In the current situation, who would believe that Zhu Gaoxu has failed to win people's hearts?
"Gao Xu, it's better to go north, preferably Jilin Shipyard."

Zhu Yunwen gave his answer, which made Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng look at each other.

Facing Huang Zicheng's gaze, Qi Tai shook his head, obviously knowing that nothing could be done.

At the same time, he couldn't help but look at Zhu Yunwen and sighed in his heart: "The grandson's tolerance is still a little small..."

In Qi Tai's view, not to mention that Zhu Gaoxu has not shown any signs of competing for the reserve at present. His identity alone makes it impossible for him to participate in the struggle for the reserve.

No matter whether it is to establish a leader, establish a direct descendant, or establish a virtuous person, it is not his turn.

Standing tall, there are a bunch of uncles and brothers above his head.

As a direct descendant, there are four uncles directly related to the emperor above his head, as well as eight direct brothers including Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Yunxi.

When it comes to establishing virtuous people, his achievements are not as good as those of his father Zhu Di, King of Jin Zhu Fan, and King of Zhou.

No matter how you look at it, it is impossible for him to surpass his uncles to compete for the heirloom.

Moreover, even if he wanted to help King Yan fight for the heir apparent, he would have to be willing to do so.

In the current situation, King Yan Zhu Di is the direct vassal king who is least interested in fighting for the throne. After all, he still has two brothers, Qin and Jin, weighing on his head.

Therefore, in Qi Tai's view, while the Qin and Jin Dynasties still existed, instead of exiling Zhu Gaoxu, it would be better to find a way to get rid of Zhu Jixi of the Jin vassal.

Zhu Jixi was the person that Zhu Fan tried every means to block in Nanjing City, making it impossible for Qi Tai and others to get rid of him.

More importantly, Zhu Jixi not only had the power of the Jin Dynasty to support him in the temple, he was also older than Zhu Yunwen, and he behaved relatively wisely.

It can be said that he occupies the title of "direct eldest virtuous man", but it is a pity that he is from the lineage of the King of Jin.

Because of this, Zhu Fan would put Zhu Jixi in Nanjing, life or death, and let him hang out in front of the emperor at any time.

In the three months since he entered Wuying Hall, although Zhu Jixi did not have outstanding political opinions, he did not make any mistakes.

In Qi Tai's opinion, this is the object that should be solved quickly.

It's a pity that no matter how much he tried to persuade him in the past few months, Zhu Yunwen always pointed his finger at Zhu Gaoxu, the person who should not leave Nanjing.

"My third uncle, something happened recently..."

Zhu Yunwen frowned slightly, as if he didn't want to continue Zhu Gaoxu's topic.

Faced with his words, Huang Zicheng saw that Qi Tai did not speak, so he could only bow and reply: "There is no news from King Jin yet. Since something happened at the Yingguo Duke's mansion, the second son of the Yan Mansion, Zixu, has been banned again. After that, the Prince of Jin's Mansion was very peaceful, and no Tangqi came out of the Mansion to go south."

"Hmph..." Zhu Yunwen hummed, with a bit of pride on his brows: "My third uncle treats his in-laws like this, I'm afraid it can't be justified."

"There are indeed rumors within Shanxi, but they have all been suppressed." Huang Zicheng talked eloquently, but then looked at Qi Tai.

Qi Tai felt his gaze and spoke calmly: "In Shanxi Dusi, the old people of Duke Ying are the most numerous. The King of Jin refused to go up to the throne to speak out for Duke Ying. He has lost the hearts of many of Duke Ying's old people. .”

"If Duke Ying dies, the people of Shanxi Dusi will also be dispersed. Your Highness can take the opportunity to replace the generals of Shanxi, Beiping, and Shaanxi Dusi."

"Without them, King Jin will only have three guards at his disposal, so there won't be any serious trouble."

"Okay!" Hearing that the situation was tilted towards him, Zhu Yunwen rarely shouted "ok". At the same time, he stood up and walked to Qi Tai, took Qi Tai's hands and said eagerly:

"If the third uncle loses the military power, then the fifth uncle should be relieved of the military power. Please teach me, sir."

King Zhu Fan of Jin and King Zhu Zhu of Zhou were both people who made small moves after Zhu Yunwen was made grandson. Zhu Yunwen's immediate priority is to remove their military power. After all, he doesn't know how long his grandfather can last.

Faced with his eagerness, Qi Tai pondered for a moment, and then said: "It is not difficult to remove the military power of the King of Zhou. Most of the military power of the King of Zhou is in the capital of Henan. The reason why the capital of Henan obeys the king of Zhou is mainly Song Guogong. .”

"As long as the Duke of Song dies, the grandson can deal with it according to the law and do what he did to Shanxi and the capital of Henan."

"In this way, Jin Zhou's problem will be solved..."

Qi Tai's words were ringing in Zhu Yunwen's ears at this time.

After getting the solution to Zhou and Jin, he had to look at Shu and continue to ask: "If the military power of Jin and Zhou is resolved, will Qin or Yan be the next step?"

The four vassals of Qin, Jin, Yan and Zhou were all born to Queen Ma, so they posed the greatest threat to Zhu Yunwen. He would naturally have a clear goal. When facing him, Qitai said without hesitation: "First Qin, then Yan."

"Why?" Zhu Yunwen frowned slightly. In his heart, he still wanted to get rid of Zhu Di first. After all, Zhu Di had prestige in Liaodong, Daning, and Peiping, and Zhu Xi couldn't even interfere with the troops of Shaanxi Dusi, let alone Shaanxi. All right.

"After all, King Qin is the eldest among all the vassals today, and he is also a direct relative, so we should attack him first."

"What's more, the King of Qin lives in Xi'an. Once there is a change, the northwest will not be protected, so it should be resolved as soon as possible."

"Although King Yan has powerful troops and horses, there is no danger to defend Beiping."

"Looking at ancient and modern times, as long as Shanshan and Shaanxi are in hand, Hebei will be difficult to resist. Therefore, as long as the military power of Shanxi and Shaanxi is taken back, Yan Fan has nothing to fear."

Qitai's words are very reasonable. In ancient and modern dynasties, as long as the imperial court controls the two provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi, it can immediately suppress Hebei and the Central Plains.

This was true in the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties, and the Yuan Dynasty was no exception.

These precedents exist before, and there is no problem in Qitai's analysis.

So after he finished speaking, even Zhu Yunwen was convinced by him, and Qi Tai brought up the topic again when he saw this:

"Although it is difficult for Hebei to resist if Shanshan is in hand, if Yan's second son, Zi Xu, goes to the Jilin Shipyard, things may change."

Seeing Qi Tai bring up this topic again, Zhu Yunwen subconsciously let go of his hand, obviously unhappy.

After he reacted later, in order to cover up his displeasure, he smiled heartily and said:
"Mr. Qi has said it before. Let's not mention that Shanshan suppresses Hebei as you said. The Jilin Shipyard's background alone will not allow Gao Xu to change."

"Indeed, the Jilin Shipyard's foundation is too weak." Huang Zicheng couldn't help but echoed, but he was not echoing for the sake of echoing, but really felt that Qi Tai was a bit unfounded.

It is true that Zhu Gaoxu has extraordinary talents, but the Jilin Shipyard only has more than 300 military craftsmen households and a population of less than 7000. It is simply a joke for such a person to succeed.

Qi Tai also knew this truth, but he still felt uneasy. Even though he had not met Zhu Gaoxu a few times, he could feel something from the drastic change in Zhu Gaoxu's behavior this year.

He believed in his intuition, but in the eyes of Zhu Yunwen and Huang Zicheng, he did think too much of Zhu Gaoxu.

The Ming Dynasty is still on the rise. Even if Zhu Gaoxu really rebels, with a population of less than [-], it is simply a fantasy to survive the encirclement and suppression of more than [-] military households in Liaodong and Daning.

Even Huang Zicheng, who had always admired Qi Tai, couldn't help but doubt his previous vision after hearing his remarks. Zhu Yunwen even felt that Qi Tai said this deliberately to keep Zhu Gaoxu in Nanjing.

Not to mention what they thought, Qi Tai knew after seeing their expressions that they might think his words were unfounded.

Seeing this, Qi Tai did not dwell too much, but bowed and said: "Indeed, I am thinking too far. At the moment, we still have to deal with the Jin government first, and at the same time pay attention to counterinsurgency in the southwest."

"Indeed..." Seeing Qitai change his words, Huang Zicheng also agreed: "Recently, all parties in the temple are paying attention to the counterinsurgency in the southwest."

"The good news reached the temple today, and someone from below suggested that the copper mines in Kunming and Qujing should be mined first. They must be planning for next year's autumn tax."

Huang Zicheng did not mention the use of banknotes to offset taxes, but there are traces of using banknotes to offset taxes everywhere.

In the past, the temple officials would not have been so worried about Yunnan's affairs. Since the discovery of a large number of gold, silver and copper mines in Yunnan, their attitudes have reversed.

Obviously, since Su Song's second government used banknotes to offset taxes, everyone has focused on the next policy of using banknotes to offset taxes.

Of course, they all knew that if the gold, silver and copper mines in Yunnan could not be successfully mined, the emperor would not agree to continue to use banknotes to offset taxes, so they would fully support the counterinsurgency.

"In the spring of next year, will we still be sending money to military households?"

Qi Tai looked at Zhu Yunwen and asked Zhu Yunwen about Zhu Yunwen's attitude towards the money bill law.

In Zhu Gaoxu's "Money and Banknote Law", using banknotes to offset taxes to recover treasure banknotes and then storing them for safekeeping is only the first step. The second step is to no longer use banknotes to offset salaries and wages.

In previous years, Zhu Yuanzhang would distribute part of officials' salaries and rewards in the form of banknotes. However, this year, after Zhu Gaoxu announced the "Money and Banknote Law", Zhu Yuanzhang stopped doing this.

Not only the Sixth Division, but also the military households in the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion also received such treatment.

The treasure notes rewarded in previous years were converted into copper coins, grain, cloth, and cotton, which saved military households the time of going to the city to buy, and the items distributed were twice as much as the treasure notes could buy.

Zhu Gaoxu's "Money Banknote Law" not only benefited the people, but also benefited the senior officials and junior officials of the Sixth Ministry and the Fifth Army's governor's office, as well as generals and soldiers.

Zhu Yunwen knew this very well, but he really didn't know his grandfather's current attitude towards the Money Bill Law.

After the implementation of the "Money Banknote Law", wealthy gentry households, grassroots people, military households, and subordinate officials all benefited, but the imperial court actually suffered losses.

Although the copper mines in Jiuhuashan were successfully mined, the treasury's expenditures always exceeded its revenues.

If there was no way to balance the revenue and expenditure, Zhu Yunwen could be sure that his grandfather would stop the implementation of the "Currency Law".

"It's hard to fathom Grandpa Huang's attitude now, but as long as the gold, silver and copper mines in Yunnan can be successfully mined and handed over to the Beijing treasury, the money bill law can still be maintained at least until next autumn."

"By next autumn, if the rebellion is put down, dozens of mines across Yunnan will be digging for gold, silver and copper, so there is no need to worry."

Zhu Yunwen did not give a specific answer, which made Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng feel a little uneasy.

But even so, they did not continue to ask. Instead, they nodded slightly and kept thinking about how to explain it to the people below.

While they were conceiving, Li Daiban from the East Palace walked into the palace, bowed to Zhu Yunwen and said:

"Your Highness, Your Majesty just left the palace, and he brought..."

Li led the class for a moment, and Zhu Yunwen also had a bad feeling in his heart: "Who are you taking?"

(End of this chapter)