Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 303: Teaching the Son for the Father

"Gugu...Gugu..."

Under the night, amidst the croaking of unknown birds, a house in the bustling inner city of Nanjing was also rejoicing at the news they had just received.

"It seems that the East Palace is not omnipotent."

"After all, he can't govern the world alone, but the trade in the Little Western Sea conflicts with the trade in the Southeast Asia. How should he balance this?"

“We have made too many enemies, so it’s not surprising if we give in to them appropriately.”

"That said, it doesn't feel like his character..."

In the waterside pavilion, several officials who had changed into Taoist robes were drinking and talking, discussing the news they had just received from the Ministry of Household Affairs.

The leader was Li Zhigang, the Minister of Rites during the Jianwen period and the current Yongle period.

He was wearing a Taoist robe, a net scarf and a square scarf on his head, and a blue Taoist robe made of silk and satin.

At this moment, he was holding a wine glass in one hand and stroking his beard with the other. He couldn't hide the smile on his face. It seemed that the news he got from the Ministry of Household Affairs made him very happy.

In recent days, he has been under questioning from wealthy squires who "donated money" to him in the past. The question they asked was nothing more than the court's attitude towards Nanyang.

This kind of questioning reached its peak after the imperial court announced that Zheng He would sail to the West next year, and he and most of the officials being questioned were forced to team up and inquire about information from Yu Xin and other officials of the Ministry of Revenue.

The establishment of the Xiaoxiyang Private Trade Zone was something they immediately inquired about in the palace after hearing folk rumors. Although they were not sure what the situation was, Li Zhigang still mobilized many officials to ask officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs.

He was also concerned about Yu Xin's departure to Chunhe Hall today. Soon after Yu Xin returned, he learned from some officials of the Ministry of Household that Yu Xin was formulating the "Xiaoxiyang Trade Manual".

They didn't understand the meaning of these four words "Trade Documents" two years ago, but after Zheng He's voyage to the East, they already understood that the so-called "Trade Documents" were the imperial court's pricing list of goods in a certain region. .

The imperial court began to formulate a "Trade Manual" for Xiaoxiyang, which was basically determined to be a private trade zone, which also meant that the things they had been asking about had finally come to an end.

Once the Xiaoxiyang Private Trade Zone is established, many smuggling gangs can be transformed into coastal business gangs.

This kind of whitewashing is not difficult for officials such as Li Zhigang who have accepted political donations. The only thing they are sure about is the Xiaoxiyang Trade Zone and whether the profits in the "Xiaoxiyang Trade Manual" being formulated can be used by coastal people. The wealthy country squire was satisfied.

"We have to continue to inquire about the information from the Ministry of Revenue. After this incident, we still have to focus on the imperial examination."

"Last year, many of my Jiangdong disciples were implicated, and many of them were talented."

"By taking advantage of the imperial examination, his children can pass the examination to save them from their status as military households in Yunnan, and they can also occupy many official positions."

Compared with Xie Jin's high self-esteem, Li Zhigang, who is the Minister of Rites, is very tactful. He does not offend anyone internally and his tone is thoughtful.

His tone makes people feel easy to bully, but his official position as Minister of Rites makes people dare not look down upon him.

"The major event of the country lies in the sacrifice and the army."

Although the Ministry of Personnel was the yamen with the most real power, the Ministry of Rites in the early Ming Dynasty was not lagging behind. After all, after the Hu Weiyong case, the Ministry of War was directly under the emperor. It only had the power to mobilize troops but not to control them. All military power fell into the hands of the emperor.

Although the local military governor's office is said to be under the command of the Ministry of War, it is subordinate to the Fifth Army Governor's Office, which has the power to command troops but not to mobilize troops.

In this way, the Department of Rites among the six departments becomes particularly important.

Li Zhigang's ability to secure this position is also very outstanding.

From his personal point of view, the voyage to the West was a good thing to expand the influence of the Ministry of Rites, but the coastal merchant gangs had not supported it, which put him in a dilemma.

Now the court has given in and given the coastal merchant gangs a chance to clear their name, which makes him feel a lot more comfortable.

Because of this, he had time to focus on the imperial examination.

"As expected, Jiangxi and Zhejiang have the most students in the imperial examinations. Although our Jiangdong six prefectures are extremely wealthy, we are not as good as them in terms of the number of students."

"Because of this, we must pay close attention to it."

After Li Zhigang finished speaking, he raised his glass and said, "Excuse me, everyone..."

"Shang Shu's words are serious." Everyone raised their glasses in response, speaking modestly.

What they discussed is also an issue discussed by many dignitaries in the capital today.

Since the Song Dynasty, both the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty have implemented strict maritime restrictions in order to prevent private smuggling trade and try to monopolize the government.

The Song Dynasty was successful for a period of time, but it gradually declined due to corruption in officialdom. In the Yuan Dynasty, smuggling was frequent due to poor local control. Not only did a large amount of manual skills flow out, but many copper coins also flowed out with trade.

Only when Zhu Yuanzhang took over the world did he realize that the Ming Dynasty at this time was truly in dire straits.

The outflow of copper coins has been repeatedly prevented due to smugglers. Zheng He's ability to bring back so many copper coins from his voyages to the East illustrates the reason.

Smugglers simply don't understand what the outflow of copper coins means, or even if they understand, they will continue with the idea of ​​​​"If I don't buy or sell, others will buy and sell."

In order to prevent the outflow of copper coins and guard against Japanese pirates along the coast, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to ban the sea. After all, it was merchant ships and not fishing boats.

However, this gave the local area an opportunity to exploit loopholes. Fishing boats with hundreds of materials appeared one after another, and even until the end of Zhu Yuanzhang's life, the problem was not completely solved.

It’s just that this problem has been solved now, and anyone with a discerning eye can see that the imperial court is wooing smuggling merchants who want to launder their rights, and at the same time cracking down on smuggling merchants who refuse to cooperate.

In fact, there is no need to crack down. As long as the volume of ship trade going to the Western Ocean is large enough to feed the Ming Dynasty's market, the smugglers will have no way to survive.

The same is true for the trade to the East. The trade of the fleet to the East, coupled with the establishment of two shipping departments for trade with Japan, directly lowered the prices of various commodities with Japan in the past, and satisfied the needs of the Japanese nobles and guardians at once. appetite.

Smugglers may still want to take this trade route, but the profits are definitely not as high as before, and the risks have increased.

After all, it was not that Zheng He did not find smuggling merchant ships during his voyages to the West, but once they were discovered, the bombardment was over.

These news cannot be stated publicly, but they are spreading in private. No one wants to risk their lives for the limited profits. After all, those who can do maritime business have accumulated a lot of wealth in their families.

If you want to avoid encountering official ships, you can only open a new route, but no one is willing to pay this cost, so the coastal smugglers gang attaches so much importance to the Xiaoxiyang Trade Zone.

It's not that the Xiaoxiyang Trade Zone is great, but that this is the only way they can choose.

Such news began to spread, but at this time Zhu Gaoxu did not pay attention to this matter.

The next day, when Zhu Gaojiu returned from washing up and attending the morning court, he had only spent an hour processing the memorial in Chunhe Hall when he received the news that Zhu Gaosui asked for an audience.

"Let him come in and give him a seat."

Zhu Gaoxu put down his ink pen, leaned on his chair and signaled to the eunuch on duty to summon Zhu Gaosui.

Not long after, Zhu Gaosui walked into the Chunhe Hall with pride.

At the age of nineteen, he was still as domineering as ever. When he walked into the Chunhe Palace, he just bowed to Zhu Gaoxu and then sat on the chair.

Seeing this scene, Zhu Gaoxu frowned slightly: "Did I let you sit?"

"Huh?" Zhu Gaosui didn't understand what kind of gunpowder Zhu Gaoxu had taken, so he could only curl his lips and stand up: "Second brother, can I sit down?"

"Sit!" Zhu Gaoxu responded, and he also sat down.

After he took his seat, Zhu Gaoxu asked him: "Since the Zhao Prince's Mansion is almost ready, why is it delayed?"

"Changsha is barren and has to deal with the barbarians in the west from time to time. How can it be as prosperous as the capital city."

Zhu Gaosui still used the same old rhetoric, but after hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu asked him: "I heard that your palace has been recruiting a lot of guards recently, and it seems that the number has exceeded the number stipulated by the court."

The vassal king strictly controlled the number of guards in the capital. It was not a small matter for Zhu Gaosui to exceed the quota, but Zhu Di doted on him and didn't care.

Zhu Gaoxu saw that Zhu Di didn't care, so he didn't bother to care about his younger brother. But now it seems that this kid is not only domineering but also a bit stupid.

"Dad didn't say anything..."

"Then I can't preach to you?"

Before Zhu Gaosui finished speaking, Zhu Gaoxu asked.

His tone was clearly tempered, and Zhu Gaosui frowned when he saw this: "Second brother, it's true that you are the prince, but father is the emperor. The emperor didn't say anything, why do you care about me?"

After Zhu Gaosui finished speaking, Zhu Gaoxu still had no reaction. Several eunuchs on duty in the Chunhe Palace looked at each other, as if they did not expect that King Zhao would dare to say such a thing.

"Haha..." Zhu Gaojiu also laughed angrily. He finally understood why Zhu Gaosui thought that by poisoning Zhu Di, he could become the emperor.

Before joining the feudal dynasty, his understanding of politics was so shallow.

"I've grown up now, and I'm not afraid of you anymore!"

Seeing Zhu Gaojiu's sarcastic smile, Zhu Gaojiu suddenly thought of the way he used himself to win over people's hearts on the street, and his temper suddenly rose.

"grown up?"

Zhu Gaojiu also stood up after hearing this and walked to Zhu Gaosui step by step.

Zhu Gaojiu's temper, which was originally welling up in his head, gradually dropped as the distance between Zhu Gaojiu and him gradually came closer.

Until Zhu Gaoxu walked up to him, he could only force himself to look up at Zhu Gaoxu. Although he was quite powerful, he seemed so weak in front of Zhu Gaoxu.

At this moment, even if Zhu Gaojiu didn't take action, Zhu Gaojiu knew the gap between the two.

"When the time comes, go and join the vassal state. After arriving in Changsha, I will be your King Zhao safely. Someone will do the work of pacifying the Dongman people. You should be honest."

His temper, which had already dropped, immediately increased after Zhu Gaoxu said these words. Zhu Gaosui knew that Zhu Gaoxu looked down on him, but he did not expect that Zhu Gaoxu actually felt that he could not do anything but eat, drink and have fun.

"Why?" Zhu Gaosui looked at Zhu Gaoxu angrily, as if doing so was very intimidating in his eyes.

However, in Zhu Gaojiu's eyes, Zhu Gaojiu is just a child with an underdeveloped mind and poor fists and feet.

"I'm not negotiating with you."

Zhu Gaojiu glanced at Zhu Gaosui, turned around and returned to his position.

But his contemptuous eyes seemed to irritate Zhu Gaosui. Zhu Gaosui stretched out his hand to catch him, but he reacted and grabbed Zhu Gaosui's wrist with one hand.

"Um..."

With just a little force, Zhu Gaosui cried out in pain. He had never suffered such hardship.

He subconsciously kicked Zhu Gaoxu's legs, but before he could react, Zhu Gaoxu let go of his hand.

When he reacted, he felt extremely painful in his left calf, and he fell to the ground, three to five steps away from Zhu Gaoxu.

Obviously, he was kicked away...

"Don't you think about your own worth before taking action?"

Zhu Gaoxu looked down at him with a cold face: "Do you think I don't know about the things you did in the capital during this period?"

Since entering the capital, Zhu Gaosui has done a lot of things. For example, riding horses in the street and walking on the royal road are considered trivial matters. Although he is not very young, he has accepted many thin horses from wealthy families and revealed a lot of information to them.

With such a brain in the capital, Zhu Gaoxu was really afraid that this bastard would poison Zhu Di and himself.

Although he has confidence in Bohai's cooks, the East Palace is not a place where water can't be poured into.

"I want to tell dad..." Zhu Gaosui turned pale and shouted in pain, but Zhu Gaoxu stepped forward, grabbed the collar, and lifted him up.

"What should you tell dad? Tell him that you accept benefits from people below? Or tell your subordinates privately that you are angry with the emperor?"

"you you……"

Zhu Gaojiu was greatly frightened by Zhu Gaojiu's words. He did not expect that every move he made in Prince Zhao's palace would be under Zhu Gaojiu's nose.

"For the things you have committed, according to the Law, it is enough for you to be deposed as a commoner."

Zhu Gaojiu threw him to a chair aside, and Zhu Gaojiu reluctantly sat down holding on to the armrest.

"If you want to rebel, do you have soldiers? Do you have a team?"

Zhu Gaoxu laughed at Zhu Gaosui's naivety. If he was half as smart as his boss, he should know that he was not qualified to stay in the capital for a long time.

"Just based on the three melons and two dates from your palace, do you think you can become the emperor?"

Zhu Gaojiu's face turned pale when Zhu Gaoxu said that, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"Wang Mian!" Zhu Gaoxu greeted with his back turned. Not long after, a thirty-year-old eunuch walked out: "My servant is here."

"Who is on duty in the inner city today?" Zhu Gaoxu asked with his back turned, and Wang Mian answered without hesitation: "It's the governor Liu Cai and the Marquis of Zhaozhou Li Shi (Ta Shi)."

"Let Li lose Prince Zhao's Mansion, and put the Chief of Prince Zhao's Mansion, Shi Gusheng, into custody for questioning!"

Zhu Gaojiu looked directly at Zhu Gaosui, and ordered the chief minister Gu Sheng, whom Zhu Gaosui relied on, to be taken into custody.

Faced with his order, Wang Mian bowed and agreed, and then sent someone to pass on the teaching order.

Until Wang Mian left Chunhe Hall, Zhu Gaosui didn't dare to say a word.

"You can't even protect the prince's chief minister, whom you rely on, and you still think about being emperor?"

Zhu Gaoxu mocked the third child, but he couldn't hold in a fart for a long time.

"You don't want to leave the capital, do you?"

"Okay, don't leave from today on. You can only leave when I want you to leave."

After Zhu Gaojiu finished speaking, before Zhu Gaosui could react, he heard his voice rising: "Come here, send King Zhao to the training ground!"

"I'm not going!!" After hearing the words "big teaching field", Zhu Gaosui immediately reacted, but before he could finish shouting, Zhu Gaojiu picked him up and threw him aside.

Fortunately, the two eunuchs hugged him in time, otherwise he would probably have fallen down.

"I won't go! I am King Zhao, let me see who of you dares to attack me!"

Zhu Gaojiu yelled like crazy. The two eunuchs really couldn't suppress him, but because he was kicked by Zhu Gaojiu, he was now walking with a limp and could not break away for a while.

Fortunately, several Jurchen guards at the entrance of Chunhe Hall came in, and without waiting for Zhu Gaosui to resist, they carried him out of Chunhe Hall like a New Year pig.

Listening to the shouting that was getting further and further away, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but curse: "We need to deal with it!"

"Your Highness, do you want to tell Your Majesty and Princess Zhao about this?"

Wang Mian bowed and asked, and Zhu Gaoxu also nodded: "Tell me, tell the truth to your father, and tell Princess Zhao that King Zhao wants to go to the cathedral and come back in a few months."

"My slave..." Wang Mian bowed in return, and then went to Wuying Hall in person, and at the same time sent someone to Prince Zhao's Mansion.

Seeing him leave, Zhu Gaoxu also returned to the chair and sat down. After a short rest, he continued to work on the memorial.

A quarter of an hour later, Zhu Di, who was in Wuying Hall, knew what happened in Chunhe Hall. After all, the scene of Zhu Gaosui being carried away by four soldiers was seen by many people, so the news was naturally transmitted quickly.

Therefore, when Wang Mian rushed to Wuying Hall, Zhu Di had been waiting for him for a long time.

"His Majesty……"

"What's wrong with the second and third children? Are they making such a big fuss?"

Zhu Di couldn't wait to speak. Wang Mian also glanced at Wang Yan and Zheng He in the palace.

Wang Yan didn't react at all, but Zheng He nodded and gave Wang Mian a hint.

Seeing this, Wang Mian also truthfully explained: "Yesterday King Zhao sent Princess Zhao to the former palace to find the Crown Princess, saying that His Highness King Zhao did not want to grant the vassal status."

"After His Highness heard this, he sent word that His Highness King Zhao came to Chunhe Palace today and told him about this matter."

"Your Highness asked His Highness King Zhao to join the feudal clan after the completion of King Zhao's Mansion. His Highness King Zhao refused to accept it and was ready to arrest him."

"His Highness had no choice but to restrain His Highness King Zhao, and reveal what His Highness King Zhao had done these days, and asked Zhaozhou Marquis Li Shi to send troops to arrest the Chief of the Palace of Zhao, Shi Gu Sheng, to argue the crime. At the same time, he sent His Highness Zhao Zhou to Go to the big training ground for training.”

After Wang Mian finished explaining, Zhu Di couldn't sit still, stood up and walked to him: "The second brother didn't break the third child, right?"

Zhu Di knew Zhu Gaoxu's martial arts. Although Zhu Gaosui was also good at riding and shooting, and quite brave, compared with Zhu Gaoxu, he was no different from an unweaned baby.

Zhu Di was really afraid that Zhu Gaojiu would beat Zhu Gaosui, but fortunately Wang Mian shook his head:

"Your Highness just kicked me, nothing else happened."

"Just a kick..."

Zhu Di's face was as dark as a pig's liver. If he was simply kicked, would Zhu Gaosui be carried away?

When he thought of Zhu Gaosui's limp appearance, Zhu Di felt a little distressed and a little angry at the same time.

"Go and ask the prince to come see me!"

"This slave accepts the order..."

Zhu Di suppressed his temper and asked Wang Mian to convey the news to Zhu Gaoxu, but Wang Mian could only convey the news with a guilty conscience.

Three quarters of an hour later, before Zhu Di's temper had subsided, Zhu Gaoxu took Wang Mian into the Chunhe Hall.

He walked away in a dignified manner, not at all like someone who had made a mistake.

"Your Majesty!"

Zhu Di showed an imperial attitude, and Zhu Gaoxu did not bother to dampen his spirit after hearing this. After all, it was nothing for a son to kneel down and kowtow to his father, let alone him kowtowing to Lao Zhu to be smooth.

He knelt down, bowed five times and kowtowed three times, and then stood up.

"Did I ask you to get up?"

Zhu Di stood next to the chair, holding on to the back of the chair, looking at Zhu Gaoxu with wide eyes.

"Dad, you are attacking a filial son for the sake of an unfilial son. Do you want a filial son to be unfilial?"

Zhu Gaoxu was speechless. The old man was still pretending to be addicted. Wasn't he just trying to get benefits by suppressing the third child?

"Okay..." Zhu Di laughed angrily: "Everyone is guilty, but I am guilty. One or two of them started to disobey me."

"Dad, I am not disobeying you. If I don't teach the third son a lesson, God knows what he will do in the future."

Zhu Gaoxu looked helpless, but at the same time he asked Zhu Di: "You know that he told Prince Palace Chief Shi Gusheng that he has the temperament of an emperor, right?"

"Absurd!" Zhu Di cursed, but did not refute, which meant that he did know and felt guilty.

"The third child is today because of your pampering." Zhu Gaoxu said bluntly and said at the same time:

"It would be better to send him to a large training ground to get an education. At least he can know how the army trains and how to fight. Let him understand that understanding soldiers and temples is not as simple as he thought, so that he will not be stupid in the future. .”

"You can protect him for a while, and I can protect him for a while, but what about you and me a hundred years from now?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked the question with the answer in mind, but Zhu Di didn't know how long the third child could live. After all, he was three years younger than Zhu Gaoxu, so he might live longer than Zhu Gaoxu.

"If he makes a fool of you or me a hundred years later, or teaches the next generation of foolish vassal kings, you don't want your grandson to raise an army and be deposed as a commoner, right?"

Zhu Di didn't answer, but he actually had the answer in his heart.

With Zhu Gaosui's character, he could be so arrogant and domineering in the capital, and he would probably make a huge difference when he went there.

It will be better to be deposed as a commoner when the time comes. Don't regret it when your family is destroyed by future kings.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di also felt a little regretful for his pampering of Zhu Gaosui over the years, and at the same time he couldn't help but think of Zhu Gaojiu.

"Alas..." He let out a long sigh: "You brothers were so arrogant in your early years because I spoiled you too much."

"Now you have changed your temper, but he has not changed at all."

"You were right to send him to the big church. His temperament needs to be tempered."

"You can just go ahead and handle this matter, and I won't care about it..."

After Zhu Di finished speaking, he turned around and pretended to be sad: "I often think about Peiping recently, and I don't know what it will look like now that it is built as Beijing."

"My son, I have already sent someone to look at it, so I don't need to worry about my father."

"Forehead……"

Zhu Di's thoughts had just been exposed when he was blocked by Zhu Gaoxu's words. He could only turn around and look at him with resentful eyes.

"Didn't you agree that I will take care of things in the north?"

"But you haven't taken care of it for half a month. Only my son has to take care of it." Zhu Gaoxu was also speechless. Zhu Di ran to the National Defense University every day for the past half month. After running to the National Defense University, he went to the North Teaching Field and the Great Teaching Field to see how it looked. He secretly learned the military training methods from the Great Academy and brought them to Beijiao Field to Zhang Xin, Meng Ying and others in the Yan Mansion.

If he hadn't corrected the memorials every night when he came back, Zhu Gaoxu would have been so tired that he would have scolded his father.

"I have already agreed that the Northern Expedition will be held in the spring of the third year of Yongle's reign and cannot be postponed later."

Zhu Di saw that Zhu Gaoxu was not getting enough, so he could only draw a red line.

Zhu Gaoxu did not want to delay the Northern Expedition. After all, Liaodong would be self-sufficient in two or three years, and by then the development of Modong would be on pace.

"Father, don't worry, the Northern Expedition will not be delayed."

"Since there is nothing to do, I will take my leave..."

After replying, Zhu Gaoxu also bowed in return and then left Wuying Hall.

As for Zhu Di, he did not get any benefits, but he finally decided with Zhu Gaoxu about the Northern Expedition and was sure that there would be no changes in the Northern Expedition.

He scratched his beard and glanced at Zhu Gaoxu who had walked away. He couldn't help but look at Wang Yan and Zheng He with doubts on his face:

"Tell me, does the second one look like me? Why do I feel that he is more cunning than me?"

　"Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty": "In October of Yi Chou, Chang Shi Sheng said that King Zhao had the spirit of the emperor, and King Zhao was very happy. When the incident happened, he was stripped of his crown and robes, but fortunately the prince begged for mercy and was spared. His crime was changed and he was admitted to the big teaching hall. training.”

　　"Bohai Chronicles": "In October of Yi Chou, King Zhao and Chang Shi Sheng conspired and said: "I have the spirit of an emperor." When this happened, he demoted King Zhao to a large church. The emperor was unhappy when he heard about it."

　　

　

(End of this chapter)