Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 586 Postscript: Xuande (5)

"Boom boom boom——"

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the twenty-fourth year of Xuande, amid the dull sound of artillery fire, the Ming army launched an attack on Timur's army stationed in the mountains north of Herat.

Four hundred and twenty "Xuan De-style" field guns poured shells on the Herat Mountains. Each round of shells caused immeasurable damage to the defense line that Ulugh Beg had spent great effort to set up.

Although the Ming army's "Xuan De style" field artillery was heavier than the "Yong Le style", it had a longer range and greater power.

Faced with such powerful new artillery, Timur's army of 200,000 men was defeated and could not even raise their heads.

However, the triple defense line of the Herat Mountains took Ulugh Beg more than ten years of hard work and was not so easy to break through.

The Ming army's artillery shells had not yet developed to the point where they could explode by collision. Although the power of gunpowder had been greatly improved, some key things had not yet achieved a technological breakthrough.

Although the technology of the Ming Dynasty has been improving, it is indeed a bit slow compared to the improvement speed during the Yongle and Hongxi periods.

For a time, the Ming army in the north was blocked in the northern part of the Herat Mountains.

Compared with the north, the Ming army in the south advanced rapidly and fought all the way to the city of Kelden.

Shah Rukh and Ulugh Beg learned from the experience of being invaded by Zheng He in the past, so for nearly half a century, they did not care about strengthening the several cities facing Hormuz.

It was also because of this that the Ming army, whether in the south or the north, was stuck in a stalemate with Timur because they were unable to break through the defense line.

The two sides fought from December to March of the 25th year of Xuande. During this period, Timur's army suffered countless casualties, but Ulugh Beg, relying on the 20 million people behind him, continuously sent cannon fodder to the battlefield.

If the railway was connected to Kushka, the Ming army could quickly mobilize enough troops to attack at multiple points. However, the Ming army's railway was more than 3,000 miles away.

The original blitzkrieg turned into a protracted war, which was something no one had expected except Zhu Qiyue and Ulugh Beg.

"Why not agree to Ulugh Beg's request and let the Heavenly Army temporarily withdraw to Transoxiana? After all, the vast land and mineral resources of Transoxiana have already been in the hands of the imperial court. It will take at least several decades to digest Transoxiana. There is no need to rush to attack Persia."

"There are constant disturbances in Shannan and Hezhong. The most urgent task is to stabilize Shannan and Hezhong first."

"Last year's military expenditure was as high as 26 million, far exceeding the original expectations. Now that we have taken over Hezhong and Shannan, we should govern them well."

"That's right. There are more than 5 million people in Hezhong, but now there are only more than 3 million left. If we continue to fight, it will only waste manpower and disregard the safety of the people."

"You are confused! Timur is so powerful. If we let them go this time, they will strengthen their defenses in a few years, and it will be even harder to defeat them then!"

"The mineral reserves in the Persian region are huge, we must not give up!"

"Why can't we give it up? Persia is rich in copper and iron, and the imperial court is not short of copper and iron at all."

"That's right. In the early years, the country lacked copper mines. Now, the annual copper production exceeds 3 million tons. The value of copper coins in the private sector continues to depreciate. It's just the right opportunity to change copper coins to silver coins!"

At the end of March, as the Ming army and Timur's army had been in a stalemate for three and a half months, controversy arose in the court over whether to take over Persia.

From today's perspective, Persia only has copper and iron to covet, but the Ming Dynasty has no shortage of copper and iron at all.

Not only is there no shortage, it is even overly abundant.

As a large number of copper mines were mined in Nanzhou and Dongzhou, the price of copper began to fall gradually, and the price of the original copper coins also continued to depreciate.

Because of this, the Ministry of Revenue had long ago submitted a proposal to change the currency system, but it has been shelved by the emperor until now.

Now is a good opportunity to bring up this proposal again.

"All right……"

On the golden platform of Wuying Palace, as Zhu Zhanhe spoke, all the ministers shut up and bowed.

Zhu Zhanhe glanced at them and finally said, "There are still more than 50 million strings of cash in the treasury. This war is not impossible to continue."

"You are so cowardly, no wonder your subordinate countries are increasingly looking down on the Celestial Empire."

"In short, no one can stop the war in Persia without my approval."

"Anyone who advises us to stop the war will be dragged out and beaten fifty times in the court!"

After Zhu Zhanhe finished his speech, the ministers finally stopped calling for a retreat.

"Your Majesty, I, the Minister of War Yu Qian, have something to report!"

Yu Qian suddenly stood up, which made Zhu Zhanhe frown, and also made Li Xian, Peng Shi and others look at him sideways.

Everyone thought he would suggest retreating, but Yu Qian's actions were beyond everyone's expectations.

"allow!"

"I believe that anyone who dares to talk about retreating should be executed!"

Yu Qian took the position of advocating war. Not only did he express his position, but he also put himself in the spotlight with the words "can be beheaded".

He turned around and glanced at the ministers, saying sternly, "It has only been more than sixty years since the eunuch Sanbao swept across Persia. The Persia that was once pacified by 20,000 naval forces is now invincible even with more than 80,000 cavalry and infantry. If we continue to let the Western Tartars develop, are we going to wait for them to come to our doorstep?!"

Yu Qian is no longer the pedantic Yu Tingyi of the past. Now he only has one thought in mind: to make the country strong.

Only a strong country can make the world strong and the people strong, so that the people of the world can live in peace and security.

Therefore, Persia must be conquered and the Timurid Empire must be destroyed.

Although the people of the Ming Dynasty seemed to live a very comfortable life in the eyes of the world, Yu Qian sensed something was wrong.

The population of the Ming Dynasty was over 200 million, and although the cultivated land increased, it was only over 900 million mu.

It may seem like nothing now, but by the time people react, the conflict between the people and the court will have reached a point where it is difficult to mediate.

Taking advantage of this opportunity to capture Transoxiana, Persia and other places, Anxi and Beiting will become the rear.

Yu Qian was very clear about what it meant for an area to become the rear area.

In the past, the Yanran Metropolitan Prefecture in Mobei had only more than 100,000 acres of arable land and a population of no more than 400,000.

Now, more than 40 years have passed, and the population under the jurisdiction of Yanrandusi has reached 2 million. Although the arable land has only increased to 800,000 acres, the value of coal, iron ingots and other metals transported by Yanrandusi to the interior every year is no less than one million strings of cash.

If the impoverished Yanrandusi could contribute millions of strings of wealth to the imperial court, how much more could Anxi and Beiting, which were richer than Yanrandusi, contribute?
Yu Qian served as an official in Hami for several years, and he was well aware of the mineral potential of the Western Regions.

Some factories in China are now going to be relocated, and Anxi and Beiting are the best targets.

Moreover, if Persia is conquered, Transoxiana will become the rear area, which is the greatest wealth.

Yu Qian was firm in his attitude. No one wanted to offend this stubborn guy, but the ministers did hate him to death.

"The Ministry of Revenue transfers three million strings of cash and tells the Crown Prince that I don't want his military reports, I only want Persia!"

When Zhu Zhanhe said these decisive words, the ministers knew there was no hope.

In fact, they did not care much about whether they could conquer the Persian region. What they cared about was how many nobles would rise in the court after the northern Persian region was conquered.

What kind of situation will this group of rising nobles bring to the court...

For the ministers, there are forces behind them supporting them, and the forces behind them also have their own interests that they want to pursue.

However, the cake is only so big. If the nobles and generals eat more, they will have to eat less. This is an irreconcilable contradiction.

The reason why noble military generals can last for a long time is mainly because they are too deeply bound to the royal family.

Zhu Qiyue personally led the army, ostensibly to deal with Timur, but in reality he was cultivating a new generation of nobles and bringing the royal family and the army closer together.

This practice allowed the royal family to always control the military power.

If the royal family has the military power, then they will become meat on the chopping board, to be slaughtered at will.

This is the reason why the Ming Dynasty was able to deal with many major cases without any problems during the hundred years since its founding.

In the final analysis, intellectuals can only wield the pen, while the gun has always been controlled by the royal family.

According to Zhu Qiyue's fighting style, after the end of this battle, the royal family will be able to hold power for at least another 30 years.

When they thought of this, the ministers felt very aggrieved...

Glancing at the attitudes of the ministers, Zhu Zhanhe couldn't help but show contempt in his heart.

Under his order, three million strings of military funds were allocated to Hezhong.

In addition, the imperial examination and civil service examination in the 25th year of Xuande were also held in April.

This imperial examination and civil service examination selected 360 Jinshi, 824 Juren, and more than 18,600 civil servants.

As expected, on April 24, Zhu Zhanhe issued an imperial decree to set up the Provincial Administration, Censorate, and Military Commissioner's Office in Hezhong.

There were twelve prefectures and fifty-two counties in Hezhong. In addition to the officials originally brought by Zhu Qiyue, nearly 20,000 officials were transferred to the Hezhong area to serve.

At the same time, Zhu Zhanhe established the northern territory of the Caspian Sea captured by Guo Deng and Mao Zhong as the Xihaidusi, which governed six prefectures and thirty counties.

Although it is called a county, it is actually a camp left by the army.

Although the county had been established, except for some military officials in local management, Zhu Zhanhe was not in a hurry to send officials through the imperial examinations and civil service examinations because one thing disrupted his plan.

At the end of April, heavy rains continued on both sides of the Yangtze River for more than half a month, causing floods in more than ten counties in the downstream area of ​​Nanzhili, submerging more than 6 million acres of cultivated land and affecting more than 2 million people.

Faced with the natural disaster, Zhu Zhanhe could only allocate more than 2 million yuan in money and grain for disaster relief. At the same time, he purchased 2 million acres of disaster-stricken land at the price of three strings of cash per acre, and relocated more than 400,000 affected people to Beiting to settle down.

Afterwards, Zhu Zhanhe ordered that the purchased disaster-stricken land be distributed equally to the poor households that remained, thus easing the local conflicts in more than ten counties.

This included disaster relief, purchasing disaster-affected land and distributing it equally, and relocating more than 400,000 disaster victims to Beiting...

As money and grain were transferred back and forth, nearly 10 million strings of cash disappeared.

However, before Zhu Zhanhe could catch his breath, severe drought hit the capital, Shandong, Henan and other places in summer, and the summer wheat harvest failed. The people could only pray for rain.

Before Zhu Zhanhe could take any action, contrary to everyone's expectations, floods occurred again in Shuntian Prefecture, Hejian Prefecture and Yongping Prefecture.

With droughts and floods happening one after another, even the common people under the emperor's feet could not avoid the emergence of many people fleeing famine.

On the second day of August, Zhu Zhanhe issued an edict to the whole country, exempting the taxes owed by the disaster-stricken areas. At the same time, he allocated 6 million strings of money to purchase more than 14 million shi of grain from Huguang, Jiangxi, Bohai, Liaodong and other places to stabilize the grain prices in the disaster-stricken areas.

On the seventh day of August, Zhu Zhanhe issued an edict ordering provincial governors to do their utmost to provide relief and comfort to avoid trouble. He also ordered Yu Qian to serve as the governor of Beijing and lead more than 6,000 officials from five departments to inspect the disaster-stricken areas.

Yu Qian served as the governor of Beijing after many years. After the news spread, officials in the disaster area were all in danger.

A few disasters emptied the national treasury of more than 16 million strings of cash.

Seeing that there were less than 30 million strings of cash left in the national treasury, the war in Persia became the focus of those in power in the court.

Zhu Qiyue did not disappoint Zhu Zhanhe and Yu Qian.

As three million coins and grain arrived at the front line in May, Zhu Qiyue allocated one million strings of cash to reward the three armies, and the morale of the army suddenly boosted.

With the help of morale, Zhu Qiyue broke through the two lines of defense arranged by Ulugh Beg in one fell swoop, and the war entered the most intense battle for the third line of defense in late August.

As the climate turned cooler, the Ming army had a precious opportunity that was most suitable for their operations.

On the second day of September in the twenty-fifth year of Xuande, after ten days of preparation, the troops of Liangzhou Wei, Yanran Wei and others, led by Wang Tao, suddenly launched an attack on Kenyin Mountain in the western part of the mountain range.

After several days of fierce fighting, Wang Tao not only captured Mount Kenin, but also conquered Mount Maiwujiu to the east of Mount Kenin. The loss of the western front drove Ulugh Beg crazy.

He personally led the army to attack the two positions in turn. However, due to Wang Tao's persistence, he failed to regain the lost territory as he wished. Instead, he retreated after leaving behind more than 20,000 cannon fodder bodies, preparing to rebuild the defense line.

On the fourth day of September, Zhu Qiyue led the main force of the Ming army into the forward position of Kenyin Mountain.

At six quarters past midnight, accompanied by the fireworks rising into the sky from the Kenyin Mountain position, the 240 artillery pieces deployed on the Kenyin Mountain position fired loud noises, and the shells flew towards the hills where Timur's army was stationed, covering the entire area.

After seven days of fierce fighting, the Ming army completely defeated Ulugh Beg, and Ulugh Beg himself fled in panic with less than 60,000 troops.

The battle lasted for twenty-two months, and the Ming army killed or wounded more than 400,000 Timur's troops, destroyed more than 70 artillery pieces of Timur's army, and captured 141 artillery pieces of Timur's army.

During the long siege, the Ming army lost 3,457 officers and soldiers, and 7,621 were disabled and retired.

More than 11,000 people withdrew from the battle, and this price left a deep impression on Zhu Qiyue.

"More than 11,000 and 78 people. I wonder whose fathers and sons they are..."

On the Kenyin Mountain position, Zhu Qiyue looked to the south, and the soil around him had already turned black due to being soaked in blood.

Countless "snowflakes" fell from the sky, but they were not real snowflakes, but ashes from the burning of a large number of corpses.

Wang Tao, dressed in armor, walked towards him from a distance. Although he was old, he now looked more like a brave general.

He walked behind Zhu Qiyue and bowed, "Your Highness, as you said, the number of young and strong men of the Timurid army killed by our army in this battle is more than 437,000."

"After this battle, it will probably be difficult for Timur to mobilize such a large number of young and strong men."

"The results of this battle alone are enough to confer several titles of earldom!"

Wang Tao's face was full of smiles, and his words also explained why Zhu Qiyue had been stuck in Ulugh Beg's defense line for so long.

It's not that Zhu Qiyue was incapable of capturing this place in advance. It's just that even if he captured this place, Ulugh Beg could still build a defense line in any mountain range on the Persian Plateau, which he could not stop. After all, Ulugh Beg had 20 million people supporting him.

In this case, it would be better to turn the siege into a protracted war, take advantage of Ulugh Beg's desire to defend the mountains, and continue to harvest his army until his last breath.

More than 400,000 people are nothing to the Timurid Empire of 20 million people, but if these more than 400,000 people are all young and strong men in their twenties or thirties, then their demise will be the last straw that breaks the camel's back for the Timurid Empire!
A man of this age is undoubtedly the head of the Shi family and even the pillar of the family.

Their fall does not refer only to their individual fall, but to the more than 400,000 families they represent.

Zhu Qiyue's plan was indeed cruel, but without his cruelty, there would be no Persian Commandery of the Ming Dynasty.

"lets go……"

With Zhu Qiyue's order, the Ming army, which had cleared the battlefield, began to attack Herat.

Less than a hundred miles away, in just two days, Zhu Qiyue led more than 40,000 Ming troops to the city.

Ulugh Beg still insisted on his tactics of fortifying the city and clearing the countryside. He led less than 60,000 regular troops and forced more than 200,000 people of Herat to retreat.

This method of clearing the countryside might have worked in the past, but things are different now. As the disturbing people in Hezhong were constantly arrested, Hezhong became a solid foundation for the Ming army's westward expedition.

A large amount of supplies were transported to Herat by the civilians in the river, and Zhu Qiyue and Wang Tao began to divide their troops to recover the Persian region.

As more than 400,000 young and strong men were wiped out by the Ming army, Ulugh Beg, who retreated to the west, not only had to face the relentless pressure from the external Ming army, but also had to face internal turmoil.

With Zhu Qiyue and Qi Yun joining forces in Kelden, the Ming army's supply problem was no longer a problem.

A steady stream of supplies were transported to Persia by sea, and the Ming army, under the command of Zhu Qiyue, advanced rapidly and won battle after battle.

The Black Sheep and White Sheep Dynasties, which had been watching from the sidelines, began to take the initiative and joined forces with the Ming army to encircle and suppress Ulugh Beg.

On the seventh day of the third month of the twenty-sixth year of Xuande, with Ulugh Beg's defeat and suicide in Hamadan, the Timurid Empire was completely defeated.

The battle lasted for three years before it ended. More than 860,000 soldiers and young and strong men died on the battlefield, and countless civilians died indirectly.

In short, after the war, at least two million families lost their men, children or fathers forever.

Zhu Qiyue ordered Qi Yun to lead his troops to garrison in Persia, while he himself set out on the journey back to Beijing.

In early May, the temple was overjoyed when it learned that the Persian campaign was over, and everyone was celebrating the end of the campaign.

At first, no one would have thought that the Timurid Empire could survive under the Ming Dynasty for three years. During these three years, the Ming Dynasty paid more than 14 million in military expenses and more than 3 million strings of cash in pensions.

The national treasury had more than 60 million strings of cash before the war, but only more than 19 million strings of cash remained after the war.

If it is just to deal with the domestic situation in the Ming Dynasty, these more than 19 million strings of cash are obviously enough.

However, with the end of the war, the Ming Dynasty gained additional territories such as Xihai, Transoxiana, Persia, and Shannan.

If one wants to make good use of these territories, the first thing to do is post-war construction, and 19 million guan is obviously not enough.

Under the persuasion of Zhu Qiyue, Zhu Zhanhe issued 70 million strings of construction bonds to be used for industrial construction in Anxi, Beiting, Hezhong, as well as post-war construction in Persia and Xihai.

On the first day of July, Zhu Zhanhe conferred titles on Guo Deng as Marquis of Xihai, Mao Zhong as Marquis of Fuqiang, Qi Yun as Earl of Pinglu, Yang Xin as Earl of Zhangwu, and Liu Yu as Earl of Pingxi...

In the battle on the Western Front, thirteen people were awarded titles and more than 98,000 people were awarded casual ranks. Many military generals and officers emerged from them, which to a great extent solved the problem of insufficient experience of generals in the Ming army since Hongxi.

At the same time, during the three years when the Ming Dynasty was conquering Timur, colonists from France, the Netherlands, France and Britain successively invaded Morocco and other areas of Northern Kunlun.

While they were occupying Northern Kunlun, they also invaded Western Kunlun, looting gold and ivory, and used Ghana as a base for selling Kunlun slaves.

They engaged and were defeated by North Korea and Japan, who expanded their trade zone to West Kunlun.

On the third day of August in the twenty-sixth year of Xuande, Yu Qian, the Minister of War and Governor of Beijing, died of illness in Henan at the age of seventy-four.

Upon hearing the news, Zhu Zhanhe ordered the suspension of court for three days. At the same time, he posthumously awarded Yu Qian the title of Prince's Guardian, and gave him the posthumous title of Zhongsu. He entered the Shiling Yantai, the seventeenth rank of civil officials, and granted his son Yu Mianzheng the hereditary rank of the third rank.

On the second day of September, Zhu Zhanhe issued an order to build auspicious land on Tianshou Mountain, allocating 2 million strings of cash from the imperial treasury and 1 million strings of cash from the national treasury.

In July of the twenty-seventh year of Xuande, a severe flood occurred on the southeast coast, and the rivers and seas overflowed.

Suzhou, Songjiang and Yangzhou in Southern Zhili suffered from seawater backflow into the Yangtze River, causing floods.

The sea in Zhejiang overflowed, and the five prefectures of Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Jiaxing, Huzhou and Ningbo suffered floods, which submerged fields and crops, destroyed countless houses and livestock of officials and civilians, and drowned more than 6,000 civilians.

Zhu Zhanhe transferred 500,000 strings of cash from the national treasury for disaster relief, and another 2 million strings of cash to order various departments to build seawalls to prevent sea overflows and to divert floodwaters into the sea.

In August, the emperor appointed Zhu Qiyue's eldest son Zhu Jianshen as the crown prince, and ordered Zhu Qiyue to govern the country.

In October, there were constant riots in Shannan. Hundreds of garrison troops died every year due to acclimatization. There was endless debate in the government over the Shannan issue.

Zhu Zhanhe did not want to give up Shannan, where the land was fertile, but Zhu Qiyue thought the time was not yet ripe and suggested abandoning Shannan temporarily. The father and son argued endlessly over this issue.

On the second day of the winter month, the breech-loading needle-fire rifle developed by the Imperial College passed the test and was officially put into production. Zhu Zhanhe named it the "Xuan De Style" rifle.

A breech-loading needle-fired rifle, as the name suggests, is a rifle that uses a firing pin to fire the bullet.

After the trigger of the rifle is pulled, the long rod-shaped firing pin on the bolt pierces the paper cartridge case, hits the primer, ignites the propellant, and shoots the projectile out.

The Xuande rifle is four feet and three inches long and weighs seven pounds. It has an effective range of four hundred steps, more than three times that of a flintlock rifle, and a firing rate of twelve rounds per minute, three times that of a flintlock rifle.

Such a rifle costs seven strings of cash, and it should be equipped to the army immediately. However, considering that there is no war at present and there is no plan to provide ideas to other countries, this rifle is mainly equipped with the Shangzhi 16 Guards.

In the 29th year of Xuande, Japan defeated France and other countries and occupied Ghana and other regions.

In order to restrict Japan, Zhu Zhanhe deprived Japan of its trade zone in Nan Kunlun. Ashikaga Yoshikai was very angry but helpless, and Japan's national strength was weakened.

In June of the 30th year of Xuande's reign, the 74-year-old Emperor Xuande Zhu Zhanhe moved to the Daming Palace and allocated 2 million strings of cash from the treasury to renovate the Daming Palace.

In August of the 30th year of Xuande's reign, a flood broke out in Shannan, leaving millions of refugees. In addition, the government troops were not acclimatized to the climate and water there, so the issue of withdrawing troops from Shannan was once again brought up to the attention of the government.

In September, refugees in Shannan rioted, and Zhu Zhanhe allocated one million strings of cash from the treasury to reward the army.

Afterwards, although the refugees' riot was suppressed, Shannan, which once had a population of tens of millions, was reduced to less than three million due to various problems.

In April of the 31st year of Xuande, Zhu Qiyue issued an order to the six ministries, ordering all officials and civilians in the world not to call people "natives", Mongolians, Semites, Baiyi and other similar terms.

All people under the Meiji rule, no matter what they were called before, can only be called "China" or "Huaxia" from now on.

If anyone claims to be of this kind, the local authorities may beat him to death without mercy.

In July of the 31st year of the Xuande reign, Zhu Qiyue adopted the proposal of Li Dongyang, a second-class Jinshi, and ordered the six ministries to hold a meeting to recruit 72 military households in densely populated areas such as Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Huguang.

Of the seventy-two military households, half were stationed at the West Sea and the other half at Persia.

In September, Zhu Qiyue ordered the Xihai, Hezhong, and Bosi governors to:
"All peoples of the West Sea, Persia, and the Yellow River are allowed to marry people from the Central Plains. Local people are not allowed to marry each other. Those who violate this rule will be beaten with 80 sticks, and both men and women will be taken as slaves by the government."

On the third day of February in the thirty-second year of Xuande, Zhu Zhanhe abdicated on the grounds of old age and ordered Crown Prince Zhu Qiyue to ascend the throne, but Zhu Qiyue declined.

On the fifth day of April, Zhu Zhanhe abdicated again and ordered Zhu Qiyue to take the throne. Zhu Qiyue declined again...

"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince declined."

In Changchun Palace, the 76-year-old Zhu Zhanhe was painting when he suddenly heard Wang Tao's message. He was annoyed and helpless:
"He has been the crown prince for thirty-two years. How many times will he refuse?"

"Alas..." Zhu Zhanhe sighed, stood up and walked to the bookshelf, picked up the blank imperial edict and walked back to his seat. He was too lazy to sit down, so he picked up the pen and continued to write an abdication edict.

Finally, he threw the pen aside and said, "I hope this is the last one."

"Yes..." Wang Tao understood what Zhu Zhanhe meant and bowed in response.

He stepped forward, carefully held up the imperial edict with both hands, and walked out with brisk steps.

Soon, he came to Wuying Palace with the third abdication edict.

Zhu Qiyue seemed to be prepared and was sitting on the Golden Platform discussing matters with his ministers.

Seeing him coming, Zhu Qiyue stood up and straightened his clothes. Next to him stood a thirty-year-old man wearing a dragon robe.

The man had the mustache and beard of Zhu Gaoxu's lineage. He had dark skin, was about five feet six inches tall, and was very strong.

"Your Majesty's order, I am old and weak, so I will abdicate now, then..."

Wang Tao repeated the process and read out Zhu Zhanhe's abdication edict, and his eyes signaled Zhu Qiyue to accept it quickly.

Seeing this, Zhu Qiyue had no need to refuse any more, but knelt down respectfully, kowtowed five times and kowtowed three times, then accepted the imperial edict.

"Long live your majesty!"

Upon seeing this, the ministers around him immediately knelt down and kowtowed, acknowledging Zhu Qiyue's new identity.

Zhu Qiyue looked back at his boss:

"Boss, I am now the emperor, and you can finally become the prince!"

"Dad, what you said is too explicit..."

Zhu Jianshen was ashamed, but Zhu Qiyue laughed heartily and said, "Haha, don't act like a woman."

"I'll sit in this important position for a few years. When I'm old and weak, I'll let you take over. Hahahaha..."

(End of this chapter)