Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 94: Good fortune and misfortune day and night
"Dang...dang...dang..."

In the early morning, while Zhu Gaoxu was lying down, the morning bells of Nanjing City slowly sounded inside and outside the city.

At the same time, Zhu Shangbing and Zhu Jixi in the large teaching ground also got up one after another. According to what Lao Zhu told them yesterday, they led their respective royal guards to the camps of the guards and horses in the teaching ground to review the troops.

The Qin and Jin governments did not have so many conflicts of interest, so Zhu Shangbing and Zhu Jixi could review the troops in the camp in harmony.

The two of them wore round-collared robes of two colors, one scarlet and one green, with white cloaks draped over their shoulders. They were walking in the camp with guards from the two palaces.

The guards of the two mansions beat gongs and drums to notify the soldiers in the camp to get up for drills. Zhu Shangbing and Zhu Jixi also looked at the soldiers who got up, but they did not pay attention to the soldiers' actions. They only regarded this review as a show of their faces.

"It is not difficult to review troops and train troops. It is enough to find two generals who can train troops."

The Crown Prince of Qin, Zhu Shangbing, was talking eloquently, and the Crown Prince of Jin, Zhu Jixi, nodded in agreement and looked at another military camp not far away.

In that military camp, although many soldiers got up, they were busy eating breakfast, and no one informed them to drill.

Looking at this scene, Zhu Jixi couldn't help but laugh and said: "I think Zhu Gaochi overslept. That's right. He doesn't look like someone who can get up early."

"Indeed." Zhu Shangbing also laughed, but he stopped smiling after smiling: "Compared to him, Zhu Gaoxu's behavior is eye-catching."

"Haha..." Zhu Jixi chuckled a few times: "I am now a popular person in front of my grandfather. You and I can't compare."

"Red man?" Zhu Shangbing looked over in confusion, and Zhu Jixi also sneered:
"I heard that he has the ability to look at Shandian mines. He has identified six mines in Yunnan with huge output."

"It is precisely because there are many gold and silver mines in Yunnan that the imperial court announced that the Su and Song Dynasties will use banknotes to offset taxes this year."

"Although I can't figure out the connection, the news has already spread around the imperial city, and it is estimated that it will spread throughout Jiangnan in a few days."

"Use banknotes to offset taxes?" Zhu Jixi's words surprised Zhu Shangbing. After all, Su and Song's two palaces account for 250% of the world's tax. If these two palaces use banknotes to offset taxes, the Ming Dynasty's annual income next year will probably be reduced a lot. After all, the current treasure You can only use banknotes to offset [-] yuan, but the tax paid is charged as usual.

"As soon as the news spread, many Su Song merchants bought Baobao. Now the price of Baobao has risen to [-] yuan."

Zhu Jixi reminded Zhu Shangbing: "You have collected so many treasure notes from the palace in your house. Look for the right opportunity and throw out all the treasure notes."

"This is a good way to make money." Zhu Shangbing rolled his eyes, obviously thinking of a way to make a fortune.

But before he could think about it, Zhu Jixi next to him said to him in a gloating tone: "Look, he just came now."

"Huh?" Zhu Shangbing followed Zhu Jixi's gaze, and then saw Zhu Gaochi who was rushing to the military camp with the Yanfu guards.

"Two quarters of an hour passed before he came. He will feel better later."

Zhu Shangbing mocked Zhu Gaochi, and then together with Zhu Jixi urged the soldiers in the military camp to go to the large training ground to practice martial arts.

About a quarter of an hour later, tens of thousands of soldiers from the two guards inspected by them gathered in the cathedral. The two of them also went to the high platform to wait for Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Yunwen to arrive.

But they didn't wait for the two of them, only the eunuch who came to deliver the message.

"Your Highnesses..."

The eunuch who accompanied him went up to the high platform and bowed to the two of them. The two of them could not hold back and asked directly: "When will the emperor's grandpa and grandson come?"

"His Majesty and the grandson have returned to the palace a long time ago, and they are probably organizing a court meeting now."

"Today's review will be inspected by a slave." The eunuch reported in return, but the answer made Zhu Shangbing and Zhu Shangbing look a bit unhappy.

"Exercise martial arts!"

Zhu Shangbing greeted the guard commander next to him, then returned to his seat and sat down. It seemed that he didn't pay much attention to the review.

Seeing this, Zhu Jixi on the side just smiled and comforted the eunuch who was with him. Then he returned to his position with a smile on his face, ordered someone to fetch the chessboard, and played chess with Zhu Shangbing under the watchful eyes of thousands of troops.

Seeing this, the accompanying eunuch couldn't help but sigh in his heart. After a while, he turned his attention to the large training ground to watch the military sergeants practicing martial arts.

After half an hour of this, Zhu Gaochi arrived late with a guard horse.

After the guard stood firm, Zhu Gaochi walked up to the high platform out of breath, and bowed to Zhu Shangbing: "Brother, Brother Bing..."

Zhu Jixi was three years older than Zhu Gaochi, so he naturally had to salute. However, Zhu Shangbing, who was two years younger than him, did not look down upon him and continued to bow.

Seeing how polite he was, the two of them had no choice but to put down their chess pieces and return the favor.

However, after returning the gift, the two of them did not intend to have an in-depth chat with Zhu Gaochi, but instead played chess on their own.

Fortunately, Zhu Gaochi's attention was not on the chess game. Instead, he walked to the high platform and looked at the three guards and horses training with an unstoppable smile on his face.

That look was seen by Zhu Shangbing and Zhu Jixi, and they couldn't help but whisper carefully:

"These soldiers and horses are not his, so he is very excited."

"Not to mention the troops and horses here, even the troops and horses of the Yan Mansion and the troops of Peiping and Daning in the future, I am afraid it will not be his turn to control them. After all... haha."

The two of them spoke very quietly, but Zhu Gaochi could still hear them.

Although he had a good temper, he couldn't help but clenched his fists when he heard these words, but then relaxed them.

Indeed, even he had to admit that he was not as good as his younger brother Zhu Gaoxu.

In the past, he could still say that his younger brother was only as brave as a man, but now more than half a year has passed, and his second younger brother has grown rapidly. Whether it is marching, fighting, or handling government affairs, he can always dominate him. Even Zhu Gaochi has begun to feel guilty.

Can he, who is inferior to Zhu Gaoxu in everything, really be able to overpower him and become the King of Yan by virtue of his status as the direct eldest son?

"Gao Xu's changes are really too big..."

Zhu Gaochi looked up to the end of the sky, looking at the slowly rising sun, with mixed emotions.

"Hey—"

"Hail, holy bow..."

"Reset——"

"Hail, holy bow..."

At five o'clock in the morning, when the sound of singing and singing rang out in Fengtian Square, the sound of cleaning whips also exploded one after another.

More than [-] civil and military officials stood in the square in front of Fengtian Hall, waiting for the next process.

In the Fengtian Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang was sitting on the golden platform (dragon chair) in the hall in regular clothes. On the left stood his eunuch and Zhu Yunwen, who was also in regular clothes.

Not long after, the ritual music started playing, the soldiers on the left and right of the palace gate fired their whips again, and the ministers also kowtowed to the emperor again.

After the ministers got up, they entered the stage of performance.

According to the etiquette system, ministers need to cough in advance before playing, and then go from the end of the class to kneel in front of the emperor to play.

The memorialist is not allowed to use spoken language, but reads the memorial aloud.

If the official wants to accept the decree or answer, the response sound at the end needs to be lengthened to let the officials know that the performance is completed.

It can be said that the early dynasty had very high requirements for the quality of the emperor and civil servants. The emperor had to have extremely strong political abilities to ensure that he could handle political affairs skillfully in the court meetings, and the civil servants also had to have organized thoughts to avoid making mistakes.

"Hu, the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs..."

In Fengtian Square, famous ministers sang salutes one after another, and then came to kneel in front of the emperor to play.

The things they talked about were actually small things about banditry in the county or town, routine, or promotions, but Zhu Yuanzhang sat in his seat and listened carefully.

Since he abolished the prime minister system, he has been most worried about being deceived, so he made large-scale morning and noon dynasties precisely to understand the sentiments of the people and avoid being deceived.

Not only that, Zhu Yuanzhang also formulated the Great Dynasty to be held only on the Zhengdan, Winter Solstice, and Wanshou Festival (the emperor's birthday), as well as the New Moon Dynasty to be held on the first and fifteenth day of every month.

In addition to these, Zhu Yuanzhang would also hold evening dynasties from time to time to see how the officials were performing government affairs and whether they had completed all government affairs during the day as scheduled.

He held court meetings so frequently because he did not want to lose touch with the people, and these little things were his way of observing whether his ministers were hiding anything about people's livelihood.

Zhu Yunwen, who was standing aside, looked at this scene and was not happy, but felt helpless.

In his opinion, the daily morning and afternoon dynasties, as well as the occasional evening dynasty, are really unnecessary, because such frequent dynasties would be too torturous for the ministers.

Not only the ministers, but also he, the prince, felt quite tortured.

Zhu Yunwen was so preoccupied with listening to the officials that he was not interested in trivial matters at all.

He kept looking at Huang Zicheng not far away, and Huang Zicheng responded with his eyes, as if to say that the matter was almost done and the results would be achieved soon.

After getting Huang Zicheng's look, Zhu Yunwen cheered up a bit.

Time passed little by little, and it was not until half an hour later that a head of the household department came up and knelt down to say something:
"Xu Yunzhong, the head of the household department, hereby pays homage to your majesty..."

"Since July 17th, the method of using banknotes to offset taxes in the Su and Song Prefectures has been very effective. The people in the two prefectures have been very active in paying taxes. As of yesterday, they have paid 430 tax notes and 620 three cents."

"The people of both Su and Song Mansion shouted long live in response to His Majesty's benevolent government!"

Xu Yunzhong said this, but Zhu Yuanzhang showed a bit of a smile on his face.

Seeing this, Zhu Yunwen on the side immediately stepped forward and bowed with a smile: "Your Majesty, if this benevolent policy can benefit the Susong and Song Dynasties without damaging the national treasury, it should be implemented in the south of the Yangtze River."

"Well..." Zhu Yuanzhang responded without asking Zhu Yunwen the reason.

Such a move made Zhu Yunwen feel a little uneasy. After all, he had previously strongly opposed the new policy of "paying taxes with cash". This change was too big. Why didn't his grandfather ask?
"Although this policy is a benevolent policy, it was only implemented for four days after all. The details still have to be seen later."

Zhu Yuanzhang was sitting on the golden platform, and the old god responded to Xu Yunzhong and Zhu Yunwen: "Let's take a look at it for a few months, and then I will make a decision when the documents from the Ministry of Household Affairs are presented in October."

"Hail, holy bow..." Xu Yunzhong sang loudly, then stood up and returned to his class.

Seeing this, Zhu Yunwen also breathed a sigh of relief and subconsciously glanced at His Highness Huang Zicheng.

Zhu Yuanzhang's words just now were sung loudly by powerful men outside the palace. After Xu Yunzhong retreated, Huang Zicheng also heard Zhu Yuanzhang's reply, and began to think about how to promote the policy of using banknotes to offset taxes in Su Song's second house.

It is said to be a push, but in fact no one with any sense will reject this tax offset with banknotes.

After all, a consistent banknote can only be worth two to three hundred cash in the market, but it is a real consistent note that is given to the court as tax.The profit in this process is close to [-] yuan...

Huang Zicheng was active and Zhu Yunwen also had his own thoughts. They stood like this until the end of the morning dynasty. After the morning dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang also stood up and left the golden stage, and the officials sang farewells.

Zhu Yunwen followed Zhu Yuanzhang, and the two of them walked towards Wuying Palace. On the way, Zhu Yunwen reported some of the contents of the memorials last night, so that Zhu Yuanzhang could process all the memorials quickly.

Two quarters of an hour later, the two men returned to Wuying Hall with a large number of eunuch soldiers. Zhu Yuanzhang also sat back on the dragon chair and began to read the memorial.

Since Zhu Gaoxu was on holiday yesterday, these memorials were handled by Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Gaochi.

Zhu Yuanzhang flipped through several memorials, but his brows never relaxed.

His expression made Zhu Yunwen's heart skip a beat...

"Have you read these memorials?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked without raising his head. Zhu Yunwen also shook his head when he heard this: "No, you didn't ask your grandson to read it, and he didn't dare to move lightly."

"You can read it and give it to me in the future." Zhu Yuanzhang expressed his thoughts, and Zhu Yunwen agreed.

Just at this time, breakfast was delivered, and the grandfather and grandson got up and went to the side hall to have breakfast.

At the dinner table, Zhu Yuanzhang glanced out of the already bright window: "Has Gao Xu been to Duke Ying's Mansion in the past few days?"

"Never." Zhu Yunwen shook his head. Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang lowered his head and took a sip of tea. He did not spit out the tea used to rinse his mouth for a long time.

Zhu Yunwen knew that this was the state that Zhu Yuanzhang was in when he was thinking about something, but he could not guess what his grandfather was thinking.

Before he could ask, Zhu Yuanzhang spit the brewed tea into the basin held by the eunuch beside him, and wiped his mouth and beard with a Shu brocade handkerchief.

After doing all this, Zhu Yuanzhang exhaled. His whole body became a little sluggish for a moment, and he seemed to have made some decision:
"Tell the people below and Gao Xu that he will no longer have to study at Duke Ying's Mansion."

"..." After hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, Zhu Yunwen was stunned. He didn't expect this day to come so quickly.

"My grandson accepts the order..." After reacting, he nodded in agreement, and then absentmindedly ate his breakfast.

Compared with his slowness, Zhu Yuanzhang quickly satisfied his appetite and got up and returned to Wuying Hall to deal with the memorial.

Not long after, when Zhu Yunwen also finished eating and returned, the grandfather and grandson dealt with the memorial in silence. It was not until six o'clock in the morning that the silence in the palace was interrupted by the sound of footsteps and the sound of singing.

"Xi, the eldest son of Jin (Bing, the eldest son of Qin), meets Grandpa Huang..."

Zhu Jixi and Zhu Shangbing came to Wuying Hall, which meant that they had finished reviewing the army.

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his head and waved to them, indicating that they should enter the palace. Upon seeing this, the two of them also thanked him.

"After reviewing the army in the military camp, what insights do you have?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked them to take the exam, but Zhu Jixi and Zhu Shangbing subconsciously looked at each other.

"My grandson thought..."

"All right."

Zhu Jixin was about to speak, but was interrupted by Zhu Yuanzhang, with a somewhat impatient expression on his face: "If you don't understand, go there again tomorrow. There's no need to make up lies to deceive me."

He used the title "I", which showed that he was very unhappy.

Zhu Jixi and Zhu Shangbing only felt that their cheeks were red. Zuoyi expressed that he knew, and then moved into the position under Zhu Yunwen's eyes, waiting to deal with today's memorial.

Zhu Yuanzhang watched the two people sit down and said nothing. He just concentrated on processing the memorials and discussed with Zhu Yunwen from time to time whether the contents of some memorials were in compliance with the rules.

After half an hour of this, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't realize that it was noon until his eunuch came to remind him.

He got up and wanted to take his three grandchildren to the side hall next door for dinner, but unfortunately Zhu Gaochi walked into Wuying Hall at this moment.

"Chi, the eldest son of Yan, comes to see the emperor."

Zhu Gaochi was panting and his face was red. He had obviously been running all the way.

Perhaps Zhu Yuanzhang was not in a good mood today, so everything he looked at was distracting to him. He asked Zhu Gaochi with a straight face: "Why did you arrive just now?"

"Back to grandpa..." Zhu Gaochi took a breath before continuing to respond: "My grandson felt that the early morning was too cold for the soldiers to perform martial arts, so he waited until the generals and soldiers in the army had finished their breakfast before asking them to perform martial arts."

Zhu Gaochi's answer made Zhu Yuanzhang less tempered. Even if Zhu Gaochi's answer did not satisfy him, at least he could feel Zhu Gaochi's love for the people and soldiers.

This kind of benevolence is very good in a future vassal king, especially among the vassal kings and county princes who mostly do evil things in Lao Zhu's family.

"Pity……"

Looking at Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Yuanzhang's satisfied eyes couldn't help but reveal a bit of regret, perhaps thinking of Zhu Gaoxu, who was Yun Wen and Wu.

"If Gao Chi can be as good as Gao Xu, then Northern Xinjiang will have no worries, but right now..."

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and left the Wuying Hall. People who didn't know why thought he was disappointed with Zhu Gaochi's answer.

Zhu Gaochi looked disappointed, Zhu Jixi also pretended to step forward and patted him on the back, but Zhu Shangbing ignored it.

In the end, only Zhu Yunwen stepped forward to comfort him: "Grandpa is very satisfied with your answer. It's just that some unhappy things happened last time. Don't take it to heart."

"Thanks for the comfort, brother..." Zhu Gaochi forced a smile and bowed. Zhu Yunwen also smiled and nodded in agreement, and then looked at Zhu Yuanzhang's back.

He knew better than anyone why Zhu Yuanzhang was unhappy.

The connection between Zhu Gaoxu and Fu Youde was cut off. It seemed that the connection was only cut off, but what was really cut off was probably Fu Youde's livelihood.

At this moment, Zhu Yunwen couldn't tell what he was feeling. He didn't really want Fu Youde to die. After all, Fu Youde did not pose any threat to him, but could instead protect him.

It's a pity that Fu Youde and Jin Wang Zhu Fan are related by marriage, and Zhu Fan clamored for the heir apparent.

The person who really deserves to die is Zhu Fan, but his grandfather is not willing to kill his third uncle.

In order to contain Zhu Fan's strength, Fu Youde had no choice but to die.

It's just that... Zhu Yunwen looked back at Zhu Gaochi and couldn't help but squint his eyes.

Whether Fu Youde can die or not, I am afraid half of the variables still depend on Zhu Gaoxu.

While he was thinking this, Zhu Gaoxu also parted ways with Yang Zhan after lunch, riding Chi Huan towards Duke Ying's mansion.

I don't know why, but he was a little panicked today, and his eyelids kept twitching.

"The left eye will make money..."

Zhu Gaoxu rubbed his twitching left eye and comforted himself, but the panic in his heart always lingered.

He couldn't help but speed up the rush to Duke Ying's Mansion, and arrived at Duke Ying's Mansion two-quarters of an hour later.

As soon as he got off his horse, the door to Duke Ying's mansion opened.

"Gaoxu!" Fu Zhong's voice came from the door, and Zhu Gaoxu also handed Chi Huan's horse rein to the soldiers who came to pick it up.

"Uncle..."

Zhu Gaoxu bowed with a complicated expression. He didn't know how to tell Fu Zhong and Fu Youde about this.

"Let's talk about it in the mansion first."

"Um……"

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu's expression, Fu Zhong's steps also slowed down. Perhaps he had already guessed the result in his heart.

The two of them walked silently into Duke Ying's mansion and walked towards the backyard.

The wives of Fu Youde and Fu Zhong both passed away early, and apart from a few rooms for concubines, there were no female dependents in the backyard.

Perhaps Fu Zhong had someone notify Fu Youde and Fu Rang when he arrived, so when he came to the backyard study, Fu Youde and Fu Rang were already standing in the study neatly dressed.

But when they saw the expressions of Zhu Gaoxu and Fu Zhong, the smiles on their faces froze.

"My lord, I..." Zhu Gaoxu bowed in shame, and later told everything about what happened that day.

The content made the Fu Zhong brothers despair. Even Fu Youde sighed after hearing it: "I actually guessed it, but I am still holding on to a bit of luck."

"I..." Zhu Gaoxu wanted to say something more, but Fu Youde shook his head and said:
"It's only been two days since you came to see me. I'm afraid His Majesty will be unhappy if he finds out."

"But on my sister's side..." Fu Rang couldn't hold his breath and wanted to say what would happen to Fu's side, but after his words came out, Fu Youde and the other two fell silent.

"It should be fine." Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but said: "A few days ago, the direct chiefs of the three palaces of Qin, Jin, and Yan have all joined the Wuying Palace to manage the government. If something happens to the crown prince, the crown prince of Jin will probably make some changes, but I didn't notice it."

"That's good..." Brother Fu Zhong sighed, and Fu Youde also felt relieved.

Currently, they are imprisoned in the palace by Zhu Yuanzhang and cannot get news from the outside world, so they don't know what is going on with the Fu family.

After receiving Zhu Gaoxu's information, they felt relieved.

But before they could feel at ease, footsteps came from outside the study. The four of them looked up and saw a maid walking to the door of the study and saluting:
"The Duke, Your Highness, the Young Master... the palace has sent someone to deliver a message. Please go down to the main hall to give a speech."

"..." After hearing the word "Oral Order", the expressions of Fu Youde and his son changed. Even Zhu Gaoxu, who had always been favored, couldn't help but feel a little uneasy at this moment.

The four of them did not respond, but just walked out of the study and walked to the main hall.

Not long after, when the four people arrived, a eunuch and two leopard guards were waiting in the main hall.

"Your Highness, Duke, Consort..."

The eunuch only saluted Zhu Gaoxu, Fu Youde and Fu Zhong, but did not pay attention to Fu Rang.

"What did Grandpa say?" Zhu Gaoxu looked at the eunuch anxiously. The eunuch also bowed when he saw this, maintaining a bowing posture and said:
"His Majesty has spoken, saying that His Highness has achieved success in his studies and there is no need to study in Duke Ying's mansion in the future..."

(End of this chapter)