Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 185: I also tried my best to present it to the princess

Fengtian Temple.

in the hall.

"Your Majesty, during the expedition against Annan, Duke Licheng ignored his orders from the court and used his convict women in marriage to sergeant men without authorization. He also gave horses and cattle from Guangxi prefectures and counties to the soldiers of the Jiaozhi army."

Mo Lin, the right minister of the Ministry of Punishment, bowed and came out and said: "Your Majesty, Duke Licheng is a minister of the imperial court. He is so expert. This trend must not last forever. It should be in line with the national code!"

Zhu Di said: "What you said is certainly reasonable, but Jiaozhi is the central and southern border of the imperial court, four or five thousand miles away from the capital. It is really impossible to send letters back and forth from the land. It also takes nearly a month to go back and forth by sea. I sealed it before. Sheng Yong is the general of the Southern Expedition, so he has the authority to handle all the affairs there, and he cannot be said to be expert."

"Old minister, thank you for your understanding!"

Sheng Yong came out, knelt down and kowtowed.

"Mr. Licheng, please come back quickly."

Zhu Di raised his hand and said: "Annan was able to be pacified so quickly this time because the soldiers of the Southern Expedition were not afraid of hardships and worked hard. It was also thanks to the veteran general's overall planning and troop deployment. Since I used the veteran general in the first place, then It’s natural to employ people without any doubts, so don’t overthink it, veteran general.”

"Thank you, Your Majesty, old minister."

Sheng Yong bowed again and then slowly straightened up.

Zhu Di added: "I heard that your youngest son Sheng Lei killed five rebels during the Southern Expedition and captured more than ten rebels alive. His contribution is not small! What position does he hold now?"

"Back to your majesty, Sheng Lei has made great achievements during the Southern Expedition and was promoted to the general banner. After the establishment of the Jiaozhi Dusi, he served as the minister's personal guard but did not serve. The minister returned to Beijing according to the order, and he came back with him."

Sheng Yong bowed and replied.

Zhu Di stroked his beard and said: "Sheng Lei has little promise at this young age. He should continue to practice. In time, he will become a strong general in the imperial court. According to my decree, from now on, Sheng Lei will be transferred to the Banner Guards as a hundred households and serve as the guard general of Chunhe Palace. .”

The flag-bearing guards are the emperor's personal soldiers second only to the royal guards. They have two main responsibilities. One is to control the golden drums and flags used by the emperor. The second is to guard the emperor's left and right sides and stay in the imperial palace.

Chunhe Hall is the East Palace.

Zhu Di appointed Sheng Lei as the guard general of the East Palace, which was equivalent to training this person as a subordinate general of Prince Zhu Gaoxu.

After Zhu Gaoxu succeeds to the throne in the future, Sheng Lei's glory and wealth will naturally be indispensable.

"Old minister, I would like to thank Your Majesty for your grace on behalf of the dog!"

In response to the emperor's kindness, Sheng Yong had to kneel down again and bow down.

Zhu Di looked down at the ministers and said loudly: "Who has anything else to report?"

"Your Majesty, Father."

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu, who was standing at the lower left of Zhu Di, turned around after hearing the sound, faced Zhu Di, bowed and said: "As far as I know, during the Southern Expeditionary Army's pacification of Annan, General Shenji Zhang Wu and General Wang Cong , and also made considerable contributions.”

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu said these words, the spirits of Zhang Wu and Wang Cong, who were standing in the middle of the general class, were instantly lifted.

This time, for the pacification of Annan, the imperial court awarded meritorious officers, including two dukes of Licheng County and Qianxian County, two marquises of Xincheng County and Fengcheng Township Marquis, Yunyang Xiangbo, Xing'an Tingbo, and Wukang Tingbo. There are three earls, two dukes, two marquises and three uncles in total.

The military honors of the Ming Dynasty are quite difficult to obtain.

Back then, Qiu Fu led an expedition to the Timur Kingdom and successfully welcomed back the Ming Dynasty envoy Fu An. His contribution was not small, but he was only awarded a second-class Marquis of Qi County.

The pacification of Annan this time was equivalent to the battle to destroy the enemy's country and capture the enemy's leader. The imperial court awarded five new honorary ministers at one time. The original Marquis of Licheng and the Marquis of Xiping already had titles. It can be seen that Emperor Yongle Zhu Di was very happy and took great action. Generous.

Zhang Wu and Wang Cong were thinking just now that they had made great military achievements in pacifying Annan, but their names were not included in the reward, which really surprised them.

However, due to the status and occasion of the ministers, the two could not immediately jump out to question the court's decision, and could only wait to see if anyone would speak up for them.

Now, Prince Zhu Gaoxu stood up to speak for them, which made Zhang and Wang extremely excited.

"Prince, please tell me carefully about the contributions of Zhang Wu and Wang Cong."

Zhu Di had a good impression of Zhang Wu and Wang Cong.

Zhang Wu served under Zhu Di in his early years and served as Yanshan's right guard for hundreds of households. He was brave and open-minded.

Historically, during the Battle of Jingnan, Zhang Wu followed Zhu Di in raising troops and conquered Jizhou, Xiongxian, and Mozhou, and defeated Geng Bingwen with his generals at Zhending.

In June of the fourth year of Jianwen, Zhu Di ascended the throne, and Zhang Wu was granted the title of Chengyang Marquis, the Tongzhi of the Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Army, ranking first among the marquises.

In October of the following year, Zhang Wu died of illness and was granted the posthumous title of Duke of Lu, with the posthumous title of Zhongyi. Because he had no sons, he was removed from the title.

During the Battle of Jingnan, Wang Cong captured Jizhou, attacked Zunhua, favored Zhuozhou, and then fought in Chiping and Huakou, defeating the Southern Army and capturing [-] horses.From the Cijiang River, the army of Luoyang was sent to the south to help the troops, and the capital was moved to command envoys and was granted the title of Marquis of Wucheng.

Because history was changed, after Zhu Yuanzhang died, King Zhu Di of Yan succeeded to the throne, so Zhang Wu and Wang Cong were transferred to the capital to serve as flag bearers and guard Qianhu.

After the war in Annan started, Zhang Wu was named General Shenji and Wang Cong was named General Henghai. They commanded the Shenji soldiers and naval forces respectively, and followed the army southward to Annan.

"I report to my father, the Divine Machine General Zhang Wu, commanding a thousand Divine Machine Soldiers all equipped with muskets. On the battlefield of Annan, he repeatedly repelled the ambushes ambushed by the thieves and the armored soldiers on the battlefield."

Zhu Gaoxu recalled the records in the military report and said slowly: "In addition, when the main force of our army attacked the capital of the Hu thief country, Zhang Wu took the lead and led a team of magic soldiers to attack the city first and kill the puppet king of the Hu family. The capable general Jia Weishang captured alive several of the puppet king's close subordinates."

"As for Wang Cong, the general across the sea, he led a fleet and landed in Annan from the sea. He killed thousands of deserters under the puppet king of the Hu family and caught them off guard. This bought a lot of time for the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers to capture the Hu family and his son."

Most of the civil and military officials in the court were very surprised when they heard Zhu Gaoxu's words.

Some officials even began to whisper to each other and discuss in low voices.

"Your Majesty is generous. With this military achievement, Zhang Wu and Wang Cong are worthy of the title of Marquis."

"That's right, don't even think about the highest-ranking county marquis. Even if you can't get the second-ranking county marquis, it's still enough to be granted the title of the lowest-ranking county marquis among the marquises."

"Who said no?"

"As the saying goes, one general's achievements can lead to the death of thousands of bones. In the imperial court's southern expedition, many officers and soldiers also died!"

"quiet!"

The etiquette officer shouted loudly.

Immediately, the court fell silent for an instant.

Zhu Di pondered for a moment, considered his words and said: "The Ministry of War listened to the order and read the military merits of Zhang Wu and Wang Cong. Your ministry will discuss the merits and formulate reward regulations and submit them to me for instructions."

"The minister obeys the order."

Jin Zhong, Minister of the Ministry of War, bowed his head and bowed in salute.

In this way, Zhu Di approved the memorial of Jin Zhong, Minister of the Ministry of War, a few days later.

As a result, Zhang Wu, the general of the Southern Expedition, was given the title of Dingluan, Conquering Difficulties, Tuicheng, Xuanli, Military Minister, Special Administrative Officer, Zhu Guo, Governor of the Central Army Governor's Mansion, Tongzhi Chengyang Township Marquis (third-class Marquis), with a salary of two thousand shi. , inherited from generation to generation, rewarded with 3000 taels of silver yuan, [-] pieces of cloud brocade, and [-] yuan of gold notes.

Wang Cong, the general of the Southern Expedition across the sea, was granted the title of Dingluo, Conquering Difficulties, and Promoting Chengli, a military minister. He was promoted to Ronglu, Dafu, and Zhu Guo. Inheritance, reward 3000 taels of silver yuan, thirty pieces of cloud brocade, and [-] yuan of gold notes.

Yongle Dynasty added two more marquises.

"Who has anything else to report?"

Zhu Di asked loudly again.Sun Xian, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty, the construction of defensive cities in the seven fortresses in the north was mostly done by young immigrants who had migrated to settle there, while the labor force was all used to build the cities and their livelihood was difficult. I ask your Majesty to extend the construction period as appropriate. .”

When Zhu Di heard this, he frowned and said: "Although the people are miserable, they will not starve to death if they have food. But now that we are immigrating to the border areas, building fortresses is the most urgent matter. All seven fortresses must be built before December this year." !”

Then, in a loud voice, he solemnly said: "If someone cuts corners, causing the acceptance to fail and the project to be delayed, the supervisor and supervisor will be executed and the whole family will be executed, and the admiral will be removed from office and imprisoned!"

At this point, Zhu Di changed his tone and said slowly: "As for the immigrants in the north who are unable to farm due to the construction of the city and their livelihood is difficult, in this way, all frontier immigrants can be exempted from land tax for three years."

"Your Majesty Shengming."

Sun Xian, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Yu Xin, the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, said in unison.

"The cabinet will immediately prepare a decree and order the provinces, prefectures and counties to promulgate the decree accordingly to calm the people's hearts."

Zhu Di then turned his attention to the cabinet advisers in the civil service class and gave instructions loudly.

"According to the order."

The cabinet adviser headed by Fang Xiaoru bowed and took the order.

Backwards.

Hall of Martial Arts.

Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu stood side by side, looking at the giant map of Nine Continents hanging on the screen, discussing matters in the Western Regions.

A few days ago, King Shamechagan of Yilipali sent an envoy to the court, expressing his willingness to marry his daughter to the Ming Dynasty. He hoped that the court would stop encroaching on Yilipali and return the Turpan it had occupied.

Since September of the third year of Yongle, the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers have used sharp bird muskets, flintlock muskets, vehicle-mounted artillery and other firearms to successively capture the remaining Kansai Six Guards and Turpan based on Hami, and stationed troops to garrison and build large cities.

Song Sheng, the chief officer and soldier, was also granted the title of Marquis of Xining County for his military merits. Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng were granted the titles of Pingxiang Marquis and Chengting Bo respectively.

The entire territory of the Seven Guards of Kansai was controlled by the Ming Dynasty, which made King Shami Chagan aware of the Ming Dynasty's intention to advance westward.

Perhaps Shamechagan decided to beg for mercy from the Ming Dynasty in an attempt to maintain his own royal rule based on the principle that he would rather be a chicken head than an ox tail.

But Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu didn't know what the truth was, so they decided to listen to the views of Fu An, who had lived in the Western Regions for many years.

"Your Majesty, Fu An has been ordered to come to see you."

Li Xing bowed into the hall and respectfully reported.

"Pass him in."

Zhu Di turned around, walked behind the royal table and sat down.

Zhu Gaoxu also walked to the first chair on the lower left side of the imperial table and sat down.

"Your Majesty, Fu An, pays homage to His Majesty, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Fu An bowed and saluted.

"Flat body."

Zhu Di said: "Give me a seat."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Fu An found a seat farthest from the throne and sat down.

"You were on a mission to the Timur Kingdom before, and you know a lot about all the forces in the Western Regions. I want to hear about the situation in the Yili Kingdom."

"Yes."

Fu An said respectfully.

So, he slowly introduced what he learned about the history of Yili State to Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu.

The Yilibali State founded by Tuhelu Timur Khan was a country composed of the descendants of Genghis Khan's golden family as the royal line, the Mongolian tribes as the main body, and allied with other ethnic groups in the Western Regions.

The country's tribal composition is complex and various forces are intertwined.Among them, the contradiction between the royal family and the secret secrets of the Dugrat tribe is particularly obvious.

In the later period of Tuhelu Timur Khan's term of office, in order to limit the power of the khanate in the khanate, he did not hand over the powerful military and political leader of the khanate, which had always been held by this ministry, to his successor yomi Yomarudin. This aroused the dissatisfaction of the alien warrior Marudin.

After the death of Tuhelu Timur, the Yomi Yong Marudin rebelled and killed 18 members of the royal family. As a result, the Khan's power fell under the control of the Dugrat tribe.

The turmoil in the country's internal situation also led to the covetousness of its external powerful neighbors. Timur, a member of the Mongolian Baluras family operating in the west of the Western Region, took the opportunity to gather his old troops to rebel.

Timur led his troops to not only defeat Yeligas, occupy the city of Samarkand and other places, but also sent troops to launch six eastern expeditions to the eastern region.

The loss of the lands in the river and the turmoil in the political situation of the Khanate weakened the military strength of Marudin.

In the 22nd year of Hongwu, the mysterious warrior Maruddin was finally defeated by Timur, and he himself also disappeared in the battle.

In the same year, the youngest son of Tuhei Lu Timur Khan, Hei'er, who escaped from the murder of Yomi Marudin, was proclaimed Khan by his subordinates on the grassland.

In this way, Yili returned control of the country to the descendants of Tuhelu Timur.

In the 24th year of Hongwu's reign, shortly after Heide'er Khan, the ruler of Yili State, came to the throne, he sent envoys Qianhu Hamalidin and others to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute to horses and Fangwu, thus setting a precedent for communication with the imperial court.

However, due to the military pressure from Timur in the west, Heidi'er Khan had a closer political relationship with Timur.

Not only did he marry his daughter to Timur, he also prepared food and wages for Timur's eastern expedition.

At the same time, as the Tianfang Religion spread further within the Khanate, Heidi'er Khan used military means to spread the Tianfang Religion forcefully. He expanded his sphere of influence to the Turpan area in the east and spread the Tianfang Religion to this area.

In the first year of Yongle, Heide'er Khan himself died in the conquest of Turpan at the age of 52. His son Shami Chagan succeeded to the throne, but the military and political power of the country was in the hands of the powerful minister of the Khanate, Kudada.

"Your Majesty, I think King Yili's move to get married this time was probably the idea of ​​the powerful minister Hu Gada."

Fu An bowed and said: "Kudaida is young, powerful and ambitious. The country is presenting the princess. It may be a temporary measure, or it may be to prepare for war."

"Do you have any good suggestions?" Zhu Gaoxu asked.

Fu An replied: "I think that the imperial court can take advantage of the situation. Regardless of Yili's intentions, he can first accept the princess and temporarily withdraw the scouts sent to the Western Regions. At the same time, in the name of trade, he sent a large number of merchants into the Western Regions to collect goods in disguise. intelligence."

"As for Turpan, it must never be returned to Yili."

Zhu Gaoxu then asked: "Why?"

"Your Majesty, Your Highness the Crown Prince, Turpan is a duck-egg-shaped mountain basin in the east of the Tianshan Mountains, surrounded by mountains. It has abundant sunshine, extreme dryness, scarce rainfall and frequent strong winds, so there are fire islands and wind reservoirs. say."

Fu An said respectfully: "There are more than a dozen rivers in this place, nine of which originate from the territory. Most of them originate from the mountainous areas of the Tianshan Mountains in the north. There are rich minerals there, with a lot of gold, iron, copper, mirabilite and other resources. Five-fifths of them originate from the territory. The second half of the area is forests and oases. Yichen estimates that Turpan can accommodate a population of hundreds of thousands."

"It makes sense." Zhu Gaoxu nodded.

Zhu Di asked in a deep voice: "Fu An, I have decided to send you as an envoy to the Western Regions to contact all the tribal forces in the Western Regions and try to divide them. Do you dare to go?"

Fu An stood up and saluted: "Your Majesty chose me. I feel honored. Why don't you dare?"

(End of this chapter)