Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 88
Wenhua Hall is not far from Chunhe Hall.

After Zhu Gaoxu exited the side room of Wenhua Hall, it took him about a quarter of an hour to return to Chunhe Hall.

"My servants (minions) respectfully welcome His Highness the Crown Prince!"

Kang Ping and Zhao Junchen hurriedly stepped forward to greet him.

Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand, signaling the two of them to stand up, and then told Kang Ping: "Send someone to call Wei Xian and Ma He, and tell them that I have something to discuss with them."

"Slaves take orders."

Kang Ping bowed and responded.

He then ordered two internal officials and led them out of the palace gate quickly, calling Wei Xian and Ma He separately.

Wei Xian currently serves as the guard of Chunhe Hall. Under normal circumstances, he will lead a group of guards to patrol back and forth around Chunhe Hall.

But unfortunately, today is his holiday and he is not on duty.

Because the position of Chunhe Palace Guard is very important, Zhu Di arranged for Zhu Gaoxu to take turns with three palace guards, namely the 29-year-old Geng Xuan, the youngest son of Changxing Marquis Geng Bingwen, and the 34-year-old Fu Rang, the third son of Yingguo Duke Fu Youde. , and Wei Xian, who came from a humble background but served as the commander of Zhu Gaoxu's personal guard very early.

As for Ma He, he was serving Monk Dao Yan at Tianjie Temple on Zhu Gaoxu's orders during this period and was not working in the palace.

While waiting for Wei Xian and Ma He, Zhu Gaoxu sat on the armchair in the study, thinking about what he needed to say and do when he went to Jinling Academy tomorrow.

He must make the name of Jinling Regular Science Academy famous and attract the attention of scholars all over the world. Only in this way can he play a positive role in promoting the reform of the imperial examination.

After about half an hour, Zhu Gaoxu came up with several plans.

He felt quite satisfied, so he took up a pen and wrote down tomorrow's plan on the white paper on the table. Although there were only three sentences, in his opinion, this was enough to make Jinling Regular Academy famous among scholars. .

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, General Wei and Manager Ma have been ordered to come and see you."

Kang Ping's voice sounded outside the door.

Zhu Gaoxu sat for half an hour, feeling a little sore in his waist. When he heard Kang Ping's report, he stood up, stretched, and then said: "Bring General Zhao (Zhao Junchen) in too."

After a while, Wei Xian, Ma He, and Zhao Junchen came to Zhu Gaoxu's study.

The three of them bowed at the same time and said in unison: "I will pay my respects to His Highness the Crown Prince."

"No courtesy, just sit down and talk."

Zhu Gaoxu gave Kang Ping a look, and the latter understood and hurriedly led several internal officials outside the door to bring three stools.

This was not the first time for Wei Xian and others to discuss matters with Zhu Gaoxu here, so they did not repeat the courtesy at the moment, but bowed and said, "I thank His Highness the Crown Prince for your grace," and then sat down honestly. .

Zhu Gaoxu sat down again. He glanced across the table from the faces of the three people, and then said something straight to the point.

"A few days ago, my father ordered the Longjiang Shipyard to prepare the materials for building large ships. He also ordered Chen Xuan, the governor of the right army governor's office, to lead the navy and go out to the East China Sea to train soldiers. The imperial court has begun preparations for a cruise. My father The emperor asked me to recommend a few people as candidates for patrol envoys, and I have called you here to discuss this matter."

Zhu Gaoxu knew that although Zhu Di did not say it explicitly, he probably planned to send people to go on a cruise next year.

After all, next year is the first year of Yongle, and it is also the first year that Zhu Di officially started the Yongle era.

At that time, Zhu Di sent people to patrol the sea, which could not only demonstrate the power of the Ming Dynasty and tell the surrounding small countries that the Ming Dynasty had changed its master, but also draw overseas geographical maps and prepare for the kings to change their titles.

"Ma He, who do you think can be the patrol envoy?" Zhu Gaoxu asked.

He actually wanted to recommend Ma He as the patrol envoy, because after many years of contact, and last year when Ma He became a disciple of Daoyan and was given the Buddhist name Fu Jixiang, he had already determined that Ma He was the Zheng He in history.However, due to his efforts, Zhu Di succeeded to the throne smoothly, and the Battle of Jingnan did not occur, and there was no case of Ma He who shined in the Battle of Jingnan and was given the surname Zheng.

Although Ma He was the chief chamberlain of Zhu Di's Qian residence, since Zhu Di moved into the East Palace, Ma He was sent by Zhu Di to serve Zhu Gaoxu.

These years have passed, and now that Zhu Di has ascended the throne as emperor, Ma He has still not been transferred back to Zhu Di to arrange new positions.

Zhu Gaoxu felt that if he proposed to let Ma He serve as patrol envoy at this time, Ma He himself might find it unrealistic.

Hearing the prince's question, Ma He thought for a moment, and then replied respectfully: "Your Highness, I think that the person who can go on a cruise must be your Majesty's trusted eunuch, Yuma Jian, Shao Jian Hai Shou!"

"Why?" Zhu Gaoxu asked doubtfully.

Ma He replied: "As far as my servant knows, this man was born in North Korea. Although his official language is a bit awkward, he has been serving your Majesty since more than ten years ago. He has a respectful attitude and scrutinizes affairs. He has been praised by your Majesty many times. After your Majesty succeeded to the throne, , promoted him to the rank of Shaojian of the Yumajian. Nowadays, there are no eunuchs in the Yumajian, and Shaojian Hai acts as the eunuch."

"Wei Xian, what do you think?" Zhu Gaoxu looked at Ma He and said.

Wei Xian said sternly: "Listening to what General Manager Ma said, I feel that Young Supervisor Hai has enough qualifications, but lacks navigation experience. If he rashly appoints him as a patrol envoy, I'm afraid it will be difficult to convince the public, and he may even become a laughing stock."

He thought for a while and added: "Maybe he can be recommended as deputy patrol envoy."

Zhu Gaoxu knew that Hai Shou had been sent to Li's North Korea seven times in history and was also one of Zhu Di's trusted eunuchs.

But what Wei Xian said was very reasonable. If Hai Shou was rashly appointed as a patrol envoy, it would be difficult to convince the public.

Zhu Gaoxu pondered for a while. When he heard Ma He mention Hai Shou, he suddenly remembered that Yin Qing in history had been ordered to go to the West twice before Zheng He's voyages. Maybe he could recommend this person.

However, although he had met Yin Qing, he did not know his background, so Yin Qing could not be the leader of the patrol envoy.

Zhu Gaoxu thought about it again and again, and rejected Yin Qing in his heart.

"How about Hou Xian, the young eunuch of the Supervisor of Ceremonies?"

Ma He thought of a person and said again: "Young Master Hou is intelligent and eloquent, has the courage to do things, and acts in a very orderly manner. His Majesty also appreciates him and considers him a confidant."

When Zhu Gaoxu heard the words "Director of Ceremonies", some image fragments from his previous life could not help but appear in his mind.

The only people who could sit in the position of superior, ceremonial supervisor, and junior supervisor were the close associates of the Ming Emperor.

In the 28th year of Hongwu's reign, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict in June stipulating the structure of the outer court: "Our dynasty has dismissed the prime minister and established five offices, six ministries, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the General Administration Department, Dali Temple and other yamen to handle the common affairs of the world and compete with each other. If you dare to suppress each other, everything will be decided by the imperial court."

Later, in September, the inner court organization was designated and expanded to twelve prisons, all designated as the fourth rank, and there were four divisions and eight bureaus, thus forming a regulation of 24 eunuchs and yamen.

Zhu Gaoxu knew that Zhu Yuanzhang expanded the number of eunuchs and improved their ranks in order to strengthen the status of the inner court and achieve mutual checks and balances between the inner and outer courts.

As for abolishing the original exclusive status of the internal officials and making them equal in rank to the other eleven prisons, the purpose is to prevent one family from becoming dominant and to enable them to compete with each other and not dare to pressure each other.

Therefore, after Zhu Di succeeded to the throne, in legal terms, the internal government offices such as the Internal Official Supervisor, the Si Li Supervisor, and the Royal Horse Supervisor were on the same level.

In other words, both Hai Shou, the imperial eunuch, and Hou Xian, the ceremonial eunuch, are currently Zhu Di's cronies used to check and balance the foreign court.

Therefore, Ma He still selected the candidate for the patrol eunuch among Zhu Di's trusted eunuchs. He was a eunuch himself, so he naturally knew more about the eunuchs around Zhu Di.

"Your Highness, I feel it is inappropriate."

Wei Xian looked at Zhu Gaoxu's face and found that the other person was not in a high mood, so he said cautiously.

(End of this chapter)