The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 443: The Nanyang Leader

What happened in Anping Marquis' Mansion spread quickly.

Princess Fuqing is pregnant, and the emperor, Empress Ma, Zhu Biao, Zhu Xiongying, Xu Miaojing and others come to visit.

This in itself is an incomparable honor.

It can be said that the only people who can enjoy such treatment are probably the queen, the crown princess and a few others.

Now Princess Fuqing is enjoying it, which shows the status of Marquis Anping in the royal family's mind.

This is real power.

Although Marquis Anping did not hold any actual position, his power was truly the pinnacle of an official.

But then an even more explosive piece of news came out.

The retired emperor and Empress Ma arranged their marriage in public, with a son being made the prince consort and a daughter being made the crown prince's consort.

The key point is to give birth to a daughter who will be the Crown Prince's Consort.

Doesn't this sentence mean the opposite? Whoever the girl marries will be the crown prince?
If you think about it carefully, considering Chen Jingke's influence on the royal family, this possibility is not impossible.

In this case, the child in Princess Fuqing's belly is not ordinary.

There are many people who hate Chen Jingke. Not everyone wants to curry favor with him, and a lot of people look down on him.

Originally, these people were not planning to send any gifts.

What does your succession to Anping Hou have to do with me?
I ask nothing of you, nor do I give you any gifts; what can you do to me?

But now things have changed.

You may not curry favor with Marquis Anping, but you cannot ignore his child.

It would be fine if it was a boy, there are so many princes-in-law.

If it was a girl...

So, no matter what people originally thought, they all prepared a generous gift.

Those who were planning to give gifts to please others increased the weight of the gifts several times.

On this day, the people of Luoyang discovered that various nourishing products had become in short supply.

Dignitaries and celebrities took to the streets to purchase all kinds of luxury goods.

Then cartloads of gifts were sent to the Anping Marquis' Mansion.

Chen Jingke felt powerless about this, but he still stuck to his bottom line.

Each family only accepted ordinary gifts that could be used in daily life, and declined all others.

Even so, it still filled up two warehouses.

What made him even more speechless was that every time he entered the palace, Zhu Xiongying would shout at the top of his voice:
"Jing Ke, is my daughter-in-law okay?"

Every time he would retort: ​​"How do you know it's the daughter-in-law? What if it's the son-in-law?"

After being asked so many questions, he was too lazy to refute and just pretended not to hear anything.

I don’t know where Zhu Xiongying gets so much free time from, he enjoys doing this every day.

These are just minor episodes. Chen Jingke still spends most of his time on the Five-Year Plan.

Massive amounts of data are gathered every day, and they are responsible for statistics and also for distinguishing true from false.

We also have to formulate the next plan based on these data, which keeps us very busy.

The plan to publish "The World of Great Harmony" this year had to be put on hold temporarily.

Fang Xiaoru and Xie Jin were the most disappointed about this.

These two people like to watch the fun and have long wanted Chen Jingke to blow up the current cultural circle.
-
Java Island in the South Seas...has now been renamed Lu State.

After two months of sailing, King Zhu Tan of Lu finally arrived at his fiefdom.

Although it was extremely desolate, the temporary capital was just a group of low houses, not even as big as a big town in the Ming Dynasty.

But in his eyes, all this seemed so precious and kind.

It’s just that... Fu An, the Governor of Temasek, is too stingy.

Although it is a temporary house, it is too shabby.

In the Ming Dynasty, it was too crude to be used as a pigsty.

However, he just complained silently and did not really blame Fu An.

He had been in charge of Liaodong and was well aware of the difficulties of the work there.

It was a very troublesome task for Fu An to build temporary settlements for the fifteen feudal states at the same time.

It’s pretty good to be able to make it like this.

Moreover, it is better if the conditions are simple, so that when the state of Lu develops in the future, he will have a greater sense of accomplishment.

When the imperial court was going to distribute fiefs, he, as the oldest unenfeoffed prince, was naturally ranked first.

Moreover, as a prince, he had many more privileges than ordinary princes.

For example, choosing the location of the fiefdom.

Although the court could not fully meet his demands, it would still take his opinions into consideration.

After countless times of thinking and comparing, he finally chose Java Island as his fiefdom.

Other islands are either too small or too fragmented to be developed.

Either it is too big to be distributed to one prince alone and must be shared with others.

Sharing means the possibility of disputes in the future.

He doesn't have any big ideals, nor does he want to get involved in various disputes. He just wants to live a peaceful life in his own little piece of land.

Java met all his needs.

The area is neither too big nor too small, just right for him as a prince.

Located at the outermost edge of the South Pacific island chain, it is far away from other islands and not on a major transportation route, so people can live their own lives behind closed doors.

Of course, as a prince who had accepted new ideas, he knew that a policy of isolation had no future.

If you want to live a comfortable life, you must find your right position in the Ming Dynasty's vassal system, a position that does not threaten others but is indispensable.

Java Island can also meet his needs.

spices.

This area is rich in spices and is known as the Spice Islands.

He only needed to provide spices to the countries within the Ming system to ensure that he lived a comfortable life.

Old Zhu didn't say anything about his choice.

This son was humble, knowledgeable, fond of elegant ways and disliked worldly affairs.

Everyone knows this, and no one blames anyone.

Zhu Su's preferences are indeed a bit unrefined.

At least for the royal family, it is a bit embarrassing and is considered a waste of time.

Of course, now that Zhu Su has reached the top of the industry, the situation is different.

Zhu Tan’s preference is different. This is the style of a wise king, which is worthy of praise in any period.

So, when Zhu Tan expressed his pursuit, Old Zhu readily gave him the island of Java.

Moreover, because Zhu Tan had been in charge of Liaodong for several years, the Prince of Lu's Palace also had a certain foundation.

Therefore, the starting point of his fiefdom was higher.

There is no need to worry about the Prime Minister's Office seizing power.

Even the Prime Minister's Office was mainly established with the original staff of his Prince Lu's Palace.

The officials appointed by the court all went to the middle and lower levels.

Therefore, after arriving on Java Island, it only took half a month to settle down.

And an order that connects the upper and lower levels was established.

Just when he was ambitious and ready to do something big, a natural disaster struck.

A violent storm, an unprecedented storm, hit with waves several feet high.

Tree trunks as thick as buckets were blown in half.

The various materials that had been temporarily piled outside were flying into the distance like pieces of paper in the strong wind.

Hiding in the low hut and watching all this, Zhu Tan felt like his heart was bleeding.

Compared with the material losses, he was more worried about the migrating people.

I don’t know how many people will be lost.

Wait... He suddenly turned around and looked at the low hut.

It was discovered that it could actually remain standing even in the strong wind, providing the last refuge for its owner.

At this moment, he understood everything.

It turns out that Fu An is not stingy, but too responsible.

At this moment, a sentence that Chen Jingke often said emerged in his mind: adapt to local conditions.

"Adapt to local conditions... Adapt to local conditions... So this is what it means to adapt to local conditions..." At this moment, he seemed to have realized a lot.

The storm lasted for a day and a night before it stopped, leaving the residential area in ruins.

Looking at all this, everyone couldn't help feeling frustrated, and many people even burst into tears.

Zhu Tan called everyone together and held a meeting.

He said all the inspiring words he could think of.

I don’t know if chicken soup works, but as the backbone of the group, it does help to stabilize people’s hearts.

In particular, he finally announced that a stone tablet would be erected here to record everything that happened today.

For future generations to commemorate and pay tribute.

This was a shot in the arm and inspired everyone's fighting spirit.

Afterwards, officials at all levels took action to organize the people and the army to carry out disaster relief.

At last count, 138 people died in the storm and more than 400 were injured.

As for the loss of property... 90% of the property they brought with them was lost.

Especially food, the loss was even greater.

"Without external aid, our food will run out in 20 days at most."

Upon hearing the news, Zhu Tan frowned tightly.

Everything else is easy to handle, except having food.

So he gave orders, sending people to Temasek and Chu for help, while also sending troops to hunt and sailors to fish.

Delay food consumption as much as possible.

But the news of food shortage could not be concealed at all, and the people, who were already immersed in sorrow, were now completely panicked.

I no longer have the heart to work.

This time, even if Zhu Tan spoke eloquently, it would be useless.

For the first time, Zhu Tan felt what it meant to be powerless.

As a prince, his life was too smooth and he never panicked even when faced with difficulties.

Because he knew that no matter how big the difficulties were, they could be solved by just crying to the old man.

But now, he had no place to cry, and he couldn't cry.

As the leader of a country, if he cried, people's hearts would immediately fall apart.

For the first time, he felt the pressure of shouldering a country.

I also vaguely felt the pressure that my old man and eldest brother were under.

Taking a deep breath, the weakness and fear in his eyes slowly disappeared, and in the end only determination remained.

Now, it is my turn to shoulder the responsibility of the people of a country.

If Zhu Yuanzhang saw this scene, he would surely be very pleased.

However...difficulties will not disappear just because of determination, and the food problem still hangs over everyone's head.

If this problem is not resolved, people's hearts will not be at peace.

Just as Zhu Tan was racking his brains to think about how to put together some food, a man appeared in front of him.

He was very familiar with this person, as he was the Temasek envoy who had led them in the beginning.

The messenger took him to an open space and lifted a stone to reveal a cave.

It was filled with food.

Zhu Tan said in surprise: "Food...this...Did Governor Fu calculate it?"

The messenger said respectfully: "Most of this food was confiscated from the Javanese people."

"Governor Fu did not transport all of it away, but kept some for future use."

“I didn’t expect to use it today.”

Zhu Tan is a man of his time, so he naturally knows that this is just a polite remark.

Fu An was trying to intimidate the princes and tell them that Temasek is the center of Nanyang.

The Governor of Temasek is the one who has the final say in Nanyang.

It’s just that the method he used was very clever and wouldn’t cause anyone to be offended.

After all, natural disasters are beyond human control, and he did help everyone solve big problems.

Some people were slow to react and couldn't even understand what he meant.

Just grateful for his help.

But even the most dull-witted person can understand one thing from this incident: Temasek's influence is pervasive.

Whatever I want to do in the future, I must consider Fu An’s thoughts.

To be more precise, it is to consider the intention of the Governor of Temasek.

Zhu Tan saw what Fu An was thinking, but he didn't say anything about it.

He had no intention of causing trouble in the first place, and having a strong governor was actually a good thing for him.

After all, the Governor of Temasek represents the imperial court, and with him in power, the princes dare not act recklessly.

As for whether the Governor's Office would turn around and humiliate the princes...

You are just overthinking it. You really think that the princes live there for free.

With this batch of grain, the state of Lu could hold out until the next batch of grain arrived, and the people finally settled down.

Everyone has invested in a new round of construction.

Zhu Tan also wrote a letter to Luoyang, telling him everything that happened here.

Emphasis was placed on Fu An’s help to everyone.

It's not sarcasm, nor is it a hint of slander against Fu An, but it's genuine praise.

What Zhu Tan didn't know was that this storm affected not only the State of Lu, but the entire South Seas.

The princes who had just arrived were caught off guard and each suffered heavy losses.

Fortunately, the casualties were within an acceptable range.

And with Fu An's advance planning, the food problem was also solved.

Overall, it was a safe bet.

Then, the princes, who had just recovered from their shock, made almost the same choice as Zhu Tan.

While writing a letter to express his gratitude to Fu An, he also wrote a letter to Luoyang to report the situation there.

After hearing the news, Zhu Zhen sighed:
"No one can stop Fu An from entering the cabinet this time."

Xu Chai Lao also nodded and said, "Governor Fu is indeed a capable minister."

"Once the vassal states are stabilized, they will definitely enter the central government."

He felt a little emotional when he said this. If he had not been weak at the beginning, he would probably have been the one to enter the cabinet.

But there is nothing to regret, at least I am living a good life now.

King Zhu Zhen of Chu trusted him greatly, entrusted all government affairs to him, and unconditionally supported his reforms.

What else is there to be dissatisfied with?

The facts were exactly as they thought. A few months later, Luoyang received memorials from the kings, and Zhu Biao was full of praise for Fu An.

"If Fu An is indeed a capable minister, he can join the cabinet... Jing Ke, what do you think?"

Chen Jingke thought for a moment and said, "It is indeed time for the cabinet to change. Several old people need to retire."

"If Your Majesty is satisfied with Governor Fu, you can appoint him to the cabinet."

"However, the Nanyang business also needs a capable minister to take over."

"It would be best to let him take up the post in advance and train under Governor Fu as his deputy for a year or so before becoming his regular."

Zhu Biao agreed and said, "This is the advice of an experienced man to plan for the country, but who do you think can take on this important task?"

Chen Jingke did not directly say who should go, but talked about the standards:
"This person must have a certain background, otherwise he will not be able to intimidate the princes."

“You also need to understand the new policies and have a broad vision…”

Zhu Biao frowned slightly. There are many people who understand the new policy, but there are relatively few people who meet the first criterion.

Even fewer meet both criteria.

Seeing that they couldn't find a suitable candidate at the moment, the two of them were not in a hurry.

It will be at least next year or the year after next for Fu An to join the cabinet, so there is plenty of time to choose the right person.

However, what they did not expect was that after Lao Zhu knew about this, he directly gave them an option.

"What do you think of Fu Zhong?"

"Fu Zhong?" Zhu Biao looked thoughtful.

(End of this chapter)