Daming: I am the Crown Prince

Although the team is quite large, there is nothing to worry about. After all, Fengyang is relatively close to Yingtian Prefecture.

There is nothing to worry about accommodation, safety and other issues. Although the Zhongdu Imperial City was abandoned halfway, there will definitely be no problem with temporary residence.

There is nothing to worry about the guards and so on. Fengyang is the imperial capital, and the Zhongdu Liaison Office has more than enough troops, and they are all relatively reliable soldiers.

Now that we are back in Fengyang, there are many things to do. What we need to do now is to meet with some meritorious officials, some truly meritorious officials, who have special identities.

Xie Cheng, Marquis of Yongping, Zhang Long, Marquis of Fengxiang, Sun Ke, Marquis of Quanning, Zhang Yi, Marquis of Heqing, Chen Huan, Marquis of Puding, Zhang Wen, Marquis of Huining, and Cao Zhen, Marquis of Jingchuan.

These were all the nobles who had retired and returned to their hometowns. They were all from Fengyang, so they had escaped the fate of being liquidated by Zhu. If Zhu Yunhuan had not secured the position of the crown prince, these nobles from Huaixi would have been in danger.

Even if they were not involved in the Lan Yu case, these people might have been liquidated for some other reasons.

Although Tang He had passed away before, the nobles in Fengyang seemed to have lost a backbone. However, as long as these nobles did not mess around, they could naturally enjoy their old age with their transcendent status.

Losing power may make them feel lost, and being away from the center of power may make them feel unwilling. But in Fengyang, life is indeed very comfortable now.

The most important thing is that even if they are unwilling, they can only retire in Fengyang now. They know why they collectively return to their hometown and why they collectively retire and return to their hometown.

This is not just the emperor giving up his military power over a toast, etc. All of this is naturally a preparation for the crown prince to ascend the throne in the future.

Even though the Crown Prince seems to be one of the spokespersons for the Huaixi nobles, there is no need for so many nobles in the court. Some people need to leave when they need to.

Zhu Yunhuan was in a very good mood. He looked at Zhang Long and said, "Marquis Fengxiang, why don't you bring my cousin here?"

Zhang Long, who was old and frail, said, "Your Highness, my grandson is naughty and I was afraid that he might offend Your Highness, so I was unable to bring him to see Your Highness."

Zhu Yunhuan looked at Zhang Fusheng and said, "Go and ask my cousin to come over quickly. I haven't seen him for a long time. I need to test him in person."

Fourteen years ago, Zhang Long's son Zhang Lin married Princess Fuqing. They had been treating each other with respect for ten years. Four years ago, Zhang Lin died of illness. Now Princess Fuqing is a widow living in the Princess's Mansion, but fortunately she left behind her son Zhang Jie.

Zhang Jie, who is already twelve years old, is now running back and forth, sometimes living in Yingtian Prefecture, and sometimes running to his hometown in Fengyang to take care of Zhang Lin. He is very busy.

Zhu Yunhuan said with emotion, "Among all my cousins, Zhang Jie is the most filial. It is rare to be born into a noble family and be humble and polite."

Zhang Long was delighted, but he still said modestly, "Your Highness, thank you for your praise. I have made great achievements, all thanks to your Highness the Princess's good teaching."

This is flattery, but it is also partly true. Zhu's daughters were generally good women, and there were more than ten princesses in the Ming Dynasty, but there were really no scandals.

Zhu Yunhuan then looked at Cao Zhen and said with regret, "Marquis Jingchuan looks old and strong, and he should make more contributions to the court. If you resign, Shuchuan will be shocked!"

Cao Zhen quickly said modestly, "Your Highness, thank you for your compliment. I am old and frail, and I am becoming increasingly confused and weak. It is a good thing that I do not cause trouble to the court. How can I make contributions to the court?"

Cao Zhen was indeed capable. Although he was not one of the Twenty-Four Generals of Huaixi, he was one of the earliest people to follow Zhu Yuanzhang.

Among the seven nobles who have retired, Zhang Long, Chen Huan and Xie Cheng are the twenty-four generals of Huaixi.

Zhu Yunhuan praised Cao Zhen because when Cao Zhen was in Sichuan, he guarded the area and did an excellent job in setting up garrisons and planning military farms.

It feels good to see these veterans in good spirits and now retiring to the countryside to enjoy their retirement. These people who have made great contributions to the court deserve preferential treatment.

Zhu Yunhuan then looked at Li Jinglong and said, "Go and make some arrangements. After all, there are still some veterans who followed Your Majesty in the uprising. Send all the rice, flour, cloth, and money that were rewarded to them."

Naturally, the people present immediately began to sing praises, praising Zhu Yunhuan, the Crown Prince, for his kindness and so on.

They have become very accustomed to these things. Whenever he does something, his ministers will naturally find ways to flatter him. They have become so accustomed to all kinds of flattery that their ears are callused.

Fortunately, Zhu Yunhuan was still rational, otherwise, if he was praised like this every day, it would be easy for him to become inflated, or he would forget himself and not listen to any advice.

You need to stay rational when you need to stay rational, and you need to be even more sober when you need to be sober.

The first thing Zhu Yunhuan did when he returned to Fengyang was to summon some old ministers and express his condolences to some veteran soldiers. When this got out, it naturally became a good story.

This is what he should do. Any normal emperor would do the same, not to mention that Zhu Yunhuan is only the crown prince now and should pay more attention to things that are beneficial to his reputation.

Zhu Yunhu also cared a lot about his reputation. Although it seemed that it had no direct impact on his rule, one should never think that it was useless.

After summoning these nobles who had retired and returned to their hometowns, Zhu Yunhuan naturally could not forget what he needed to do most, which was also the real big thing.

Starting to bathe and fast is to prepare for the upcoming ancestor worship. The most important affairs of a country are sacrifices and wars, and this is not just talk.

Especially now that Zhu Yunhuan is the crown prince, the meaning of his return to his hometown to worship his ancestors is fundamentally different from that of other vassal kings returning to their hometowns to worship their ancestors. Naturally, this matter needs to be treated more formally.

When Zhu Yunhuan started fasting, Xu Miaojin and others naturally had to fast as well. They also had a lot of things to do, and etiquette was even more stringent for them.

After returning to the palace, Xu Miaojin said, "Your Highness, I, my aunt, and my sister have visited many of our old neighbors. Most of them are living quite well."

Zhu Yunhuan was not surprised by this. "After all, they are old neighbors. Even if they were not given official positions over the years, they have received many rewards and lands. No one dares to provoke these people easily."

Naturally, Xu Miaojin agreed with these statements. She did not think that Zhu Yunhuan was exaggerating. This was the reality.

Zhu's old neighbors, even those of the younger generation, seemed special to ordinary people. No one knew whether these people had any relationship with the emperor.

Therefore, these old neighbors should definitely be given some preferential treatment, and being the emperor’s old neighbor is naturally a status.

Especially after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, some people moved in from all over the country, whether to enrich the farmers in Fengyang or some wealthy businessmen with good foundations, etc. This is one of the reasons why Fengyang seems to be prosperous. Zhu Yunhuan thought about it carefully and asked uncertainly, "I remember that many people who moved here pretended to be locals. Have you asked about this?"

"Household registration" is very important. There are still some different policies for the old people from the imperial capital who have always lived in Fengyang and the new people from the imperial capital who moved here later.

Xu Miaojin replied, "I have asked around a bit, and it has gotten better in the past two years, but some of the old people are short-sighted and even help the newcomers to deceive the government."

Zhu Yunhuan naturally had nothing to say about these things. Such things were commonplace and not worth making a fuss about.

In order to get better treatment, the newly arrived people pretended to be locals, and the locals helped the newcomers to deceive the court for some benefits. This kind of situation existed in every dynasty.

In other words, we are not open enough now, otherwise there might be some fake marriage or something like that.

Zhu Yunhuan could only smile at this and said, "So we still have to hurry up and clean up the household registration."

Xu Miaojin just listened without saying anything. She could briefly mention some things, but when it came to political affairs, etc., she wisely chose not to listen too much, not to ask too many questions, and certainly not to give too many suggestions.

In fact, she knew some things very well. The Crown Prince planned to carry out a series of rectifications in the Imperial Township of Fengyang, which was also in line with a series of policies of the court.

Over the past one or two years, the imperial court has been continuously moving wealthy families in Jiangnan to Yingtian Prefecture or Fengyang. Everyone knows that this will cause these powerful people to lose their original social foundation and political power.

Moreover, the imperial court had already taken the lead, led by the Ministry of Revenue, in registering some wealthy households in the Ming Dynasty.

In theory, the rich people grew up in the fields and are well-informed about civil affairs. There must be people who can be used among them, and these people are registered and kept for selection.

This seems to be a good thing. In addition to Yunnan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Sichuan, there are 14,200 households in the nine provincial governments such as Zhejiang, the North and South Zhili, and Yingtian Prefecture with land exceeding seven hectares.

This number is not small. The assets of these landlords are at a very top level in this era. They are among the people who get rich first.

I briefly chatted with Xu Miaojin about the situation in my hometown, and that was about it. Zhu Yunhuan and Old Zhu had the same attitude towards the matter of "the harem is not allowed to interfere in politics".

This means that there are some things that Xu Miaojin can know, or that she may be intentionally allowed to know, but she can only know some things and cannot have any influence on the government.

Continue to prepare for the next important task. Ancestor worship is an extremely important event. No one dares to take it lightly, and perfection needs to be pursued in all aspects.

Zhu Yunhuan was somewhat helpless about Qi Wang Zhu Yu's request for an audience, but he was not surprised. If he did not come to ask for an audience, that would be the most abnormal.

As the only vassal prince of the Ming royal family who has been punished, Zhu Yuanzhang is now beginning to feel uneasy.

Although the King of Qin and the King of Zhou had also farmed in their hometowns, and the King of Jingjiang Zhu Shouqian died in Fengyang, those who should be punished will be punished, and there is no mention of abolishing the title of king.

But if the matter did not happen to him, he would not be nervous. Zhu Yu knew what he had done. He did not plot treason, and it seemed that he had not done anything too outrageous.

But looking back now, this conceited and brave man has done many things that violated the law, and he has also complained a lot. It can be said that he has a long history of bad deeds.

Seeing Zhu Yu, Zhu Yunhuan took the initiative to speak, "Seventh Uncle, you look pretty good."

Zhu Yu was extremely embarrassed and said quickly, "Your Highness, the Crown Prince, please understand. Since I returned home, I have behaved myself and kept my father's teachings in mind. I dare not disobey him."

Zhu Yunhuan also knew what was going on, and said with a smile, "Seventh uncle, don't worry too much. The reason why the emperor was so angry before was that although Seventh uncle had served in the frontier many times and was proud of his military strategy, he was violent and committed many illegal acts."

Hearing this, Zhu Yu was even more embarrassed, and could even be said to be somewhat resentful. Compared to his second and fifth brothers, what he did was really nothing, but now it was being exposed.

This is his biggest crime now. The arrogant Zhu Gui is not only reflecting on himself, but he also compares himself carefully with others many times. Now he feels very wronged.

Zhu Yu was even more embarrassed. The situation was stronger than the person. "Your Highness, please forgive me. I was arrogant before, but now I have reflected on myself."

Zhu Yunhuan also understood his seventh uncle. He was indeed spoiled and arrogant, but also appeared to be strong on the outside but was actually weak on the inside.

Zhu Yunhuan thought about it carefully and said to comfort him, "Seventh Uncle, I can't make the decision on these matters now. I will go to the emperor's grandfather to plead for mercy after I return to Beijing. What do you think, Seventh Uncle?"

Zhu Yu's face was uncertain. Everyone knew who was the person who could influence the emperor. It could even be said that Zhu Yu also knew the reason why he had fallen into this situation.

In the final analysis, it was because he had previously privately expressed contempt for Zhu Yunhuan, the crown prince, and had somewhat disobeyed the wishes of the emperor and the crown prince when he went on the expedition, which was the fuse.

Now that Zhu Yunhuan refused to admit it, Zhu Gui had no choice but to accept it. He could only consider it his bad luck, and there seemed to be nothing else he could do.

The most important thing is that he is really scared now. He dare not offend Zhu Yunhuan. He still wants to return to his fiefdom and become a vassal king. If he really offends Zhu Yunhuan, he may have to farm in his hometown for the rest of his life.

Zhu Yu looked at Zhu Yunhuan and asked expectantly, "Your Highness, when you return to your hometown to worship your ancestors this time, I will accompany you."

It was not wrong to think so, because he was a prince, an elder of Zhu Yunhuan, and a descendant of the Zhu family. Even if he didn't count on being the main priest, he would definitely have a share in the accompanying priests.

Zhu Yunhuan said with a sad face, "Grandfather has said before that Uncle Seventh has been in his hometown for the past two years, so he won't be there to accompany us in the ancestral worship this time."

Zhu Gui's face changed drastically. Zhu Yunhuan, the crown prince, came to worship his ancestors, but he didn't allow him, a prince of the royal family, to accompany him?

What does this mean? It means that the emperor and the crown prince are extremely dissatisfied with him, and it is only a matter of time before he is demoted to a commoner.

This is a bit exaggerated. Old Zhu and Zhu Yunhuan really had no intention of deposing Zhu Yu. However, Zhu Yu was now a criminal and a man of bad morals, so he was not qualified to be sacrificed.

Since this was not a simple ancestor worship, Zhu Yu could only watch from the sidelines. (End of this chapter)