Smuggling Daming

On the southwest bank of Taiye Pond in Xiyuan in the imperial city, here is the famous Leopard Room of Emperor Zhengde. However, compared with the sound of silk and bamboo that came out of the Leopard Room every day in the past, the Leopard Room has been very quiet in the past year. The constant singing, dancing and juggling have long since disappeared, and Zhengde no longer messed around every day, but started to care about the government for three days and two days, although in the eyes of others, he is still not a diligent person. The emperor, but he is much better than before who only knew how to mess around.

The bank of Taiye Pond to the south of the Leopard House is very lively today, because Zhengde organized the eunuchs in the palace to reclaim a piece of farmland on a whim. It is said that His Majesty the Emperor will cultivate it himself. People in this area have long been accustomed to Zhengde's nonsense, and even those ministers shook their heads indifferently after hearing it, and then did what they should do. No one went to the palace to persuade them, and many ministers even thought that this was the emperor Your Majesty cares about the performance of farming, so instead of admonishing him, he has to encourage him.

Zhengde doesn't care what other people think, anyway, he will do what he thinks of, if others dare to stop him, then he will use his status as emperor to do it forcibly, if he still can't achieve his goal, then he will try his best He does everything he can, but he will not give up until he reaches his goal. From this we can see that he is an extremely stubborn person.

But this time Zhengde asked the eunuchs to reclaim the land not just for fun, but to make something. Although this thing is not of great help to the government, it can be better understood by him personally. To the level of development of Ming Dynasty.

"Yes. Make that piece of land into a hill shape, and the mound should be higher, otherwise it will all be washed away when it rains!" Zhengde stood on a raised platform and directed the eunuchs below to tidy up the land. Not only must it be reclaimed, but it must also be made into a corresponding terrain according to his requirements.

Although the eunuchs working below didn't know what His Majesty was going to do, some of the officials of the Ministry of Industry among these eunuchs knew very well what His Majesty was going to make, and also understood the importance of this thing.Even if they can satisfy His Majesty in the end, they will definitely be appreciated by His Majesty. Therefore, each of these officials worked very hard, and they also measured and marked the land little by little, so that the eunuchs who worked could follow the signs. corresponding terrain.

Zhengde is also very satisfied with the busy eunuchs and officials below.Standing on the high platform, he could clearly see that the territory of Ming Dynasty was slowly being formed under his feet, and a zigzag ditch was dug out by the eunuchs on the national border to present the outline of the entire Ming Dynasty. Then in the entire territory of Ming Dynasty, there are two capitals in the north and the south.And the thirteen chief envoys are all separated by smaller ditches, and even each state capital within each chief envoy.They are also marked, and the unique terrain of these state capitals is also being completed by the eunuchs. Although the terrain is not standard, Zhengde did not force this. He only needs to know the approximate area of ​​each state capital. Terrain will do.

The reason why Zhengde had this idea on a whim actually came from Zhou Zhong, who had been using troops overseas during this period.He also paid more attention to the military, in order to make it easier for the generals in Shenying.So he asked someone to make a sand table, and Shenying immediately reported the method of making the sand table to the Ministry of War. After Zhengde saw the sand table, he immediately had the idea to make a huge sand table in the palace. This sand table does not need to be very precise, it only needs to mark out the approximate topography and outline of various parts of Daming, and then this huge sand table covering an area of ​​nearly one hundred acres will appear.

The high platform where Zhengde stood stood at the location of Beijing City on the territory of the Ming Dynasty. He looked around at the vast land under his feet, and his heart was filled with a feeling of pride for a moment, because he was the owner of this land. All the people on this land are his people.

When Zhengde turned his eyes to the southwest corner of the Ming Dynasty, he saw that the eunuchs there were piling up soil on the position of the Uszang capital. That was Tubo in the Tang and Song Dynasties, but in the Taizu period, Uszang requested It was attached, so Daming set up the commander of Wusi Tibetan capital there, and appointed Lamaist monks as commanders, Tongzhi, and judges of the guard. Two years ago, Zhengde summoned this generation of Dharma kings. In Zhengde's impression, the Dharma king was a very interesting monk, and he had no ambitions. Under the guidance of these lamas, the Tibetans in Wusi Tsang have all changed. Being a sheep will not pose any threat to Daming at all.

Thinking of Wu Sizang, Zhengde suddenly thought of the letter Zhou Zhong wrote to himself before. The letter mentioned his plan for North Korea. In Zhou Zhong's plan, he was going to support all the rebels in North Korea. , and then give Daming a request to enclose the form, then he can take advantage of the situation and agree, and the whole North Korea will become the land of Daming.

Thinking that Daming had suddenly increased such a large piece of land under his own governance, Zhengde was also dancing happily, and immediately asked someone to call the head of the Ministry of Industry, who was not young anymore, with gray hair and beard. , Zhengde couldn't remember the old man's name, he only knew that other people called him Old Sangtou.

"Old Sangtou, does your Ministry of Industry have a topographic map of North Korea?" Zhengde stood on the platform, leaning on the railing and shouted to Lao Sangtou below.He didn't care what method Zhou Zhong used to merge North Korea into Daming, and he didn't care what effect the annexation of North Korea would have. In his opinion, as long as he could expand the territory, it would be his greatest achievement as an emperor, not to mention that Zhou Zhong had already said Yes, in the future North Korea will be the springboard for controlling the Wa country, and as long as the Wa country is controlled, Daming will be able to reach the continent rich in gold and silver, which is also the hometown of corn and sweet potatoes. Zhengde really wants to go to that primitive continent to see for himself .

Old Sangtou is actually not surnamed Sang, but Zhou, but there is a word Sang in his name, so he is called Lao Sangtou, and now he is very excited to hear His Majesty call his nickname so kindly , replied in a loud voice almost trembling: "Your Majesty, our Ministry of Industry only has maps of the state capitals of Ming Dynasty. As for the maps of the vassal states of North Korea, I am afraid that only the Ministry of Rites or the Ministry of War has them!"

"Okay, you pass on my oral order, go to the Ministry of Rites or the Ministry of War immediately, and bring me back the map of North Korea as soon as possible, and instruct the people below to also empty the map of North Korea, and add North Korea later! Zhengde shouted again, he has absolute confidence in Zhou Zhong, since the other party has promised to annex North Korea, there must be no problem.Although His Majesty Taizu listed North Korea as a country not to be conquered at the beginning, but now Da Ming did not conquer North Korea, but North Korea's own civil strife, and then strongly demanded to include Daming, he couldn't bear to watch the Korean people suffer, so he agreed, so It's not a violation of the ancestor's teaching at all.

Thinking of the above, Zhengde couldn't help showing a sinister smile, and at the same time, he was more satisfied with his own brother, because he could always come up with some unexpected solutions and complete seemingly impossible tasks, which was also Zhengde's happiest After all, in his opinion, Zhou Zhong is his younger brother, and what he can do, he will certainly be able to do.

Hearing Zhengde's order, the old Sangtou immediately rushed to the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War, but he didn't expect that the other party had a map of North Korea, so the old Sangtou simply wanted to come over, and the map from the Ministry of Rites was given when North Korea paid tribute. For Daming, the map of the Ministry of War was drawn by Daming in the early years.

When Zhengde got these two maps, he frowned suddenly, because he found that the two maps of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War were quite different. For example, Gyeonggi-do in North Korea, on the map drawn by the Ministry of War, Gyeonggi-do is located in However, on North Korea’s own tribute map, Gyeonggi-do runs to the southernmost part of North Korea, and there are several other places. The two maps are quite different. The maps are also very different.

"Old Sangtou, your Ministry of Industry is an expert in drawing maps. Take a look at these two maps. Why are they so different?" Zhengde frowned and returned the two maps to Lao Sangtou. His job is to draw a map of the whole country, and the old Sangtou in front of him is a master at drawing terrain, otherwise the Ministry of Industry would not have sent him to help him make this huge sand table in the palace.

Old Sangtou didn't dare to look at these two maps before. After all, they were what His Majesty wanted, and he didn't dare to open them without permission. Now after hearing His Majesty's words, he opened them and looked at them, and immediately asserted: "Report to His Majesty Well, these two maps are not errors caused by the drawing process at all, but someone deliberately made a fake map, and even deliberately disrupted the positions of North Korea's various roads, just to prevent people from knowing the real terrain of North Korea. punish!"

When Zhengde heard what Old Sangtou said, a bright light flashed in his eyes immediately, and he asked immediately, "Oh, in your opinion, which of these two maps is fake?"

"This..." After hearing His Majesty's words, Old Sangtou was in a dilemma. He was just a minor official, and he could not express his opinions on such important national affairs, but since His Majesty asked, he had to answer, so I saw He hesitated for a moment and replied, "Your Majesty, the map of the Ministry of War was drawn in the early years, so that if it is necessary to enter Korea in the future, the army can be guided by the map. For such a major military event, I think no one would dare to fake it! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)