Smuggling Daming

In the study of the Governor's Mansion in Shanghai New City, Zhou Zhong sat behind the desk with a face of contemplation, tapping his fingers unconsciously on the table. An unbelievable expression, and at the same time, there was a bit of joy in the eyes.

"Your Majesty, this letter from His Majesty the Emperor came so timely, it just solved the trouble of the Governor-General looking for an excuse to reveal his identity, and judging from the meaning of His Majesty's letter, he seemed to be bewitched by Jiang Bin and wanted to go to the The Xuan Mansion patrols the border, but in his capacity as His Majesty, he really cannot leave the capital lightly, and now His Majesty summons the Governor-General to Beijing, it is very likely that after disclosing the identity of the Governor-General, he will let the Governor-General supervise the country on behalf of His Majesty!" After a while, Only then did Jiao Fang say excitedly.

Regarding Jiao Fang's guess, Zhou Zhong, who was in deep thought, also nodded. Originally, he had decided to give up his current position as governor and go to Beijing, but he didn't expect that when he was planning this matter, he suddenly received a call from Zhengde. The content of the letter is that Zhengde is asking Zhou Zhong for his opinion, asking him if he is willing to disclose his identity to go to the capital. As for the reason for letting Zhou Zhong go to the capital, Zhengde did not say clearly in the letter, but kept mentioning that the Xuanfu Based on Zhou Zhong and Jiao Fang's knowledge of the surrounding situation, they naturally knew that this was Zhengde hinting at Zhou Zhong. He wanted to go to the Xuanfu for a while, but there was no shortage of someone with sufficient status to guard the capital, so Zhengde did He would think of calling Zhou Zhong to the capital.

Zhengde's letter was too timely for Zhou Zhong, but because it was too timely, Zhou Zhong couldn't believe it when he first received the letter.Do you even think that Zhengde is testing himself?But Zhou Zhong thought about Zhengde's temperament.But he quickly rejected this idea.After all, with Zhengde's personality that never cared about imperial power, it was impossible to play such a trick on Zhou Zhong.

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhong raised his head and said to Jiao Fang: "Old Jiao Ge, if the emperor reveals my identity and asks me to supervise the country on his behalf, and then he goes to the Xuanfu, will the ministers object?"

"I will definitely object!" Jiao Fang replied without thinking, "Your Majesty is in the world. It is impossible for the ministers of the court to agree to your Majesty's adventures in the Xuanfu, but everyone knows His Majesty's temperament, as long as it is determined by him." It is useless for anyone to object, and even if the courtier insists on stopping him, he may secretly leave the capital to go to Xuanfu, so if His Majesty discloses the identity of the Governor-General before going to Xuanfu, and then asks you to supervise the country on behalf of His Majesty, then the capital The voice of opposition among them will be much smaller. After all, the governor is the only direct brother of His Majesty. His Majesty has no heirs. turmoil!"

Hearing Jiao Fang's analysis, Zhou Zhong couldn't help but nodded. In history, when Zhengde went to Xuanfu for the first time, he did sneak away, and several ministers didn't stop him. In a few months, he even proclaimed himself the "Duke of the Town", built a mansion of the Duke of Zhen in Xuanfu, and affectionately called it his home.

Thinking of the absurd Zhengde in history, Zhou Zhong couldn't help shaking his head and smiling wryly. Having such an emperor is not a good thing for the people of Ming Dynasty, but for Zhou Zhong, having such an incomprehensible elder brother as the emperor is not a good thing. But it's a good thing, at least he won't be suspected because of some casual things.

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhong's mood suddenly became brighter, and he smiled and said to Jiao Fang: "Old Ge, with the temper of the emperor's brother, it is very likely that Zhou will let me supervise the country on his behalf when he enters Beijing this time, just as you guessed. It's okay for Zhou to deal with the government affairs of the Governor's Mansion, but when it comes to military and state affairs, he doesn't know anything about it, let alone the situation in Beijing and China's officialdom, so Zhou hopes that Mr. Jiao Ge can work with his subordinates Entering the capital, I don't know what the old man thinks?"

Hearing that Zhou Zhong invited him to Beijing together, Jiao Fang was also beaming with joy. What he was waiting for was Zhou Zhong's words. After all, no matter how well he did in the Governor's Mansion, he was only a magistrate after all and couldn't do anything. Compared with the ministers in the capital, if Zhou Zhong enters the capital to supervise the country now, then he has a chance to make a comeback, and maybe even join the cabinet again.

"Thank you, Governor, for your reminder. I will take the Governor as my guide in the future!" Jiao Fang said excitedly.

"Good! With the help of Mr. Jiao Ge in the future, Zhou will have more confidence in his trip to Beijing!" Zhou Zhong is also very happy, after all, with the help of someone like Jiao Fang who has been in the court for decades, He is equivalent to having a strong assistant in the capital, at least when dealing with those people in the court, he has a strong backing.

The reason why Zhengde wrote a letter to Zhou Zhong instead of issuing an imperial decree was mainly because he didn't want to force his younger brother to do things, so he asked Zhou Zhong in a letter if he would like to go to the capital, and Zhou Zhong was discussing with Jiao Fang, and immediately agreed He wrote a reply letter to Zhengde, in which he expressed his willingness to go to the capital, but when he left, the position of governor would be vacant, which was really not a good thing for Ming’s overseas layout, so Zhou Zhong recommended Wang Shouren to succeed him as governor After all, Wang Shouren knows his overseas layout best, and he has personally traveled overseas, and he is also the most supportive of Zhou Zhong. Zhou Zhong is also very relieved that Wang Shouren will succeed him as Governor of the World.

However, the Governor of the Four Seas has a high position and authority, and the military and political power is in his hands. In the past, because of Zhou Zhong's special status, Zhengde would let him be the Governor at ease. Now that he is replaced by Wang Shouren, the Governor's authority must be weakened. It is also very clear, so when he recommended Wang Shouren as the governor, he also recommended Zhang Cai as the inspector and concurrently as the Zuo Buzheng. As for letting him monopolize power.

Zhou Zhong’s private letter to Zhengde and the memorial recommending Wang Shouren and others were quickly sent to the capital. Zhengde was overjoyed after seeing it, and immediately agreed with Zhou Zhong’s recommendation to Wang Shouren and others, and at the same time sent someone to Shanghai to escort Zhou Zhong’s family Entering Beijing, after all, Zhou Zhong is his only younger brother and the most honorable prince of Ming Dynasty. If his identity is made public, there should be a lot of ostentation, but if Zhou Zhong’s identity is to be made public, he needs to come to the capital Afterwards, Empress Dowager Zhang, Li Dongyang and others will testify together, and then write the real name of Zhou Zhong's Zhu Houwei into the family tree of the clan mansion. Only in this way can Zhou Zhong truly recover his original identity.

When the guards sent by Zhengde to Zhou Zhong arrived in Shanghai New City, Zhou Zhong had almost arranged the affairs of the Governor's Mansion. In addition, he also summoned Wang Shouren and Zhang Cai to the study for a private conversation.

Among them, Zhou Zhong still trusted Wang Shouren very much, and his explanation to him was very simple. It was nothing more than steadily implementing their previous plan, controlling Nanyang bit by bit, and guarding against the Portuguese entrenched in India.Other than that, there is only Wa Kingdom left. Edo Bay and Iwami Silver Mine are closely related, and there is absolutely no room for loss. Although Wa Kingdom is in chaos and no one dares to mess with Daming, there are tens of thousands of people involved in everything. , so Wang Shouren must not be careless.

Regarding Zhou Zhong's instructions, Wang Shouren also kept them in mind. Speaking of which, he is a prudent person, and he is also the clearest about Zhou Zhong's layout at sea, so there are some things that Zhou Zhong doesn't need to specifically tell him. He also knows what to do, but now Zhou Zhong specifically proposed it to show that Zhou Zhong attached great importance to these matters, so Wang Shouren also nodded in agreement.

After exhorting Wang Shouren, Zhou Zhong called Zhang Cai into the study, but unlike Wang Shouren, Zhou Zhong told Zhang Cai his true identity as soon as he came up. He has never revealed his identity, because he knows that no matter what his identity is, Wang Shouren will fulfill his duties with due diligence.

However, Zhang Cai is different from Wang Shouren. Zhang Cai is extremely utilitarian, and he joined Zhou Zhong with Jiao Fang. Now Zhou Zhong brought Jiao Fang to the capital. Cai thinks that Zhou Zhong has abandoned her, so there will inevitably be some resentment in his heart. After all, Zhang Cai is a villain with no morals, but his talent is excellent, and there is no one to replace Zhang Cai at the moment, so before Zhou Zhong leaves , it is necessary to tell Zhang Cai her identity and comfort him.

After Zhang Cai heard Zhou Zhong's identity, she reacted the same as Jiao Fang. At first, she was surprised and suspicious, but when she saw the imperial decree written by Zhengde himself and some letters between Zhou Zhong and Zhengde, this made him Believing in Zhou Zhong's identity, he was overjoyed at the moment, and almost immediately knelt down to express his loyalty to Zhou Zhong.

Regarding Zhang Cai's reaction, Zhou Zhong had already expected it. After all, Zhang Cai was more likely to use Zhou Zhong's power to return to the temple than the aged Jiao Fang. People, so after knowing that Zhou Zhong is actually His Majesty's only younger brother, he immediately made a decision that he must hold Zhou Zhong's thick legs tightly for the rest of his life.

After finally waiting for Zhang Cai to regain his composure, Zhou Zhong told him some things. In contrast, Zhou Zhong was even more worried about Zhang Cai, so he gave him the most advice. For example, he asked Zhang Cai to Supervise Wang Shouren, but he must not hold back Wang Shouren in business matters. As long as he can help Wang Shouren manage the governor's mansion in an orderly manner, Zhou Zhong will naturally find a way to transfer him back to the capital in the future.

Although Zhang Cai was a little dissatisfied with Zhou Zhong for not taking him back to Beijing directly, he also knew that the Governor's Mansion of the Four Seas had a very important issue, so there must be competent people. Therefore, after thinking about it for a while, he finally agreed. It was only then that Zhou Zhong was completely relieved, and finally started to prepare to leave Shanghai for the capital. (to be continued..)