Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 546
"Minister, Qin Liangyu (Qin Minping, Ma Xianglin)... See Your Highness the Crown Prince..."

When the ship docked, Zhu Ciran disembarked under the escort of more than a hundred Jinyi guards, and Qin Liangyu, Qin Minping, and Ma Xianglin, led by Qin Liangyu, Qin Minping, and Ma Xianglin, the children of the Qin and Ma clans all bowed and saluted.

Stepping on the land of Zhongzhou, Zhu Ciran did not show his usual joking side, but raised his face, holding the imperial decree in both hands and said:
"Preach the edict of long live..."

As soon as he opened his mouth, Qin Liangyu and the others immediately looked at each other, and knelt down while looking at each other.

"Fengtian Chengyun Emperor, the edict said: The ancient philosophers set up guidelines and records, reward meritorious deeds, punish guilty ones, follow this way and the world will be safe."

"Since I ascended the throne, I have relied on the assistance of King Qi and the support of the generals of Qin and Ma to pacify the Quartet. Now the foreign barbarians have been settled. I think that I have been with you for a long time, and I have been awarded the title of meritorious uncle. Today, I recall the past. Gong Ergong established the captives in Dongping, and resumed diplomatic relations in the south, and the Changxia Luchuan has a lot of merit."

"Today, I'm going to let you go and repay your hard work in the past, and confer the titles of Marquis Wulong and Marquis Shizhu, and wish to be your descendants forever. No general can be said to be loyal to a man of operas, and you can be said to be wise if you are not professional. It is advisable to teach future generations."

Zhu Ciran took the imperial decree, and as soon as he got off the boat, he first showed the emperor's grace to the Qin and Ma families, that is, adding Qin Liangyu and Qin Minping as marquises.

It's okay to just seal it, but some warnings in the back are enough to explain everything.

"Minister, accept the order..."

Qin Liangyu and Qin Minping accepted the imperial decree with the sons of the Qin and Ma clans who were not looking good. Zhu Ciran also said when he saw this:
"I came here this time to express my condolences for Long Live and King Qi to King Zhongzhou and King Youyang. I wonder if the two old princes have been buried?"

Zhu Ciran focused on the deceased Qin Bangping and Qin Banghan, which made both Qin Liangyu and Qin Minping feel better.

As the elder sister, Qin Liangyu took the lead in bowing in return and said: "The two elder brothers are still parked in the funeral palace and have not been buried yet."

Since Zhu Youxiao authorized Qin Bangping and Qin Banghan to be buried with the ceremony of princes, they can enjoy the treatment of stopping the coffin for seven days after they die, and move the coffin to the funeral palace after the coffin.

Parking the funeral palace is a treat only for princes, but the parking time should not be too long, normally it would be one to three months.

Knowing that Zhu Ciran was coming, Qin Liangyu and others set the time for about a month, and planned to wait for Zhu Ciran to leave before moving the coffin to the mausoleum.

"In that case, I should offer my condolences first."

Zhu Ciran bowed in return very politely, this gesture made the children of the Qin and Ma clans look a lot better.

The decent behavior satisfied Qin Liangyu and Qin Minping. After all, Zhu Ciran behaved decently, so they could have a better posture to restrain the children in the family.

The two led the way with Zhu Ciran and others, and the tombs of Qin Bangping and Qin Bangping were built on Jinhua Mountain near Zhongzhou, so they did not enter the city, but took a four-wheeled carriage and drove towards Jinhua Mountain.

In less than an hour, the carriage stopped in front of the funeral palace in Jinhua Mountain.

The tombs of the two are located in the same place, so the funeral palace will naturally share one.

The funeral palace faces south and faces Jinhua Mountain. The cemetery is magnificent. At the entrance, there is a memorial archway of "Ming Youyang King and Zhongzhou King Shinto". The Shinto path is about [-] steps long.

On the left and right of Shinto, there are a pair of stone horses, stone sheep, stone tigers, warriors, and civil servants.

"Let's erect the Shinto monument."

After arriving at the memorial archway, Zhu Ciran spoke to Liu Shun, and Liu Shun also ordered more than a hundred Jin Yiwei to pull up the Shinto monument pulled by two carriages.

The "Imperial Youyang King and Zhongzhou King Shendao Monument" is Zhu Ciran's impressive stele, which is two feet high, six feet thick, and two feet thick.

The stele is divided into three parts: the upper part is the embossed Yunlong inscription tablet forehead, and the words "Royal Youyang King Shinto Monument" and "Royal Zhongzhou King Shinto Monument" are engraved in seal script in the middle.

In the middle is the body of the stele, engraved with an inscription written by Zhu Ciran himself, with a total of [-] lines and more than [-] characters, recording the achievements of Qin Bangping and Qin Banghan in their lives. It is rare, and under the body of the stele is the tortoise stele seat.

Two Shinto monuments weighing thousands of catties were pulled up by six Sharma horses on iron carts. Now it is not so easy to unload the monuments.

The men of Jin Yiwei and Qin Ma called the tomb guards to unload the stele together, while Zhu Ciran, Qin Liangyu and others entered the funeral palace.

The two coffins stopped in the funeral palace. After Zhu Ciran entered, Qin Gongming and Qin Zhongming went forward to collect incense for him.

After lighting the incense, Zhu Ciran respectfully saluted and inserted the incense. The whole process was very decent, so that the second and third generations of Qin and Ma could not fault it.

Of course, under the pressure of Qin Liangyu and Qin Minping's eyes, the Qin and Ma clans did not overstep.

"The two Marquis are also people who have made great contributions to the country..."

"I dare not be the last general..."

Qin Zhongming, Qin Gongming, and Qin Yiming did not bully Zhu Ciran because of their merits, because Qin Liangyu and Qin Minping had already enlightened them before Zhu Ciran came.

They knew very well that Zhu Ciran represented the emperor and the king of Qi, so as long as they were disrespectful to Zhu Ciran, three years of filial piety would be a light punishment, and if it was more serious, they might be directly expelled from the temple.

Faced with Zhu Ciran's flattery, they shook their heads quickly, not daring to admit it, and Zhu Ciran also took the opportunity to exchange some pleasantries with them, making others feel that they have a good relationship.

Before coming, he knew all the battles of the generals of the Qin and Ma clans, knew each other's preferences, and would brag appropriately when talking.

Such a face-to-face interaction with ease makes it hard to think that he is only 14 years old now.

There are not so many thrills, and there are not so many intrigues. Even though the second and third generations of the Qin and Ma families want to get close to the Qi Palace, they cannot directly refuse even if they do not agree to the prince's wooing.

They know King Qi's attitude better than anyone else, and they also know what will happen if they offend the prince.

There was no mistake in the whole condolence process, until the Shinto stele was erected, Zhu Ciran and others had already walked out of the funeral palace.

Jian Jian and the children of the Qin and Ma clan looked at the inscription on the Shinto stele, and the group walked down Jinhua Mountain.

On the way, Zhu Ciran, Qin Liangyu, and Qin Minping asked about the battle of the restoration of the Liao Dynasty, and the two of them also told the truth about their experience in the battle of the restoration of the Liao Dynasty.

During this period, Zhu Ciran naturally did not forget to brag about the white-armed soldiers, which made many white-armed veterans who had become generals feel good about him.

For Ma Xianglin and the others, Zhu Ciran also praised without hesitation: "If there were no Zongbing Ma and the two Marquises, Zongbing Qin, I am afraid that Luchuan would not be able to recover so quickly."

Faced with Zhu Ciran's praise, everyone was also embarrassed by the praise. After all, in the battle to regain Luchuan, Hong Chengchou contributed the most, and then Huang Fei.

As for them, they just took the decapitation work, which is nothing compared to the first two.

Zhu Ciran also knew about these things, but this did not prevent him from praising everyone to win people's hearts for himself.

All the way down the mountain, Zhu Ciran praised him all the way. He memorized every general of the Qin and Ma clans who passed by by rote, and praised them all the way according to their experiences.

This made the Qin and Ma families feel embarrassed, and their attitude towards Zhu Ciran was not as bad as it was at the beginning, but they could show some smiling faces.

When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, without Qin Liangyu and Qin Minping opening their mouths, the children of the Qin and Ma clans had already invited Zhu Ciran to live in Zhongzhouhoufu.

However, Zhu Ciran did not live in Zhongzhou Marquis Mansion, but lived in Zhongzhou County Yamen.

In the next few days, he still needs to repeatedly test the many children of the Qin and Ma clans to win over some generals for his father and son.

He was decent, and was sent to Zhongxia Palace in the north by Liu Shun in an expedited way of [-] miles.

It was already the fourteenth day of the winter moon when it was sent to the Midsummer Palace. Zhu Youxiao, who was sitting in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, looked at the content of the letter and couldn't help nodding. It was obvious that he was very satisfied with Zhu Ciran's behavior.

"Have you seen my brother?"

Zhu Youxiao sat in his seat and asked Wang An in front of him without raising his head.

"I've seen it...Your Highness thinks that His Highness the Crown Prince has done a good job." Wang An, who was already in his seventies, was old, but he was still full of energy when he responded.

Not far away from him, the 68-year-old Wei Zhongxian glanced at Wang An, as if wondering why this old thing is still alive.

"Just look at it." Zhu Youxiao nodded slightly.

Zhu Youxiao, who was thirty-one, gradually began to look like a middle-aged man.

Fat and beard, the two signs of middle-aged people appeared on him.

"How are the eunuchs and maids in the palace arranged?"

Zhu Youxiao asked Wei Zhongxian, and Wei Zhongxian quickly apologized when he heard the words and said with a smile: "It's all arranged. The eunuchs and maids from the Wanli and Taichang years have all been released. Right now, there are only more than 3000 eunuchs and more than 3000 court ladies in the palace."

"Since the arrangements are made, let someone send a message to my younger brother, saying that I will return to Beijing on Zhengdan Festival."

After playing outside for a few years, Zhu Youxiao finally remembered that he was the emperor, and that he belonged to the Forbidden City, not Dading Palace and Zhongxia Palace.

His news made Wei Zhongxian and the others happy. After all, compared to Dading Palace and Zhongxia Palace, the bustling capital city is the place they yearn for. Only there can they feel that they are "superior people".

"Get back..." Zhu Youxiao waved his hand, and Wang An and Wei Zhongxian also bowed to each other when they saw this, and then slowly withdrew from the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

As they withdrew, news that the emperor was about to return to the capital also sprung back to the capital like mushrooms after a spring rain. In a short period of time, it blew past the mansions of all the senior officials like a cold winter wind.

"Now I'm thinking about coming back... But it's good to be back."

When Feng Quan in Dashi Yongfang heard the news that Zhu Youxiao was going back to Beijing, his first reaction was whether the meeting between the two brothers would cause discomfort to the people below.

However, he quickly vetoed this conjecture, because there was no one under Zhu Youxiao who could rival Qi Wangfu.

Under Zhu Youxiao, only Wei Liangqing and Jin Qi can do it. One of them is the commander of the three guards of the imperial city, and the other is the commander-in-chief of Duoyan Mansion.

Not to mention being compared with Man Gui and other five governors, even Sun Shoufa, Cao Meng and others are no match.

Not surprisingly, this time it should be Zhu Youxiao's unilateral setback, and Zhu Youjian defended Zhu Youxiao more.

Feng Quan stroked his beard, and Wen Tiren, who was sitting next to him, also looked at the message in his hand, and said after a while:

"From the current point of view, I am afraid that after Long Live and the prince return to Beijing one after another, there will be a lot of gaps between the prince and the Qi Palace."

"Well...but after all, we are alone and we are alone." Feng Quan agrees with Wen Tiren's words, in his opinion, Zhu Youjian is supporting Zhu Ciran, and such a move will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the people of Prince Qi's residence.

Needless to say, the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, the Yanshan faction is enough for Zhu Ciran to drink a pot.

It will be unlucky to support anyone, and it will cause his brother to usurp the throne if he supports himself. It is also a kind of torture for him to let Zhu Youjian get stuck in the middle.

"Recently, the Yanshan School has been making a lot of moves. There are many students in the official school who are inclined to King Qi."

Wen Tiren said something worthy of concern recently, but Feng Quan frowned and shook his head after hearing this: "Although there are some, but most of them tend to be long live."

"The situation should not change. As long as there are no complications, the King of Qi should leave the domain on time."

"Long-term sequestration and usurpation of the throne will disintegrate his own suzerainty system, he will not be so stupid."

"Furthermore, the pressure from the navy on the Qi State is not great. From this, it can be seen that King Qi's mind is not on Daming, but on Qi State."

Feng Quan, Wen Tiren and others are the conservative party. They support the ancestral system and the faction that supports Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Ciran.

It's not that they look down on Zhu Youjian, but that they know that their value lies in supporting the emperor.

If they also ran to seek refuge in Prince Qi's mansion as grass on the fence, who else in the entire temple could support the emperor?

Once they take refuge in Prince Qi's Mansion, then Gu Bingqian will definitely fall back to King Qi again. What can the remaining neutral faction and Donglin Party do in the end?

They took refuge in Prince Qi's mansion, which meant that they had no value to Zhu Youjian personally, and it would only take a few days for them to be dismissed and deposed.

So it is not that they are loyal, but that they have to be loyal. Only by being loyal to the imperial power can their value be reflected and the Zhejiang Party can survive.

Right now, they want to wait until Zhu Youjian becomes a vassal, then they will bet according to the situation above the Daming Temple. As long as the bet is correct, the Zhejiang Party will continue to prosper for decades.

"In this drought, so many tenants in the south of the Yangtze River have left, and the people below are a little dissatisfied."

Feng Quan and Wen Tiren were discussing the matter of exchanging tenants for Changping granaries due to the drought, but Wen Tiren frowned and waved his hands:

"The opinions of the people below are no longer important. The king of Qi will definitely take the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River. If we care about them, we will get involved ourselves."

Wen Tiren saw it very clearly. Almost every new policy implemented by Zhu Youjian put Jiangnan at the end.

Doing so also means that Zhu Youjian attaches great importance to Jiangnan, and this time the tenants were registered and registered by Qi Min, and the population of the three provinces in Jiangnan increased dramatically.

For Zhu Youjian, who has always taken "immigration to strengthen the border" as his national policy, the people in the south of the Yangtze River will definitely be relocated.

"This year, 120 million people from the three provinces have been relocated. Fortunately, with snow falling in winter, the drought should subside."

Wen Tiren took a sip of tea, and Feng Quan kept nodding his head as he listened.

Just as Jiangnan used Cao Yin to coerce the court back then, now Zhu Youjian is also using food to coerce Jiangnan.

Either release the tenants and support the imperial court's policy of reorganizing households for the common people, or wait for the imperial court to continue to relocate the people in the south of the Yangtze River to go out, distribute the extra land to farmers and tenants, and let the tenants flee.

Under natural disasters, unless the gentry can provide enough food for the tenants for several years, they have no capital to fight Zhu Youjian.

Feng Quan and the others know better than anyone what the end of the confrontation between local forces and the imperial court under centralized power is, that's why Wen Tiren said that they don't care about the people below.

To put it bluntly, it is still a question of how many of those so-called lower-level people will still be alive after a year.

Demands and needs are changing every year. Last year’s floods were Jumian, and this year’s drought is Juanmian and Changping Grain. Who knows what will happen next year.

The two are going to lead the Zhejiang Party to endure the past few years, and they will bet on others after Zhu Youjian takes over.

Their ideas are also Gu Dang's ideas, but although Gu Dang's ideas are good, there is one person who can't support it.

"Your Highness...the news came from Jin Yiwei of the Gu Mansion that Gu Ge seems to be dying."

In the Chengyun Hall of King Qi's Mansion, when Zhu Youjian was in the right mood when he learned that his brother was going back to Beijing, Lu Wenzhao brought a piece of bad news.

"Gu Bingqian is also seventy-one this year. It's normal for him to be in poor health. Let Wang Kentang go to see his pulse and treat him."

For people like Gu Bingqian who watch people order food, Zhu Youjian has no shortage. Even if Gu Bingqian dies of illness now, he can push Bi Ziyan to become the first assistant of the cabinet, and at the same time make Sun Chengzong the second assistant of the cabinet.

As for the vacancy in the cabinet, let Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren make up for it.

It's just a cabinet minister, not a cabinet boss and second assistant.

"Is my eldest nephew still in Chungju?"

Zhu Youjian was writing, and while writing, he was devoted to dealing with government affairs, which made Lu Wenzhao take a concerned look.

"Da Ming Qi Law"

Judging from the title of the book, Lu Wenzhao knew it was a "Law", but he didn't know how the content was different from the Great Ming Law.

"Returning to Your Highness, the crown prince has already traveled southward to Huguang via the Yangtze River from Zhongzhou."

"The accompanying Jin Yiwei came to report, and they should go to Wuchang, Huguang, and then go south to Changsha, and then go to Guangzhou to meet Feng Guogong."

Lu Wenzhao responded to Zhu Youjian, and Zhu Youjian stopped what he was doing. After a few seconds, he continued to write the law, and said:
"We will extend his vacation to September next year, and let him focus on inspections in Zhejiang and Nanzhili."

"A lowly post takes orders..." Hearing what Zhu Youjian said, Lu Wenzhao obediently agreed, and turned around to ask someone to deal with it.

While he was dealing with it, Wang Chengen also walked into the hall with a thick memorial, and put the memorial on Zhu Youjian's desk.

"Your Highness, there is an order from Long Live, saying that since you are coming back, you must be busy these few days. Your Highness, please continue to handle the memorials for a few days."

Wang Chengen spoke with a face of shame, and Zhu Youjian lost his good mood when he heard the words.

He has only rested for five or six days, and his good brother started to be lazy again?

"Except for the memorials from the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Officials, and the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, all other memorials are sent to the Qianqing Palace."

Zhu Youjian glanced at it, only half of the memorials were left, and asked Wang Chengen to send the rest of the memorials to Qianqing Palace.

After resting for a few days, he also figured it out.

Perhaps it was because he was so capable that his brother relied on him so much.

The more dependent you are, the less you can go.

Rather than procrastinating like this, it is better to stop early and let Zhu Youxiao handle the government affairs by himself, no matter how much he asks, he will not help.

As for whether Zhu Youxiao will let Zhu Ciran return to Beijing quickly to deal with the government affairs, this is the matter of their father and son, and has nothing to do with Zhu Youjian.

"Your Highness, the concubine sent someone to ask questions, saying that Mrs. Zhou asked, how should His Highness Chang's pedantic affairs be arranged..."

Wang Chengen opened his mouth cautiously, asking about Zhu Cihong's studies.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian was not in a hurry. He wrote lightly: "Literacy is enough. Brother Hong is still young, just at the age of playing around. It is enough to practice calligraphy every day. The pedantic things will be sent to him when he is seven years old." You can go to the government to study."

Zhu Youjian didn't intend to pamper Zhu Cihuang, nor did he intend to let him receive one-on-one teaching in the palace.

Regardless of whether Yuan Xipin can give birth to a son, in short, what Qi needs is a king who can govern Qi.

What's more, it may be decades later when the son ascends the throne. By that time, the Qi State has not digested the entire north and south América continent, and what is needed is a successful king, not a pioneering one.

If you want to be successful, you have to know what the people need and what the people suffer, and you have to be determined to do it.

There are a lot of folk talents who have not been tapped. It is impossible for Zhu Youjian to involve Zhu Cihong and others with the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies and the Yanshan faction too much. That means they need to maintain the existence of the two factions. From several families.

It is necessary to use new forces to counteract the old forces, and the continuous influx of fresh blood can ensure the long-term prosperity of Qi.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian also thought about his other three eldest nephews.

"How are Brother Xuan and Brother Jiong?"

"The two highnesses will be in the fifth grade of official school next year, and they will study at Nanxunfang official school."

Zhu Youjian and Wang Chengen asked and answered, which made Zhu Youjian realize that his other two eldest nephews were about to graduate from elementary school.

In this way, they will also face the problem of choosing a secondary school next year.

"Choose a time and let Brother Xuan and Brother Jiong come to the mansion for a meal."

"The servants take orders..."

Zhu Youjian is going to have a look at the talents, characters, and conduct of these two eldest nephews. If possible, he can cultivate them.

He was not afraid that these two would compete with Zhu Ciran for the throne. After all, as long as his elder brother was insane, he would not be able to abolish Zhu Ciran, who was already the prince and the eldest son, and set up two bastard sons.

Even if his head is twitched, the ministers will not agree.

Besides, judging from the current situation, the throne is a hot potato, and the growth of the prince will be of great help to Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Ciran.

Zhu Youjian checked carefully. Among his elder brother's subordinates, if he was talking about talents, then Zhang Xianzhong, who was appointed as the general soldier of Kaiping Mansion, was probably the only one.

Zhang Xianzhong is indeed good, but the imperial power is still alone in the end.

Even with the addition of Li Dingguo, Sun Kewang and others, even if the two of them achieved the positions of governor and chief assistant, they might not be able to compete with the Yanshan faction.

At this time, it is a good thing that two more princes are in power. The faster they take power, the sooner he can escape.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian continued to paint, while Wang Chengen stepped back and rushed to arrange a time...

　Afternoon update around six o'clock
　　
　
(End of this chapter)