Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 491 Everyone has their own thoughts

"The people below have been making a lot of noise recently. You should all know that, right?"

In early May, at the Yamen of the Duke of Shen in Beijing, the old Wang Yi, who was sitting in the main hall, picked up his teacup and took a sip.

Sitting in front of him were the Marquis of Zhaozhou Chen Chang, Li Shi, Li Cha, Li Chi and other Bohai officials.

"Everything is clear, but we are also doing it for the good of our hometown."

Li Shi said rashly: "Jilin and Bohai are the places where we made our fortune after all. How can anyone forget their hometown after becoming rich?"

"Besides, the distance between building a railway from Changchun to Jilin is only two hundred miles, so what's the delay?"

Li Shi had no political acumen, he simply wanted to make it easier to go home in the future, but when Wang Yi heard this, he put down his tea cup and glanced at everyone with his turbid eyes.

He set his sights on Chen Chang. He didn't believe that Chen Chang didn't know the meaning of doing this.

Facing the gaze, Chen Chang also frowned and said: "My lord, what we really don't want is much, just a railway less than 200 miles away."

"If we are really asking for too much, we should ask the government to build a railway from Zhaozhou to Nurgan."

"You are not going too far, but you have made a start." Wang Yi interrupted Chen Chang and lectured:

"I believe Li Shi and the others don't know the pros and cons of this, but it's impossible for you not to know... Chen Chang."

"..." Chen Chang said nothing, and Wang Yi continued:
"It's okay if you don't say anything. I just want to remind you today that if the court wants to build a railway or do something else, don't interfere. His Majesty will make a decision on his own."

"Don't think that His Highness's harmony with you means that he can tolerate you without any limit. If you make a move, Liaodong and Shandong will follow suit. By then, the entire north and southwest will also make a move."

"If you hadn't started it like this, would those people in Jiangnan have proposed the Jiangnan Railway project and put His Majesty on the fire?"

"You should be glad that His Majesty's temper has improved a lot over the years. Otherwise, according to His Majesty's temper, you should pack up and prepare to go home!"

"Speaking of which, you are not young anymore. When you reach a certain age, you should retire honestly and stop getting involved in too many things."

"If you don't mess with some things, they will mess with you."

"Don't think that His Majesty doesn't know what you are doing. His Majesty is as clear as a mirror in his heart. He just wants to see if you will stop."

Wang Yi pointed out something, which made Li Shi and others look at each other, feeling that the chair under their buttocks seemed to have iron nails, which made people sit on pins and needles.

"Remember what I say. Chen Chang, you stay. Li Shi, you go back and think about it."

He obviously had more important things to talk to Chen Chang. Li Shi and others were already sweating from Wang Yi's words. Now when they saw what he said, they all stood up and bowed to leave.

Not long after, only Chen Chang and Wang Yi were left in the main hall.

The two of them remained motionless, and Chen Chang was not shaken at all by what he just said.

"When His Majesty asks you to recommend someone, you should recommend someone instead of pretending to be stupid."

Seeing that only the two sides were left, Wang Yi said: "I don't know what you were thinking at that time. It is impossible for your brain to not imagine the result of your refusal."

"The Governor's Office really can't recommend anyone." Chen Chang responded with a frown and asked Wang Yida:
"My lord, can you find a good general to enter the palace? It is easy to enter the palace, but it is difficult to get out. Who do you want me to recommend?"

"I can't recommend people from the Yan Mansion. The generals are dissatisfied with the recommendation of the heirs of the old ministers, and the generals are unwilling to let their heirs enter the cabinet. No matter how I choose, I will offend others."

Chen Chang explained the situation he faced. He actually had candidates in mind, but he couldn't speak out about these candidates, and he wouldn't be able to please them.

These cannot be said, and those that can be said cannot be put on the stage. This is the embarrassing situation Chen Chang faces.

Perhaps he took this into consideration afterwards, so the emperor did not trouble him.

His qualifications are very old, but he can't hold down the entire Sixth Army Governor's Mansion.

There are many people in the Sixth Army's Governor's Mansion who have much higher military merit than him. How many of them can he offend?
"My lord, you yourself know that this family is difficult to manage, otherwise why would you retreat from the north?"

Chen Chang questioned Wang Yi, and Wang Yi was speechless.

The civil servants are seriously factionalized, and so are the military attachés.

Former Hongwu officials, Jianwen officials, Yanfu faction, Bohai faction, New Deal faction...

Just hearing about these factions is a headache. Even Wang Yi, who has high prestige, finds it troublesome, not to mention Chen Chang?
"It's hard for you too..."

Wang Yi surrendered, sighed and said: "Things are difficult to handle, but they will eventually be solved."

"I will write a letter for you to see if there is anyone willing to take the initiative to join the cabinet."

"You go back first. I will take care of the matter. Your Majesty, I will also talk to Yi Zhangyin and let him speak for you."

"Thank you, Lord." After receiving understanding, Chen Chang had no complaints.

He stood up and bowed deeply, then stood up and left the Duke's Mansion.

The next morning, Wang Yi asked someone to tell Yi Shiha and Chen Chang's difficulties.

After Yi Shiha got the news, he also came to Wuying Hall to manage the affairs of state with Zhu Gaoxu. Before the ministers arrived, he told him clearly about Chen Chang's affairs.

Sitting in his seat, Zhu Gaoxu, wearing a yellow and white round-necked robe, did not stop his hand movements, but responded to Yishiha with his mouth.

"I don't blame him. He has his difficulties. I just sigh a little bit."

"Tell Wang Yi that he doesn't need to worry about the affairs of the palace. If he and Chen Chang are interested, then they should advise the people below not to go too far, and also support Xu Shuo. He is my choice. "

"My slave, take your orders." Yishiha bowed and saluted. Zhu Gaoxu stopped talking and continued to review the memorial with his head lowered.

Not long after, the ministers of Wuying Hall walked into the hall, and the five of them bowed to Zhu Gaoxu in the side hall.

Because there was a screen, they could not see Zhu Gaoxu.

"Long live your Majesty, long live long live..."

"Let's all go to politics!"

"I will receive the order..."

Zhu Gaoxu's voice came from behind the screen, and Wang Hui and others returned to the long table and began to manage politics.

Watching them leave, Zhu Gaoxu put down his pen and finished a bunch of memorials that he had not finished yesterday.

"That Wang Hui is so eloquent that he can be used to check and balance Yang Rong and Yang Pu."

"But you have to keep an eye on him and check his memorial carefully to avoid any loopholes being exploited."

"Yes..." Yi Shiha nodded, but after looking outside the hall, he whispered:
"Since there is danger, why not replace him?"

"It's easy to change, but it's hard to find another one." After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, he suddenly changed the subject and asked:

"How is the railway construction in various places, and what about Yang Shiqi in Shaanxi and Fu Rang and Wang Ji in Jiaozhi?"

He asked about some things he was concerned about at the moment, and upon hearing the words, Yi Shiha bowed and said:
"Thanks to Your Majesty's great blessing, the construction of railways in various places is going very smoothly. The Mobei Railway has reached Zhenluwei and is on its way to Hailar."

"After the northwest railway was divided into two, the southern section has now been built to Taiyuan Prefecture, and the northern section has been built to Dingxiang (Hohhot), and is being built to Jiuyuan. It is expected to reach Jiuyuan County by the end of the year."

"The Central Plains Railway has been built from Weinan to Tongguan, and the Beijing-Tianjin Railway will be completed in twenty miles. Including inspection time, it is expected to open to traffic in mid-July."

"The railway in Sichuan has been built from Jiangyou to Deyang, and the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway in the south has been built from Haiyang to Xuanguang."

"There is progress on railways everywhere, you don't have to worry."

"As for Yang Shiqi from Shaanxi, he is very honest, but his son Yang Ji has committed many things in his hometown."

"Your Majesty, let me tell you, it is better to use his son as an excuse to depose him and return to his hometown."

It seems that Yang Ji has done many bad things, otherwise Yi Shiha would not take the initiative to impeach a person.

But in response, Zhu Gaoxu shook his head: "Yang Shiqi is still capable. There is no suitable person in the court to replace him at the moment. Let's keep him for now. When there is someone who can replace him, I will naturally issue an order to take action."

"Okay, tell me about Cochin, including the overseas ones."

Zhu Gaoxu has not cared about overseas for a long time, mainly because overseas is on the right track and he does not need to pay too much attention to it. Moreover, although the population of Ming Dynasty has increased, the population of the mainland is extremely unbalanced, and he still needs to find a way to relocate the population.

"Li Li of Jiaozhi was surrounded by Fu Rang on Niutou Mountain in Changshan last month. It has been a month and a half now, and I am afraid that he will surrender soon."

"Wang Ji has settled all the people who migrated to Jiaozhi well. Jiaozhi now has as many as 1.2 million people in Hankou."

"As for overseas, the main ones are the disputes between the vassal states in Kunlun Island, and Yang Zhan personally went to Ceylon to rectify the Western guards."

"Zhang Chun and Jiang Gui in the east are also working according to your Majesty's will, but the brothers in the west factory found something wrong with the accounts..."

Yi Shiha glanced at Zhu Gaoxu secretly, but Zhu Gaoxu was unmoved: "As long as he brings the money back, the court will have the means to make him hand it over."

His meaning is very clear, he is not going to deal with these people in a big way, because what is needed at this stage is to maintain stability.

In a few words, the situation at home and abroad was already clear, but Yi Shiha focused on the matter in Mobei.

"Wala in Mobei, according to the information given by Batu Polo, Mahamu's army can still pull out 25,000 troops, and Taiping and Alitai each have about 30,000 troops."

"There are still more than 20,000 soldiers and horses under Tupolo's command, so the entire Mobei can pull out nearly 110,000 soldiers and horses."

"Even if we exclude the Bald Polo, we still have nearly 90,000 soldiers and horses."

"But there is good news. The Tatar tribe's Ye Xiantugan secretly sent people south to Kaiping to communicate with our army. He is willing to serve as our army's internal correspondent. He has more than 5,000 soldiers under his command and nearly 20,000 troops."

Yi Shiha explained the situation in Mobei, and the situation was not beyond Zhu Gaoxu's expectations.

Zhu Di's previous northern expeditions had completely beaten up the Tatars and Oaras. Although Mahamu and the others could still muster the courage to fight the Ming army, their battles were at best entangled, waiting for the Ming army to run out of food and grass. Then retreated on their own.

However, as time goes by, the railway is getting closer and closer to Hailaer, and after reaching Hailaer, Zhu Gaoxu will not stop there.

Just as he sent Wang Rong to tell him, the Ming Dynasty's railway must be built to reach Hulanhu and even further west. As long as the railway is built, the Mongols in the north will have only one way to move westward.

People like Batu Polo and Ye Xian Tu Gan were not willing to fight the Ming army, let alone go to the west to eat sand, so they could maximize their benefits by declaring their surrender early.

"The reward for them will not be small, let them investigate carefully."

"Mahamu is still recuperating, but they probably didn't expect the railway to be built so fast, and it's not an exaggeration to say that our army's trains are more than 700 miles away from the Japanese."

"Ask Wang Rong and Lin Su to expand granaries in Songyuan, Hecheng, Zhenlu, and Hailaer. Each granary must be enough to accommodate a million stones."

Zhu Gaoxu ordered, and Yi Shiha bowed in response.

The master and servant had no topic to talk about for a while and could only lower their heads to deal with government affairs.

Unfortunately, before they had a quiet moment, footsteps and familiar voices came from outside the hall.

"Your Majesty, I have something important to report!"

"Come in!"

Zhu Gaoxu responded without thinking, and soon saw Hu Lun walking into the hall with an unsightly expression.

"what happened?"

Zhu Gaoxu frowned, sensing something was wrong, and Hu Lun also knelt down and bowed:
"A quarter of an hour ago, news came from the Duke of Wei's mansion that Duke Wei... passed away!"

Hu Lun's words made Xu Huizu's face appear in Zhu Gaoxu's mind.

This news made him have a complicated expression. Yishiha was worried that he would be frightened and reminded him in a low voice: "Your Majesty..."

"Well, I'm fine." After experiencing too many separations and separations, Zhu Gaoxu did not show too much sadness when faced with the death of Xu Huizu.

After all, although Xu Huizu helped him a lot at the beginning, after his father and his son entered Nanjing, Xu Huizu still looked like he was not serving them, which inevitably made them psychologically uncomfortable.

Zhu Gaoxu originally thought it was because Xu Huizu didn't want to serve his father, but after he ascended the throne, Xu Huizu stopped teaching at the military academy.

He lived sixteen years longer than in history, and Zhu Gaoxu didn't feel sorry for him at all, so after taking a few deep breaths, he said: "I posthumously confer Xu Huizu the title of King Pinglu, with the posthumous title of Zhongzhen."

Although Xu Huizu's performance was not good, Zhu Gaoxu still remembered that his past friendship gave him the honor of being posthumously crowned king and giving him a posthumous title, although he did not necessarily appreciate it.

"Your Majesty, the Duke of Wei..."

Hu Lun asked carefully, and the reason for this was entirely because Xu Huizu's eldest son, Xu Qin, was arrogant and had violated many things in his early years.

Even so, Zhu Gaoxu still sighed and said: "Xu Qin attacked the lord, and I also lost you to write a handwritten note for me to remind this guy."

Zhu Gaoxu did not have Zhu Gaochi's good temper. Historically, Zhu Di abolished Xu Qin's title after his repeated arrogance, and was later restored by Zhu Gaochi after Zhu Di's death.

If Xu Qin dared to be arrogant despite his own warning, then the Duke of Wei would have no choice but to be deposed.

"Your Majesty, the King of Shu sent someone to send an urgent report."

Before Xu Huizu's matter was settled, the voice of the eunuch on duty came from the door of the side hall.

"Come in!"

Yi Shiha opened his mouth to signal, and not long after, he saw an eunuch on duty walking to the table with a letter in both hands, kneeling down and offering it with both hands.

Yi Shiha was handed over to Zhu Gaoxu. After opening it, Zhu Gaoxu quickly read it and sighed: "The King of Shu is dead..."

Zhu Chun, the king of Shu, who had been in Sichuan since the Hongwu period, came to the end of his life. After learning that he passed away, Zhu Gaoxu sighed a little and said:

"On the tenth day after leaving the Chang Dynasty, he ordered the Ministry of Rites and the Zongfu to offer sacrifices. He named the posthumous title Xian, and named the former Shu Crown Prince Zhu Yuebian as Zhuangzhuang. In addition..."

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Hu Lun, who bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the grandson of Shu is now Shisun Yu."

Zhu Chun's eldest son Zhu Yuebian died of illness in the eleventh year of Yongle. His current grandson is Zhu Yuebian's eldest son Zhu Youyu.

"Instruct Zhu Youyu to attack and confer the title of King of Shu, and order him to stay in the feudal territory and stay safe and not cause any trouble."

"Yes!" Hu Lun bowed in agreement, then stood up and exited the side hall with the eunuch on duty.

What happened in the side hall was clearly heard by Wang Hui and others in the main hall, but they did not dare to say anything. After all, no one knew whether Zhu Gaoxu's temper was good or bad.

Within two hours, the news of the deaths of Shu kings Zhu Chun and Xu Huizu had spread. Zhu Di felt mixed after hearing the news, but fortunately nothing happened.

Unfortunately, the ten days were not over yet. News also came from Lanzhou in the northwest. King Su Zhu Lai passed away in Lanzhou at the age of forty-seven.

Zhu Gaoxu also felt a little incredible when he learned the news of Zhu Kai's obituary.

He remembered that Zhu Lai died before Zhu Chun in history, but he never thought that he would die behind Zhu Chun in this life and live for more than three years.

Compared with Zhu Chun's death, the shock caused by Zhu Lai's death was much smaller. After all, Su Fan was a small vassal, and the place where it was located was a bitter and cold place like Lanzhou, so the officials were not too shocked.

In addition to announcing that he would resign from the court for ten days, Zhu Gaoxu mainly pursued the posthumous title of Zhuang for Zhu Kai. He then issued an imperial edict to appease Prince Su's son Zhu Fanyan, and ordered him to ascend the title of vassal.

Perhaps fed up with the barrenness of the northwest, Zhu Fanyan hoped that the court would allow Su Fan to move inland on the grounds that Zhu Lai wanted to be buried in a place with green mountains and green waters.

Historically, Su Fan has always requested to move inland, but has always been rejected. The reason is that the Ming Dynasty's rule in the northwest is too weak, and arranging a local vassal king can better control the local area.

However, as the train is about to open to traffic and the Ming army's technology leads the world, Zhu Gaoxu no longer has these worries.

Leaving Su Fan in Lanzhou, he was really afraid that Su Fan would do something bad in the local area after the train opened to traffic, so he had long thought about moving Su Fan.

Now that Su Fan has taken the initiative to ask, Zhu Gaoxu agreed to move Su Fan to Jianchang Mansion in Sichuan, where Sichuan Xingdusi is based.

Here, the two brothers Qu Yu and Qu Tao rehabilitated the Lao Lao from the Daxue Mountains and moved these Lao Lao who were still living in slavery into the Anning River Plain, the second largest plain in Sichuan.

There are few local Han people but more Xifan and Luoluo. The environment is not bad. Compared with Lanzhou, it can definitely be regarded as green mountains and green waters.

Moving a vassal king to station here would help the court rule the area.

As for whether Zhu Fanyan would dislike this place, that was not a choice he could make.

The first-generation vassal kings might be able to negotiate some small conditions with themselves, but the role of these second- and third-generation vassal kings is to help Ming Dynasty control the local area, and there is no room for resistance.

Not to mention these vassal kings, even his heirs must shoulder this responsibility.

"Your Majesty, from now on, there are only the King of Qin, the King of Jin and the King of Zhou north of the Qinling Mountains and the Huaihe River."

In mid-June, after Zhu Gaoxu approved Su Fan's move to Jianchang Prefecture, the Minister of Rites sent a gift and took the initiative to report the situation of the Ming Dynasty to Shu.

At present, apart from these three vassal kings, the others closest to the Qinling Mountains and Huaihe River are Yi Wang Zhu Yongyi of Hanzhong Prefecture, Zhu Quan of Nanyang Prefecture, and Tang Wang Zhu Qiongnan of Xiangyang Prefecture.

Although Zhu Gaoxu vigorously relocated the population, the population of these two prefectures was still too small. In addition, Zhu Quan had been busy in Daning Dusi, so Zhu Gaoxu was unlikely to touch them.

Zhu Quan was only two years older than Zhu Gaoxu, and since he had supported him during the Jingnan crisis, his fiefdom Zhu Gaoxu was not ready to move again.

As for the Tang Palace and other vassal princes, Zhu Gaoxu could only warn them not to cause trouble, otherwise he would not mind spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to move them to southern Xinjiang to guard the border for the Ming Dynasty, which would just be able to distribute the land in the interior equally to the people.

Perhaps Zhu Gaoxu was really cruel to his uncles and brothers, so in the past twenty-three years, many vassal kings who had done evil were extremely honest, which made Zhu Gaoxu find no reason to deal with them.

But it doesn't matter, as long as they show their flaws, he can send them to the south to live a good life.

After stroking his mustache, Zhu Gaoxu turned his attention to Song Li and said, "I have made my own decision about the vassal king. You don't have to worry about this."

"Then, please retire..." Seeing Zhu Gaoxu say this, Song Li quickly left as he did not want to get into trouble.

After he left, the eunuch on duty also called out: "Your Majesty, Your Highness wants to see you!"

"Announce!" Hearing that Zhu Zhanqi came to him, Zhu Gaoxu also subconsciously announced him into the palace.

Eighteen-year-old Zhu Zhanqi walked into the palace. He was not as tall as Zhu Zhanhe, but he was still five feet seven inches (183cm). He looked more like his mother, Zhang Guifei, and was handsome, so he was quite popular with Zhu Gaoxu.

"My son, I see your Majesty..."

Zhu Zhanqi bowed and saluted after entering the palace. When Zhu Gaoxu saw this, he also said, "You came to find me because of your border defense, right?"

"Father is wise." Zhu Zhanqi was emotionally stable and thoughtful. Fortunately, he was obedient and did not cause any disputes over the reserve, otherwise he would not be loved by Zhu Gaoxu.

"I heard from my mother that my father wanted me to live in the southwest of the domain. I thought about it. Since I want to live in the southwest of the domain, it is better to go to the southwest to guard the border and understand it in advance. I can also help the court suppress the rebellion in the future."

Zhu Zhanqi took the initiative to ask to go to the southwest, which made Zhu Gaoxu squint his eyes.

He remained silent, and Zhu Zhanqi felt the pressure and quickly changed his tone: "If my father wants me to go somewhere else, I am willing to go!"

"No need," Zhu Gaoxu interrupted: "Where in the southwest do you want to go?"

"If it is possible, of course it is Yunnan." Zhu Zhanqi answered with his eyes and nose, nose and heart, but Zhu Gaoxu did not agree when he heard this, but said directly:

"I will explain to the Sixth Army Governor's Office that you go back to rest first, pack up and prepare to guard the border after the Lantern Festival next year."

"Your Majesty, I accept your order." Zhu Zhanqi bowed out respectfully.

After he retreated, Zhu Gaoxu looked at Yi Shiha: "Did you see anything?"

"This slave didn't see it." Yi Shiha shook his head, but Zhu Gaoxu frowned: "Did you not see it, or did you know that you didn't dare to say anything?"

"This slave didn't see it." Yishiha bowed in response, but did not dare to look at Zhu Gaoxu. The meaning was obvious. He saw it, but did not dare to say it.

"I know even if you don't tell me, this guy is worried that I will send him overseas or to a remote place, so he took the initiative to ask for the southwest of the vassal, and he chose Yunnan, which has many mines."

Zhu Gaoxu stroked his mustache and exposed Zhu Zhanqi's little thoughts.

"Your Majesty, the Second Highness's border guarding matters..."

Yi Shiha asked carefully. Zhu Gaoxu did not pause and announced directly:
"Tell Chen Chang and arrange for him to go to the south of Jiaozhi!"

(End of this chapter)