I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 36 One Year Older

March of the spring of the 42nd year of the Jiajing reign.

In the flower hall of Prince Yu's Mansion, Prince Yu Zhu Zaigui, Princess Chen, and Crown Prince Zhu Yijun were sitting around a round table eating.

From the moment Zhu Yijun returned home in the morning, he saw Zhu Zaigui with a smile on his face.

When sitting and talking with him, or when several gentlemen were discussing matters with him, he would always suddenly laugh secretly, which seemed very strange.

Zhu Yijun soon found out the reason: Concubine Li was pregnant.

The Prince Yu's Mansion, which has been silent for several years, is finally welcoming new life.

Whether it’s a man or a woman, the cheap dad has proved a very important point: I’m OK!
However, this incident has no impact on Zhu Yijun at the moment.

Even if concubine Li gave birth to Prince Yu's second prince, it would take an earth-shaking and utterly drastic event to shake Zhu Yijun's position as the crown prince.

Judging from the current situation, no one has the intention or ability to do so.

"Jun'er, you're one year older."

Perhaps it was the good news of Li's pregnancy that made Zhu Zaigui suddenly realize that he was still a father. Looking at Zhu Yijun with great loving care, he suddenly said something.

Nonsense, I am one year older this year than last year, and last year was also one year older than the year before.

It's just that you haven't been paying attention to me.

Zhu Yijun listened respectfully without saying anything.

He knew that his father at this moment was just venting his joy and excitement, not the awakening and overflowing fatherly love.

He never had fatherly love since he was a child, so he didn't know how to give it to himself.

"Jun'er, do you want a younger brother or a younger sister?"

"In reply to your father, your son likes them all. Your father is in his prime, and whether it is a brother or a sister, I will surely have them all."

Zhu Zaigui raised his head and laughed out loud.

Chen looked at Zhu Yijun and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Jun'er is only nine years old, but he has a very smart mind.

In Chen's opinion, in addition to the emperor's teachings, it was also closely related to Prince Yu's carelessness.

Jun'er lost his mother at a young age and was left alone. His Royal Highness Prince Yu didn't know how to be a father, so he became so precocious.

"Your Highness, Jun'er has grown taller again." Chen reminded.

"Yes, Jun'er has indeed grown taller. He is as tall as a twelve or thirteen-year-old child. If he grows taller in another two years, he will probably be as tall as me."

"Your Highness, I mean to prepare new clothes for Jun'er again."

"You want to make new ones? Last year... Oh, he's grown taller." Zhu Zaigui said hesitantly, "Didn't the palace make clothes for him?"

"Your Highness, the palace is made by the palace, that is the grace of the emperor. The palace is made by the palace, that is the favor of your Highness."

Zhu Zaigui smacked his lips and said, "It has to be done again. Now the mansion has to add more people and the expenses will increase. But my salary is still the same, and I don't have any fiefdom to live in, alas."

He looked at Zhu Yijun for a few times, remembering that this child lost his mother when he was young, and was taken to live with his father at the age of five, following a bad-tempered old man in the lonely and deserted West Garden.

But thanks to Jun'er accompanying his father, he was able to turn danger into safety.

Thinking of this, Zhu Zaigui's heart was filled with love again, and he waved his sleeves, "Do it, Princess, just do it, it's just a small amount of money, the palace is not short of this little money and cloth."

"Thank you, father." Zhu Yijun thanked respectfully.

Chen looked at Zhu Yijun, who was calm and acted like an adult, and felt heartbroken again. She stretched out her chopsticks and picked up a few pieces of food for him.

"Jun'er, eat, these are all your favorite dishes. His Highness knew you were coming, so he specifically asked the kitchen to prepare them, right, Your Highness?" Zhu Zaigui took a sip of wine and was happily eating a bite of the food. When he heard Chen's words, he replied vaguely, "Oh, yes, eat, eat."

The next day, Zhu Yijun returned to Xiyuan, had breakfast with Emperor Jiajing, practiced Tai Chi, and attended classes.

Come back to have lunch, take a walk to digest the food, go to the Coordination Office to discuss matters, and go to the South School Ground to exercise.

Then she returned to Renshou Palace, took a bath, had dinner, took a walk to digest the food, and then accompanied Emperor Jiajing to read memorials and reports.

"Yang Xuan, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, the Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief, and the Governor-General of Ji and Liao, respectfully reports: On the second day of March, cavalrymen from the Duoyan Guard disturbed the border. Li Ding, the garrison commander of Gubeikou, sent out sentinels and captured four of them.

The chieftain of Duoyanwei, Tong Han, came to the pass to demand his subordinates. The deputy general Hu Zhen caught him by surprise and captured him and more than ten of his accomplices.
Tonghan's son Bali was terrified and took the captured sentry to the border wall to ask for his father's exchange. I learned that Tonghan was the adoptive father of Xin'ai's wife, and I wanted to use him to control Xin'ai. I also agreed with Tonghan to use his four sons as hostages in turn, and exchange them every six months.

Tonghan summoned his eldest son to the pass as a hostage according to the agreement. I also gave him some gold, silver, cloth and silk, and asked him to persuade Xin Ai to make peace with the Ming Dynasty forever. I swore to heaven before sending him back to Tonghan.
Afterwards, Xin Ai sent an envoy to inform me and sign an agreement to swear not to invade the border again. With the emperor's great grace and virtue, Tong Han of the Doyan tribe and Xin Ai of the Tumed tribe, under my painstaking efforts, swore to make peace with the Ming Dynasty. The Ji-Liao border can rest assured. "

Zhu Yijun looked at the memorial and felt something was not right.

"Chen Hong." Zhu Yijun called the name of Chen Hong, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department.

"Your Highness, I am here."

"Who is Xin Ai?"

"In reply to your Highness, Xin'ai, whose full name is Xin'ai Huang Taiji, is also known as Huang Taiji. He is a member of the Borjigin clan and the eldest son of Mongolian Khan Altan Khan. He led the Tumed tribe of the right wing of Mongolia. He was known for his bravery and was the best archer among all the tribes. He was known as one of the five warriors of the right wing of Mongolia."

Emperor Jiajing turned around and asked, "Jun'er, what's wrong?"

"Grandpa Emperor, I think Yang Xuan did something wrong. The Mongols outside the Great Wall originally had ulterior motives towards our Ming Dynasty, and Yang Xuan used his cleverness to win over Tong Han and contain Xin Ai. Not only did he seek the skin of a tiger, he also humiliated Tong Han and Xin Ai.

These two people must be dissatisfied.

My grandson found it funny to see Yang Xuan proudly writing in his memorial how Tong Han and Xin Ai were willing to submit and how they vowed to befriend the Ming Dynasty. "

"Funny, what's so funny?" Emperor Jiajing asked with his hands in his sleeves, clasped in front of his chest, and squinted his eyes.

“Grandpa Emperor, even a nine-year-old child like me can tell that Tong Han and Xin Ai, as the chieftains of the Tatars in the southern desert, have been so humble and submissive despite such humiliation. They must have ulterior motives.

But Yang Xuan is still unaware of this and thinks that he is a smart man. I am worried that Yang Xuan will be deceived by Tong Han and Xin Ai and will let down his guard and suffer. "

Emperor Jiajing pondered for a while and nodded: "That makes sense, Chen Hong."

"The servant is here."

"Write down the prince's words in red and forward them to the Ministry of War. Tell Yang Weiyue to keep an eye on Yang Xuan and not let him be deceived by the Tartars. The Ji-Liao border passes are related to the safety of the capital, so we must not take them lightly!"

"Yes."

Zhu Yijun still felt something was wrong, but this was the first time he had encountered such a major military event at the border, and he was unsure about how to deal with it.

Emperor Jiajing would not allow him to make random suggestions.

A quarter of an hour later, Emperor Jiajing saw a memorial and frowned.

"Jun'er, take a look."

Zhu Yijun took it and looked at it carefully, then he took a breath, but soon thought of something.

"Grandpa Emperor, I remember that this memorial from Censor Lin Run is very different from the draft copied in the report from the East Factory the day before yesterday."

Emperor Jiajing said coldly: "The memorial he submitted before was most likely ignored. This memorial violates my taboo. Lin Run consulted an expert and rewrote today's memorial."

Zhu Yijun pondered for a while and said, "Grandpa Emperor, I want to take this memorial and the original manuscript copied by the East Factory out of the palace tomorrow."

Emperor Jiajing's eyes flashed, and after waiting for more than twenty breaths, he slowly nodded: "Okay."

(End of this chapter)