Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 298 encourages princes to do research. If you want to thank someone, thank the emperor!

"Supervisor of Ceremonies!"

Zhu Houcong called out.

Gu Dayong walked in at this time: "Please give your orders, Your Majesty."

"According to my instructions, write a handwritten note to the emperor's uncle immediately and have him deliver it to the cabinet himself!"

After Zhu Houcong said this, he looked at Prince Huai and snorted.

"Yes!"

Prince Huai was stunned for a moment.

And after a while.

Prince Huai, who understood what was going on, immediately bowed his head to the ground:
"I thank your Majesty. Long live your Majesty!"

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I will never interfere in state affairs again, and I will never listen to others' instigation. Let alone asking me to make suggestions, even if you ask me to express my opinions on state affairs, I will never participate!"

"I will no longer allow the young men of the country to discuss politics. If anyone discusses politics, I will beat them with sticks without your Majesty having to do anything!"

"Men are good at only two things: beauty and politics."

"You are not short of beauties."

“And then you don’t talk about politics, wouldn’t that be boring?”

Zhu Houcong asked about Prince Huai leisurely.

Prince Huai replied, "Not boring! I can organize them to discuss medicine and Buddhism. If that doesn't work, alchemy is also possible."

“You can come according to your interests.”

"But I hope that you and your children can focus more on improving medical skills, arithmetic, agriculture, water conservancy, and the skills of various craftsmen."

"Don't accept support from the people in vain. Sometimes, power is not the only way to benefit the people of the world."

Zhu Houcong asked the Prince of Huai: "Uncle, is that right?"

"Your Majesty said so!"

"I will definitely teach the country's children according to the imperial decree!"

Prince Huai replied immediately.

Zhu Houcong nodded and said, "Go outside and wait for the imperial edict."

"Yes!"

After Prince Huai agreed, he went outside the palace.

Soon.

Gu Dayong gave him the imperial edict.

Prince Huai came to the cabinet with the imperial edict.

After reading the imperial edict, all the ministers in the cabinet were very surprised.

Because they knew that moving a vassal state to Donglai would mean that Jiangxi and even the entire Ming Dynasty's inland areas would be relieved of a huge burden.

As a native of Jiangxi, the Prime Minister Fei Hong was naturally the happiest, and he quickly handed the imperial edict to Liu Chengxue, the secretary of the Central Secretariat, who was responsible for drafting the imperial edict:
"Hurry up and write the draft order, lest His Majesty regrets and withdraws the order!"

All imperial edicts issued from above and below were drafted by the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, reviewed and approved, and then conveyed to lower-level departments for implementation in accordance with the regulations.

The cabinet had an imperial edict-making room and an imperial edict-issuing room.

There are four secretaries in the two rooms who are responsible for writing documents.

These people are the officials who are specifically responsible for drafting imperial edicts.

Therefore, Fei Hong gave the imperial edict to Liu Chengxue and asked Liu Chengxue to draft the decree.

After Liu Chengxue bowed and said yes, he immediately took the book and ran to the imperial edict-making room.

Fei Hong was also very respectful and polite to Prince Huai: "Your Highness took the initiative to admit his guilt. You can be said to be sensible and know right from wrong. You are a wise king of the country!"

"Prime Minister, your words are too serious!"

"It was because of the advice given by the former Yuanfu to his fellow townsmen that I finally understood that I was indeed confused before and did not understand the painstaking efforts of Your Majesty, Yuanfu and other gentlemen in the court!"

Prince Huai replied embarrassedly and lifted the sedan chair for Fei Hong.

"Yes, the wise king confessed his guilt, the wise ruler showed benevolence, and the family of heaven was in harmony. This is a blessing for the country and for all the people in the world!"

Grand Secretary Wang Ao also started to speak well of him.

As civil officials, they generally seldom flatter the princes, but now, they have no choice but to do so, mainly because they are afraid that Prince Huai will go back on his word and cry and beg the emperor not to move his fiefdom.

At that time, they would not be able to openly persuade the emperor to forcibly move the fiefdom, because that would be seen as an attempt to sow discord among the royal family.

Therefore, not only Wang Ao, but also the cabinet minister Lin Jun came over and said:
"That's right! If all the princes in the world were as righteous and upright as His Royal Highness the Prince of Huai, and could confess their crimes, Your Majesty wouldn't have to treat the royal family harshly in order to enforce discipline, and create a rift with the royal family."

"Yes, this can be called a good story of the country!"

Wang Qiong also said something at this time.

Prince Huai just laughed awkwardly.

He knew why these ministers were happy.

And he himself couldn't say that this was not a good thing.

After all, for him, it would be a blessing as long as the emperor didn't kill him.

But he was still very worried about crossing the sea to Donglai.

no way.

During this era, many Ming people in the mainland were very afraid of the sea.

Therefore, after hearing what these ministers said, Prince Huai still asked:
"I would like to ask you, is it dangerous to go to Donglai now?"

"Don't worry, Your Highness. Donglai is very close to Fujian and even closer to Penghu. In addition, Donglai has high mountains to block the evil winds from the ocean, so going there is like traveling on an inland river."

"Moreover, the number of ships traveling between the two sides has increased. The military and civilians are very familiar with the wind patterns on both sides. Some brave fishermen even dare to travel between the two sides with small sand boats. It can be seen that there is no need to worry about encountering evil winds and dragons when going here! It is not much different from going to Qiongzhou."

"Especially now, it is the cold season, which is the time when the evil wind in the East China Sea disappears. So if Your Highness is still worried, it is better to set off for Donglai as soon as possible, and don't wait until summer, when it is inevitable to encounter the evil wind." Wang Qiong then told King Huai in detail.

After hearing this, Prince Huai nodded slightly and left the cabinet.

Fei Hong and others naturally saw him off through Donghua Gate.

After returning to Raozhou, Jiangxi, Prince Huai heard from the cabinet ministers that it would be best to cross the sea to Donglai in winter. So he handed over his farmland to the governor and returned all state affairs without waiting for the New Year. Then he took his clan members and relatives south, preparing to go to Donglai to be enfeoffed as soon as possible.

Although some royal relatives had complaints about this, Prince Huai was afraid that the emperor would change his mind and still want to kill him. He was also afraid that the sea voyage to Donglai would be more dangerous if it was too late, so he punished many royal relatives with a stick. As a result, some royal relatives followed him to Donglai obediently even though they had complaints.

As soon as the Prince of Huai's Palace moved away, the people of Raozhou Prefecture breathed a sigh of relief.

Because in the past, many of the royal relatives of the Huai Palace had committed fraud and bullying in Raozhou Prefecture, and the government had preferential treatment for these royal relatives due to laws and regulations and could not strictly control them, so most of the people could only swallow their anger.

it's good now.

All these royal relatives moved to Donglai.

The people of Raozhou Prefecture naturally had less oppression and exploitation from one group of people.

This is naturally a good thing for Zhu Houcong.

A large number of farms that originally belonged to the Huai Palace were later converted into private land that could collect taxes.

This will undoubtedly increase the financial revenue of his dynasty.

The example of Prince Huai also made Prince Qing Zhu Taiheng, who had also been implicated in the past, realize that the best way out at this time was to take the initiative to apologize.

So, Prince Qing also took the initiative to write a letter of apology.

However, because Prince Qing Zhu Taihong had done many evil things, he was reported by the Governor-General Zhong Xun and the Chief Censor Zhang Xuan stationed in Ningxia for being obscene and immoral, shackled his guests, shackled his officials, killed innocent people at will, attracted surrendered captives, and trained soldiers.

Therefore, after Prince Qing apologized, Zhu Houcong still demoted him to a commoner and ordered him to commit suicide. He only ordered other royal relatives of the vassal to move to Keelung in the name of joint punishment.

in this way.

Zhu Houcong then moved another vassal king to Donglai, thus relieving the people in the inland Ningxia area of ​​the country of great burden.

In fact, moving the vassal kings out to sea has always been what Zhu Houcong wanted to do.

On the one hand, this can be implemented overseas, and on the other hand, it can also divert internal pressure and benefit internal stability.

But in this era, people all over the world fear going overseas and think that it is a barbaric place.

Therefore, in the eyes of the world, being sent overseas is no different from exile, and may even be worse than exile.

Because exile means at most guarding the border and does not require going to sea.

If Zhu Houcong wanted to relocate the princes to sea, he could only do so in the name of dealing with the criminal princes, rather than using measures such as imprisonment and fines to deal with them.

This is similar to the treatment of many criminal civil officials and their families.

Zhu Houcong would not execute them, nor would he send their families to the Jiaofangsi to serve as official prostitutes. Instead, he would send them overseas.

Those whose crimes are not serious can serve as officials overseas.

However, the Ming Dynasty's navy is still in the initial strengthening stage, and there is not enough room for overseas development, so for the time being, it can only send these criminal princes and officials to Donglai.

Only after the Ming navy is strengthened in the future can we open up more space overseas.

Then, Zhu Houcong could send these criminal princes, officials and gentry to further overseas places.

Everything should be done step by step.

It is only the fourth year of Jiajing.

Zhu Houcong was not in a hurry.

His main focus now is still on the construction of the navy.

to this end.

Zhu Houcong has issued an order to let Yang Yiqing set up another naval academy in Guangzhou in order to train more naval talents.

This side of Guangzhou.

A few days after the former Funing Marquis Zhu Qi and the former Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi Xu Tingguang were executed.

Tanka householder Lin Ji entered Lingdingyang with many other fleeing Tanka households who came to ask for amnesty.

then.

Lin Ji and other refugees were outside the Hutou Pass of Nanhaiwei City. They knelt down and begged Wang Hong, who had rushed to Hutou Pass after hearing the news, "We are willing to be recruited and join the army to serve our country. Please grant us permission!"

Wang Hong asked Lin Ji to come to Hutou Pass to meet him first, and asked, "Do you believe that the imperial court is not pretending to recruit you now?"

“I believe it!”

"So many high-ranking officials have been beheaded, there is no reason for us not to believe it."

"We never expected that the current emperor would be so determined."

After Lin Ji said this, his eyes turned red, and he kowtowed and begged:

"Please give us, the refugees, a chance to become good people and serve our country!"

Until their death, they want to return to the shore to seek stability and do not want to wander in a foreign land.

Therefore, as long as the imperial court showed sincerity, the fleeing boat people like Lin Ji would take the initiative to accept the amnesty and even be grateful.

Wang Hong also smiled and said, "The emperor's order is in my ears, how can I not comply?"

"Tell the cook to kill a few pigs and treat the heroes to a good meal first. Then we can ask the officers of each camp to handle their recruitment."

Wang Hong looked at the sun and saw that it was time for dinner, so he told Ke Rong this.

"Thank you, sir!"

Lin Ji was even happier, and his eyes were instantly filled with tears.

Wang Hong used the same words he had said to Ye Xiaoying before, saying: "If you want to thank someone, thank the current emperor! It is because of his benevolence that he has always kept you in mind, otherwise you wouldn't be where you are today!"

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)