My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 82 King of Dai
Captain Zhao nodded respectfully, but then added with concern, "Commander-in-Chief, I heard that this time the southern troops' march north was agreed upon by the cabinet. I'm afraid they won't be as easily fooled as before."

Datong is not far from the capital, and Captain Zhao also has his own information channels.

Admiral Zheng said:
"The leaders in the capital have their own plans. Whether they can stop the southern troops from advancing north is not something that can be accomplished by you and me."

Hearing that the bigwigs in the capital had a backup plan, Captain Zhao wisely stopped talking.
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Datong, the palace of Prince Dai.

The Dai King line has been passed down for six generations. The current one, Zhu Tingzai, is in his forties. He lives a life of luxury and looks very young. He is listening to the report from the steward who has returned from the capital.

"Is the imperial court really going to send an imperial censor to investigate the land used for military farms in Datong?"

Zhu Tingsai held the jade beads in his hand and asked his confidant.

The steward bowed and said, "Your Highness, the court has ordered Qi Jiguang to lead the southern troops north. This means they are going to investigate the border fields!"

Zhu Tingqi was upset because the lineage of the King of Dai was granted the title of Datong. The first King of Dai, Zhu Gui, was the thirteenth son of Zhu Yuanzhang.

This royal lineage has been crooked since the first King Zhu Gui.

Zhu Gui was stripped of his royal title for his crimes during the reign of Emperor Jianwen. Later, after Zhu Di pacified the rebellion, he restored his brother's royal title, but Zhu Gui continued to commit crimes in his fiefdom.

Zhu Di wrote many letters to reprimand his younger brother and even dismissed his guards.

The posthumous title of the first King of Dai was "Jian", which means "Jian" because his political strategy was loose and he was too simple and slow. The fact that he was given such a posthumous title shows the inheritance of the lineage of the King of Dai.

Starting from the first King of Dai, they have been constantly encroaching on the military farms of Datong border garrisons. By the time of the current King of Dai, more than half of the land under his name is occupied military farms.

In addition to occupying the military farms of the garrisons, the Dai Wang lineage was also keen on smuggling on the grasslands.

Caravans under the banner of the royal palace traveled between the grasslands and the capital, so the King of Dai, who was granted the title of King in the barren land of Shanxi, was richer than some kings granted the title of King in Huguang.

The Dai Wangfu has been entrenched in Datong for six generations and has close ties with the local garrisons.

If the imperial court really mobilized troops from the south to march north, it would naturally affect the interests of the King of Dai.

Zhu Tingsai asked the steward:

"What do the teachers in the capital say?"

Although he called him "Master", Zhu Tingsai had no good feelings towards the civil servants in the capital.

But he was a vassal king of the Ming Dynasty, and according to the rules he had no way to influence the major policies of the court, so he needed to unite with these "masters".

In fact, the influence of the princes on the political situation in the Ming Dynasty was very great.

Many princes would sponsor officials from their hometowns when they first entered the government, and would send them congratulatory money on their birthdays or family celebrations.

For example, although these officials served in various places, their families remained in their hometowns and, as local princes, could provide a lot of help.

This manager was the "Director of the Beijing Office" sent to the capital by Zhu Tingsai.

The steward immediately said:

"Your Majesty, the Masters ask that you submit a petition requesting the transfer of the vassal state at an appropriate time."

Zhu Tingsai's expression changed, he looked at the steward and asked:
"Really do this?"

To move a fiefdom means to request the imperial court to rearrange the fiefdom.

This had precedents in the Ming Dynasty. The most famous one was the Liao Wangfan, who was originally a vassal king in the north. After Chengzu's rebellion, he was granted the title of King of Liao and was granted the title of King of Jingzhou.

Requesting to relocate the vassal state would be a desperate move. Zhu Tingsai hesitated and said:
"Has it really come to this?"

The steward knelt down quickly and said:

"Your Majesty! The imperial court is sharpening its swords and has long been dissatisfied with the Xuanda Border Town and my Shanxi clan! This time, they are mobilizing southern troops to the north, but their intention is to attack us!"

"In this situation, the only way to survive is to fight to the death!"

Zhu Tingsai was silent for a moment, thinking about the ridiculous things he had done.

As a prince, Zhu Tingzan had committed so many evil deeds in the local area that they could not withstand investigation.

Zhu Tingqi was still hesitant, and the steward said again: "Your Majesty, have you forgotten Prince Raoyang?"

When the steward mentioned Prince Raoyang, Zhu Tingqi was shocked.

When Zhu Tingqi just inherited the title of king, Zhu Chongqi, the King of Raoyang, bullied the Dai Palace and often clashed with Zhu Tingqi.

Zhu Chongju was arrogant and wrote to Emperor Jiajing on the pretext of "border unrest". The emperor dismissed the censors and generals who were on the side of the King of Dai.

Zhu Tingqi spent a lot of money and finally currying favor with Yan Song who was in power, and overthrew Zhu Chongqi, the Prince of Raoyang.

In the end, Raoyang King Zhu Chongqi was sentenced to imprisonment in Fengyang.

Zhu Tingqi knew very well how the royal family treated the vassal kings. The imperial city surrounded by high walls in Fengyang Prefecture was a super prison specially used to imprison clan members.

Zhu Tingqi did not want to meet his enemy Zhu Chongqi inside the high walls of Fengyang.

Having made up his mind, Zhu Tingsai said:
"When the time is right, I will submit a petition!"
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The wind direction in the capital is changing very quickly.

Just a few days ago, the six departments and thirteen censors were still opposing Su Ze's "Plan to Pacify the Rong", but these days the censors have begun to support the court.

Supervisory Censor Luo Zun wrote to the court, requesting to clear the land in Xuanfu and Datong towns.

Then another imperial censor wrote a letter requesting a thorough investigation into an old case in Datong, Xuanfu, where someone falsely claimed credit for something and sought a reward.

The wind direction in the capital changed too quickly, which caused Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng to feel uneasy.

Gao Gong voted on Luo Zun's memorial, opposing the Qing army's clearing of land during this sensitive period.

But Emperor Longqing obviously did not think so. As an emperor, he was naturally aware of the accumulated problems in the nine border areas.

The nine frontiers consumed so much border funds every year, but the border towns were still corrupt and were beaten into inland counties by the Mongols several times.

Liaodong was also not at peace, with Ji and Liao causing unrest every year.

Both Su Ze's "Plan for Subduing the Rong" and the speeches of ministers at the cabinet meeting mentioned the fact that Xuan David was unfit to be used.

Although Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng both voted against it, Emperor Longqing still agreed to Luo Zun's memorial and prepared to send a border inspector to Xuanda to properly rectify border affairs.

On September 12, the emperor issued an edict to the Censorate, appointing a censor to patrol the border areas and send him to Xuanfu and Datong.

However, "Plan to Pacify the Enemy" has become a national policy discussed by the cabinet and is now dominated by the cabinet elders.

Although he noticed that the change in the censors' opinion was a bit unusual, Su Ze was ordered by the cabinet ministers to run around the six ministries to promote the "Plan to Pacify the Rong" and had no time to pay attention to the change in the opinion outside the court.

Today, Su Ze finally had some free time, so he changed into his official robes early in the morning and went to the East Palace to attend the Crown Prince's imperial lecture.

As soon as he stepped into the East Palace, Su Ze met his fellow townsman and good friend Shen Shixing.

"Brother Rumo."

Shen Shixing looked at Su Ze and said:

"Zilin, my wife's brother came to Beijing a few days ago and brought some shrimp paste from his hometown. Your sister-in-law invited you to come to her house for dinner next time you have a day off."

Shrimp paste is a sauce made by stir-frying the shrimp roe and shrimp roe of river shrimp, and is also a local flavor of Suzhou.

The three-shrimp noodles that became famous in Suzhou were probably derived from shrimp paste.

Hearing about the shrimp paste from his hometown, Su Ze also became greedy and said quickly:

"I was on holiday during the ten-day holiday, so I came to bother you."

At this time, Zhang Hong, the eunuch close to the Crown Prince, walked to the door and said:

"The Crown Prince summons all the masters to the palace for the imperial lecture!"

Available on the 28th of this month

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(End of this chapter)