On the bow of the big ship, there were many people standing, all of whom held their breath and stared at the front.

At this time, the curtain on the second floor was lifted, and a person came out first, who was about twenty-seven or eighteen years old, wearing a square scarf on his head, wearing a yellow silk robe, a silver ribbon tied around his waist, holding a white paper fan, and slowly walked to the bow of the boat.

The young man followed three people, the one on the left was about forty years old, wearing a gray robe, and his long beard was neatly combed, and his body exuded a bookish atmosphere, obviously a scholar.

Which young man on the right is in his fifties, tall, with a long black beard under his chin that is extremely thick, but he has not had time to comb it, and he walked out at this time, and was blown by the cold wind on the river, and became messy when he landed, but the man was not in a hurry, raised his hand and gently stroked the long beard, and after a while, a long beard was neatly arranged, as if it had been carefully combed.

There was another person behind the three of them, who was around thirty years old, wearing a moon-white Yanju regular dress, with bright eyes and eyebrows, and a nose like a hanging gall. Three locks of slight hair, the face is like a crown of jade. Following behind the three of them, although they are younger, their calm bearing looks really extraordinary, and they can know ordinary people at a glance.

He is the new Jinyi Guard Commander Liu Mian who has just taken office, and his former Commander Sai Hazhi, because of his old age, has already left his post and resigned, so he will take over as the commander.

Jinyiwei is the emperor's bodyguard. Formerly known as the Ming Tai ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang set up the Imperial Arch Guard. In order to monitor, investigate, and suppress the illegal acts of officials, the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty appointed civil and military officials who were close to them to serve as "inspectors", "who were specially responsible for observing and listening to the unfair, illegal and rumored things of officials in Beijing, large and small. ”

Until, in the second year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, the Governor's Mansion of the Great Inner Army was re-established, and in the fifteenth year of the Jinyi Guard, there was a commander and one person, three products, two people with the same knowledge, two from the third product, two people from the servant, four products, two people in the suppression, five products, fourteen thousand households and fourteen people, five products, under the emperor's order to take charge of the prison, give the right to patrol and arrest, engage in reconnaissance, arrest, and interrogation activities, and the right is not small.

Today's Jinyiwei, after the evolution of Jianwen and Yongle dynasties, still maintains the establishment of generals, captains and wrestlers. The general is called General Tianwu, that is, the general of the Han Dynasty who has been renamed since the Yongle Dynasty, and his main responsibility is to guard the noon gate and act as a palace guard, mostly composed of the children of meritorious heroes. The school captain and the wrestler are selected to be in good health, have no criminal record, and have an innocent family background to fill the position, the school captain is in charge of the halogen book, the umbrella cover, the wrestler holds the golden drum, the flag, the power is much less than the Hongwu Dynasty, but the tiger is mighty, as long as the Jinyi Guard's Ti Rider is out, up to the prime minister and the vassal king, down to the common people, are under their surveillance, the slightest abnormal movement, there is no place to die.

Xu Mian squinted at the beard on the left side, and saw that he used a big hand, three times and five divided by two, and combed a thick black beard neatly, and couldn't help but admire it greatly, and couldn't help but mutter: "Emperor Chengzu chose him to find Emperor Jianwen back then, but he didn't find the wrong person, just this ability to comb his beard with his fingers, I'm afraid he practiced it in the rush around the year, right?" ”

Xu Mian's mouth refers to Hu Hu, the scholar on the right is Yang Shiqi, a university scholar, and the young man standing at the bow of the boat is the current prince Zhu Zhanji.

This time inspecting the Jiangnan Canal, everyone did not dare to slack off, brought four hundred personal guards, two hundred flying fish battalion Jinyi guards, all of them are martial arts strong people, each Jinyi guard is equipped with flying fish robes, Xiuchun knives, and the pro-soldiers are equipped with Pu knife short daggers, after four hundred people get on the boat, they are divided into four teams, and then equipped with short guns and longbows, strong crossbows, this kind of posture, unless it is Maitreya to lead a large group of people to besiege, otherwise these four hundred well-armed warriors alone, no one can move the prince half a point!

These guards of the Jinyi Guard were all selected by Xu Mian through layers of protection, this is the first time he has done security work, and the guards are still the current prince, the future prince, how dare he be careless.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Zhu Zhanji stood at the bow of the boat, squinting his eyes at the canal along the way, the canal that Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty spent thousands of people and material resources to dig has been used by all dynasties after thousands of years, especially after the diversion of the Yuan Dynasty, the canal no longer passes through Luoyang, directly from Beijing to Hangzhou, running through the north and south, the annual grain and grass in the south, goods, tea, silk are transported from this river to the north one by one, and the people in the south of the Yangtze River on both sides of the way also live a solid life because of this canal, which is afraid that no one can expect it from later generations.

"The end of the Sui River is this river, and it has been thousands of miles away. If there is no water temple dragon boat thing, Gongyu will not give much credit. ”

Hu Hu on the side chattered Pi Rixiu's poem "Bianhe Nostalgia" and walked over, stood on the left side of Zhu Zhanji, and said with a long beard: "Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, regardless of the fact that the Sui Dynasty was founded for decades, and the people's strength has not yet been rested, at the beginning of his accession to the throne, he couldn't wait to send the people of the counties of Henan and Huaibei to dig the Grand Canal called Tongji Canal. From Luoyang Xiyuan valley, Luo Ershui into the Yellow River, through the Yellow River into Bianshui, and then follow the Spring and Autumn period Wu Wangfu opened the canal old road to lead Bianshui into Surabaya to reach Huaishui, this mind, this vision, this merit, no one can compare, it's a pity——? ”

"Ahem——? It's a pity that he relied on the country's strength to be rich and strong, arrogant and lascivious, and he was so happy. After the canal was dug up, he traveled far away every year, three times to the Jiangdu, three to Zhuojun, each time he traveled, the palace was built, so that the people were miserable, how could there be no complaints about the court, but unfortunately, he did not repent, and sent troops to attack Goryeo, and finally the officials forced the people to rebel, and the people rebelled, and the people of the world revolted, and the great Sui rivers and mountains died——? Yang Shiqi was a little seasick, his face was a little pale, and he couldn't stop panting after a few words.

Zhu Zhanji nodded and said, "If it is not against the agricultural time, the grain cannot be eaten; A few grains do not enter the pool, and the fish and turtles cannot be eaten; The axe catty enters the mountains and forests at the right time, and the timber is not usable. Grains and fish and turtles are not eaten, and forests are not used, so that the people have no regrets about their health and death! There is no regret in health and death, and the beginning of the royal road is also! Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was inconsiderate of the people's power that caused the people to lose their hearts, and finally deviated from morality, ruining a great country! ”

"Since the founding of the Emperor Tai Zu, I have gone through the Hongwu, Jianwen, Yongle three dynasties, although there is Tai Zu Emperor hard work, but there are also four years of Jingjing war, the people are full of war, the people have not yet been well rested, the emperor grandfather can't wait to compile the Yongle Canon, the treasure ship to the West, move the capital to Beijing, build the Forbidden City, send troops to Mongolia, this major event, although it is necessary to do, but in such a short period of decades and done. It inevitably consumed manpower and material resources, the battle of Jingyan was only a few decades, such a great feat, once accomplished, the suffering of the people, I am afraid that it is not much better than Emperor Yang of Sui? ”

Yang Shiqi, Hu Hu, and Xu Mian looked at each other, and the three of them looked happy.

In fact, from Yongle to move the capital, send troops to Mongolia, frequently go to the West, put a lot of burden on the people, many areas of the people can not afford to pay taxes and cope with all kinds of requisitions have fled, many fields are barren, the river has not been repaired for many years, under the surface of Yongle prosperity, there have been many hidden crises, which is also one of the reasons why Maitreya can develop rapidly in the later period of Yongle.

"Your Highness can know from this, it is really a blessing for the people of the world?" Yang Shiqi said from the bottom of his heart, for this crown prince he grew up watching, he was sincerely happy, benevolent, wise, rare is good at listening to the opinions of officials, is a very assertive, courageous defender of the city, even better than his father Zhu Gaochi.

For such a future monarch, how can Yang Shiqi, as a courtier, not be happy and happy?

After a while, he cleaned up his mind, stepped forward and hugged his fists and said: "Your Highness worries about the country and the people, which is really the blessing of the people of the world and the blessing of my Ming Dynasty!" ”

"Yes, dare to worry about the worries of the world, and then enjoy the joy of the world, His Royal Highness's mind, the old minister also admires it?" Hu Hu also bowed and said. "Today's state affairs, the words of the two Aiqing make Gu deeply ashamed?" Zhu Zhanji sighed softly, and these words came from the bottom of his heart.

Yang Shiqi said: "Meng Fuzi once said that the best way to win the hearts of the people is to know their needs, and what they want is to satisfy them, and what they hate is not imposed on them." That's it. The people submit to virtue as the waters flow low, and the beasts run into the wilderness. Therefore, it is the otter who eats the fish in the deep pond; It was the harrier eagle that ate the birds and finches that drove the finches to the forest; It was Xia Ying and King Yin who killed the common people who drove the people here for King Shang Tang and King Wu of Zhou. Today's saints are benevolent, concerned about the people's suffering, many times tax reductions and exemptions, the people of Jiangnan are concerned about the imperial court, as long as I am the Ming monarch and ministers, I will be able to make the country peaceful and prosperous! “

Zhu Zhanji frowned a few times, nodded and said: "What Yang Aiqing said is extremely true, the people, the water also: Jun, the boat also." Water can carry the boat can also overturn the boat, at present, I Ming, what I want to do is not to conquer Mongolia, not to go to the Western Ocean, not to expand the territory, but to recuperate with the people, restore the national strength of my Ming Dynasty, everything must be done first, the country is people-oriented, people are based on food and clothing, and all food and clothing are based on not losing their pairs. “

Yang Shiqi, Hu Hu, and Xu Mian looked at each other, knelt down one after another, and hugged their fists and said, "Your Highness's name!" “

Zhu Zhanji glanced at the sparkling Grand Canal, retracted his gaze, sighed lightly, and said, "You came in with Lone?" Do you have something to ask you? ”

The three of them answered and followed Zhu Zhanji to the cabin.

The cabin is not big, the tidy is extremely tidy, Zhu Zhanji is not only practicing martial arts, but also has a lot of knowledge of poetry and songs, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, especially painting, landscapes, people, animals, flowers and birds, grass and insects, etc. He often gave his paintings to important ministers, and wrote the date and name of the recipient on them, so in the cabin, in addition to pen, ink, paper and inkstone, there were many calligraphy and paintings.