Fang Mingqian came out from the place where He Rong and the others were sent to receive the order, and muttered as he walked: "Why do you have a will for me now?" I'm still thinking about having a few words with Tang Mizeng. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info Xinguo Gong (Tang He) is my benevolent father, and his descendants can't ignore it. ”

After a short time, Fang Mingqian came to the place where the person who came to deliver the message was.

Then Fang Mingqian saw the person who passed the decree and immediately greeted him with a smile on his face, which made Li Ding, who graduated from the lecture hall for the first time and graduated from the martial arts hall for the first time, very at a loss.

However, Li Dinghao's family is from a thousand households, and he has been in the officialdom for more than two years (graduated in the twenty-ninth year of Hongwu), and he was not lost in Fang Mingqian's words, and after being at a loss for a while, he said: "Fang Tongzhi, let's take the order first." ”

After that, the incense case was set up to receive the order. Li Ding opened the holy decree and said: "Fengtian carries the emperor's edict and orders the capital of Zhejiang to command the same knowledge Fang Mingqian to enter the palace immediately after receiving the decree. ”

After receiving the will, Fang Mingqian wanted to know the intention of Yun Xi's will with Li Dingtao, but how could Li Ding give him another chance? successfully retired, and waited for tomorrow to set off with Fang Mingqian to return to Beijing.

Fang Mingqian couldn't think about it. And several of his brothers are all officials in the capital, only he is in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so there is no one who can discuss things, and he can only report to the commander of the capital and go to the capital the next day.

When he arrived in the capital, Li Ding entered the palace to reply to the decree, and Fang Mingqian thought that he would not see Yunxi for a while, so he came to his own cousin's house.

The three brothers of the Fang family, Fang Li, Fang Guan, and Fang Xing. Today is not the rest day stipulated by Yunxi, so Fang Li and Fang Guan, the two officials, are not at home now, only the old Sanfang Xing has not been an official since Song Lian was almost killed by Zhu Yuanzhang because he used to study with Song Lian back then, so he is at home.

Fang Mingqian saw his cousin, because he was from his own family, so he didn't engage in mystical things, and asked directly: "Third brother, the day before yesterday, His Majesty asked me to enter the capital to face the saint, you have a rumor in the capital, what are you letting me into the palace for?" ”

Although Fang Xing is not an official, the eldest brother and the second brother are both officials, and they also know about this matter. But Fang Xing shook his head in the face of Fang Mingqian's question and said, "Big brother, I don't know what it is for, this will Big Brother also wondered for a long time after seeing it. ”

Fang Mingqian didn't get the news from Fang Xing and was a little frustrated. But he immediately cheered up again, and wanted to ask what was going on in the capital these days, and see if he could guess anything.

But at this moment, the gatekeeper at the gate spread the word: someone announced that he was now entering the palace to see the driver.

Fang Mingqian and Fang Xing were stunned for a moment, both surprised that Yun Xi actually summoned Fang Mingqian immediately.

'What the hell is going on?' Your Majesty is in such a hurry? Fang Mingqian thought to himself.

But Fang Mingqian didn't dare to delay, because their Fang family had a special background, they had always been in a relatively isolated state among the generals. Yun Xi moved the other noble families to think twice, but the moving family didn't have to think too much.

Therefore, the Fang family has always dared not delay the emperor's orders, and after Fang Mingqian changed his clothes, he immediately followed the messenger into the palace together.

Fang Mingqian followed into the palace and waited in a side hall of the Qianqing Palace. While waiting, he heard in a trance: 'Why is the envoy of Korea coming again?' Although His Majesty Taizu was still there, although the Korean State was allowed to pay two tributes a year, but in the past, the Korean State used to make a trip before and after the Chinese New Year, and a trip between the Dragon Boat Festival and Chongyang, how could there be a matter of sending people again after just over two months? ’

Another said, "Who knows? Who knows what this Korean monarch thinks. ”

Although Fang Mingqian heard it, he felt that it had nothing to do with him, and he didn't care about North Korea, so he heard it.

After a while, a little eunuch walked in and said to him, "Lord Fang, Your Majesty has summoned you, follow me." ”

Fang Mingqian smiled: "Yes." Then he quietly took out two taels of gold and said to the little eunuch: "The first time we meet, it is not a respect." Later, if there is anything wrong with me, please ask my father-in-law to help me. ”

Who knew that the eunuch immediately retracted his hand and said, "Lord Fang, what are you doing here!" Get it back! Get it back! ”

This little eunuch is Huang Fu. After the eunuchs around Yun Xi were swept away, he was promoted and became the more important eunuch around Yun Xi.

Huang Fu thought to himself: 'Don't you know that less than ten days have passed since the anti-corruption in the palace? Even Wang Gong has been driven out of the palace, if I collect the money and be discovered, I am afraid that I will die, you are sincerely framing me! Could it be that someone is deliberately calculating me when he sees that I am favored? Huang Fu, who had always thought about it a lot, immediately conspired.

Fang Mingqian really didn't know about the corruption case in the Inner Palace. He is an official from another place, and such a thing is not reported to the palace, how can he know so quickly? I didn't even have a phone in those days. Fang Xing and the others knew, but they didn't dare to tell him about it in the letter.

Fang Mingqian tried a few more times, and when he saw that Huang Fu really didn't accept it, he could only put it away, and then followed Huang Fu to meet Yun Xi.

After a while, Fang Mingqian came to the palace where Yun Xi was, glanced at it slightly, and saw that the person sitting in the seat was wearing the emperor's clothes, and then immediately knelt down and saluted.

Yun Xi looked at Fang Mingqian in front of him, and in addition to Fang Mingqian's resume, came to mind.

To talk about Fang Mingqian, you must first mention Fang Guozhen. Fang Guozhen, one of the big smuggling salt dealers at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, is still a companion with Zhang Shicheng. Later, he went to sea to become a pirate, nominally defected to Meng Yuan several times, and betrayed several times. Later, he rebelled against Zhu Yuanzhang, and finally probably felt that it was inevitable for the Ming Dynasty to take the world, so he surrendered again. Zhu Yuanzhang did not kill Fang Guozhen, and let him die a good death, and several sons also got hereditary official positions.

Fang Mingqian is Fang Guozhen's nephew, and he was originally in the capital. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Tang He to pacify the Japanese Kou, and Tang He took Fang Mingqian with him, and then successfully made the 'Japanese Kou' basically gone. Fang Mingqian also stayed in Zheqian as an official.

So yes, the commander selected by Yun Xi to explore the north is Fang Mingqian.

There are two reasons for choosing Fang Mingqian: first, Fang Mingqian has been fighting on the water for a long time and has rich experience, although he is a little worse than Zhang Xiaodong, but he is also an extremely good water general, and his prestige is still high.

Second, it is the special identity of the Fang family, which makes it difficult for his generals to be of the same heart with him, so he is not easy to betray. Now Yunxi has to consider the issue of betrayal when considering the problem.

Yun Xi observed Fang Mingqian for a while, and then said, "I heard that you once followed your uncle to float on the sea and have been to many places?" ”

Fang Mingqian didn't know what Yun Xi meant by asking, and said cautiously: "When Chen was young, he did follow his uncle to sail on the sea and went to some places. ”

Yun Xi continued to ask, "Where have you been?" ”

Fang Mingqian estimated for a moment, and felt that Yun Xi was still young, so he was curious about things in other places, so he talked about other things before talking about serious things, so he said: "Your Majesty, the minister followed his uncle to sail on the sea back then, but he has been to many places. Then he talked about the places he had been to and the local customs.

When Yun Xi heard this, he found that Fang Mingqian had been to a lot of places, such as Siam, Manraka, and Three Buddhas. Back then, Fang Guozhen was also a person who loved the world and ran around.

Then Yoon-hee heard what he wanted to hear. I only heard Fang Mingqian say: "The minister also followed my uncle to the eleventh district. The people of the 11th district are very normal, but the nobles there are called the princess's family, and they are all dressed in strange clothes, which is really unaccustomed to it. ”

"Oh," Yun Xi said at this time, "You have also been to District 11?" Have you ever been further north? ”

Fang Mingqian replied: "Your Majesty, Chen's uncle once wanted to go to the Far North to have a look, and wanted to know what the Far North Land had. So I once sailed from Zhoushan in the summer and headed north after being resupplied on Tsushima Island. ”

Yun Xi asked at this time, "Then what did you see?" Yun Xi was curious about where they had been back then, could it have been the North Pole?

Fang Mingqian said: "We went straight to the north, and after a few days, we saw a piece of land in the west. After that, I traveled north along the land and saw the mouth of a large river. ”

"The estuary of this big river is very wide, although it is not as wide as the Yangtze River, but it is about the same width as the Pearl River and the Dongjiang River, and far wider than the Yellow River, Huai River, Liao River and other rivers."

"And then soon to the north, the land to the west was gone. After that, I continued northward, and I can't remember how long it was, but I came across another piece of land, and it crossed from east to west. ”

"My uncle once went to Hangzhou and found a book on navigation from a home of 10,000 Mongolian households. So at this time, my uncle measured the latitude there, and by comparing the records of the Mongols, he found that the same latitude in the west was also part of the Mongolian steppe, so he concluded that there was no sea route in the west, and wanted to try it east. ”

"But that place is already very cold, and the crew has rumors that if they really reach the far north, they will quickly freeze into ice mounds, and they will stay in the north forever."

"So the crew didn't want to move on. My uncle had no choice but to return. ”

Yun Xi listened to Fang Mingqian's words, and thought in his heart: "The land to the west that I see should be the place where Nu'er Gandusi is, and the big river should be Heilongjiang." As for continuing north, it was into the Sea of Okhotsk. As for the last land encountered, it should be the area around Magadan Oblast in later Russia. ’

It turns out that there are people in the East who are used for exploration. I'll just say, the Orientals are not resettled, but also have warriors. ’

As for the rumors of the crew, haha, it turns out that the East and the West are the same. Around the same time as the Western Portuguese Prince Philip organized a fleet to go south along the west coast of Africa, the crew also rumored that after passing the Horn of West Africa and further south, they would instantly become black and never come back. ’

Yun Xi was very happy that there were such people in the East who had the courage to explore, and almost laughed out loud. Then immediately converge.

Yun Xi felt that his luck was too good, and he chose a commander to explore north, and this person happened to have been to the Sea of Okhotsk, which was really God for me.

Yun Xi couldn't help laughing and said, "Fang Aiqing has been to a lot of places. And I've been to such a northern place, it's really rare. ”

Fang Mingqian said: "Your Majesty has won the award. ”

Yun Xi immediately changed his tone and said, "It just so happens that I have an idea, which is to send a fleet to explore the north to see what is on the sea at the same latitude as the Mongolian steppe, and also to explore the sea near the eleventh district. ”

"Originally, I was still hesitating about who to command. But I heard that Fang Aiqing had been there just now, so let's take Fang Aiqing as the commander. ”

Fang Mingqian listened to Yun Xi's words, and couldn't wait to slap himself in the mouth, he was really cheap! He didn't want to go, let go of his wife and concubine to do this coolie.

But now that His Majesty has already named him, Fang Mingqian doesn't want to know the consequences of refusal at all. So he bowed down and said, "Your ministers obey the holy commandments." ”

Although Fang Mingqian concealed it well, Yun Xi still guessed that he was probably unwilling. So Yun Xi said: "Although this mission is not a war, the cold in the north is no less threatening to the soldiers than pirates at sea. ”

"And the sea area of the sea is also the territory of the Ming Dynasty, countless sea people feed on the sea, and its value to the sea people is not inferior to the value of the forest on land to the mountain people."

"Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian as an envoy to the Western Regions, and later crowned the Marquis of Bowang. You have to explore well, and I will not spare a marquis! ”

Fang Mingqian was immediately shocked. Daming's title is very precious, even if it is not hereditary, it is rare, Yun Xi actually promised a marquis? It's not going to be fooling me.

But Fang Mingqian recalled that Yun Xi didn't seem to have anything back in the past few years, and of course it was possible that he didn't know. However, Yunxi's reputation is not bad.

Fang Mingqian decided to choose to think that Yun Xi's words were the truth. Anyway, you don't have a choice, and it's better to have hope than no hope.

Therefore, Fang Mingqian said happily: "Thank you, Lord Longen." ”

Yun Xi was also in a good mood, so he said with a smile: "Fang Aiqing is exempt." ”

Yun Xi then said, "Then you can go back and prepare immediately." It's already the end of March, and summer isn't far off. It's still warmer in the summer, so set off to explore as soon as possible. ”

Of course, Fang Mingqian also knew this truth, so he agreed: "Yes, Your Majesty." ”

Yun Xi thought about it again and said, "Since it's just a way to explore, you don't need too many people, just send two thousand ships from the guards in Zhejiang to explore the north." ”

Fang Mingqian continued to reply, "Yes, Your Majesty. ”

However, although the ship of two thousand households is nothing to the Ming Dynasty, at this time in the east of Manraka, the ship of two thousand households is also a big force, and ordinary countries can't beat it, and the shipbuilding technology is too far behind.

Yun Xi confessed again: "Every inch of the sea must be explored, and everything must be recorded." The focus is on the sea area to the east of District 11, try it along the north. Yun Xi remembered that he could go all the way from Hokkaido along the Kuril Islands to the Kamchatka Peninsula, so he specially instructed him.

After that, Yun Xi confessed a few more words, and then asked Fang Mingqian to retreat.