Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, European merchants were in great demand for oriental silk, porcelain, medicinal herbs and other goods, but due to the blockage of the Ottoman Empire, the trade between the two sides was very limited, which forced Magellan, Columbus and other navigators to find new routes. In addition, the traffic situation in the hinterland of the Central Plains is not ideal, although Zhu Youxiao vigorously promotes cash-for-work in the territory, if he wants to completely change the situation, it will take at least 50 years, and at the same time, he must have sufficient funds, and it is difficult to maintain this plan with his private money of 50 million taels alone.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty also had a fatal shortcoming, that is, it attached importance to land power and could not fully expand the sea frontier, and the naval strategy was defensive, so since the seven voyages to the West during the Yongle period, it has been harassed by the Japanese invaders. At this time, the Japanese and Southeast Asia were also entrenched in old colonial powers such as Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands, as well as upstarts such as England and France, who were eager to get a piece of the overseas trade, and even the power of the Ottoman Empire had already touched the Malayan Peninsula and the Indonesian archipelago.

With Zhu Youxiao's resumption of foreign trade, it will inevitably attract the covetousness of this group of robbers, and thinking of this, he can't help but ask worriedly:

"Is the sea route going well or not?"

As soon as the topic of the route was mentioned, Wei Chao was shocked, and his eyebrows fluttered and he replied:

"It was much smoother than before, thanks to several fierce battles between the two governors of Fujian, Shang Zhou Zuo and Nan Juyi. The old slave heard that they had repelled Westerners and pirates many times, which made the Ming Dynasty calm and calm. ”

To say that Nanju Yi was able to repel the Portuguese and Dutch, the Wei Dynasty also had a credit. This kid is well aware of the importance of smooth shipping to trade, and has repeatedly asked for funds from the Weaving Bureau to expand the navy and build new warships, and has a certain sense of the overall situation. Although Zhu Youxiao was lukewarm to him, he secretly supported this suggestion. The Wei Dynasty also knew this, who let him seduce the Hakka family without knowing how to do it!

Seeing that the little emperor and the Wei Dynasty were chatting happily, everyone couldn't help but feel a little jealous and jealous. Zhu Youxiao knew what Wang An and Wei Zhongxian were thinking, and first said to Wang An:

"The person you promoted is still quite capable, and it doesn't hurt him in vain."

Wang An heard that he was very useful in his heart, and hurriedly excused himself and said that the emperor was wise and knowledgeable. Zuo Zhan didn't intend to be polite with him, and turned to Wei Zhongxian and said:

"In addition to worshipping ancestors and checking the tax situation in Jiangnan, I also want to abolish the idle yamen in Nanjing, and this matter will be handed over to Zhongxian. If those eunuchs and palace maids are willing to go home, they will pay more settling-in expenses, and those who want to stay will be sent to Jingshi, and the rest will be assigned to Sizhou and Fengyang to guard the ancestral tombs. If there are slaves who commit adultery and oppress the people, they will all be escorted to serve in the Nanhai Zijing Army. ”

Although the Ming Dynasty implemented the Shuangjing system, Nanjing had long become a nursing home, and the personnel of the six departments had no real power. Now that they can receive a large pension, there is nothing to complain about, coupled with Wei Zhongxian's ruthless methods, it is the best policy to roll up and leave. As for those palace people who were sent to Jingshi, they were all handed over to Cao Huachun and Fang Zhenghua, and in addition to being assigned to the repeatedly expanded Internal Affairs Office, a large number of people were also placed in Dongchang to balance Wei Zhongxian's forces.

After arranging these tasks, it is time for the protagonists of this southern tour to appear, and the royal families from all over the country gathered in Xiaoling and held a grand memorial ceremony under the leadership of Zhu Youxiao. The role of Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming generation is huge, he not only created the Ming Company from scratch, but also created a lot of good systems. Except for Zhu Di, the other monarchs of the successor mostly read from the book and did not break through his height.

Of course, the best thing about Zhu Yuanzhang is that he left millions of descendants, if he doesn't know whether to be happy or worried, Daming Company is about to let these people collapse! After the etiquette, Zhu Youxiao feasted the vassal kings of various places in the palace, and raised his glass with water instead of wine and said:

"The ancestors have the spirit of the sky, you should be grateful, think back to the time when Emperor Taizu fought the world, and cherish the current glory."

After hearing this, everyone echoed in unison, and Zhu Cunshu, the king of Qin, who was the order of the sect, stood up and saluted and said:

"The saint is the lineage of Taizu and Chengzu, and since he ascended the throne, he has personally conquered Liaodong, pacified the southwest, and recovered the sea frontier, which is quite their majesty back then!"

Although there was criticism in the Ming Dynasty, hundreds of years have passed, and everyone agrees that King Yan is orthodox, so King Qin's words are also sincere, Zhu Youxiao quickly said when he heard this:

"King Qin has praised it, I can make some achievements, and it is all thanks to the help of all the clansmen! When you conquered Liaodong, you donated tens of thousands of taels of silver, and the king of Shu scattered all his wealth in order to pacify the rebellion of luxury in the southwest! ”

Zhu Youxiao's words were hidden in the needle, in order to raise military salaries, he had opened his mouth to this group of vassal kings, but the result was very unsatisfactory, the twenty-seven families made up a total of 30,000 taels of silver, and the angry Zhu Youxiao transferred it to Ye Xianggao for sacrifice. Later, Hao Chongming besieged Chengdu, and Zhu Zhishu, the king of Shu, took out more than 600,000 taels of silver to organize the people to defend the city. Although Zhu Youxiao praised the righteous deeds of the King of Shu in public many times, the discerning people have long known that this is an attempt to capture the old people. Now that he heard the little emperor mention this matter again, Zhu Zhishu hurriedly excused himself and said:

"The saint said seriously, when he pacified the rebellion of Hao'an, I heard that Qi Qianhu's tiger Ben Jian'er had repeatedly performed miraculous feats in the southwest, which were all saints who knew people and were good at their duties, and turned stones into gold, and this king was just a trapped beast and did not dare to insult the reputation of his ancestors. However, the Tusi of southern Yunnan, who participated in the suppression of the rebellion, showed signs of cutting off the strong, and the saint should have made a plan as soon as possible. Once they have bad intentions, the imperial crusade will be even more difficult. ”

Zhu Youxiao thought that Zhu Zhishu was worthy of being the prince of the rich side, and he could see the hidden dangers of Yunnan, and based on this alone, he could conclude that his vision was higher than that of other vassal kings, but his performance after Zhang Xianzhong entered Sichuan really made Zhu Youxiao feel disgusted, and he never had a good impression of him.

Of course, the problem of southern Yunnan, Zhu Youxiao had already begun to act, first put Sha Dingzhou and other Tusi under house arrest in the capital in disguise, and then let the governor of Yunnan directly take over the size of the Mu Mansion, and took the four-year-old Mu Tianbo to the Forbidden City for key training.

Naturally, there is no need to talk nonsense about these things with this group of princes who are content with pleasure, and in view of this, he said in passing:

"The king of Shu is extremely worried, the people in the southwest are unstable at the moment, and the progress of the new policy is slow, and I am worried about this. However, the Dzungar Khanate in the Western Regions was eyeing the Mongolian steppe, and a major war was inevitable. In this way, the stability of the southwest is particularly important, and the king of Shu is willing to guard the border? ”

Zhu Zhishu knew that he was burned, there were many ethnic minorities in the southwest, and the people were fierce, and Zhu Kuiyuan, Wang Sanshan, Yuan Chonghuan and others had already suffered a lot. On the contrary, he has endless voices and horses and honors and wealth in Chengdu, so why bother to go to this troubled water, and hurriedly replied:

"Thanks to the love of the Holy Lord, this king deserves to die. But I'm a wasted person who dances and writes, and I'm used to living a life of fine clothes and fine food, so I really can't take on this heavy responsibility, so I ask the Holy Lord to choose another meritorious. ”

Zhu Youxiao thought that this old fox reacted quite quickly, and seeing that he was about to get into the trap and let him escape, he couldn't help but smile slyly, and said slowly:

"The King of Shu is humble and low-key, and I admire him very much. You are the first to defend Chengdu, and you should be given material rewards, but the imperial court has not implemented it, do you princes know why? ”

This is another set, everyone has already learned his old spiciness, and he doesn't answer whether he lives or dies. One by one, they pretended to be deep in thought, staring at him with a questioning look on their faces. Zhu Youxiao thought to himself, don't pretend to be deep with me, no one will want to leave without some blood today, and after making up his mind, he continued:

"When Yu Chongming rebelled in Chongqing, there were only 20,000 soldiers and horses, but when he arrived in Chengdu, it had expanded to more than 70,000. The princes may wish to imagine that if the king of Shu does not organize the people to resist in time, what will the thieves do to him after the city is broken? The same question, if the Jingshi falls, what will be the situation between me and you? ”

The answer to this question is well known, after the Tumubao Change, Yingzong became a prisoner, and Yexian's cavalry besieged Beijing for several months, if it wasn't for Yu Qian's efforts to turn the tide, it is estimated that the Ming Dynasty would have perished. After the defeat of Salhu in the forty-sixth year of Wanli, Jianyu swept through Liaodong, and the soldiers and civilians in the north were terrified, and the vassal kings everywhere were also in danger.

Of course, this question should not be answered by the princes, because they have long lost their political rights after the Jingjing, and they have never mentioned the situation in the court. Seeing that everyone bowed their heads and remained silent, the hall fell into a terrible loneliness, and they could only choose to bury their heads in the soil like ostriches in the face of possible dangers. This is not so much self-deception as it is the sequelae of the martyrdom.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao put down his wine glass, and shook his hands back and forth in the hall, like the invigilator teacher was about to catch the cheating students at any time, and as long as there was a stir, he would immediately rush forward. But they suddenly became extremely well-behaved, and would rather hand in blank papers than talk to each other, and it seemed that they were determined to play delaying tactics.

Fortunately, Zhu Youxiao had long adapted to the situation of the Donglin Party's collective silence to blackmail himself, and he was free to use the technique of Lianheng, so he summoned Zhu Naijun, the acting king of Datong, in advance. The fief of this prince is not very good, not only does not have the scenery and prosperity of the south of the Yangtze River, but is located in the northwest border, and has been harassed by the Tumut Department for a long time, and the situation is even more severe after the Khalkha Department moved south to the Hetao area.

As the saying goes, one side of the water and soil nurtures one side of the people, because of the long-term state of preparation, the people of the Xuanda Defense Area are quite strong, and it has always been an important source of soldiers for the imperial court. Affected by this, Zhu Naijun also has the style of the tiger and wolf of the Qin soldiers, and is one of the few main battle factions among the vassal kings.

Seeing that everyone looked like a dead pig was not afraid of boiling water, Zhu Youxiao clapped his hands, this is the code of the two. Zhu Naijun hesitated for a moment, pretended to be embarrassed, got up and said:

"It is the gospel of the Ming Dynasty that the Holy One can have a sense of crisis, and this king believes that there will be no more soldiers coming to the city on that day. There is a saying that 'under the nest, there are no eggs'. If it is really like the fall of Jingshi as the Holy Lord said, this king will resist to the death in Datong and will never do anything that damages the majesty of Taizu. ”

Zhu Youxiao heard that Zhu Naijun, who was in his seventies, had such a bloody nature, and his heart was in awe. At the beginning, Nurha's red soldiers pointed directly at Liaoshen, and his son Zhu Dingwei took the initiative to ask to go out to fight, which can be described as a tiger father without a dog. Thinking of this, his emotions began to rise, and he said excitedly:

"The words of the acting king are very profound, and there are no eggs under the nest! Previously, I was strong and persistent in Liaodong, and the princes donated money and food in the rear, and I was deeply grateful. In the final analysis, we all belong to the same line of Taizu, and blood is thicker than water at a critical time! ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone seemed to have been slapped, and they were secretly glad that this little emperor could take care of the blood relationship, which showed that he would not be unable to get along with everyone for the 30,000 taels of donations. In fact, these vassal kings are beautiful on the surface, but secretly they are full of bitter tears, due to the long-term suppression of the imperial power, the phoenix that has already landed is not as good as a chicken.