As the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, the days for Emperor Hongzhi to assess the crown prince Zhu Houzhao are also unconsciously decreasing.

During this time, Shen Xi not only had to sort out the cases that the prince had recently learned, but also make plans for the prince's studies in the next six months, and hand them over to Emperor Hongzhi to read in person...... This is an edict from the palace, Emperor Hongzhi sincerely wants to mobilize the enthusiasm of the speakers of the East Palace, and promote his son to become a talent as soon as possible, so even the syllabus must be intervened and reviewed and ruled in advance.

But in fact, after half a year, the prince didn't know how well he would learn, and even if these syllabuses were formulated, it was estimated that they would not be used. But the king has a command, and the courtiers have to obey.

Shen Xi is now familiar with writing the syllabus, anyway, it is not really according to the above content, as long as you roughly deal with the past and let the emperor know that you are responsible for his son with your heart.

On August 13, the day before the official examination, Xie Qian went to the Zhan Mansion to spread the word, saying that there was a banquet from the emperor in the palace on August 15, and all the officials of the Zhan Mansion were invited.

This is the glory of the Zhan Mansion, especially those small officials in the Zhan Mansion, who may never have the opportunity to see the emperor in their lifetime, but now they can not only enter the palace to face the saints, but also eat palace banquets, drink elixir and jade liquid, and watch the performance of the Maiko of the Teaching Workshop...... When I think about it, I feel that there are no regrets in life.

After Xie Qian finished informing him of the matter, he turned his head and looked around, and finally pointed to Shen Xi, who was struggling to write in a corner of the office, and called Shen Xi, who was a little unhappy, out.

Obviously, this Xie Ge Lao has something to trouble Shen Xi again.

"It's a matter of the Franc Machine's envoys."

Xie Qian got straight to the point and directly explained his intentions, "After the end of the battle in Quanzhou, didn't you ask the Francophone to prepare compensation and tribute?" Now that the people have returned, they are preparing to go to the capital to redeem people......"

Shen Xi spread his hands, as if to say, does this have anything to do with me?

Xie Qian's tone was not good, "Those Francophiles recognized you, saying that you defeated them, and if they want compensation, they will ask you to go and hand over the compensation to you in person...... His Majesty was a little unhappy when he heard about this......"

Shen Xi smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty won't really care about the lower officials because of this, right?" ”

Xie Qian said: "It depends on whether you can do things...... Since it is a request made by the people of Fanbang, Your Majesty's will let you go as they want, but the specific details are still handed over to Fu Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, he is the main envoy to negotiate with the people of Fanbang, don't want to take the lead when you go. ”

"This is an errand given by His Majesty, I have a piece of advice here, don't let my Ming national prestige be damaged, it's best to promote my emperor's holy ...... Otherwise, there is your sin. ”

You don't mind...... Send me to do things, do a good job without reward, and if you do something wrong, you may be asked, what the hell is this?

However, this matter is not to blame Emperor Hongzhi and Xie Qian for giving Shen Xi a problem, who told those Francophone people to have a tendon in their brains, thinking that he caught people, and they should be ransomed from him......

It's an honor!

"When?" Shen Xi asked.

Xie Qian said: "It won't take too long, in a few days, the Franc machine will arrive in the capital, and there will be arrangements at that time!" No matter what, tomorrow's assessment and the banquet the day after tomorrow will not be delayed, you kid...... If you don't do well tomorrow, alas! ”

I swallowed back halfway through the threat, and the errand was getting harder and harder.

Shen Xi thought that Xie Qian had finished talking and was waiting to see Xie Qian leave, but Xie Qian had no intention of leaving...... He tidied up his clothes a little, it looked like he was going to enter the palace for a while, and intentionally or unintentionally showed Shen Xixian his official uniform from the first grade, it turned out that Xie Qian had just added "Prince Taibao", perhaps because Xie Qian had done things very much in line with Emperor Hongzhi's mind recently, so he was given an official and a knight, and now Xie Qian's status among the three cabinet ministers has risen sharply.

"There is another thing, Uliangha sent people to form an alliance with the Ming Dynasty to jointly defend against the Tatars." Xie Qian organized the language before he continued, "You know, the Tatars are too disrespectful to my Ming Dynasty this time, Your Majesty means, you want to teach the Tatars who rebelled well, the last time the Tatar envoy came, you handled it very decently, and this time I still sent you to meet the envoy of the Uliangha......"

Uliangha is the name of the Ming Dynasty for the eastern region of Mongolia, also known as Duoyan Sanwei, Uliangha people, in fact, are the eastern Mongolian tribesmen.

After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols were divided into three tribes, among which those who lived in the area of the West Liao River and the Laoha River were the Uliangha tribe, those who lived in the area of the Onen River, the Krulun River and the area south of Lake Baikal were the Tatar tribe, and those who lived in the Kobdo River, the Irtysh River basin and the Junggar basin were the Warat tribe.

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, in order to stabilize the domestic situation as soon as possible and consolidate his rule, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, adopted a policy of appeasement to the Mongols, "those who are talented, they are used as one". Soon, the former Yuan Liao King, Huining King, and Duoyan Marshal Mansion of the Wuliang Ha Department successively requested to be attached, and Ming Taizu set up the Daning Prefecture Zhuwei in his place, and set up the Taining, Duoyan, and Fuyu three guards to command the embassy in the location of the Wuliang Ha Department.

Subsequently, the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the Wuliang Habu was good and bad, and when it was good, the Ming court paid tribute endlessly, and the leaders of each tribe held the military positions appointed by the Ming court, and gave seals, crowns and belts, platinum, banknotes, and clothing. When it was bad, it harassed the northeastern border of the Ming Dynasty and plundered it.

In the early years of Hongzhi, the Wuliang Habu often plundered Gubei, Kaiyuan, Guangning and Ningyuan, and repelled the generals of the Ming court. Around the tenth year of Hongzhi, with the rise of the Tatar Chahar tribe, the Uliangha tribe was constantly invaded by the army led by Dayan Khan, and the leaders of the three guards could only ask for help from the Ming court in the south.

In the past, the Ming Dynasty had a close relationship with the Tatars, mainly to guard against the invasion of the powerful Warats, and the Ming court needed to huddle with the Tatars for warmth. But with the rise of the Tatar Dayan Khan, after the fire sieve led the troops and horses to invade Beiguan, the honeymoon period between the Ming Dynasty and the Tatars officially ended, and the Ming Dynasty needed to find allies in the steppe again.

Shen Xi hesitated a little: "Elder Xie Ge seems to have forgotten that Xia Guan doesn't understand the language on the grassland. ”

Xie Qian frowned and said, "If you don't understand, someone will naturally translate on your behalf, so you just have to answer this errand...... Hey, you don't know how to take advantage of the opportunity to perform, so you haven't thought about what you should do if the prince fails the assessment tomorrow, and Your Majesty removes your East Palace speaker? Young people, plan for the future! ”

Shen Xi really wanted to say that his plan for the future was to find a good way out for himself first?

If that's the case, I have a lot of ways to retreat, the head of the household book asked me to go to the household department to run an errand, the country of the priest wine wants me to go to the country to teach, you always like to let me go to the reception of envoys, but also always arrange errands for me, even the repair of the "Ming Huidian" also has my share.

But no matter what, diplomacy is no trivial matter, and it is an honorable thing to participate in welcoming the envoys, not to mention that this is still arranged by Xie Ge Lao himself, so he should take two more steps, and he has to accept it.

Shen Xi saluted and took the order, thinking, you should always leave now, right?

Unexpectedly, Xie Qian still had no intention of leaving.

Xie Qian stretched his arms, moved his muscles and bones, and suddenly sighed: "The old man's body is really worse than day by day, even if he rode a horse and galloped wildly, it was no problem before, but now, he can't even get on horseback." ”

Shen Xi was dumbfounded...... What do you mean by this, do you want me to pinch your shoulders and beat your legs?

I only heard Xie Qian say: "Your Majesty governs the country with literature, but after a long time, it will appear that the culture is prosperous and the military is declining, and Your Majesty is going to hold a hunt after the Mid-Autumn Festival, huh...... It is true that you are a civil minister, but Your Majesty's idea is that if Wenchen can govern the country and martial arts can level the world, then it is the best......"

When Shen Xi heard this, he already vaguely felt that something was wrong.

“…… As for this hunt, both the Franc and the Uliangha envoys will be present, and it is your duty to go with you, as the envoy to greet you, and if you are allowed to ...... when the time comes."

Shen Xi hurriedly said, "What does Elder Xie Ge mean...... Don't you want me to learn to ride a horse, draw a bow and shoot arrows, and raise the prestige of the Ming Dynasty? ”

Xie Qian looked Shen Xi up and down, and shook his head disdainfully: "Look at your small body, what kind of ability do you have?" ”

Shen Xi almost blurted out, of course I don't have that ability, you don't even think about it!

Xie Qian waved his hand slightly: "You kid will divert the topic, I mean...... Since you are going with you as an envoy, you can't still be helpless, but at least you must be in good health, so that you won't be ridiculed by the Franc Ji and the Uliangha people......"

Shen Xi understood what was going on.

The Tatar prisoners were too touched by Emperor Hongzhi, so that Zhu Youzhu began to reflect on whether there was a problem with his governance.

Speaking of which, Emperor Hongzhi's policy of governing the country is nothing more than benevolent government and civil governance, and his attitude towards the surrounding countries is to try to win over them, even if there are small conflicts, they will tolerate it, and try to keep the country stable.

At present, Emperor Hongzhi felt that the Ming Dynasty was so cowardly, and the Warat and Tatar simply regarded the border pass as their pasture, and they wanted to come and go as they wanted, so they wanted to show the military might of the Ming Dynasty in front of foreign envoys.

But it is more skilled than the bow horse, and it is obviously not comparable to the Uliangha people who grew up on the back of other people's horses, but if it is compared to firearms, it is not enough to look at in front of the Franco.

Is it better than whomever to find tens of thousands of soldiers to be lined up in the paddock, relying on the strength of the crowd to deter the four yi?

But the problem is that Emperor Hongzhi held a hunt, he himself is a sick seedling, and then find a group of old and weak ministers similar to the sick seedling to sing praises on the side, it is difficult for Fanbang people not to laugh shamefully.

Or the Uliangha people look at it, this Ming Dynasty is useless except for the strong city, since the Tatars can rob it, let's also rob it. When the Franc saw it, he would also hurry back to send more ships and troops...... The country is very weak, but it is very rich, and it is very good to come here to grab a lot of oil and water.

Shen Xi asked: "How can I be considered to be fit and healthy, so as not to be ridiculed?" ”

Xie Qian said angrily: "You kid pondered it yourself, do you have to make it clear?" Also, the Franc cannon that you brought back from someone was seen by the people of the Ministry of Industry and thought that there was no merit in the slightest, and the Ministry of Industry meant to destroy the cannon. ”

Shen Xi is very aware of the power of the Franc cannon, in the bombardment of the city gate and the city wall, or not as good as the Ming Dynasty's self-cast earth cannon that emits solid bullets, but if it is said to be practical on the battlefield, the advantage of the Franc cannon is not a little bit.

It's a pity that the people in the Ministry of Engineering didn't see the power of the Franc cannon with their own eyes, and they still stayed in the misunderstanding of what kind of large-caliber bird gun it was, and they didn't even notice that the baby was in their hands, and they actually wanted to destroy it?

Or did the people in the Ministry of Industry not want to admit that the weapons of the foreign feudal clans were more advanced than those of the Ming Dynasty, and they were worried that they would be blamed by the emperor, so they had to destroy the evidence of the crime quickly?

Shen Xi said: "Xiaguan has seen the power of the Franc machine cannon with his own eyes in Quanzhou, please think twice about this matter." If the Franco-man's artillery is not desirable, why should the Franco-aircraft fleet be occupied by it, large and small, wherever the Franco-aircraft fleet passes? ”

Xie Qian replied disdainfully: "Let me pass the Ming warship, and I can still make those big and small countries perish." But the mountains and rivers are far away, and it is not advisable! ”

Shen Xi said in his heart, the ships of the Ming Dynasty were able to destroy people in the past, but it was completely won by the tactics of the sea of people, not by the strong combat effectiveness of the army at all. Throughout the Age of Discovery, how many Portuguese and Spaniards were there in total? There are only a few hundred people in each fleet sent out, but people can fight invincible opponents all over the world, go all the way to rob and destroy all the way, and you are a child's toy when other people's firearms are children's toys?

Shen Xi said: "The Wuliangha people have never seen the artillery of the Franc machine, maybe it can open their eyes." ”

Xie Qian's eyes showed a slight glint...... When he was old and refined, Shen Xi pulled it a little, and he immediately understood the deep meaning, that is, to promote his strengths and avoid his weaknesses.

The Mongols didn't have artillery, so let them see the power of artillery, and the Francophile was good at maneuvering boats but didn't have many cavalry, so they could see the spectacular scene of thousands of horses running wild in the Ming Dynasty.

Xie Qian pointed at Shen Xi and said with a smile: "You kid has a good idea, but what you want to show to the Wuliangha people is not the artillery of the Franco, but the artillery of my Ming Dynasty, so that we can raise the prestige of our country!" ”

Shen Xi thought to himself, what if your kind of artillery that sends a big iron ball out to smash people, even if it hits accurately?

The prairie people won't build a city for you to bomb!

When the Uliangha people saw it, they just thought, what kind of stupid thing is this? Well, if you turn around, you can grab a few cannons and come back and bombard the pass of Beiguan, so it will be convenient and more efficient to plunder the Central Plains! (To be continued.) )