In February of the fourth year of Wude (1413 AD), Zhu Gaoxu was happy to have a son and a daughter. Concubine Shu gave birth to a prince and was named Zhantan; Concubine Xian gave birth to a princess, and her name was longevity.

Soon after, Zhang Fu was also taken prisoner to Beijing.

Originally, the people and horses from the south, if they took the Zhengyang Gate, they could reach the imperial city as soon as possible. However, the imperial court arranged a route for Zhang Fu along Fengtaimen, Jubaomen, and Hongwumen Avenue, because Jubaomen was the commercial area of Jingshi, which was the most densely populated place, and it was just right to show the court's martial arts to the common people along the way.

The military department and the governor's office of the five armies each sent a civilian official and a noble to greet them, and the infantry and cavalry sent by the Beijing camp responded to it, and arranged a grand pomp and circumstance for Zhang Fu.

Each city gate specially sounded drums for the prisoners and horses, and the big drum of "dong dong ......" sounded, and the sound resounded throughout the southern city of Beijing. Zhang Fu wore heavy armor and rode a war horse all the way, and the officials and people along the road, regardless of their official positions, avoided the road and saluted him. Countless onlookers along the way were cheering, like a festival.

Behind Zhang Fu was a long line of prisoner vans, and the rebel leaders below Li Li were all paraded along the street in the procession. The prisoner was not in the current position on the journey of thousands of miles, otherwise he would have been tortured to death. They were made like this when they were about to enter the city, their heads sticking out of the hole in the top of the prisoner's cart, and they could only stand in the cart and their bodies could not move.

In the noisy crowd on both sides, many people yelled at the passing prisoners, shouted all kinds of foul language, and some threw rotten vegetable leaves, thin mud, all kinds of stinky eggs and other things.

As for the fact that the Annam rebels have never influenced the people of Jingshi, and they are people they don't know, these things don't matter. After all, the person in the prisoner car must be a bad person. And there are always all kinds of grievances in the world, and at this time they openly vent their anger at the rebel captives, without bearing any legal and moral responsibilities at all.

Just over four years after Zhu Gaoxu ascended the throne, this is now the third time that a ceremony has been held to present prisoners. Ceremonies were very useful for him to secure the throne and increase his authority, although this was not the purpose of the war. The civilian officials did not advocate the use of military force, but they were very supportive of the sacrifice of prisoners, and there was always some contradiction among the people.

For Li Li and the others, Zhu Gaoxu had no intention of judging them by right and wrong, but only determined that they were enemies and opponents. Therefore, after the prisoners were sacrificed, they were all beheaded.

At the celebration banquet, Zhang Fu and others received many rewards, including brocade robes, jade belts, saddles, treasure sheaths, and newly minted silver coins from the mint. Then the emperor issued another decree to send people to Annan to reward Li Bin, the Marquis of Fengcheng, and reward him with property; He was promoted to Ma Kang, who captured Li Li alive, and was the commander of Beijiangwei, and rewarded Ma Kang and his subordinates with 1 million new money.

The next morning, after the imperial gate listened to the government, Zhang Fu was summoned to the Rouyi Hall for an audience.

Yesterday's ceremonial music and people's noisy congratulatory words have stopped, and the inside and outside of the Rouyi Hall are very quiet. Zhang Fu also calmed down, and in addition to the noise, he began to think about the details of this major event.

Eradicate Li Li, and you will surely win the favor of the saints. However, there is a less than perfect thing in this matter, that is, the king of Annam, Chen Zhengyuan, was used as a bait; Chen Zhengyuan was very important to the imperial court, and Zhang Fu used him to set up an ambush, obviously the means were not very good-looking.

When Zhang Fu kowtowed at the door, he saw that Qi Tai, the secretary of the military department, was also inside. Waiting for Zhang Fu to enter the hall and kowtow again, Qi Tai hurriedly stood up and avoided it, for fear that Zhang Fu would kneel with him.

Zhu Gaoxu beckoned: "It's okay, come and sit down and talk." ”

Zhang Fu said: "Thank you for the sitting." ”

When he got up from the ground, he saw that the paper in front of Zhu Gaoxu was a little wrinkled, and it seemed to be the confession of Li Li and others.

Zhang Fu then spoke: "Holy Mingjian, that thief leader Li Li has a lot of prestige in Annan, and he is very cunning, and he has been guarding for two years, but he has no chance. After the ministers got the news of Nguyen Jingyi, they were afraid that Le Li would find out, so they kept it secret and failed to inform the royal family of Annam before sending troops, so that the king of Annam could travel south as scheduled. ”

Zhu Gaoxu raised his head and looked at him, and said, "I know that there are often risks in the battle array, and those in charge of the army should make a decision at the right time, and they should know the consequences and responsibilities. Since Xinchenghou has made such a decision, there must be a reason for you, and you must have weighed the importance of it. Now that the result is a big victory, Xinchenghou's decision is a wise move. ”

Zhang Fu secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, and said with his fists clenched: "The saint is wise." He then suddenly said, "Congratulations to the saint, happy to win the third prince and the eldest princess." ”

Zhu Gaoxu said with a smile: "Xinchenghou will live in the Jingshi Mansion for a while longer, and you will have to work hard." ”

Qi Tai also laughed when he heard this.

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Zhang Fu, and then said: "The Marquis of Xincheng has talents, continue to work hard, and there should be no problem with the title that the Zhang family deserves." If you don't care about your family, who will inherit you the title of duke in the future? ”

When Zhang Fu suddenly heard this, his joy couldn't help but show on his face, and he hurriedly said, "I am willing to come forward for the saint." ”

After he finished speaking, he came back to his senses, only felt that the emperor was really thoughtful, and did not say when to seal the country, only said, "It should be no problem", and got a carrot to hang on the stick. There's no way, who told Zhang Fu to behave like a general, and the emperor still wants to use it?

However, Zhang Fu, who has been a "Pinghan General", can have his current future, and he is quite satisfied. For a while, he only felt that the spring light outside the hall was very bright, just like the current future.

Zhu Gaoxu's voice said: "According to the confessions of Ruan Jian and others, the news of Chen Zhengyuan's southward journey was learned from the envoys of the Champa State? ”

Zhang Fu immediately replied: "That's true." The minister was in the Governor's Mansion of Annam, and he had seen Ruan Jingyi and confirmed the matter. According to Nguyen King Gi's report, Le Ly also sent people to Hue to meet with the minister of the Champa state. ”

Qi Tai said: "The Champa country and the Annan country have a grudge. It is also reasonable for our dynasty to support the royal family of Annam, and even to make an obstacle in the Champa state. ”

Zhu Gaoxu said coldly: "I have already said that when the Ming Dynasty conquered the Hu clan in Annan, it was only beneficial for him to take advantage of the fire to attack the Hu clan in Annan. Now once the interests of the Zhancheng State are affected, they are not willing to let the Ming Sect Dominate arbitrate, but immediately form an alliance with our enemies! The original tributary vassal relationship was fragile, but so. ”

Qi Tai echoed: "What the Holy Lord said is that many small foreign vassal states pay tribute to the court, which is nothing more than to increase the prestige of our dynasty, and those countries are not the same as the Korean state. The Holy Purpose was to pass through the foreign domains, only Korea and Annam. ”

Zhang Fudao: "The ministers look at it, the soldiers of the southern Fanbang are all weak. The Annan army has obtained the armaments and tactics of our dynasty, and the chances of winning this attack on the occupied city state are very high, and they will be able to severely punish the treachery of the occupied city and teach its monarchs and ministers to fear the holy heavenly might. ”

…… Sure enough, it didn't come out

As Zhang Fu expected, within a few days, the Beijing division received the news that the Annam army had captured the Hue area.

The news came from the sea, and a fleet of several sea ships arrived at Longjiang Port. On board were Zhang Shun, a civil official stationed in Annan from the Northern Office of the Imperial Division, and Luo Pan, an envoy of the Champa State.

Zhang Shun is a top three jinshi in the Wude period and Jichou Branch, and he is also a person who has not been in the official career for a few years. In the early years of Wude, Zhu Gaoxu did not carry out large-scale liquidation after entering Beijing, so that there were very few vacancies for positions with a little power; If the more than 80 jinshi in Enke Point do not want to be magistrates, most of them can only work as petty officials in some Qingshui Yamen.

And some people were arranged to serve as officials in the newly established yamen such as the Imperial Division, and Zhang Shun was one of them. At first, they were not very satisfied with the official position of the new yamen, but soon Liu Ming's progress encouraged everyone; It seems that the new recruits have a better chance of doing something practical than boiling up their qualifications and getting promoted.

The people who came from the Champa state were not kings, but envoys, so the emperor did not need to receive them, but only the officials of the Ministry of Rites and the Governor's Office of the Five Armies. After the power of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies was weakened, one of the nobles' official duties was to receive foreign envoys.

So Zhu Gaoxu summoned Zhang Shun first in the Rouyi Palace.

Unexpectedly, after Zhang Shun met him, he immediately began to bitterly recount the crimes of the Annan Army. It is said that after the Annan army entered the Hue area, they burned, killed and looted all kinds of evil along the way, and most of the corpses on the road were civilians, and almost all the women they could find were insulted by the soldiers. King Annam's army is like bandits.

Zhang Shun said sadly: "That Ruan Jingyi, who was named as an official of the Ming Dynasty, led his troops to the city of Hue and openly preached in the army that as long as he attacked the city, the soldiers could do whatever they wanted within ten days!" In other words, the Cham army had slaughtered Thang Long and other places, and this time the Annamite people were a tooth for a tooth; However, the ministers heard that there were many people in Hue City, not Zhan people, but Annamite people. The minister kindly dissuaded Ruan Jingyi, and he actually said that the Annan army had no military salary, and only in this way could the soldiers be motivated......"

Zhu Gaoxu didn't feel that there was anything wrong with it at all, but he still listened carefully. He suddenly asked, "Which province are you from?" ”

Zhang Shun paused and said, "The minister is from Guangdong. ”

"No wonder." Zhu Gaoxu said quietly.

The two civil wars of the Ming Dynasty almost failed to affect Guangdong. When Zhu Gaoxu was fighting in the south, because he tried every means to pay the soldiers and restrain them, he did not do much bad things to the common people. Therefore, a scholar like Zhang Shun seems to lack insight into the barbarism of war, after all, books rarely describe the detailed process of opening up territory.

At this time, the young Zhang Shun looked confused.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "You saw that the military discipline of our official army in Annan was good, so you thought that the official army was like this?" Zhang Yushi may have some misunderstandings, but this is not the case with the armies of most countries. The officers and soldiers of our Beijing battalion, the military discipline and combat strength and treatment at this time are by no means comparable to other countries, so the generals can easily restrain the soldiers. ”

Zhang Shunzuo bowed and said: "The minister is stupid. ”

Zhu Gaoxu said kindly: "I have always been cautious about war. ”

When Zhang Shun spoke just now, the ministers and nobles standing next to him really didn't react. Zhang Shun glanced over and sighed quietly.