During the Spring Festival of the fourth year of Jianwen, according to tradition, Zhu Yunwen summoned his concubines and vassal kings to hold a family banquet in Cining Palace, and at the same time celebrated the birthday of the Queen Mother. From this year onwards, Zhu Yunwen restored the ancestral system of the triennial dynasty of the vassal kings, and only summoned several princes such as the king of Chu, the king of Xiang, the king of Ning, and the king of Dai to come to Beijing to participate in the family banquet, and the rest of the vassal kings were at their own convenience.

From the third year of Jianwen, Zhu Yunwen gradually strengthened the power of the chief of the palace, stipulating that the long history was for three years and could not be re-elected; At the same time, to weaken the vassal king's control over the army, he used the method of writing private letters to ask the vassal king to discuss with the local capital in case of trouble, and not to make his own decisions, so that although the vassal king participated in most of the decisions, Zhu Yunwen could see and control what the vassal king did. Over time, most of the feudal kings became very interested, and gradually became ill and ignored military affairs, and began a new life of making small reports to local officials.

Since becoming the prince, Zhu Yunwen has been tossing and fighting, from the battle of Mobei in the last years of Hongwu, the rebellion of King Yan after the accession to the throne, the development of Liaodong, the naturalization of the Jurchens, the establishment of Lelang, etc., in the past five or six years, the loss of the Ming army's strength is close to 500,000, which is already the end of the strong crossbow, and the treasury is empty, and it is urgent to recuperate.

Therefore, Zhu Yunwen changed his strategy, except for Liaodong, which was still purging and naturalizing the Jurchens, there were very few troops on land, but the naval division fought frequently, mainly to eliminate pirates and pirates.

After acquiring Jeju Island, the Ming Dynasty was given a trade route along the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula to the Wa Kingdom, where merchants generally boarded ships from Dalian or Dengju to Pyongyang, then crossed Ganghwa Bay to Jeju Island, and then crossed the Tsushima Strait to Kyushu and Honju in the Wa Kingdom for trade. Silk, porcelain, glass, ironware and other items of the Ming Dynasty were very popular in Japan, so that a large amount of Japanese silver flowed to the Ming Dynasty; Similarly, Japanese merchants could also trade at customs offices in Pyongyang, Dalian, and Dengju to obtain copper coins and silver stamps from the Ming Dynasty.

For the south, since the king and the king of Taiwan were divided on the island of Taiwan, Taiwan has gradually become prosperous, the trade between Taiwan and Fujian coastal areas is becoming more and more developed, there is a large amount of sugar on the island of Taiwan, but there is a shortage of other items, which promotes the trade between the two sides, this route can be reached by boat in just one day and night, so for both sides, it is like next door, so the trade volume is very large, and the face of Taiwan is also changing rapidly, and gradually there are businessmen and people who take the initiative to move to Taiwan for trade and production, which makes Zhu Yunwen very pleased, Because the younger brother Taiwan Wang Yunxi complained less and less, the Queen Mother slowly stopped complaining about Zhu Yunxi, and even in the fifth year of Jianwen, the Queen Mother Lu also went to Taiwan once, personally inspected the environment in Taiwan, and the result was very satisfied.

With the development of trade, Taiwan gradually became a transit point for coastal merchants to go to the South Seas, where they would replenish fresh water and food, and go to the South Seas, that is, the Malay Archipelago, and later the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and other places. The purpose of the trade of the Ming merchants was mainly to obtain spices, such as pepper, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc., and the main things sold were porcelain, silk, glass and other things.

There is also a route from Guangzhou to Annan along the coastline, so that Yazhou (Hainan) has gradually become a foothold, promoting the economic development of Guangdong and Guangxi.

In addition, because piracy is still rampant, and because maritime merchants are out of the house, it is easy for foreign toasts and barbarians to see money and have misdeeds. Therefore, after careful consideration, Zhu Yunwen allowed the maritime merchants to have self-defense weapons, and all weapons, especially bows and arrows, crossbow arrows, muskets and other weapons, must be reported to the military department, and they must also take the initiative to show when passing through the customs, otherwise once they are found, they will be confiscated immediately, and the merchants will be held responsible, and the huge amount will be punished for the crime of treason; In addition, large maritime merchants can ask the naval division to escort when going to sea, but they also need the approval of the Ministry of War. This was done for two purposes, one was to protect the maritime merchants, and the other was to familiarize the sailors with the overseas environment and at the same time to carve the charts.

Zhu Yunwen's openness to the ocean greatly promoted the development of maritime trade, but not only that, he also asked maritime merchants to pay attention to collecting some special grain and plant seeds when traveling, Zhu Yunwen most wanted to obtain rubber, now the research of the steam engine has been relatively mature, but there has been no good way to solve the sealing problem, which is not only dangerous, but also caused a lot of waste of energy. Without the steam engine, it would be impossible to process more precise parts and instruments, and there would be no great industrial development.

Zhu Yunwen not only needed rubber, he also wanted to be able to find seeds such as corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes, so he called on maritime merchants to sail not only south but also east, but the effect was not good, and almost no maritime merchants were willing to go east.

In the end, Zhu Yunwen was ruthless and used the emperor's power to send a sailor to complete this task of nine deaths and one life. In order to enhance everyone's confidence and reduce the difficulty of their travel, Zhu Yunwen secretly gave a special lesson to the officers of more than 1,000 households who traveled far away.

Soon after the meeting began, everyone thought that the emperor had gone mad, according to the emperor, that the earth was not flat, but curved on a sphere; Our Ming Dynasty is not the center of the world, but only occupies a small place; There are countless lands, countries and races overseas, and they have some food and crops that we don't have in the Ming Dynasty, and the purpose of our trip is to get these things back and benefit the people of the Ming Dynasty.

But as Zhu Yunwen's explanation deepened, everyone slowly became skeptical, because the emperor's description was very detailed and very real, as if the emperor had seen it with his own eyes, not like it was made up, and the emperor didn't need to lie to himself.

Looking at the officers who were looking at each other, Zhu Yunwen finally announced: "Generals, I know very well in my heart that this voyage is a life of nine deaths, but this trip is of great significance, and for the Ming Dynasty, it is a major event that benefits the present generation and merits the future." I can assert that even after a thousand years, you will still be admired by future generations, and even," Zhu Yunwen smiled bitterly, "Your reputation in the future generations will surpass mine." ”

Hearing Zhu Yunwen say this, the generals' frightened souls did not possess their bodies, and they quickly knelt on the ground, not even daring!

Only then did Zhu Yunwen realize that what he said was a bit exaggerated, which frightened them, so he hurriedly helped everyone up one by one, patted the shoulder of Tong Hailong, the servant of the Fujian Navy, and said with a smile: "General Tong, as long as you get corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes, the people of the Ming Dynasty will no longer suffer from famine, as long as you can come back, all of you will be promoted to one level, and General Tong, I'll make you an earl." ”

"At the same time, I will make statues and monuments of merit for you in your hometown, so that the world will remember you forever!"

"In addition, for all the soldiers who travel, the court will provide for your wives and children until they are eighteen years old, so as to relieve your worries."

"Emperor Xie Longen, the last general will smear his liver and brain, and he will never give up!" Tong Hailong and the others were so moved that they bowed their heads to the ground and cut through the ironclad way.

In fact, Tong Hailong thought very clearly, if the emperor let him go, then he had to go, the protest was to be copied all over the house, and the reward given by the emperor was unimaginable, with his own identity, even if he participated in the sweep of Mobei, it would not be higher than the reward for this trip. So he took the order with trepidation, fear, and a hint of excitement.

Zhu Yunwen was overjoyed, pulled Tong Ronghai, pointed to the map and said: "General Tong, you have ten Shuai Fu ships and twenty Haicang ships starting from Dengzhou, Shandong, and then bypassing the Japanese archipelago, sailing northeast, crossing the Bering Sea, you can reach North America, and then go south along the coast, you can find South America." ”

"Yes, the end will be done."

"As for when you return......

......

In addition to sending Tong Hailong to the east to look for America, Zhu Yunwen also sent sailors to the south to find a foothold on the Nanyang Islands, and Zhu Yunwen's order to them was that if it was an uninhabited island, a monument would be erected on the island, declaring that it was the territory of the Ming Dynasty; If there are people, if the number is not large, let them join the Ming nationality, and the island will naturally become the territory of the Ming Dynasty; If there were too many people, they would trade, buy land with money, and build cities, so that the maritime merchants of the Ming Dynasty would have a place to stay.

In this way, most of the uninhabited islands in the South Seas and the sparsely populated islands became Chinese territory, and they also began to establish a foothold in Luzon and the Malay Peninsula, and maintained good ties and gained some foothold in the more powerful kingdom of Mahabacher (Indonesia).

Since the responsibility of the sailors at that time was to create a good trade environment and protect the Ming maritime merchants, the Ming sailors did not go to war with the forces that had already established the country and claimed the kingship unless necessary. For example, Annan refused Daming's request to lease the port, and Zhu Yunwen didn't say anything for the time being, because his eyes were always on the north.

The sights and news of these maritime merchants were gradually disclosed in the newspapers, which greatly broadened the horizons of the people of the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time, with the sharp increase in customs revenue, the eyes of the courtiers gradually turned to the ocean.

While vigorously opening up the sea, Zhu Yunwen did not give up his internal affairs, and domestic construction was also in full swing, vigorously carrying out civil construction, road and bridge construction, and greatly promoting the connection between the border areas and the Central Plains.

In addition, the craftsmen of the Academy of Sciences also developed many new weapons, such as flintlock pistols, which were already widely equipped with the army, and handcuffs for high-ranking officers and cavalry; There has also been new progress in the study of artillery, and the craftsmen have developed a mortar that can be placed on the car, according to the craftsman: "The son is in the mother's womb, and the mother sends the son out, falling from the sky, broken layer by layer, unstoppable, and amazingly powerful." ”。 What makes Zhu Yunwen happy is that this kind of cannon uses flowering shells, which are very powerful and suitable for attacking fortified positions, especially suitable for fighting in grassland and hilly areas, but he also pointed out the shortcomings, that is, the firing range is too close and needs to be strengthened.

Today's craftsmen are very convinced by Zhu Yunwen's words, and after accepting the reward, they happily went to work.

In view of the fact that the imperial court's taxation was increasingly dependent on commercial taxes and customs, Zhu Yunwen ordered to strengthen the quality training of jinshi, juren, and tribute students, and all students who served in the household department and customs needed to take the examination and arithmetic; In response to the increasingly prominent situation of corruption, Zhu Yunwen asked local officials, officials from the Criminal Department, the Ministry of Officials and other departments to take the law exam when they enter the office; Finally, when officials of the Ministry of Industry join the company, they must not only take the arithmetic examination, but also physics, architecture and other disciplines.

Arithmetic, physics and other textbooks were all compiled by Zhu Yunwen, but after writing, Zhu Yunwen himself was also very dissatisfied, but he lacked knowledge, so he could only do so, because he ordered the vassal states to donate books, and the maritime merchants should also try to bring some local books overseas, in order to interpret these books, Zhu Yunwen ordered the establishment of a Tongwenguan under the Ministry of Rites, which was specially responsible for translating overseas books and then publishing them.

The above-mentioned policy aroused the euphemistic opposition of many officials, but the reasons Zhu Yunwen said were also very sufficient, and as for their desire to persuade Zhu Yunwen with reasons such as "half of the treatise on ruling the world", Zhu Yunwen laughed it off and stayed in the middle of it.

After only two years of such a peaceful life, in the spring of the sixth year of Jianwen, Liaodong, Beiping, and Suiyuan all reported that the Mongols were frequently harassed in the south, and the smoke in northern Xinjiang rose again.