Zhu Di is an emperor with a strong desire for power, but it doesn't mean that he is an emperor who has to grasp all the big and small things like Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang can be busy for seven or eight hours a day, and he only has to take care of what the people eat at the dinner table.

But Zhu Di is a second-generation official after all, although he also likes to centralize power like Zhu Yuanzhang, he will not put all his energy on serving the country and the people.

He likes beautiful women, likes to enjoy, and likes to be able to enjoy the singing, dancing and drama of the palace ladies in the harem every night.

Human energy is limited, so he also learned to delegate power and not let himself be as painstaking as his father.

For him, the immediate emperor, military power is the most important, and stability is secondary. As for whether the lives of ordinary people are good, he pays little attention to them, as long as they can survive.

However, all three sons let him down.

Zhu Gaoxu is most like him, but he has only learned to be brave on the battlefield, and has no scheming, he can only be a general, not a handsome.

He has no insight into civil affairs, and does not care about the life or death of the common people, if he is a king, he must be a tyrant.

Zhu Gaosui is pampered and arrogant, acting recklessly, but he is just a gentleman. Now that he has been bewitched by his grandson, he is even more obsessed with money, but this also makes him more at ease.

Zhu Gaochi's son was smart and clever when he was young, but he was taught too deeply by Zhu Yuanzhang and was superstitious about Confucianism, which made him the most disappointed.

He only learned the fur of his grandfather, and did not learn the essence of his grandfather at all.

Zhu Di admires his father very much. He was diligent and studious when he was a child, and after the experience of the world, he drew inferences from one another, heard one and knew ten, and established a set of knowledge system of his own.

But what about Zhu Gaochi? Everyone is in the same cloud, and now they are completely bewitched by those ministers.

Even the ministers used him to wrestle with themselves, and he didn't know it.

So Zhu Di basically wouldn't allow him to participate too much in court politics, just give him a James Mansion, draw a circle for him, and let him play in the circle.

As long as he is bewitched by others and wants to jump out, Zhu Di will beat him back.

For this grandson, Zhu Di is the most satisfied. At a young age, he was scheming, played the game of thrones so well that he could even establish his own rules.

An emperor does not need to be familiar with the scriptures, nor does he need to be superior in force. The most important thing is to understand people's hearts and learn to balance, so that the situation can be stabilized.

The eldest son is partial to literature, and the second son is partial to martial arts, only this grandson understands the true meaning of the emperor's position.

However, there is only one throne, and he Zhu Di is not old......

He is only 57 years old this year, and in his own opinion, he has at least another ten years to live.

Before the Eastern Crusade, he was actually already deliberately transitioning power to his grandson. Whether he is put in charge of the navy or allowed to get close to the generals, it proves his intention to stabilize the transfer of power.

Even Zhu Zhanji enveloped these servants in the palace, he never cared. In his opinion, the more capable Zhu Zhanji is, the smoother the transition of power, the better.

But all this, since Zhu Zhanji simply and neatly put Dongying at his feet, everything has changed.

Because of Zhu Zhanji's strong rise, the biggest damage is not himself, but the prince who has been suppressed by himself.

The crown prince has always only had some support among the ministers, and the previous army supported Zhu Gaochi, but after Qiu Fu's death, the army remained neutral.

They looked down on Zhu Gaochi, who even needed someone to help him walk, and even because Zhu Gaochi had always valued literature over martial arts.

Therefore, after Taisun's northern expedition, the generals of the military put their hopes on Zhu Zhanji, who was closer to the soldiers.

Zhu Di did not pity the prince who was in the cracks.

He was a good son, a good father, and a good prince, but he was not a good emperor.

Zhu Di was happy to see the prince's power squeezed, but when he came back with the great merit of conquering Dongying, Zhu Di suddenly found that even his prestige was suppressed by this grandson.

Although he launched the Battle of Jingjing and obtained the throne, it was a civil war.

In the foreign war, a Northern Yuan who was driven to Mobei by Zhu Yuanzhang has not been done for more than ten years.

It has been ten years since Yongle started to do it in the fifth year, and it was not until this year that Zhang Fu completely stabilized it with feudalism as bait.

These feats are too far from Taisun's conquest of Dongying in half a year.

Although the other party is his grandson, Zhu Di still can't accept this comparison, because compared with his grandson, the so-called cultural and martial arts seem to be compared.

When the Taisun won a big victory and captured the news of the Dongying royal family alive, the Ministry of Rites sacrificed to the Qing official Shi Lang Zhong Zhou Ne said: "Today under the Taiping, Siyi Binfu, the people and things are abundant, please seal Mount Tai, carve the stone Jigong, and hang it for eternity." ”

Lu Zhen, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, also said: "The emperor's holy virtues and divine merits are up and down, and it is appropriate to be like Zhou Nezhi's request to seal Mount Tai." ”

But Zhu Di still rejected Feng Chan Taishan's suggestion, because he felt that this credit was not his own.

Moreover, from the performance of the minister of the DPRK and China, he also really felt the impact of his grandson's rise on himself.

Perhaps in the eyes of many people, this grandson has surpassed his grandfather.

This was difficult for him to accept.

So, he wanted to build a greater martial arts.

The Timurid kingdom mentioned by Zhu Zhanji is indeed far beyond the Bagu and Nanzhang that he chose at the beginning, which also aroused his ambition.

Of course, he is not a person who cares about his head and tail, and if he wants to conquer a big country that dominates the Western Regions, he can't do it without perfect preparation.

But he was more afraid that this was a bait, and when he trampled the country of Timur under his feet in the Western Regions, Daming was already completely controlled by his grandson.

He still has ambitions, he doesn't want to become Tang Gaozu Li Yuan, and he can only retire in the deep palace in his last years.

So he deliberately used this incident to test his grandson's mind.

When Zhu Zhanji objected to him sending troops now, and had no interest in being able to supervise the country, he was very satisfied.

Although he is capable and ambitious, he still takes care of the overall situation, and he can still be proud of himself without being pampered and respectful of his grandfather. He couldn't have asked for more from this grandson's performance.

When he returned to the palace, he summoned Yang Shiqi, a scholar of Hanlin, and asked him to write down the holy decree. "There are 6,000 guards in the government army, and priority is given to changing firearms to defend the grandson."

Yang Shiqi was full of enthusiasm, and after a while, he wrote a brilliant decree, and after using the big seal, he sent a eunuch to pass the decree to Zhu Zhanji.

Since the beginning of the year, the guard of the government army has been allocated to the grandson, and the grandson's guards have exceeded 12,000 people, so the guard of honor is only slightly inferior to Zhu Di himself, far exceeding the prince's two battalions of 6,000 guards.

However, although Yu Linwei has changed his clothes, the government army guards have not changed their clothes, so this time, Zhu Zhanji did not bring the government army guards at all.

Now giving priority to the guards of the government army to change their clothes also means that Zhu Di intends to strengthen the power of Taisun.

After ordering the eunuch to leave, Zhu Di pretended to be careless and said: "Yang Shilang, the grandson killed your eldest son Yang Ji, is there any resentment in your heart?" ”

Yang Shiqi's heart sank, and he hurriedly knelt down and said: "The dog is useless, violates military discipline, and is innocent of death." Although Weichen was in pain in his heart, he never complained about His Royal Highness Taisun. A few days ago, Weichen had written back to his hometown and ordered his second son Yang Daofeng to enter Beijing with his grandmother. When he comes to the capital, Weichen will personally send him to the young army and continue to worship His Royal Highness Taisun. ”

Zhu Di nodded and said approvingly: "This move is very good, you have a heart." You only have one son left, but the second son's reputation far surpasses that of the eldest son, which is also a blessing for you. The edict awarded Yang Shiqi's second son, Yang Dao General Shilang, to join the young army to listen to the order. ”

Although Jiang Shilang is only the penultimate rank of Wenxun, he is also the lord of Zhengjiupin, which means that Yang Dao will not be a citizen from now on, but an official.

Yang Shiqi thanked him again: "Weichen thank Your Majesty!" ”

Zhu Di smiled: "Don't complain about the grandson, if I lead the army, your rebellious eldest son won't want to live......"

"Wechen keep it in mind"

After a day's meeting, when Zhu Zhanji returned to the palace, he also felt exhausted. It's not physical exertion, it's the tiredness of facing different people, different situations, different attitudes, and coming up with different solutions.

Today, the East Palace is very lively, because Zhu Gaochi is going to Beiping to sit in the town and is packing up for him.

Now that the canal is completed, you can directly reach Beitongzhou by boat from Yingtianfu. So although Zhu Gaochi has to go far this time, it will not be very hard.

When he went to Peking this time, he would bring a few older children to see the world, but the crown princess Zhang would not follow.

Now that the Zhang family is old, he is basically not favored, and there are many young and beautiful women in his harem, and he will not lack someone to take care of him.

Zhang's energy is basically spent on assisting Concubine Zhaoyi in managing the harem, and then helping Zhu Zhanji manage Xingqing Palace. Zhu Gaochi is not there, and he has little influence on her.

Zhu Zhanji did not put all the gold and silver back from Dongying into the warehouse, and the booty exceeded 6 million taels, and 30% went to the army, which is almost 2 million taels.

Zhu Zhanji, as the head coach, has to get two or three hundred thousand taels no matter how you calculate it. He just left some gold and cultural relics, and he didn't ask for one or two of these silvers, and when he came back, he gave them all to Zhu Gaochi, who was financially strained.

Zhu Gaochi has been living under the wing of Zhu Di all these years, and he has no income in his hands, and he is worse than the King of Han and the King of Zhao who live on Yulu alone.

Not to mention anything else, his James Mansion raised a large group of literati and ink writers, and he spent seventy-seven eighty-eight of his money every year. There are also the personal contacts of the concubines and their families in the harem, and each family cannot miss the number of courtesies, so they have never been rich.

If it weren't for the fact that the crown princess Zhang and Zhu Zhanji have always subsidized him over the years, he would have gone bankrupt long ago.

This time, with 200,000 taels of silver in his hand, he can be regarded as straightening his waist, gathering a large number of literati, and preparing to go to Beiping to do a big job.

Zhu Zhanji didn't bother to interfere in his affairs, and let him enthusiastically point out the country after drinking a little wine, just catering to him on the side.

Although he was confused, he was too timid to cross the line drawn by Zhu Di for him, and he couldn't make any big trouble.

As for the trivial matters, as a prince who is nearly forty years old, he is actually more shrewd than anyone else, and no one else can fool him.

Because he was going to Beiping, he was in a happy mood, out of Zhu Di's shadow, and before the banquet was finished, he drank a little too much.

asked the two concubines to wait for him to return to the room, and Zhu Zhanji was also ready to go back to his Xingqing Palace.

Zhang stopped him and asked worriedly, "You actually killed Yang Shiqi's son directly?" Yang Shiqi is now highly valued by your grandfather and father, and this person is also said to be quite talented, you killed his son like this, and you are not afraid to separate from you? ”

This topic was talked about by the father and son at the wine table, and the Zhang family had just heard about it, so they were a little worried.

Zhu Zhanji said with a smile: "Mother, don't worry, no matter how powerful a person is, he can't break the rules because of this." I killed Yang Ji according to the rules, if Yang Shiqi didn't follow the rules, others would not recognize him, and no matter how talented he was, it was not worth mentioning. ”

"So...... It's okay? ”

Zhu Zhanji nodded firmly. "It's fine!"

For Yang Shiqi, Zhu Zhanji really didn't take it to heart. No matter how famous Sanyang is, none of them can be as all-round as Yang Yanhe, Yu Qian, and Zhang Juzheng in the back.

Now that the imperial power is centralized, the ministers simply have no ability to wrestle with the emperor. If Yang Shiqi is disobedient, it is a matter of one sentence, and he will go home obediently.

What he attaches the most importance to now is to hurry up and put up the bank shelves before going to the West.

Returned to Xingqing Palace, this night, the lights of the side hall were extinguished in the middle of the night.

In the crisp autumn season, a long line of princely honor guards slowly entered the Zhangde Mansion with a four-wheeled vehicle. Where the past passes, all the people avoid it.

In the carriage, Zhu Jixi, the king of Jin, looked around for a while at the city of Zhangde Mansion, and then lost interest. Nestled back into the arms of the beautiful woman behind him, ripped open her clothes, and kissed her breasts, regardless of the woman's feelings.

"I thought King Zhao had a good place, but it was not as good as my Taiyuan Mansion."

Outside the car, Shi Li Neng, the head of the palace, said with a smile: "Taiyuan is an important town on the nine sides, how can this Zhangde Mansion be compared." Now that the border army is going north, in Taiyuan in the future, the prince alone will have the final say. ”

Zhu Jixi snorted and said: "But the prefect Qin He is very troublesome, this time when I go to the capital, see that I don't play him, it is best to demote him to the Northland Wasteland." ”

This Zhu Jixi was originally the third son of Zhu Yushu, King Gong of Jin, and the younger brother of Zhu Jixi, King of Jinding.

Because he was ruthless since he was a child, he was not loved by his father Zhu Yu. When he grew up, Ming Taizu summoned the elders of Qin, Jin, Yan, the fourth prince and the concubine to teach in Beijing.

Zhu Jixi, Zhu Gaoxu, Prince of Yan, and Zhu Youjiao, Prince of Zhou, misbehaved, acted in embarrassment, often oppressed the people, and was not loved by Taizu.

In April of the 31st year of Hongwu, Zhu Jixi attacked the king of Jin, Zhu Jixi was named the king of Pingyang, Zhu Jixi did not like his father to favor his brother, and learned that his brother was dissatisfied with Ming Chengzu's usurpation, so he took the opportunity to continue to slander Zhu Jixi in front of Ming Chengzu.

Zhu Jixi instigated his younger brother Qingcheng Wang Zhu Jixuan and others to constantly slander Zhu Jixi and list the crimes, which lasted for many years.

On the first day of September in the twelfth year of Yongle, Zhu Jixi, the king of Jin, was abolished, and Zhu Jixi attacked the king of Jin.

This person attacked the queen of Jin and was even more stubborn and cruel, poisoned his mother, Princess Xie of Jin, and steamed his father's maid Jixiang in an iron pot in order to force out the silver money of the Jin Palace.

Although he didn't dare to kill his brother, he imprisoned Zhu Jixi and his nephew Zhu Meigui and abused him constantly.

In the two years on the throne, most of his father's and brother's former attendants, most of the palace people were harmed by him, but no one dared to speak.

Now, he has put the Jin Wangfu in his hands, but he feels bored again.

This time, the emperor decreed that the princes from all over the world would enter Beijing, go to sea with their grandsons, and experience the world.

He was bored in the palace every day, his son was still young and didn't need to enter Beijing, but he was greedy for the prosperity of the capital, so he went there himself.

In his heart, he thought that even if he couldn't go to sea with his grandson, he could enjoy it in the capital.

The emperor imprisoned Zhu Gaoxu, which made him feel cold.

This time he entered Beijing, he had two purposes. The first is to clear up his relationship with Zhu Gaoxu and win over his grandson. The second is that King Zhao made a lot of money with Taisun Haimao, and he also wanted a piece of the pie.

Zhu Gaosui, the king of Zhao, originally moved from Beiping to Zhangde Mansion and built a luxurious Zhao Wangfu, and his life was tight. But last month, I learned that because of his relationship with Taisun Haimao, he has earned hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in more than a year, which has been spread among the princes.

Now which prince doesn't regard his grandson as a fortune boy!

His good mood became worse when he arrived at Zhao Wangfu, because although the regulations of this Zhao Wangfu were the same as those of other palaces, it was much more glamorous than his Jin Palace.

The Jin Palace, which was built during the Hongwu period, has long been dilapidated. Although he has now usurped the throne, he does not have much money left in his hand and cannot afford to repair it.

Today, the middle gate of King Zhao's mansion opened, and Zhu Gaosui, the king of Zhao, personally greeted him at the gate and welcomed him into the mansion.

As soon as you enter the compound, the most conspicuous thing is a soil mountain tens of meters high in the backyard of the palace, and on the earth mountain, there is also a splendid family temple.

Seeing that Zhu Jixi was a little dumbfounded, Zhu Gaosui said proudly: "Brother King Jin, how is the style of my temple?" ”

Zhu Jixi is one year younger than Zhu Gaoxu, but two years older than Zhu Gaosui. When he was a child in the capital, Zhu Gaosui always played behind them, so the relationship between them was not bad.

Zhu Jixi retracted his gaze and said in surprise: "It's not a small cost, right?" ”

Zhu Gaosui wanted this effect, and said with a smile: "One hundred thousand taels of silver, just the Bodhisattva in the temple cost me two hundred catties of gold." ”

Zhu Jixi was even more sad when he heard it, and now he couldn't even scrape together two hundred catties of gold.

"Is Haimao really so profitable? I heard that you made hundreds of thousands of taels, but it's all true? ”

This time, Zhu Gaosui just smiled and stopped talking. However, Zhu Jixi can also understand, after all, the grandfather himself ordered the kings not to engage in Shinong industry and commerce, although the rules have been broken now, but these things can be done and cannot be said.

In fact, there is much more to breaking than that. Just like this time, the emperor ordered that the kings should be allowed to enter Beijing together to reduce the burden on the people along the way, which broke the rule that the two vassal kings could not see each other.

Otherwise, even if Zhu Jixi entered Beijing and passed through Zhao Wangfu, he would not be able to meet Zhu Gaosui.

That night, Zhu Gaosui set up a feast to entertain Zhu Jixi and his party, which opened Zhu Jixi's eyes again.

Because on the table, some vegetables, melons and fruits, including sea fish, are all things that Zhu Jixi has never seen.

When I asked, I learned that these were all transferred back from Dongying and Nanyang, vegetables, melons and fruits, and those sea fish were all transported to Zhangde Mansion with ice to ensure that they did not rot.

Zhu Jixi felt more and more that he was a dirt bun.

He also deliberately said a little more, and asked in detail about some news about Taisun. Zhu Gaosui knew everything he had to say, so the atmosphere that night was very lively, and Zhu Jixi drank too much unconsciously.

He didn't know that just across the wall of the courtyard where he was staying, there was a team of people facing him, and they would also stay in King Zhao's Mansion tonight.

This pair of centaurs has only twenty people, which is not worth mentioning compared to the nearly 1,000 centaurs of King Jin.

Yang Zhangde and Chu Song followed Zhu Gaosui into the small courtyard, first confessed to Zhu Gaosui, and went back to the house to take off the guard clothes of Zhao Wangfu.

When they came out again, they had already changed into the flying fish suits of Jinyiwei, and then they saluted again and sat down under King Zhao.

Yang Zhangde clenched his fists and said: "Thank you King Zhao for this convenience today, when you return to the capital in the next day, you will explain to the emperor." ”

Zhu Gaosui smiled: "It's not worth mentioning. It's just that...... Did this King of Jin really do such a rebellious thing? ”

Yang Zhangde Zhengrong said: "The subordinates have not yet arrived in Taiyuan to find out about this matter, so they dare not speculate at will. However, since this matter has been reported to the emperor, it is obviously not out of nowhere. ”

"Killing the mother and forbidding the brother, heaven is intolerable! However, it is a bit far-fetched to say that he colluded with the King of Han to rebel. King Han's heart has changed greatly in the past two years, and even I don't care about it, how can I conspire with him? ”

Yang Zhangde said with a smile: "When the ministers go to Taiyuan, they must find out what they do, and they will never wronged good people." ”

Zhu Gaosui looked at him and heard the meaning of his words. Since you don't wronged a good person, of course, you won't let go of a bad person.

In the past two years, he has been relatively close to Taisun, and of course he knows that this Yang Zhangde is actually Taisun's person.

It's just that he doesn't understand that since he is the grandson's person, why didn't he restrain himself a little before the grandson ascended the throne, and was in a hurry to make a move on the prince.

Although these princes, including himself, do not have a few good things, the emperor has not finished cutting the domain, and the power of each royal palace is not small.

Even if it doesn't work, it can do bad!

couldn't figure it out, so Zhu Gaosui didn't want to. He has already seen that his father has identified the grandson, and the others will honestly be the prince of peace and enjoy the blessings.

Now his life is leisurely, and he earns a lot of money every year, even if he gives it to the emperor, he is too lazy to do it!

Early the next morning, a group of Jinyi guards changed into the costumes of the border army and left Zhangde Mansion on horseback.

But Zhu Jixi lived in Zhangde Mansion for three days, asked Zhu Zhanji's personality and hobbies clearly, and then left Zhangde Mansion.

He met Zhu Zhanji seven years ago, when Zhu Zhanji was only twelve years old, and in his opinion, he was still a child and had no character, so he didn't bother to take care of it.

Two years ago, he sued his elder brother Xijue, when the emperor was in the north and met him in Beiping. At that time, the grandson was busy studying the coal kiln, and he didn't touch it.

Now that he has the information of King Zhao's own uncle, he thinks that he has figured out the details of his grandson and can cater to his hobbies.

likes beautiful women, easy to do, this time he brought six handsome girls from Taiyuan who were old enough to break melons. Although they don't have the beauty of Jiangnan girls, they also have a unique charm.