Time flies, the sun and the moon are like a shuttle, in a blink of an eye, it has reached the Ming Yongxing seven years, this year, the territory of the Ming Dynasty has expanded to the extreme of the Ming Dynasty, this year, the tax of the Ming Dynasty has climbed to more than 60 million taels, this year, the Ming Dynasty has entered an unprecedented prosperous era.

At this time, the emperor's eldest son, Zhu Hezhen, was almost three years old, and according to the practice of the Ming Dynasty, he could be canonized as the crown prince at the age of three.

Yongxing Emperor Zhu Cihong is not as inexplicable as Emperor Jiajing of Sejong Zhu Houxi, until his death did not establish the crown prince, nor Emperor Shenzong Wanli likes to be unconventional, insisted on making the third son Zhu Changxun as the crown prince, in the matter of establishing the crown prince, Zhu Cihong is quite active, as early as the beginning of the year, he announced to the world, ready to canonize his eldest son Zhu Hezhen as the crown prince.

By July, the emperor's eldest son, Zhu Hezhen, was about to turn three years old, and the procession that came to celebrate continued to pour into the capital, and even Zhang Bin, the Taishi Weiguo Gong who was far away in Nu'er Gandusi, rushed back.

At this time, the hometown of Nuer Gandusi has almost all been under the control of the Ming Dynasty, and the Mengyuan Erer Forehead Department has slowly begun to move closer to the Ming Dynasty, as for the Rakshasa Kingdom, that is, Russia in Europe, Zhang Bin only drove away a few colonial explorers, and did not encounter their regular army at all.

The matter of Nu'er Gandu Division is nearing the end, and the four realms of Daming are almost peaceful, at this time, Daming can finally rest assured and boldly open up the colony.

However, before starting colonization, some things must be clarified, such as how the benefits will be distributed after the colonization is established.

Of course, the main interests of this colony belong to the imperial court, but not all the interests belong to the imperial court, after all, it is not a very fun thing to go thousands or even tens of thousands of miles to open up the colony.

If everyone is not motivated, this colonial development will be a bit of a joke, the European continental powers have a heavy reward for the explorers or leading generals who have conquered the colonies or even discovered the colonies, if the Ming Dynasty does not have a little reward, who is willing to run thousands of miles or even tens of thousands of miles to explore for no reason.

Therefore, this benefit distribution or reward mechanism must be clarified first.

There is a more important question, and that is his own retreat.

Is there only the end of the courtiers?

Zhang Bin has been thinking about this problem, it seems that in all dynasties, all the powerful ministers who leaned towards the government and the opposition did not end well, even if the person in power himself was fine, his descendants would be purged, except for those who plotted to usurp the throne, of course.

He didn't want to usurp the throne, nor did he want himself or his children and grandchildren to be purged, he just wanted to live a good life and let his children and grandchildren live a carefree life.

This, it seems to be very difficult, if it is other dynasties or other periods of the Ming Dynasty, his wish will not be possible to be realized, but now, it seems possible to realize this wish, because now the territory of the Ming Dynasty has been so big that it is terrifying, and, with the development of the colony, the territory of the Ming Dynasty will become bigger and bigger, such a big place, can you not find a place to stay?

He believes that as long as Zhu Cihong's pattern is big enough, it will not be difficult to realize this wish.

After returning to Beijing this time, he still went to the palace to visit his daughter and his grandson for the first time, but he did not rush to find Zhu Cihong, and it was not until the end of the morning the next day that he came to the imperial study without hurrying.

At this time, Zhu Cihong is not as busy as before, in the morning he usually sits in the imperial study to read books, study, or think about the way to govern the country, and in the afternoon, the cabinet departments have handed in one after another, and he will selectively check some of them.

Every day, he doesn't necessarily check a certain person's recitals, sometimes he will randomly check one or two people's, sometimes he will randomly check some of the recitals that everyone has reviewed, and sometimes he will pick out some more important recitals to find someone to discuss, in short, no one in the cabinet at this time dares to cheat for personal gain, because Zhu Cihong himself doesn't know whose recital will be drawn, and who of them dares to guarantee that his recital will be drawn.

He realized more and more that the master came up with this for him, with this method, he can not only control the government, but also do not have to be as busy as before, and even have most of the time to read and study, improve himself, and have enough time to accompany the queen, the palace concubines and his children every night.

He was sitting there leisurely reading a book, when the little eunuch outside suddenly screamed: "Taishi Weiguo Gong asks to see him." ”

Zhu Cihong got up to greet him as always, supported and sitting, all as if he was a disciple, of course, Zhang Bin did not think he was a master, he still paid attention to the etiquette that should be, after the two sides saw each other, Zhu Cihong complained slightly: "Master, why didn't you come to see me yesterday?" ”

Zhang Bin smiled and said: "The emperor forgives the sin, it was already afternoon when Weichen arrived in the capital yesterday, and I heard that the afternoon is generally the time for the emperor to review and read, and Weichen didn't dare to come to disturb." ”

Zhu Cihong said kindly: "Master, don't see the outside like this, I just randomly check some twists and turns, and it doesn't matter how much you smoke." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he couldn't help but nod his head and praise: "The emperor is wise, and he has already won the essence of it. ”

Zhu Cihong said with a little smugness: "This is actually very simple, as long as they can't figure out the rules, no one will dare to mess around." By the way, master, how is the slave doing the Dusi? ”

Zhang Bin reported in detail: "At this time, the railway has been repaired to the full path of the guard, Liaodong Tunwei is stepping up the construction of a new city on the site of the original capital station, it is estimated that the main body of the city will be completed this year, with the construction of the railway, the entire Nuer Gandu Division is estimated to be able to return to the control of the Ming Dynasty next year." ”

When Zhu Cihong heard this, he couldn't help but stroke his palm and praised: "Great, in this way, all the territories of the ancestors of the past dynasties have been recovered, and the Ming Dynasty has finally ushered in an unprecedented prosperity!" ”

Zhang Bin nodded and said approvingly: "The emperor is talented, intelligent, wise and martial, and his future achievements will definitely surpass the previous emperors." ”

When Zhu Cihong heard this, he couldn't help but smile embarrassedly: "How can I be so powerful, it all depends on the master's help, and it all depends on the master's help." ”

Zhang Bin shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, you are too humble, as the saying goes, there are often thousands of miles in this world, but Bole is not often, there is no emperor's discernment, even if Weichen is that thousands of horses, what can he do." ”

There is obviously an element of sycophancy in these words, but Zhu Cihong is used to hearing sycophants, Zhang Bin patted it slightly, he didn't feel anything abnormal, on the contrary, he also felt that it was very useful, and it was rare for the master to praise himself so much!

Zhang Bin naturally had a purpose in slapping his ass, he saw Zhu Cihong's expression, and immediately said: "Your Majesty, please forgive Weichen for daring to say, we can't be satisfied with the status quo, after all, there are countless lands overseas, if we don't forge ahead to fight for it, let other countries take it away and develop, they will definitely fight our Ming idea in turn." ”

Zhu Cihong nodded, and said humbly: "What the master said makes sense, so how should we fight for it, does the master have a final case?" ”

Zhang Bin naturally had already made a bamboo in his chest, and he did not hesitate to arch his hand and said: "Weichen is brave, and I also ask the emperor to take the latest world map." ”

When Zhu Cihong heard this, he didn't care about getting up and taking out the latest world map from the bookshelf, spreading it on the desk, and then said sincerely: "Master, please advise." ”

Zhang Bin was not ambiguous, he pointed to the map and taught: "The so-called long-distance and close attack, like the European continental powers, it is not advisable to rob everywhere, it is best to slowly encroach and expand from our periphery, and connect all the territories into one to ensure that there will be no problems in the future." We're thinking that it's most appropriate for us to set the direction of expansion in these four places, and in the southeast, we can expand from the South Seas to the Mughal Empire; In the northwest, we can expand from Nuergandusi to the Siberian Khanate, in the northeast; We can expand from Nuergandus to the west coast of America; To the southeast, we can expand south from the old port house. ”

Zhu Cihong stared at the map, nodded again and again, and said: "Well, what the master said makes sense, it is indeed inconvenient to govern like those European continental powers who are robbing everywhere in the east and west, and connecting all the territories into one is the best way to expand." ”

Zhang Bin secretly paid attention to Zhu Cihong's expression, and then asked: "Your Majesty, I don't know if you have considered a question, is there a corresponding reward for this work of expanding the territory?" ”

When Zhu Cihong heard this, he couldn't help but pat his forehead and said with annoyance: "Oh, the master didn't say that I really forgot, the merit of opening up the territory and expanding the territory is a great merit, and this is not rewarded, then it is ridiculous, the master has laid so much territory for the Ming Dynasty, and I haven't rewarded it yet!" How can this be rewarded, the master is all in the country, why don't you give the master a prince? ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he fainted at the wrong point, what a prince, the bull's head is not the horse's mouth.

He hurriedly hinted: "Your Majesty, it is absolutely impossible to be crowned a king with a different surname, and besides, this expansion of territory is not the work of a micro-minister alone, if the emperor feels that it should be rewarded, he can follow the example of the European continental powers to reward land and part of the benefits of the colonies." ”

When Zhu Cihong heard this, he couldn't help but say curiously: "Oh, how did the European powers reward them?" ”

Zhang Bin explained in detail: "That's the case, the emperor, the European powers, and the earl and above generally have fiefs, and the fiefs are generally on the frontier, so that they can add a layer of protection to the territory, and the merit of expanding the territory will generally give them part of the income from expanding the territory as a reward, so as to encourage everyone to expand the territory." ”

Zhu Cihong thought for a while, and then suddenly said: "Well, this practice is really good, master, how about I give you the title of Nanyang Chengxuan Political Envoy?" ”

Damn, you don't know how big Nanyang is!

Zhang Bin hurriedly shook his head and said: "No, no, no, the emperor, it's too big, Weichen can't afford it, and there is more than one Weichen who has made the contribution to expanding the territory. ”

Zhu Cihong nodded without hesitation and said, "Okay, master, which state capital do you want, I will seal it for you." ”

It's not that he's too generous, it's mainly that there are hundreds of people in Daming Prefecture now, and he really doesn't feel very distressed when he closes one out.

When Zhang Bin heard this, he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, you should know that Weichen's hometown is in Fuguang, and Weichen has been in Dongfan for many years, and he is quite familiar with it. ”

Zhu Cihong nodded without hesitation and said: "Okay, then I will give the east fan to the master, what about the others, this time it is just the crown prince, and the meritorious ministers are all rewarded, just to ask for a double happiness, the whole world celebrates the lottery." ”

Finally, at Zhang Bin's suggestion, Zhu Cihong canonized four more princes this time, and each of them was rewarded with a fief, these four princes are:

Zheng Guogong Zheng Zhilong, the fief Nanyang Cheng announced the political envoy of the old Hong Kong government;

Yu Chenglong, the duke of the Jin Kingdom, the fiefdom Nanyang Cheng announced the political envoy Si Xingang Mansion;

Lu Xiangsheng, the Duke of Liao, the fief of the southeast Cheng announced the political envoy Si Dagufu;

Liangguo Gongsun Chuanting, fief Shaanxi Xingdu Si Hamiwei;

At this time, it can stimulate other Yongxing nobles, everyone is holding back their strength, and they are going all out to expand the territory for the Ming Dynasty, and the territory of the Ming Dynasty continues to extend to the surrounding areas, and then, Qi Yuangong, Cao Wenzhao, Mao Wenlong, etc. have been promoted to the Duke of Guogong and have their own fiefdoms.

After Zhang Bin moved all his family to Dongfan, he led the fleet to the west coast of the Americas and began a new journey.