"After the Mongol Yuan expedition to the west, the Kipchak Khanate, the Chagatai Khanate, the Ögedai Khanate, and the Ilkhanate were established in the conquered areas. The rulers of the four khanates were descended from the "Golden Family" in blood, and they all served the Great Mengyuan Kingdom as their suzerain.

In the first year of Kaiqing in the Southern Song Dynasty, after the death of Meng Ge, the Mongol Yuan caused a civil war, and the four khanates all gained substantial independence, and they were not subordinate to each other, and there were constant wars. It was not until the reign of Yuan Chengzong that the four khanates recognized the suzerainty of the Yuan dynasty.

However, the terrain in the northwest region is complex, the transportation is backward, there are many ethnic groups, the level of social development is different, and the language and cultural traditions are different, so it is impossible to achieve complete reunification. From the time it was born, the Mengyuan Empire could not avoid the fate of collapse and collapse. ”

Zhu Di nodded and said: "Therefore, for a country to be strong, it must not only have a main nation, change customs, unify languages and cultures, but also vigorously build roads and strengthen the connection between various places." ”

Zhu Zhanji said with a smile: "This is what my grandson will do in the future." ”

Zhu Di groaned and said: "It is difficult to fight the country, and it is even more difficult to sit on the country, you will have to work hard in the future." ”

Zhu Zhanji shook his head and said, "Sun Er should not only be a good emperor, but also a good emperor with ease. ”

Zhu Di couldn't help laughing, and said: "Let's bring the topic back first, since the situation in the northwest is complicated, wouldn't it be more appropriate to let Liu Sheng deter by force, than a coach like Zheng Heng who is good at maneuvering?" ”

"If you fight and leave, just go and rob their gold and silver treasures, rob their craftsmen, of course Liu Sheng is more suitable than Zheng Heng. But since the imperial grandfather wanted to extend the power of the Ming Dynasty to the outer northwest, Zheng Heng's role was better than that of Liu Sheng.

Today's Outer Northwest is mainly the various ethnic groups after the division of the Chahatai Khanate, and the Timurid State, which is now majestic in the northwest, is only the former Western Chahatai Khanate as the main body of development.

As the northwestern countries in the transition stage from nomads to agricultural peoples, they can't beat us and still run, can our army play cat and mouse with them there for many years?

Moreover, there is another advantage to letting Zheng Heng dispatch, that is, we can bring a group of Warat and Tatar cavalry from Mobei to cooperate with our Ming action.

Both Warat and Tatar have sent troops, how can you Huozhou and Turpan not send troops? How can you do it without sending troops? If the Eastern Chahatai Khanate is on our side of the Ming Dynasty, not only can the supplies on the road be saved, but it will also be able to deter the entire northwest, including the Golden Horde. ”

Zhu Di groaned and said: "Alien wolves have dog hearts, and trusting them too much will only put me in danger." ”

"So Sun Er suggested that except for a few carriage troops, the rest of the Northern Route Army should send cavalry, and there are not many soldiers."

"Ridiculous ......" Zhu Di couldn't help laughing and scolding, but he fell into deep thought.

The expedition to the northwest of Timur was a huge adventure for Zhu Di, not because the other party was strong, but because it was too far.

In the past three years, the military department and the Governor's Office of the Five Armies have made countless preparations for this big battle, and have also conducted many deductions, all of which revolve around the Ming Dynasty to send more than 500,000 troops to deduce.

This is not around the Ming Dynasty, and the army can arrive at any time. Just sending troops from the Ming Dynasty to the outer northwest will take a year.

Even in an optimistic scenario, the war will take three years. In order to supply the consumption of this 500,000-strong army, at least a million people must be supplied on the expedition of more than 10,000 miles.

Therefore, even after three years of preparation, Daming spent tens of millions of taels of silver, and still did not dare to say that it could guarantee victory.

Zhu Zhanji now proposed to send only cavalry, although it seems risky, but if he can win the support of the northwest countries, there is no need for the Ming Dynasty to go thousands of miles to send grain and grass to the front line, which can save more than half of the cost.

No infantry was sent, only cavalry was drawn from the border guards, plus the elite 100,000 cavalry from Zheng Heng, and the Varat and Tatar divisions sent cavalry to support, so that the situation seemed more favorable.

Zhu Zhanji saw that Zhu Di was a little moved, and said: "Although the Timurid State is the original Western Chahatai Khanate, the hatred between them and the Eastern Chahatai Khanate is greater than ours, as long as our Ming army has a certain advantage, it is bound to attract more supporters."

Now I have gathered a large amount of grain and grass in the northwest of the Ming Dynasty, if I reduce the infantry, I can use these grains and grasses to win over Turpan, and try my best to bring the Li and other countries, so that they can happily help me to pull the grain and grass over in the Ming Dynasty. ”

Zhu Di's heart moved again, without infantry, reducing the number of troops means reducing the time for sending troops.

This is not a simple addition or subtraction, saving a month's time is equivalent to reducing the chewing of hundreds of thousands of troops, and these grains and grasses need to be transported by more people.

Because of the expropriation of these people, delaying the agricultural time is a really heavy burden for the Ming Dynasty.

In the past few years, Daming's strategy has always been to push flat with absolute superiority, but now Zhu Zhanji's suggestion can save at least half of the cost, and it is not subject to logistical constraints.

But rashly changing the strategy is not only difficult for Zhu Di to accept, but also difficult for those generals to accept.

Moreover, there is a very important question here, that is, how to persuade the Varat and Tatars to send troops. And when you go to the northwest, you must also have someone who can speak well to persuade the northwest countries.

It is also necessary to redefine what price to pay in exchange for the support of various countries.

Talking about this issue, Zhu Zhanji directly recommended: "My grandson recommended Chen Cheng of the Ministry of Industry to be the head of the Ministry of Works, Ren Langzhong, who has been to various countries in the Western Regions many times and has also gone to Samarkand twice, so he is really the best candidate. ”

"Zheng Heng's side, who do you think you should send? He and Yisha had to stay alone, and Zheng Heng was gone, but he couldn't move. ”

This candidate doesn't matter, because it's just a temporary replacement for Zheng Heng, just a general. However, Zhu Zhanji still wanted to benefit his own people, and said: "How is Xue Lu, Marquis of Yangwu? ”

Zhu Di shook his head and said: "This person is not appropriate, he is your pro-army commander, you are in Yingtianfu, you must have a force of your own." ”

Zhu Zhanji said with a smile: "Since my grandson is not out of Beijing, why do you need to defend it!" ”

Zhu Di's eyes stared at his face for a long time before he whispered: "I have decided that I will send your father to Jiayuguan in the beginning of spring, and in the future, this Ying Tianfu will be controlled by you." ”

Although Zhu Di's words were very light, they sounded like a thunderbolt in Zhu Zhanji's head, and he was a little stunned for a while.

Seeing Zhu Zhanji's gaffe, Zhu Di seemed to laugh with some satisfaction. "The chewing of hundreds of thousands of troops is now in the area of Jiayuguan, guarded by Suzhou Wei, Wei Yuanwei, Wei Yuwei and the Shenji Battalion, and the distribution of grain and grass is a major matter, which needs to be supervised by your father."

The chief logistics officer of the Western Expedition was Huang Fu, who Zhu Zhanji was familiar with, and this person had outstanding ability and was also the secretary of the military department, so his prestige was also high. At such a time, there is actually no need for Zhu Gaochi to go in person.

But Zhu Di wanted to send Zhu Gaochi out, obviously to make room for Zhu Zhanji and not let him become his constraint.

Zhu Zhanji's preparation has always been to lie dormant in the capital, focusing on banking affairs and the advancement of science and technology. Then come out and intervene when Zhu Gaochi is too self-indulgent, don't let him do anything bad.

But he didn't expect that Zhu Di would directly send Zhu Gaochi out and leave himself in Yingtianfu to supervise the country.

If he is to let himself be in charge of the country, then it is understandable to leave Xue Lu behind, and he must have a private force to deter hundreds of officials.

Zhu Zhanji's mood was agitated, but he couldn't show too much joy. As a son of man, he should show his concern for Zhu Gaochi at this time. "But my father has a leg and foot disease, and he has been going for thousands of miles......"

"He's just having trouble with his legs and feet, and he doesn't need to walk! Moreover, there are many people who serve him, so you don't have to worry about him. ”

Zhu Zhanji quickly calculated, if he was in charge of the country, then some of the initial plans could be suspended.

For example, on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, he was ready to incite the nobles and military generals to fight against the civilian officials, intensifying the contradictions between the two.

This is to prevent Zhu Gaochi from trusting Wenchen too much and suppressing the generals.

But if you are in charge of the country by yourself, there is no need at all, stability is the mainstay, there is no need to intensify the contradictions, anyway, you will never favor Wenchen.

Seeing that Zhu Zhanji's face was not worried, Zhu Di was also very satisfied, and said: "I read your "Balance of Power" is very well written, and even I have benefited a lot. If you have such insight, I will be relieved of you.

Your father is a fool, and he can only send him away from the distance, and do not hinder you from doing things. But...... In the future, don't write it down on paper and let others read it. It's good that our grandfather and grandson know this in their hearts. ”

Zhu Zhanji asked, "Burned?" ”

Zhu Di nodded. "Now that I've seen it, of course it's worry-free. In the past few days of the Chinese New Year, you should think about how to sit in this position, and after the Lantern Festival, you may not be so relaxed. ”

After Zhu Di left, Zhu Zhanji really showed his excitement, flipped on the spot, and then came to the desk with great interest.

I want to ask someone to send the list of current court officials and local officials, but think about it during the Chinese New Year, the court is sealed, so don't toss the information department.

But the excitement was hard to suppress, and he let out a loud shout. "Li Liang, go and tell Concubine Taisun, I'll rest in her room tonight, prepare some wine, I want to drink."

When he was so excited, he couldn't find a confidant to drink, so he could only find his eldest wife to accompany him.

But it is impossible to find a confidant in this era, with his identity.

……

……

During the Spring Festival of the eighteenth year of Yongle, Zhu Di's rheumatic leg was committed again, which led to many entertainments being replaced by Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Zhanji.

Even the ceremony of sacrificing the heavens on the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve was carried out by Zhu Gaoji on his behalf.

asked Zhu Gaochi to sacrifice to the sky instead of him, which also released a signal to give Zhu Gaochi more power space, so that all the civil servants were overjoyed.

Zhu Zhanji is busy entertaining, although he is the grandson, but there are many nobles in the capital, and some relatives and families, he must also entertain one by one.

Zhu Di lies lazy in the greenhouse every day, and Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Gaochi can only take on the royal responsibility.

Of course, Zhu Di didn't care about everything, on the second day of the new year, the palace also invited the major nobles in the capital to give a banquet in the palace.

At this banquet, Zhu Zhanji also met Princess Yongping, an alternative in the royal family, and his son Li Maofang.

This second aunt has always been unpopular in the entire royal family, because she has never been like a princess, but like a merchant's daughter, and she has no princess consciousness in her body.

Zhu Di has a total of three sons and five daughters, of which three sons and four daughters were born to Queen Xu.

Princess Yongping, as the second daughter, is not very favored, but no one dares to bully her.

But because of the early death of her husband, she was widowed at the age of 26 and was insecure, so she loved money very much.

A princess loves money, in this era, it is a very shameful thing, she is not ashamed, and she also instilled her own set of outlook on life to her only son Li Maofang.

Li Maofang is one year younger than Zhu Zhanji, and he grew up in the palm of Princess Yongping since he was a child.

But what he does business does is not based on innovation, not on a down-to-earth basis, but on the basis of the princess mother and the identity of Fuyanghou.

Because the appearance was too ugly, he caused several times of right and wrong, which made Zhu Di particularly disgusted with him. Zhu Di reprimanded Princess Yongping several times, so that their mother and son relented a little.

Because of this reason, Zhu Zhanji actually didn't want to see this cousin. It's not that he despises business, he actually does business himself. But you don't rely on your own skills, you will only bully others, this is not business, this is being a robber.

However, because their mother and son are only sons, they did not participate in the process of going to the West, and they will not come to pester Zhu Zhanji to divide a territory for their family in Nanzhou.

What made Zhu Zhanji laugh was that before entering the table, Princess Yongping took Li Maofang to find Zhu Zhanji, and actually wanted Zhu Zhanji to help and let Fuyang Houfu sell Ma Jia Crystal and Liuli's agent in the north.

Ma Zhide's family was originally mainly based on the polishing of natural crystal, which was expensive and not profitable, so it could only be regarded as a medium-sized business.

However, after taking refuge in Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Zhanji supported them to build a new glazed kiln, so that the production of glaze is closer and closer to modern glass.

The quality of Ma's glass is even better than that of Venetian glass in this era.

Especially with the invention of the telescope, the application of high-grade glass and crystal has tended to be practical from ornamentation, and sales have increased greatly, and now it has become the largest fluent merchant in the Ming Dynasty.

There are official orders from the imperial court, and the Ma family's high-end crystals and glazes are in short supply, where can they be used to sell them as agents.

Therefore, Zhu Zhanji only lightly rejected their request on the grounds that it involved military secrets, that no high-grade glazed glass would be exported, and that the output of the middle and low-grade glazed horses was not high.

Unlike Princess Yongping's mother and son, although Princess Yong'an died, she punished Yuan Rong for three years, and Zhu Di seemed to be angry.

Princess Yong'an was buried on the twenty-eighth day of the lunar month, and Yuan Rong handed over a post the next day, asking for his resignation from the Marquis of Guangping.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, when Zhu Di met with the nobles, he logically promised that Yuan Zhen would inherit the title of Marquis of Guangping. Not only should the money be kept as before, but also make up for the money deducted in the previous three years.

Zhu Gaochi didn't know that he would be sent to the northwest after the New Year, and in addition to socializing in the palace in the past few days, he has been going to banquets everywhere.

However, he is different from Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Zhanji likes to go to the homes of military generals and nobles, while he likes to go to the homes of his subordinate officials, and his subordinate officials are all civil servants.

Occasionally, Zhu Zhanji would pity this father in his heart, he could indeed be called a good man, a knowledgeable Confucian disciple.

But he forgot that his main thing was to be an imperial heir.

After the second year of junior high school, Zhu Zhanji deliberately gave posts to various military generals in accordance with Zhu Di's instructions.

In particular, Yin Guzuo of Ying Tianfu, and the five commanders of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division are the top priority. They were also specially arranged by Zhu Zhanji on the thirteenth day of the first lunar month to bring their families into the palace to see the driver.

Zhu Di went on the expedition, and Zhu Gaochi was also sent out. Most of the guards in the capital will go out with Zhu Di's expedition. And the army left behind is related to the stability of the entire Ming Dynasty.

Ying Tianfu is responsible for the security of the capital, although the number is not large, but all corners of the corresponding Tianfu are well understood.

The Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division is responsible for defending the capital, and their men and horses are the only ones who can freely enter and exit the inner city without the Tiger Talisman Order, except for the Jingwei.

Coupled with Zhu Zhanji's own Yulinwei, the young army, and the new Jiangkou battalion of the First Fleet of the Navy, there are 100,000 horses, which is enough to control the entire capital.

In addition, in his spare time every day, he had to sort out all the merits of the soldiers on this voyage, and after the fifteenth day of the first month, when everything was normal, he would first reward them.

And some people, although they are not in Daming, whether it is honor or material rewards, they have to be issued to their families.

For example, Ma Huan, because he single-handedly promoted the alliance between the Ming Dynasty and the Mamluk Dynasty, obtained hundreds of square kilometers of land and allowed the Ming to garrison.

He was also appointed as the first governor of Suez to control the military and political affairs of the Suez Governor's Office, as well as economic and trade power.

Although he is not in the Ming Dynasty, the court must announce it to the world.

On the sixth day of the first lunar month, all ministries are opened, but no officials will be arranged to sit in the hall these days, but there are only people on duty to deal with emergencies.

On this day, the court meeting will not deal with specific government affairs, but the cabinet will write a document to announce to the world.

In the text, some good prospects are made for the eighteenth year of Yongle, and some policies to be implemented are officially announced.

This includes the implementation of the "Daming Rules of Procedure".

Although this rule of procedure will be implemented throughout the country in the future, and the state capitals will also implement it, at least this year, it will not be carried out yet, at least for a period of time in the court, and it will be fully promoted after problems are found and solved.

In many ways, the present era is much more backward than the next. However, in the implementation of the court's policies and decrees, there is actually no difference from that of later generations.

This kind of policy and regulation is gradually promoted, and there are only a few times in history when Wang Anshi is brutal and forcefully implemented.

And Jian Yi and they were surprised to find that this time it seemed to be unexpectedly smooth, and until today, whether it is the generals or the emperor, there is no lag.

When they brought out the detailed rules of the rules of procedure that they had worked so hard to get out for discussion, they did not encounter too much opposition.

Even, the set of procedures they came up with was much more conservative than the set of procedures taken out by the emperor.

So much so that when Jian Yi saw the set of detailed rules taken out by the emperor, he did not hesitate to stuff the one he wrote into his clothes.

First of all, the emperor no longer worries about everything, and delegates power to various ministries.

When there are old precedents to follow in all procedural official duties, everything should be done according to the rules, and there is no need to discuss everything, let alone bring it to the court meeting for discussion.

Secondly, when it comes to the turnover of gold and silver, according to the old practice of the previous three years, the emperor has increased each department by 20% compared with previous years, and this part of the funds is no longer managed by the emperor and is handled by the ministries themselves.

Only the floating funds of the household department, as well as additional funds, this part is still controlled by the emperor, and the emperor's consent is required to call it.

Even so, the ministries are still a little incredible, this emperor not only gave them the power to do things, but even gave them the financial power himself.

Now there are two more percent, if you save a little bit in the office on weekdays, you can still save some funds every year to improve the office conditions!

While they were happy, they didn't realize that this kind of official affairs of various ministries did not need to be discussed in the court, which meant that other ministers had no opportunity to meddle in other departments.

When they taste the sweetness of their own decisions, will they allow others to interfere in whatever they do?

As for the allocation of basic office funds to themselves, in later generations, the departments also arranged in this way. Anyway, all this money has to be spent, and if you don't spend it, you can't even maintain a normal office.

The household department was pinched in his hands at the beginning, and in the end he still had to give them a lot of troubles.

It's like the criminal department investigating a case, if you don't pay the criminal department to go out to work, who will go out to investigate the case?

And the system at this time was quite unreasonable, and all the funds were pinched in the hands of the household department. Other departments want a little, squeeze a little out, don't just forget it, don't give it.

Although this method saves some money, it actually causes low work efficiency and distraction.

Now the imperial court directly distributes funds to the ministries on a monthly basis, and the ministries arrange their own arrangements, so that the ministries can focus on official business.

The use of funds is reviewed every month, and the funds are used rationally, and the next month is disbursed on time, which can also prevent large-scale corruption.

However, this kind of control of administrative and financial power is a huge "progress" for the ministers, and they can't help but rejoice.

Through the implementation of this set of deliberative rules, the household department has become the household department, the military department has become the military department, and the rite department has become the ritual department, instead of taking out a trivial matter for discussion as in the past, so it is collectively called the six departments.

And military affairs are now handled by themselves, and they will only be discussed unless they are important, which reduces the interference of civilian officials in military affairs.

Without the household department to hold the silver around the neck of the army, their right to speak has been greatly reduced.

At this time, Jian Yi discovered the problem, and now that the affairs of the various ministries have been handled by themselves, what else is there to discuss at the court meeting?

However, even if he found that the position he had won with great difficulty had been greatly reduced, Jian Yi did not dare to give an opinion, because this was against all the ministers.

In fact, there are still many things that need to be discussed at the court, such as high-level personnel rights,...... But this seems to be his previous job!

There are also various new policies, the handling of accidents, and so on, ......and so on, Jian Yi finally found that he won the speaker, and most of the power he obtained was also a void.

When he dispersed, he glanced at Zhu Zhanji in front of him on his right, and for the first time felt that this grandson was not simple at all......

(This chapter is not written smoothly, I originally wanted to describe the implementation and controversy of the policy, but I found that if I wrote the regulations one by one, I am afraid it would take several chapters to write, so I wrote roughly, and there will be a struggle in this area later, and I will write it again at that time.) ）