Covered by dark clouds, the snow is fluttering, and next to the official road from Tangchi Hot Spring to the capital, a team of knights is speeding fast.

The horse team drove on the original official road, but because of the construction of a new cement road next to it, the original official road was only half wide, and it could only accommodate two horses in parallel.

Although the cement road is more conducive to cars and people walking, it is not suitable for galloping horses, so the original official road has not been cancelled.

Zhu Youstew followed Zhu Zhanji's side, trying his best to support his tired body. But after running down for dozens of miles, my thighs have long been grinded and painful.

If it weren't for today's Laba Festival, there would be people from all the palaces in the capital this year, and he would have been summoned by His Majesty to hold a family banquet, so he would not have tossed himself so much, riding dozens of miles and running back.

In such a weather, lying in the warm hot springs and watching the snowflakes flutter is a beautiful enjoyment.

Of course, it is even more beautiful to have a delicate little beauty in your arms.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but be a little envious of the dozens of soldiers who held their weddings there today. Those are all beauties collected by various royal mansions, so they are cheaper.

But...... He squinted his eyes and looked at Zhu Zhanji, who looked calm, this nephew's move today, which of these soldiers is not willing to die for him!

In terms of winning people's hearts, he is not as good as this nephew, not only giving them a daughter-in-law, but also personally holding a wedding for them, such a specification, no one will dare to do anything to these people in the future.

Even if there are Shangguan who want to rob these beauties, as long as they think that this is the Taisun personally married, and is willing to take out his other courtyard for them as a new house, who else dares to rob it?

As long as they do not destroy their future, in 20 years, I am afraid that they will not all be admirals, and this navy will always be firmly controlled in his hands.

Riding a horse today, although there was no guard of honor for the grandson, the first two brocade guards still raised two imperial flags.

From time to time, pedestrians on the road recognized these two flags, and one by one they willingly knelt down and kowtowed, and only after they had passed did they get up again and continue on their way.

Now around the capital, in the eyes of the people, the grandson is not even wiser than the emperor.

These people have milk and are mothers, but this nephew has indeed benefited many people in the capital.

From Zheng He's four trips to the West, the food and food brought back from the South Seas have formed a complete industrial chain.

In the entire Jiangnan area, there is hardly a family that has not benefited from this industrial chain.

Of course, what is more important is that Taisun has created so many emerging industries over the years, and each industry needs a large number of manpower.

With a little strength, even if there is no land at home, you can support the family with your hands.

And none of these people don't say that Taisun is good.

Zhu Youwu thought about himself, Kaifeng Mansion was much smaller, but I was afraid that when he came out, few people knew him.

That's the gap.

Walking to Xiaolingwei, in addition to the original military camp, there are now a large number of people here who depend on this nephew's Xiamaqiao Farm to survive. There are many more simple shacks on the roadside.

The speed finally slowed down, and at this time, Zhu Youstew didn't need to tense his body anymore, and he could slow down.

Not far from here is the mausoleum of Taizu, and these shacks were all built by Zhu Zhanji, just to give the surrounding people a place to shelter from the wind and rain, and they can also make a little money.

These people's attitude towards Zhu Zhanji became even closer, and someone shouted, "Your Highness is here." And the people knelt on both sides of the road.

He has never been like this nephew, always tirelessly greeting everyone and greeting them with a smile.

But he has never experienced the heartfelt worship of the people. They looked at the nephew with a look of reverence that he had never experienced.

Passing by the now forbidden Xiamaqiao Farm, he didn't know what needed to be kept secret, and he wasn't interested in inquiring.

The less you know, the safer you are, and that's what he's learned from his own experience.

But sometimes he can't help but wonder, is the things here more important than those in the Jiajiang Industrial Zone?

But he didn't have an answer.

The horse team soon arrived at the Houbiao camp, which used to be Dong'anmen. Zhu Youstew's heart finally relaxed, and at this time he felt the cold wind, and his hand holding the reins of the horse was already stiff.

Zhu Zhanji turned around and smiled at him at this time: "Sixth Uncle stayed in the capital, I should urge those writers to sort out the materials as soon as possible and write out the script." ”

Zhu Youwei nodded and replied, "Tomorrow, I will go to your courtyard and personally supervise their communication with those heroes." ”

"I have already arranged for the internal prison to write the script, and it will be printed in large quantities and distributed to the world. Not only bookstores, but also government offices, county schools, and government schools will sell them at low prices. Don't be afraid that you won't be able to sell, for the Navy alone, I have already pre-ordered 20,000 copies and are ready to distribute them for free. ”

"It's just ......, isn't it too expensive?"

Zhu Zhanji shook his head and said with a smile: "Paper and ink are all produced by internal supervisors, and at most it consumes some labor. As long as you sell half of it, you won't lose money...... What's more, it's really not expensive. ”

He has already seen that although his sixth uncle is the prince of Zhou, he is also willing to contact the low-level people. But I don't know if I have had more contact with those poor acids, and I have become poor and sour.

Generally speaking, the vision is not broad enough, and the courage is not big enough. However, it is still possible to engage in cultural and ideological work.

At Dong'an Gate, Liu Wan and a few little eunuchs were shivering in the cold wind, and when they saw Zhu Zhanji and them coming back, they immediately greeted them. "Your Highness, the hour is not early, Your Majesty has already ordered the meal to be set up a quarter of an hour ago, hurry up."

Zhu Zhanji nodded and asked, "Are my clothes ready?" ”

"Change horses at the Donghua Gate." As he spoke, he began to run eagerly inside.

Because the Daming Palace was built in the southeast corner of the whole city, Dong'an Gate is the outer city gate, and Donghua Gate is the palace gate, but the distance between the two city gates is not far.

This Dong'anmen is not developed for the common people, and there are three different military guards living between the inner and outer cities: the Jinyi Guard, the Inner Prison, and the Advance Guard of the Government Army. There is a path open to civil and military officials leading to the outside of the Chengtian Gate, which is convenient for ministers and nobles who come to visit the East Palace.

Otherwise, no one can visit the East Palace, and walk through the entire palace!

Inside the Donghua Gate is an urn city, which is also a place to raise horses and hide soldiers. Some of the ministers who came to visit the palace were also waiting to be summoned here.

In order to save time for Zhu Zhanji, Liu Wan and the others brought his new clothes to the guest room here, in addition to preparing a set for Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Youstew's chamberlain also brought a set of winter clothes that he wanted to change.

Today's Laba Festival is a family feast, so you don't need to wear a crown, regular clothes are enough.

Zhu Zhanji took off his riding clothes, changed into his regular clothes, sat on a stool and let Li Liang help him recomb his hair, and put on a net-like square scarf.

Today's family banquet was placed in the Wuying Hall of the West Palace, which is also the place where Zhu Di often entertains ministers. The imperial kitchen of the palace is located between the west palace and the back garden, and the big bubble kitchen is located on the west side of the Wuying Palace.

Although it is a family banquet today, there are only four or five hundred people at most, and there is no rank at all, so they can't go to the banquet at all.

And with so many people, the imperial chefs can serve a feast full of color and flavor.

After passing through the three major halls, you will come directly to the Wuying Palace. Zhu Zhanji is no stranger to the dinner in the palace, at this time, the front hall is generally a men's dining place, and the apse is a women's dining place.

Zhu Youstew discovered Zhu Zhanji's majesty in the palace again. These three halls are the most important places of the country, and the imperial palace is also the only place that the emperor can enter without restrictions.

These clans, when they enter the palace, they can only move in the designated area, and they generally can't go from the east palace to the west palace, let alone directly pass through the porch between the three major halls.

This rule is restricted even to the crown prince, but Zhu Zhanji, the grandson, is unimpeded, and the eunuchs guarding the door and the brocade guards of the three major halls are also accustomed to it, and they are not blocked at all.

The more I came into contact with this nephew, the more I realized that he was simply too powerful, and he was able to collect all the eunuchs and brocade guards in the palace.

As soon as he entered the Wuying Palace, Zhu Zhanji found that the atmosphere seemed to be a little dignified, and those little eunuchs lowered their eyebrows one by one, and there was no celebration of the festival at all.

Still wondering, Jin Kuo had already greeted him and said in a low voice: "Your Highness, the prince of Liao has provoked Your Majesty's anger, and everyone is looking forward to your coming back and comforting Your Majesty." Today's big holiday, why bother to be angry with your body for an outsider. ”

"What happened?"

Jin Kuo lowered his voice and said: "It is said that she tortured and killed a woman from a good family, but her hands and feet were not clean, and her husband's family found out, so it came to Your Majesty." ”

"! How could the old Zhu family do such a scum! Zhu Zhanji scolded secretly in his heart, he wanted to kill this person directly, but he could only suppress the anger in his heart.

Zhu Yuanzhang set up a rule, these clans, as long as they are not rebels, it is difficult for the emperor to kill people directly, and at most imprison them in the high walls of Fengyang.

These clans also have this death-free gold medal, so they have no scruples about doing things at all.

Zhu Guiyan, I remember you, this time I went to sea, if I don't torture you to death, I won't be surnamed Zhu.

Holding a group wedding for dozens of subordinates today, it was originally a good mood, but now it has been completely ruined. Zhu Zhanji snorted and stepped into the hall with a cold face.

The hall is full of tables and chairs, and on a round table in the middle, Zhu Di is sitting there with a cold face, and not far from him, there is Zhu Guiyan, the son of the King of Liao.

With the Liao King line, Zhu Di was not close to him. The original fief of the Liao King was in the area from Shanhaiguan to Yalu River in later generations, but Zhu Di rebelled, and Jianwen was worried that Zhu Zhi, who was not far from Zhu Di and had a heavy army, would support Zhu Di, so he summoned Zhu Zhi to Nanjing. Zhu Zhi obeyed the orders of Emperor Jianwen and came to the capital by sea.

At that time, Zhu Bai, the king of Hunan who was originally sealed in Jingzhou Mansion, set himself on fire because of his opposition to cutting the domain. He had no descendants, so the feudal domain was cut off.

Jianwen saw that the King of Liao was so obedient, so he sealed him in Jingzhou.

But what Zhu Zhi didn't expect was that Zhu Di, who he was unwilling to deal with, became the emperor, and this time he bet on the wrong treasure.

After Zhu Di won the throne, he complained that Zhu Zhi did not support him during the Jingyan Change, so he didn't like him. When Yongle was ten years old, Zhu Di also found an excuse to cut his guards, leaving only 300 military academy cooks for him to serve.

A prince like this should have been low-key, but he didn't expect that this Zhu Guiyan would dare to commit a crime in the capital.

And if the case can be known by Zhu Di, it must be Jinyiwei, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, or the Criminal Department, and one of the three departments must have accepted the case.

If Jinyiwei and the Duchayuan knew first, then it might be that Zhu Di wanted to deal with them. But if the deceased's husband's family sues the Yingtianfu or the Criminal Department, it will be a business affair.

With some doubts, Zhu Zhanji greeted the others and walked towards Zhu Di. "Grandpa Huang, my grandson is back."

"Is the wedding still lively?"

Zhu Zhanji took out a stone from his arms and said with a smile: "Everything is simple, not to mention whether it is lively or not, but the soldiers are very satisfied." One of the soldiers once found a rain flower stone in Yizhen Yuetang, because of the unique pattern, he entrusted his grandson to present it to the emperor's grandfather. ”

Zhu Di was a little curious, he knew that Zhu Zhanji didn't like these curious people, and now he gave this stone in front of so many people, there must be something good.

When he took the white stone and saw the patterns on it, he couldn't help but gasp. The pattern on this stone is ninety percent similar to his name, which is rare.

When he saw it, he liked it very much, and said with a smile: "This is really a good gift, but I didn't expect that I didn't give them a reward, but they still remember me." It's more pleasing than a tribesman who only causes me trouble all day. ”

Zhu Zhanji said with a smile: "There are hundreds of people, and there are thousands of strange things. If you want to be united, you need to set the same goal and put a strict system in place. Laissez-faire will only do bad things. ”

He didn't know whether he was looking at the stone or thinking about things, so he took the stone and looked at it for a while before he said: "Just like this stone, there are natural talents, but most of them need to be carefully crafted...... Zhu Guiyan, you should also get up, today's holiday, you can't spoil everyone's mood because of you, your business will be talked about tomorrow! ”

Zhu Zhanji smiled flatteringly at him when he saw him, but ignored him. This person is one year older than himself, and he is also his uncle according to his seniority, even if he is wrong, there is no reason for a junior to blame.

So it's best if he doesn't touch it now.

According to the rules left by Zhu Yuanzhang, he is at most a fine, a punishment of captivity. The length of the captivity is also related to the identity of the deceased, if it is an ordinary person, it would be good to be able to lock him up for a month.

But well, since he is such an unbearable person, Zhu Zhanji has already sentenced him to death in his heart.

Zhu Zhanji didn't think that because he had the same great-ancestor, he should enjoy privileges. Rather than being restrained by civil officials in the future, it is better to establish strict rules from the beginning to restrain oneself and protect oneself.

There is a curfew in the palace, and it is the eighth o'clock in the winter. In the summer, that is, at ten o'clock in the future, the palace gate will be closed and will not be opened again.

At this time, except for the emperor's personal decree, no one could open the palace gate.

The atmosphere of today's family banquet is not lively, Zhu Di is high, Zhu Gaochi, who has a close relationship with the clan, is now in the capital, but Zhu Zhanji has a general relationship with these clans.

So before the end of the day, this slightly dull feast was dispersed.

Zhu Di was in a bad mood today, drank two more glasses, and then went back to the harem to rest. Zhu Zhanji originally wanted to talk to him about the arrangements for the head of the internal prison to go to sea with him, but he could only change the day.

This time he went to sea, he was the main envoy, Zheng He was the deputy envoy, and Hou Xian, who had just returned from going to sea, stayed behind this time, but there was also a Wang Jinghong who was also familiar with the Nanyang countries to help Zheng He reduce the burden.

The three of them are responsible for the overall work of the entire fleet, whether it is the envoy corps, or the trade regiment, or the navigation command, or the operational command, all of which are under the overall control of the three people.

The head of the internal prison is Zhu Zhanji's most intimate eunuch Jin Kuo, who is the chief eunuch in charge of the internal supervision trade, but he must also leave a few positions for Zhu Di's cronies and eunuchs.

On this trip, 1,500 people were dispatched from the internal prison alone, and they used half a year to raise a large number of trade materials from all over the country.

This time, the internal inspector was well prepared to turn all these goods into gold and silver and all kinds of means of production and transport them back.

The envoy corps was jointly formed by the Ministry of Rites, the General Political Envoy, and the Jinyi Guard, which was specifically responsible for the diplomatic aspects of the fleet, and the head was Jin Chun, the right Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites.

Since the Battle of Dongying, Jin Chun, a relatively old-fashioned Wenchen in Zhu Zhanji's heart, has become affectionate to him.

This kind of intimacy is not intentional, but somewhat interested in Zhu Zhanji's way of doing things.

When he was in Dongying, he also had a lot of opinions about Zhu Zhanji, thinking that Zhu Zhanji was more domineering than he was kingly.

But after discovering that Zhu Zhanji's method was more useful than his, he happily and carefully studied Zhu Zhanji's way of dealing with the world, and this time he took the initiative to go to sea.

The number of envoys was more than 500 people, and in addition to officials at all levels, more were translators, which also led to the fact that most of them were of different races.

There were even people from Eastern and Southern Europe, some of whom had been taken prisoner, some of whom had gone to South Asia to do business and were brought by their envoys.

The chief interpreter of the envoy was Ma Huan and Ma Zongdao, whom Zhu Zhanji admired, and this person was rich in knowledge and had a very high diplomatic level.

As soon as the book "Yingya Triumph" came out, he also became the most authoritative person in the field of diplomacy in the Ming Dynasty today, only slightly less famous than Chen Cheng, who now helps Zhu Zhanji manage the Xiamaqiao Farm.

This is mainly because Chen Cheng was the chief official in Central Asia, helping the Ming Dynasty to bring the entire Western Regions into the ruling circle. And Ma Huan was originally just a translator, so he couldn't compare to Chen Cheng.

The head of the fleet navigation is Zhu Zhen, the chief soldier of the second fleet of the navy, who will be responsible for the march and formation of nearly 1,000 ships on this trip. He had been to the West three times at the age of Zheng He, and these jobs were very familiar to him.

Secondly, he is also the chief of naval operations, and most of the 50,000 navies on this mission will be directly commanded by him.

However, with the strength of the Ming fleet, I am afraid that no one dares to brush the tiger's whiskers at all, so although the navy has a large number, it is more as a navigation support force.

The army operations chief is Zhu Zhanji's henchman Xue Lu, who leads the 22,000 Shenji Battalion, plus the 12,000 Yulin Wei led by Zhao Yongliang, deputy commander-in-chief, will be the main force in the military operations part.

And Huang Yuan, the garrison, has become the head of the logistics support department, although his level is not enough, but with the support of Zhu Zhanji and Zheng He, no one dares to give an opinion.

He is responsible for a wide range of projects, including financial management, logistics, medical care, and communications.

The head of the young army is Zhang Fengshan, the former commander of the young army, and he has now been promoted to the Yulin guard garrison, although the level is not high, it is not as good as some soldiers from the young army at the level of other military guards, but this is the garrison next to the grandson, and he is also the mountain chief of Yulin Weixue, which is a general with great potential.

The disadvantage is that he is a little old, so he is not pursuing a career now, so he is at Zhu Zhanji's side with peace of mind to help Zhu Zhanji manage talent training.

On this mission, all 800 young troops traveled together, and they were tasked with drawing the most detailed map of the world, which Zhu Zhanji attached more importance to than anything else.

Because although the current world map is about the same scale as that of later generations, the interior of most of the continents is relatively vague. There are also small islands, such as New Zealand, that are not shown on the map.

If you count the people who have already decided to travel, this is already about 90,000 people, not counting the members of the clan and their attachés, who have a total number of 3,000 people.

In addition, there are hundreds of envoys from various countries, and this time they will also send them back, and when they return to the sea, they will bring with them the new envoys from those small countries.

In addition, those nobles will have at least dozens of ships to follow the fleet to trade in the South Seas, they have all paid the customs duty, and the Ming fleet has the responsibility to protect them.

Of course, it is also indispensable to observe the observation group of the scholars, this observation group began to follow the fleet to the West for the fifth year of Yongle and Zheng He's second trip to the West, and now the scale is getting bigger and bigger.

In the fifth year of Yongle, after Zheng He's fleet returned from the first trip to the Western Ocean, he quickly prepared to go to the Western Ocean for the second time to send the envoys of the Nineteen Kingdoms home.

At that time, it coincided with the autumn season when the list was listed, and Zhu Zhanji, who was only ten years old, asked in a naïve tone, why didn't he send these Wenchen who had been admitted to the examination to overseas to learn about the countries of Nanyang?

Juren is not a jinshi, strictly speaking, he is not an official, but he already has the qualifications to be an official.

Today, the new dynasty of the Ming Dynasty has been established, and the officials are not overflowing. But after changing three emperors in a row, Enke increased several times, and the number of people raised was also quite large, and there were more people seeking officials.

Zhu Di was also worried about how to arrange these people at that time, and immediately issued an edict that he was willing to patrol the South Seas with the fleet, and could write a proposal that satisfied him, and he could give priority to officials.

The title of the gold list is once every three years, with hundreds of people at a time, which is a drop in the bucket for the literati of the entire Ming Dynasty.

Most of the lifters are stuck at the last hurdle and are wasting their years. Now you don't need to take the Jinshi exam, you can directly confer an official, and it has attracted countless people to sign up.

For the first time, only 500 people were selected, and when they came back, more than 200 people were awarded the official position of Jiupin, from the Jiupin. The second time, 1,000 people were selected, and although 200 people were still awarded, the proportion was still very high.

The third time I went to the West, the number exceeded 1,500. This time, in addition to the 200 people selected by the local auxiliary officials, more than 200 people were also arranged when the bank was formed.

This time, the number of people will not be less than 1,500 people.

In this way, even if the total number of people going to sea this time is less than 100,000, it is almost the same.