Of course, putting Zhu Gaochi under house arrest was not Zhu Zhanji's intention, he just asked Li Bin to implement Zhu Di's orders more perfectly.

Of course, Li Bin also knew that this pot must not be carried by Zhu Zhanji, and if he dared to let Zhu Zhanji carry the pot today, the fate of their Fengcheng Hou Li family would be over.

So even if he wants to clean up his defenses again, it is not from today, he must find an excuse to use this as an opportunity to make the defense more tight.

Zhu Zhanji doesn't care what Li Bin will do, he only cares about the result.

Zhu Gaochi is his father, he has no way to deal with him directly, but he can deal with the people around him. As long as the information channels of these people are cut off, Zhu Gaochi will become a deaf and blind man.

Now, it depends on Li Bin, a veteran, who is politically sensitive or not.

When he returned to Xiamaqiao from the other courtyard, it was already dark, he did not delay in Xiamaqiao, and took Yu Linwei directly into Chaoyangmen.

The inside of the city gate has been cleared, and the people, whether they are entering or leaving the city, did not kneel, but squatted on both sides of the road.

Among these crowds, two middle-aged men in brocade robes stood out.

Zhu Zhanji's horses galloped forward, and the two bowed together. "I've seen Your Highness."

Zhu Zhanji looked at Meng Ying, who was smiling, and fixed his eyes on Yi Xin, who was a little uneasy. "Let's go into the palace with me!"

The own guards gave up two horses, and the two straddled the horses and followed behind Zhu Zhanji.

The imperial palace is located in the southwest corner of Yingtianfu, and there are two consecutive city walls and city gates, Dong'an Gate and Donghua Gate, when entering Chaoyang Gate.

Entering the Donghua Gate, Zhu Zhanji fell off his horse in the urn city and looked at the sky, there was still an hour before the palace closed, which was enough for him to talk to the two.

The weather in March was no longer cold, and Zhu Zhanji didn't want to talk to them in a dark room, so he took them to the garden of the East Palace.

"Yixin, Lone is a little disappointed, it's been three years, and you haven't even explored the location of Dongzhou. Lone has already given you the coordinates and given you the climate map, and you have only explored the Midway area until now. ”

The Midway Island in Zhu Zhanji's mouth is the Aleutian Islands in later generations. This 2,000-kilometre-long chain of more than 300 small islands connects the passage from the island of Hokkaido to the North American mainland.

In the past three years, Yixin has explored the Bering Strait in the north and the Alaska region in the future, but it has not been able to take a step south.

In fact, his results were already very good, and in the era when there was no steam engine, sailing was too affected by the weather.

But because there was a big case in Shandong, Zhu Zhanji also had to beat him.

Yi Xin knelt down on his knees, bowed his head and said, "The minister is incompetent......"

"You're not incompetent, you're just because you got Zhonglian Island as a family base, and now your mind is complicated. Tell me about Gu, how much attention have you put into official business in the past three years? ”

Although the weather was not yet hot, the cold sweat on Yi Xin's face broke out faster, and he not only did not get up, but buried his head down. "The sin of the minister deserves death!"

Zhu Zhanji turned around, looked at Yi Xin who was kneeling on the ground, and said, "Raise your head and look at Lone." ”

Yi Xin didn't dare to disobey, looking up at the tall Zhu Zhanji and looking down on him, that cold face made him tremble. "I don't care if you compare with Ji Gang and build the Earl's Palace magnificently. I don't care that you are busy with personal affairs most of the time, but you shouldn't waste government affairs and make Shandong Water Village useless, you shouldn't be afraid of hardships and dangers, just sit at home and remotely control the fleet to go to sea for exploration.

The reason why Lone didn't let people take you was because he pitied your talent and couldn't bear to let you Zhonglian Bo Mansion just be built and ruined. In the past three years, Lone is not in Daming, and he has not been able to supervise you at all times, although you are at fault, Lone is willing to give you a chance.

Your eyes should not only be on the narrow island of Zhonglian Island, nor should you only be on Dongying, or the north, I want you to look farther, looking eastward, there is a continent that is far more than several times larger than the Ming Dynasty, waiting for my Ming Dynasty to occupy. ”

Yi Xin bowed down and said loudly: "When the north wind stops in April, he personally leads the team to Dongzhou. ”

Zhu Zhanji nodded secretly and said, "You go to Hou Xian." This Dongzhou expedition will be led by Hou Xian. The second fleet has 15,000 soldiers, and the southern Xinjiang has transferred 10,000 soldiers. ”

Yi Xinleng for a moment, he didn't expect that the scale of this expedition would be so large, it was almost as big as the regulations when Zheng He went to the West.

Before he had time to think about it, he kowtowed and said, "The minister obeys the order." ”

The gold mines in Alaska, the silver mines and gold mines in the Americas are not what Zhu Zhanji wants now. What Zhu Zhanji wants is corn, potatoes, and rubber trees in South America.

The food crisis has not broken out now, but now it is all about human cultivation, and one person can only toss a dozen acres of land at most.

The higher the grain yield, the higher the work efficiency.

More important is the rubber tree, now the steam engine has been invented, the development of machinery is becoming more and more complex, rubber has become the bottleneck that currently restricts the development of Daming industry.

Now the carriages of the Ming Dynasty are still wooden wheels, because there is no rubber buffer, the wheels are very easy to damage, and the cargo capacity can not exceed 4,000 catties.

But if there is rubber, tires are made, and steel is used to make wheels, the cargo capacity can easily exceed 10,000 catties, or even 100,000 catties.

Later generations of trucks could easily carry 50 tons, or even overload 70 or 80 tons, and although it is impossible to make wear-resistant tires with today's technology, five tons is still a breeze.

In the twentieth century, when tires were widely used, they could easily carry more than five tons.

With rubber, the steam engine installed on the car can easily shorten the distance of the Ming frontier, which is of great significance to stabilize the national defense of the Ming Dynasty.

"Get up...... Zhu Zhanji glanced at Yi Xin, then looked at Meng Ying again, and asked gently: "Does Zongbi have the heart to sail all over the world?" ”

Meng Ying is after Mencius, and he and his father Meng Shan are typical examples set by the Ming Dynasty.

Although their father and son have also been on the battlefield and performed well, it is more meaningful to raise them in the capital than to let them fight abroad.

Therefore, although Meng Ying is only thirty-eight years old this year, she was only arranged by Zhu Zhanji to have a prominent deputy position "pension".

Hearing Zhu Zhanji ask him like this, although he was a military general, he said with a long sigh: "The minister is more willing to follow His Majesty to the west, and I hope His Royal Highness will grant permission." ”

Zhu Zhanji shook his head and said: "The Ming generals are like clouds, and there is no shortage of Zongbi and you." Since the emperor didn't ask you to join the army, it's not easy for Lone to make his own decisions. However, the supplies shipped to Nanzhou this year are about to leave, if you are interested, I can order you to be the commander and go to Nanzhou to change the guard. ”

In fact, not only Nanzhou, but even the Western army should be dispatched this year.

Because of the delay in Suez, it took more than a year for Zhu Zhanji to come back, and another year to go, and this time it took more than two years to go back and forth, and when the fleet sent arrived in Europe, the soldiers there had been stationed there for more than three years.

However, because of this year's westward expedition, most of the navy's spare ships have now been requisitioned. And the Daming sea area cannot be without coastal defense, as well as trade with Nanyang and Dongying.

More importantly, Zhu Zhanji currently has no spare troops in his hands, so he can only let the soldiers stationed in Europe stay for one more year, and he will train a group of soldiers here, and after the Spring Festival next year, he will set off for Europe.

Zhu Zhanji is not afraid that they will feel abandoned, because the navy brought by Zhu Di's expedition to the west will go to Suez in time to pass on the news.

Daming is definitely not without soldiers, but the soldiers of those local guards really dare not be trusted. It is better to use these soldiers than to use new soldiers.

But the soldiers of these local guards are not useless, they are good at farming and repairing projects, and they are definitely making the best use of their talents to develop Nanzhou.

Meng Ying pondered for a while before replying, "The minister is willing to go to Nanzhou." ”

No aspiring person wants to be raised like a pig.

Although going to Nanzhou is not the kind of meritorious service, but being able to go to sea to see some overseas customs and leave a good impression on the future emperor, Meng Ying still made a choice quickly.

Zhu Zhanji nodded and said, "The report of the Shandong case, you will come to see me tomorrow morning." After a few days of rest, the good students went to Ningbo. Yu Xian's side has already arranged supplies to Nanzhou, and when he arrives in Ningbo, he can set off directly. ”

He turned to Yi Xin, who was still trembling, and said: "Tomorrow morning, after the court, you and Hou Xian will jointly give Gu Ji a seal, and I will ask the celebrant to arrange for you to meet, and write down the information of Dongzhou tonight, don't ask alone tomorrow, you don't know if you ask." Go for it......"

The two of them walked out of Donghua Gate tremblingly, only then did they feel that their backs were wet with cold sweat, and they couldn't help but shiver when they were blown by the cool breeze.

Meng Ying got the benefits of Yixin, and comforted: "Your Highness's majesty even surpasses Your Majesty, and I don't feel such pressure in the face of Your Majesty!" ”

Yi Xin shook his head with a wry smile and said, "It's also my own fault, in the past few years, I really only care about building a house for myself on Zhonglian Island." Now that His Highness has a life, he should move forward bravely. ”

From such a dialogue, it can also be seen that the two people are not all the way.

Yixin was promoted from a small soldier step by step by virtue of his military exploits. But although Meng Ying is known as a Confucian general, she is more of a family background.

In terms of combat achievements, his father Meng Shandu was much stronger than him, and he did not retreat in the face of the Southern Army in Baoding, and won the title of Baoding Hou.

The two have different family backgrounds and different circumstances, even though they are both senior admirals, but they are very different.

Not to mention, Meng Ying got nearly 10,000 taels of silver from him this time.

Including today, Meng Ying accompanied him to "meet" Zhu Zhanji by chance, and it all cost money.

They set out from Shandong, and they were supposed to arrive at Yingtianfu yesterday, but when they heard that His Majesty was going on an expedition today, they deliberately waited outside the city until His Majesty left, and then entered the city to find Zhu Zhanji.

Who knew that Zhu Zhanji went to the hot spring annex, and they only "met by chance" here in Chaoyangmen.

Yi Xin clenched his fists and said: "Baoding Hou, His Royal Highness has a life, don't dare to slack off, I will immediately go to find Hou Xian now, ask about the arrangement, and then make a plan." You and I went to Beijing together, we should have gotten together, but we can only see tomorrow. ”

Meng Ying said with a smile: "It's easy to say, it's easy to say, if I have time tomorrow, I will hold a banquet in the mansion to wash the dust for Brother Yi." ”

Yi Xinleng understood after a while, although this Meng Ying had the title of deputy governor of the First Fleet, he had never gone to sea. Now that he is going to Nanzhou, I am afraid that he will not learn from himself the marching formation of the navy.

However, after all, he is in a high position and has a prominent reputation, so Yi Xin did not refuse, and hugged his fists and said: "When I see His Highness tomorrow, I will definitely go to the palace." ”

The two came to the Chengtian Gate along the mezzanine road and separated. Meng Ying returned home, and Hou Xian lived in Chang'anfang outside the palace, and Yixin immediately came to the door to hand over the post.

Hou Xian is the same age as the Ming Dynasty and is fifty-three years old this year.

He was originally a Tibetan, and was castrated as a eunuch as a captive when Mu Ying and Lan Yu conquered Taozhou, and was later given to the Yan Palace.

In April of the first year of Yongle, Hou Xian was appointed by Zhu Di to lead the men and horses of the Lintan Tibetan Zan Tusi as the chief eunuch and the young eunuch to go deep into Tibet. In the fourth year of Yongle, he smoothly invited a group of religious leaders such as Harima to Nanjing, and accepted the official positions and titles of the new dynasty.

The first envoy was a complete success, making Chengzu Zhu Di happy and promoting him from a young eunuch to a eunuch.

Later, he went to the West twice with Zheng He. However, in the tenth year of Yongle, Hou Xian went to Nibala and Diyong Tower alone, and canonized the kings of the two countries as vassals of the Ming Dynasty.

In the thirteenth year of Yongle, he once again sent an envoy to the Western Regions (India) countries, this time not only attracting more Indian kings to join the Ming Dynasty, but also thwarting a conspiracy of the Delhi Sultanate against the Ming Dynasty.

With the support of the Delhi Sultanate, the ancient Buddha invaded Punggara, coinciding with the envoy of Hou Xian. Because he came to India three times before and after, his Tibetan identity was also highly respected in India, so he mediated the war between the two countries and made the two small countries stop fighting and make peace.

In these years, Hou Xian was not on the way to the envoy, but he devoted himself to writing in the capital, recording the situation of the countries in the Western Regions in detail.

Although he lived in Chang'anfang, the house he lived in was smaller than Yang Zhangde's, and it was originally a formatted courtyard built by the internal eunuch for a group of eunuchs.

The eunuch has no family, generally only two small eunuchs take care of him, this kind of small courtyard is not big, there are three main rooms, two side rooms on the left and right, but it is more than enough to live three people.

When he saw the post of the little eunuch coming in, and as soon as he saw Yi Xin's name, he immediately knew what the governor of the Second Fleet was here for. He immediately commanded, "Hurry up, please." Make a good pot of tea. ”

When Yixin was introduced, Hou Xian had already changed into a court dress and greeted him at the door of the main room. "Yi Du Du is here, and the humble house is shining!"

Yi Xin hugged his fists and said: "Xin arrived in Beijing this afternoon, I just met His Royal Highness, and I came to visit in a hurry, so don't blame me." ”

"Why do you say this, please ......"

The two of them are not a system, and even if they met in the past, they would not have any contact.

But if it is really as Zhu Zhanji said, the two of them will lead the team to Dongzhou, and it will take two or three years to walk at sea, so they will naturally have to get closer.

Only when you know what kind of person the other person is, can you know how to treat the other person.

In contrast, Yixin's environment in the military is relatively simple, and the people are more straightforward. Wait to show the nations to see who says what to say, more tactful.

After some greetings, the two of them tested each other and probably knew each other's personalities. Yi Xin saw that Hou Xian was a good talker, so he also let down the guard in his heart and directly clarified his intentions.

"I just met His Highness, was instructed by His Highness, and sent a letter to the eunuch to discuss. This time, you and I went to Dongzhou together, and I hope to be in the same boat. ”

Hou Xian said with a smile: "Before His Royal Highness Taisun went to sea, he gave some information about Dongzhou to Xian, and Xian has been studying it carefully in the past few years, which can be regarded as a little experience. However, in the past few years, the Second Fleet has repeatedly explored Dongzhou, and it must be more complete than the information I have here. ”

Hou Xian shook his head and sighed: "With the help of the wind, it is relatively easy to drive north and south, I am ashamed, in the past few years, I have only roughly figured out a few areas in the north of Dongzhou." ”

The two of them communicated with each other, took out everything they knew, and exchanged what they had, only to realize that the two of them had similar things.

And these things are still from the information given to them by His Royal Highness Taisun.

On the side of easyMarkets, it is nothing more than the terrain of some areas from Alaska to the western coast of Canada in later generations, and it has not yet reached Vancouver in later generations.

This is already the achievement of the Second Fleet in recent years, and when it comes to this, they especially pity the "Magellan" who was executed by His Royal Highness Taisun.

This person is really a great talent, just with a ship, he has figured out the terrain and environment of Dongzhou. It is also known about the countries, peoples, tribes, including minerals, in some regions of the north and south of Dongzhou.

This is something that hundreds, thousands, of them have not done.

Of course, they didn't know that this Magellan was nothing more than a fiction of their Highness.

No single person could sail a wooden sailing ship and sail the globe in a matter of years without knowing the charts, and he could map all parts of the world.

Not to mention the many marked gold and silver mines, including the major powers in North and South America today.

This is something that has been gradually explored by the entire human race over the course of hundreds of years, and their Highness has accelerated this progress at a rapid pace.

"This is the information that His Highness gave me during the Chinese New Year, and he focused on finding corn and potatoes grown by the local natives, as well as various crops such as peppers, the most important thing is a tree that can shed white slurry when the bark is cut, this kind of tree is called a rubber tree by His Highness."

"What are you looking for?"

"What His Highness thinks is something that we mortals can guess!" Hou Xian shook his head and said: "According to His Highness's arrangement, we need to contact the local natives when we go to Dongzhou this time, that Magellan can exchange some glass beads for the same weight of gold, and we also need to prepare more things that they are interested in this time." ”

"Just exchange silk, cloth, ironware, and porcelain with them, why do you want glass beads?"

"Have you read Magellan's account?"

Yi Xin didn't respond thoughtlessly this time, and carefully recalled the information that His Highness had given him. But he just read it hastily at the beginning, and then handed it over to his subordinates, and his impression of those materials has faded.

At this time, he couldn't care about his son, and humbly asked for advice.

Hou Xian had a gentle personality and no temper, and he didn't take Qiao, explaining: "Dongzhou is similar to Nanzhou, the local natives can't weave cloth or refine iron tools, most of them use wood as tools, but they can't even make wheels. So, their range of activities is small, and most of the tribes do not know each other.

In the narrow strip of land between the north and south continents of Dongzhou, there is a country, the Aztecs, although it is a country, but it is very backward, and it is said that most people still live in thatched huts.

They worship all the beautiful things, a feather, a big tree, can be the object of their worship. These glass beads are crystal clear, and in their eyes, they are more precious than gold.

In the southern continent of the Dongzhou continent, there is a large tribe called the Incas, which is said to be rich in gold and the people are gentle......"

Under Hou Xian's narration, everything about Nanzhou was spread out in front of Yi Xin like a picture scroll, the only pity is that they don't have a globe in front of them now, if there is a globe according to the map, they can understand it faster.

After the morning of the second day, Zhu Zhanji summoned Hou Xian and Yi Xin in the Jinshen Hall as soon as possible.

Although both of them didn't sleep all night, they were still in good spirits. In the temple of the body, a huge globe was placed in front of the three of them.

"The north and south continents of Dongzhou are 60,000 miles long, running through the north and south, and on this continent, there is also a mountain range that runs from south to north. This mountain range is close to our Daming, and most of the land on the west side is barren, but it is rich in minerals. On the east side is the Great Plain, which far exceeds the cultivated land area of my Ming Dynasty. This time you go to Dongzhou, the main goal is to ...... here, here ......"

Zhu Zhanji's fingers tapped twice in the later Mexico and Peru, and said: "The Aztec kingdom here is currently the most powerful country in Dongzhou, but they only have a few iron tools, and they still use obsidian and wooden sticks as weapons. They have potatoes and corn and peppers, and one of the important tasks of your visit is to bring back these crops.

Secondly, in the southern continent of Dongzhou, the rubber trees here are the most scarce crops in my Ming Dynasty, and you must bring back as much as possible, whether it is seedlings or seeds, you must bring them back as much as possible. This time, I will also send you 200 household personnel and experienced farmers to take charge of this task.

Half of the 10,000 garrisons gathered from southern Xinjiang will stay there for the time being, collecting rubber in exchange for gold. ”

With the memory of the major gold, silver, and copper mines in later generations, Zhu Zhanji did not particularly care about the gold in the hands of the Incas.

He didn't even think about exterminating the Incas directly, because as long as the Ming people arrived in the Americas, they would be wiped out.

Because the native Americans did not have the custom of raising livestock, they were also not resistant to germs, whether it was smallpox, influenza, or plague, they could bring great disasters.

And what the Ming wanted was not a one-time plunder, but a long-term immigration.

The Ming people needed slaves to work for themselves, and Zhu Zhanji didn't want to kill all the Indians of the same color as him, and finally had to transport Uncle Black from Africa.

Many tribes of the Indians were of the same race as the Han Chinese, and it was much easier to assimilate them than to assimilate anyone.

(I had a toothache for a few days, the rhythm was disrupted, and then my mind was uncertain and I felt a little dry in writing.) ）

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