Zhu Youxiao has always had prestige in the army, and he asked the soldiers to postpone their retirement, although some people complained a lot, but they did not make any trouble.

It was not until December that the 40,000 soldiers were assembled. After a month of training at sea, 40,000 soldiers and 10,000 women officially set out for Boni.

But during the assembly of soldiers, Zhu Youxiao ushered in his 50th birthday. By 14 November, Zhu Youxiao was exactly 50 years old. For the Empire, this is definitely a day of national celebration, and according to the custom, there will be amnesty for the whole world.

Although the amnesty violated the spirit of the law, Zhu Youxiao still carried out the amnesty in accordance with the usual practice, but the scope of the amnesty this time was much smaller than before.

But the celebration did not shrink, on this day, from Xipol to Lengzhou, and even the vassal countries were celebrating Zhu Youxiao's 50th birthday. Early in the morning, Zhu Youxiao was dressed up in the court to accept the congratulations and gifts from the court, inside and outside the palace, and the envoys of the vassal state.

At the end of the celebration ceremony one day, although Zhu Youxiao was a little tired, he received a lot of congratulatory gifts, which were worth hundreds of thousands of taels.

"All the birthday money distributed to the people of Jingshi has been distributed, right?" Zhu Youxiao asked. Although the treasury is short of funds, but the internal money is rich and ruthless, Zhu Youxiao took advantage of his birthday to distribute one or two silver dollars to each of the people of Beijing.

"The Janissaries have been distributed, and the birthday money for the soldiers is still being distributed." Zhang Yan replied.

"In a flash, I have reached the age of knowing the destiny of heaven, and I can't accept old age." Zhu Youxiao sighed.

"The emperor is the supreme of the ninety-five, and he will definitely live a long life."

"I don't want to live a long life, I decided that the crown prince will be elected in March next year, and after the election of the prince, I will give the crown prince the throne within three or five years." Zhu Youxiao said.

"Your Majesty, who among the three princes can you think of as the crown prince?" Zhang Yan asked.

"I'll let someone else decide." Zhu Youxiao replied.

"Who is Your Majesty going to let decide?" Zhang Yan asked curiously.

"I consider leaving this matter to the House of Lords. Moreover, I also decided that after I became a Zen position, I would leave the Jingshi. ”

"Where is the emperor going?" Zhang Yan asked.

"I haven't thought about it yet, they all say that I am rich in the world, but there are too many places in this empire that I haven't visited, and I want to go and see it." Zhu Youxiao replied.

"The emperor's ......" Zhang Yan wanted to dissuade Zhu Youxiao, but she didn't know how to dissuade her.

"I know what you want to say, but I really want to go and see, and when the time comes, I will bring all the concubines who are willing to go around with me, they have been trapped in this palace for so many years, and it is time to go out and have a look."

"Also, after I take the throne, if I still stay in Beijing, how can the new emperor handle the government affairs freely? I want to give the new emperor a space. ”

"Since the emperor has decided, the concubine will follow His Majesty at that time." Zhang Yan said with a smile.

"After a hundred years of my permission, all the concubines will be buried in the same cave as me in Beihai." Zhu Youxiao said suddenly.

"Your Majesty, this ...... This is contrary to the religion and the ancestral system. Zhang Yan said softly. In this life, Zhu Youxiao has done too many things that violate etiquette and the ancestral system.

"Life is the same, death is the same cave, their best years have been spent with me, and it is unfair to them to bury them in a place far away from me after a hundred years. I will build a large tomb next to my tomb, and the concubines will be buried in this tomb after a hundred years. Zhu Youxiao explained.

"The emperor is merciful!" In this era, only the queen or the mother of the next emperor can be buried in the same cave with the emperor, and after the other concubines died, they were all buried elsewhere.

In history, Concubine Li Cheng, Concubine Duan Chun and Concubine Zhang Yu were buried together with Jingshi Jinshan. Their tombs were excavated in 1951, and according to the unearthed epitaphs, Concubine Yu and Concubine Cheng were indeed deposed at that time, but the time when they were buried after their death was when Wei Zhongxian was in power, which is consistent with historical records. Countless people in modern times have overturned Wei Zhongxian's case, but how should this be explained?

"Kindness? Hundreds of years later, whether I am a tyrant or a poor and extravagant prince is another matter. Zhu Youxiao is well aware of the power of the network in later generations, and some people can easily say that white is black by taking advantage of the crowd's herd mentality. Just by virtue of the fact that Zhu Youxiao has visited the Qinglou, he will be able to be used as a faint gentleman one day in the future. Not to mention that he has done many disliked things, such as fighting everywhere, acquiescing in the slave girl trade, slaughtering aliens, and so on.

"Your Majesty, why do you say this?"

"All I have to do is myself, what happens after my death, what others say I can't control, it doesn't matter to me whether I am a faint monarch or a saint. I was with you when I was alive, and under the Nine Springs, I also had you with me, and I have no regrets! Zhu Youxiao said loudly.

"The concubine will accompany the emperor for the rest of her life!" Zhang Yan said affectionately.

"Then you will wait for me to marry you in the next life." Zhu Youxiao said with a smile.

"Well, no matter how many lifetimes, the concubine is waiting for you, if you don't come to find the concubine, the concubine will come to you."

……

In the spring of the thirty-fifth year of the Apocalypse, just after the New Year, the Imperial Metropolitan Governor's Office received Zhu Youxiao's holy decree, ordering the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion to form another 50,000-strong military team to go to the Great Wilderness Dongzhou to pioneer the wilderness.

What attracted the most attention to the empire was that through Zhu Youxiao's efforts, the empire issued the "Law of Mercy", which is a decree on the prohibition of logging, hunting, and fishing, of course, not a complete ban, but a ban on hunting, a ban on fishing, and regulations on the cutting down of trees.

In history, in the Xia and Shang eras, there was a provision that "in the summer and March, Sichuan Ze does not enter the net, and the length of the adult fish and turtle" was established, and in the Zhou Dynasty, there was a provision that "the Sichuan Ze does not enter the net from time to time, and the length of the adult fish and turtle". Subsequent dynasties made similar provisions. But it is not perfect, and the implementation is not good, Zhu Youxiao thinks that now that the footsteps of the Ming people are going to the world, the corresponding regulations should be made as soon as possible to be prepared.

In order to implement this decree, Zhu Youxiao even deliberately set up a special department to be responsible for this matter. The whole empire only thought that Zhu Youxiao would forgive the killing he had created.

On the evening of 14 March, Zhu Youxiao summoned three candidates for the crown prince at the Qianqing Palace.

"Tomorrow, the House of Lords will select one of the three of you to be the crown prince, that is, the next emperor of the empire, I know that the three of you have been working hard for the crown prince during this time, and under my surveillance, although you have not done anything out of the ordinary, but the competition is very fierce. The battle between the country and the capital has always been cruel, but after the results are out tomorrow, I don't expect your brothers to be as harmonious as when you were children, but you can't harm each other's lives. So I decided that the remaining two people, one to go to Xipol, and the other to the Great Wilderness Dongzhou. ”

(End of chapter)