The celebration banquet lasted for an hour and a half until the emperor was slightly drunk. The pro-guards and Yuefu guards who participated in the Northern Expedition were all present except for those who were seriously wounded. After the banquet, the emperor was very healthy, counted the merits, promoted the promoted, rewarded the heavy reward, and spread the grace of heaven. appointed Shang Huaiying as the eunuch of Sima Jian Zhangyin; promoted Jiang Yi to the commander of the Yulin Right Guard, and went to work after recovering from his injury; Zhao Gang was promoted to the commander of the Yulin Left Guard; promoted Tang Ji to the commander of the Yuefu Guards; Shi Feng, Wang Lie and other people who originally served in 100 households were promoted to 1,000 households.

For the officers and soldiers who died in the war, in addition to giving heavy pensions and posthumous titles, they also selected their sons and daughters to go to the Huanyi Bureau, the Teaching Workshop Department and other places to listen to errands and work, needless to say, they should be treated well, but on the issue of rewarding Zhu Qiming, the emperor made a difficulty.

"King Yue, this training and conquest, Fei Yin is probably no less than 30,000 taels, right?"

Taking advantage of the wine, the emperor called Zhu Qiming, Yang Pu, and Wang Ji to the Yongsu Hall to talk about military affairs, and Wang Zhen served closely.

Thirty thousand taels? How dare you say it! Zhu Qiming didn't want to follow the emperor's intentions and make himself suffer a loss. "Your Majesty, the minister's fee is no less than 60,000 taels, and the inner treasury has allocated 10,000 taels of silver, and Princess Changde has funded 30,000 taels, totaling more than 100,000 taels."

"Ahh The emperor was immediately dumbfounded, and after a long struggle, he said quietly: "I should have given you a heavy reward, but you also know that now that the inner treasury is empty, remember this account first, and I will not forget your great achievements." ”

Yes, I pressed all my belongings, but I only got a blank check! "Your Majesty, Princess Changde has funded 30,000 taels of silver."

The emperor smiled, his expression was slightly embarrassed, "The imperial sister is not short of silver, what is she doing with so much silver?" That's fine, even if I borrow her. ”

Poor Princess Changde was thrifty, and in the end she ended up with a royal comment of "no shortage of silver"! It seems that being a man still can't be bitter about himself, usually poor and extravagant, and when he encounters a major national event, he blindly pretends to be poor and calls him poor, so that he can take advantage!

Your Majesty, you can reward some silver and let the ministers get through the difficulties! These words came to his lips, but Zhu Qiming still swallowed it raw.

"King Yue, there are many jewels in the imperial prison, you pick up the ones you like, I won't treat you badly."

Jewelry? The jewels given by the emperor cannot be sold, they can only be kept at home, and they cannot be eaten by hunger or clothing by cold. Zhu Qiming was miserable in his heart, and he had to be more attentive, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your reward!" ”

Wang Ji on the side only stared at and pondered before, completely ignoring what the emperor and Zhu Qiming said, and at this time he came back to his senses leisurely, "Your Majesty, the minister has figured it out, the Wara Iron Cavalry is not invincible, but my Ming Dynasty has made a lot of mistakes in dealing with it in the past, and I have a huge army, but it is unusable, the soldiers are not like soldiers, the people are not like the people, and when the soldiers are in chaos, they are even ridiculed as bandits by the people." The king of Yue selected good soldiers, strictly drilled, changed the tactics of receiving the enemy and closing the city, intercepted the Tartar thieves with sharp horses, and took the initiative in the event of an emergency. The minister thought that King Yue's strategy was advisable. After the victory of the Battle of Luchuan, we should have planned as soon as possible against the trouble of the tiger and wolf! ”

The emperor's eyes lit up, and he stood up straight, "So, it is imperative to recruit the people?" ”

Yang Pu bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I don't know how many people Your Majesty wants to recruit?" His Majesty ordered the king of Yue to select more than 1,000 good soldiers, and the annual cost of silver exceeded 100,000 taels, excluding the one-time expenses such as weapons, war horses, and battle damage, and the annual consumption of more than 1,000 elite soldiers was not less than 50,000 taels. Now, with the number of recruiting 100,000 people, the annual cost should be 5 million taels! ”

Five million taels! Or is it just a matter of recruiting 100,000 people instead of 300,000 or 500,000? I saw that the emperor sat down in a dejected manner and did not say a word for a long time.

As long as people make the best use of their talents and make the best use of their resources, they can be invincible in the world, but the government has accumulated disadvantages for a long time, and even though there are countless resources under the world, they cannot be effectively mobilized, and the lack of war mobilization ability in turn inhibits the cohesion of the will to war.

The victory won by Zhu Qiming may have had an unexpected effect, that is, a hole was torn in the temple, and people of insight would come forward to cheer for the Ming Dynasty to turn from rich to strong!

"I originally planned to renovate the three major halls from Jane, but now it seems that the little money saved is not worth mentioning at all! That's it, the three major halls still have to be the same, and there is no need to be simple. The emperor sighed.

Don't! After ten years of hard life, you can save a huge fortune, why be discouraged? Zhu Qiming was anxious, but when it came to government affairs, he couldn't keep his voice.

Yang Pu glanced at Zhu Qiming and changed the topic in time, "Your Majesty, King Yue is about to become an adult, and the minister thinks that King Yue is not suitable for living in the palace, and it is difficult to put a good Yue Mansion to live, and it is difficult to put a long mouth in the world." ”

The emperor's face turned pale, and then he glanced at Wang Zhen seemingly inadvertently.

Wang Zhen laughed a few times, "Lord Yang's words are wrong, King Yue is not yet an adult, everything needs to be taken care of, Your Majesty left King Yue in the palace, demonstrating Your Majesty's kindness, how dare the world discuss!" ”

The world is often easily deceived by the appearance of the sword exchange on the temple. Take Yang Pu and Wang Zhen as examples, Yang Pu's words seem abrupt, but they may not contain any malice; Wang Zhen's rhetoric is quite pleasant, but it does not show that he does not harbor evil intentions, and the deep meaning of it is worth savoring by the authorities, and it must be carefully verified after the fact.

At this moment, Zhu Qiming's wisest choice is to remain silent.

Yang Pu glanced at Wang Zhen lightly, and his expression was calm, "The palace of the king of Yu is about to be completed, and the king of Yu is going to move out of the palace. ”

I saw that Wang Zhen's face was gloomy, "Isn't King Yu still in the palace?" ”

Wang Zhen is now known as the "inner minister", which means the prime minister of the inner court, and he has begun to be deeply involved in the government affairs, which is the first case of eunuchs interfering in politics since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. With the temple wonder of Wang Zhen's involvement, Zhu Qiming, as a prince who occasionally pre-governs, has become less eye-catching, perhaps, the important ministers of the court are still counting on Zhu Qiming to help do something.

The emperor frowned slightly, "This matter is over, and we will discuss it later." Although the king of Yue lives in the palace, I give him the right to enter and exit without prohibition. ”

The Son of Heaven said a word, and in one sentence, he faintly turned over the hole cards of Yang Pu and Wang Zhen. Yang Pu's semantic meaning obviously refers to Zhu Qiming's suspicion of being secretly detained, Wang Zhen's rhetoric is precisely to refute Yang Pu, and the emperor's sentence "There is no prohibition on entering and leaving" immediately cleared the suspicion of the Son of Heaven, at least on the surface.

The emperor's interest was swept away by most of it, but when he raised his eyes to look at Zhu Qiming, there was still no lack of smiles in his eyes. "King Yue, the imperial sister came to ask for a decree, she wants to pick up the wind and wash the dust for you, go to Princess Changde's Mansion first, go back to the Forbidden City after the incident, go to Qingning Palace and Xianxi Palace to say hello, and then go back to Yuefu to live for a few days before staying in another courtyard."

"Obey the order!"

The emperor was obviously ill-thinking, and asked Zhu Qiming to go to Princess Changde's Mansion first, so that Zhu Qiming could not go to Qingning Palace or Yuefu to change his clothes.

Zhu Qiming was dressed in a military uniform, and he didn't dare to swagger through the city to cause traffic jams, so he only called a few close guards and quietly came to Princess Changde's mansion by carriage.

Xue Huan went out to greet him, and when he saw Zhu Qiming, it was as if he had suddenly been excited, his neck was raised, and his eyes were full of brilliance when he smiled.

"See His Royal Highness King Yue, congratulations to His Royal Highness on his great victory!"

Zhu Qiming bowed his head and started to enter the mansion with Xue Huan, and saw Xue Huan leaning forward with a smile, "Your Royal Highness is triumphant, you have to be rewarded by the emperor, I don't know what rare things can be feasted on again?" ”

One sentence aroused Zhu Qiming's heart, and Zhu Qiming was inconvenient to reveal the unhappiness in his heart for half a minute. "The emperor has rewards, but those rewards are still in the royal vault, and when the king receives the reward, those treasures will be picked by you."

Xue Huan laughed heartily, and then turned his gaze to Zhu Qiming's wrist, "Your Highness, this string of Buddha beads is good." ”

Zhu Qiming turned his head to look at his wrist, his heart suddenly moved, and the whole person immediately fell into a trance, and it was not until he caught a glimpse of Xue Huan's impatient expression that he suddenly came back to his senses. "This is the king's belongings, but I can't give it to you!"

"Something to keep with you? Okay! Wouldn't it be an honor to be rewarded with things by His Highness in the future! ”

Zhu Qiming hid his hand behind him, he was quite embarrassed. Triumphant return, others meet to ask for rewards, Bo is a festive color, rashly refusing is not in accordance with the etiquette system, but a jade pendant around his neck is reluctant to be used for reward, as for the Buddha beads, don't even think about it!

But apart from these two things, he had nothing else with him. Just when he was embarrassed, he saw that Xue Huan seemed to have suddenly forgotten about the reward, and whispered in Zhu Qiming's ear: "Your Highness, there are several children of the Xun Qi family who have come to ask for a meeting with Your Highness, and I hope Your Highness will give you a thin face." ”

Hey, you can keep money when you see someone, this deal is quite good! Zhu Qiming followed Xue Huan into a hall without thinking.

There were five people sitting in the room, and they all seemed to be less than the weak crown, and when they saw Zhu Qiming, the five of them were slightly stunned, and immediately stood up together, "See His Royal Highness King Yue." ”

Zhu Qiming glanced at the five people, needless to say, they are the descendants of the princes and uncles of the capital, and everyone's clothes have obviously been carefully cut, very fitting, and they are more and more graceful, but this dress is a strange dress according to the standards of the time, so they dare to wear it. Moreover, all five of them showed their daughters, so they left Zhu Qiming with a bad impression.

Xue Huan was about to introduce five people to Zhu Qiming one by one, but unexpectedly, the five of them opened their mouths first, and when they opened their mouths, they were all over the place, touting Zhu Qiming as if they were beating the gods. One of them was excited, and even boasted about Haikou: "His Royal Highness the King of Yue, a good man should gallop across the field, although he is far less clever than His Highness, but if compared with the thousands and hundreds of households around His Highness, there is still a comparison." ”

Yo, what a big breath! Zhu Qiming said with a smile: "It is reported that the Tartar thieves are about to enter Kou Miyun in a big way, and this king may be ordered to go out again, or will this king take you with him?" There is one counts as one, and the first to be the first untitled hundred households, as long as you can survive, the king will give the emperor a strong admonition, and seal you as a thousand households. ”

"This······ This ······ It's all to blame on the parents who are in charge and don't let them join the army! ”

"Yes, these people can't help themselves."

Zhu Qiming smiled indifferently, "It's okay, since you can't enlist, there are other ways to serve the country." As you all know, Princess Changde went out for the king and donated 30,000 taels of silver. ”

"This······ This ······ Today, the Duke of Changde is mainly for His Royal Highness, how dare he rashly disturb him, and say goodbye in the next, and say goodbye in the next. ”

"Say goodbye below."

The five of them walked away, which made Xue Huan stunned, and he couldn't slow down for a long time.

A bunch of fools who can only play tricks! Zhu Qiming scolded secretly, he didn't want to ask the five people what their intentions were when they came to pay their respects, so he immediately left Xue Huan and walked out of the hall alone.

At this moment, the maid beside Princess Changde came to invite, "Please move His Royal Highness King Yue to the princess's mansion." ”

Passing through a path covered by flowers, the front suddenly opens up, and a magnificent palace is presented in front of you.

Listen carefully, the beautiful sound of the piano floats with the wind, and there is the sound of soldiers.

What a familiar sound! Suddenly, Zhu Qiming's heart was pounding.