Zhu Youzhen wanted to "do something" to Zu Dashou, Wu Sangui and other generals of the Liaodong Border Army, but it was not a day or two. Aside from the history of another time and space, the two have surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and Wu Sangui has become a big traitor who has been infamous for thousands of years, just Zu Dashou's performance of almost surrendering in Daling River has made Zhu Youzhen have great vigilance against him. There is a "tradition" in the surrender of the Liaodong border army, Li Yongfang, Sun Degong, Tong Yangzhen and others have succeeded one after another, so do you know that the ancestor will not be the next one?

Taking a step back, even if Zu Dashou did not want to surrender to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, it is an indisputable fact that he supported the army for personal gain, and his subordinates often demanded salaries and mutinied. For Zhu Youzhen, this is an out-and-out warlord!

He can temporarily tolerate the cowardice and incompetence of the Weisho army, but the warlords absolutely cannot tolerate it, because the existence of the warlords greatly weakens the authority of the central government. Throughout the history of China, there were distant feudal towns in the late Tang Dynasty, and the melee of the Central Plains by the Beiyang warlords in the near future, all of which consumed the national strength to the extreme decline, and the people suffered greatly, which eventually inevitably led to foreign invasion, which was a catastrophe for the Chinese nation.

Therefore, since the withdrawal of the Liaodong border army to Shanhaiguan, Zhu Youzhen has already made up his mind to try to deprive Zu Dashou of his military power. But he also knew that Zu Dashou, as the head of the Li family, had a deep-rooted influence in the eastern Liaodong border army, and he could not be deprived of military power if he wanted to. If you take it for granted to come to a holy decree to transfer Zu Dashou away from the border army, Zu Dashou has a variety of means to fight it, such as delaying time, creating fake mutinies, and so on. really made him anxious, maybe he would jump over the wall and go to the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Once Zu Dashou does not obey the edict, it will be troublesome, and if the court does not crusade against him, it will bring humiliation on itself; Once the crusade is made, it will be cannibalism, so that the Manchus will reap the benefits of the fisherman yesterday.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen had no choice but to endure it temporarily, not only did not stimulate Zu Dashou, but instead awarded him an earl to calm his heart. At the same time, a two-pronged approach, on the one hand, let Gao Di control Zu Dashou, and monitor it with Mangui, He Kegang and other departments, and move the families of the border army to the south of Shanhaiguan to settle down, so that Zu Dashou did not dare to act rashly; On the other hand, the food and salary were paid in full and in a timely manner, and even the monthly salary was raised, so that the ordinary soldiers of the border army could get the benefits of the imperial court and would not be pulled away by Zu Dashou.

This pacification policy has been implemented for a year, and it has received good results, and the ancestral life department has always been relatively peaceful, and there has been no chaos such as mutiny. This shows that the people's minds are determined, and the imperial court has initially re-established its authority in the hearts of the border army. coincided with the thieves raging in the northwest, Zhou Yanru was helpless, and Zhu Youzhen just used this excuse to transfer Wu Sangui to suppress the thieves, which seemed logical and did not arouse Zu Dashou's suspicions.

Only Zhu Youzhen himself knows that this is only the first step. As long as Wu Sangui left Shanhaiguan, he would never want to go back, and such a thing as bringing the Qing army into the customs would never happen again. He doesn't want to be entrenched in Yungui like Wu Sangui in history, after thousands of people and horses enter the customs, there is neither territory nor soldiers to replenish, and everything such as food and military supplies depends on the supply of the imperial court, how much more waves can he Wu Sangui make? If he is not effective in combat, or even violates the laws of the imperial court, then don't blame Zhu Youzhen for turning his face and being ruthless, he has to cut off his head, and he will never suffer in the future.

Although Wu Sangui was transferred this time, although the troops were not large, since this start, Zhu Youzhen had the means to continue to transfer Zu Dashou's border army in the future and gradually dismantle his forces in the army. After Zu Dashou's troops are small to a certain extent, Zhu Youzhen will give Zu Dashou a bright rise and a secret surrender, even if he is a duke, Zhu Youzhen is willing, as long as Zu Dashou hands over the military power.

At that time, if Zu Dashou still dares to resist the decree, then Zhu Youzhen will no longer be polite, and he will definitely take it down by thunderous means. Without Wu Sangui and other wings, Zu Dashou can only be captured. Of course, this is the worst-case scenario, and Zhu Youzhen still hopes to complete this transition as smoothly as possible.

In fact, not only Zu Dashou, but also the border armies of various towns also have such problems to varying degrees. After solving Zu Dashou, the biggest warlord, the problems of the other border armies were solved. After that, it is naturally a nationwide military reform, and the border army and the guard army will no longer be distinguished, but will be unified and reorganized into the Ming Army! ...

After this matter was done, Zhu Youzhen felt a lot more relaxed. After returning to Shanhaiguan, Zhu Youzhen just took a short rest, and then moved to the palace outside the city, where several concubines and Princess Anna and others were already waiting.

This palace is one of the few extravagant buildings built since Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne, and is located on the coast of the southwest of Shanhaiguan and north of the estuary of the Yu River. In fact, to put it bluntly, this is Beidaihe in the previous life. Located at the foot of the East Mountain, on the shore of the sea, the palace can not only enjoy the magnificent view of the sunrise over the sea, but also take a beach stroll and count the waves, which is really a rare summer resort.

And the most special thing about this palace is that it is a seaside villa in the classical European style. When Zhu discovered that Anna was proficient in Western architecture, he commissioned her to design the palace and supervise its construction. Anna happily accepted the task, and with the concerted efforts of the craftsmen dispatched by the Ministry of Works, the project was completed in just over two months.

But Zhu Youzhen built this palace not for his own enjoyment. He learned from the last visit of the Portuguese mission, that is, at this stage, neither the official group nor public opinion still attaches great importance to diplomacy, and it can even be said that there is no concept of diplomacy at all. If foreign envoys continue to be allowed to visit them in Beijing, it will lead to a lot of unnecessary troubles and greatly interfere with diplomatic work.

That's why he commissioned Anna to build this palace in Beidaihe, called the palace, in fact, it is more suitable to be a hotel dedicated to receiving and entertaining foreign guests. Today he will receive envoys from Europe here, and this place will not be idle when there are no envoys. Zhu Youzhen has already thought about it, for example, he ordered Li Dingguo to come to "Hu Wei" for a month, which is actually to give him a month off and let him recuperate here.

And the diplomatic envoy to meet today is no small matter. One was named Andre Polo, an envoy of the Republic of Venice; The other, Vincenzo Viviani, was an envoy of the Duchy of Genoa. In fact, both men were missionaries, and they had come from Europe on a Portuguese merchant ship this time.

Among them, the younger Viviani intrigued Zhu Youzhen, because according to Anna, he was actually a disciple of Galileo, a "madman who preached heresy"!