All the people of the Huang family in Malacca were arrested, but Zhengde did not wipe out the entire Huang family, but killed a few people who knew the inside story of Zhou Hai, such as Huang Qionghai, the head of the Huang family, and the heads of four affiliated families, these four subsidiary families were all ministers who escaped with Zhu Yunwen back then, such as the affiliated family surnamed Chang, who is the descendant of Chang Yuchun, and is still related to Chang Xiao.

In order to keep the family's secrets from being revealed, most of the people of the Huang family did not know the secrets of their family, and they did not know that their ancestors were Zhu Yunwen, but it was precisely for this reason that these people escaped the most remarkable, and more than 600 people were captured by Zhengde and returned to the Ming Dynasty, and all of them were placed in Fengyang, the central capital, to guard the ancestral tomb of the Zhu family, and no one was allowed to contact them without his order.

Zhou Chong learned from Zhengde that most of the people of the Huang family were still alive, which made him breathe a sigh of relief, although they were imprisoned in Fengyang and lost their freedom, but it was better than all of them being killed by Zhengde, maybe when Zhengde was in a better mood in the future, or replaced by another emperor to come to power, the Huang family might be pardoned, and then they would be able to live in the territory of the Ming Dynasty openly, and no one would care about their identity.

That night, Zhou Chong and Zhengde chatted for a long time, and at first they were talking about some private matters, for example, Zhengde told Zhou Chong very frankly that because he was calculated by Zhou Hai, he would not want children in this life, and he only had such a brother as Zhou Chong, so he kept urging Zhou Chong to give birth to a son quickly, and then he could succeed him as the prince, and the Ming Dynasty could be stabilized.

Hearing this, Zhou Chong finally understood, no wonder Zhengde hurriedly married himself and Wang Jinxuan, it turned out that he wanted him to get married and have children as soon as possible. It's a pity that he doesn't know what to do. It was one of his holy decrees. How much trouble has been caused to yourself. Fortunately, Jinxuan is an open-minded woman and didn't worry too much about Zhou Chong, so that Zhou Chong's family didn't have too much chaos.

As for passing his son to Zhengde, Zhou Chong does not exclude this, after all, as Zhengde's only younger brother, it is also his responsibility to inherit the throne, and even if his son succeeds in the past, it is still his own son. It is a good thing to be the emperor of the Ming Dynasty in the future.

After chatting about personal affairs, Zhou Zhong and Zhengde chatted about official affairs very happily, especially for the situation in Nanyang and the colonization of the Portuguese in various parts of the world, Zhengde was very interested, and even he felt that what Zhou Chong told him helped him open a new door and broaden his horizons.

"Second brother, what are your plans next?" Zhengde suddenly asked, this time he came to Shuangyu Port only he and Empress Dowager Zhang knew about it, although Gu Dayong and others also knew something. But he definitely didn't have the courage to say it, so Zhou Chong's current identity is still a secret.

"Brother Huang. I don't think my identity should be made public for the time being, and I will still be my admiral of the four seas, so that I can break the sea ban little by little according to the original plan, and at the same time develop the South Seas and resist the invasion of the Portuguese, but if my identity is made public, then I can only be named the vassal king of the Ming Dynasty, and it is impossible to be released as an official at all! Zhou Chong thought about it and suddenly said solemnly.

In fact, Zhou Zhong took the initiative not to disclose his identity, and it was a great risk to continue to be the official position of the governor of the four seas, because there was an example of Zhu Di before, so the Ming Dynasty's precautions against the vassal kings were very strict, and even without the emperor's order, the vassal kings in various places could not even go out of their fiefdoms, which was almost the same as being in prison, let alone holding an official position. Now Zhou Chong actually proposed that he still wants to be the commander of the four seas who holds great power, in the eyes of others, this has already violated the taboo of righteousness.

However, Zhengde was very happy to hear Zhou Chong's words, Da Lu smiled and patted Zhou Chong's shoulder and said: "It is worthy of being my brother, and even his thoughts are the same as mine, if your identity is disclosed now, I am afraid that he can only become a vassal king nested in a fief in the end, and he can't be my assistant at all, and the overseas situation is complicated, except for you in the court, I really can't find any reliable people to manage overseas affairs, so for the time being, I will continue to help my brother take care of maritime affairs, not only to lift the fetters of the sea ban on the court, It is also necessary to open up a new financial path for the Ming Dynasty. ”

Speaking of overseas affairs, Zhou Zhong suddenly remembered an important matter, and immediately said to Zhengde: "Brother Huang, I heard that some time ago, the Yellow River was flooded again, and several state capitals along the river were affected, and many victims began to flee outward. ”

The Yellow River was originally the mother river on the land of the Central Plains, but after the Tang and Song dynasties, because of a large number of felling trees in the middle and upper reaches, coupled with climate changes, in the Ming Dynasty, the entire Yellow River has become a man-eating beast, floods will occur from time to time, the people on both sides of the river are deeply affected, this year the Yellow River lost its temper again, washed away the river embankment and a lot of farmland.

Hearing Zhou Chong mention the floods in the country, Zhengde couldn't help but sigh and said: "That's right, last month, the upper reaches of the Yellow River suddenly rained, and as a result, the Henan area became a flood peak, and the river embankment in the Henan Province collapsed all of a sudden, and more than 500,000 people were affected by itIn other words, farmers in the second half of the year will have no harvest. ”

When he said this, Zhengde suddenly slapped the chair fiercely and said: "Although the corn and sweet potatoes sent by the second brother last time are high-yield grains, they can only be bred this year, and they cannot be promoted on a large scale at all, otherwise I will not be afraid of this flood!" ”

Hearing Zhengde's words, Zhou Zhong suddenly smiled and said: "Brother Huang doesn't have to worry about these victims, I have a way to kill two birds with one stone, but I don't know if you have the courage to do it, Brother Emperor Dao?" ”

"Ha Luha, you have even learned to talk to me, I want to hear it, what can you do to kill two birds with one stone?" Zhengde pointed at Zhou Chong and said with a smile, he and Zhou Chong get along well, not only because Zhou Chong is his only younger brother, but most importantly, he can feel that Zhou Chong has never regarded him as a ninety-five honor, he speaks and does things very casually, and talking to him is like two friends who have been friends for many years, not some monarch.

I saw that Zhou Chong suddenly put away his smiling face at this time, stood up with a solemn expression and said: "Brother Huang, I have already introduced some of the situation in Nanyang to you just now, although the climate is hot, and there are many poisonous insects and beasts in the forest, but it is rich in products, not to mention anything else, as long as a person is hardworking, there is almost no need to worry about starvation, there is almost too much food and fruits to eat, and we want to completely control Nanyang, it is not enough to rely on the army alone, there must be a large population, it just so happens that our Ming Dynasty is now full of natural disasters, Therefore, it is better to transport those victims to Malacca and other places in the South Seas, on the one hand, to solve the problem of food for the disaster victims, and on the other hand, to consolidate our rule over the local area. ”

After listening to Zhou Chong's words, Zhengde suddenly fell into contemplation, the situation in the country he knows better than anyone else, as long as there is a natural disaster every year, there will inevitably be disaster victims, although there are now sweet potatoes and corn two high-yield crops, but want to fully promote these two crops, it is impossible not to have a few years, and the number of victims produced in the past few years is not guaranteed, in case of repeated riots like Liu Wu and Liu Liu, God knows how much loss Lu Dao will bring to Daming.

Thinking of this, Zhengde raised his head and asked very cautiously: "Second brother, the relocation of the victims is not a trivial matter, this not only requires the support of the cabinet, but also has a careful plan, especially in the process of relocation, it must not cause the victims to resist, otherwise it is likely to cause a riot." ”

"Brother Huang, although the land of our Ming Dynasty is vast, but after so many years of multiplication, the population of the Ming Dynasty has increased several times, but the amount of land is certain, and the wealthy nobles have been annexing the land, so that more and more people lose their land, have to live by renting other people's land, whenever the famine comes, they are the first victims, if this situation is not resolved, it is likely that the famine will cause greater riots in the future, but if the population is migrated overseas, This problem can be fundamentally solved, and with the migration of immigrants, our Ming Dynasty can also grasp a larger territory, and this kind of territorial expansion is enough to make the imperial brother comparable to His Majesty Taizu! Zhou Zhong persuaded again.

Zhou Zhong has long understood the predicament that Daming is facing now, and he also knows that Daming is now located on the edge of the cliff, and the domestic land annexation is extremely serious, countless poor people have lost their land and become tenant farmers, and because there are more people and less land, many people who have lost their land have become displaced people, these displaced people have become one of the most unstable factors in Daming, they are like a stream of gasoline flowing in the land of Daming, only a little spark, can burn the entire Daming to ashes.

According to the original history, a few decades after the death of Zhengde, Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the Wanli Dynasty, saw the predicament of the Ming Dynasty, so he carried out the Wanli New Deal, which made the Ming Dynasty's national strength rise for a time, and there was a situation of Zhongxing, although Zhang Juzheng suffered unfair treatment after his death, but his new policy made the Ming Dynasty recover a lot of vitality, and forcibly extended a lot of life of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhou Chong, who came from later generations, is very familiar with this history, and also understands very well what the biggest dilemma of the Ming Dynasty is, in fact, to put it bluntly, the contradiction between the increasing population and the increasingly fierce land annexation, this contradiction is not irresolvable, and there are even many ways, and in Zhou Chong's view, colonization overseas is undoubtedly one of the best ways. (To be continued......)