At the beginning of April, Li Yuntian got up and left the capital, took an official ship down the Grand Canal, and went to Nanzhili to join the sailors, preparing to open the curtain on the elimination of the Japanese invaders.

Li Yuntian originally wanted to take the three-masted warship docked at Tianjin Port to go to Nanzhili, but this time it was a top-secret military operation to exterminate the Japanese invaders, and in order to avoid leaking the news, he went to Nanzhili under the banner of patrolling Jiangnan, so he naturally had to take the canal according to the usual practice.

After hearing the news, the officials of the state capital along the way immediately made preparations for the relevant reception matters, for fear that there would be inadequate hospitality.

Because Ming Taizu forbade the children of the imperial family to engage in politics, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, except for Zhu Biao, the father of Emperor Jianwen, who had patrolled the local area as the crown prince, the imperial court had not sent the prince to inspect the local military and political affairs.

Although Li Yuntian went to Nanzhili this time in the name of the right deputy capital of the Imperial History of the Imperial Palace, after all, he was the first king with a different surname to be named the king of Zhongwu alive in the Ming Dynasty WWW.UUXS.CC.

Although Li Yuntian disagreed with these local etiquette, thinking that it was a waste of local funds and delayed the affairs of the local yamen, he really couldn't say anything, after all, this was a long-standing trend in the officialdom, and he couldn't be alone, so he could only follow the customs of the locals and let those people toss.

However, Li Yuntian is now the county king of the Ming Dynasty, and it is not something that outsiders can see lightly, and the errand of this trip is to inspect Jiangnan, so it is not appropriate to have too much contact with the local state capitals along the way, so as not to be suspected of interfering in local affairs.

Therefore, Li Yuntian did not get off the boat to meet the officials who had been guarding the dock for a long time, but sent his deputy for this inspection, the left deputy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Yu Shi Xie Muen, to entertain him on his behalf.

Xie Muen was originally a prefect of Guangxi, a second-class jinshi of the Renchen Branch in the tenth year of Yongle, and after the orthodox emperor ascended the throne, he was transferred by the auxiliary ministers to take over the post of the former deputy left deputy Yushi due to illness.

Speaking of which, Xie Muen was able to get this position thanks to Li Yuntian, the cabinet and the six ministries quarreled over the position of the left deputy imperial history, and later Li Yuntian reconciled and recommended Xie Muen, which made Xie Muen jump from the prefect in a remote place in Guangxi to the left imperial history of the Ming Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Li Yuntian did not recommend Xie Muen for no reason, although he had not been to the southwest for many years, but as the governor of Guangxi and Jiaozhi, he was very familiar with the officials of Guangxi and Jiaozhi, Xie Muen was undoubtedly the best among the prefect-level officials, with excellent ability, and he had managed the local government in an orderly manner in recent years.

Xie Muen's resume is very good, after being nominated for the gold list, he entered the Metropolitan Procuratorate as a superintendent of the imperial history for five or six years, and then transferred to the household department for another six or seven years, and then went out to Guangxi as an official.

It stands to reason that an official with a resume like Xie Muen is the easiest to be promoted, but his career is not smooth, because his backer was demoted because he angered Emperor Yongle, and then was attacked by the hostile faction in the DPRK and China, so he had to go to a remote and wild place like Guangxi as an official.

The reason why Xie Muen was able to become the prefect is also related to Li Yuntian, Li Yuntian dismissed a group of officials after arriving in Guangxi, and then played a group of officials transferred and punished by the imperial court.

If it is strictly defined, Xie Muen should be regarded as an official of the six ministries and one faction in the court, and the officials of the six ministries will naturally not object, and Li Yuntian is regarded as a member of the cabinet camp, and the cabinet members who proposed him will not reject it.

Besides, there is no more suitable official in the cabinet and the six ministries to be the seat of Zuo Yushi, this position requires both background and resume, and it must be recognized by the cabinet and the six ministries, so Xie Muen can be said to have picked up a big bargain this time.

It is worth mentioning that a new faction has emerged among the civil officials in the court, and this faction is related to the officials of Guangxi, because Li Yuntian is the governor of Guangxi and the affairs of Jiaozhi, although the officials of Jiaozhi are from Jiangwutang, but the officials of Guangxi, especially the middle and high-ranking officials, are still from the cabinet and the six ministries, but they have been greatly influenced by Li Yuntian in recent years.

Therefore, these officials in Guangxi not only belong to the big camp of the cabinet and the six ministries, but also get very close to the lecture hall, after all, almost all of the officials who can come to Guangxi to be officials are frustrated people in the officialdom, and they agree more with the lecture hall founded by Li Yuntian than the cabinet and the six departments.

For the cabinet and the six ministries, it is very important to win over those officials in Guangxi, after all, those officials are not from the Jiangwutang, and there is a fundamental difference from the officials from the Jiangwutang, and the personnel relationship is subordinate to the Ministry of Officials rather than the Jiangwutang.

Xie Muen is close to knowing the Mandate of Heaven, and he never thought that he would be fortunate enough to hold such a prominent position as the Imperial History of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and he is very grateful to Li Yuntian for his grace.

Originally, Xie Muen wanted to take the lead in visiting Li Yuntian after entering Beijing, but was stopped by Li Yuntian, and first went to the house of Hu Ying, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and then went to Guo Jin, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Liu Zhongshi, and Gu Zuo, the left capital of the Imperial Palace.

Because of Emperor Xuande's dictation, Empress Dowager Zhang asked King Yue to return to the fiefdom to think about it, and the matter of King Yue forcing the palace to Empress Dowager Zhang in the Taihe Hall was solved in a very low-key manner, and it is not an exaggeration to describe it as unfazed.

Guo Jin, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, and Liu Zhongfu, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, escaped this incident without danger, after all, the orthodox emperor had just ascended the throne, and it was really not appropriate to make a big move.

Although Guo Jin and Liu Zhongfu were able to get out of it, they were completely suppressed by Hu Ying, who firmly supported the orthodox emperor at that time, and reluctantly handed over the position of the leader of the six civil officials.

Li Yuntian went to Jiangnan this time, in addition to Xie Muen and other accompanying officials, there were also her two wives, namely Lei Ting and Nasha, and Keiko Yamaguchi.

Lei Ting can be said to be Li Yuntian's secretary, so she naturally has to follow Li Yuntian's side, while Nasha wants to return to Jiaozhi and assist Li Yuntian in clearing the pirates on the Nanyang waterway.

As for Keiko Yamaguchi, she will take advantage of Li Yuntian's vigorous efforts to eliminate the Japanese invaders this time to return to Japan to complete the great cause of revenge in her heart.

Chen Ningning, Liu Wenqing and Zheng Wanrou returned to the capital to reunite with Li Yuntian after Lu Tianxing was imprisoned, but because the three of them were busy, they had to leave after only half a month.

In order to learn the lessons of this incident of King Yue forcing the palace, Nasha deliberately brought some of Li Yuntian's children over this time, so as not to trap everyone in the capital and become hostages in the event of an accident in the capital.

Li Yuntian actually didn't agree to do this, but Zhou Yuting, including Zhou Yuting, supported this approach, so he had to nod and agree, and he didn't want his children to be wiped out by future enemies.

However, Zhou Yuting's two sons, that is, Li Anbang, the son of Zhongwu Wangfu, and Li Anyu, the general of Zhenguo, must stay in the capital, the two are the legitimate heirs of Zhongwu Wangfu and the symbol of the future power of Zhongwu Wangfu, so they naturally have to stay in the capital to accompany them, otherwise they will inevitably be thought by the outside world that Li Yuntian has two hearts.

Since Li Yuntian was able to become the king of Zhongwu, his children were also knighted, except for Li Anbang, who was the prince of the county prince's mansion, the rest of the sons were named the general of the town state, and the daughters were named the county lord.

This made Zhou Yuting feel a little emotional, thinking that she became the county lord of Yingrui thanks to the grace of Emperor Yongle, and now her daughters have been able to become the county lord, which really made her unexpected, just like in a dream.

Along the way, Li Yuntian carefully taught the children who followed Nasha to Jiaozhi, he was usually too busy to spend time with them, and this time he took the opportunity to make up for this regret.

It is worth mentioning that since Li Yuntian became the king of Zhongwu, there have been more and more people who have come to the mansion to marry Li Yuntian and set up a baby, including royal relatives and civil and military officials, as well as wealthy businessmen.

For those who came to propose marriage, Li Yuntian asked Zhou Yuting to refuse them one by one, so as to wait for the children to be older before considering this matter.

Although the outside world thought that Li Yuntian was too calm and didn't want the Empress Dowager to misunderstand that he was secretly trying to win over the powerful in the court, in fact, Zhou Yuting knew very well that he didn't want to use the happiness of his children as a bargaining chip for power trading.

However, people can't help themselves in the rivers and lakes, and since Li Yuntian is in a high position in the court, it is inevitable to marry the powerful from all sides.

Just one day before Li Yuntian set off for the south, the Empress Dowager issued a decree to give Princess Yongde, the second daughter of the Empress Dowager Sun and the sister of the Orthodox Emperor, to Li Anbang, and the two would marry when they became adults in the future.

Everyone knows that after the Ming Dynasty established itself, it vigorously restricted the royal family and relatives under the ancestral system of Emperor Hongwu, which made the royal daughters marry commoners and petty officials, and the children of the royal family also took commoners or women from petty official families as wives.

The Empress Dowager's decree undoubtedly broke the ancestral system of Ming Taizu, which means that her views on the imperial family and relatives have unconsciously changed under the influence of Li Yuntian, from the previous suppression to support.

As Li Yuntian said, if the Ming Dynasty reaches the critical point of life and death, the most trustworthy of the Great Ming Dynasty is the royal family and relatives.

Otherwise, there are also loyal people among the civil and military officials in the court, but there are very few people who can really give up their surnames and follow the Ming Dynasty, otherwise there will not be so many Jianwen old ministers who will become his courtiers after Emperor Yongle ascends the throne.

Two hundred years later, in the Southern Ming Dynasty, many of the people who fought against the Qing army were the children of the royal family, after all, for them, the Ming Dynasty was not only a country, but also a family.

The Empress Dowager Zhang's decree to give marriage not only further enhanced Li Yuntian's prestige, but also changed the old marriage system of the Ming imperial family since the Ming Taizu, making the imperial family gradually intermarry with the magnates of the Ming Dynasty, changing the pattern of Ming Dynasty politics, and making the relatives of the imperial family on the stage of power in the Ming Dynasty, and becoming a third-party force outside the Ming Dynasty's official group, Xungui group and the inner court.

This is exactly what Li Yuntian wants to see, the rise of the royal family's relatives not only checks and balances the civil official group and the Xungui group, but also makes the emperor have more choices in employing people, and then indirectly weakens the power of the inner court, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

Although Li Yuntian admitted that the celebrant could effectively share the emperor's official duties, in the long run, if too much power was given to the eunuchs, it would be a disaster.

This is also the reason why the Qing Dynasty learned the lessons of the Ming Dynasty and vigorously suppressed the eunuchs, even the Empress Dowager Cixi's favorite eunuch An Dehai was beheaded by the governor of Shandong in the name of "leaving the capital without permission and violating the ancestral system", as for the powerful Li Lianying, she was just a slave of the Empress Dowager Cixi, although she had great authority, but it was only a special case, and did not improve the status of eunuchs in the Qing Dynasty.

When the fleet entered the Jiangnan territory, Li Yuntian soon got the bad news, a large group of pirates suddenly attacked Ningbo City without warning, robbed and burned a large amount of goods in the dock warehouse, and suffered heavy losses. R1148