One morning at the end of April, Ciqing Palace. The fastest update, the most stable, the fastest update, the fastest to go to the eye, the fast reading, the fastest, the fastest to read the web

Ciqing Palace is the residence of the crown prince Zhu Zhanji, located in the north of the three gates of Donghua Gate, which is commonly known as the "East Palace".

Under the guidance of an attendant, Li Yuntian held a painting scroll in his hand, passed through several corridors and the palace gate and came to a side room.

Although Zhu Zhanji has lived in Ciqing Palace for more than nine months, this is the first time Li Yuntian has come here, and he has not met Zhu Zhanji a few times, and it was all when Zhu Zhanji asked Emperor Hongxi to say goodbye, and there was no contact in private.

After all, Zhu Zhanji is the prince and is in the prime of life, Li Yuntian, as a close minister of Emperor Hong Xi, naturally has to keep a distance from Zhu Zhanji, so as not to arouse the suspicion of Emperor Hong Xi.

Since ancient times, the relationship between the emperor and the crown prince has been very delicate, on the one hand, the prince is the prince of the country, and the emperor has to vigorously cultivate it.

On the other hand, the emperor also had to guard against the power of the crown prince from becoming too powerful to threaten his dominance and suppress it secretly.

However, Zhou Yuting has a very close relationship with the crown princess and the crown princess, and Li Yuntian can only use this way to maintain this close relationship with Zhu Zhanji.

The reason why he came to Ciqing Palace to see Zhu Zhanji today was because he was ordered by Emperor Hongxi to give the "Map of the Territory of the World" he drew to the crown prince.

Li Yuntian painted the seven continents and the four oceans, and named it "The Territory of the World", which was a breathtaking thing in the early Ming Dynasty, after all, people's minds are still in the period of the round sky, and they think that the Ming Dynasty is the center of the world.

Moreover, in ancient times, the economy and science and technology were not developed, not to mention the exchanges between various continents, even the exchanges between neighboring countries were limited, and it can be said that they knew nothing about the outside world.

Emperor Hong Xi was very appreciative of this "Map of the Territory of the World" and couldn't put it down, and was surprised that Li Yuntian could make such a wonderful map.

As the Son of Heaven of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Hongxi naturally knew that there were countries such as Persia, Tianzhu, Daqin and Dashi in the West, and these countries were clearly listed in the "Map of the Territory of the World".

According to Li Yuntian's explanation, he consulted the historical documents left by the Yuan Dynasty, and contacted some merchants from the West when he was an official in Jiujiang Mansion before, and finally completed this "Map of the Territory of the World".

Due to the rush of time, Li Yuntian said that there were many places that were not perfect, and Emperor Hong Xi weighed it and asked Li Yuntian to send this picture to the crown prince, and asked Li Yuntian to retouch the picture and present it again.

Therefore, Li Yuntian was able to come to Ciqing Palace and see Zhu Zhanji in a bright and bright manner.

For Emperor Hongxi, Zhu Zhanji, who had lived with Emperor Yongle since he was a child and galloped through the northern desert, needed this picture even more.

Emperor Hongxi was easy-going by nature and implemented the national policy of recuperation and recuperation, which made the Ming Dynasty recuperate and accumulate strength secretly.

And Zhu Zhanji followed Emperor Yongle across the territory and had the potential to expand the territory, so whether Zhu Zhanji was guarding the current territory of the Ming Dynasty or building a huge empire like the Mongols, with this map of the world's territory, he could deal with it calmly in the future.

The chamberlain who went in to pay a prayer soon came out, bowed down and invited Li Yuntian in, with a smile on his face, everyone knew that Li Yuntian was a celebrity in front of Emperor Hong Xi, so he naturally had to deal with it carefully.

Zhu Zhanji leaned over the table and concentrated on painting, the crown princess Sun stood aside and waited, Li Yuntian bowed to Sun to show his respect, and then held the painting scroll in his hand and stood quietly aside waiting for Zhu Zhanji to finish the painting.

Taking advantage of Zhu Zhanji's splashing ink on the table, Li Yuntian looked up and found that what he had made turned out to be a picture of peonies, and several peonies were competing for beauty.

Li Yuntian looked a little surprised, it stands to reason that Zhu Zhanji's personality is very similar to Emperor Yongle, he shouldn't like this kind of flowers and plants, fierce birds and beasts and rivers and lakes are more in line with his mind.

But then Li Yuntian understood, Zhu Zhanji is introverted, so as not to arouse unnecessary suspicion, after all, he is only the prince now, not the son of heaven, and if the edge is too exposed, it will only annoy Hong Xidian.

Since the peony picture had already reached the finishing stage when Li Yuntian came, it didn't take long for Zhu Zhanji to put down the wolf pen in his hand and complete the painting.

"Li Yushi, what do you think of this king's painting?" After moving his waist, Zhu Zhanji looked at Li Yuntian on the side and said with a smile.

It is worth mentioning that in ancient times, when the crown prince called himself, he was called "Benwang", not "Bengong" or "His Royal Highness".

"Seiko is magnificent, the color is bright and vulgar, the layers are full, vivid, and simply beautiful." Li Yuntian bowed to Zhu Zhanji when he heard this, and praised in a deep voice.

"Haha......" Zhu Zhanji couldn't help laughing, Li Yuntian's sycophants made him very comfortable, and after glancing at the painting scroll in Li Yuntian's hand with some curiosity, he asked with a smile, "Li Yushi, why did you come this time?" ”

"His Royal Highness the Prince, the lower officials have been ordered by the emperor to send His Royal Highness a map of the territory made by the upper and lower officials." Li Yuntian raised the "Map of the Territory of the World" with both hands, and said quietly, "The lower officials are rude and ugly in front of His Highness." ”

Zhu Zhanji asked Li Yuntian to spread out the painting scroll in his hand on the table on the side with great interest, he was very curious about what kind of territory map Li Yuntian had made, which was worthy of such importance to Emperor Hong Xi, and specially asked Li Yuntian to send it to him.

When Li Yuntian unfolded the "Map of the Territory of the World" on the table, Zhu Zhanji's eyes suddenly lit up, and he looked at it intently.

Although Zhu Zhanji has also seen the "Ming Territory Map" drawn during the Yongle Emperor's period, in his opinion, it is accurate enough, but compared with Li Yuntian's picture, it is completely a frog at the bottom of the well.

Li Yuntian not only clearly marked the location and geography of the Ming Dynasty's two capitals and thirteen provinces on the map, and also presented the important mountains, rivers and lakes in various places, but also showed the seven continents and the four oceans in the world, and listed the countries and races living on them, which is really rare.

On this map, the territory of the Ming Dynasty also added the territory of Jiaozhi that was included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty not long ago, and the territory of Jiaozhi was clearly marked.

Of particular interest to Zhu Zhanji was that he knew that Zheng He had visited Java, Sumatra, Sulu, Siam, and Kurumus during his voyage to the West, but he did not know the location of these countries.

Li Yuntian clearly marked these countries on the map, so that Zhu Zhanji knew Africa, the Americas, Oceania and Antarctica, as well as the Red Sea and Mecca.

"Your Majesty the Crown Prince, Xia Guan thinks that Nanyang will be an important sea passage for our Ming Dynasty to communicate with Western countries in the future, and it has an extremely important economic and strategic position."

Seeing Zhu Zhanji looking at the territory map on the table with full attention, Li Yuntian stepped forward quietly, pointed to the Strait of Malacca in the waters of the South China Sea below Jiaozhi and said, "Especially this strait, which is simply the lifeblood connecting the west and the east, and the geographical location is very important. ”

"It's dangerous!" Zhu Zhanji's eyes fell on the Strait of Malacca, and when he saw that it was a long and oblique body of water, he couldn't help but bow his head slightly, knowing its importance.

"His Royal Highness the Prince, although I am a Ming Dynasty in the eastern part of the Eastern Continent, prosperous, rich and strong, but there are as many as seven continents in the world, and there are all kinds of people living on them, if you can't understand their situation, then the consequences will be unimaginable over time."

Li Yuntian saw Zhu Zhanji looking thoughtfully at the Strait of Malacca, so his tone changed, and he said worriedly, "Hundreds of years ago, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places were still barbarian places, and who would have thought that now it has become the richest place in my Ming Dynasty. ”

Zhu Zhanji frowned slightly when he heard this, and felt that since what Li Yuntian said had some truth, it was not a bad thing to take precautions after all.

But there are some alarmists, after all, now the Ming Dynasty is an out-and-out giant power in eastern Asia, triggering the grand occasion of all countries coming to the dynasty, and he does not believe that those overseas barbarians can surpass the Ming Dynasty.

"His Royal Highness the Prince, Great Qin was divided into two countries a thousand years ago, according to the geographical division, one is called the Eastern Qin and Eastern Roman) Empire, and the other is the Western Qin and Western Roman) Empire, the Eastern Qin Empire has lasted until now, and the Western Qin Horse Empire was divided into many separate countries after a few hundred years, and the lower officials called those countries the Western Qin Kingdoms."

Li Yuntian knew that Zhu Zhanji thought that he was worrying about the sky, so he stretched out his hand and pointed to Western Europe and West Asia and said, "Two or three hundred years ago, in order to achieve political, military and economic goals, the Western Qin states launched wars against Dashi, a total of eight times before and after, and even the Eastern Qin Empire suffered and was sacked. ”

"Although the Western Qin Kingdoms are not as prosperous as my Ming Dynasty, they can create sharp weapons and high-performance catapults, and as far as the minister knows, the Western Qin Kingdoms are now developing new types of artillery, and they are also sending people to other places to explore waterways like the Three Treasure Eunuchs."

Li Yuntian tried his best to tell Zhu Zhanji about the Crusades in easy-to-understand language, and his expression was extremely solemn, "I am a country founded by filial piety and governed by Confucianism, and I am a state of etiquette, but the Western Qin countries are different, they do not have the way of Confucius and Mencius, they study natural sciences, and they are poor in resources, so they often invade other countries, and in the long run, they will become a strong enemy of our Ming Dynasty." ”

"Natural sciences?" It was the first time Zhu Zhanji had heard such a term, and he couldn't help but look at Li Yuntian suspiciously.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the so-called natural sciences refer to the study of many phenomena that occur in life." Li Yuntian bowed down and explained in a deep voice, "For example, they will study why gunpowder explodes, and they will also study the phenomenon of boiling water vapor lifting the lid of the pot. ”

"These barbarians are so bored that they are interested in such trivial matters." The crown princess and concubine Sun couldn't help but purse the corners of her mouth when she heard this, and her face showed a trace of disdain.

"Crown Princess, although this thing seems a little ridiculous, but after further investigation, it is really terrifying, once they know the principle of gunpowder explosion, then they will improve it and create more powerful gunpowder."

Li Yuntian turned to Sun, bowed slightly at him, and said in a deep voice, "As for studying the water vapor top pot lid, the lower officials feel that it is even more terrifying, once they transform the power of water vapor into other places, such as driving the sea boat, then it will greatly shorten the sailing time." ”

When Sun heard this, his eyes showed a puzzled look, and he didn't know how to drive the power of water vapor to the sea boat, and Zhu Zhanji also felt suspicious, looking a little incredulous.

"His Royal Highness the Prince, the lower officials have been studying gunpowder and water vapor recently, and when the lower officials have achieved something, they will show their effectiveness to His Royal Highness and the crown princess."

Li Yuntian knew that he had said enough now that he needed to let Zhu Zhanji and the Sun family calm down and taste their tastes, so he said quietly.

"Li Yushi, you gave this king a painting today, then this king will return you with one." Zhu Zhanji laughed when he heard this, groaned for a while, pointed to the peony picture he had drawn earlier, and said, "This painting will be given to you by the king." ”

"His Royal Highness Prince Xie." Li Yuntian was secretly happy in his heart when he heard this, and hurriedly asked Zhu Zhanji to take luggage.

Peony means wealth since ancient times, Zhu Zhanji sent this picture to him, isn't it to give him a wealth, the heart of the envelope is self-evident. One