On the eighth day of August in the sixteenth year of Hongwu, half a year has passed, which is the day when the Ming expeditionary fleet set out.

On the Dianjiang platform in Jinling, Zhu Yuanzhang was going to hand over Shuai Yin personally to his righteous son Changning Wang Lu Ning, and also handed over the Great Seal of the Prison Army to Zhu Di, the fourth son of the emperor.

These two men will lead all the generals of the Ming Dynasty who can conquer and are accustomed to warfare to open up sea routes and open up channels for maritime trade.

The two of them changed into military uniforms, and came to the stage early in the morning, looked at each other and smiled, and they both felt heroic.

They will take a boat from the Qinhuai River to the mouth of the Qiantang River, and then take the warship of the Ming Dynasty and go south along the South China Sea through Fuzhou.

One is to establish diplomatic relations with other places to promote the might of the Ming Dynasty, and the other is to develop local mineral deposits with other places to improve the economic benefits of the Ming Dynasty.

This is not only a dangerous storm, but I am afraid that there are many tribes and pirates to stop it, which can be described as frightening, but the two people who have already experienced a hundred battles have not paid attention to it at all.

There were still two hours left in the scheduled time of the Ministry of Rites, and at this time, Zhu Yuanzhang was worshiping the heavens, reporting to the heavens and the ancestors that he was going to send a fleet to ocean trade.

When all of this is done, the army will set out and embark on the journey.

At this time, he suddenly found a messenger from the East Palace, and quickly came to the front of the general to find Lu Ning.

"Qi Qi two princes, due to the sudden emergency, the opening date is temporarily suspended, Your Majesty recruits the two princes to enter the palace quickly."

Seeing that this eunuch was a strange face with a rather serious expression, the two of them realized that something big must have happened, and they came all the way to the outside of the hall.

After a while, the eunuch who had gone in to pass the word came back and said.

"Your Majesty, please go in quickly, and have important things to explain."

The two of them entered the hall one after the other, but found that all the princes had already entered Beijing, and everyone looked serious, and the crown prince was even more serious, and his face was as heavy as water, and his eyebrows showed an anxious look.

As soon as the two of them wanted to kneel down and kowtow, they were ordered by Zhu Yuanzhang to be exempted, and then they didn't say much and went directly to the topic.

"Di'er, Zi'an, Xiongying has ever been to the mansion for the two of you?"

Zhu Xiongying is Zhu Biao's eldest son, and as he gets older and older, he gradually has the atmosphere of a king, whether it is Zhu Yuanzhang or Zhu Biao, they attach great importance to him.

And he also gets along well with his uncles, especially close to Zhu Di and Lu Ning.

Zhu Di shook his head and replied.

"Erchen has recently been ordered to prepare for the expedition of the Ming fleet, and he has been in the army for a while recently, and he has not yet returned to the palace, so his father can send someone to Erchen to inquire in the palace of the capital."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and asked.

"Zi'an, where is your house?"

Lu Ning has often been in the house these days, he is different from Zhu Di, there are many properties in the family that need to be explained, and some reliable people can take care of them.

In addition, he also had to provide Zhu Yuanzhang with some advice on government affairs, and it would be quite inconvenient if he had been living in the army.

What's more, he is still Zhu Xiongying's master, and Zhu Xiongying went to his palace to ask, which is naturally the right thing to do.

Lu Ning respectfully replied to Zhu Yuanzhang and said.

"Yesterday, Erchen went to the East Palace to give Xiongying a lecture on the Analects, and he came back after the lecture, he should go back to his palace."

The prince and Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at each other, and finally said with a solemn face: "Xiongying is missing." ”

"Someone kidnapped the imperial grandson?" The two princes glanced at each other and said this question in unison.

"Gyeonggi is the first good area, and I guess I didn't bring anyone to rush and make waves at the feet of the Son of Heaven. When I asked the eunuchs and nurses and palace maids in the palace, they all said that the luggage in the Xiongying Palace had not been touched at all, that is, they had not returned to the palace to sleep at all yesterday. ”

Zhu Di and Lu Ning glanced at each other, and then asked His Majesty for advice at the same time.

"Father, the son is willing to lead the guards to search the city, even if he digs three feet into the ground, he will find Xiongying's whereabouts!"

They knew that since someone had stolen the emperor's eldest grandson out of the East Palace without knowing it, it would never be something that one or two people could do.

I'm afraid there is really a turbulent undercurrent in Jinling City, and some conspiracy is brewing.

Zhu Yuanzhang slapped the table and said loudly.

"The time has been set for the army to march, and it is not to be disobeyed by the will of heaven, and what I tell you is that I command your sailors to block the entrance to the sea, so that they may not take the male thieves and escape along the coastal road."

"But what about finding Xiongying?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly.

"Over the past year or so, your military academy has cultivated many outstanding military talents, all of whom are of great use, and the matter of finding people has been handed over to them, and the capital is guarded by me and your eldest brother, and there will be no chaos."

It is really worthy of a generation of male lords, and in an instant, he has already made a decision, handed over the matter of finding someone to his subordinates, and took the prince and the kings to worship the heavens.

Zhu Yuanzhang led hundreds of civil and military officials to the front of the general platform, and awarded the festival of the Son of Heaven's expedition to Zhu Di and Lu Ning.

Then a brief pledge meeting was held to send the two men to a military boat on the banks of the Qinhuai River.

The salute sounded twenty-one times, and the big ship started slowly, and when Zhu Yuanzhang and the others returned to the city from the shore, Zhu Di and Lu Ning also returned to their respective cabins.

Their ships are all tall building ships, which are two or three stories high, and there are many places for activities.

Lu Ning returned to his study, and just wanted to find two books to read, when he suddenly noticed a noise next to him.

"Who, come out for me, what a guts!"

A twelve or thirteen-year-old child walked out of the back of the bookshelf and looked at Lu Ning timidly.

"Master, don't get angry, it's me, Xiongying!"

No one thought that the emperor's eldest grandson, who had not been found in the city after turning everything upside down, would actually appear on a sea boat!