"The water temperature is good, go on......"

In the Cui Mansion of Dashi Yongfang, when Cui Chengxiu sat on the edge of the bed and watched two good-looking maidservants bring the footbasin to wash the footbath, after testing the temperature of the water, his feet were submerged in the water, and the two maidservants also began to wash them when they saw this.

When cleaning the soles of the feet, the maid also needs to pinch the soles of the feet to make Cui Chengxiu happy.

After finally washing and wiping every inch of their feet, the two carried the footbasin away, and Cui Chengxiu, who was only wearing a middle coat, also turned around and patted the futon behind him.

Two twelve or thirteen-year-old maidservants came out of the bedding, as if to say that the bed was warm.

The two got to the foot of the bed and knelt there, while Cui Chengxiu got into the bed and got into the futon, feeling the warmth, and at the same time, his legs also stretched out to the two maids.

The two maidservants touched their feet, then leaned forward and pressed their feet against their chests and abdomen, while Cui Chengxiu's feet were swinging uneasily.

After a while, three maidservants walked into the house again, and the two maidservants took off their clothes and went to bed wearing only their middle clothes, close to Cui Chengxiu's left and right.

Cui Chengxiu stretched out his hand, and the two fourteen or fifteen-year-old maidservants also held their hands on their chests and abdomen to warm their hands.

The remaining maidservant sat on her knees at the head of the bed, and a small table was placed next to it, on which there was pastry, tea, and warm water.

Everything was ready, and just as the maidservant at the door was about to come in and put out the lights, a voice sounded in the courtyard.

"Sir! Hello sir! Jin Yiwei brought people to get people. ”

Cui Chengxiu sat up suddenly, and a panicked mansion official broke into the house, kneeling on the ground and panting.

"Jin Yiwei came to get me? Who? ”

Hearing that Jinyiwei was coming, Cui Chengxiu subconsciously wanted to know who was going to take him.

"It's Yang Huan, I heard that it was the order of King Qi and Long Live He."

The director hurriedly explained, but Cui Chengxiu couldn't believe it: "What about the factory father? ”

"Factory ...... There was no news from the factory father...... "It's difficult to take charge, and Cui Chengxiu was like being struck by lightning when he heard this, and he knew that he was probably abandoned by Wei Zhongxian."

Without waiting for him to react, the footsteps came towards the bedroom intensively, Yang Huan walked into the house first, and when he saw the five maids serving Cui Chengxiu, a trace of jealousy flashed in his eyes:

"Cui Shangshu is so leisurely, even Banzai and King Qi don't have such a big pomp."

"Alright, pack up and go to prison with us!"

"Yang Huan, you and I ......" Cui Chengxiu still wanted to plead, but Yang Huan turned around and left.

The other party's move instantly made Cui Chengxiu slump like a frosted eggplant.

He understands that if even a mercenary person like Yang Huan shows such a reaction, then he, Cui Chengxiu, will probably not survive......

"The king regards the minister as a mustard, and the minister regards the king as a wolf!"

"It's a pity that I have been in the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, and finally ruined it on this generation of unscrupulous descendants!"

"I'm an official of the Metropolitan Procuratorate! Jinyiwei has no right to arrest me! ”

"Palm!"

The turmoil over Kim Hyun's imprisonment has not calmed down, and although the upper echelons already know the end of Kim Hyun, the middle-level officials have already incited the lower-level officials.

It's just that before the discussion of the Yanshan faction officials turned into a riot, Jinyiwei began to break down one household after another.

Participating in the eunuch party who instigated and released the news to the officials of the Yanshan faction, the Zhejiang party officials were taken down one after another.

Among them, there are many high-ranking and powerful people, Cui Chengxiu is just one of them, in this involvement, the first batch of arrest of more than 200 officials, implicated more than 400 scribes, Xu officials.

It's just that everyone knows that these more than 600 people are just the beginning, and if some of them can't resist the pressure to confess, then the number will increase exponentially.

For a time, the whole capital was full of rumors, and the grass and trees were all soldiers.

It's just that compared to this group of people, who are cautious in order to protect themselves, the superior people are often as relaxed and natural as a leisurely walk......

"Finally finished ......"

In the Palace of Nourishing the Heart, when the book was put down, Zhu Youxiao breathed a sigh of relief in his heart and looked up at Wang Andao:

"The music here should be one-third of what my brother handles on weekdays."

Standing in the warm hall of heart cultivation, when Wang An heard Zhu Youxiao's inquiry, he was silent for a moment before saying:

"Less than a fifth ......"

"A fifth?" Wei Zhongxian, who was standing on the side, was a little speechless, and Zhu Youxiao's expression was slightly stunned.

"It took me two hours to deal with these notes, and if it was only one-fifth, wouldn't my brother have to deal with ten hours a day?"

Zhu Youxiao's inquiry made Wang An a little relieved, because it meant that Zhu Youxiao also knew Zhu Youxiao's difficulties, so he explained:

"Your Highness is very fast in dealing with the notes, so it will take about eight hours or so to complete the processing of the notes."

"What is the general performance of my brother?" Zhu Youxiao got up and prepared to take a walk, Wang An and Wei Zhongxian followed behind him, and explained:

"The Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies and the Imperial Horse Supervisor are the most, accounting for about three-fifths, followed by disaster relief, and the remaining one-fifth is basically the relocation of the people."

"In addition, according to the living notes of the Qi Palace, in the eight days from October 14 to 21 of the eighth year of the Apocalypse, His Royal Highness approved a total of 2,660 pieces of work from various officials inside and outside the capital, and handled about 3,391 state affairs."

"On average, there are more than 700 pieces to be reviewed every day."

"So much?" After Zhu Youxiao heard the record of his younger brother's handling of the song, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty, and subconsciously asked, "How is the Heart Cultivation Palace?" ”

"This ......" Wei Zhongxian paused, obviously feeling that this matter was not easy to say, but Zhu Youxiao frowned and said, "Say!" ”

"Yes......" Wei Zhongxian was helpless, so he could only say:

"In the same eight days, Banzai reviewed a total of 552 pieces of documents from various ministers inside and outside the capital, and handled about 375 state affairs."

"On average, there are about 120 pieces to be reviewed every day."

After speaking, Wei Zhongxian was afraid that the emperor would not be able to hang his face, so he deliberately said:

"However, if you deal with it in the past few days, Banzai will deal with about 200 pieces of music every day, and he can already be regarded as a more diligent emperor in the history books."

Although Wei Zhongxian said so, Zhu Youxiao knew how tired his younger brother was, and Jin Xuan's words in the Heart Cultivation Hall made Zhu Youxiao keep recalling.

In this way, his brother's workload in one day can be worth his workload in three or four days.

What's more, although the number of remarks is not bad, after all, Zhu Youxiao has dealt with the recitals of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies and the Imperial Horse Supervisor, and has also seen the recitals of disaster relief and the relocation of the people.

Really counting the content, I'm afraid that my brother's workload in one day is equal to my own workload in more than ten days.

It can be seen that Zhu Youzhen's diligent heart is indeed "Zhengu Hanli".

If you have to find a second place in history, I am afraid that only Qin Shihuang and Ming Taizu can compare with it.

"Brother's side, is there anything else that can be handled by the Heart Cultivation Palace?"

Zhu Youxiao thought about it, he only worked two hours a day, and he was indeed a little lazy.

"If it really wants to be calculated, according to the actions of the Qi Palace, disaster relief and work-for-work relief may be able to be handled, about 160 cases per day."

Wang An opened his mouth, and Zhu Youxiao also waved his hand when he heard this: "In the future, the disaster relief and work-for-work relief will also be moved to the Heart Cultivation Hall to deal with it." ”

"In this way, my brother should be able to rest for an extra hour every day."

"Long live Your Highness, I'm afraid Your Highness will be very moved when he finds out......" Wei Zhongxian smiled flatteringly, but Zhu Youxiao did not respond to him.

"In your opinion, if the prince is handed over to his younger brother, will it make his younger brother too tired?"

Zhu Youxiao looked at Wang An, and Wang An paused when he heard this, and only after a few seconds did he speak:

"Even if Banzai helps deal with the sparseness, His Royal Highness has to work for seven hours every day, and the slave maid heard that Li Dingguo, who was adopted by His Royal Highness in the Qi Palace, only had the opportunity to be taken by His Highness in these days."

"But even if he brings it, His Royal Highness the King of Qi only has time to supervise his homework, such as arching horses, side affairs, governance and other things, or relying on the people of the palace to lead."

Speaking of this, Wang An comforted again: "Just wait for Huachun to go north, and if Banzai helps deal with disaster relief and relief with work, His Highness's tired time should be shortened to about five hours." ”

"When the time comes, His Royal Highness should be able to spare more time to bring Li Dingguo, since he can bring Li Dingguo, he can naturally bring His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Five hours ......" Zhu Youxiao frowned, while Wei Zhongxian was worried about Zhu Youxiao's body and said:

"Long live, the number of recitals you have approved to be sent to the Heart Cultivation Hall at the moment is already more than three hundred, even if you need to deal with it for four or five hours, even if you need to deal with it for four or five hours."

Wei Zhongxian was afraid that Zhu Youxiao's head would be hot, and he would have to deal with some other tricks.

To tell the truth, according to such a big stall as Zhu Youjian's shop, if the music is piled up to one person alone, even if this person is the emperor, it can be regarded as "high life" if he can live to the age of fifty.

At present, the two brothers are dealing with the sparseness at the same time, although Zhu Youzhen still deals with it more, but the efficiency of the two is different, in fact, Zhu Youxiao's fatigue will not be much worse than Zhu Youzhen.

Wei Zhongxian can count on Zhu Youxiao to live a little longer, after all, only if Zhu Youxiao lives a little longer, he can make more money.

Zhu Youxiao was persuaded like this, and he also felt that in terms of his own ability, more than 300 pieces of music were already good, so he changed the topic and said:

"In that case, let me inform my younger brother that after Huachun arrives in the capital, the matter of the Imperial Horse Supervisor will be handed over to Chengen and Huachun, and when my younger brother takes Li Dingguo, I will bring the prince with me."

"But don't rely too much on your younger brother for your schoolwork, are there any of Kim Hyun's friends who have the same temper as him?"

"Yes......" Wang An nodded and said: "His best friend is good, his family style is not bad, he has not accepted any bribes, his personality is just introduced, he is unclean, and he is evil." ”

After Wang An's words were finished, Zhu Youxiao nodded and said:

"Then arrange him to be the prince's tutor, and let him help bring it when his younger brother is too busy."

"By the way, do you have any other side events lately?"

Zhu Youxiao inquired about side matters, and Wang An thought about it before saying:

"If you talk about side affairs, it's only the little Western Ocean."

"The slave maid heard that many Xiyi in the small Western Ocean are dissatisfied with the affairs of the kings of our dynasty, but I don't know how His Highness will deal with it......"

"Dissatisfied?" Zhu Youxiao frowned, as if he couldn't tolerate these "small countries" who were dissatisfied with the Ming Dynasty, and waved his hand directly:

"If you are not satisfied, you will fight! Tell the household department to cooperate with the Qi Palace, and the younger brother does not need to ask for instructions on Xiyi's performance, and can back up the Yangxin Palace after approving the red. ”

"Yes......" Wang An responded, and after Zhu Youxiao took a walk, he also felt a lot more comfortable, and turned around and walked towards Kunning Palace......

——————

"Jingle bell—"

On the coast of Guli in the winter moon, a warm wind blew on the harbor, and a group of armed merchant ships five or six feet long sailed away from the port with the monsoon.

The tall sails whizzed in the wind, and the gently undulating waves seemed to be responding to something, only the ship cleaved the waves, shattering the little waves.

Guri is the name given to this place by the Ming Dynasty, and in the mouth of the Portuguese, it is called Kozhikode.

This place, since the rise of the Maritime Silk Road in the Song Dynasty, has been the object of competition from many parties.

In the classics of the Song Dynasty, it is called the southern neighboring country, and in the ancient books of the Yuan Dynasty, it is called "Guli Buddha".

Of course, Guli has an ancient history, and during the Northern and Southern Dynasties of the Central Plains, it became a famous port.

Arabs and Chinese engaged in the spice trade here, and the port city gradually began to prosper.

It was not until the Song Dynasty that it was divided into many city-states, and the maritime merchants of the Northern Song Dynasty began to trade spices here.

Due to its superior geographical location on the coast, Guli was one of the world's most important maritime trade centers from the Song Dynasty to modern times.

During the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty to the first year of Yongle, the Ming Dynasty also sent envoys to visit Guli many times, and then when Zheng He went to the West, Zheng He built an official factory in the local area and stationed troops for a long time.

According to the record of "Yingya Shenglan" written by Ma Huan, a translator who accompanied Zheng He to the West, the people of Guli were divided into five classes: Huihui, Nanbi, Zhedi, Geling, and Papaya.

In the fifth year of Yongle, after Zheng He went to the West for the second time and arrived in Guli, the local king also accepted the edict and the silver seal of the king of Guli from Zhu Di, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, so the Ming Dynasty became the first-class race here.

Not only the king of Guli, but also the leaders of the southern city-states also accepted the crown dress of the promotion grade, so much so that Zheng He also set up a stone tablet pavilion in Guli to commemorate:

"His country goes to China for more than 100,000 miles, the people and things are salty, the bustle is the same wind, the stone is carved in Z, and it will be shown forever."

It's a pity that with the interruption of Zheng He's voyage to the West, Westerners began to invade half a century later.

The Portuguese repeatedly suppressed the local princely states and established castles here, while during the Wanli period, the Dutch also began to develop trade in Guli, and Portuguese power and influence began to fade.

Until the Ming army recovered the island of Ceylon, merchants from various countries also poured into the place, resulting in the current territory of this place, although it is not large, but it is the most European place on the South Asian peninsula.

At this time, in front of the port of Guli, looking at the armed merchant ships in the distance, the dense crowd on the port was looking at the merchant ships that gradually disappeared into the sky, and made beckoning movements from time to time.

But when the fleet completely turned from a small black spot in front of them, everyone couldn't help but reluctantly turn around, with a little confusion in their eyes.

In fact, the people standing in front of the pier were not ordinary people, but high-level people from the East and Far East companies of various European countries in South Asia.

They are the true explorers of this era, and in order to seek wealth, they did not hesitate to travel thousands of miles from their homeland to this region of South Asia, where the climate is very different, and they are reckless.

However, these are the old calendars of the past, because for the Europeans who are now standing in front of the port, their good days are basically about to be over, because the Ming Dynasty has now become more and more assertive in South Asia.

Some time ago, Huang Long, the naval governor of the Ming Dynasty who captured the Xiaoxiyang and passed through the Nanyang region, sent a diplomatic letter, saying that the Ming Dynasty would attack the South Asian region and recover the former Guli official factory.

Huang Long mentioned in the letter that European merchants could trade in Guli, but they still needed to abide by the laws of the Ming Dynasty, and the price of spices would not change.

Perhaps in Huang Long's opinion, he has given enough sincerity.

It's just that for the merchants of European countries, Huang Long's words are undoubtedly to rob all European countries of their colonies in India.

Although the warships of the Ming Navy have shown their strength many times in the past few years, which has exerted huge psychological pressure on the governors of European countries in India, it means that they are ready to simply withdraw from the Indian market like Xiao Xiyang.

Although they didn't know all the strength of the navy under Huang Long, they still couldn't do such a thing as letting the Ming Dynasty take India.

Whether it's the Yellow Dragon, or the Ming navy, which is constantly cruising along the coast of India, they are actually telling people from all over Europe one thing.

That is, Da Ming is the master here, and these outsiders will always be just outsiders.

Therefore, since Huanglong released the news that "all the vassals will be vassalized", the atmosphere in the whole India has become very delicate.

European merchants in the area began to expedite the return of goods to Europe, and hoped that the governors would write letters to their countries so that they could provide more support and reinforcements.

At present, the "Jasmine" that has left the port is carrying a large amount of wealth accumulated by businessmen from various European countries, as well as some family members of high-level executives of European companies, and has begun to set off for Europe to return to Europe.

This is a very clear signal, which shows that in the process of fighting with the Yellow Dragon in South Asia, the European people did not have the determination to win, and had already begun to prepare for defeat, so many European merchants chose to leave South Asia.

The governors of all countries actually knew that at this moment in Europe, a large-scale European national scuffle was breaking out from the civil war of the Holy Roman Empire.

It would probably be the first all-European war in history, and it would be tragic.

But even if all countries knew about it, no one chose to withdraw from the battlefield, because this war was the product of the contradictions between European countries competing for interests and establishing hegemony, and the intensification of religious disputes, and no one could withdraw from it.

Moreover, this war has been fought for ten years, and at this juncture, no one will withdraw at all, and all countries have already killed their eyes.

Therefore, the governors of various countries in India did not believe that their own countries would come to support them across tens of thousands of miles of sea borders.

Even if there would be a supporting army, the size of the army would not be much.

The Ming Dynasty has been increasing its troops one after another, and there are already tens of thousands of elite soldiers ready to go on the island of Ceylon in the south.

With their artillery and muskets, and their numbers, even if they were placed in Europe, they could easily conquer some small countries.

In this era, no country in Europe could send more than 60,000 troops across the tens of thousands of miles of sea borders such as the Atlantic Ocean and the Indo-Indian Ocean.

This limitation of the times alone determined that in this war, no one could stop the Ming Dynasty.

Knowing this, the governors of various countries could only turn around and return to their stations after the "Jasmine" left.

As soon as they left, the people on the dock gradually dispersed, except for a few people who were still in front of the dock, but the place had returned to its former peace.

It's a pity, because the departure of the Jasmine is not the beginning, and the waves here in Guli have just begun.

The governors of European countries, who could not even gather 10,000 troops in total, really did not want to have a head-to-head war with the Ming army.

Their greatest hope was that the Mughal Empire in the north would show the strength of a "superpower" to dismantle the evil ambitions of the Ming army.

Letters began to go back and forth between the north and the south, and the people of the princely states in the south were in danger, but the news from the north was not sent back for a long time.

Sitting in his office, the Portuguese Viceroy in India, Menezes, was writing a letter to report back to the country on the situation here.

In a chair not far from him, several Portuguese officials also had very bad faces.

Because just now, Meneses made a decision.

The decision was that once the Ming army won the war with the Mughal Empire, Portugal would have to obediently cede all its colonies in India.

There was no way around it, although Portugal did not clash with the Ming army in the last Nanyang War, but it was because the Ming army looked at Portugal's technology in the Haojing trade and cannon casting.

However, at present, the trade of the Ming Dynasty no longer needs the support of such a small size as Portugal, and the technology of cannon casting is far superior to that of the Portuguese.

In this situation, Meneses, who had only 1,500 troops, did not even think of clashing with the Ming army, which could have a strength of 60,000 troops.

The letter he is writing now is also clarifying the difference in strength between the two sides.

On the letterhead, the weak strength of the Portuguese was unmistakable.

No more than 80 large and small artillery pieces, no more than 20,000 tons of total tonnage of warships and armed merchant ships, and only 1,500 men, plus 600 mercenaries.

On the other hand, in the Ming army, in Huang Long's letter, Huang Long himself dictated that there were more than 200 warships, more than 400,000 tons of tonnage after conversion, and more than 20,000 artillery pieces.

Not only that, but the number of troops at sea is as high as 67,000, and there are 60,000 soldiers and horses on land.

With a force of nearly 130,000 people, this thing is not an expedition at all, but to play to destroy the country.

Although Meneses also knew that the Little West Ocean and the Old Port, as well as Siam under the influence of the Ming Dynasty, could not support these 130,000 people to fight a protracted war.

But the question is, with such a huge number of troops and a terrifying number of artillery, apart from the Mughal Empire, who else on this continent can fight a protracted war with them?

That's why Menezes' idea is so clear.

Once the Ming army won the battle against the Mughal Empire, the Portuguese would send their troops back to the other colonies, and Meneses would remain in South Asia to maintain the company's trade with the Ming.

"Alright, let's send the letter out."

When the letter was finished, Meneses got up and handed it to one of them, and the man who received the letter was full of reluctance, but after a sigh, turned away.

After he was gone, another man was not reconciled:

"Can we hold on and wait for reinforcements from the kingdom?"

"Even if reinforcements can come, how many?" Menezes asked rhetorically and clarified:

"It only takes two months for the Ming Dynasty to send troops from the old port to Kozhikode, and if it comes from Guangzhou, it will take four months at most."

"What about us? From Lisbon in the kingdom, it takes ten months to reach Guri. ”

"In ten months, Daming has been able to send two reinforcements, and the third reinforcement is also on the way."

"They have Luzon, Borneo, Java, and Malacca as supply bases, and they are able to project a large number of troops, while our colonies can only support and send no more than 3,000 troops."

Speaking of this, Meneses sighed:

"Although I don't want to admit it, there is no country east of the Cape of Good Hope that can match the projection ability of the Ming Dynasty."

"Let's wait quietly for news of the Tatars from the north......"

Menezes turned and looked out the window at the sunny streets of Cozhicod, and there were not a few people who thought the same way......

It's a little moldy......

Sheep and then now have a low-grade fever and body aches.

Today, the second may not be able to be written, and even if it is written, it is estimated that it will be night......

(End of chapter)