"His Royal Highness Chitose......

"His Royal Highness Chitose......

On the first day of the fourth lunar month, when the sound of hurried footsteps sounded on the road of the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youzhen walked into the Qianqing Palace with rows of officials with stern faces.

As soon as they entered the Qianqing Palace, they heard the emperor's scolding.

"Killing kings with ministers, greedy and shameless!"

"As an elder brother, not only did he not sympathize with his younger brother, but he also dared to usurp the throne in broad daylight, bully his nephew, and send someone to kill his nephew."

"The one who killed the Jinyi Guard? I don't think he knows what a king's teacher is, and what it means to hang the people!"

"Drafted a holy decree, ordered Hong Chengchou to prepare troops, and after conquering Donghu, he summoned the soldiers and horses of Nanzhang and Gan Xiaozhi to fight against Basathorn together, and returned him to his nephew Adi Yewang."

"Minister of the Lower Kingdom, Emperor Xie Daming Sage!"

The emperor's roar and the sound of outsiders' thanks, these voices made many ministers who entered the Qianqing palace look confused.

"Honorably, Saint Ann ...... you"

No matter what happened, the people entered the temple and bowed to St. Ann.

"My brother came just in time, I want to send troops to fight against Siam to suppress the ministers."

Zhu Youxiao, who was standing on the dragon chair, saw Zhu Youzhen coming, as if he had a backbone, and hurriedly walked down, grabbed Zhu Youzhen's hand and walked up to the high platform, and explained to him.

To put it simply, last winter, King Song Tan of Siam was seriously ill, and according to the Siamese system, the younger brother of the royal family, who was the vice-king at the time, was the legitimate heir.

However, at the instigation of Basathorn and others, King Songtan appointed his eldest son, Cetuo, as his heir.

On the 22nd day of the eighth year of the Apocalypse, the fifteen-year-old Cetuo succeeded to the throne, and Bashathorn proclaimed himself Phraya Garofeng, similar to the regent, and held the real power of Siam.

Basathorn is Song Tan's cousin, but also a careerist, since he was a teenager, he actively plotted to usurp power, seize the throne and other rebellious moves.

After ascending to the throne, he took advantage of his nephew's young age to monopolize the power, and at the same time, he sent troops to clear out Song Tan's own brother Sri Shinshi.

At this time, Sri Shin, because he could not inherit the throne, had actually become a monk, and according to the rules of Siam, he could not attack him.

However, Basathorn colluded with Yamada Nagamasa, the leader of the "Nippon Town" (similar to Chinatown) in Siam, to carry out the plan to "lure the snake out of the hole".

When Yamada Nagamasa met with Sri Shin, he told him that the Japanese mercenaries could help him regain the throne.

Sri believed it and left the temple to seize the throne, thus being convicted of "rebellion".

Seeing this, Basathorn justifiably sent troops to arrest Sri Shinto, sentenced him to death, and sent him to Phishaburi, where he was to be imprisoned in an earthen pit and starved to death.

However, after all, Sri Shin has been the vice-king for many years, so he naturally has his own power.

Before he could starve to death, his men led people to rescue him, and gathered the old troops to launch an armed rebellion, and even conquered several cities.

At this time, Basathorn went to bewitch his cousin King Ceda, saying that Sri Shinshi launched a counterinsurgency, and instigated King Zeda to mobilize Yamada Nagamasa and other Japanese mercenaries to participate in the war.

The war was put down almost within a few days, and Sri was defeated and killed.

With the death of Sri Shintoki, Yamada Nagamasa became a major obstacle to Basathorn's usurpation of the throne, as Yamada Nagamasa had always been loyal to King Songtan and King Tseto.

Therefore, while constantly luring King Tseto to indulge in sensuality and slack off the government, Basathong tried to woo, test and eliminate Yamada Nagamasa.

Due to the existence of the Ming Dynasty, the enemies of Japan and southern Siam were eliminated, and only Tohu in the west could fight, so Basathorn sent Yamada Nagamasa to the border, and King Cetuo did not know about it, and he was still quiet.

Finally, shortly after Yamada Nagamasa left the city of Ayutthaya, Basathorn began to imprison King Tseda.

King Cetuo was not a fool either, and immediately sent his youngest brother Song Mu Ticha to abscond.

It's just that Song Muticha's absconding was notified by Basha, so he simply didn't do anything and summoned all the officials and scribes of the Ming Dynasty in Ayutthaya City to go to the palace to attend the banquet.

With more than a dozen officials and more than a hundred scribes, the Jinyi guard was defenseless, and sent a large army to wipe out everyone, and released the news that there was a plague in the city of Ayutthaya, covering up the facts.

After the whole process, to be honest, Zhu Youzhen didn't care about the infighting in Siam, after all, whoever fought infighting, he had to obediently listen to Daming's words.

However, as soon as he heard that Ba Shatong actually dared to kill Daming's people, he immediately frowned, and Gu Bingqian, Bi Ziyan and others behind him also scolded.

"Shameless bastard!"

"Attacking and killing angels is a punishable crime!"

"It's time to send troops, capture Basha Tongsheng and go north, and behead him in front of the Taimiao!"

The ministers were scolding, but Zhu Youzhen glanced at Lu Wenzhao, as if asking him, how did he not know that Siamese Jinyiwei was killed.

Lu Wenzhao also shook his head when he saw this, as if he thought that Bashatong could not be bold enough to kill Jinyiwei.

Obviously, Song Muticha's words cannot be fully believed.

Zhu Youzhen glanced at Song Mu Ticha, and Song Mu Ticha felt Zhu Youzhen's gaze and lowered his head slightly.

"Greasy ......"

Zhu Youzhen narrowed his eyes, but he didn't want to let go of this opportunity to take Siam.

This is not to say that the Ming Dynasty wants to fully occupy Siam and bring Siam under its rule, but that Zhu Youzhen wants to deepen the Ming Dynasty's control over Siam.

At present, Siam, although it is very obedient, has not a deep relationship between the domestic economy and the Ming Dynasty.

The Imperial Store was only opened in its capital, Ayutthaya City, and there was only one, with an annual income of no more than 30,000 taels.

If the Ming Dynasty can take advantage of this opportunity to monopolize the entire Siam with the imperial store, then even if he has to pay taxes to Siam, he will be able to have an income of five or six hundred thousand taels a year.

It is unrealistic to fully occupy the local area, not to mention its north-south depth, and the local cultural attributes alone are incompatible with the Ming Dynasty.

The King of Siam can be granted the status of a consolation envoy, let his country be a dependency of the Ming Dynasty, and then slowly migrate the Han people over in the future, boiling frogs in warm water.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen said to Zhu Youxiao:

"Brother Huang, the younger brother thinks that he can order Hong Chengchou to send troops to pacify Donghu first, and then hoard troops and horses in the north of Siam to attract the attention of Siam, and finally send a navy to capture the city of Ayutthaya to return to Adyyawang."

"Ministers seconded ......"

Zhu Youzhen opened his mouth, and the officials naturally echoed him, even if Feng Quan, Shi Fenglai, Yao Zongwen, Han Yi, Zuo Guangdou, Sun Chengzong and others all echoed him.

"Good!" Zhu Youxiao nodded slightly, and said with a wave of his hand:

"Allocate three million taels of silver from the internal treasury to urge Hong Chengchou to quickly hand over the performance of "Ping Donghu"."

"The ministers receive ......the order," Zhu Youzhen responded, then glanced at Song Muticha, and finally said to Zhu Youxiao:

"In that case, the younger brother will go back to the house first."

"Won't you stay for dinner?" Zhu Youxiao wanted to keep Zhu Youzhen for dinner, but Zhu Youzhen shook his head with a chuckle and said:

"There are still more than 100 pieces in the house that have not been processed, so let's come back tomorrow."

"That'll do too." Zhu Youxiao was a little regretful, sighed and turned his head to look at Song Muticha:

"Song Mu Ticha, don't worry, Da Ming will not sit idly by and watch the civil strife, you can rest in the Siyi Pavilion."

"Thank you, Emperor Ming Sage......" Song Mu Ticha was very good at sycophancy, and came up with the name of "Emperor Ming Sage" to please Zhu Youxiao.

Zhu Youzhen glanced at him, and then withdrew from the Qianqing Palace with hundreds of officials.

When he walked out of the Qianqing Gate, he looked at Lu Wenzhao:

"How credible are you saying his word?"

"There's no way Basathorn could kill the Brocade Guard, unless he's a fool." Lu Wenzhao opened his mouth without thinking.

Everyone can see that the current national strength of the Ming Dynasty is in full swing, and the entire Nanyang is under the control of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty's Palembang Mansion borders Siam, so it can transfer tens of thousands of troops and horses to attack the city of Ayutthaya at any time.

In this case, it is impossible for Basathorn to kill Jinyiwei.

"How long has it been since the brocade guards of Siam

Got a reply?" Zhu Youzhen frowned and asked, and Lu Wenzhao responded:

"The last time I replied was half a month ago, and the handwriting was the handwriting of hundreds of local households, so I suspect that they should have been threatened and imprisoned by Bashathorn."

"Basathorn should want to wait for Adyyawang and other crown princes to die, and then make the news public, and finally ask the court for guilt."

Lu Wenzhao's words are very reasonable, because when civil strife broke out in these Ming vassal states in the Indochina Peninsula, all the usurpers basically did this.

Kill the crown prince, he is the only bloodline of the old king, it is naturally impossible for Daming to kill this person and make the royal family no heir, so most of the time he reprimands and then appeases.

Bashatong has so many predecessors' actions in front of him to learn, and it is naturally impossible for him to kill Jinyiwei with a hot brain.

Killing the crown prince, Da Ming scolded at most, but killing Jin Yiwei would force Da Ming to send troops.

"Send someone to Siam to inquire about the news first, and tell Hong Chengchou not to rush to fight Donghu, but to repair the road first and then fight, not to rush for a while."

In front of Song Mu Ticha and hundreds of officials just now, Zhu Youzhen couldn't refute his brother, but he knew very well that if he wanted to fight Donghu, he must first ensure logistics.

In order to ensure logistics, it is necessary to build roads first.

Although the road of more than 1,200 miles is very long, it cannot stand Hong Chengchou's hands and there are still millions of cochin criminals.

The detonator has been made out by the Armaments Institute, and the fact that the mine is being blown up alone is no worse than the infrastructure at the end of the nineteenth century.

What's more, this 1,200-mile road is not a new construction of the mountain, but the widening of the original post road and the laying of cement.

Kunlong Post Road is one zhang wide, built by frying earth and stones, and there is no need to say much about the degree of solidity.

Hong Chengchou only needed to widen the post road with a detonator, and then lay cement on the original Tanshi post road, and some places were reinforced with pig iron.

As long as the detonator can keep up and build this road, it will be a matter of a year or two.

"What is the production of detonators now?"

Zhu Youzhen asked Lu Wenzhao, and Lu Wenzhao also responded: "The Yanshan Gunpowder Bureau can produce 50,000 catties of gunpowder a month, and 600,000 catties of gunpowder."

"In addition, grenades, firing pistols, steam engines, and other things are being studied, and Bi Shilang asked Your Highness to have time to go to the armament hospital."

"Hmm......" Hearing the monthly output of the detonator and gunpowder, Zhu Youzhen bowed slightly.

He had long wanted to go to the armaments yard again, but he couldn't get away from his busy affairs recently.

Gather the vassals and introduce them to Leviya, then the attack on Donghu, and the war of the Indian vassals, as well as Yan Siqi's Northern Expedition in Japan, the great drought in the country, and the emigration......

There are already a lot of things, and now there is this Siam matter, and it is estimated that he will have to deal with these things in the next few months.

"Spread Xu Xiake to the palace."

"Yes......"

Zhu Youzhen explained to Lu Wenzhao, and then sat on the elephant chariot, and Lu Wenzhao also sent someone to summon Xu Xiake, and he returned to the Yamen of the Zhenfu Division.

Zhu Youzhen, who returned to his house on the elephant wheel, was thinking about things all the way, and among them, the most thought-provoking thing was the matter of the kings of South Asia becoming vassals.

For Da Ming, as long as this place is taken down, the population and market of this place are enough for Da Ming to eat for hundreds of years.

With a simple salt tax, nearly 100 million people in South Asia can contribute five or six million taels of tax silver to the Ming Dynasty.

Even if it was necessary to withhold taxes to the local vassal kings, the Ming could also get a third.

This is only salt, and the amount of other taxes such as tea, wine, and iron is even more eye-catching.

The feudal lords took two-thirds, the Ming took one-third, and millions of taels of tax silver were enough for the Ming to further reduce the agricultural tax.

However, it is not so easy to control the feudal territory of this domain, and it tests the ability of the emperor and the cabinet team to govern.

So no matter what, it is necessary to cultivate talents, especially for Zhu Ciran.

When he thought of this, the carriage also stopped at the gate of the Qi Palace.

Zhu Youzhen got up and got out of the car, and the soldiers of the Daxing camp at the door saw this

He bowed his head slightly and walked into the house.

The soldiers followed, and a team of men and horses guarded him, escorting him to the gate of the inner court and leaving, while Zhu Youzhen walked into the inner court.

It's just that when he walked into the inner court, Zhu Youzhen didn't take a few steps before he saw three figures, one big, two small, and three figures.

"Master Xu, you said that the people of Leviya are all Kunlun slaves with dark skin?"

"Yes, Your Highness......

"Is the sea yellow?"

"My mouth to the sea towards the coast is yellow, but a little deeper into the sea is blue and dark blue."

"If there is gold in Levia, why don't the natives of the land mine it themselves?"

"They don't have their own country or culture, they only know how to hunt."

"Then Master Xu, have you finished visiting the real world?"

"I'm ashamed to say that I went only to the southern part of Leviia, which the Europeans call the Cape of Good Hope."

"Can you take me with you next time?"

"This ......"

"Alright, Ran'er, have you two done your homework?"

When Zhu Youzhen walked in, he found that his eldest nephew was pestering Xu Xiake at the moment, asking Xu Xiake to explain overseas knowledge to him.

"We're done, Uncle Wang." Zhu Ciran replied to Zhu Youzhen, and then pestered Xu Xiake and asked:

"After I finish my homework, I can go to Director Xu, do you know anything about overseas?"

"This ......" Xu Xiake glanced at Zhu Youzhen, his face was embarrassed, but Zhu Youzhen waved his hand and said:

"As a prince, it's normal to know a lot about overseas, and only by knowing yourself and knowing your opponent can you win all battles."

"Yes......" Xu Xiake returned the salute when he heard this, and Zhu Ciran smiled happily when he saw this:

"Then I'll go to Mr. every day."

"Yes......" Xu Xiake could only nod his head, and at the same time sighed in his heart.

"Let's go......" Zhu Youzhen walked to the study, and Xu Xiake followed closely when he saw this.

Zhu Ciran wanted to follow, but was stopped by Li Dingguo: "Forget when Her Royal Highness the Queen asked you to return to the palace?"

Li Dingguo's words made Zhu Ciran collapse in an instant, and in desperation, he could only be sent out of the Qi Palace, and let people send him back to the palace with Zhu Youzhen's elephant chariot.

When he returned to the study after sending Zhu Ciran off, Zhu Youzhen and Xu Xiake were already sitting in the main seat, with hot tribute tea on the table.

Seeing this, Li Dingguo sat down on the left side of the side, holding his chin to watch His Royal Highness chatting with Xu Xiake.

"This place in Levia takes at least twenty months to go back and forth, and if you want to arrange someone to go to the domain, I'm afraid it will be a little difficult."

"What's more, the land above is barren and needs to be improved before it can be cultivated."

"This is just the environment, what is really difficult to control is the high mountains and long roads caused by the distance, and it is very likely that the vassal king here will not listen to discipline."

"Your Highness's thoughts, I'm afraid ......."

Xu Xiake held a cup of tea and hesitated to say his thoughts.

Just in the face of his thoughts, Zhu Youzhen asked rhetorically:

"If it only takes ten or eight months to go back and forth, then do you think the feudal domains behind the feudal realm will be easy to control?"

"If the Supervision Department is set up on Xianlao Lengzu Island and the southern tip of Levia, it may be possible to manage the ......" Xu Xiake didn't know why Zhu Youzhen asked this, but this did not prevent him from answering.

"If it's from the Old Port, how long will it be?" Zhu Youzhen continued to ask, and Xu Xiake also replied:

"If the voyage were halved, it would take four months to make the round trip."

"Okay......" Zhu Youzhen bowed slightly, his hand tapping on the table, as if thinking about something.

After a while, Zhu Youzhen continued to speak, "Do you think that if you gather the kings to join the vassals, how many of them will be willing to go to Levia?"

"This ......" pondered for a few seconds before Xu Xiake hesitated:

"I'm afraid that few people are willing to go, after all, Levia is no different from the wilderness, and the gap with South Asia is like the gap between South Asia and the Ming Dynasty."

"What if you tell them that there is gold there?" Zhu Youzhen's words were amazing, and Xu Xiake was immediately dumbfounded when he heard this.

"If you tell you that there is gold, it's a bit hard to say......

He said this, and Zhu Youzhen also nodded slightly, but then Xu Xiake added:

"If you want them to become vassals, the lower officials think that they need the court to pay their own money and people, and send a group of people over first."

"Not only that, but the imperial court must at least solve the problem of food first."

As he spoke, Xu Xiake told Zhu Youzhen about the agricultural problems that he might encounter in the local area.

The first is the local land, which is mostly tropical rainforests and deserts, except for a small amount that can be directly cultivated.

Tropical rainforests are also known as rainforest deserts, and the land adjacent to them needs to be cultivated intensively for several years and requires a lot of manpower.

Just like now, this time Xu Xiake and the others went south, and they basically relied on the vegetables on the ship, the rain in the sea, and the fruits of Levia to supplement them along the way.

Their group was only a few hundred, and once they had to move tens of thousands of people, they would either prepare silver and buy grain from the Ottomans and Persia in the north, or they would have to transport enough rice and wheat from the Ming Dynasty.

However, Zhu Youzhen actually understood what Xu Xiake said, so what he was most concerned about was how much manpower and material resources could be used to reclaim cultivated land.

"If you are in southern Leviia and the island of Sandronzu, you will only see the local Europeans growing jade wheat, as well as cotton, beans and other crops."

"Xia Guan inquired, about three people have been intensively cultivating for three years, composting and accumulating fertilizer, which can basically change the local soil quality and use the land to cultivate Yumai."

"In addition, the area is actually suitable for farming and pastoralism, and it is completely possible to graze cattle in the area."

"At present, the number of Europeans in southern Levia is only two or three thousand, and the imperial court only needs to move tens of thousands of people at one time to annex them."

Xu Xiake made things clear, and Zhu Youzhen touched his chin when he heard it.

In general, as long as Levia has land and gold, then the vassals will naturally go.

However, if you move to Levia, you will not be able to pay as much as you would to move to South Asia.

The only good thing is that the southern part of the country is basically primitive, and only one battalion of troops is needed to open up the territory of a province.

"Levia's affairs, after the Heavenly Domains arrive in the capital these days, I will let them ask you for advice."

"As for you, you should rest for a while, and when the war in South Asia is over, you can prepare to go to the West for the second time."

"Yes!" Hearing Zhu Youzhen's words, Xu Xiake was overjoyed, and he also took the opportunity to say one thing about himself.

"Your Royal Highness and Your Majesty have written a book of "Travels to the West", I don't know if it can be published? Rest assured, Your Highness, that all the things in the book concerning gold, silver, and copper have been removed."

"It's okay, you can just publish it." Zhu Youzhen waved his hand, he also hoped that the people of Daming could learn more about the outside world, instead of squatting in the inland provinces of the two capitals and sixteen provinces of Daming, and he was self-contained.

"Then the official will retire...... Xu Xiake got up, saluted Zhu Youzhen in return, and then turned to leave.

After he left, Li Dingguo, who had been silent, spoke:

"Why is Your Highness always in a hurry to seal the vassals out?"

"If you don't seal it out, will you stay and harm your own people?" In a word, Zhu Youzhen expressed his position.

It is true that there are some good people among the vassals, the virtuous kings, but most of them are bastards.

To let them go at home is to let the prestige of the royal family be trampled on.

Either go out or stay honestly, this is what Zhu Youzhen wants to tell the kings.

"Your Highness, you won't send me out in the future, will you?" Li Dingguo was a little melancholy, and Zhu Youzhen smiled when he heard this:

"What? It's not comfortable to stay in the palace, you want to go out for a walk?"

"No......" Li Dingguo's head shook like a rattle, and then he spoke:

"I see that the prince seems to be very interested overseas, and I am afraid that the prince will go out when the time comes, Your Palace

He sent me out with him to protect him."

"......" Li Dingguo's words silenced Zhu Youzhen, he thought about the scene where his eldest nephew asked Xu Xiake about the overseas scenery just now, and seemed to reflect that he had done something wrong.

"But His Royal Highness the Crown Prince probably won't be willing to give up fine clothes and food, and run out to starve and freeze......

Li Dingguo propped his chin and said boringly, but Zhu Youzhen didn't know the bottom of his heart.

He thought about his group of ancestors and swallowed his saliva:

"I don't think ......."