"Don't lose to Liaodong?"

On the sixth day of October, when Huang Fei's letter was sent to Shenyang and was seen by Huang Long, who was a little blessed, Huang Long subconsciously stroked his beard.

Standing next to him, Li Dan, who was the current governor of the Navy Governor's Office, had also read the contents of the letter, so he couldn't help but say:

"What Xiao Huang Dudu said should be true, but he also said in the letter that this Qi country is currently sparsely populated, so it is naturally not as prosperous as Liaodong."

Li Dan traveled from south to north and knew that population was the factor in whether a place was prosperous or not.

The country of Qi seems to be prosperous, but it is currently underpopulated, and for their group, there is actually no place to have a pastime.

Not to mention anything else, such as Shenyang City at the moment, after several waves of immigration, Shenyang now has a population of no less than 300,000.

There are all kinds of theaters, restaurants, and green buildings in Shenyang City, on the other hand, although the Xijing City of Qi covers a vast area and has a grand scale, there are only 70,000 or 80,000 people, and most of them are farmers, and they can't prosper anywhere.

Therefore, after Li Dan said that the Qi State is not prosperous at the moment, he then added:

"Governor, in the opinion of the lower officials, the Qi State will definitely prosper in the future, but at the moment it is definitely not as good as Shenyang, or even as Lushun in the south."

"If you want to go, you have to wait at least until there are 200,000 people living in Xijing City."

"At that time, the Qi State should be comparable to Liaodong."

Qi has a lot of arable land, and bison and passenger pigeons are overflowing, so it is definitely not possible to compare Liaodong and Qi with each other.

As long as the Qi country has a population of one million, then life can be close to Liaodong.

This is already a very high evaluation, after all, the current Liaodong in terms of land grain and commercial taxes, the amount of payment is much higher than that of the four northwestern provinces.

Looking at the Ming Dynasty, Liaodong can also rank in the top ten.

But as long as the Qi country has a population of one million, then the Qi country can surpass Liaodong, because the resources of the Qi country are too rich.

Li Dan's speculation was not wrong, and Huang Long was also persuaded by him, but he still hesitated a little:

"I've relied on Daming for so many years, and if I continue to rely on it, I'm afraid Your Highness will be unhappy."

"Hehe......" Li Dan smiled: "Lord Hou is, so why not His Highness?" ”

After that, Li Dan did not stop, but persuaded him:

"Master Hou, you only need to express your concerns, and then promise to go to Qi Country immediately after immigrating one million from Qi Country, and never stay, then Your Highness will definitely not urge you."

Li Dan's persuasion made Huang Long hesitate a little, and after a moment of consideration, he still nodded and said:

"I'll give advice to Your Highness now, I hope Your Highness can forgive me."

After Huang Long finished speaking, he turned around and went back to the study to write a note, and handed it to Li Dan a quarter of an hour later.

After Li Dan took it, he also took Huanglong's note and sent it to the capital.

By the time this handwritten letter arrived in the capital, it was already October 11, and Zhu Youzhen had already met Huang Fei and was meeting Xu Xiake at the moment.

"Kiln ......"

The wind in early winter was a little bright, blowing the trees in the garden of the Qi Wangfu and constantly shaking off their leaves.

The bleak atmosphere spread in the garden, and Zhu Youzhen, who was sitting in the water pavilion, also put away Huanglong's recital, and said to Wang Chengen next to him:

"Let him go, and tell him not to worry too much, I'm very relieved of him."

"Slave maid takes the order......" Seeing Zhu Youzhen's response to Huang Long, Wang Chengen nodded respectfully.

After doing this, Zhu Youzhen looked back at Xu Xiake, who was drinking tea in front of him.

"This time the officials who went to the West, you and Huang Fei won the favor of Long Live and the prison country, and got the rank of Doctor Ronglu from the first grade."

"The other officials accompanying him this time have also awarded different ranks such as the fifth rank to the eighth rank."

"You told me before you set off that you want to go through Nanzhou and Antarctica, do you still have this idea?"

Before setting off for the third time in the Western Ocean, Xu Xiake and Zhu Youzhen talked about it, as long as the third trip to the Western Ocean was over, then he had almost gone to the sea.

Except for Nanzhou and Antarctica, there is only land left, so Zhu Youzhen wanted to ask him if his mentality had changed.

"Setting off at sea and using the money and grain of the imperial court to visit Nanzhou and Antarctica is too much labor and money."

Xu Xiake put down the teacup, and while smiling, he also folded his hands and said:

"I heard that the dynasty has recovered the Western Regions, and the lower officials want to go to the Western Regions to have a look, and then go to the southwest to have a look."

"This time, the route is only the lower official who wants to go, so the lower official may not be able to contribute to the imperial court, so I hereby want to ask His Royal Highness to go down to the official title of the lower official."

Xu Xiake is a waiter of the Ministry of Rites, and in his opinion, he has completed all his conjectures and ideas on the sea.

At the moment, he wants to go inland to see the rivers and mountains of Daming, and such a move obviously can't go to the official position of the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, he can't be an official and not do things, and die to take a fortune.

Of course, he also saw that Zhu Youzhen had actually made a plan, otherwise he would not have awarded himself the rank of Doctor Ronglu from the first grade.

The official position is different from the loose rank, without the official position, the Yulu will be gone, but the loose rank will be there for a lifetime as long as people do not make mistakes.

From the first grade of Ronglu doctor, Yulu 2,400 taels of silver, this silver is something that ordinary Jiangnan people can't get after working for a lifetime, and Xu Xiake has it every year until he dies.

This also means that if he does not have an official position, just this one loose rank of money is enough to live his life very richly.

"Since you've thought about it, then I won't stop you."

Zhu Youzhen picked up the teacup and took a sip, with a smile on his face:

"Your travelogue, the lonely club has been watching, the two thousand four hundred and two years of scattered steps, enough for you to stay on the train for a year."

"But ......" Zhu Youzhen paused, and said with a smile:

"At present, the train has not yet been repaired to the Western Regions, and it will be delayed for you to walk there, and the rule of the imperial court is not so stable in the Western Regions."

"I suggest you go to the southwest for the time being, and then go to the Western Regions in a few years."

"In addition, the official position of the Ministry of Rites is really not suitable for you, if you don't dislike it, you can take an official position of the Imperial Court to inspect the imperial history."

The waiter of the Ministry of Rites is the third grade, and the Imperial History of the Metropolitan Procuratorate is the seventh grade, and the gap between the two is several times.

However, for Xu Xiake, who wants to travel all over the country's great rivers and mountains, the official position of Zhengqipin can also bring him an annual salary of two hundred taels of silver, he is not a hypocrite, since Zhu Youzhen has given benefits, he will accept it.

Moreover, as an inspector of the imperial history, he can also clean up a group of corrupt officials for the Ming Dynasty while looking for mountains and rivers, which is very in line with his thoughts and state of mind.

"Your Highness Xie......" After Xu Xiake was silent for a moment, he bowed down and responded to Zhu Youzhen's wishes.

After that, Zhu Youzhen also chatted with him about various interesting things about this westward journey.

Regarding Zhu Youzhen's inquiry, Xu Xiake knew everything and said everything, and the two had a very happy relationship, and they were reluctant to end until the evening.

Zhu Youzhen sent Xu Xiake to the gate of the palace, and watched him get into the carriage with his own eyes, even if the carriage was far away, he stood at the door and had no intention of leaving.

It wasn't until the carriage disappeared from his sight that the smile on Zhu Youzhen's face slowly faded, and then only melancholy remained.

He knew that if he said goodbye to Xu Xiake, I was afraid that it would be difficult to see him again in this life.

Such an experience reminded him of Yang Lian, who was far away in Dali.

Yang Lian is not suitable to be an official, and he will inevitably die as an official, so even if Zhu Youzhen is in power, he does not choose to reuse him.

He knew that Yang Lian would not go to Qi with him, because he was a courtier of the Ming Dynasty, not a courtier of Qi.

Yang Lian...... How's it going? ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at the empty Hundred Kings Mansion Qi Wang Dao, and asked the people behind him without looking back.

When Wang Chengen behind him heard this, he bowed his body as if saluting, and replied:

"The eldest son entered Beijing as a Beijing official, and the family moved to Dali, and several sons ran flower shops and flower fields, and planted some food from time to time."

"As for himself, he served as the head of the official academy in Taihe County, Dali Prefecture, and there was a male accompanying him as a teacher."

"Compared with the hundred officials in Beijing, he is in a worse place, but he is comfortable and happy."

Wang Chengen's answer was simple and straightforward, making Zhu You bow slightly after listening: "He's doing well, and I don't know if I can see him before I go to Qi State." ”

"If Your Highness wants to go, you can go at this time, hasn't the Jinglong Railway been opened to traffic to Dali now?" Wang Chengen asked puzzled.

"Yes, you can go...... But it's not time yet. Zhu Youzhen looked up at the dusky sky, and at this time, the dusk drum in the capital also sounded.

The morning bell and the evening drum, the day is almost over.

Zhu Youzhen didn't say a word, and turned to leave after hearing the drums, leaving only Wang Chengen to look at his back in a daze, and only reacted after a while, and hurriedly chased after him.

"Your Highness, tomorrow is the day when Bige Lao Zhishi returns to his hometown, you ......"

After Wang Chengen caught up, he got down to business, but in the face of Bi Ziyan, who had done his best for Daming, Zhu Youzhen frowned slightly: "Let him go." ”

His words made Wang Chengen stunned for a moment, obviously unable to imagine why His Royal Highness, who was usually sympathetic to his subordinates, would be so ruthless at this moment.

"But ......" Wang Chengen wanted to say something more, but Zhu Youzhen sped up.

This made Wang Chengen realize that Zhu Youzhen didn't want to discuss this matter anymore, so he quickly shut up.

It's just that his mind is still very confused, and he doesn't know why the two who were talking to each other before suddenly seem to have parted ways at this moment.

He didn't dare to ask more, so he could only return to the Cunxin Hall with Zhu Youzhen.

It's just something he didn't dare to ask, but someone had already handed the answer to the victim......

"So you mean...... That thing was done by myself in the first place......"

In the Nanjing Yangxin Palace, when Zhu Youxiao was holding a blank piece of paper, with a thick document beside him, and looked at Cui Yingyuan in front of him with a gloomy face, Cui Yingyuan, who was the Fusi of Nanzhen, could only lower his head and did not dare to raise his head to look at him.

Under pressure, he gritted his teeth and said:

"After His Royal Highness the King of Qi sent Commander Lu to investigate Eucalyptus, in fact, there were already eyebrows in August, but Commander Lu was afraid that the investigation would be wrong, so he continued to investigate."

"It wasn't until the nineteenth of last month that Commander Lu was able to break through on Zhang Yonggu, the garrison of the monolithic fort of Kaiping Mansion."

"The incident of the northern captives entering Kou Yanshan is indeed Bi Ziyan's doing!"

"Not only that, but Zhu Xieyuan is also involved."

"......" Zhu Youxiao suddenly crumpled the white paper in his hand, and he remembered the most dangerous and embarrassing time in his life.

He has thought about many people, Shi Fenglai, Yuan Keli, Cheng De, Li Demao, Zhang Maocai......

He had thought about all these people, but he had never thought that it was Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan.

Zhu Xieyuan and Bi Ziyan are honest and honest, although Zhu Xieyuan was born in the Zhejiang Party, he never cheated for personal gain, and Bi Ziyan is a loner and has nothing to do with any faction.

These two people are the pillars of the Ming Dynasty, why should they harm themselves?!

Zhu Youxiao's facial features are a little distorted, if Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan are in front of him, I am afraid that he will draw his sword and stab the two to death right now.

It's just that until now, he still doesn't believe that these two royalist-looking old ministers would do it to himself.

"What's the reason......" Zhu Youxiao asked angrily, but as soon as he asked the question, he knew the answer.

"King Qi ......"

Cui Yingyuan prostrated his head to the ground, and the chief inspector replied:

"Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan were both brought up by King Qi, and it can be seen from the investigation of the entry into the Kou that they may be hoping to ......"

"Enough!" Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but slap up.

At this moment, whether it was Cui Yingyuan, who was answering questions, or Wang Tiqian, Wei Zhongxian, and Liu Ruoyu who were standing at the door of the Heart Cultivation Palace, they were so frightened that they didn't dare to squeak.

In this case, Wang An was the only one with a blank expression.

His suddenness seemed to be mocking in Zhu Youxiao's eyes: "Wang An, don't you have anything to say about this matter?" ”

"The slave was speechless...... Wang An's reply made Wei Zhongxian and the others quickly kneel down, saying that they had nothing to do with Wang An.

As a result, in the dark Heart Cultivation Palace, only Zhu Youxiao and Wang An were still standing.

"So you think I'm damned too......"

Zhu Youxiao squinted his eyes and asked, Wei Zhongxian saw this scene and couldn't wait to bury his head in his arms.

He had seen Zhu Youxiao's expression, and when he wanted to kill all the gentry in Jiangnan, it was this expression.

"Long live Wang An's old thief and kill ......"

For a moment, Wei Zhongxian didn't know whether he should be happy or afraid.

The slave maid didn't say ...... "Wang An has no heirs, and his only godson is Cao Huachun of the Qi Palace."

For him in his seventies, he is not afraid of death or something.

"Are you blaming me for not favoring you back then?" Zhu Youxiao was thinking about why Wang An was dissatisfied with him, and even thought of Wei Zhongxian and the Hakka family framing Wang An, but he was always perfunctory.

"Hooray thinks, will the slave and maid care about this?"

Wang An's voice was weak, as if the end was approaching.

In the face of his questioning and appearance, Zhu Youxiao calmed down, slowly sat back in his position, and regained a bit of calm and calm.

He didn't choose to answer Wang An, but looked down at Cui Yingyuan.

It's just that he didn't speak, because he had already roughly guessed what Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan thought.

If their thoughts are said by Cui Yingyuan, then their majesty as an emperor will be swept away.

Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan, the two pillars of the country were pulled by their younger brothers by their own hands, except for this, the three of them have no other interests.

】

It is precisely because of this that the officials in the temple feel that these two people are biased towards themselves.

Lin Dan Khan's entry into the Kou, if it weren't for Zhu Youxiao running fast enough and running back to Dading Palace in advance, then he would have been kidnapped by Lin Dan Khan long ago.

Lin Danhan will not kill him, Zhu Youxiao understands, and judging from his younger brother's attitude towards him, if Lin Danhan makes some requests, then he will probably agree.

But if he wanted to accede to these requests, and he was not a prisoner at the time, then he had only two options.

One supported his heir to ascend the throne, but Zhu Ciran, who was a little older at the time, was still by his side, Zhu Ciyan and Zhu Cijiong were only seven or eight years old, and they were not yet queens, so it was difficult to convince the public.

The second is that Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne and ransomed his father and son as emperors.

If he was really plundered, I am afraid that the morale raised by the battle of extermination will be weakened, and it will be difficult for the Ming army, which has suffered heavy losses, and the grain that has bottomed out, to launch the Northern Expedition, so there are only these two options for officials to choose.

In the twelfth year of the Apocalypse, the Yanshan faction was in the limelight, Sun Chuanting had just been deposed, and Hong Chengchou was another person who saw the wind and steered the rudder.

If Yanshan sent officials to coerce, his younger brother could only ascend the throne, but he ascended the throne to protect Zhu Cijun and Zhu Cijiong.

The emperor and the crown prince were taken captive, if Zhu Youzhen did not ascend the throne, what would happen to Zhu Cijian and Zhu Cijiong?

Can Zhu Youzhen stop the generals of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies and the officials of the Yanshan faction?

Zhu Youxiao understood everything after thinking about it for a while, and the anger that was originally suppressed gradually came up.

He couldn't figure it out, Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan were already extremely popular ministers, what good did they do to harm themselves......

"Harm?"

Zhu Youxiao seems to understand, it should be said that Bi Ziyan is gambling, betting that Hutudun will not kill him, and will release himself, or his younger brother will lead the army to rescue him.

With his younger brother's character, even if he can't abdicate, he will take good care of himself and not let others do it to him, which is different from the Tumubao changes in the orthodox years.

"So you don't think you can hurt me, so you dare to do this?"

"For what? For an ethereal saint? ”

Zhu Youxiao muttered to himself in his heart, and at the same time put a self-deprecating smile on his face.

At this moment, he regretted it, if Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan succeeded, he might not be so entangled now......

His anger completely subsided, and he looked at Wang An in the corner: "Why do you think I can't become a saint?" ”

"......" Wang An was silent, he was not afraid that Zhu Youxiao would go crazy and kill him, he was afraid that Zhu Youxiao would ask him the reason.

Being killed is just a temporary pain, but if you talk about it, it will divide the relationship between the two brothers.

It's just that the current situation, whether to say it or not, Wang An can't help it, he can only fold his hands together, bow his back, and slowly speak:

"In the fourth year of the Apocalypse, when His Royal Highness the King of Qi was busy with conquest and governing the country, what was the slave and maid doing......

"......" Zhu Youxiao was silent when he heard this, but Wei Zhongxian suddenly jumped up and pointed at Wang An's nose and scolded:

"Wang An! You dare to ask long live! ”

"As soon as you steal and play tricks, you dare to roar at the palace of filial piety for the old man, why don't I dare?!" For Zhu Youxiao, Wang An still has three points of respect, but for Wei Zhongxian, Wang An is only angry.

"Okay......" Zhu Youxiao's opening stopped this farce.

Wang An and Wei Zhongxian exchanged words to admit their mistakes, and Cui Yingyuan also glanced up at the emperor at this time.

I saw that Zhu Youxiao's face was much calmer, and he was no longer as angry when he first knew that Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan were plotting this matter.

Wang An's sentence "Four years of the Apocalypse" slapped Zhu Youxiao's last trace of face to the ground.

In the fourth year of the Apocalypse, when Zhu Youzhen was fighting on the battlefield and governing the country, Zhu Youxiao wanted to repair the three major halls and repair the face of the imperial court.

In three years, the three major halls were repaired, but it also made many officials feel cold.

When the imperial court was using money, the emperor took the money to repair the three major halls.

Although Zhu Youzhen does not complain about his brother, Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan see these things.

Bi Ziyan was carefully calculating the sum of money, but Zhu Youxiao used the inner silver on the three major halls, how could he not chill?

Besides, when Zhu Youzhen was going to sacrifice prisoners in Daming Gate despite his sick body, what was Zhu Youxiao doing?

If it weren't for Kim Hyun scolding Zhu Youxiao regardless of his life, I'm afraid Zhu Youxiao would have made a move that made many old ministers feel cold.

Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan never wanted to harm Zhu Youxiao's life, after all, in their opinion, the situation at that time was already very dangerous.

They didn't dare to bet on whether the arrogant soldiers of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies would add Zhu Youzhen's yellow robe to Zhu Youzhen after Zhu Youzhen's capture, and then let the two brothers not get off the stage, and finally it turned into a civil war in the Ming Dynasty.

In their eyes at that time, if Zhu Youxiao was taken captive, with the national strength of the Ming Dynasty, whether it was to redeem him or rescue him, it would not be difficult in practice.

After redeeming him, he played with his wood and did his best to be his emperor, while Zhu Youzhen sat on that chair as a saint.

In this way, the arrogant soldiers of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies will be stable, and the officials of the Yanshan faction will not criticize, and the Ming Dynasty can immediately stop the internal fighting and unite with the outside world, which is not bad.

The 10,000 enemies in the north were provided by Zhu Xieyuan, the intelligence was betrayed by Bi Ziyan, and the courtship of Yanshan officials was also done by Bi Ziyan, which is also the reason why he has obviously held high-ranking officials for so many years, but his family is in vain.

His money and his money were put in the army......

It's a pity that there are too few people they can influence, Zhu Youxiao ran too fast, and Subudi was not enough to support Lin Dan Khan.

As long as these three problems are reduced by one, Zhu Youxiao will flee south and be taken captive to the north.

It stands to reason that Zhu Youxiao should hate Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan, but he ......

Zhu Youxiao looked down at Cui Yingyuan, his eyes calm: "What did my brother say to Lu Wenzhao......

"Destroy the documents, don't investigate deeply!" Cui Yingyuan lowered his head and responded, indicating Zhu Youzhen's attitude.

"Long live, slaves and maids have the courage to go up, please long live the nine clans of Zhu Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan!"

Liu Ruoyu, who was the most loyal, climbed forward and made a gesture to Colonel Zhu You.

Zhu Youxiao glanced at everyone, except for Wang An's attitude, Wei Zhongxian, Wang Tiqian, and Cui Yingyuan were all silent.

Obviously, after they learned that King Qi was no longer pursuing this matter, none of them dared to stand up and say something that went against King Qi's idea.

Liu Ruoyu dared to say that it was because he was loyal to Zhu Youxiao, and he felt that not killing these two people was not enough to establish his authority.

However, does he really want to kill Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan......