Liu Jun, the former secretary of the Ministry of War, died of illness in the twelfth year of Hongxi, and was replaced by Sun Heng, a squire of the Ministry of War, and his father-in-law, Sun Yan, also died in the same year.

Empress Sun Ruonan's eldest son is her grandson, and it is normal for Sun Yan to care, but now Zhu Zhanyan is twenty-two years old, and there are still many officials in the court who have not seen him.

After graduating from college, he went to Renzhi County, Yunnan, and is currently in Yunnan, and was promoted to Tongzhi the year before last, no one in Yunnan knew that he was the prince, and the ministers of the court and China only knew Mao Xin, Sun Heng, Jian Yi, and Huang Fu.

These three people represent the Jinyi Guard, the Military Department, and the Ministry of Officials, plus the first assistant, and are openly and secretly responsible for the assessment of the princes' positions abroad.

"Tell them to wait, I'll be there right away." Zhu Gaoxu motioned for Zhong Xian to go out with him, and after walking a few steps, he saw Zhong Xian, Zhong Xian was younger than him, less than forty, and both temples had gray hair.

As mentioned earlier, Zhong Xian's hometown is Shanxi, there are parents, and there is a younger brother, before the Jingjing was taken care of by the Gaoyang County Palace, the current younger brother Zhong Cheng is the prefect of Guangzhou, Zhong Xian's father died last year, he went home to rest for a few days, did not wait for the emperor to call him, hurriedly returned to the palace, Zhu Gaoxu thought about it, Zhong Xian accompanied him for decades, and he did not have a good rest.

Don't look at many people who want to follow the emperor, but it's really not a human thing to follow the emperor for a long time, it's good to say that when you meet a good emperor like Zhu Gaoxu, most of the emperors are with people who are cautious about walking on thin ice, saying the wrong word, doing the wrong thing, you will be beheaded at any time, and some even if you don't cut off your head, you can also fall out of favor in an instant.

Zhong Xian has followed Zhu Gaoxu for so many years, and he also said that he missed words and did wrong things, the emperor was tolerant, and he didn't care, and the two got along very well.

But even so, the younger Zhong Xian has gray hair, and it is obvious that he is still nervous every day, and he copes with it carefully.

"Last time your father died, I asked you to go home and have a good rest, and you will return to the palace in less than five days." Zhu Gaoxu said to Zhong Xian as he walked.

Zhong Xian showed a cautious smile on his face: "The slave maid is used to being busy, and suddenly she has nothing to do at home, so she thinks about Your Majesty." ”

Zhong Xian's father died, will the family be fine? He must have been busy, but he didn't dare to stay long, so he returned to the palace soon.

Of course he is very grateful to the emperor, and if he is replaced by other emperors, do you want to go out of the palace and try it?

"Li Zheng has done a good job in the past few years, let him follow me from tomorrow onwards." Zhu Gaoxu said: "You take a long vacation, think about it, whether to go overseas with Zheng He, or take your mother to go around in Daming." ”

Li is Zhong Xian's son, and he has often followed Zhu Gaoxu in recent years, and Zhong Xian heard this, and his face showed a touched look.

In the future, this is the boss giving employees paid annual leave, or long annual leave.

Zhong Xian has been following the emperor in the palace for many years, and his spirit is tense every day, but it is actually not very good for his body, and it is okay to relax if necessary.

Of course, the ancients didn't eat this set, and everyone wished to follow the emperor every day, and they didn't need overtime pay for working overtime 24 hours a day.

"I'll give you permission for half a year, have a good rest, and then come back and continue to follow me."

Zhong Xian knew that the emperor was good to him, and said movingly: "Thank you, Your Majesty, slave." ”

Zhu Gaoxu said, you can also go to Guangdong to see your brother, you don't have to hurry, half a year is not enough, a year is fine.

Zhong Xian hadn't seen his younger brother for several years, and he was a little moved when he heard the words, and wanted to take his mother to Guangdong to relax.

The two masters and servants chatted while soon coming to the East Warm Pavilion.

Dongnuan Pavilion is also built after Zhu Gaoxu ascended the throne, after all, there is no Yongle Dynasty in history, this side is very close to the Qianqing Palace, when the emperor summons the ministers, it is more convenient to get here.

Sun Heng and Mao Xin had been waiting inside for a long time, and they saw the emperor kneeling down one after another.

Zhu Gaoxu happily asked them to get up, and then gave them a seat.

The biggest feature of Hong Xi is that the ministers come to the emperor, and they basically have seats.

This is something that other emperors of the Ming Dynasty and the Tang and Song dynasties did not have.

Of course, the emperor summoned them for something, first of all, the emperor had another group of children who had their turn to go out.

Ten years ago, the eldest son Zhu Zhanyan took several brothers to study and grow in various places, and judging from the current results, the effect is good.

In the process of learning and growing, they not only found their other half, but also made a lot of ordinary friends.

In ancient times, the royal family liked to marry with the nobles, and the early Ming Dynasty was the most serious time, when Lao Zhu's sons married all the Hongwu nobles, so when he killed people, he often affected the princesses of his sons and the concubines of his daughters.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't care about these bad things of his children, let them find out by themselves to learn and grow, the first few children married ordinary people's families, or businessmen and petty officials, etc., and on the side of the marriage, except for the gifts and silver money awarded by the emperor when they got married, none of them had been promoted to official rewards.

In the past, marrying the crown prince, the princess's whole family soared, and the matter of becoming an official to make money did not work here in Zhu Gaoxu.

Before marrying the prince, the family was a businessman, you are still a businessman, and the court will not have any preferential treatment, if the family is a peasant, it is still a peasant, but it is nothing more than a part of the emperor's reward, which can make you some money.

Several great princes have been away for a long time, and few of the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty know them, which effectively reduces the number of gangs and factions, competing and attacking each other.

Generally speaking, if the emperor does not appoint a crown prince, it may be like in the Kang Mazi era, and the princes below are followed by various people, forming factional forces and fighting with each other.

Now these princes are not in Beijing all the year round, there are few ministers they know, and they are surrounded by ordinary friends, so this kind of ganging and faction is almost non-existent.

As for whether the new emperor will have the prestige to win the support of the ministers when he takes office in the future, this is not something that Zhu Gaoxu considers.

Zhu Gaoxu's plan is to abdicate at the age of sixty-five, assist the new emperor for two years, retire at the age of sixty-seven, travel the world, and if he dies overseas, he will be buried at sea on the spot, of course, provided that he can live so long.

As for how far Da Ming can develop after his death, whether he will die or not, it is not something he considers, because it is useless for him to think about it.

He is not a person who is particularly obsessed with power, but he doesn't like to be tripped in the deep palace every day, so he can't go.

"Zhan Yu (Miao Jin's son) They have reached the age of going out, did Jinyi Wei choose a good place for them?" Zhu Gaoxu asked when he saw Mao Xin.

"Back to Your Majesty, the minister has already been chosen." Mao Xin also knew that the emperor had summoned him to talk about it, and handed the prepared documents to Zhong Xian.

Zhong Xian handed it to the emperor, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the meeting, thought for a while, motioned Zhong Xian to take a pen, changed the place of the two princes, did not speak, and handed it to Mao Xin.

Mao Xin immediately took it in his arms, and Sun Heng on the side actually wanted to take a look, but he couldn't see it, and he was very depressed.

The emperor asked again, what is the important news of Jinyiwei recently?

Mao Xin immediately took out a small note, and Sun Heng on the side expressed his secret contempt.

Lu Zhen, the former secretary of the Criminal Department, has the ability to never forget, when he went to the court and met the emperor in person, he could remember everything in his mind, and he didn't need to bring a notebook, Mao Xin liked to carry a lot of small pieces of paper on his body, saying one thing and taking one out.

"Back to Your Majesty, there are already thousands of students in the Portuguese navigation school, the Kingdom of Castile (Spain) is influenced by it, and also opened a navigation school, and some merchants have come back to deliver news, and Alfonso V is sending people to Daming to trade with our country."

Sun Heng changed color when he heard this, the Kingdom of Castile had just made a new diplomatic decision, the envoy had not arrived, and the information had been brought back from Europe by the Ming merchants.

Zhu Gaoxu got up at this time and came to the back wall.

Sun Heng and Mao Xin followed, this is the latest world map, Europe is clearly marked, and there are traces of changes on it, because Europe is now fighting around, and the power often changes.

Sun Heng, as the secretary of the Ministry of War, admires Zhu Gaochu quite a lot in his heart, the Han people have only cared about a few acres of land at home in all dynasties, and only Zhu Gaochu has the ability to shine through the past and the present, and his eyes are fixed on the world.

Zhu Gaoxu stared at the wall for a long time, and finally said, "Sun Heng, recruit new soldiers this year, and add another 100,000." ”

The Ministry of War is required to recruit more than 100,000 troops this year.

In recent years, the Ming Dynasty has retired many soldiers and horses and recruited many new soldiers, among which tens of thousands of soldiers and horses have been recruited when they conquered Shaharu in the west.

Sun Heng immediately said, "Yes, Your Majesty." ”

"In the past, we wanted to disarm because many Ming soldiers were old and illiterate." The emperor said at this time: "Recently, we have increased the number of conscriptions, because we have a large population and more territory in the Ming Dynasty. ”

"The ground we have laid down must be well guarded for the benefit of our children and grandchildren."

"Your Majesty is wise." The two said in unison.

(End of chapter)