King Huai finally ended up being demoted to a concubine, and the court aimed to re-select a person with good character among the heirs of Prince Huai to take the throne.

In this way, Zhu Houzhao can explain, after all, it is a heavy hand to abolish a prince. And the other vassal kings will not react too violently, whether they have cleaned up the Huai Wang family in the end, the prince still has some friendship. However, after this blow, King Huai will use the palace in the future, and I am afraid that it will not be as rich as before.

And the matter of King Huai also made Emperor Hongzhi think of another stubble, and after returning to the palace, he issued an order to summon the British Duke Zhang Mao into the palace for an audience.

The British Duke Zhang Mao is the grandson of Zhang Yu, the king of Hejian, and the eldest son of Zhang Fushu, the king of Dingxing. And he has been in charge of the Beijing camp and the five military governors for decades.

Sometimes, activities such as court banquets and suburban temples will be sent to perform on his behalf.

In the Qianqing Palace, Hongzhi shrank into the quilt again, and Xiao Jing helped him cover the bedding on his legs. Because the emperor is not in good health, once it is cold, he will be like this, and the British prince is his own person, so the emperor is not welcome.

"Xiao Jing, give me a seat."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The British Duke is also a white-bearded old man now, and he can't stand standing all the time.

"I have something to say to you today, so it's better to talk to you first. After Emperor Xuanzong, the empress of my Ming Dynasty has never chosen the family of honors and nobles and important ministers, but I have also been pondering whether my crown prince is not suitable for this kind of practice."

This kind of talk seems to be commonplace, but the British Duke obviously didn't expect to enter the palace for this. Now that he is moving slowly, his figure is blessed, and outsiders say that he is a generous person, but in the center of the court, he can't be honest for decades.

is like this, whether it is big or small, it is definitely not appropriate to talk to the minister, that is, to talk to him. In fact, it is also a manifestation of the emperor's intimacy between them.

I can't say that the emperor is a little concerned, and the gossip of some people in the Zhejiang Eucalyptus Dynasty.

This is not a matter of course, first in response to the emperor's behavior of showing intimacy. It's like falling in love, people have expressions, and you can't do without feedback.

So the British Duke "stuffy" expressed his heart, "Your Majesty, the minister doesn't know what is suitable or not, the minister only knows that the Zhang family is tired of the country's favor, no matter what the foreign ministers say, the British Duke must be loyal to His Majesty and the prince."

His remarks basically had nothing to do with the emperor's previous question. Those who don't know will naturally think it's generous. But in fact, it was the emperor's mind.

"I didn't say anything about you." Emperor Hongzhi smiled and waved his hand, "I feel that my body is getting weaker and weaker, and the prince is very smart, and his strategy and wisdom are far better than mine, who is a father, but the only thing that worries me is that he is a little harsh."

The British Duke thought about the prince's various behaviors for a while, and nodded approvingly, "Your Highness really can't tolerate sand in his eyes. Oh, the minister understands, Your Majesty thinks that if His Royal Highness can marry the daughter of a big surname without following the ancestral system, then his mother's family can also add some help to His Royal Highness. If it is an ordinary woman from a good family, she may not have this benefit."

「…… Yes." The emperor's eyes were gloomy, "I am here, the prince can still consider the mood of my old father, and his means are a little softer; Once a hundred years have passed, there is no buffer between the prince and many others. By the way, I haven't told anyone else what I said to you today, and neither does the crown prince, so the British public should keep it a secret." ….

"The minister understands, the minister's mouth is very tight." The British public said that His Majesty was really well-intentioned, "But His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is an extremely intelligent person, as long as someone in the court raises this, it won't be long before His Highness can guess it."

"Guess what's the other story. What do the British think of this proposal?"

"Your Majesty treats the minister so sincerely, so the minister will say a few words from his heart. If something is wrong, I hope Your Majesty will not be surprised."

These are polite words, Emperor Hongzhi has a good temper, a dignified British duke, as long as he is not crazy and talking nonsense, the emperor will not blame.

"Say as you can."

"Yes. The minister thought that the ancestor set the national policy of the queen of this dynasty to marry a woman from an ordinary good family in order to prevent the disaster of relatives in the Han and Tang dynasties. The ancestors were worried that the king of Shoucheng was not sharp enough and was deceived by others. but

As far as this dynasty is concerned, there is no need to worry, now everyone in the court can see that His Royal Highness will be a generation of male lords in the future, and it is difficult for a relative to abuse his power, so it is not inappropriate for His Majesty to want to change the ancestral system a little. However, the minister thinks that it is better to behave according to the ancestral system."

Emperor Hongji was puzzled, "Why?"

"The ancestors determined this ancestral system according to their vassals that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, and if it is easily changed, it is inevitable that future generations will take this as an example. Besides......" The British Duke smiled, easing some of the Emperor's nervousness, "Your Majesty really thinks that His Highness lacks a relative to help?"

Chaos can't be chaotic, the civil and military generals are all the only ones who look forward to the prince, and many of them are waiting for the prince to ascend the throne, and they are also soaring into the sky, so it is not wrong for the British prince to say so.

But from Hongji's point of view, he always has to take into account everything he can consider and be fully prepared, otherwise how can he rest assured.

"It doesn't seem to make much sense to hear the British Duke say this, and I will inevitably be concerned about it."

"As a father, that's what happens. However, Your Majesty should believe in His Highness and the ministers, even if there are some small people in the court, they can't afford to turn the storm and waves."

Zhu Houzhao probably didn't know that his old father had considered this level for him. From the emperor's point of view, what the crown prince did was of course radical.

But Zhu Houzhao knows what he is doing, and he has both political and military power.

After the disposal method of King Huai is decided, there is no longer any possibility of changing the outcome of Zhejiang Wo Eucalyptus. Soon after, the cabinet issued a decree demanding that all officials involved in Zhejiang's eucalyptus be arrested and sent to Beijing.

Among them, there are lucky ones, like Qian Shi of Guanglu Temple, who can avoid the pain of traveling in winter and be arrested directly from home to the prison of the Criminal Department.

In Zhejiang, in fact, the arrest action has been continuing, and even the officialdom of Nanzhili has been shaken.

When the will of the Jingshi came, Zhang Yong's heart was settled, and he ordered, "Tell that Xu Ruoqin the will of degrading the king of Huai to a concubine." See what else he has to rely on!"

Xu Ruoqin was interrogated that day, this guy was always very arrogant, in the final analysis, he just felt that there was someone behind him.

Then Zhang Yong also thanked Mei Kejia, "I heard that King Huai was involved that day, and our family was almost bluffed, but fortunately, there was Boss Mei's suggestion to catch people while playing, so as not to miss His Highness's important event."

Mei Kejia didn't dare to take credit, and said modestly: "The father-in-law is serious, he is all serving His Highness, and he will do his best in the future." ….

"In this case, perhaps the opening of the sea that His Highness said back then should be possible?"

Mei Kejia shook her head, "Not really. I thought that the time was not fully ripe, and I could only say that it was a small half. Father-in-law, the sea is opened for trade. There needs to be a stable and peaceful environment for trade, but there are pirates on the sea."

Mei Kejia said in his heart, it was a real wolf.

"What do you mean?"

"This means that if the pirates on the sea are not eliminated, or if they do not have enough strength to defend against them, then the ban on the sea will only allow the people along the coast to go out and plunder them. At that time, will the court still care?"

No matter what it definitely can't say, but what's the matter?

"And that's not all. The most important thing is that the maritime ban is an ancestral system and a national policy, and if it is to be changed, then it must be very effective after the change, and if the effect is not as good as expected, or if it brings new problems, then the political pressure will be very great."

To put it simply, it is a political adventure, and if the risk fails, it may not be changed for a long time in the future, because future generations will learn from this failure.

"So ......"

"So it's better to have a fleet of sailors. And the basis of the fleet is the ships."

It's a pity that the Three Treasure Eunuchs' Daming Treasure Ship is already a thing of the past. In fact, Mei Kejia has long wanted to mention the ship, but there has been no suitable time, and now that the situation in Zhejiang has changed, he has something to say.

So when Zhang Yong returned to Beijing, he also prepared a letter to the East Palace and attached it.

This can't be blamed for his worry, in the thirteenth year of Hongzhi, some people wanted to prohibit anyone from building ocean-going ships, and it was forbidden to keep more than two

of mast sailing ships. This incident also caused some turmoil at the time, and finally ended with the anger of the East Palace.

For Zhang Yong, he has no good way to do shipbuilding, and the most important thing at the moment is to escort these people to Jingshi smoothly, and it is estimated that it should be Layue at that time.

96.

Royal Mercenary Cat