After all this time, Gunbirick has long since died of illness in Beijing.

In the two border areas of Hetao and Xuanning, the biggest force among the herdsmen of Mengyuan is now the three tribes of Duoyan.

There were too many people who surrendered and surrendered to the Mongol people in those years. Even if there is the digestion of enterprises such as the group pastoral supervisor, the Baojin Bureau, and the Tongyi Bureau, and the cultural and educational guidance of Tang Shunzhi, Lin Xiyuan and other frontier officials, most of the Mongolian people are only used to grazing.

In order to facilitate management, they can only be restrained by the three parts of the Duoyan who are now very obedient.

The Ordos tribe no longer has a unified lord, but has been divided into more than 20 small and medium-sized tribes. The three departments of Duoyan do not nominally lead them, but they also have a vague relationship between the upper and lower subordinates.

In particular, there is one thing that the Duoyan Department, which was the first to carry out new border trade with the Ming Dynasty, is better at it, that is, to let some Mongolian people in the border area carry coal and iron back from farther places to earn extra money.

This is a very dangerous thing.

It is necessary to leave the safe area of the daily patrol of the Ming border army and go deep into Mobei. To liaise with the tribes and tribes that are now under the rule of the Khan, exchange the goods of the Ming Dynasty from them for coal and iron, and then transport them back in baskets or lele carts.

On the way, if it was plundered by the Mongol cavalry, the Ming would not care if he did not receive a clear military order.

In other words, it is now a laissez-faire: Datong is actually already mining on a large scale, and this part of the coal and iron is just to give the Guishun Mongolian people who do not turn to work and cultivate to have a channel to graze and earn extra money.

They became a special caravan to the north when there was no border market in Mobei, and the Ming merchants only sat in Hetao and Xuanning to collect goods.

Herdsmen who can give birth can always have such men in their families, even the old and weak. In order to live a better life in Daming, he took the risk of taking the goods deep into Mobei, exchanging coal and iron from there at a lower cost, and then transported the coal and iron back with his own manpower that was almost not included in the cost.

Although the income is dangerous, tired, and small, under the organization of the Duoyan Department, there are still a large number of people who do it.

If they were robbed by the Mengyuan tribe under the Khan's court, they would naturally have a grudge against those northern Mobei tribes.

For so many years, those small and medium-sized Mengyuan tribes who were closer to the Ming Dynasty had never been sacked by the Khanting cavalry, and it can be seen that I have a very broad mind and extraordinary ambitions: although you do this form of business with the Ming Dynasty, you can get some of the goods needed by the grassland.

He was not afraid that these small tribes in the south would become a destabilizing factor in the future.

This has been going on between the two countries for many years.

In the direction of the Hetao, it is relatively peaceful, and the border people over there carry coal and iron from Outer Mongolia; In the direction of Xuanning, a brave general has emerged over the years. The Xuanning cavalry led by Ma Fang had to have a chase and interception battle with the Khanting cavalry who went to Liaodong to raid the Jurchens every year, plus the attack on Chahar and Tumut's headquarters.

Now that summer is approaching, the snow on the grassland has melted, and the news of the death of the queen in the capital has not yet reached the north, Ma Fang is now a colonel, a guerrilla general, and is the fourth grade, serving as the commander of a regiment of the Xuanning Cavalry Brigade.

Above him is the brigade commander of the entire Xuanning Cavalry Brigade, with the rank of major general, and the general of the Xuanning Border District.

On top of that, it is the chief military officer of Xuanda, Hanhai Hou Yu Dayou, with the rank of lieutenant general, the governor of the Chinese army, and the second grade.

Ma Fang asked for battle: "Master Hou, the last general has already figured out a few more locations last year, and they must have a tribe to migrate there this summer." On the Jiliao side, Jianzhou Wei has repeatedly asked His Majesty to wave his army to the north, cutting off the way for the Khanting cavalry to march east and plunder. Let the Khan Court continue to be so unscrupulous, if the Jurchen descends the Khan Court, I am afraid that it will be a disaster for Ji Liao. ”

The brigade commander of the Xuanning Cavalry Brigade was a general who survived with Zhu Qi to drag 30,000 Ordos soldiers and civilians at that time, and he is now eager to attack in a big way and be awarded a title for his merits.

In the past so many years, it is often just a regiment of 2,000 cavalry that goes out of the border and goes deep into Mobei. In the past few years, because the regiment has the best record, this job often falls on Ma Fang's head. From a hundred households in the 12th year of Jiajing, he was promoted to a guerrilla general with four grades, and he had the rank of colonel.

Yu Dayou shook his head: "The military council has a strategy for a long time, and before there is a clear decree, it is still mainly based on raiding and harassing. The Jurchen dared to descend to Mengyuan as a disaster? That's a joke. At present, although the two major cavalry brigades of Xuanning and Hetao each have more than 5,000 elite cavalry, it is still not enough to eliminate the northern disaster in one fell swoop. If the Khan's court is overwhelmed and the army comes south, the decisive victory is more certain. ”

Even with a large amount of pasture and submission to the Mongols, it was still not easy to accumulate cavalry strength.

What the Ming Dynasty wants is not a fancy cavalry, but a cavalry that can really serve the Mengyuan Lao's nest in the future.

One cavalryman with three horses, this is basic. With the current steel production of the Ming Dynasty, there is no shortage of armor and weapons.

However, these cavalry had to hone their tactics when the Khan's court avoided fighting without fighting, so they could only rely on going out to attack. On the Hetao side, it is the key to manage the south of the Yangtze River, and the headquarters of the Khanting is also concentrated in the north direction of Xuanning, so over the years, it has been the Xuanning border area that has made contributions.

Tang Shunzhi didn't want to have more credit so soon.

Today, the two cavalry brigades are constantly rotated. Some of those who had experience in going out of the fortress were transferred to Hetao, and some of the cavalry over there were transferred to Xuanning.

Ma Fang, this guy, has actually taken three or four percent of the soldiers of the two major cavalry brigades to more unfamiliar places to familiarize themselves with the terrain.

But that's not enough.

Yu Dayou knew more information, so he just ordered: "The money and grain that is regularly disbursed is still 2,000 cavalry, spring and autumn, one trip out of the fortress to burn the famine, and the other trip to intercept the Khanting to plunder the cavalry." This year is the same as usual, Ma Fang, or you come. ”

“…… The last general commands! ”

The general had to sigh.

One of the two was carried by Guo Xun, the Duke of Yiguo, and the other was carried by Zhu Qi, the Duke of Baoguo. But if this situation continues, I am afraid that it will be Ma Fang who will command the cavalry army and Meng Yuan in the future.

There's no way, that guy is also long.

I heard that Yiguo Gong is still helping him to match, because the two princesses who were conceived during His Majesty's southern tour in the third year of Jiajing, Concubine Shu and Concubine Jing are seventeen years old, and it is time to consider choosing a concubine.

This matter is said to be something that the Queen Mother couldn't worry about before she passed away last year, and there seems to be some differences with Her Majesty for this.

They don't know that now that the queen has passed away, these things will naturally have to be put on hold.

In the Forbidden City, Zhu Houxi had already selected eighteen mountains, and renamed them Yangcui Ridge according to Yan Song's intentions as his own auspicious soil for ten thousand years.

Whether or not they will move to Yangcuiling in the future is not something that needs to be decided now.

Lu Bing came over, and he sent off the report again.

This is a routine matter, in the Beijing clan, honorable relatives, officials, their abnormal behavior, there are reports in Jinyiwei, and there are also internal inspection factories.

Zhu Houxi read it silently.

After so many years, the clans and nobles who are mainly doing business in the main direction, and the honorable ministers who are still planning their future military exploits around the military council, the five mansions and several great princes, are all obvious circles.

Among the ministers, there is no obvious group other than the subordinate officials of the East Palace. But before and after the triennial major policy meeting, there will also be some running.

Zhu Houxi can appoint whoever he wants, but in the future, the degree of smoothness of government decrees and the qualifications and prestige of important ministers also have to be considered.

Now there are more variables brought about by the queen's throne.

"How is Qingyi feeling now?" Zhu Houxi suddenly asked.

Lu Bing replied: "The eldest princess is also very sad, and the minister can only be relieved. ”

Zhu Houxi was silent.

My sister has been gone for many years, and the Empress Dowager Jiang also died last year, and now she is his brother and sister.

Now Zhu Houxi's eldest son is nineteen, and his eldest daughter and second daughter are also seventeen years old. The emperor's daughters have all been crowned princesses, and Zhu Qingyi naturally became the eldest princess.

When Empress Dowager Jiang was seriously ill last year, she complained that he didn't care about his daughter's marriage.

There was no way, the old man felt that he should have worried about these things at the age of sixteen, but Zhu Houxi naturally felt that it would be better to be older.

"Let's have a meal with Qingyi at night." Zhu Houxi paused and then said, "And Cui Yuan, you also go and say it, please come with your aunt." ”

"The minister commands."

The emperor wanted to have a meal with his aunt and sister-in-law, and the palace immediately began to prepare.

This was a manifestation of the emperor's depressed mood.

Cui Yuan, who got the news, sent someone back to say that he asked the eldest princess Yongkang to prepare in advance.

Today, the eldest princess of Yongkang is sixty-two. Because Cui Yuan is reused, she is the emperor's aunt, and her status in the capital is also quite transcendent.

Cui Yuan only pondered what His Majesty said when he summoned him a few days ago.

As the president of Daming Bank, the accounts of the national treasury and the enterprises under the Huangming Assets Bureau are all located in Daming Bank, and Cui Yuan is naturally very aware of Daming's financial situation.

Daming has been calm for six or seven years, but I am afraid that there will finally be a big move.

Cui Yuan received the order to prepare for a major audit. Now, the emperor has not issued a clear decree, so naturally only Daming Bank will quietly sort it out from the level of the flow of funds in this account.

Subsequently, it was probably the follow-up of the Ministry of Finance and Taxation and other ministries and the Huangming Assets Bureau.

Historically, the audit has been accompanied by a large number of cases.

The emperor has been concentrating on internal affairs and the Institute of Liberal Arts for several years, and he doesn't know what to clean up at the moment, and what does it have to do with the hidden things such as the queen's position, the dispute between the crown princes, and the great power policy meeting.

Before night fell, there were fast horses entering Beijing, and soon after the bell tower rang nine times again, and the officials and people of the capital were stunned.

Who went again?

The news then spread, and it was Zhang Fujing, who was sixty-six years old, who passed away.

As Zhang Fujing, who is the emperor who looks at him differently and strives to be promoted, his official career in the second half of his life started from the new law, and finally became a very popular minister.

After more than ten years in the center, he has always been trusted by the emperor, and even received the emperor's clear support more than a year in advance, and was re-elected as the prime minister and minister of state.

After him, no important minister has received clear support.

This year is the year of the Great Power Policy Conference, and on the eve of the qualified ministers who began to run for the position of prime minister and minister of state, Zhang Fujing also passed away.

Calculate the time, it is three days behind the queen.

At this point, at the beginning of His Majesty's reign, the important ministers who accompanied him, in addition to Cui Yuan, Yan Song, Guo Xun and a few others, Yang Tinghe, Yang Yiqing, Sun Jiao, Fei Hong, Wang Shouren, Zhang Fujing...... All left.

The emperor's grandmother, mother, empress, and sister are also dead.

The bell has ended, but the gloom in the hearts of the officials in the capital has become even thicker.

An era has passed, and the future is unpredictable.

Yan Song and Liu Long were so busy that their feet did not touch the ground, and Zhang Fujing and other figures passed away, and the nickname, funeral, and funeral were a lot of things.

Before nightfall, a decree was sent from the Palace of Nourishing Hearts: Zhu Zaiyin, the third son of the emperor, went to Yongjia, Zhejiang to mourn and attend the funeral.

Yan Song and Liu Long couldn't help but feel shocked and envious.

Yang Yiqing had the treatment of the emperor's eldest son to help the soul to return to the funeral, and Yang Tinghe's funeral King Yue also attended.

After that, Wang Shouren enjoyed this treatment, and it was the fourth son of the emperor who was buried last year. But Fei Hong died before and did not have this treatment.

Now, Zhang Fujing's funeral and the queen's funeral collided together, and His Majesty actually arranged for the prince to go at such a moment.

Is this the treatment of being loyal to the emperor and making immortal achievements?

Isn't Fei Hong worthy?

Yes, Fei Hong became the first prime minister and minister of state under special circumstances because of Yang Ting's peace and humility. But in the past six years, he has also worked hard. At the beginning, he planned to earn those officials and gentry who were dissatisfied with the new law, and they were also infamous on their backs.

Is it because Fei Hong has always been more selfish towards the Fei family, or because he overreacted to the opening of the East Palace a few years ago, which made the emperor unhappy?

Yan Song's heart was excited: back then, he also reacted wrongly to the opening of the East Palace and the construction of the government, and he was reprimanded.

Now that the queen is gone, the officials are secretly speculating again, will it backfire?

Let Liu Long go and ask Cui Yuan, I'm afraid that he did something wrong! What wouldn't Liu Long say to Cui Yuan? What is Cui Yuan's relationship with the emperor?

Your Majesty is only afraid that he will see Yan Song thoroughly!

What should a smart person do, Yan Song thought about it with a bitter face, and found that only by doing one thing could he show his heart.

That is to withdraw from the competition for the prime minister and minister of state this time, and let Yang Shen go up.

Isn't the undercurrent in the court now the crown prince's problem? Only if the crown prince's position is stable enough, will there be no hidden dangers because of the choice of the new queen.

The subordinate officials of the East Palace sit in the position of Prime Minister and Minister of State, which is more important than anything else.

Yan Song suffered a lot of gains and losses, and sighed: Yang Shen sat down, I'm afraid it will be at least another six years. Your Majesty, you have a golden mouth, can I really live to be eighty? It's sixty-one, and I'm not young!

The queen passed away and dropped out of the dynasty for a long time.

If you want to express your position, you must hurry up and contact some important ministers as soon as possible before the next court meeting, and jointly invite them to the court.

Especially Zhang Bi.

Although he has already let out his words, it is most appropriate for him to take the lead in doing this. Even if the prince thinks of him, Yan Song's seconded "Gao Feng Liang Festival" will not be so eye-catching, as if his original chances of winning are very high.

Yan Song's pondering, Zhu Houxi doesn't know now.

In the Heart Nourishing Palace, five people had dinner together.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was naturally very solemn, Zhu Qingyi's eyes were slightly red, and she looked at her brother who was eating silently, and she didn't know how to open her mouth to persuade her.

After arriving here before, it was okay to chat with the emperor about homely things. However, after the news of Zhang Fujing's death was presented, the emperor became silent again.

“…… Your Majesty's dragon body is important, and you must relax your mind. "It was the eldest princess Yongkang who spoke.

Zhu Houxi nodded: "That's what my aunt said." Everyone has their own lives, but in the past year or so, there has been too much news that has made my heart ache. ”

Sun Ming let him not have to worry about the affairs in the harem, and Zhang Fujing, from the beginning, to the real new law and practical school of the imperial court after Wang Qiong and they left, were all people who made Zhu Houxi worry a lot in the past.

Yang Tinghe, Fei Hong? None of them were the ones who really wanted to implement a new law of this scale. It's just that Yang Tinghe's turn is indeed of great significance, and Fei Hong did not stumble in the early days of the full rollout of the new law.

But what really made the new law take root in the entire Ming Dynasty was actually Zhang Fujing, who first returned to the center and later worked as the prime minister and minister of state for six years.

He only started to be an official in his forties, and in the last ten years when his body and energy began to decline, Zhang Fujing was really exhausted and honest.

He has lived in the dynasty for more than ten years, does not enter a minister, does not allow a private confession, and does not abuse a son and nephew. Bright and clean, dedicated to the public, generous chronicle, do not avoid resentment. The language industry has not yet been able to respect the clouds.

This is the evaluation of Zhang Fujing in history.

In this life, he has to meet Zhu Houxi, and he has more comprehensive attention and trust, and his achievements are naturally greater.

Today's Huanghuang Shengming, the direction pointed by Zhu Houxi is implemented, with Zhang Fujing as the first credit. Yang Shen has changed his appearance, although he is conscientious, but the pattern is always not big, he will always give advice or two when he talks about trivial things, even if he approves of things, he is always upright.

As for Yan Song...... Of course, he was able to do things, but perhaps his thinking had already been fixed, and his starting point for considering problems was never to take the initiative to think about what for the country, but to use a mind on the emperor's will.

This is the difference between them and Zhang Fujing.

Zhu Houxi was indeed in a bad mood because of the news of Zhang Fujing's death. It is true that his body has been overdrawn too much, otherwise Zhu Houxi intends to start with him and let the Prime Minister and Minister of State set a precedent that can be used for nine years.

During the three years he lived in the township, Zhu Houxi often learned about the new law from Zhang Fujing from the perspective of local and folk through letters.

Now, Zhang Fujing is also gone.

Thirty-five-year-old Zhu Houxi wanted to collect his mind and begin to achieve his true goal of letting them all come to eat with him today.

"Ming'er is gone, and the courtiers are going to ask me to make the queen again." Zhu Houxi opened his mouth, "This matter is widely implicated, including my sons. ”

The emperor used affectionate titles to say things that made their hearts skip a beat.

Princes...... That, of course, is related to the crown prince.

Zhu Houxi shook his head helplessly: "My body naturally doesn't matter, and my longevity is not short." Now I have nine sons, and many years later, the queen is not the biological mother of the prince, and all the princes are adults, so I am afraid that there will be no fewer headaches. Ming'er even had a last wish, hoping that I would choose her sister to be the queen, and I had already allowed her. It's just that she is only seventeen years old, and it is not easy to dominate the harem. has an aunt and nephew with the prince, and will naturally help the prince in the future. But even if she is a queen, if she has no parents, I'm afraid it won't be good. ”

He stopped when he said this, and Cui Yuan only felt his heart beating.

The amazing information is that the emperor already has a candidate for empress.

But what the emperor didn't say was even more terrifying: whether he could make the harem peaceful or not was a matter of ability; But if you have this ability, can you sacrifice your own happiness, you don't want to have a parent, and you are bent on treating your sister's sixteen-year-old child as a parent, looking forward to worry-free for the rest of your life?

That's impossible, she's only one year older than the prince, so you can imagine that it's a very polite relationship......

So what the emperor said is probably not good, because if the new queen has a parent and has the ability to control the harem, wouldn't she think about making her own son the prince?

Sun Ming's early death did disrupt Zhu Houxi's arrangements for his sons' future.

Sun Jiao's longevity is so good, and Sun Ming is also the queen's respect in the harem, Zhu Houxi really didn't expect that she would be so serious but undeclared, because of the very complicated harem that year, one queen, two concubines and nine concubines were selected at once, and because of the worries caused by many state affairs such as the implementation of the new law to expand the territory, Sun Ming was so seriously ill and difficult to recover.

Now that the matter has come to this, Zhu Houxi has to face it.

Lu Bing didn't dare to say anything at all, so he could only look at Cui Yuan.

Did the Emperor expect them to give him some advice, or had he already made up his mind what he wanted them to do?

Cui Yuan could only say: "Your Majesty has made a decision? ”

Zhu Houxi sighed: "To calm the hearts of many people, but also to let her be able to control the harem well, so as not to give me a headache." Everything else is easy to say, these days, I found out that Ming'er is gone, and I am not sure about the future troubles between the harem concubines. ”

In the harem affairs, the queen is powerful, and the emperor doesn't know how much heart to save.

Cui Yuan knew that the emperor's intention had been determined, and the empress was Sun Lan, and the status of the crown prince could not be shaken because of this.

What the emperor found troublesome was just how the harem could continue to be so peaceful.

After thinking about it, he could only say: "With Your Majesty here, the hearts of all the concubines and concubines will be calmed, and then the old and the new will be balanced, and it will probably settle down." According to the minister's opinion, the position of the harem concubine has not been moved for many years, there should be a concubine, there should be a prince with a clear arrangement, and there should be a concubine. In this way, there is still a shortage of the six palaces in the east and west, and Your Majesty is prosperous in the spring and autumn, and it is time to add some new people to the palace. ”

The eldest princess of Yongkang couldn't help but tugging at him under the table, but asked worriedly on her face: "New people and old people, won't that be more messy?" ”

Cui Yuan's face was righteous and awe-inspiring: "How wise is Your Majesty?" After the new has the help of the newcomer, the old people have some rewards to appease, and then there is jealousy, the harem will be peaceful. As for having a son-in-law, it is also orderly. Now that the princes are brothers, brothers, brothers, and brothers, His Majesty has taught him well, so he doesn't have to worry too much about the future. ”

When Zhu Houxi heard the word "brothers, friends, brothers, and brothers", he couldn't help but feel a little awkward now.

It's just that he didn't think of the problem of how to ensure the peace of the harem that he was worried about, and the solution Cui Yuan gave was to choose a few more with Sun Lan.

Zhu Houxi waved his hand silently: "Don't talk about this." It's just that I don't know who to talk to about what I'm really worried about. I won't do this this year, and I'll do it again next year. The harem affairs are something I have to worry about personally. ”

It's time to face the thoughts of the other concubines in the harem and the problems between the sons who have grown up.

He couldn't leave it alone anymore, and just let the queen do her best to maintain the situation so that he didn't have to worry about it.

Chatting about other topics, Huang Jin walked in with an ugly face.

"What's the matter?" Zhu Houxi asked.

“…… It's not a big deal. ”

"Let's say, it's all my own family."

Zhu Houxi opened his mouth, and Huang Jin said hesitantly: "Renshou Palace...... There are slaves and maidservants who denounce them...... Said the Empress Dowager Cishou for many years...... Prayer and mantra ......"

Everyone was shocked and looked at the emperor.

Whether it is true or not, it is intriguing to denounce it at this point in time.

Zhu Houxi really sank his face.

Make up for yesterday's arrears.

(End of chapter)