Zhongshan, filial piety.

It was already close to May, and the sun was scorching the earth like a torch, and under the scorching sun, people could not help but feel impetuous, not to mention going to participate in the advance rehearsals of the emperor's sacrificial activities.

But there is no way, the ministers all know that the tenth day of the fifth month is the death day of our Ming Taizu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, and this is the first year that the Yongle year name began to be used. If you don't ceremoniously worship the first emperor, how can you declare the legitimacy of the era name 'Hongwu 35 years', which is still used by Zhu Yuanzhang and his old man four years after his death?

The officials of the Ministry of Rites headed by Li Zhigang are busy preparing, on the eighth day of the fifth month, the civil and military officials have to wear light clothes, black horns and serve the court, and wait until the morning of the tenth day of the first month to go to the filial piety tomb collectively to salute, and that day will also present the rebuilt "Taizu Record", this set of ceremonies is the biggest event in the current dynasty, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is bigger than the sky, no link can go wrong, the slightest sloppiness must not be made.

However, compared with Li Zhigang and others, Zhu Di is obviously much easier.

"Dad, I, my fifth brother, as well as your grandson and great-grandson, have come to see you together."

In front of Zhu Yuanzhang's large-scale mausoleum, Zhu Di, the Yongle Emperor, together with his closest half-brother Zhu Hu, the king of Zhou, brought the eldest prince Zhu Gaochi and the eldest grandson Zhu Zhanji to incense Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Di's voice was very loud, and it was mixed with a little excitement, quite a bit of the sentence that Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, asked when he was the emperor of the imperial court, "The first lord often thinks that the ministers are scoundrels and can't govern the industry, so it's not as good as Zhongli. "Feelings.

Of course, Zhu Di wants to say this openly!

When Zhu Yuanzhang died that year, Zhu Di, the king of Yan, Zhu Hu, the king of Zhou, and other princes wanted to return to Beijing for the funeral and send Zhu Yuanzhang on his last journey, but they were jealous of Zhu Yunwen, who won the country from the young master, for fear that his uncles would follow the example of the Sima family to come to a rebellion of the eight kings and abolish him as "Sima Zhen".

Well, to some extent, Zhu Yunwen is indeed quite similar to Sima Zhen of "Why not eat minced meat".

did not become Zhu Yuanzhang's designated heir, did not send Zhu Yuanzhang on his last journey, these two things that are completely cause and effect are like thorns, which have always been stuck in Zhu Di's heart.

Before Zhu Yuanzhang died, the eldest prince Zhu Biao, the second Qin king Zhu Rong, and the third Jin king Zhu Li had all passed away, if Zhu Yuanzhang did not let Zhu Yunwen inherit Zhu Biao's inheritance according to the standards of the patriarchal system, but set up an heir according to the standard of "the country relies on the long monarch", Zhu Di, who is both civil and military, is undoubtedly the best candidate.

It's a pity that Zhu Yuanzhang finally chose Zhu Yunwen, which also left his sons with lifelong regrets and failed to enter Beijing for funeral.

Now that Zhu Di can finally bring his younger brother, son, and grandson to his father's grave to burn incense, only he knows how difficult it is to come to his father's grave. This was obtained by him in exchange for countless times in the past four years of hardship and hardship, and it was not given to him by others.

"Old man, you chose the wrong person."

This kind of words that can only be hidden in his heart, Zhu Di didn't say it, he took a deep breath, and then led everyone to kneel down and kowtow in front of Zhu Yuanzhang's mausoleum.

After kowtowing, Zhu Hu, the king of Zhou, walked to the huge tombstone of his father Zhu Yuanzhang, squatted down on his knees, and wiped the dust on it with his hands: "Erchen is not filial, he failed to fulfill his filial piety by your old man's side before, and today I specially came with the fourth brother to give your old man incense, please don't blame your old man!" ”

Listening to the words of the fifth uncle/fifth uncle, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Zhanji, father and son, also respectfully continued to kowtow three times, and praised in their mouths: "Please bless the imperial grandfather/imperial grandfather in the spirit of heaven!" ”

Although there is a whole filial piety guard around Zhu Yuanzhang's mausoleum, a total of 5,600 elite guards, there is no so-called "guardian" in it, except for some soldiers and eunuchs who are responsible for sprinkling and cleaning and maintaining safety, there is nothing, and this place is even quieter and terrible.

Zhu Di also lit the incense in his hand and inserted it into the incense burner in front of him.

After Zhu Di finished these things, he stood up and turned around.

Zhu Hu, the king of Zhou who was squatting, also stood up immediately, staggered a little distance from Zhu Di, and fell half a position, Zhu Hu's eyes were full of complicated expressions when he looked at Zhu Di.

Somehow, Zhu Di, who still had a trace of undetectable anger and awkwardness, turned his eyes red and moistened at this time, he pursed his lips tightly and said nothing.

There are few sons in the world who hate their father all their lives, even if Zhu Di has some resentment in his heart for Zhu Yuanzhang not passing on the throne to him, but now that he is really in this position, his two sons have begun to compete for the crown again, but they are also a little angry.

Zhu Hu stood next to him and looked at Zhu Di quietly, his eyes flashing slightly.

After a while, Zhu Di slowly lowered his gaze and instructed Zhu Gaochi: "Okay, take Zhan Ji to the side (the tomb of Empress Xiaoci Gao) to pay respects and mourn." ”

"Yes, Father."

Zhu Gaochi knew that Zhu Di had something to say to the fifth uncle, so he took Zhu Zhanji's little hand and answered, then bowed down and withdrew from here, walked slowly in the other direction, and disappeared behind the trees.

"Alas......" Zhu Di suddenly sighed, his face was gloomy and his eyes were gloomy.

Needless to say, pretended.

A mature politician will always wear a different mask when needed.

The 'fourth brother' and 'fifth brother' just now were in front of the tomb of their father Zhu Yuanzhang, and now they turned their backs and walked more than a dozen steps, which is a serious relationship between monarchs and ministers.

Zhu Di didn't speak, and Zhu Hu, the king of Zhou, had to ask himself: "Why does Your Majesty sigh?" ”

"It's difficult for the Qi family to rule the country and level the world."

Zhu Di looked at his own younger brother born to a mother, and asked: "The country is about to be restored (it was abolished by Emperor Jianwen as a concubine and removed from the country) Kaifeng, is it enough for the palace in normal times?" ”

"Nothing is going to be done, barely maintained." Zhu Hu, the king of Zhou, doesn't talk nonsense, he knows very well that only when everything is told to the truth, he, the ruthless fourth brother, will protect his vein and rest with the country.

Zhu Di nodded and said: "The king will restore the country, and he is unprepared, and I will give it 20,000 stones of rice stored in Henan, not in Changlu." ”

"Brother thank you, Your Majesty!"

Zhu Di helped Zhu Hu, who was about to worship, up, and finally was willing to get to the point, but he didn't get straight to the point.

"Every family has a scripture that is difficult to read. The second child of your family was thrown to the sea by me, and went to Annam, Champong, Myanmar and other countries with Zheng He, and the national teacher said that these places will be our Ming Dynasty's 'commodity dumping market' in the future, so you have to explore the road and step on the point first, don't blame me? ”

Zhu Hu, the king of Zhou, turned cold when he heard this, but said firmly: "Life and death are his creation, and it is not too late to thank Your Majesty." ”

This is to say, Emperor Jianwen cut the domain, he took the king of Zhou, because the king of Zhou is the king of Yan's half-brother has the best relationship, and he is in the heart of the Central Plains, and Emperor Jianwen is afraid that he will be in the same breath as the king of Yan. At that time, Zhu Youjia, the second son of King Zhou, accused his father of rebellion, so Emperor Jianwen sent Li Jinglong, the Duke of Cao, to pass through Kaifeng in the name of Beibian, and escorted the whole family of King Zhou back to Nanjing, abolished as a concubine, and moved to Menghua, Yunnan to be detained.

Well, that's right, it's a good thing that a five-star general did.

Now that the situation is turned upside down, Zhu Youjiao, who betrayed his father and took refuge in Emperor Jianwen, will naturally not have any good results.

Zhu Youjia himself also knows that he is not welcomed, it just so happened that last year Jiang Xinghuo proposed the policy of "tying up the clan and going to the West together", this kid was the first to sign up, this year Zheng He unloaded the goods in Jiangnan, so he had to go to Annan to investigate the situation, so it was logical to follow.

Of course, if Zhu Di hinted at this, if Zhu Hu, the king of Zhou, still can't understand, then he, the prince, will be in vain. Of course, Zhu Di doesn't care about Zhu Hu's second son, which is hinting that he will express his opinion on the recent turmoil and give Zhu Di some help.

In January and March, Wenchen had already been on the "Invitation to Establish the Crown Prince" twice, and Zhu Di directly took "When the eldest son is going to school, Hou Qi's wisdom is full, morality is better, and it is not too late to discuss it", "The eldest son's wisdom is not broad, his morality is not advanced, and the responsibility of the second prince should not be inherited?" If you want to be positive, you should pre-become your knowledge" Yunyun, prevaricating the past.

Wuchen Xungui was not idle here, and also appeared on two large-scale "Please Establish the Crown Prince's Table", but it was Zhu Gaoxu who was invited.

Zhu Di saw that he couldn't let the eldest and the second brother get together again, and he also knew that as long as the two sons didn't break it up, this kind of thing would annoy him to death in the future, so as soon as Jiang Xinghuo's successful battle report on the successful counterinsurgency in Jiangnan was delivered, he pondered the matter of asking Zhu Gaoxu to get out of the country and go to Beizhili quickly.

"Ahem."

Zhou Wang Zhu Hu coughed: "This boss and the second child stay together, it is easy to have conflicts. ”

Zhu Di turned his head to look at his younger brother when he heard this, raised his eyebrows, but didn't say anything.

After a long time, Zhu Di sighed: "You are also my only mother and brother, you know my difficulties, I am the emperor, the emperor is a lonely person, and sometimes, I don't care about ordinary people." ”

Zhu Di finally said what was in his heart.

"The national teacher and the second child are too close."

Zhu Hu, the king of Zhou, was a little surprised: "The change of the national teacher has just begun, I heard that after the rebellion in Jiangnan was suppressed, the flood control, disaster relief, factory establishment, and mining were all done in a good way, Your Majesty was not shaken?" ”

Zhu Di shook his head: "That's not true, changing the law is the general trend and a national policy, and non-changing the law is not enough to strengthen the country and enrich the people, and it is not enough to make the Ming Dynasty truly 'the sun and the moon never set'. ”

"Who can be righteous if a person is not a sage? If there is really some bias, Your Majesty will be more at ease, otherwise wouldn't it be like Wang Mang 'killing children and fighting for fame' when he was not usurped? ”

Zhu Di was silent.

Zhu Hu, the king of Zhou, didn't say much, but said jokingly: "The younger brother heard an interesting anecdote that said that the national teacher led the water control team with work for relief to dredge the Yunyan River, Jinshan Weizha Port, Caojing Water Distribution Port and other places in Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture and Shanghai County. ”

Zhu Di sighed, this time he really sighed from the bottom of his heart, the throne is not easy to sit, and it is even more difficult for a usurper emperor like him to sit, as long as he is in this position, he is not the person "Zhu Di", but the embodiment of imperial power, imperial power does not allow anyone to threaten, Jiang Xinghuo has done too well, which will naturally make Zhu Di have some concerns, but this concern is obviously not to the point of suspicion, but the imperial power is instinctively vigilant.

"I plan to order Pingjiang Bo Chen Xuan to be the chief military officer, and the Shuai Zhou Division will ship grain and salaries to Liaodong and Beizhili, Liaodong has Baoding Hou Mengshan, and Beizhili has Zhenyuan Hou Gu Cheng, these two people are guarding respectively, I am not worried. It's just that after all, you can't let the Mongols be so wanton, you should always beat it. ”

Zhou King Zhu Hu's brows furrowed, of course he heard about the local counteroffensive of the Mongols this year.

Yes, although the Northern Yuan Dynasty disintegrated, the Mongols took advantage of the emptiness of the northern border of the Ming Dynasty, which had just experienced the Battle of Jingjing, to come to a beautiful "sound west to attack the east", and on the surface, they wanted to attack the Ningxia general military officer Ningyuan Marquis He Fu (the actual commander of the southern army in the decisive battle of Lingbi) and the Gansu general military officer Xining Marquis Song Sheng (Hongwu has been guarding Liangzhou since the twelfth year of Hongwu and had accompanied the Lanyu expedition to the Western Regions), but in fact they attacked and ransacked the 30,000 guards in Liaodong.

This is not without the help of the fleeing officers and soldiers of the Daning Zhuwei who were unwilling to follow the Yan army, as well as the leading party formed by the Wuliangha wall grass, to the Mongols.

Anyway, although there is no substantial loss, the dignified Ming was ridden on the head, and it is definitely not possible not to return the color.

Of course, if you want to carry out a large-scale northern expedition, the current situation at home and abroad does not allow it.

Therefore, choosing a fierce general to go out of the jam, carry out a small-scale retaliation, and turn the war like the wind and thousands of miles away, has become a low-cost, high-efficiency and feasible retaliation plan.

"What does Your Majesty mean to let the second prince go out of the plug and fight back?"

Zhu Di nodded and said: "I don't want the second child to be in charge of the army again, but the prince is undecided, so it doesn't matter whether he is a feudal feudal or staying in Beijing, the second child is fighting well in Jiangnan, it just so happens that he has to go to Beizhili to preside over the law change, and go out of the fortress to take revenge on the Mongols, it is logical that he is best at this, the age of the Marquis of Zhenyuan, don't toss the Marquis of Zhenyuan, just let this kid take people there." ”

Quietly, the second prince Zhu Gaoxu and Pingjiang Bo Chen Xuan, these two generals who had just cooperated with Jiang Xinghuo, were about to be transferred to the north.

"It seems that the military power is still the fourth brother's reverse scale, not to mention the national teacher Jiang Xinghuo, even if it is a meritorious peerless general like his own son, he is a little reluctant to bring thousands of people, fortunately, I am the first to return the three guards, if I don't interfere with the military power, the fourth brother is a person who talks about security." Zhou Wang Zhu Hu said secretly in his heart.

"Today it's long-winded."

Zhu Di suddenly laughed, he stretched out his right hand and patted the shoulder of Zhou Wang Zhu Hu, and said, "But this matter is not in a hurry, you will go back to the fifth brother." ”

Zhou Wang Zhu Hu asked tentatively:

"Wait for Dad's death day this year to pass?"

"Well, but before the medal is awarded."

Zhu Di bowed his head slightly and said: "It just so happens that Cao Guogong is also going back to China, and the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies has a list of hundreds of people. The proposal of the national teacher is right, the title is in the shadow, and the position will continue to change, but the general rank is a thing that might as well be determined first, and the level of the army is marked as a mark, and the meritorious service below is given a hope, which is excellent, isn't it just a matter of adding a star, isn't this much more comfortable than picking and searching and not giving the knighthood? ”

Zhu Di's hands are naturally out of the list, anyway, he thinks that the national teacher is very good, with the two honor systems that do not cost money, medals and generals, there are more rewards that can be given, after all, sometimes he is also faced with the problem of 'the national name cannot be awarded lightly', so as to avoid the old brothers complaining.

Zhou Wang Zhu Hu just set a date on the table, so he naturally didn't care about Zhu Di's plan to issue medals, and he couldn't bear to disturb him when he saw Zhu Di's rare happiness.

Zhu Di felt that he had obtained the loyal means of a white prostitute from Jiang Xinghuo again, and he decided to kick the second child to Beizhili to preside over the change of law and bring out the Mongols, but there was no more boredom.

"Alright." Zhu Di restrained his smile and said, "I still have some things, wait for you to go back to Kaifeng another day, and then talk to you, you can worship first." ”

"Yes, always waiting for Your Majesty."

Zhou Wang Zhu Hu responded with a fist.

He watched Zhu Di walk away, with a wry smile on his face, as long as he didn't threaten the fourth brother, this fourth brother was indeed good to him, but this good was not sincere enough after all.

Thinking of the time when my father had not yet ruled the world, the childhood that their brothers spent together at that time, and then looked at the tomb in front of him and the departed fourth brother, for a while, Zhu Hu felt a little like a world away.

"Ruthlessness is the most emperor's family." Zhu Lu sighed deeply in his heart.

——————

In a courtyard somewhere in the Shanghai County Government, Zhu Gaoxu was squatting alone on the ground, silently staring at the ants on the ground.

He was in a daze, and with one hand he mechanically lifted the stone bench he had dismantled.

Zhu Gaoxu also had a weapon rack next to him, which looked like he was going to practice martial arts, but he didn't have the heart to practice martial arts at all, because his father's holy decree had arrived.

"While reporting that the captives want to be Koubian, Fang Chun, the soldiers and the people are not allowed to farm, I am deeply concerned, and I ordered the second prince Zhu Gaoxu to lead the troops to Kaiping to prepare, and the camera will be eliminated when the captives arrive, otherwise they will be treated according to the soldiers, and the people on the border will be able to do their best to Tuntian. However, he is cunning and not easy to see, and if he loses it, he will lose his prestige, and he must not be cautious in provoking. ”

The so-called "provocation must be cautious" is all, who is Zhu Di afraid of provocation? This holy decree was very embellished by the ministers on the surface, and in fact, it was translated into a sentence: "We don't fight a battle that we are not sure of, but if we have the opportunity, we have to catch it and fight to the death, don't embarrass Lao Tzu!" ”

It's early summer now, and the weather is getting hotter, but Zhu Gaoxu doesn't feel so warm in the hot wind.

His eyelids were beating hard, and his heart was not at peace.

He remembered that when he couldn't sleep last night, he thought about it for a long time, and finally believed one thing - according to his understanding of his father, his father must have been suspicious of himself, and the suspicion had reached a certain level of urgency, otherwise his father would not have wanted to kick him to Beizhili so quickly.

Zhu Gaoxu looked up at the sky.

The sky was gray, and there were no stars or clouds in the daytime, and even the sun was nowhere to be seen.

Of course, Zhu Gaoxu didn't want to leave Nanzhili, he knew very well that the capital he could compete for the throne largely came from his father's love, and the relationship between people would change with distance, if he was not by his father's side for a long time, this love would definitely decay over time, and then he would not have such a big advantage as he does now.

Zhu Gaoxu said secretly: "I have to think of a way, it's not a matter to go on like this, or follow Annan?" ”

Zhu Gaoxu thought in his mind, the more he thought about it, the more painful his head became, and his mind became more disturbed, he simply stopped thinking, closed his eyes, and tried to calm himself.

After a long time, Zhu Gaoxu opened his eyes, let out a long breath of turbidity, picked up his heavy sword, walked into the wooden stake next to him and waved it for a while.

He has a total of nine different matching swords, each sword weighs about six to eight catties, which is very heavy for ordinary people, but Zhu Gaoxu is very smooth to use, and it can even be said that he is handy, after all, he has practiced martial arts since he was a child, and his body is vigorous and powerful, so he can easily control all kinds of weapons.

The leaves of the trees grew a lot this season, and Zhu Gaoxu waved it, and the blade of the sword slashed through the leaves, making a rustling sound.

When he was drenched in sweat, he put his sword in its sheath again and returned to the pavilion to drink tea to relieve his fatigue.

At this time, there was a sound of footsteps next to him, Zhu Gaoxu turned his head to look, and saw Jiang Xinghuo walking towards him.

"Master." Zhu Gaoxu shouted.

Jiang Xinghuo was already black at this time, and he didn't wear a long robe, so he picked up the kettle and drank it, and after drinking the water to quench his thirst, he took out a chair and sat down.

"The dam over there in Dahuangpu has been repaired?" Of course, Zhu Gaoxu knew what the master was busy with recently, and the top priority was of course to deal with the water source of Huangpu New Town.

After all, with such a large area newly built, the workers need domestic water for their lives, the water-powered spinning wheels used for the cotton textile industry also need industrial water to drive, and the agricultural water needed to irrigate the fields where cotton is planted on both sides of the river is a monster of draft.

"Right away."

Behind Jiang Xinghuo, Song Li, Huang Ziwei, Sun Kun, Ye Zongxing and other civil officials, who were also dark, swarmed in with a stack of files.

"What is this?"

Seeing that Master's mind was not on him at all, and now that he had discovered the holy decree, Zhu Gaoxu was also a little helpless, and he handed over the holy decree.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Xinghuo hurriedly looked at it, and said directly: "Good thing, why do you have such an expression?" ”

As he spoke, Jiang Xinghuo pointed to the various data channels of Beizhili attached to the back of the holy decree.

"The number of registered households in Shuntianfu is 189,300 odd, the number of non-commissioned officers who have not resumed their work is 85,000, the fields that have been planted are 63,343 hectares, and the unplanted fields are 181,454 hectares. The sky is high and the sea is wide, and it can be done! ”

Zhu Gaoxu feels that his political IQ is relatively low, he is not good at playing power, he is just a martial artist, and he has an upright personality, he has something to say, and he will not beat around the bush.

So, he simply said, "I don't want to go!" ”

"What's not to want to go?"

Of course, Jiang Xinghuo knew the concerns of his great disciple, but he pointed to the file held by Song Li and others and said: "What are we doing these days, you have also seen, liberating the labor force in the south of the Yangtze River, establishing large-scale manual workshops, building water conservancy projects, promoting chemical fertilizers, verifying the entry of labor into mu and 'new type of conscription', and building a large-scale hydraulic spinning wheel. Do you still want to be a child who pesters your father? ”

"This ......" Zhu Gaoxu fell silent for a while, and the atmosphere seemed a little depressing.

After a while, Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but speak: "I heard a familiar eunuch say that my father also said in front of my eldest brother, let's not compete for the position of prince and make an embarrassment...... What's going on? Could it be that my father hinted that I would not fight? ”

This is Zhu Gaoxu, a stupid boy, who cares about it.

"Not really." Jiang Xinghuo shook his head and said, "Your Majesty means that he doesn't want you to kill each other for this position, even like the story of Li Shimin, the king of Qin. Maybe it means something else, but I don't know exactly which layer, but I don't think it's going to hit you, and since he said this, no matter what others think, he won't attack you anymore. ”

Zhu Gaoxu took a deep breath, rubbed his temples in distress, and continued: "But I don't think the eldest brother will give up, and neither will those people behind him." ”

"Take a long-term view and open up the pattern."

Jiang Xinghuo simply pointed out: "At present, changing the law is the top priority, and it is also the time when you can stand out the most, whether you can make some achievements in the north, it depends on whether you have the ability?" ”

Zhu Gaoxu raised his head again and looked in the direction of Nanjing in the distance, and sighed secretly in his heart, he had also thought about giving up that position, but the fact was that judging from the current situation, he could not refuse this temptation.

Zhu Gaoxu knew very well in his heart that if he was not a prince, if he was not so brave and good at fighting, he would not get that position, but as soon as he stretched out his hand, he might get that position.

Zhu Gaoxu's mind became more and more confused, and he remained silent for a long time.

However, Jiang Xinghuo didn't have the heart to care about him, and everyone entered the county government courtyard with the dossier, just to have a serious meeting to discuss what to do next.

"Say it."

Zhu Gaoxu was bored for a long time, and when he saw everyone in the meeting, he was also curious.

On the stone table, there was a document of "Jiangnan Housewives' Textile Sideline Income Survey", needless to say, Jiang Xinghuo's handwriting.

Song Li coughed lightly, cleared his throat, and began to read it.

"The national teacher took us to a total of 154 townships in Songjiang and Suzhou to make this investigation report."

There is a saying among the people: Li Yu enters the market with cotton yarn in the morning, easy to return to kapok, the machine rolls, and there are those who can't sleep all night. After a detailed field investigation, it was found that the peasants in Songjiang Prefecture had fallen into the dilemma of empty rooms before the end of the year, except for losing their official positions and paying off debts, and the whole family depended on women's textile subsidies for food and clothing, and women's family status was even related to this. 2 women, can weave 120 pieces of silk per year, and its main costs are: warp, weft, silk money, guys, thread wax. If you raise silkworms by yourself and reel silk by yourself, the cost will be reduced, and the annual income and profit will be more lucrative. ”

"What are you talking about?" Zhu Gaoxu listened with a confused expression.

"The cotton textile industry needs to conduct research on the job market, and 'those who do not survey, do not speak'."

(End of chapter)