In the early spring of the sixteenth year of Yongle, the frost and snow in Beijing melted, and everything sprouted in the season, everything was developing for the better.

After surviving the difficult winter, the old man's health finally improved slightly, but he only looked better, not as crumbling as in winter, as if he could die at any time.

These days, Zhu Gaoxian has been calling the pulse for the old man every day, and prescribing the most suitable prescription according to the diagnosis. Despite this, he is still just trying his best to renew the old man's life.

No matter how he diagnosed, there was only one final result: the old man couldn't survive the winter of Yongle for the sixteenth year.

As a son, he can only try his best to fulfill his father's wishes.

The old man has four wishes: First, not to be blamed by Lao Zhu after death.

This wish has been fulfilled, Lao Zhu has forgiven him now, after all, there is no way if he doesn't forgive, everyone is going to die, and he has to be more or less tolerant.

Second, I found Emperor Jianwen, but I regretted it.

This wish has also been achieved, Emperor Jianwen has been buried in the western suburbs, and this heart disease is still removed after all.

Third, after his death, there were successors to the Ming Dynasty.

This wish has also been fulfilled, Zhu Gaoxian said that even if Daming loses Zhu Di, what should he do.

In this way, there is only one last wish left.

Zhu Di is a person who misses the old, and in the more than ten years he has been in power, almost all the people who can make him miss it are dead. For example, Li Jinglong, the Duke of Cao Guo, Ma Hamu, the leader of the Warat Tribe, Zhu Yunwen, the Jianwen Emperor, Zhu Zhanji, the good saint grandson, and Zhu Gaochi, the former prince......

However, among Zhu Di's old friends, there is still one person who has not died.

The head of the Tatar tribe, the imperial prince of the Northern Yuan Khan, the king of Hening, the supreme commander of the Mongolian headquarters, the last glory of the steppe, the immortal bird, Arutai.

Arutai, the most powerful enemy of the Ming Dynasty in Mobei, Qiu Fu, the general of the Ming army who made the first contribution to Jingnan, was defeated at the hands of this person. He was almost wiped out by Zhu Di, but in the end he led the Tatar tribe of Eastern Mongolia to rise, and he was also defeated at the hands of the Warat tribe Maham, but now the grass on the tomb of Mahamu is two feet high, and Arutai is still active in the grassland.

He is a true immortal, and with his great tenacity, he survived his old rival in the grassland, Mahamu. In the battle of Hulan, the Ming army defeated Warat, but the biggest winner was not the Ming Dynasty, but the Tatars.

After the death of Mahamu, Arutai led the Tatar tribe and quickly unified Eastern and Western Mongolia, becoming a well-deserved overlord of the steppes and the only king of Mobei.

Zhu Di's last wish was to bring Arutai, an old friend, with him before he died.

Judging from the fate of the old man's old friends, it is extremely unwise to make friends with Zhu Di.

But as a son, Zhu Gaoxian has to be filial.

He wants to help Zhu Di completely eradicate Arutai, the last overlord of the grassland, before winter comes!

……

"That's how you tested the prince?"

"What prince can't stand such a test?"

In the Wenhua Palace, Zhu Gaoxian put down the fold in his hand and looked at Xia Yuanji suspiciously, "Old Shangshu, we are not short of money, right?" ”

Xia Yuanji nodded: "Of course there is no shortage, after the reform of the government and tax system, although a large amount of incorruptible silver will be issued every year, and the construction of the provinces will be developed, but the wealth of the treasury is far greater than that of the previous dynasties, even if it is the two Song Dynasty in the past, the wealth is far inferior to the treasury of my Ming Dynasty." ”

"Since there is no shortage of money, is it so difficult for you to prepare food and grass?"

Zhu Gaoxian frowned and said, "The old man has to fight before this winter, and the expedition can't be delayed until winter, and the decisive battle in autumn will be the latest." In the decisive battle in the autumn season, the troops will be sent in midsummer, and we will not be able to prepare grain and grass in the summer, and this spring, we must arrange everything properly. ”

"As a result, it's been a month of preparation now, and you tell me, the grain and grass are not half ready? Xia Laoshangshu, do you really plan to prepare logistics until the war starts? ”

Xia Yuanji sighed helplessly: "The country is not short of money, it does not mean that the country is not short of food. Your Highness should know that in the past two years, the heavens have not been beautiful, and the land endowments in various places are pitiful, and some places still need the state treasury to open warehouses for grain relief. ”

"I can't say that just for Your Majesty to fight this battle, I will squeeze all the reserve granaries in various places, if you really have to mobilize the reserve granaries in various places, the old minister said something unpleasant, in case of a catastrophe and drought, there is no grain reserve in the provinces, and the world is afraid that it will be a big chaos."

Zhu Gaoxian asked coldly: "Huguang Jingxiang, a major grain-producing province. But I see that among the grain tributed by the provinces, the 250,000 stone in Huguang is not half of that of Henan or Shandong. ”

"The lake is vast and the land is fertile, but the land is vast and sparsely populated, so it attracts an influx of people."

Xia Yuanji explained, "But most of these inflows are black households, and black households do not pay land taxes. Last year alone, Huguang's population registered in the Yellow Book doubled, but it takes time to transform, and it takes three or five years to plan Huguang's fields within the administrative system. ”

"Can you wait for three or five years for the Northern Expedition, don't you know the old man's body, he can stay up until this winter and burn high incense, you let him wait for you for another three or five years?"

Zhu Gaoxian was a little impatient, and Xia Yuan Jimo was silent.

His temper as a prince has indeed been a little bad recently.

It is not only because the government affairs are too busy, but also because the old man's health is not getting worse day by day, and he is becoming more and more worried.

After a long time, Zhu Gaoxian's voice was hoarse, and he slowly spoke: "Just now, I was lonely and anxious, Xia Laoshangshu, I will compensate you for it." ”

Xia Yuanji is not the kind of person who is lazy and slippery, and he must do his best to do what Zhu Gaoxian handed over to him. If it can't be done, it's not that he has a problem with his ability, or that he doesn't care about it, it can only be that this matter is too embarrassing.

Seeing that Xia Laoshang is a lot older, but he follows Zhu Gaoxian to die every day, urging and urging his life, his face is sallow and sluggish, which is really hard.

Xia Yuanji hurriedly arched his hand and said: "The prince is going to torture the old minister, for the country and the people, this is all as it should be, the old minister can't stand the prince's apology." The old minister is also considerate of the prince, after all, these days, the old minister has seen everything in his eyes. ”

"The crown prince has been sleeping peacefully for many years, and he is busy with state affairs. If the king is like this, how dare the courtiers slack off. Your Majesty's dragon body is not safe, and it is reasonable for the prince to be anxious about his father as a hidden dragon in the Eastern Dynasty. ”

"It's just this levy ......"

"It's really not easy to be in a hurry, the prince is a wise and heroic lord, so he should naturally understand the hidden dangers in the grain requisition. If you push it too hard, I'm afraid it will lead to a backlash. ”

A sign of the decline of a nation is the reckless reckless requisition of grain.

In every time there is a war, food must be levied first. If you want to pacify the grain requisition, you can only levy grain, and the more you levy it, the more it will be more and more violent, and the order of the whole country will be ruined, and it will fall into dire straits.

Although today's Ming Dynasty will not make a fuss to the extent that the whole country is against it, it is better to regress in the face of this kind of thing.

Zhu Di's eyebrows stretched: "Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Suzhou and Hangzhou, how?" ”

Xia Yuanji shook his head and said: "No, the imperial court has reached the limit for the people of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Suzhou and Hangzhou in the past two years, and the southern Zhili is the most stringent, with less than one percent of the population, it bears more than thirty percent of the country's taxes. ”

Zhu Gaoxian also shook his head: "Gu never thought of levying food from the common people. ”

"If you don't levy the people's grain, who will you collect?"

"Whoever has food is levied on whom."

"Who has the food?"

"Families, eunuchs, chambers of commerce, landlords, they have money."

Zhu Gaoxian raised his eyebrows and said, "Don't look at the tax inspector's house like a plague god crossing the street, when you see a corrupt official, you have to peel off the skin, in fact, this is only the tip of the iceberg on the surface." Some people, even the tax collector's house, did not dare to move, the people only had much grain in their hands, and the real ones who had food were the landlords, the family lords behind the grain. ”

Xia Yuanji smiled bitterly: "Your Highness himself said that these people don't even dare to move the Tax Supervision House, it's not that they don't have the guts, they can't move." The country is a country composed of small families, and these families are talking about the family, if even the family is gone, where will the country come from? ”

A country without a family gate valve is an ideal country, and it does not exist in the fantasy of reality.

What is the reason for the poor to study hard in the cold window at home? It's nothing more than wanting to squeeze your head into the flow of the family's door valve, if even the family is gone, the world can't see the goal, and the country will die.

The emperor and the court are the top of the country, and the family gate valve forms the grassroots of the country, if the grassroots is torn apart, then the country is rootless duckweed, and it will also be shattered with the demise of the family gate valve.

If it can overpower the family gate, at most it will prosper for a while, the order of the country will be disrupted from the bottom up, the system will collapse, and the empire will fall.

If you can't overpower the family gate valve, then the family door valve will start to change the emperor and change the dynasty.

Regardless of victory or defeat, if you want to exterminate the family gate valve, you will self-destruct the foundation.

"Lone never thought of exterminating the family gatekeeper, what Lone wanted was for them to compromise."

Zhu Gaoxian spread his hands, "The family gate valve seems to be able to change the dynasty at will, but in fact, every time the dynasty changes, it is also quite a big blow to them. For them, when the country is stable, they can also be stable. ”

"Now, the country is going to war, there is no food. To gather the country's grain and grass, you only need to give a little bit from each family, and when the war is won and the country is peaceful, it is also a good thing for them, a win-win situation, and everyone has something to earn. ”

"The country is not an enemy, it is their compromise that is the only thing that is needed. Lone allowed them to stay evergreen, but they also had to contribute money and effort to the court. ”

Xia Yuanji sighed: "It's difficult, we all understand the truth, the family gate valve is not a fool, they naturally understand this truth." But for these gluttons who are only willing to eat and don't want to vomit, it is more difficult to get them to contribute money and effort than to ascend to the sky, and there is always a gap between the two sides. ”

Zhu Gaoxian's eyes flashed: "Lonely to tour the south." ”

Xia Yuanji thought he had misheard: "What did Your Highness say?" ”

"Lone said, Southern Tour."

Zhu Gaoxian said calmly, "Gu personally went to the south to solve this matter." I want to formulate a set of rules with them, a set of rules that will accompany the Ming Dynasty for thousands of years, the family gate valve must contribute money and efforts when the court needs it, and the court can ensure that the family door valve will always have a foothold. ”

Since ancient times, the emperor's patrol is the best way to stabilize the situation, although Zhu Gaoxian is now only a prince, but he is already like the emperor.

When the national capital is far away from the locality, the control of the imperial court will be greatly reduced. The emperor went out on patrol, first, to stabilize the people's hearts, and secondly, to control power and radiate the imperial power to the local area, so as to consolidate the image of the imperial court.

Of course, like Emperor Qianlong's six southern tours, it is not counted among them, and Aaron is purely to have fun.

The emperor went out on patrol to stabilize the people's hearts. Before Qianlong's grandson's imperial boat arrived, the local army dispersed the people to 800 miles away, and the people avoided the people's hearts that still had a woolen thread.

Of course, Aaron didn't let the people all avoid it, but the men avoided it, and then the women stayed. One time Emperor Qianlong had a good time, and he was unarmed with more than a dozen Qinglou women, and suddenly the queen came, Aaron was interrupted Huhahaha, and in a fit of anger, he directly gave the queen a kick, and the queen was strong enough, so she jumped into the water and drowned.

Virtue is wrong, Qianlong went to Jiangnan six times to observe the people's feelings is pure nonsense, that is, this grandson wants to experience the Jiangnan style.

Xia Yuanji's face changed slightly: "Your Highness, the southern tour is not a trivial matter." ”

"Your Majesty's dragon body is not safe, Beijing needs a prince who can control the overall situation, if you go to the south, what about the north? If the court has no backbone, can it still be called the court? ”

Zhu Gaoxian smiled lightly: "Isn't there still you." ”

"The avenue is not alone, I have never been alone. Here in Beijing, there are you, Yang Rong, Su Wen and Su Wu, Lu Chaoyang, Shen Qingyu, Zhang Fu and Zhu Yong...... Lonely South Patrol, only bring a brocade guard Zhang Muzhi. ”

"Lao Xia, you have been an official for decades, you should understand a truth, the court has always been supported by the emperor alone. Dapeng rose with the wind one day, soaring up to 90,000 miles, and it was not only Dapeng that was on 90,000 miles, but also his tens of millions of scales. ”

Xia Yuanji wanted to speak and stopped, and said with a wry smile: "How can there be such a reason, since ancient times, the emperor has been dictatorial, how can there ever be such a big heart as you." ”

The corners of Zhu Gaoxian's lips hooked slightly: "If you want to speak, stop is the answer, and the answer is not what you ask, don't ask questions with the answer." ”

He was never alone, and by his side, and his followers.

Just as when Great Qin unified the Six Kingdoms, behind the First Emperor Yingzheng, there were Li Si, Lü Buwei, Meng Tian, Meng Yi, Wei Yi, Wang Jian and many others to follow.

"Xia Laoshangshu, you go and prepare for the southern tour."

Zhu Gaoxian got up and left with his hands behind his back, and said, "During the period of the lonely southern tour, the government was controlled by you and Yang Gelao, and the military was judged by Zhang Fu and Su Wu. ”

"Da Ming, it's still that Da Ming."

"This southern tour, I want to relieve my worries for Daming."

(End of chapter)