"The breath of spring is like the wind blowing, the mountains and forests are like the shade, and the ...... is far away"

As the night darkens, as the singing of the geisha in the Golden Pavilion comes out, Ashikaga Yoshimitsuya, who is sitting on the top of the Golden Pavilion, leads the important nobles of the shogunate to drink and listen.

The aroma of the entrance made the nobles indulge in it, and the many pastries on the table allowed the nobles of this country with poor materials to enjoy the life of the great doctors.

This is the third year of the opening of the market in the Ming Dynasty, and the whole of Japan has begun to profit because of the opening of the Japanese market.

A wide variety of goods from the Ming Dynasty, such as cycads, brown sugar, porcelain, silk, cloth, and tea, greatly enriched Japan's barren market, and Kyoto's prosperity was further enhanced.

In the past, cakes made of brown sugar were basically only eaten by guardians and nobles, but with the influx of hundreds of thousands of catties of Daming sugar into Japan every year, the price of sugar in Japan has gradually decreased.

Originally, the sugar of 140 wen was only 60 wen to buy from the Japanese market, and the guards who obtained the market qualifications made a lot of money.

This is only brown sugar, not to mention other teas, porcelain, cloth, and silk.

With the exception of a small number of fiefdom nobles who were worried about the Ming Dynasty's infiltration of Japan, most of the other nobles were not worried about these things at all, especially the nominal shogunate minister, who actually controlled only Gyeonggi and parts of Kanto Kansai.

"Yoshitomo, how much revenue did we increase last year?"

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu watched the geisha perform in front of him while asking his son, the current shogun Ashikaga Yoshimori.

"About 180,000."

Ashikaga Yoshinori was unsmiling, but Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was very satisfied.

As a samurai feudal government, the Ashikaga shogunate's income from land was an important part of its finances.

The shogunate had more than 200 'imperial offices' throughout the country, that is, the territories directly under the military family, and the land rent collected from these lands was the main component of the shogunate's revenue.

The shogunate also attached great importance to its direct jurisdiction, so the Ise family, who were the hereditary deacons of the shogunate, were appointed to manage the Imperial Offices, and some of the Imperial Offices were also managed by the Gozan monks, an income that seemed stable but was not worth relying on.

In addition, the imperial family members of the four towns or more in the Zhixing Prefecture paid the same amount of local imperial service per person, and one-fiftieth of the total income of the samurai of each country was also conscripted into the shogunate's pocket as a samurai service.

Twenty-three years ago, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu received from the imperial court the power to levy and exempt dan money from various countries, calling it dan money.

Duan Qian is also the tax temporarily levied on the whole country during important events such as the succession of the new emperor and the construction of temples and shrines.

Due to the wide range of collection, the income of the dan money was very considerable, so the shogunate took control of the collection of the dan money, which undoubtedly strengthened its own economic strength.

However, this situation did not last long, and the local lords, guardians, and people began to collect the money privately, and gradually changed the tax from the previous temporary collection to a long-term collection, so the shogunate was unable to obtain much profit from the money under the limited situation of the direct jurisdiction, and the system of private collection of money by the local government continued until the Warring States period.

In addition to the kan money, the annual Buddhist ceremonies and prayers held by the Ashikaga clan were also levied on the guardians of each country, but unlike the kan money, this fund was paid not in the form of taxes but in the form of money "gifted" to the shogunate by the guardians.

As can be seen from these events, the reason why Ashikaga Yoshimitsu spared no effort to create new sources of taxation was because forty years after the establishment of the shogunate, there was still no source of income that was rich enough to be relied on.

The financial crisis caused Ashikaga Yoshimitsu to set his sights on the sake house and the dokura and collect them as long-term taxes, thus reaching an annual revenue of about 6,000 kan.

The income of 6,000 guan had already made Ashikaga Yoshimitsu very happy at that time, and now the Ming Dynasty has entered the hidden ambiguity and set up a city division, which can be stably handed over to the shogunate 6 to 90,000 guan every year.

Even if the money was to be distributed to the Kyogoku family, the shogunate still had about two-thirds of it, which was a large and stable income.

Moreover, in addition to this income, the shogunate, as the largest buyer in the city, can earn more than 100,000 yuan from the people every year by reselling the vague Ming goods, and this money cannot be earned by the shogunate at all before.

It is precisely because of the support and threat of the Ming Dynasty that the guardians of Kansai and Kyushu can do business honestly, and the taxes can be handed over to themselves through the hands of the Ming Dynasty.

The tariff of 180,000 kan was almost a quarter of the revenue of the Ashikaga shogunate.

If this money is used to maintain the army, it can completely maintain 60,000 feet.

If it is used to forge armor and train armies, it can recruit and equip 40,000 ashigaru.

It can be said that as long as this fiscal revenue can be stabilized, the financial pressure of the Ashikaga shogunate will no longer exist.

Because of this, even if you don't like Ashikaga Yoshinori of the Ming Dynasty, there is no way to say to your face that it is not the one who opened the market as before.

But he can't say that doesn't mean he supports his father doing it.

In his opinion, it is undoubtedly a humiliating move to surrender power and humiliate the country by claiming tribute to the Ming Dynasty and ceding islands such as Yinqi and Sado.

In the past two years, the relationship between the shogunate and the imperial family has become increasingly stiff, and his own father seems to be preparing to coerce Emperor Go-Komatsu into the throne with the support of the Ming Dynasty, so that his own younger brother Yoshiji will succeed him as emperor.

Thinking of this, Ashikaga Yoshinori's face was very bad, but Ashikaga Yoshimitsu didn't care about his attitude, and his eyes were always on the banquet.

The feast lasted for a long time, and it was not until late at night that the nobles dispersed in groups.

At the end of the feast, only Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and his three sons remained.

The eldest of the three sons is Ashikaga Yoshinori, the current shogun, who is now eighteen years old.

After him, they were the ten-year-old second son Ashikaga Yoshinor, and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's favorite Ashikaga Yoshitsu.

Looking at his three sons, forty-six-year-old Ashikaga Yoshimitsu sat up and then instructed them:

"The current environment is not suitable for enjoyment, and I am not holding a banquet for enjoyment."

"At the banquet just now, if you look closely, then you should see that many of them are just hypocritical, and there are not many who can really walk with us."

"You three brothers need to be united, only in this way can we continue to maintain the stability of the shogunate."

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu set his sights on Ashikaga Yoshimochi, whose political views were not in line with his own: "Yoshimori, I know that you don't approve of my switch's actions, but now that the switch can bring us benefits, then we need to maintain it." ”

"When the benefits of the switch are not enough, you can choose to retreat."

"Yes......" Ashikaga Yoshishi put his hands on his lap and nodded slowly.

He looked solemn, but Ashikaga Yoshimitsu could feel it, and he still didn't agree with his words, which made Ashikaga Yoshimitsu feel a little uneasy.

It's just that the current situation is quite peaceful, and he didn't think much about it, but said a few words to Ashikaga Yoshikyo and Ashikaga Yoshitsugu respectively, and then signaled the three of them to retreat.

Looking at the backs of their departures, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu also sat upright, let people take the pen and ink, and wrote a national letter with his own hands.

Soon after, this letter was sent to the Hidden City Hiroshi by several samurai.

A few days later, the letter of state that passed through the Hidden Ambiguity City was brought back to the Ming Dynasty by the official ships of the Tomorrow Trade.

By the time it arrived in Nanjing, it was the end of February in the third year of Yongle, and it was only three days before Zhu Di went north.

The emperor wanted to march north, which was a top priority for the Ming Dynasty.

You must know that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, who has fought the world with his own hands, has not been in person, and only went to Kaifeng after Xu Da and others conquered the Central Plains.

Now that Zhu Di is going to conquer in person, Zhu Gaoxu has been appointed to supervise the country, and the entire Jiangnan has begun to prepare for the emperor's tour.

【His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, King Minamoto Daoyi】

[The sun is shining, and the Ming Dynasty is facing all countries. Haihan spring breeding, Yuanhua is the Quartet. The Chinese barbarians returned to the soil, and the grass, trees, insects and fish were sexual. 】

[His Majesty Emperor Gongwei, Shenwen Shengwu, Zeng Zhi Ciren, Imperial Unification, Che Shu ......]

"This Ashikaga Yoshimitsu has changed well, and last time he said that he was the third queen, and now he calls himself the king."

In the Wuying Palace, Zhu Di smiled happily with the national letter written by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, because he saw Ashikaga Yoshimitsu from the letter that he was close to the Ming Dynasty, and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu called himself the king, which also showed that he really wanted to be the king of Japan.

For Zhu Di, he is not afraid that Ashikaga Yoshiman is ambitious, but he is afraid that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu has no ambition.

Those who are ambitious are always better driven than those who are not.

"If you have confidence, you will naturally dare to be the king."

When Zhu Dile was happy, Zhu Gaoxu, who was sitting on the left side of the hall, also took a sip of tea, his face was flat, as if he had expected Ashikaga Yoshimitsu to be close to Daming.

"Don't mention him, anyway, you'll look at this matter, what I care about now is how my northern expedition materials are."

Zhu Di didn't take Ashikaga Yoshimitsu to heart, because he knew that his second child was in charge, so he didn't want to bother.

What he cares about now is how well he is preparing for the materials for his northern expedition, but don't make any trouble about the lack of supplies.

"It's all ready, Quanningwei has 200,000 stone of grain storage, and Zhaozhou has more grain than estimated, and there are currently 800,000 stone."

"The left and right guards of Yanshan in Beizhili are already waiting for you in Beijing, and Bohai has also transferred Zhaozhou Zhongwei and sixty 1,200 horse ships waiting for your dispatch."

"Now it depends on which soldiers and horses from the capital you are going to take to the north." Zhu Gaoxu said that, and also looked at Zhu Di's expression.

Zhu Di scratched his beard: "I have already said before, Li Lost and Li Qi's Zhaozhou left and right two guards, as well as Li Yuan and Zengshou's Yulin left and right two guards." ”

"These total 36,000 soldiers and horses are enough for me to gallop in Modong."

"You just wait for me, before winter, Dad will help you knock Modong down."

Zhu Di said arrogantly, as if he was saying that the progress in the south was too slow, and if he had made his own move, he would have solved it a long time ago.

He was proud to have his capital, and Zhu Gaoxu did not refute him, but said with a smile: "It would be better if you won it earlier." ”

"After taking Modong, at most three years, the imperial court will be able to Qi Wangcheng to carry out a northern expedition."

"Hmm......" Zhu Di stroked his beard and nodded, and at the same time did not forget to give Zhu Gaoxu a preventive shot: "If you fight the royal city, I will have to personally lead people to fight when the time comes, and the others are not as good as me." ”

When he said this, Zhu Di was actually a little apprehensive, because recently, many ministers came to persuade him not to personally levy, and even his own eldest son came to join in the fun.

Therefore, in Zhu Di's view, although his second child also supported him once, it is estimated that he will not support the second time.

However, he miscalculated, and in the face of his thoughts, Zhu Gaoxu chuckled and said: "As long as you cherish the national strength, no matter what you want to do, your son will support you." ”

"Second ......" Zhu Di's nose was sour, and he couldn't help but step forward with some emotion, stretched out his hand and patted Zhu Gaoxu's shoulder: "Second child, you are really like me." ”

......Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu always felt weird, but he didn't think about it deeply, but just asked: "Is my mother going to do it too?" ”

"Go." Speaking of Queen Xu, the sourness on Zhu Di's nose quickly dissipated, and he sat next to Zhu Gaoxu with a smile, and said on the coffee table with one hand:

"Your mother said that she hadn't seen the families of the soldiers in Beiping for a long time, and she wanted to take this opportunity to go to Beiping to have a look."

"It's good." Listening to Zhu Di's words, Zhu Gaoxu sighed with emotion.

In history, the thing that Empress Xu had been talking about and regretting before her death was that she did not go back to Beiping.

Now, the national strength of the Ming Dynasty has not suffered too much damage, coupled with its own development of the southwest and the East, the progress of the Ming Dynasty's northern expedition has also been lined up, and his mother can go back to Beiping smoothly.

"When you clean up the Uliangha this time, you can clean up the Tartary in three years."

Zhu Di stroked his beard, and at the same time thought of the things in the west, and couldn't help asking:

"I sent Jinyiwei to the river to investigate some things, that Timur seems to have convened Kuriltai in Samarkand, ready to start the crusade to the east, do you have any news from the West Factory?"

Three years after entering Yongle, Timur in Central Asia finally ended the war with the Ottomans, and after returning to Samarkand, he was ready to try to conquer the Eastern Chagatai Khanate under the pretext of conquering the Ming Dynasty and take Mobei, which was founded by the Mongols.

Zhu Gaochu admired Zhu Di's ability to send Jinyi guards to Central Asia in three years, but Zhu Gaochu never worried about Central Asian affairs.

"Father, don't worry, that Timur's body has been infected with illness, if he really wants to go east, I'm afraid he will fall before he fights with Don't lose Bali."

Zhu Gaoxu said, Zhu Di was surprised: "You can hear this kind of news?" ”

"Xichang can not only hear about this." Zhu Gaoxu pretended to be confident, and Zhu Di stroked his beard suspiciously when he heard this, and then said regretfully:

"It's a pity, I read the information of Timur, he is also a hero, and it is a pity that I can't fight him."

Zhu Di was still lamenting, but there was a singing sound outside the hall: "The governor of the left army is the same as Xu Zengshou, who asks to see Your Majesty." ”

"Announce him in!" Hearing that his brother-in-law was coming, Zhu Di also responded, and at the same time walked to his place and sat down.

Not long after, when Xu Zengshou walked in wearing a python robe, he first bowed to Zhu Di five times and kowtowed, and then bowed to Zhu Gaoxu.

After doing all this, Xu Zengshou said: "Your Majesty, the two guards on the left and right of Yulin are ready, and 10,000 soldiers and horses can go out at any time." ”

"I know, you are ready to prepare, let's go to Yangzhou and wait first."

Zhu Di instructed Xu Zengshou, and then did not forget to say: "This time the queen is also going north, but she just stays in Beijing, and when the time comes, you will find her and say that you want to go north, I don't want to be complained by her." ”

"Yes!" Xu Zengshou returned the salute with a smile, naturally knowing that his sister didn't want to go to the battlefield by herself.

But if he doesn't go to the battlefield, where will he get military merit?

"Father, uncle, and son-in-law retired first."

Seeing that the two of them were going to talk about the Northern Expedition in detail, Zhu Gaoxu didn't want to delay staying here, but was ready to return to the East Palace and enjoy his last few days of leisure.

After all, as soon as Zhu Di leaves, the pressure of government affairs will fall on his shoulders.

"Wait a minute." Zhu Di opened his mouth to stop Zhu Gaoxu and said:

"In this northern expedition, I will also bring the university scholars in front of the palace, as well as the left attendants of the six departments and some foreign officers and directors to the north."

"Although this prison country is you, I also have to read government affairs, and you can't miss important things and send them to me."

"Father, don't worry." Zhu Gaoxu laughed when he heard it, Zhu Di was looking for something to do by himself, so it was no wonder to him.

"Forehead ......" Looking at Zhu Gaoxu's smiling appearance, Zhu Di felt that something was wrong, so he added: "Big things are only happening, and small things don't need to be used." ”

"Erchen understands." Zhu Gaoxu grinned with big white teeth, and he didn't listen to Zhu Di's words at all.

He replied respectfully, and then walked out of the Wuying Palace, hummed a little song on the golden bridle, and returned to the Chunhe Palace.

At the same time as he got into the car, Zhu Di also stroked his beard and asked Xu Zengshou uneasily: "You say...... Will the second child take advantage of my absence in Nanjing to put me in the air? ”

"Huh?" Xu Zengshou thought that he had heard it wrong, and looked up at Zhu Di in surprise.

After making sure that he had heard correctly, Xu Zengshou spoke: "Prince Renxiao, this is something that both the government and the opposition know, why is Your Majesty worried?" ”

"I always feel that this kid is kind on the surface, but treacherous in secret." Zhu Di muttered a few times, but Xu Zengshou couldn't cry or laugh: "You're not so good at being empty." ”

Xu Zengshou's words are true, although Zhu Di lost the opportunity, after all, he still has one-third of the world's soldiers and horses in his hands, and the ministers in the temple support him more than Zhu Gaoxu.

If it weren't for Zhu Gaoxu's position being too stable, it is estimated that the ministers would have opposed the canonization of Zhu Gaochu when he was crowned crown prince at the beginning.

Compared with Zhu Gaochu, Zhu Gaochi is the prince and prince they want in their hearts.

It's just that it's too late to say anything now, the matter has been finalized, and Zhu Gaoxu's position can't even be shaken by Zhu Di, and it is also difficult for Zhu Gaochu to shake Zhu Di's position.

"It's also ......" Zhu Di sighed, thinking of Zhu Gaoxu's support for his second northern expedition just now, and immediately slapped himself in the face:

"After all, the second child is like me, I am filial to my father, and the second child is also filial to me."

"If he wants the throne, he will definitely be impatient."

"Besides, I'm forty-four now, although I'm still in the prime of life, I don't know how long I can live, and there's no need to take risks for the second child."

Zhu Di slapped himself in the face, Xu Zengshou was also very helpless when he saw this, and sometimes he felt that his brother-in-law was a little nervous.

"In this northern expedition, you and Li Yuan led the left and right guards of Yulin to serve as the middle army, and the vanguard was handed over to Meng Zhang."

Zhu Di got down to business and explained: "After all, we haven't been to Modong for five or six years, and we don't know anything about Modong. ”

"Meng Zhang has been appeasing the Jurchens in the Bohai Sea and the Uliangha people who fled south for almost three years, and there must be Uliangha people in his army as patrol posts, and it is better for him to be the vanguard."

"As for the generals who are transferred from the north this time, I think about it or use Qiu Fu and Chen Mao."

Speaking of this, Zhu Di couldn't help but feel a little melancholy.

The average age of the generals from Yanfu is above forty, and Zhu Neng is the youngest person who can pick up the big beam at present, but he is also thirty-four.

Among the generals of the new generation, only Zhang Fu and Meng Ying, who were mentioned by Zhu Gaoxu, are handsome, and most of the others are only suitable for leading a guard alone and fighting as a vanguard.

In addition to them, Zhu Di only has Jiang Gui, who was discovered by himself last year, and has some potential.

Such an embarrassing situation made Zhu Di melancholy, and he only felt that the generals of Yanfu were too old in terms of age, and maybe they would have to withdraw from the first line one after another in ten years, and turn to the second line like Zhang Yu, Chen Heng, and Meng Shan.

In comparison, the generals from Bohai are very young, even the eldest Wang Yi is only forty, Fu Rang is only thirty-six, and the remaining Lin Su, Zhang Chun, Chen Chang, Xu Sheng, and Yang Zhan, Wang Xuan and others in the south are only twenty-eight or nine.

It can be said that the average age of Zhu Gaoxu's team is at least twelve or thirteen years younger than that of Yanfu.

Zhu Di is still very envious of his second brother who can bring out so many young generals, but he doesn't feel that he is worse than the second child, but he feels that there are too few smart generals around him to learn his essence.

"It's a good thing for generals to be younger, as long as there is no ambiguity in the war."

After all, Xu Zengshou also went out with Zhu Di to fight Naier Buhua, and was also sent by Zhu Yuanzhang to the northwest to train soldiers, so he is still very confident in commanding thousands of people, and his military vision is not bad.

In his opinion, it is a good thing that the generals of the imperial court are younger, after all, most of the generals left from the Hongwu Dynasty are forty or fifty, if this group of people is old and there is no backbone to stand up, then the border of the Ming Dynasty in the future is indeed worrying.

"I just sigh and sigh."

Zhu Di shook his head, and then chatted with Xu Zengshou about family life.

A quarter of an hour later, he personally sent Xu Zengshou out of the Wuying Palace, and only returned to the hall after watching him walk away.

But he didn't wait long for him to return to the temple when he heard footsteps.

looked up, but saw that the person who came was Ji Gang, the commander of the Jinyi Guard.

"Bow down to Your Majesty......"

Ji Gang entered the hall five times and bowed three times, and then got up in Zhu Di's "um" sound.

"How is it in the temple recently, is there anyone still talking about my northern expedition?"

Zhu Di asked Ji Gang, and when Ji Gang heard this, a glimmer of light flashed in his eyes, and he hurriedly replied:

"Xie Jin, Yang Shiqi, Hu Guang, Hu Yan, Jin Youzi, Huang Huai, as well as Li Zhigang, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Zheng Ci, the secretary of the Ministry of Crime, Liu Jun, and others are all opposed, and even His Royal Highness the King of Han is ......."

When he said this, he slowly hesitated, and Zhu Di was also very uncomfortable after hearing it, and snorted coldly: "The Manchu Dynasty is civil and military, and the boss will take the lead and sing the opposite." ”

"You should remember this group of people, see if they are selfish or public, in addition, you don't have to go to the north this time, stay in Nanjing City, show me what they do, and the policy of the East Palace should also be passed on to me in time."

Zhu Di paused as he spoke, and after a few breaths, he spoke: "If there is any arrangement in the East Palace, you can also do it first and then go to the sparse." ”

He stroked his beard and said with some uncertainty: "After all, the second child is still like me, so nothing should happen." ”

"Minister's Order!" Ji Gang responded, and his mind gradually became active.

Not long after, he retreated at Zhu Di's signal, and the entire capital became more and more busy with the arrival of the Northern Expedition.

(End of chapter)