After watching Ji Gang, who was full of doubts, withdraw from the main hall, Zhu Di sat on the dragon couch and was silent for a while.

After a long time, he suddenly asked, "In your opinion, will this Ji Gang understand my thoughts?"

At this time, from behind the screen on the side of the main hall, a voice that sounded a little sharp answered: "Lord Ji is a smart man, and the minister expects that he will soon understand the emperor's intention to transfer him out of the edict late at night." ”

A figure flashed out from behind the screen, bowed, and walked slowly in front of Zhu Di respectfully.

This person is dressed in a four-grade court dress, he is not very old, his face is clean, his skin is a little dark, and his face is also delicate, but his demeanor and voice always make people feel a sense of femininity.

Zhu Di nodded and said: "The reason why I specially ordered Wang Quan to go to deliver the decree is precisely to ensure that he will definitely come to the edict, he and Wang Quan have always been at odds, and it is expected that he will never leave such an excuse to the opponent to resist the decree." After all, now that Ji Gang is relying on my trust in Jinyiwei, he is acting more and more unscrupulously, and I can't help but guard against it. ”

The young official at the seat smiled slightly and replied, "However, in the humble opinion of the minister, this Lord Ji may not be able to fully understand the emperor's good intentions in this move. ”

Zhu Di smiled and asked, "So, you can fully understand my good intentions?"

The young official bowed down and said: "Wechen doesn't dare, the heart of heaven is vast, how dare Wechen guess in vain?"

Zhu Di didn't care, and said with a smile: "People call you the eunuch of Sanbao, everyone knows that you are my confidant, and you can understand my mind the most, so let's talk about it, what is the purpose of my move?"

Sanbao eunuch, it turned out that the young official under this place was actually the chief eunuch of the internal official eunuch, known as Zhu Di's most trusted person, and was named Zheng He, who was ordered to lead the fleet to the Western countries!

Zheng He, formerly surnamed Ma, was a foreign ethnic group in Yunnan, who was taken captive when the Ming army pacified Yunnan and returned to Beijing with the army as a slave. Later, he went to Beiping with the army and was elected to the Yanwang Mansion and became an internal supervisor.

This person is smart and clever, can read and break words, has followed Zhu Di, the king of Yan, for many years, is deeply influenced, quite wise, knows how to practice war, and has been appreciated by the king of Yan.

After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he was rewarded for his merits, and was named the chief eunuch of the four internal officials, and was given the surname "Zheng". Because its small characters are three guarantees, it is also known as the three guarantees eunuchs, or the three treasure eunuchs.

Zheng He's original ethnic group believed in Islam, he had a very close relationship with Yao Guangxiao, and in the first year of Yongle, he studied Buddhism under him, and was a disciple of the Bodhisattva precepts, and his Dharma name was Fu Jixiang.

Such a religious background and the military talent he displayed in the Battle of Jingyan made Zheng He the most suitable candidate for Zhu Di to lead the fleet to the Western Ocean.

In June of the third year of Yongle, after two years of preparation, Zheng He, as the envoy, led a mighty fleet and sergeants to the Western countries. Yu Lu went through hardships and dangers, encountered other countries' military rebellions, and encountered pirates, and finally relied on Zheng He's excellent command to defeat the pirates, pacify the countries, and escort the pirate leader Chen Mingyi to return to the Ming Dynasty in September of the fifth year of Yongle.

After a year or two, Zhu Di was naturally very happy that Zheng He had made a great contribution to return, but what he didn't expect was that Zheng He's first return to the palace for the first time turned out to be a request.

It was precisely because of his request that Zhu Di issued an edict late at night, ordering Wang Quan to go to the prison to announce the discipline and enter the palace.

At this moment, Zhu Di looked at Zheng He, who had not been seen for a long time and was tanned at sea, with a smile, and wanted to hear how much he could guess about his thoughts after leaving for so long.

Zheng He bowed his head and replied in a loud voice: "The emperor forgives the ministers for their innocence, so the ministers have the courage to try to guess." ”

Zhu Di bowed his head and said: "You are not guilty, but it doesn't hurt to say anything." ”

Zheng He said: "Since the emperor has been invited by the ministers to transfer Master Ji out of the edict, he must also know who entrusted the ministers to speak?"

Zhu Di nodded and said: "I heard that Hu Guang was kind to you in the early years, he and Xie Jin have always been friends, and his daughter has also promised to be married to Xie Jin's son Xie Zhenliang. I expect that the person who wants to ask you to speak will be Hu Guangye. ”

Zheng He bowed his head and said, "The emperor is sage." ”

Zhu Di frowned and said: "It's just that I know that this Hu Guang has always been ingenious, seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, and protecting himself, I heard that Xie Jin was convicted, and after Xie Zhenliang was imprisoned, he already had the intention of retiring from the marriage, why did he take the risk this time and come forward to ask for it?"

(For an account of Hu Guang, see the second volume of Jing.)

The seventy-nine chapters of "Avoiding Trouble" in the teacher's suspicion will not be repeated here. ）

Zheng He replied: "The minister also heard that Hu Guang seems to have the intention of withdrawing from the marriage recently, but his daughter Yilie is forced to die, claiming that this marriage is hand-picked by the emperor, and if he withdraws from the marriage, he will only die, and Hu Guang is really helpless, so he will make this decision." ”

Zhu Di nodded again and again after hearing this: "True martyr!"

Zheng He paused and said, "Transfer Master Ji, there must be a follow-up." However, this Hu Guang is just a civil servant, even if Master Ji is transferred, with the strict defense of the prison, I am afraid there is nothing to be done. Therefore, the emperor must have guessed that there must be someone else who plans to transfer Master Ji to prepare for the next step. ”

Zhu Di snorted and said slowly: "You mean, British Gong Zhang Fu?"

Zheng He smiled and said, "After all, in addition to Xie Zhenliang, his son is also being imprisoned in the edict prison. Although he took great pains to remove his son's name from the family tree, and seemed to have denied this rebel son, but such a big fanfare just showed that he had made up his mind to save his son, and all this was just a suspicion and a clear up. ”

"He has led the army to fight for many years, and many of his subordinates are capable of fighting and are strong in martial arts, so it is naturally not difficult to rob a prison to save a person or something. In addition, the way of leading the army lies in the unity of the whole and the family, and as a father, his son sits idly by and ignores the troubles, will not it chill the hearts of his generals, and how will he command the army in the future? Therefore, he will definitely take action tonight. ”

Zhu Di looked at Zheng He and did not speak.

It seems that in the two years that Zheng He has led the fleet across the Western Ocean, he has some experience in leading the army.

Zheng He said cautiously: "In the humble opinion of the minister, the reason why the emperor approved the minister's request is not for the face of the minister, but actually for the face of the British public. ”

After a pause, he raised his head slightly and saw that Zhu Di's face had not changed, and then continued: "Weichen heard that Annan rebelled again, and the emperor has ordered the British Duke to lead the army to the expedition, and he ordered the general to lead the army outside, but it seems that something is wrong with his son being imprisoned for questioning. Therefore, the ministers dared to speculate nonsense, and listened to the saints. ”

Zhu Di looked at Zheng He, but still didn't speak, but his eyes showed approval.

Zheng He is not bad at all, the reason why he sent Zhang Fu to lead the army to pacify Annan this time is really something that cannot be helped.

The Han king and the crown prince in the middle of the court did not agree, and the dispute between them for the heir was no secret for a long time.

Most of today's generals in the army are on the side of the Han King Zhu Gaoxu and support the Han King to compete for the crown prince. If the Han King and his party go out to make such a great contribution at this time, I am afraid that the balance between the prince and the Han King will be broken, and the battle for the heir will become difficult to control, and even cause civil strife.

The British Duke Zhang Fu was one of the few generals in the army who was extremely prestigious and did not attach himself to the Han king. Although he is not a party of the prince, he has a deep friendship with Jian Yi and Xia Yuanji, who support the prince, in private.

In addition, he has been campaigning against Annan for many years and is extremely familiar with the local situation, no matter what point of view, he is the best choice to lead the army this time.

Now that he has been selected to lead the army and put his son in prison, it naturally seems inappropriate.

What's more, the little fat man who can't open his mouth, maybe letting him out will be more conducive to finding the person Zhu Di desperately wants to find.

Therefore, in fact, in Zhu Di's heart, he has long wanted to find an opportunity to let go of Zhang Fatzi, but he still lacks an excuse.

At this time, Zheng He happened to come to ask for help, which is like handing over a pillow when he is sleepy, and sending wine when he is thirsty.

Perhaps, it is precisely because he saw through this that Zheng He agreed to Hu Guang's entrustment, and dared to ask Zhu Di to transfer the Jinyi Guard to command Ji Gang tonight, without the slightest scruple that Zhu Di would guess that they would rob the prison tonight to save people.

Zhu Di looked at the once clever and loyal little entourage in front of him, he had not seen him for so long, he had become strong and dark, but it seemed that he still understood his mind as before, so clever.

To tell the truth, Zhu Di, who was born in the army, has always disliked those who are good at drilling people's hearts and meeting people's hearts, and looks down on them in his heart.

However, since the Battle of Jingjing, he ascended the throne as emperor, and he has become more and more conscious

I realized the importance of such a courtier in balancing the court and controlling authority. What's more, people like this have not been uncommon throughout the ages, and there will definitely be no shortage in the future, but it depends on how the people in power above use them.

Moreover, especially for a courtier like Zheng He, who leads the army outside, it is indispensable to guess the holy will from time to time.

Guessing the holy will shows that they still have a sense of reverence for the imperial power, and with such a kind of awe, they understand the strength of the imperial power, so as to ensure that when they have the military power in their hands, they will not be selfish, arrogant, and make their own opinions.

Zhu Di is extremely disgusted with the so-called "will be outside, the king's order is not subject to it".

With military power in hand, if there is a dissenting mind, no one knows better than Zhu Di how much benefit it can bring in the end and what kind of consequences it will cause, so he has always been very cautious about the candidates who will be in charge of the army outside.

Therefore, looking at the Zheng He in front of him, who he trusted but seemed more humble and cautious, and was cautious, Zhu Di was still very satisfied.

However, he was reluctant to go into further discussion on this topic.

Zhang Fatzi, Xie Zhenliang, and Ye Feng behind them, Zheng He really doesn't know much about their causes and consequences, the details of the beginning and the end, and Zhu Di doesn't want him to know more.

The plan that has been going on for many years in his heart, even if it is an insider in the plan, in fact, no one can fully know all the details of the entire plan, everyone knows only their own link.

If there is one, it can only be one person, the former commander of the Jinyi Guard, Ye Zhiqiu, because from the very beginning, he participated in the implementation of the entire plan, and his son Ye Feng is an indispensable key person in the plan.

There is such a person, there are too many, Zhu Di doesn't want more people to get involved and know this secret, even Zheng He, who he trusts very much.

Therefore, he cleared his throat, and suddenly the topic changed, and he did not mention this matter again, but suddenly turned to Zheng He's experience and experience in the two years of envoys to Western countries.

Zheng He is such a smart person, so he naturally followed Zhu Di's words and began to tell about the thrilling things he had experienced in the past two years, as well as those refreshing exotic customs.

In the past two years, he crossed the sea, passing through the city of Champa to the country of Kuawa (later renamed Java) and became involved in the civil strife in Guawa, and more than 170 soldiers were killed. Fortunately, Zheng He responded calmly and did not rashly raise troops to retaliate, so that the matter was resolved peacefully.

Later, his fleet traveled through Sumatra, Manchuria, Ceylon and other countries, and finally reached the country of Guli.

In the Guli Kingdom, Zheng He exchanged gifts with the king and established a stele to commemorate the deep friendship with the Ming Dynasty.

On the way back, we passed through the old port of Sriwijaya, where the local Cantonese expatriates were attacked by pirates and suffered unspeakably. Zheng He was entrusted by the leader of the expatriate to exterminate this group of pirates.

The pirate leader Chen Mingyi knew that he was not an opponent of the Ming army, and he coveted the treasures brought by the fleet, so he surrendered by deception, wanting to collude with the inside and outside, and take advantage of the opportunity to cause chaos.

Fortunately, Zheng He saw through the treacherous plan in time, destroyed 17 thief ships, exterminated more than 5,000 thieves, captured the thief leader Chen Mingyi, and escorted him back to Daming.

What he has seen and heard in the past two years, and all kinds of thrilling stories he has experienced, made Zhu Di, the emperor who has a great future, also listen to his eyebrows and dance, and his heart is fascinated.

Unexpectedly, there is such a vast world outside the Ming Dynasty, and there are so many strange unknown countries.

If, if his plan can really succeed, then the Ming will have supreme power, and then he will be able to sweep the world, and all these unknown countries will become the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Da Ming will become the First Heavenly Dynasty Empire throughout the ages, and he will become the First Holy Monarch throughout the ages!

It's just that, speaking of that plan, the most critical person, the missing Ye Feng, is dead or alive now?

Thinking of this, Zhu Di looked up at the dark night sky outside the hall, and couldn't help but feel a trace of worry in his heart.

On this night, the lights in the temple were lit all night, and the two monarchs and ministers talked in the hall all night behind closed doors until dawn.

What they talked about, no one in the palace knew.

It's just rumored that Wang Quan, who is the chief eunuch of the inner chamberlain, waited outside the palace all night and did not leave an inch.