The eunuch Cao Fu walked out of the Rouyi Palace holding a green oil-paper umbrella at an angle. He was going to meet Zhu Gaoxu and report the results of his mission. In the rainy weather, the umbrella had to be tilted to prevent the head and face from getting wet.
Previously, he had insulted Chen Xianzhen in front of the Queen of Annan, but it was far from enough to calm him down. Cao Fu was not like Wang Jinghong and the others who wanted to do something big and leave a name in history books. He just wanted to feel comfortable. Unexpectedly, the Taoist priest Chen Xianzhen dared to make him so angry.
Cao Fu pondered for a while, then quickened his pace and walked towards Fengtian Gate. Cao Fu had not stayed in Rouyi Palace for too long in the morning, so he guessed that the morning court had not yet ended, and the emperor should be in Fengtian Gate to attend to government affairs.
Walking eastward along the brick square outside the main gate of Rouyi Palac
Duan Xuehen had never changed her name, and ordinary people who didn't know the inside story really didn't know that she and Mu Zhen were cousins. Even that lady Xu didn't know about this.But the emperor obviously knew. So the Xianpin Park in the palace lived in the same palace with Li Xianhui; the Depin Duan Xuehen lived in the same place with the Imperial Noble Consort Mu Zhen. This arrangement was not without reason. The emperor also generally followed the rules, which made the concubines in the palace get along better. Subtle intrigues were inevitable, but the contradictions were far from intensified.Xu Niang's words were so pitiful that Duan Xuehen felt sympathy for her and agreed to help her introduce the Imperial Noble Consort. But Xu Niang probably didn't know that it would be more effective for Duan Xuehen to lobby the Imperial Noble Consort; Xu Niang was just lucky and happened to find the right person.Duan Xuehen asked Xu Niang to wait while he
By May of the first year of the Wude reign, the temperature in the capital was getting hotter and hotter. The fleet led by Hou Xian had been away from the capital for almost two months.Zhu Gaoxu thought of this from time to time, and guessed that Zhou Quan and others who were sent to Japan should have arrived in Japan long ago, and they might be investigating the situation that Zhu Gaoxu needed. Japan is a neighboring country of the Ming Dynasty, but the court knew too little about it before; the emperor and ministers of the Jianwen Dynasty even got the actual ruler of Japan wrong at the beginning.Zhu Gaoxu's first impression was that Japan had a large number of gold and silver mines. The famous Kinkakuji Temple was a witness to this, as the entire building was actually covered with gold foil.Unexpectedly, the court soon received Hou Xian's urgent report. The messenger took the Liaodong land post road and sent the report to the capital by express horse.
In the southern part of Annan, at the mouth of the Majiang River, a huge Ming army fleet was floating on the sea.Under the dark clouds, heavy rains were flying, and the waves stirred up by the wind and rain were no longer blue, but black. The countless rolling black waves made people's scalps numb, and the originally beautiful sea revealed a hideous and terrifying face.However, the rain did not last long, and soon the wind and rain gradually subsided. The dark clouds dispersed a little, and the sun suddenly appeared from behind the clouds, which was really unpredictable.When Wang Jinghong saw that the wind and waves had subsided, he led a group of people off the treasure ship and boarded several small boats to go ashore. There was no one on the shore, and no one from Chen Jikuo came to greet them.Logically speaking, it should be easy for Chen Jikuan's men to get here.A few years ago, the Ming Dynasty had a civil war, and the number of Ming t
Night has fallen, and the house illuminated by oil lamps is a little dim.Suddenly the surroundings were as bright as daylight, and after a flash, a loud "click" sound came, and then the sound of rain outside became noisy. Everything is very rushed and seems impetuous.Liu Ming, the envoy of the Ming Dynasty, was still in the house. He was pacing up and down on the ground with no intention of escaping. Shocking lightning and thunder interrupted his steps. He stood still and glanced out the window, then lowered his eyes and pondered something.Amidst the noisy rain, there was a faint cry. After a while, several followers rushed into the side room with swords in their hands, and they immediately closed the doors and windows. When Liu Ming saw this, he immediately understood: What was supposed to come has indeed come!One of the followers turned around and said, "Master Liu, be careful, there is an assassin! One of our brothers has been hit by an arrow."
The distance from Thanh Hoa to Dongguan is only over 300 li. Liu Ming went to Dongguan (Thang Long) and first met Huang Zhong, the leader of the Ming army stationed in Annan and the deputy governor of the Annan Governor's Office. Later, he found Nguyen Tri, an Annan official in Dongguan.Within two days, Liu Ming and Huang Zhong wrote memorials, and the military commanders of the Jinyiwei North Division and the Guards North Division stationed in Dongsheng also wrote memorials; all parties described what happened in Annan and their own views. The Governor's Office then sent a messenger to deliver the urgent report to the capital at an expedited speed of 800 miles...In June, the capital was scorching hot.During the day when the sun was shining brightly, Zhu Gaoxu rarely went out. He chose to work in Rouyi Hall, which was more spacious and ventilated. Today's memorials had been delivered in the morning; but at this time, the eunuch Wang Gui was outside the ha
In the hottest hour of the afternoon, the civil and military ministers were discussing matters in front of the emperor in the Rouyi Hall, but they could not reach a complete consensus because Zhu Gaoxu did not make a clear statement.As expected, all the nobles shouted for war and killing. They were looking forward to such a war. When they learned that something happened in Annan, some generals were so emotional under their indignant speeches that people wondered if they were secretly happy.Victory in war can give military generals more say in the court; and military merit is the only reliable way for every military general to establish his own status and reputation.Dukes and marquises volunteered. He Fu, Liu Sheng and others patted their chests and said that they would not kill the rebels and bring their heads to see them; they probably just wanted to consolidate their current positions through military merit. Zhang Fu also wanted to lead the army because
The imperial court had decided to march south again, but Zhu Gaoxu was not moved by this.The military industry and transportation system he envisioned have not been established at all, and actual profits from overseas have not been seen yet; the haze of various wars has soon appeared before us.The treasury was temporarily short of cash. If the annual cash income of several million strings of cash was used to fight a war, it would probably be used up in two battles, and the official and military salaries would not have to be paid. Therefore, if Zhu Gaoxu wanted to go to war, he could only rely on the existing ruling system, which meant adding a heavy burden to the people and military households in various places.Under a ruling system based on corvée and land tax, foreign wars could not divert domestic conflicts, but would only have a counterproductive effect. The events at the end of the Qin Dynasty and the end of the Sui Dynasty were lessons from the past
The weather was hot, and the doors and windows of the Rouyi Palace were open for ventilation. At this time, a cool breeze blew in, and Zhu Gaoxu suddenly felt a lot more comfortable; and just now he had been talking about things at sea, and he vaguely felt that this cool breeze was like a sea breeze.At a certain moment, somehow, a fragment of his memory was evoked.(A long time ago, when he was wandering along the coast, he met a middle-aged friend who had retired from the army. Once, the two chatted until late at night at the beach. They talked too much, most of which he had forgotten, because they were not important. But some of the words of that friend suddenly popped into his mind: A woman cares about herself the most, followed by her children, and then men.)Zhu Gaoxu suddenly felt that that sentence seemed to make sense.When Zhu Gaoxu was distracted, Chen's voice sounded a little trance-like, "Chen Zhengyuan is still young, and there is no one