Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 257
"Who else knows about these things..."

"Only His Majesty, Sun Chuanting, Chief Soldier Cao Wenzhao, and ministers know."

On the second day of February in the fifth year of Tianqi, when a box full of smuggling records was placed in front of Zhu Youxiao, his expression was so gloomy that he could drip water.

Lu Wenzhao, who was kneeling in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, kept beating his heart, while Zhu Youxiao, who was sitting on the couch, had an even more uncertain expression.

He only read a small part of a box of documents, but this small part was enough to make his face so ugly.

Since the night of his succession that year, Zhu Youjian told him that the emperor should not be angry and unhappy, the number of times he had an ugly face can only be counted on one's fingers.

But right now, if he can hold back his expression even in the face of this kind of thing, then he is not Zhu Youxiao, but Zhu Yuanzhang...

"This matter..." After taking a deep breath to calm down, Zhu Youxiao's eyes flickered, as if he was thinking about what to do.

Not to blame him for being indecisive, but because there are too many people involved in this box.

From the seventh year of Longqing to the forty-first year of Wanli, a total of [-] and a half years of records involved not only the so-called top ten Shanxi merchants, but also a large number of officials who served in Shanxi and Shaanxi in the past [-] and a half years.

Among them, some are already important ministers in the capital, some have begged for retirement and returned home, and some have died...

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The documents in the entire box involve no less than a thousand civil and military officials.

These are only officials with names and surnames. In addition to officials, there are also subordinate staff who participated.

Thousands of officials were involved in smuggling, which accounted for one percent of the officialdom in Ming Dynasty.

If the subordinate staff and the family members of the officials are included, there may be no less than [-] people involved.

One hundred thousand people... What kind of concept is this?
Even in the three Hongwu cases back then, the total number of people involved was only [-] to [-].

Among the [-] to [-] people, there are no more than a thousand officials, but most of them are officials who have been corrupt since the Yuan Dynasty.

The three major cases can be said to cleanse the forces of the previous dynasty and the domineering nobles of the current dynasty, and deter the civil servants of the current dynasty.

But now Zhu Youxiao has to face a different situation. Thousands of corrupt officials and nearly [-] family members and subordinates are all poisonous insects raised by Daming.

They lay on Daming's back to suck blood, sucking away three generations of emperors, and this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Even if only one-third of these thousands of officials are officials in the court, the forces involved are still not to be underestimated.

Zhu Youxiao had to find a safe and stable means and method for all parties, so that he could justifiably attack this group of people...

"Among the Yanshan students, how many are the first batch of students who have reached the age of [-]?"

Zhu Youxiao asked Lu Wenzhao, but his eyes kept looking at the box put aside.

"About... more than two thousand people..."

Lu Wenzhao murmured about the number of students who had reached the age of [-], but Zhu Youxiao didn't give any instructions after hearing it, but let it go as if he was in a daze.

In the entire Hall of Mental Cultivation at this moment, only Lu Wenzhao and Zhu Youxiao, even Wei Zhongxian and others were driven out.

They were standing at the gate of Qianqing Palace in fur coats, holding small hand warmers in their hands, looking at the red walls, white snow and glazed tiles, each of them was scheming.

In terms of power, among the five eunuchs at the moment, the most powerful is undoubtedly Wei Zhongxian.

The eunuchs under him accounted for two-fifths of the number of officials in the court, while Donglin occupied one-fifth, the Qi royal party occupied one-fifth, and non-party and small parties exclusively accounted for one-fifth.

That is to say, in the court, his words are more important, and in the current situation where the Qi royal party is neutral, he can be said to be chasing Dong Lin fiercely.

Since the Lantern Festival, in less than half a month, Dong Lin has been framed and framed by him one after another, causing dozens of people to leave, and most of them are Beijing officials.

In Donglin now, there are only a few hundred people left in the court. As long as the attack continues, the power of the eunuch party will...

Thinking of this, Wei Zhongxian couldn't help but feel a little flustered, and he also took the opportunity to glance at Wang Chengen, Cao Huachun and Liu Ruoyu.

The number of the five eunuchs in the Supervisor of Ceremonies was a bit too much, and Wei Zhongxian always felt that it was time to change, but he was a little afraid of Zhu Youjian, and he was hesitant for a while.

Naturally, his malicious eyes were clearly seen by Cao Huachun.

There is a reason why Zhu Youjian likes to keep Cao Huachun in the capital. Cao Huachun has more insight and means than Wang Chengen. In this kind of intrigue of the inner court, as long as he has support, he will be like a fish in water.

Seeing Wei Zhongxian's eyes, Cao Huachun sneered inwardly.

In his view, Wei Zhongxian is just a dog that can be discarded at will, either by the eunuch party or by the emperor.

Compared to him, Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen are more important.

For such a huge financial institution as the Yumajian, Cao Huachun is in charge of the imperial store, and Wang Chengen is in charge of the officialdom. The importance of these two places is greater than that of the processing department of the household department.

Wei Zhongxian needs to be pulled from above and supported from below, but if the two of them want to speak the truth and discuss real power, it is enough for Zhu Youjian to pull them, and it has nothing to do with them no matter what happens to the people below.

The five eunuchs really need to be subdivided into three factions.

Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tiqian are in the same group, Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen are in the same group, and Liu Ruoyu is impartial. He is like a mediator arranged by Zhu Youxiao between the two parties.

This is also the reason why Cao Huachun didn't take action to deal with Wei Zhongxian's growing ambitions.

The first is that it is not necessary, and the second is that he does not want the emperor to think that he can be arrogant and domineering with the support of King Qi.

Although Wei Zhongxian can abandon him at any time, he is the emperor's man after all, and he Cao Huachun...

Thinking of this, Cao Huachun glanced at the Qianqing Palace, and in the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youxiao, who had been pondering for a long time, finally spoke:

"Wait for my brother to come back first, didn't he say when he will come back?"

"His Royal Highness said that he plans to go to Jiayuguan first, and then from Jiayuguan to inspect the entire Hexi to the east, check the yellow books in Hexi by the way, and then see which places can be cultivated."

Lu Wenzhao answered Zhu Youxiao's question honestly, and Zhu Youxiao frowned slightly upon hearing this.

Right now, he urgently needs his younger brother to return to Beijing to help him make up his mind. He is not sure whether the Yanshan students are capable enough to serve as grassroots officials.

If it is enough, then naturally one level can be raised to make up for the number of officials in the DPRK.

It not only gave Yanshan students the best training position in the officialdom, but also gave some non-party and small party officials a way to rise.

Small parties with power will naturally compete with the five parties of Qi, Chu, Zhejiang, Xuan, and Kun. At that time, the so-called eunuch parties do not need to exist.

As for Donglin and Zhu Youxiao, they never wanted to wipe them out completely, but...

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao looked down at a copy of the memorial on Long's case.

All these memorabilia were written in the dictionaries of capable ministers in Donglin.

Zhao Nanxing, Yuan Keli, Sun Chengzong, Zuo Guangdou, Li Tengfang, Chen Yuting, Wei Dazhong, Yuan Huazhong, Zheng Sanjun, Li Banghua, Xu Guangqi, Sun Yuanhua...

Seeing this resignation from Nengchen, Zhu Youxiao also felt a headache.

He could directly approve the resignations of those Donglin officials who were doing nothing, but he couldn't also approve this group of people.

As for why they published Ci Shu, the reason Zhu Youxiao also understood was that the Eunuch Party had overplayed it, and Wei Zhongxian had overplayed it.

In less than half a year since the eunuchs raised their heads, Donglin had been reduced from hundreds of people to more than a hundred people. On the other hand, although the eunuchs had also been dismissed, they were so numerous that they seemed innocuous.

"Dong Lin has to be dealt with in a balanced way..."

Zhu Youxiao muttered to himself in his heart, then glanced at the box next to him, thinking that this was a good idea.

However, if this trick is used, the resulting shortage of officials will become a problem.

Instead of newcomers, it will be officials from various parties who will be reassigned, so the problem comes back again.

Can Yanshan students use it?

"Send someone to send a message to my younger brother, and be sure to return to the capital before October."

"The minister leads the order."

Counting the time when the first batch of Yanshan students graduated, Zhu Youxiao checked Lu Wenzhao's order, and Lu Wenzhao also complied.

But after answering, Zhu Youxiao also asked about Nanyang:
"Haven't the many land states in Nanyang been cleaned up?"

"Long live, Nanyang is densely covered with miasma, and although some small countries look small, their population and national strength are not weak." Lu Wenzhao explained the situation in Nanyang to Zhu Youxiao:
"Aceh in Sumatra and several other small countries have millions of people, with [-] soldiers."

"On the island of Java, there are no less than a million natives, and counting other large and small countries, there are also millions of people and tens of thousands of soldiers."

"The situation in Nanyang is more complicated than His Highness thought, so it is not easy to encircle and suppress these small countries and states that do not accept the kingship."

"Five days ago, the governor Huang Long went to Shu, and my Ming Dynasty joined forces with Siam, Ganbo, and Zhi to take the Malacca Peninsula north of Sumatra."

"Although the southern island of Sumatra is also under control, the remnants of Aceh are hiding in the dense forest, and our army is still encircling and suppressing it."

"As for the land of Java, the army is only defending Batavia at present, and has not moved eastward."

When Lu Wenzhao said this, he was afraid that the emperor would think that the cost of fighting Nanyang was too high, so he also said some good things:
"However, the good news is that there is more arable land in Sumatra and Malacca than we thought."

"Sumatra has more than three million mu of arable land, and Malacca has more than one million mu, totaling more than four million mu."

"According to calculations, there should be no less than [-] million mu of land above Java, plus Poro and Luzon, and the developed cultivated land in Nanyang should be no less than [-] million mu."

"There are really so many?" Hearing Lu Wenzhao's words, Zhu Youxiao paused for a while, and looked at Lu Wenzhao suspiciously.

"There are indeed so many. I brought farming technology to the south during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty. It is not surprising that it has been cultivated in the past two hundred years."

Lu Wenzhao answered honestly, and at the same time said:

"Because of the war, the natives of Sumatra and Malacca suffered heavy losses. In addition, the military discipline of Siam and Ganbozhi was corrupt, and more than ten cities were slaughtered wantonly."

"Johor, Aceh and many other states have killed more than a million people..."

Lu Wenzhao's words made Zhu Youxiao look at him meaningfully, and then asked:

"The capture of Huanglong..."

"About..." Lu Wenzhao also knew that it would be useless to say some things in a vague way, so he could only respond:
"More than [-] taels of gold, more than [-] taels of silver, and [-] boxes of rare treasures were seized."

"In addition, in the areas that have already been conquered, there are nearly [-] million mu of cultivated land in the Land of No Owners. Governor Shen Tingyang hopes to intensify the efforts to relocate people from Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Nanzhili."

"Long live, please allocate the land tax of the six southern provinces this year to the chief envoy of Jiugang after the grain income, so as to open up Nanyang."

The series of seizures made Zhu Youxiao stunned. He never thought that he could get so many things from Nanyang.

Especially for an unowned farmland of more than [-] million mu, if the production of the more than [-] million mu of cultivated land resumes, the taxes collected will be enough to feed [-] soldiers and horses.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao no longer asked the question just now, but picked up a memorial, pretending to say:
"Let Huang Long handle this matter on his own. After all, Gan Bozhi and Siam are our vassals of Ming Dynasty. Sometimes it's not good for the courtiers to know if they do too much."

"Jin Yiwei also blocked the news tightly, so as not to lose the face of Siam and Gan Bozhi."

"I understand." Lu Wenzhao responded, and Zhu Youxiao continued:

"Let Huanglong increase the development of Nanyang, and the local natives can also use Wang Hua to teach."

"Yes!" Zhu Youxiao's "benevolent" appearance made Lu Wenzhao drum in his heart, and when he was beating the drum, Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and said:
"This land of Nanyang, didn't my brother say anything?"

"Your Highness said that the division of Nanyang after the conquest has been finalized, and the blueprints were placed in Xuqin Palace, and the minister also brought them." After speaking, Lu Wenzhao took out the blueprints in his sleeves and presented them with both hands.

Zhu Youxiao took it unhurriedly, opened it and nodded with satisfaction.

In general, the land of Nanyang is all under the jurisdiction of the old Hong Kong government. Luzon is the Luzon government, Sumatra is the old Hong Kong government, Malacca in the north is the Palembang government, and Java is the South China Sea government.

As for Poro Island, Guinea Island and Sulawesi Island, they are divided into Zhongshan Prefecture, Dongshan Prefecture and Sanshan Prefecture.

That is to say, the old Hong Kong Cheng announced that the government was under the jurisdiction of the seven prefectures, and Zhu Youxiao also saw Oceania to the south of Dongshan prefecture.

That place was marked by Zhu Youjian as a place to be developed, and some notes were also written.

[The land is tens of thousands of miles away, and [-]% of it is arid and cannot be cultivated, the desert is raging, and there are few arable and livable lands. We should cultivate Nanyang, and then slowly map it...]

A remark by Zhu Youjian made Zhu Youxiao's interest in this place drop to a low point. After all, even Zhu Youjian said so, it can only show that Ming's national strength cannot develop this place for the time being, and it needs to wait until Nanyang is flourishing. Figure it out slowly.

"Copy ten copies of this painting and send them to the Sixth Ministry, the Cabinet, and Shen Tingyang."

"The division of the old port is enough according to the plan of this blueprint."

"As for the land of Hexi, according to my younger brother's arrangement, Mei Zhihuan is the chief envoy, and Hetao is directly under the jurisdiction of Shaanxi."

"Yes..." Lu Wenzhao responded, and carefully stepped forward to take the painting, and Zhu Youxiao continued to order:

"As long as the people in Jiangxi, Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong are willing to relocate, local officials cannot stop them."

"It's just the yellow book of the old port, let Shen Tingyang do a better job."

"By the way, tell Huanglong to send the gold and rare treasures to the internal funds, and give the silver to Shen Tingyang."

"I don't care how they spend the money, in short, I will use the shortest time to stabilize Nanyang for me."

"The minister leads the decree..." Lu Wenzhao bowed in return, while Zhu Youxiao waved his hand to signal that he could step back.

"The minister will leave..."

Lu Wenzhao retreated after returning the gift, but when he walked out of the gate of Qianqing Palace, he, Cao Huachun, and Wang Chengen nodded, and then left after saying hello.

As he left, the five eunuchs also re-entered the Hall of Mental Cultivation in Qianqing Palace.

After they entered the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Zhu Youxiao had already put the box of documents under the couch by himself.

So when they saw Zhu Youxiao, Zhu Youxiao patted the ashes on his hands, and explained to them:

"Let the world know that the victory of the re-taping is great, and the supervisor of ceremonies drafts the imperial decree, and promotes Sun Chuanting, the re-taping manager, as the Minister of the Ministry of War."

"For the merits of the rest, let the cabinet give false titles and ranks according to the previous officials."

Zhu Youxiao didn't get too involved in repeating the rewards of all the generals in World War I, mainly because he transferred Sun Chuanting to the capital.

This time, Zhu Youxiao only felt that he lacked some people around him to talk about military affairs for him. It happened that Sun Chuanting's current achievements were embarrassing in the Northwest, so it was better to transfer him back to Beijing.

"Slaves lead the decree..." Cao Huachun, Wei Zhongxian and others responded, and then ordered people to draft the decree and issue it.

After half an hour, when the imperial decree was delivered to the cabinet, even Ye Xianggao couldn't help but wondered: "Finished?"

"His Royal Highness King Qi broke the flames and fell into the red at the Black River Beach. The recovery has ended. Long live's will is here. Hexi has set up a province, and Shaanxi has direct jurisdiction over Hetao."

The eunuch who was in charge of ceremonies answered Ye Xianggao respectfully, and the content of the words made the other cabinet ministers sitting in the cabinet restless.

The battle is over, does that mean King Qi is going back to Beijing?
If King Qi returns to Beijing, I am afraid that the situation in the capital will change again...

Wei Guangwei and the others looked a little unhappy, while Ye Xianggao let out a long breath.

"Finally, I'm coming back... If you come back, the old man will be able to beg for rest."

Ye Xianggao sighed in his heart, but what he was thinking was to beg for resignation.

Beside Ye Xianggao, Zuo Guangdou also looked at him after hearing the other party take a long breath.

In fact, most of the cabinet ministers knew Ye Xianggao's thoughts.

If he begs for a rest, then the position of the chief minister of the cabinet may cause a series of intrigues again.

The capital city right now is like a powder keg, everything is under pressure.

It's not that Ye Xianggao didn't want to deal with it, but the plan he dealt with didn't meet the plan Zhu Youxiao wanted.

Ye Xianggao also knew that in some matters, Zhu Youjian's words were more useful than his words, so he could only save this powder keg for Zhu Youjian to find a way to clean it up.

This is not to say that he wants to harm Zhu Youjian, but that this powder keg, in terms of his ability, really cannot be solved.

It's just that Ye Xianggao didn't know that Zhu Youjian not only didn't come back for a short time, but also sent a bigger gunpowder barrel to the capital.

If he knew, I'm afraid he would have to go to school now and ask for resignation.

"Let's announce the matter to the world, so that the people will be happy..."

After being silent for a long time, Ye Xianggao chose not to vote, and directly agreed to the imperial decree as the chief assistant of the cabinet, wanting the whole world to feel the joy of the double victory.

Regarding his approach, other cabinet members dare not say anything, after all, this imperial decree is related to Zhu Youjian.

Ye Xianggao took a special glance at the silence of the officials.

Judging from the attitude of the officials, compared to the situation when Fang Congzhe, Sun Ruyou, Zhu Guozuo, Shen Yu and other party leaders opposed and impeached, the current party officials are somewhat cowardly.

Such cowardice is not a good thing, because it represents a lack of party cohesion.

If the party's cohesion is insufficient, there may be a situation where one person is on two boats, flattering the two parties respectively.

In other words, the attack on parties cannot be targeted as in previous years.

"Forget it, let King Qi solve it by himself..."

After taking a look at the complicated situation, Ye Xianggao didn't want to think about it anymore, because even thinking about it for a second now would give him a headache.

Without the objection of all the officials, the eunuch who was in charge of rituals took the imperial decree agreed by the cabinet and the six departments to the Ministry of Rites and chose to announce it to the world.

Soon, a pair of Tangqi and fast horses sent the news to the sixteen provinces of the two capitals of the Ming Dynasty. Except for the fact that the old port was too far away, most of the provinces received a great victory in the sweeping battle within about ten days. news.

The whole country celebrates together for a while, and the common people live more comfortably because they don’t have the burden of Liao’s salary. When encountering such a happy event, they naturally have the idea to invite friends and choose various celebration venues in small groups .

In the words of later generations, it was news of a great victory, which successfully promoted the consumption economy of the two capitals and fifteen provinces of Ming Dynasty.

Of course, some people are happy and some are sad. When some people hear this information, they are not only unhappy, but also very ugly.

This kind of people is nothing more than Fang Congzhe, Sun Ruyou, Zhu Guozuo, Shen Yu, Qi Shijiao and others who are waiting for the opportunity to come back after leaving the field.

However, compared to their displeasure, the old man who was escorted to Dali, Yunnan, when he heard the news of the sweeping victory, burst out laughing.

"Okay, okay... I knew that sweeping the set would definitely work, now let's see how you want to relocate the people."

Holding the notice, Yang Lianxi, who was sitting in the prison car, smiled, not feeling uncomfortable because she was sitting in the prison car.

But when he said that, a Jin Yiwei rode forward on a fast horse, came to his side and said:
"You are an outsider. Your Highness and Long Live are probably suffering from a lot of headaches now."

The speaker was Lu Xiu, who was also transferred to Yunnan by Zhu Youjian, and he went with him, as well as Shen Lian and Lu Xian.

As Zhu Youjian's earliest team in Jinyiwei, the three of them were sent to Yunnan at the same time, obviously not just to protect Yang Lian on the way.

Yang Lian also understood the reason, so he put down the notice, leaned on the prison car and said to Lu Xiu:
"It has nothing to do with the old man that His Royal Highness and Wansui don't have a headache. The old man is white now. After going to Dali, he will cultivate the land and grow vegetables, and be an ordinary citizen."

"Compared with the affairs of the court, the old man is more concerned about what the three of you are going to do in Yunnan?"

"Don't cause another war, so that the old man can't even eat rice..."

There was something in Yang Lian's words, but Lu Xian who was behind shouted: "Please rest assured, Yang Du, even if the three of us have nothing to eat, you will not have nothing to eat."

"That's not certain. If I lose the battle, I'm afraid the old man will not only have nothing to eat, but also be implicated."

Yang Lian scratched his hair that hadn't been washed for a few days in response, but Lu Xiu didn't say anything when he saw it, but subconsciously grabbed his knife handle, and said carelessly:
"It's not necessary to fight a war, but it is necessary to detect news."

"The news is not complete, how did His Highness use troops against Toungoo and Annan..."

(End of this chapter)