Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 265

"came back……"

On August [-]th of the fifth year of Tianqi, when a man in tribute silk uniform stood at the gate of Yongding, looking at the familiar things, he took a deep breath.

"Suntian, I, Zhu Changxun, are back!"

A word sounded in his heart, and Zhu Changxun, who was the King of Fortune, also brought his son Zhu Yousong back to the capital at this moment.

Not only him, vassal kings from all over the world have come to the capital, only the princes and county kings of the Shu, Yi, Huai, Chu and other vassal families who are a little farther away have not arrived.

Interestingly, among the county kings, there are not many collaterals of King Ning.

King Linchuan, King Yichun, King Xinchang, King Xinfeng, King Ruichang, King Shicheng, King Shanggao, and King Zhongling also arrived in the capital.

Although Zhu Houzhao abolished Ning Fan back then, he was more considerate of Ning Fan's offshoots, and Ning Fan's offshoots have always behaved with their tails between their legs.

But now it's all right, overseas is the vassal, and the eight county kings of Ning Fan can also take the opportunity to entrust them out.

Not only them, but also some other county kings of the great feudal clan also hoped that this would be entrusted.

For a while, the Ministry of Rites became the busiest department, and Honglu Temple needed to make various arrangements.

The return of the kings to Beijing may be a grand occasion that has not been seen in many years, and all of this is for the purpose of becoming a vassal overseas.

Zhu Changxun and the others, as one of the powerful Fan Fans, the officials who came to greet them are naturally of high grade.

"Wu Yunzhong, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, see His Royal Highness King Fu..."

"Your Highness Chitose..."

The left servant of the Ministry of Rites came to greet him with dozens of officials from the Ministry of Rites, but Zhu Changxun still maintained his so-called inexplicable arrogance.

Facing the salutes of many officials, he did not respond, and turned his head and got into the carriage. At this time, the eighteen-year-old Zhu Yousong could only bite the bullet and stepped forward to help the officials up.

Being left out in the cold, Wu Yunzhong couldn't keep up his face, so he coughed:
"Fufan's residence has been arranged in the area of ​​Baiwangfu in Xincheng. Please come with me, Your Royal Highness."

"Hundred Prince's Mansion?" Hearing this, Zhu Yousong was stunned for a moment, thinking that this title was very domineering.

Immediately afterwards, after Wu Yunzhong got into the carriage, he himself got into Fufan's carriage, and followed the carriage of the Ministry of Rites to Xincheng with hundreds of guards.

The new city is mainly the Dongcheng District, which extends ten miles outward from the east section of the original inner city wall. In addition to this new city, a West District was also built on the west side of the inner city.

The current capital, after the construction of the two major urban areas, can accommodate more than two million people living in it.

Building a new city can be said to be the project that cost the Ministry of Households the most in three years, four years, and five years.

The construction of the new city took [-] months, employing more than [-] migrant workers, and costing [-] million yuan in food and money. The so-called Hundred Princes' Mansion occupies a quarter of the Dongcheng District.

The Hundred Princes' Mansion is known as a hundred palaces, but in fact it is far more than that.

There are forty-one Prince's Mansions alone, and one hundred and fifty County Prince's Mansions. The reason why so many were built is that the Ministry of Industry considered that Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Ciran's heirs might live in the Hundred Kings' Mansion in the future. considerate.

However, with so many palaces, it is naturally impossible to build them according to the real palace regulations. In fact, except for the Qi Palace, other palaces are built according to two standards and regulations.

As a person who likes to compare, when the carriage arrived in front of the Baiwang City Gate surrounded by the inner city wall, Zhu Changxun opened the window and asked the officials of the Ministry of Rites around the carriage:
"Among the hundred princes' mansions, are the sizes of each mansion different?"

When Zhu Changxun asked the question, officials of the Ministry of Rites who only had the sixth rank naturally dared not say nothing, so he told the truth:
"Except for Prince Qi's Mansion, the Prince's Mansion is [-] acres, and the County Prince's Mansion is [-] acres."

"Is Prince Qi's mansion very big?" Zhu Yousong asked curiously, and Zhu Changxun was very concerned about this question.

"Qi Prince's Mansion..." Hearing them ask about the area of ​​Qi's Prince's Mansion, the officials from the Ministry of Rituals laughed a little awkwardly, and said cautiously:
"The Prince Qi's Mansion was built under the supervision of Long Live himself, and King Qi has the right to open the mansion, so the area is a bit larger."

"Originally, the regulation was [-] mu, but later Wansui increased it to [-] mu, but the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry were short of money, so it was finally reduced to [-] mu..."

"..." Zhu Changxun's fat face twitched when he heard the words of the officials from the Ministry of Rites.

At the same time as he was twitching, the gate of the Hundred Kings City opened, and a ten-foot-wide stone path appeared in front of everyone. On both sides of the stone path, the lintel of a palace could be seen every seventy steps.

Seeing that the two were interested, officials from the Ministry of Rituals also introduced one by one:
"Hundred Kings City has three verticals and two horizontals, and five long roads. The middle road is called Qi Wang Dao. It is the widest, more than ten feet. On the left and right is the Prince's Mansion, and at the end of the central axis is Qi Wang's Mansion."

"The other four are upward straight roads, six feet wide, leading to the palaces of the princes of each county."

"The positions of the palaces are randomly arranged, so if His Highness and the Crown Prince feel dissatisfied with the positions, don't complain about the lower officials. This is planned by Wan Sui himself."

"No, no..." Zhu Yousong laughed along, while Zhu Changxun's face turned black.

According to Zhu Youxiao's ranking, wouldn't hundreds of princes and county kings become gatekeepers for Qi Wangfu?

He thought so, and the carriage drove into the two-mile long road.

At this time, Zhu Changxun and Zhu Yousong, who were on the carriage, clearly saw a huge palace that was three feet higher than other prince's mansions, and the scale of the building was also much beyond.

The three characters "Qi Wangfu" written by Zhu Youxiao's imperial pen are hung on the plaque. Not to mention the palace, the scale of this plaque is more than three times larger than that of other palaces.

Not only that, there were soldiers and horses patrolling the gate of King Qi's mansion, guarding the gate and guarding the courtyard, while the other mansions were deserted, only Zhou Wang's mansion and Jin Wang's mansion, which arrived first, had more than a dozen guards guarding the gate.

Compared with the very elite Shangzhi in mountain armor, they can be said to be so shabby that people can't bear to look directly at them.

But at this time, Zhu Changxun also discovered a little difference.

Although the official of the Ministry of Rites said that the location and location of the palace was arbitrary, judging from the plaques of the six palaces near the Qi Palace, class has always existed.

King Zhao's Mansion, King Jin's Mansion, King Chu's Mansion, King Zhou's Mansion, King Qin's Mansion, King Fu's Mansion...

Of these six palaces, which one is not a powerful vassal whose one mansion equals several other mansions?
All the six powerful vassals were piled up at the entrance of Prince Qi's Mansion, but the Prince Qi's Mansion was three feet higher than the other prince's mansions, and even a fool could tell the level of superiority and inferiority.

"Tolerate……"

Thinking that he was now in someone else's territory, Zhu Changxun could only hold back his anger. After getting off the carriage, he walked straight to Prince Fu's mansion without any intention of caring for the officials of the Ministry of Rites.

"Everyone, please don't be offended. My father is not acclimatized recently, and his temper is a bit grumpy and weird."

Seeing that his worried old father was still flabbergasted, Zhu Yousong could only repeatedly complain to the officials of the Ministry of Rites, and Wu Yunzhong and others were too lazy to be as knowledgeable as Zhu Changxun.

To put it bluntly, everyone in Zhu Changxun had enmity with most of the Beijing officials in Daming, so it was strange to be able to give them a good face.

"His Royal Highness is exhausted from traveling and traveling. Let's take a good rest today. Long live has a decree. The kings can walk around in the capital at will, but don't bother the people too much."

Wu Yunzhong reminded very vaguely that the so-called nuisance is just not to bully the people.

There are hundreds of vassal kings with varying qualities. If anyone is doing business in the capital and commits crimes under the watchful eye of King Qi, who can't see the sand, he will probably be slapped.

"Thank you Wu Shilang, but I just don't know when King Qi will return to Beijing?" Zhu Yousong asked cautiously, and Wu Yunzhong also responded:

"Early this morning, someone from Prince Qi's Mansion spread the news that His Royal Highness has arrived at Zhending Mansion, and he will be able to arrive in the capital within five days."

"However, it is best not to disturb His Royal Highness Qi Wang on the day after arriving. I heard that His Royal Highness Qi was tired from the boat and the car, and he contracted a cold on the road and needs to rest."

"Ten days later all the kings will arrive. At that time, Long Live will celebrate the achievements of Shangzhi and the Northern Army Governor's Mansion. At the same time, they will present prisoners at the Taimiao. All the kings will go to watch the ceremony and pay homage to the Taizu Emperor Gao."

"Thank you Wu Shilang for reminding me." Zhu Yousong understood the rules and returned the gift to express his gratitude. After seeing this, Wu Yunzhong returned the gift and left Baiwang City with the officials of the Ministry of Rites.

But after they left, some Zhou Fans, Zhao Fans, Jin Fans... and many other descendants of the clan who had already arrived in the capital all walked out of the palace, and glanced at Zhu Yousong at the gate of Fu Wang's Mansion.

Zhu Yousong knows etiquette, although he is also a little fat man, but after all, he is a descendant of the royal family, and his etiquette is much better than most of the clan's children.

He bowed to the other clan disciples who were peeking at him, and then got up and walked into Fu Wang's mansion.

It has to be said that although Zhu Changxun and Zhu Youxiao had feuds, Zhu Youxiao did not cut corners or make any bad intentions in the construction of the mansion on the bright side.

Zhu Changxun walked around, and the whole mansion can be said to be impeccable, even if the craftsmen of the palace did it themselves, it would be difficult to design and build such an exquisite building.

"Father, it seems that my imperial brother is treating us pretty well."

After leaving the others, Zhu Yousong also let go of his disguise. It was something to be lamented at first, but under his tone, it became a little sarcastic.

"Those two boys have no good intentions, especially Zhu Youjian."

Zhu Changxun responded to Zhu Yousong, and secretly hated Zhu Changluo in his heart.

To be honest, he has always hated Zhu Changluo and the civil servants who helped Zhu Changluo in the national struggle. For Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian, although he often sarcastically said, he was embarrassed to argue with the two nephews. .

Since Zhu Youjian agreed to let him go overseas, his view of Zhu Youjian has changed a lot, especially after knowing that Zhu Youjian has been promoting the overseas vassal, he has a new understanding of Zhu Youjian An indescribable sense.

Such a sense must not be limited to him, it should be said that it is a sense that all princes and county kings have.

Anyone who knows the process of Zhu Youjian's ascent and seizure of power, even the enemy has to sigh "good prince".

While sighing, most people felt that the emperor sitting on the dragon chair was very lucky.

Zhu Changxun is also one of them, and sometimes he even thinks, if Zhu Youjian and Zhu Yousong switch, maybe he Zhu Changxun can also follow the example of Zuwen Emperor Jingnan.

Thinking of this, Zhu Changxun glanced at Zhu Yousong, who was a little fat, and remembered Zhu Youjian's high spirits when he entered Fuwang's mansion, and couldn't help frowning slightly.

"Song'er, when you come to Shuntian this time, apart from going to the west and going overseas, you also have to go to Yanshan as the son of the Fu clan to learn the art of war with the sons of the princes."

"Ah? Me?" Hearing Zhu Changxun's words, Zhu Yousong was surprised for a moment, and then said with an ugly expression:

"Father and son are like this, I'm afraid I can't learn much..."

"Bastard!" Hearing Zhu Yousong's dejected words, Zhu Changxun immediately scolded, and then hated iron for not being steel:

"If you don't learn the art of war, how can I, Fu Fan, gain a foothold overseas?!"

"This...my minister takes orders." Zhu Yousong could only bite the bullet and agree when he heard his father's reprimand.

It's not Zhu Changxun, he doesn't learn the art of war himself, but wants Zhu Yousong to learn it, and then become an existence comparable to Zhu Youjian.

This is in line with the traditional behavior of parents who "hope their children will become dragons" and never think about the principle of "don't do to others what you don't want".

However, Zhu Yousong was not the first to be reprimanded. In fact, most of the powerful vassals reprimanded their heirs.

In comparison, Zhou Fan can be said to be not only sophisticated in his methods, but also more adaptable to the changing morals of the world in terms of clan ability.

Zhou Fan came to the capital from the prince to the eldest son, and then to the grandson. The sophisticated Zhou king Zhu Suqin not only took the lead in practicing archery, but also took the initiative to take his children and grandchildren to discuss the art of war with the generals of the Gongwei camp stationed in the Qi palace.

Zhu Suqin is like this, as the eldest son Zhu Gongyang and the grandson Zhu Shaotong are also hardworking in learning.

Not only them, but the other county kings of Zhou Fan have inherited a good family tradition, and they are constantly thick-skinned. In the following days, they will go to the Five Armies Governor's Mansion to learn the art of war and open up relationships.

After all, everyone knows that if one or two of the Shangzhigong Guards and Waigong Guards can be recruited to fight for the combat power of the Shangzhigong Guards and Waigong Guards, and then understand them and move them with emotion and reason, please go overseas. The feudal land must be much larger than that of the general outer guard camp.

Everyone can see that Zhou Fan's thoughts are nothing more than betting overseas.

After seeing their hard work, other feudal lords followed suit, but Zhu Changxun didn't pay too much attention to these things.

During the days when he came to the capital, he pretended to supervise Zhu Yousong to learn the art of war during the day, but at night he secretly met Cui Wensheng, who was serving Concubine Zheng.

However, he was not so stupid as to still think about the throne, but used Cui Wensheng and Zheng Guifei to cry miserably to Zhu Youxiao, his elder nephew in the palace.

On the one hand, he asked Zhu Youxiao to tell Zhu Youxiao that Fufan was newly established, and he didn't have much money to go overseas to take up the feudal clan.

If this effect is placed on Zhu Youjian, it will naturally have no effect. After all, Zhu Youjian has no so-called blood relationship with other Zhu family members except his own royal brother.

However, for Zhu Youxiao, he didn't want to bear the bad reputation of being mean to his clan and bullying his uncle and brother, and he also didn't want to see Zhu Changxun, so he only made a promise to Zhu Changxun for his consideration.

Naturally, the little tricks of Zhu Suqin and Zhu Changxun, the vassal kings, could not be hidden from Zhu Youjian's eyes, but at the moment Zhu Youjian had no energy to take care of them because of some things.

When the army marched to the Fangshan area of ​​Shuntian Prefecture, Wang Kentang, who had been paying attention to Zhu Youjian's health, found that Zhu Youjian had a high fever, and Zhu Youjian also suffered from stomach distension and stomach pain due to long-term travel and fatigue. He fell ill in Fangshan District.

The news of Zhu Youjian's sudden illness forced the army to stop in Fangshan County.

Fortunately, Sun Shoufa ordered people to block the news in time, and lied to the outside world that King Qi inspected the Fangshan coal mine, and temporarily rested for three days before pulling out the army.

In the drowsiness, Zhu Youjian slowly opened his eyes half asleep and half awake, and what he saw was the familiar top of the big tent.

He turned his head slightly, only to see Wang Kentang taking his pulse and getting an needle. Behind Wang Kentang were Li Dingguo who was holding a tray and looked a little flustered, and Sun Shoufa whose eyes were full of bloodshot eyes.

"Your Highness!"

"Your Highness needs to rest, keep your voice down."

Seeing Zhu Youjian woke up, Sun Shoufa and Li Dingguo hurried forward, but Wang Kentang quickly pushed them away, and while explaining, he also turned to comfort Zhu Youjian:
"Your Highness, it is not appropriate for you to speak too much at this time, please cultivate yourself for a while."

"Where is the army..." Zhu Youjian didn't listen to Wang Kentang's words, but squeezed out a hoarse voice from his swollen throat.

"Your Highness, the army has already marched to Fangshan, but please rest assured, Your Highness, the last general has lied to the outside world that you inspected Fangshan, and will march north after three days of rest."

Standing behind Wang Kentang, Sun Shoufa knelt down on the ground at the first moment, and told Zhu Youjian his deployment, and Zhu Youjian nodded slowly when he heard the words, expressing that he was quite thoughtful.

"Brother Huang, don't pass it on. My illness will recover in a few days..."

Zhu Youjian said the first sentence to Sun Shoufa, and the latter sentence was to ask Wang Kentang.

"Your lungs are hit by wind and cold, and you have traveled a long distance. No matter how strong your body is, I'm afraid you won't recover within three days. It will take ten days at the earliest."

Wang Kentang's words woke up the drowsy Zhu Youjian for a moment.

He glanced at his desk case, only to see a pile of military information piled up on the desk case, which should all be sent by the Five Armies Commander's Mansion and the Imperial Palace.

The soreness all over his body made Zhu Youjian unable to stand up. He didn't expect a cold to make him like this.

"The military situation will be put on hold for the time being. If there is any news about the northern captives and Jian captives, please let me know in time."

After all, Zhu Youjian frowned, obviously very uncomfortable.

Seeing this, Wang Kentang twirled the needle immediately and said: "Your Highness, I forgive you for being rude."

After all, Wang Kentang applied needles to Zhu Youjian's Hegu, Lieque, Zusanli, Weizhong, and Shenmen points respectively, and then kneaded Sanyinjiao with his hands. Gradually, Zhu Youjian only felt A sense of drowsiness hit her, and the soreness all over her body gradually disappeared, and finally she fell into a drowsy sleep.

After Zhu Youjian passed out, Wang Kentang still pressed for a quarter of an hour until his forehead was covered with sweat before he stopped and looked at Sun Shoufa with a concerned face:
"After three quarters of an hour, pull out the needle. If His Highness wakes up, send someone to call the old man immediately."

"Okay," Sun Shoufa quickly agreed, and then ordered someone to help the exhausted Wang Kentang out of the big tent.

As for Sun Shoufa, he sat cross-legged directly in the big tent, staring at Zhu Youjian, for fear that someone would sneak attack his highness.

However, he is also a human being, so how long can he stay there?But within five or six hours, his upper and lower eyelids started fighting, and his whole body was shaking.

But every time this time, he would wake up immediately, and then forcefully continue to guard Zhu Youjian.

Even though Wang Kentang regained his strength halfway and came to give the needle again, he didn't close his eyes and stared at him tightly the whole time.

Only when Cao Meng, the commander of the Xiao cavalry guards, came to take over, did he lie under Zhu Youjian's couch and lie on his stomach for a while.

But when footsteps sounded, he immediately woke up and looked towards the tent door, which made Cao Meng, who had been frightened several times by him, quickly say:
"Sleep well, you barbarian. You cheat twelve times in an hour. I think you want to scare me to death."

After being scolded by Cao Meng, as a backward person, although his official position was higher than Cao Meng, Sun Shoufa still got down on the ground obediently with his bloodshot eyes.

However, this kind of honesty only lasted for a quarter of an hour, and then he started to cheat the corpse intermittently, which made Cao Meng quite helpless.

In the end, Cao Meng simply ignored this guy, and he was relieved when Sun Shoufa was completely exhausted.

However, before he could take a breath, there was a thunderous snoring immediately, and Cao Meng kicked him subconsciously.

"Go back to your barracks and sleep, don't disturb His Highness!"

Cao Meng glared at Sun Shoufa, and Sun Shoufa followed his words in a daze, staggered back to his barracks, and then snored like thunder.

In the next few days, the two took turns changing shifts, and Zhu Youjian's condition improved slightly.

It's a pity that just like what Wang Kentang said, on the fifth day, Zhu Youjian still felt a little uncomfortable, not to mention the weakness of his limbs, and his legs felt weak even when he took a big step.

"I can't rest anymore. If the capital doesn't see me return for a long time, I'm afraid something will happen..."

"Your Highness, rest for another three days."

"Just rest for another three days, Your Highness, please listen to Mr. Suan."

Outside the army tent, even if he was supported by others, Zhu Youjian stubbornly wanted to return to the capital, and Wang Kentang who was next to him also tried to dissuade him, and Sun Shoufa and Cao Meng also persuaded him with one voice.

It's just that Zhu Youjian couldn't hear their persuasion at all, but straightened his back and said:

"Hundreds of vassal kings gathered in the capital, and my brother can't handle the situation alone. If there is no great contribution to deter the officials and the kings by offering prisoners, the minds of the young people will only become more active!"

Zhu Youjian is very clear that even if the civil servants are being dealt with to death now, as long as there is an opportunity, the five parties of Qi, Chu, Zhejiang, Xuan, and Kun will take the opportunity to make small moves.

Stronger than Zhu Yuanzhang, who killed a civil servant all his life, and finally was tempted by the civil servant group a year before his death, and made a case on the North and South List.

In the end, it was Zhu Yuanzhang who supported his body and moved the powerful gentry from all over the south of the Yangtze River to settle in Nanjing, which caused these powerful gentry to lose their original social foundation and political strength.

Zhu Youjian didn't dare to bet on such an important situation, he had to go to the capital.

He had only been ill for five days, and there were already some rumors and rumors in the Fangshan area, and Zhu Youjian also learned about these news through Jin Yiwei, who was with the army.

If there are all these rumors in Fangshan, it is only a matter of time before they spread to the capital.

"Your Highness..." Sun Shoufa, Wang Kentang, Cao Meng and others still wanted to persuade, but Zhu Youjian raised his hand with a pale face and said:
"Leave brother to deal with it alone, I don't worry..."

"Pass me an order to rest overnight and leave for Beijing tomorrow!"

(End of this chapter)