Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 295
"This battle has spread thousands of miles, and my younger brother's first great contribution should be remembered. In addition to rewards and pensions, the soldiers of the Northern Expedition will pay three liang per person according to the above rules, one two liang per person in the Waigongwei battalion, one liang for the auxiliary soldiers, and five qian for each civilian husband." Silver reward!"

In Qianqing Palace, when Zhu Youxiao's excited decree sounded, he brought Wei Zhongxian, Wang Tiqian, and Liu Ruoyu into the palace, holding the good news in his hand, reluctant to put it down, talking non-stop.

For Wei Zhongxian, every word he said and every tael of silver he sent out was tantamount to cutting flesh and bleeding.

But in order to keep the emperor's trust in him, Wei Zhongxian still bit the bullet and apologized with a smile:
"There are still more than [-] million taels of silver in the internal funds. It is more than enough to distribute according to the number of heads above the victory."

"Long live rewarding the three armies is an act of the Holy Son of Heaven..."

Wei Zhongxian was flattering, and Zhu Youxiao also handed the good news to Wang Tiqian after hearing the words:
"Let the people in the household department immediately calculate the reward silver, pension silver, and the amount of pension land, and then reward the three armies as I said before."

"Your maidservant takes orders..." Wang Tiqian glanced at Wei Zhongxian who was still laughing hard at the side when he heard the words, and then asked someone to send the victory report to the household department.

Zhu Youxiao has been very happy during this period, and did not deal with the memorial, but walked left and right in the Hall of Mental Cultivation:

"My younger brother has raised my Ming Dynasty's prestige in this battle. I'm afraid he doesn't care about the rewards of some rare treasures, and he doesn't lack money..."

Zhu Youxiao was struggling, but Wei Zhongxian stepped forward to flatter him and said:
"Long live, for His Highness Qi Wang, ten thousand taels of silver is not as good as Long Live to get an extra set of furniture for His Highness."

"Yes, yes, yes..." Hearing Wei Zhongxian's words, Zhu Youxiao also showed a smile on his face, then turned around and ordered:
"Ruoyu, ask someone to find some golden nanmu from the warehouse. I want to get some furniture for my brother."

"Your maidservant takes orders..." Liu Ruoyu agreed, and then went down to do some business.

When Zhu Youxiao happily sat down and reached for the teacup, Wei Zhongxian quickly brought a cup of sour plum soup from the side table and said:
"Long live, the weather is hot, it's better to drink some iced drinks."

"Yeah..." Zhu Youxiao took a drink, and then said happily:

"Zhongxian, send someone to ask my younger brother to quickly send the list of generals who need to be promoted in this battle, and let my younger brother lead the army to triumph. I will personally hold a state banquet for my younger brother to celebrate!"

"Long live, how can this show the achievements of His Highness?" Wei Zhongxian not only wanted to please Zhu Youxiao, but also Zhu Youjian.

What's more, he knew very well that to please Zhu Youjian on the surface was actually to please Zhu Youxiao, and the relationship between the two was similar.

As long as you openly propose to please either party, the other party will be very useful.

"Do you have a good idea?" Zhu Youxiao put down the sour plum soup in his hand, and asked enthusiastically, while Wei Zhongxian flattered:

"Mount Harawen is only more than [-] miles away from Yuyuerhai. Why don't you ask His Royal Highness King Qi to go to Yuyuerhai for you to worship the sky and pay homage to Emperor Taizu Gao and Emperor Chengzu Wen?"

"Seal the wolf to live in Xu? It's not bad, but with my younger brother's martial arts, it's not as good as fishing in the sea." Zhu Youxiao first smiled, then frowned and said:

"Huo Qubing, Dou Xian and other military generals can seal the wolf to live in the Xu, and block Shi Yanran. Fishing in the sea is not as good as the wolf living in the Xu Mountain to the north..."

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao frowned, and smiled again the next second:

"Not in the north, but in the south." As he spoke, Zhu Youxiao quickly said:

"Order Huanglong to engrave a stele in the extreme south to show my younger brother's achievements in recovering the old port."

"Long live, there are not many people going to this extreme southern land. Although the inscription is good, it still cannot express His Highness's martial arts." Wei Zhongxian said quickly:

"Why don't you let all the countries pay tribute and gather all the iron from all countries to build an iron monument at the foot of Yanshan Mountain?"

"That's right! That's a good idea!" Wei Zhongxian's words caught Zhu Youxiao's eyes, but he added:

"But what is Yanshan? One hundred thousand taels of silver was allocated from internal funds to build a stone step at the highest point in the Harawin Mountains, build a stone tablet on the top of the mountain, and erect a golden bell!"

Zhu Youxiao's eyes became brighter as he spoke: "Build a bell tower, collect copper from various countries and provinces of Ming Dynasty, and build a big bell that is bigger than the Yongle bell!"

As soon as Zhu Youxiao spoke, Wei Zhongxian immediately felt guilty.

The Yongle Bell is the largest bronze bell in the Central Plains Dynasty. The bell is [-] feet [-] feet [-] inches high and weighs more than [-] catties. It is almost one-third of the annual output of the copper mine in Luzon Prefecture.

Used to make money, at least ten million copper coins can be issued, and this is only the value of its materials.

The difficulty of the Yongle Bell is that when it was cast, scriptures were cast all over the inside and outside of the bell, with a total of [-] characters.

To cast such a bell, I am afraid that it will cost tens of thousands of taels of silver and gather skilled bell-casting craftsmen from all over the world.

However, in order to please the Emperor and the King of Qi, Wei Zhongxian said righteously:

"What Long Live said is very true. From the perspective of slaves, this big clock must not only be cast, but also be cast big enough. How about three feet, three feet and three inches?"

"It's not bad!" Zhu Youxiao nodded unconsciously, but as a carpenter, he also knew how much it would cost to cast such a bell tower on top of a mountain, so he said quickly:

"Decree to send all the prisoners from all over the world to Kaiping Mansion. After casting the Harawen Mountain Bell Tower, they will be moved to Taining Mansion."

"The servant obeys the order..." Wei Zhongxian quickly knelt down to receive the order, Zhu Youxiao was very pleased with his respectful appearance.

While he was benefiting from it, Wang Tiqian walked into the Hall of Mental Cultivation with a calculated document in his hands and said:
"Long live, according to the accounting of the Ministry of Households, [-] taels of reward and pension silver will be issued for this battle, and [-] mu of pension land will be distributed."

In this battle, the Ming army beheaded more than [-] northern captives, Jian captives, and false captives, and killed or injured [-] of them.

In terms of such a battle loss ratio, it is already one of the peaks of the Ming army itself.

Although there are more than [-] taels plus more than [-] mu of land, Zhu Youxiao can't afford it.

"Let's post it, my brother said not to chill the hearts of the soldiers, such a great victory, nine hundred and twenty thousand taels of silver is not too much."

As soon as Zhu Youxiao waved his hand, he basically decided to award the silver rewards, and although Wei Zhongxian was bleeding, he still flattered him:
"Long live loves soldiers like children. I think the three armies will be very grateful to Wan live."

"Okay, don't flatter me, let's take care of the bell tower." After Zhu Youxiao finished speaking, he stretched out his hand and began to deal with the memorials on the dragon case, and Wei Zhongxian also left the Hall of Mental Cultivation after saying "Slave leave" .

After he left, Wang Tiqian also left the Hall of Mental Cultivation, while Zhu Youxiao's expression quickly relaxed, revealing a trace of calmness.

He lowered his head to deal with the memorial, but when Liu Ruoyu returned, he suddenly said:
"What happened to the West Factory..."

"Back to Long Live, more than a thousand servants and servants have gathered in Dongchang and Jinyiwei." Liu Ruoyu bowed his head in response, while Zhu Youxiao nodded slightly in agreement when he heard the words.

Seeing that the emperor did not speak, Liu Ruoyu continued:
"Dongzhong Lin Yanguan was suppressed and killed by Wei Bingbi. If Wansui transfers Yuan Keli and other [-] people away, there will only be Sun Chengzong, Han Yu and more than [-] Donglin in the court."

"Long live, if this happens, I'm afraid the government will be uneasy..."

Liu Ruoyu was involved in a political issue, which can also be said to be a mathematical issue.

In mathematics, triangle is the most stable planar structure, bar none.

This stable structure is also the same in politics.

It seems that there is a definite number in the dark, and three is the least definite number to maintain an organization, a country, and a world.

The so-called dictatorship and multi-country confrontation are often superficial. After digging deep and summarizing, the deep-seated reason for maintaining the existence of this world, this country, and the imperial court must be the tripartite confrontation.

Generally speaking, unless there is a fierce man from heaven, the three-party dispute can often fight for a long time.

Zooming in on the Ming Dynasty, the Huaixi, Zhedong, Jiangnan, and imperial forces in the early Ming Dynasty were an important juncture in maintaining stability in the Ming Dynasty.

However, this political situation that Zhu Yuanzhang thought could last for a long time often broke out many turmoil.

On the contrary, after the fall of Huaixi, a long-term and stable balance appeared in eastern Zhejiang, Jiangnan, and imperial power.

Even if East Zhejiang and Jiangnan merged for a long time and developed into a pan-Jiangnan civil official group, the emperor also knew how to support the eunuchs to check and balance.

Such support can also stabilize the political situation and keep the general direction unchanged.

However, after Jiajing destroyed the Pan-Jiangnan Civil Service Group and dismantled them, the Ming Dynasty seemed to have entered into endless party struggles.

Zhang Party, Gao Party, Zhejiang Party, Qi Party, Chu Party, Xuan Party, Donglin Party, Qin Party, Sichuan Party, Fujian Party, Donglin Party...

These parties come on the stage after you sing, and in many cases, they even develop into a political situation where multiple forces appear together, followed by constant party struggle.

This situation lasted until Zhu Youjian used means to sweep away a group of veterans of the Zhejiang Party and forced the five parties to form a group to protect themselves.

Donglin, Qi Royal Party, Five-Party Alliance...

The balance of the three parties made the Ming Dynasty stable for two years, and then the five parties were weak, and Zhu Youxiao put in another Wei Zhongxian.

But now it seems that Wei Zhongxian is obviously a selfish person, as long as he can accomplish what he wants to accomplish, he doesn't care what means he uses.

Framed, tortured to extract a confession...

It's only been less than two years since he came to power, and there are only dozens of big cats and kittens left in the Donglin, but the eunuchs...

If it weren't for Zhu Youjian's constant use of military exploits and great victories to promote the Qi Royal Party, maybe the Eunuch Party would have overwhelmed the Qi Royal Party.

Now Donglin is weak, but it is still difficult to support it. The political situation of the three parties is in turmoil. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this situation is not handled well.

How to stabilize the situation is a problem that Zhu Youxiao needs to solve urgently.

As Zhu Youxiao's confidant, Liu Ruoyu naturally reminded him.

Regarding his reminder, Zhu Youxiao also remained silent for a long time, then got up and walked back and forth, but he didn't think of a good way for a while.

It is impossible for him to help Donglin, because most of the Donglin who were removed from power are boastful officials, and re-entering the court will only intensify the contradictions in the party struggle.

If someone like Yuan Keli is supported to join the cabinet, although Donglin can be strong, it will be a dilemma whether the eunuch party can suppress Yuan Keli.

Yuan Keli can be regarded as half of the Qi Royal Party. If he enters the cabinet, it will undoubtedly represent that the Qi Royal Party has overwhelmed the Eunuch Party.

The Royal Qi Party can no longer grow stronger, and maintaining this situation is what the Royal Qi Party has to do.

Once the King Qi Party grows stronger, the conflict between the factions will gradually burn from Donglin and the Eunuch Party to the Eunuch Party and the King Qi Party.

At that time, although Zhu Youxiao can suppress any party, such suppression will be limited.

The five parties in the eunuch party are already unstoppable, and if the Qi royal party is forced to suppress, it will be interesting to see how some generals in the five armies' governor's mansion see the situation.

Civilian chaos, disaster for the country...

The military officer is in chaos, causing disaster to the world...

It was Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian's helpless move to use and support the military generals. In many cases, the Ming Dynasty did not pull the army, but politically.

As long as Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian can control the court, the two of them don't need to use the power of generals, and they can let Daming go through the Little Ice Age smoothly.

However, in the situation at that time, except for the military generals, it seemed that no one could be drawn by them.

Even this kind of embarrassment is not only because there are no generals to take the initiative to attach, but also because the imperial power does not have its own power.

This embarrassing situation prompted Zhu Youjian to take the initiative to learn the art of war, train troops, and win over Qi Jin, Qin Bangping and others.

Logically speaking, the army should be Zhu Youxiao's power and an extension of imperial power.

The problem is that Zhu Youjian did so well that the army gradually separated from the imperial power and became the Qi royal party.

The current army and generals seem to be supported by the emperor and belong to the extension of the imperial power.

But the extended branch is very fragile, as the hub of the connection between the two, it is all maintained by Zhu Youjian alone.

The relationship between the two is weak, and the emerging military forces all want to make meritorious service and achieve class transition.

Zhu Youjian's foreign wars are not only about stabilizing the frontier, not only about suppressing civilian officials with great victories, but about balancing the needs of the interests of the army.

The reason is very simple. According to the hereditary system of lords formulated by Zhu Youjian, it has actually determined that the Ming army needs to continue to fight to maintain internal stability.

The newcomers now need military exploits to confer titles, blessing descendants.

The future nobles need military exploits to keep their titles from being taken away.

These two points will be a balance that needs to be maintained within the Ming army, and Zhu Youxiao is quite clear.

What the Qi royal party needs is not growth, but stability, so they cannot help them.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao stopped his footsteps, frowned after a while and said:
"Let Gu Bingqian come over..."

"Your servant takes orders." Hearing the emperor's words, Liu Ruoyu immediately sent someone to pass on Gu Bingqian.

This kind of transmission didn't make Zhu Youxiao wait too long, and Gu Bingqian came to the Hall of Mental Cultivation in just two quarters of an hour.

"Long live……"

Gu Bingqian bowed and saluted, while Zhu Youxiao straight to the point said to him:

"Have you read the memos issued by the Supervisor of Ceremonies to the cabinet? What do you think?"

"The construction of the Harawen Mountain Bell Tower is a matter of publicizing the country's prestige, and I think it should be built." Gu Bingqian talked eloquently:

"In addition, the rewards for the soldiers can also be obtained from the internal funds and the Imperial Horse Supervisor, so naturally they need to be rewarded."

"As for the generals who went out to fight, I think it's difficult to seal three of them."

"Say..." Zhu Youxiao squinted his eyes, and Gu Bingqian also said:

"Administrator Xiong Tingbi, Governor Man Gui, and Governor Sun Yingyuan..."

"The latter can confer the crown prince Shaobao and Shaoshi to commend his achievements, but the former..."

Gu Bingqian just clicked, and Zhu Youxiao also understood what the other party meant.

Xiong Tingbi's contribution has actually reached the level of being knighted, but the embarrassing thing is that he is a civil servant...

This is not to say that civil servants cannot be knighted, but that most of the civil servants who were knighted quit politics shortly after being knighted.

Except for the occasional emperor asking, they are almost like transparent people.

If Zhu Youxiao wanted to make Xiong Tingbi a nobleman, that's natural, and he could even let Xiong Tingbi continue to serve outside the court.

But this brings up a problem...

What Zhu Youjian is doing is separating the military from the government, and Xiong Tingbi, Sun Chuanting, Hong Chengchou, Wu Aheng, Yang Wenyue and others are very embarrassed.

Put them in the court, what a pity...

Put them on the frontier, and it is a bit inconsistent with the separation of military and political affairs set by Zhu Youjian.

The so-called official position of Jinglue will be gradually eliminated in the future, so Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youjian need to discuss how to confer Xiong Tingbi.

However, Zhu Youxiao didn't call Gu Bingqian here to discuss the issues of these three people. What he wants Gu Bingqian to do now is to let the Qi Royal Party help the Donglin Party...

"I will deal with the matter of Xiong Tingbi and the others."

"This time, [-] officials from the Ministry of Officials have been transferred outside the customs, and the Ministry of Officials is empty. I want you to recommend some officials to serve in the Ministry of Officials and the Metropolitan Procuratorate."

As soon as Zhu Youxiao spoke, Gu Bingqian sensed something was wrong.

Sure enough, he guessed right, the emperor was going to let him go to war with the eunuchs, or confront each other.

The vacant position in Donglin was filled by officials of the Qi Royal Party. This seemed to strengthen the power of the Qi Royal Party in the court, but in fact it was causing conflicts between the two.

Such an arrangement made Liu Ruoyu, who was standing in the corner, feel a drumbeat in his heart.

No one knows whether the dispute between the Qi royal party and the eunuch party in the court will develop from the court to the local area.

"Currently, I haven't found anyone available for the time being..."

Gu Bingqian hesitated again and again, but chose to reject the emperor's intention, and this move made Liu Ruoyu's heart tense.

Zhu Youxiao was similar, although he didn't show any emotion on the surface, but he still felt a little bit of dissatisfaction from the tone of his speech:

"Well, I get it, you step back..."

"Minister, I will leave..." Gu Bingqian bowed to leave, and Zhu Youxiao watched him leave the Hall of Mental Cultivation and clean the palace the whole time.

It wasn't until he left the palace that Zhu Youxiao showed dissatisfaction on his face.

Liu Ruoyu is also very clear about this, if Gu Bingqian doesn't move, then one of the forces must move...

"Long live, I am willing to recommend some people."

Liu Ruoyu opened his mouth suddenly, which means that he is willing to personally end up serving as a pawn for the emperor to curb the eunuchs.

Zhu Youxiao was very pleased with his voluntary end, but it was difficult for Zhu Youxiao to support him regarding his ability.

Therefore, after a moment of pondering, he answered an irrelevant question:

"Wang An has had enough rest in the South Field, so send a letter asking him to return to the capital and take charge of the West Field."

"Your servant takes orders..." Liu Ruoyu breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, as a eunuch, if he ends up in person, it means that he will participate in the party struggle, and he will be in danger of being decapitated.

He is willing to end for the emperor, but he is also afraid of death.

Liu Ruoyu knew very well that he couldn't beat Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tigan's subordinates by himself.

Now that the emperor restarted Wang An, the meaning of it is worth pondering.

It has been nearly five years since Zhu Youjian arranged Wang An in the south court of the Yumajian, which means that Wang An has a small team in the south court of the Yumajian.

Once he came, he was not alone, but came with a mature small team.

Besides, how many people in the inner court have received Wang An's favor?

If nothing else, just Cao Huachun...

"Transfer Cao Huachun to Nanchang to supervise the affairs."

Before Liu Ruoyu's conjecture was over, Zhu Youxiao made a further order.

Obviously, Zhu Youxiao also knew that if Wang An came back to fight with the eunuchs, then Cao Huachun would definitely end up helping his adoptive father.

But once Cao Huachun is gone, it means that the Qi Royal Party is also gone.

It is impossible for Zhu Youxiao to mobilize the forces of the Qi royal party while mobilizing Wang An.

It happened that after Wang An left the South Field, the South Field needed an eunuch to guard it, and as Cao Huachun, who once established the South Field, it seemed very appropriate to transfer him to the South Field.

Besides, Wang An has a natural advantage.

Donglin foreign aid...

As Zhu Changluo's personal eunuch for more than [-] years, most of the Donglin Party who have always supported Zhu Changluo are familiar with Wang An.

Once Wang An returns to the capital, coupled with the resentment that Donglin was suppressed by the eunuch party, I am afraid that Wang An can unite Donglin to fight against the eunuch party.

"Give a copy of the handwritten letter to my younger brother, and ask someone to send it urgently for eight hundred miles, and at the same time urge Wang An to go north."

After clarifying everything, Zhu Youxiao finally issued all the orders, and seeing that the emperor didn't say anything, Liu Ruoyu also slowly withdrew from the palace, and asked people to send the letter to two places in the world.

However, compared to Taining City, which is more than [-] miles away, there are post stations along the way, and Wang An, who is only more than [-] miles away, first received the imperial edict of transfer.

When his hands received the heavy imperial decree, Wang An secretly stabbed his own flesh with his nails in disbelief.

The trip to the south field in the past five years not only did not make him haggard and old, but made him look energetic and younger.

"Congratulations to the factory owner, congratulations to the factory owner!"

All of a sudden, all the eunuchs and scribes in the Nanchang yamen of the Yumajian came forward to congratulate Wang An, and Wang An slowly woke up amidst the congratulations.

Looking at the imperial decree in his hand, he knew very well that at his age, this time might be the emperor's last use of him.

After this time is over, he will either stay away from the court and go home to be a rich and virtuous eunuch, or he will be an unpleasant eunuch in the inner court.

"Come back, pack up our things, our family will leave for Beijing tomorrow."

Wang An glanced at the eunuchs and scribes around, and secretly began to count heads in his heart.

He has to bring a group of people back to the capital, otherwise he will not be able to control Xichang and compete with Wei Zhongxian.

Moreover, based on his friendship with Dong Lin, after he returns to the capital, he may be able to use it to win over a group of foreign aid from outside the inner court.

Thinking of this, Wang An chuckled after everyone left:
"Li Jinzhong, our family is back..."

　There's one more between four and five o'clock

　　
　
(End of this chapter)