Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 589
"Not to lose to Liaodong?"

On the sixth day of October, when Huang Fei's letter was sent to Shenyang and was seen by the fat Huang Long, Huang Long subconsciously stroked his beard.

Standing next to him, Li Dan, who is currently the co-prefect of the Navy Governor's Mansion, has also read the contents of the letter, so he can't help but say:
"What Little Governor Huang said should be true, but he also said in his letter that Qi is currently sparsely populated, so it is naturally not as prosperous as Liaodong."

Li Dan has traveled far and wide, knowing that population is the factor that determines the prosperity of a place.

Qi State seems to be prosperous, but the population is currently underpopulated. For them, there is actually no place for recreation.

Not to mention anything else, such as the current Shenyang city, after several immigration waves, Shenyang's current population is no less than 30.

There are all kinds of theaters, restaurants, and brothels in Shenyang City. In contrast, Xijing City in Qi State, although it covers a vast area and a large scale, has only 8 to [-] people, most of whom are farmers, and it is not very prosperous.

Therefore, after Li Dan said that Qi State is not prosperous at present, he went on to add:

"Captain, in the opinion of the officials below, Qi will surely prosper in the future, but right now it is definitely not as good as Shenyang, or even Lushun in the south."

"If you want to go, at least you have to wait for 20 people to live in Xijing City before going."

"By then, Qi should be comparable to Liaodong."

Qi State has a lot of arable land, and bison and passenger pigeons are flooded, so it is certainly not possible to compare Liaodong and Qi State on paper.

As long as Qi has a population of one million, life can be as close as that of Liaodong.

This is already an extremely high evaluation. After all, Liaodong currently pays much more land, grain and commercial taxes than the four northwestern provinces.

Even looking at Ming Dynasty, Liaodong can still rank among the top ten.

But as long as Qi State has a population of one million, then Qi State can surpass Liaodong, because Qi State is too rich in resources.

Li Dan's speculation was correct, and Huang Long was convinced by him, but he still hesitated and said:
"I've been in Daming for so many years, if I continue to do so, I'm afraid His Highness will be unhappy."

"Hehe..." Li Dan said with a smile: "Master Hou is, so why not Your Highness?"

After all, Li Dan did not stop, but persuaded:

"Master Hou, you only need to express your concerns, and then promise to go to Qi State immediately after immigrating millions of people from Qi State, and never stay. Then His Highness will definitely not urge you."

Li Dan's persuasion made Huang Long hesitate, after a moment of consideration, he still nodded and said:
"I will report to His Highness now, and I hope His Highness can forgive me."

After Huang Long finished speaking, he turned around and went back to his study to write a memorial, and handed the memorial to Li Dan a quarter of an hour later.

After Li Dan received it, he also took Huanglong's memorial and sent it to the capital.

By the time this manuscript arrived in the capital, it was already October [-]th, and Zhu Youjian had already received Huang Fei and was currently receiving Xu Xiake.

"Screw rustle..."

The early winter wind was a little bright, and the trees in the garden of Prince Qi's Mansion kept shaking their leaves.

The bleak atmosphere spread in the garden, and Zhu Youjian, who was sitting in the water pavilion, also put away Huanglong's memorial, and said to Wang Chengen next to him:
"Let him go, and tell him not to worry too much by the way, I am very relieved for him."

"Your servant takes orders..." Seeing Zhu Youjian's response to Huang Long, Wang Chengen bowed respectfully and nodded.

After finishing this, Zhu Youjian looked back at Xu Xiake who was drinking tea in front of him.

"Officials who went to the West this time, you and Huang Fei won the favor of Long Live and the Supervisor of the State, and won the first rank, the first rank of Dr. Rong Lu."

"The other officials who accompanied me this time also awarded different ranks from the fifth rank to the eighth rank."

"Before you set off, you told me that you wanted to go to Nanzhou and Antarctica. Do you still have this idea now?"

Before setting off for the third voyage, Xu Xiake talked with Zhu Youjian. As long as the third voyage is over, he has almost gone to the sea.

Except for Nanzhou and Antarctica, there is only land left, so Zhu Youjian wanted to ask if his mentality had changed.

"Setting out to sea and using the imperial court's money and food to visit Nanzhou and Antarctica would be a waste of time and money."

Xu Xiake put down his teacup, and while showing a smile, he folded his hands together and said:
"I heard that Guochao has recovered the Western Regions, and I want to visit the Western Regions, and then go to the Southwest."

"The route this time is only for the lower official to go, so the lower official may not be able to contribute to the court, so I would like to ask His Highness to step down as a lower official."

Xu Xiake is the servant of the Ministry of Rites. In his opinion, going to the west has completed all his conjectures and ideas about the sea.

Right now he wants to go inland to see the rivers and mountains of Daming, but such a move obviously cannot be done with the official position of Minister of Rites, it is impossible for him to be an official and not do things, and take his salary to death.

Of course, he also saw that Zhu Youjian had actually made a plan, otherwise he would not have granted himself the first rank of Doctor Ronglu.

An official position is different from a loose rank. Without the official position, the salary will be gone, but the loose rank is as long as a person does not make mistakes, he will have it for a lifetime.

From the first-rank doctor Ronglu, the salary is 400 taels of silver. This amount of silver is something that ordinary people in the south of the Yangtze River cannot get for a lifetime of work, but Xu Xiake has it every year until his death.

This also means that if he no longer has an official position, he can live his life richly with just this casual salary.

"Since you've made up your mind, I won't stop you."

Zhu Youjian picked up the teacup and took a sip, with a smile on his face:
"Your travel notes, I will keep following them. The two-year salary of 400 is enough for you to stay on the train for a year."

"But..." Zhu Youjian paused, then smiled again:
"At present, the trains have not been completed in the Western Regions. It will take a lot of time for you to walk there, and the rule of the imperial court is not so stable in the Western Regions."

"I suggest you go to the Southwest for the time being, and then go to the Western Regions in a few years."

"In addition, the official position of Minister of Rites is really not suitable for you. If you don't dislike it, you can take the official position of inspector censor in the Metropolitan Procuratorate."

The minister of the Ministry of Rites is the third rank, and the inspector of the Metropolitan Procuratorate is the seventh rank. The gap in salary is several times.

However, for Xu Xiake who wants to travel all over the country, the seventh-rank official position can also bring him an annual salary of 200 taels of silver. He is not a hypocrite. Since Zhu Youjian has given him benefits, he will accept it .

What's more, as an inspector censor, he can also clean up a group of corrupt officials for Daming while searching for mountains and rivers, which is very in line with his thoughts and mood.

"Thank you, Your Highness..." After Xu Xiake was silent for a moment, he bowed and accepted Zhu Youjian's wishes.

Afterwards, Zhu Youjian also chatted with him about all kinds of interesting things about the journey westward.

Regarding Zhu Youjian's inquiry, Xu Xiake knew everything and talked endlessly. The two chatted very happily, and they reluctantly left until the evening.

Zhu Youjian sent Xu Xiake to the gate of the palace, and watched him get into the carriage with his own eyes. Even though the carriage had gone away, he stood at the gate with no intention of leaving.

It wasn't until the carriage disappeared from his sight that the smile on Zhu Youjian's face slowly faded away, leaving only melancholy.

He knew that it would be very difficult to see him again, Xu Xiake, in this lifetime.

This kind of experience made him think of Yang Lian who was far away in Dali.

Yang Lian is not suitable to be an official, and he must die if he is an official. Therefore, even if Zhu Youjian was in power, he did not choose to reuse him.

He knew that Yang Lian would not go to Qi State with him, because he was a courtier of the Ming Dynasty, not a courtier of Qi State.

"Yang Lian...how is your life?"

Zhu Youjian looked at the empty Hundred Princes Mansion Qi Wangdao, and asked the people behind him without looking back.

Wang Chengen behind him heard the words, bowed his body as if saluting, and replied:
"The eldest son went to Beijing to become a Beijing official, and the family moved to Dali. The sons ran flower shops and flower fields, and grew some food from time to time."

"As for him, he is serving as the head of the official academy in Taihe County, Dali Prefecture, and he is accompanied by a male as a teacher."

"Compared with the officials in Beijing, his life is worse, but he is contented and enjoys it."

Wang Chengen's answer was simple and straightforward, which made Zhu Youjian nod his head slightly after listening: "As long as he lives well, I don't know if I can see him before I go to Qi."

"If your Highness wants to go, you can go now. Hasn't the Jinglong Railway opened to Dali now?" Wang Chengen asked puzzled.

"It's possible to go...but it's not the time yet." Zhu Youjian looked up at the dim sky, and at this time the evening drum in the capital also made a sound.

Morning bells and evening drums, the day is almost over.

Zhu Youjian didn't say a word, turned around and left after hearing the drumbeat, leaving only Wang Chengen staring at his back in a daze, it took a while to react, and quickly chased after him.

"Your Highness, tomorrow is the day when Mr. Bi Ge returns to his hometown, you..."

After Wang Chengen caught up, he talked about the business, but facing Bi Ziyan who had devoted himself to Daming, Zhu Youjian frowned slightly: "Let him go."

What he said made Wang Chengen stunned for a moment, obviously he couldn't imagine why his highness, who was usually sympathetic to his subjects, would be so ruthless at this moment.

"But..." Wang Chengen wanted to say something more, but Zhu Youjian quickened his pace.

This made Wang Chengen realize that Zhu Youjian didn't want to discuss this matter anymore, so he quickly shut up.

It's just that his mind is still very confused. He doesn't know why the two people who had been talking happily before suddenly seemed to part ways.

He didn't dare to ask more questions, so he could only follow Zhu Youjian back to the Palace of Cunxin.

It's just something he didn't dare to ask, but someone has already handed the answer to the victim...

"So you're saying... that thing was done by Bi Ziyan..."

In the Hall of Mental Cultivation in Nanjing, when Zhu Youxiao held a blank sheet of paper with a thick document beside him, and looked at Cui Yingyuan with a gloomy expression, Cui Yingyuan, the governor of Nanzhen, could only lower his head and dare not Look up at him.

Against the pressure, he gritted his teeth and said:

"After His Royal Highness King Qi sent Commander Lu to investigate the case last year, there were actually some clues in August, but Commander Lu was afraid of making mistakes, so he continued to investigate."

"It wasn't until the nineteenth of last month that Commander Lu managed to break through Zhang Yonggu, who used to be the defender of Dushibao in Kaiping Prefecture."

"It is true that Bi Ziyan did the northern captives' invasion of Yanshan Mountain!"

"Not only that, Zhu Xieyuan is also involved."

"..." Zhu Youxiao squeezed the white paper in his hand into a ball, and he remembered the most dangerous and embarrassing time in his life.

He has thought about many people, Shi Fenglai, Yuan Keli, Cheng De, Li Demao, Zhang Maocai...

He had thought about all these people, but the only ones he hadn't thought about were Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan.

Zhu Xieyuan and Bi Ziyan are honest and upright. Although Zhu Xieyuan was born in the Zhejiang Party, he has never practiced favoritism, while Bi Ziyan is a loner and has nothing to do with any faction.

These two are the pillars of Ming Dynasty, why did they want to harm themselves? !

Zhu Youxiao's facial features were a little distorted. If Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan were in front of him, he might draw his sword and stab them to death.

It's just that now, he still doesn't believe that these two veteran ministers who seem to be royalists will do anything to him.

"What's the reason..." Zhu Youxiao asked with suppressed anger, but when he asked a question, he knew the answer himself.

"King Qi..."

Cui Yingyuan prostrated his head on the ground, and Jishou replied:

"Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan were both single-handedly promoted by the King of Qi. From the investigation of the invasion, it can be seen that they may be hoping..."

"Enough!" Zhu Youxiao couldn't help shouting.

At this moment, whether it was Cui Yingyuan who was answering the question, or Wang Tiqian, Wei Zhongxian, and Liu Ruoyu who were standing at the gate of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, they were too frightened to speak.

Also in this situation, only Wang An remained calm.

His indifference seemed mocking in Zhu Youxiao's eyes: "Wang An, don't you have anything to say about this matter?"

"Slaves are speechless..." Wang An's reply made Wei Zhongxian and others kneel down quickly, expressing that they had nothing to do with Wang An.

As a result, only Zhu Youxiao and Wang An were left standing in the dark Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"So you also think I deserve to die..."

Zhu Youxiao squinted his eyes and asked, Wei Zhongxian wanted to bury his head in his arms when he saw this scene.

He had seen Zhu Youxiao's expression before. It was the expression he had when he wanted to kill all the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River.

"Long live, I killed the old thief Wang An..."

For a moment, Wei Zhongxian didn't know whether he should be happy or afraid.

"The maidservant never said..." Wang An has no heirs, and his only godson is Cao Huachun from the Qi Palace.

For him in his 70s, he is no longer afraid of death.

"Are you blaming me for not favoring you back then?" Zhu Youxiao was thinking why Wang An was dissatisfied with him, and even thought of the fact that Wei Zhongxian and Ke Shi framed Wang An back then, but he always put things in a perfunctory way.

"Long live, do slaves care about this?"

Wang An's voice was weak, as if the end was approaching.

Facing his questioning and appearance, Zhu Youxiao calmed down instead, and slowly sat back in his seat, regaining a bit of indifference and calmness.

He didn't choose to answer Wang An, but looked down at Cui Yingyuan.

It's just that he didn't speak, because he already roughly guessed what Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan were thinking.

If Cui Yingyuan speaks out their thoughts, his majesty as an emperor will be discredited.

Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan, the two pillars of the country were promoted by their younger brothers with their own hands. Apart from this, the three of them have no other interests.

It is also because of this that the officials in the temple feel that these two people are biased towards themselves.

Regarding Lin Danhan's entry into the bandits, if Zhu Youxiao hadn't run fast enough and returned to Dading Palace in advance, he might have been taken away by Lin Danhan long ago.

Lin Danhan would not kill him, Zhu Youxiao understood, but judging from his younger brother's attitude towards him, if Lin Danhan made some requests, he would probably agree.

But if he wanted to agree to these requests, and he was not a prisoner at that time, then he had only two choices.

One supported his heir to ascend the throne, but Zhu Ciran, who was a little older at that time, was still by his side. Zhu Cixuan and Zhu Cijiong were only seven or eight years old, and they were not born as queens, so it was difficult to convince the public.

The second is that Zhu Youjian ascended the throne and redeemed his father and son as the emperor.

If he was really plundered, I am afraid that the morale boosted by the extermination of the captives would be sluggish, and it would be difficult for the Ming army to launch the Northern Expedition with the severely damaged Ming army and the bottomed out supplies. Therefore, there are only these two options for officials to choose.

In the 12th year of Tianqi, the Yanshan School was in full swing, Sun Chuanting had just been dismissed, and Hong Chengchou was a man who followed the wind.

If Yanshan sent officials to threaten, his younger brother could only ascend the throne, but he ascended the throne to protect Zhu Cixuan and Zhu Cijiong.

The emperor and the prince were taken away. If Zhu Youjian did not ascend the throne, what would happen to Zhu Cixuan and Zhu Cijiong?
Can Zhu Youjian stop the generals of the Five Armies and the officials of the Yanshan faction?
Zhu Youxiao understood everything after a little thought, and the anger that had been suppressed gradually rose.

He couldn't figure it out, Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan were already extremely human ministers, what good would it do for them to harm themselves...

"Harmful?"

Zhu Youxiao seemed to understand that it should be said that Bi Ziyan was betting that the tiger and the rabbit would not kill him, but would release him, or that his younger brother would lead troops to rescue him.

With his younger brother's character, even if he couldn't abdicate, he would take good care of himself and prevent others from attacking him.

"So you think you can't harm me, so you dare to do this?"

"For what? For an illusory sage?"

Zhu Youxiao muttered to himself in his heart, and at the same time, there was a self-deprecating smile on his face.

At this moment, he regretted instead. If Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan succeeded, he might not be so entangled now...

His anger completely dissipated, and he looked at Wang An in the corner: "Why do you think I can't become a holy king?"

"..." Wang An was silent. He was not afraid that Zhu Youxiao would go crazy and kill him, but he was afraid that Zhu Youxiao would ask him why.

Being killed is just a temporary pain, but if you tell the matter, it will alienate the relationship between the two brothers.

It's just that in the current situation, it's not up to Wang An to say it or not. He can only put his hands together in a bow, bow his crooked back, and slowly open his mouth and say:

"In the fourth year of the apocalypse, when His Royal Highness King Qi was busy fighting and governing the country, my servant asked what Long Live was doing..."

"..." Zhu Youxiao was silent when he heard the words, but Wei Zhongxian suddenly jumped up and pointed at Wang An's nose and cursed:

"Wang An! You, a filthy person, dare to question Long Live!"

"As soon as you steal and play tricks, those who take shit and urinate for the old man dare to roar at the palace, why don't I dare?!" Wang An still has three points of respect for Zhu Youxiao, but for Wei Zhongxian, Wang An is only angry agree.

"Okay..." Zhu Youxiao's words stopped the farce.

Wang An and Wei Zhongxian bowed to admit their mistake, and Cui Yingyuan also looked up at the emperor at this time.

I saw that Zhu Youxiao's face was much calmer, and he no longer had the anger when he first knew about Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan's plot.

Wang An's sentence "Apocalypse four years" photographed the last trace of Zhu Youxiao's face on the ground.

In the fourth year of the Apocalypse, when Zhu Youjian was fighting on the battlefield and governing the country, what Zhu Youxiao wanted was to build the three halls and improve the face of the court.

In three years, the three halls were repaired, but it also chilled the hearts of many officials.

When the imperial court was spending money, the emperor used the money to repair the three halls.

Although Zhu Youjian didn't complain about his brother, Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan saw these things.

Bi Ziyan was carefully calculating the sum of money, but Zhu Youxiao spent the internal money on the three halls, how could he not feel chilled?
Besides, when Zhu Youjian was about to offer prisoners at Daming Gate despite his sick body, what was Zhu Youxiao doing?

If Jin Xuan hadn't scolded Zhu Youxiao in spite of his life, I'm afraid Zhu Youxiao would still do something that chilled many veteran officials.

Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan never wanted to kill Zhu Youxiao, after all, in their view, the situation at that time was already very dangerous.

They didn't dare to bet that after Zhu Youjian wiped out the captives, whether the arrogant soldiers of the Five Armies Governor's Mansion would add a yellow robe to Zhu Youjian, and then prevent the two brothers from coming to power, and finally turned into a civil war in Ming Dynasty.

In their opinion at the time, if Zhu Youxiao was taken away, with Daming's national strength, it would not be difficult to redeem him or save him.

After redeeming him, he played with his wood and became his overlord, while Zhu Youjian sat on that chair as a holy king.

In this way, the arrogant soldiers and powerful generals in the Dudu Mansion of the Five Armies will be safe, and the officials of the Yanshan faction will not criticize them. It is not bad for the Ming Dynasty to stop the internal fighting immediately and unanimously external.

Zhu Xieyuan provided the ten thousand enemies of the northern captives, Bi Ziyan betrayed the information, and Bi Ziyan also did the Yanshan officials' wooing.

His salary, his silver, were all used by him in the army...

It's a pity that they can influence too few people, Zhu Youxiao runs too fast, and Subudi doesn't support Lin Danhan enough.

As long as one of these three problems is reduced, Zhu Youxiao will flee south and be kidnapped by Beishou.

Logically speaking, Zhu Youxiao should hate Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan, but he...

Zhu Youxiao looked down at Cui Yingyuan with calm eyes: "What did my brother say to Lu Wenzhao..."

"Destroy the documents, no further investigation!" Cui Yingyuan responded with his head down, showing Zhu Youjian's attitude.

"Long live, slaves and servants are bold enough to go to the shuffle, please long live the nine clans of Zhu Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan!"

The most loyal Liu Ruoyu climbed forward and bowed to Colonel Zhu You.

Zhu Youxiao glanced at everyone, except for Wang An's attitude, Wei Zhongxian, Wang Tiqian and Cui Yingyuan were all silent.

Obviously, after they learned that King Qi no longer pursued this matter, none of them dared to stand up and say something that went against King Qi's ideas.

Liu Ruoyu dared to say that it was because he was loyal to Zhu Youxiao and felt that not killing these two would not be enough to establish his prestige.

But, is he really going to kill Bi Ziyan and Zhu Xieyuan...

(End of this chapter)