Bright Spring

Hu Wei, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, said again: "Your Majesty, there were originally two kings in the Java Kingdom (Manapaxie Kingdom). After their internal strife, the Western King won. But the Eastern King did not die, and fled to the old port of Samfoqi (in today's Malaysia). ). Because of the discovery of gold mines in Sanfoqi Old Port, it was already occupied by the Han people. During the Yongle period, Shi Jinqing, a hero, was appointed as the comfort envoy of Old Port. Shi Jinqing received a large sum of money and protected the Eastern King.

When the King of the West wrote the letter of compensation, there was also a memorial, hoping that the court would order Shi Jinqing to return it to the King of the East.I don't know how to answer this matter? "

Zhu Gaoxu said: "Since the king of the west has won, the court will recognize him as the king. But the king of the east can't give it back. If Maerba Xie is rude, we will use the name of the king of the east to punish him... Cough, of course the most important thing is morality." , Shi Jinqing first made an appointment with the Eastern King, and asking Shi Jinqing to break his promise, wouldn't it be difficult for others? You must use the principle of faith to persuade King Manobaxie."

Hu Mei bowed and said: "The minister receives the decree."

Zhu Gaoxu looked around and said, "That's it for today."

Zhu Wenwu saluted and thanked each other, and withdrew from Dongnuang Pavilion one after another.

After all the ministers left, Miao Jin looked at Zhu Gaoxu with an incredulous look, and said softly: "Do you have to write down the words and deeds of the Holy Majesty for the prince to read? The concubine is worried. In the eyes of future generations, the Holy Majesty will not He is a noble and noble sage!"

Zhu Gaoxu smiled and said: "Write it all down! So that future generations will not be fooled by some civil officials, living in the deep palace, thinking that the world is in harmony. People are born to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. Most people are seeking benefits for themselves intentionally or unintentionally. Whatever position you stand on, you will find the reason. The future emperor must understand this, otherwise he will be easily deceived into a nerd; those ministers have read sage books, but they are not nerds, they have been struggling for many years."

Miao Jin sighed: "Your Majesty really believes in Xunzi's theory."

"I don't believe everyone..." He thought for a while, then got up and left the chair, and went straight out.Miao Jin also followed, but Zhu Gaoxu didn't say anything.

Zhu Gaoxu and Miao Jin went to Rouyi Hall in the same car, and ordered the eunuch to summon Chen Shi.Dongnuan Pavilion belongs to the harem, so Zhu Gaoxu felt it was more appropriate to meet Mrs. Chen in Rouyi Hall.

Soon Zhu Gaoxu realized that it was a mistake to bring Miaojin to Rouyi Hall.

Mrs. Chen came to salute Zhu Gaoxu and Miao Jin, immediately recognized Miao Jin, and knew that she was a noble concubine.Mrs. Chen lived in Yunnan Hanwang Mansion for a long time, so she probably met Miaojin.

The two women looked at each other from time to time, with very delicate eyes.And although Chen is covering up, she can't hide the look in Zhu Gaoxu's eyes, she is a little dodge, a little distracted, a little resentful, a little shame|shame, it's hard to describe.

Miao Jin and Chen Shi didn't say a word, but just their eyes revealed a lot of subtle emotions and relationships.The two of them didn't tell the truth, they just looked at each other occasionally, as if they were trying to figure out what the other was thinking.

At this point, Zhu Gaoxu had no choice but to bite the bullet and talk about him: "Chen Jikuo, Li Li and other rebel leaders are all careerists. Going against Daming will only ruin the life of An Nanguo. Why are there so many people following him? There is also Chen Xianzhen who lives here, isn’t she the clan of the Chen family; when the Hu family was in chaos, but the Ming army helped the Chen family, why didn’t she know how to show her gratitude?”

Chen said: "During the Yongle period, the Ming army conquered Annan Kingdom, and the army, Chinese and military, declared everywhere that the army was only to help the Chen family restore the country. But later, the imperial court set up the Jiaozhi Chief Envoy to annex Annan Kingdom. .”

When Zhu Gaoxu heard this, he felt that his previous judgment was probably correct: after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Annan people have gradually gained a sense of independence.

He asked: "People in Annan no longer agree with the Ming court?"

Chen tilted her head slightly, as if she was pondering her words, and after a while she said: "Return to the Holy Majesty to ask, this matter cannot be answered in one word. I think that those rich and powerful people in An Nanguo are right (Daming) The imperial court is both wary and admirable.

They don't want to be controlled by the imperial court, otherwise they will be in danger of losing their family's power and wealth, and even their lives will be lost.Therefore, the method that has always won the hearts of the people in the country is to reject the imperial court in the north and attack the barbarians in the south. During the "Battle of Conquering Annan", Champa sent troops to assist the Ming army because it was attacked by Annan Kingdom all the year round and held a grudge. "

Chen showed a self-deprecating smile, "In the past, the monarchs and ministers of the Annan Kingdom called themselves 'Chinese' and called the Han people 'Huaxia'. They learned all the benevolent, righteous and kingly rhetoric of the Ming Dynasty. As long as there are things from the Han people, An Nanguo will flock to them. They all followed suit; Chenla, Zhancheng, and various tribes were called barbarians, and the Annan army attacked them in the name of the king's division."

Zhu Gaoxu thought to himself: It turns out that everyone acts in the same way, and they have a sense of superiority.

But he asked with some puzzlement: "What does the queen mean, the Annan people don't think they are the vassal state of Ming Dynasty, but they proclaim themselves the justice of the world?"

Chen Shi said: "Your Majesty should know that King Annan proclaimed himself a vassal to Ming Dynasty, but he proclaimed himself emperor in China."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said: "Chen Jikuo has also proclaimed himself emperor, and even took the country name 'Dayue'."

He pondered for a long time, thinking in his heart, the place where he learned Chinese civilization was not only Annan, but also the emperor in Japan.

Such a situation may increase the cultural influence of Ming Dynasty, but it should not allow more places to have a sense of identity with Ming Dynasty; except in the name of diplomatic relations, in fact Japan and Annan do not consider themselves to be under the jurisdiction of Ming Dynasty.

Only North Korea and Ryukyu are exceptions.The king of Joseon did not proclaim himself emperor, and the king's ritual system followed the standards of the prince of Ming Dynasty; the three kings of Ryukyu (Shanbei, Zhongshan, and Shannan) did not proclaim themselves emperor, and they considered themselves vassals of Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Gaoxu said to the Chen family: "The queen must teach Chen Zhengyuan that joining the vassal state of the Ming Dynasty is not a bad thing. Not only can it share the majesty of the Ming Dynasty with the outside world, but also the intervention of the Ming Dynasty can protect the royal family of the Chen family from being threatened by strong officials."

Chen said softly: "The concubine's family is counting on the Holy One to restore the country, and I will be grateful and repay it, and I will never forget it."

Chapter 7 Thirteen

The palace has chosen a good day and festival, and two concubines will be canonized at the beginning of March in the first year of Wude. Among them, Li Xianhui, the clan of the Joseon Dynasty, will be Zhuang Concubine, and Shen Shi (Bao Yan) will be Zhuang Concubine.

North Korea's envoy Kang Shunchen originally thought that after seeing Li Xianhui's canonization with his own eyes, he would be able to return to his country and resume his mission.However, they were not informed when they would attend the "Horse Mounting Banquet"; Kang Shunchen and Pu Jingwu had recently met the Emperor of Ming Dynasty in Rouyi Hall, and they did not mention when they would leave.

It seems that the trip will have to be delayed for a while.

As expected, Kang Shunchen soon found out something else.

The officials of the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty were negotiating with the Japanese envoys, and they wanted to send the Ming Dynasty envoys to Japan for the canonization of the king. The number was finally determined to be 30; In order to ensure the safety of the regiment, we want to send a navy fleet to escort it.The Japanese envoy suggested that it is not easy to send troops close to Japan to avoid misunderstandings; because during the Hongwu period, the Ming court threatened to use force against Japan.

Park Jingwu returned to the "Huitong Hall" outside the right door of Chang'an, still looking very depressed.

Kang Shunchen persuaded him in Korean: "It is a good thing for the Pu family that the emperor canonize the virtuous Mrs. Hui as his concubine."

Unexpectedly, Pu Jingwu showed a very shameful forced smile.

Seeing this, Kang Shunchen said, "Why does a man have no wife? Maharaja Huai'an (Li Fangqian, the king's fourth brother) is married to the Ming royal family. In order to make friends with the court, the king will definitely take the initiative to improve the relationship with Maharaja Huai'an. With the family friendship between the Pu family and Maharaja Huai'an, General Pu will also receive the courteous attention from the king; what's more, General Pu's younger sister has also entered the palace. The general has power and wealth, so you can choose beauties?"

Pu Jingwu seemed to be dissatisfied with the emperor, so he retorted: "Could it be that the king is not worried that Maharaja Huai'an will take advantage of the power of the Ming court to become powerful, and instead suppress the family close to Maharaja Huai'an?"

Kang Shunchen said in astonishment: "When North Korea was established, it had already given up the national policy of expanding its borders to the north, and turned to show its goodwill to Da Ming. Establish friendship. Why did the Ming court have trouble with our army?"

Pu Jingwu was speechless, his knowledge of these major events was limited, and what he said just now was probably just because of personal grievances.

However, Kang Shunchen was a civil servant and was in charge of diplomatic affairs in the middle school all the year round. When he said this, he suddenly fell into deep thought.

Maybe Pu Jingwu's unintentional words really have some truth.Will the Ming court use Maharaja Huai'an as a pawn in order to further threaten and dominate North Korea's military and political affairs?

When Kang Shunchen first entered the Ming Dynasty, the emperor was conquering Mongolia in the north, which created an illusion for him, as if the main direction of the Ming Dynasty was to deal with Mongolia.But Kang Shunchen came to his senses and thought that the Mongolian tribes at this time were no longer the Great Yuan, or the border troubles of the Ming Dynasty, but it was difficult to threaten the Ming Dynasty court.

On the contrary, the repair of seagoing ships in Longjiang Port, and some things that Kang Shunchen heard recently, made him feel that the Ming Dynasty seemed to attach great importance to sailing to sea, and was preparing to expand its power to North Korea, Japan, Annan, and the West.

The new emperor of Ming Dynasty is a young, strong and ambitious emperor, and their father and son have seized power by force. It seems reasonable to want to make contributions to improve their prestige and stabilize the throne.

Kang Shunchen was going to report some of his new insights to the monarch after returning home.

... On the southeast bank of Xuanwu Lake, in the past two days, many young men in common clothes have come.They should be members of the Jin Yiwei and the North Department of the Guarding Department, who are conducting secret investigations and surveillance around the Shen family's mansion.

Shen Xu has received news from the eunuch that the emperor is coming to the Shen family's mansion.But she doesn't know the exact time.When she got up in the morning, she dressed up meticulously and applied rouge on her face, which she would not do when she was not going out.

Shen Xu persuaded Baoyan to come and meet the emperor when the emperor came.But Baoyan seemed to be conflicted and immediately refused.

Baoyan really listened to some people's slander, that's why it happened.This also made Shen Xu more aware of the family's internal problems: it was nothing more than that after the industry and business in Yunnan were left to the Shen family, the Xu family was dissatisfied and wanted the Xu family's children to marry Baoyan in order to obtain the inheritance and control of the wealth.

But once Baoyan enters the palace, those risks will be resolved.Neither the Xu family clan nor Bao Yan could disobey the emperor's imperial edict, otherwise the consequences would be very serious and everything would be unstoppable.

There was light rain in the sky, and the sky was gray.There are bells and drums on the tower of Taipingmen to tell the time. Just after noon, the emperor's carriage arrived.Shen Xu invited "Wang Shi" (Ma Enhui) to welcome Zhu Gaoxu to the mansion.

That Wang family must be Zhu Gaoxu's best friend, Shen Xu almost confirmed this from the look in Wang's eyes this time.

Zhu Gaoxu had already got off the carriage, and the three of them walked up a corridor, followed by some men in black clothes, eunuchs, and servants of the Shen family.In order to make the atmosphere more relaxed, Shen Xu smiled and talked about some irrelevant topics while walking.

"My concubine opened the 'Pear Garden' at Jubao Gate, and the shopkeeper is still Xu Cailiu."

The relationship between the three of them was a bit strange. Zhu Gaoxu was relatively silent just now, but now he looked interested and said, "Beside the Qinhuai River?"