Bright Spring

Chen Xianzhen looked at the front door and couldn't help standing where he was.She stood in the noisy rain for a while before walking towards the distant gate.

On the small bench in the porter's room, sits the person of the Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty, which is said to be called Zuoji.In addition to the military generals under Zhang Fu's command, there should be many civil officials in the courtyard.

"Stop, what are you doing?" the guard said a word.

Chen Xianzhen immediately yelled, emotionally reported his name, and mentioned Queen Mother Chen and others.

The guards didn't allow her to go in, but they immediately asked someone to run in and report.After a while, some generals and civil servants came to the gatehouse, listening to Chen Xianzhen crying there.

At this time, a general came out in a hurry and said, "Miss Chen, please be safe, please go inside and speak slowly."

Chen Xianzhen said: "Are you from Queen Mother Chen and want to harm me?"

The general hurriedly said: "Don't talk nonsense. This is the Annan Governor's Mansion. The person you are asking to meet is Marshal Zhang, Xincheng Hou. Don't worry. If you shout here, you will be laughed at."

Chen Xianzhen followed him in as he said, from a corridor on one side of the courtyard to a large room in the north.A burly man in his thirties was standing in the middle of the room. He was wearing a beam crown and a red robe. He was a senior official, probably Zhang Fu.

Zhang Fu looked at Chen Xianzhen and asked, "Are you Chen Xianzhen, the official envoy to Daming?"

Chen Xianzhen didn't have time to answer, there was a slightly shorter civil servant beside him and said: "It is indeed Chen Xianzhen, I have seen her before."

She followed the prestige, and sure enough, she felt that the civil servant looked familiar, but she couldn't remember the name for a moment.

After hearing this, Zhang Fu asked again, "What's the noise?"

Chen Xianzhen said with grief and indignation: "I just want to write to the Emperor of Ming Dynasty to let him know what happened to me after I returned to Annan Kingdom! Since the Chen family has restored the king of Annan Kingdom, our family is a clan, why is it not recognized by the government?"

Zhang Fu said: "Don't worry, speak slowly. Come here, and serve a cup of hot tea to Mrs. Chen."

She burst into tears when she said this, and she didn't know whether it was tears or rain on her face, "The Qinghua government took away our fields, houses, and all our property, not to mention salary. I only found out about this after finding a Taoist temple to live in seclusion and clean up, and go home to get some belongings, and now I can’t even think about it.”

Zhang Fu said kindly: "To live in seclusion, one must have a family."

He spoke very kindly, but it was obvious that he didn't care about the life and death of Chen Xianzhen's family at all.

Chen Xianzhen went on to say: "I wrote a memorial to go to the capital, and asked my brother to try to send it to the capital to inform the sage about it. Unexpectedly, all the memorials were detained by the Empress Dowager Chen of Shenglong, and the Empress Dowager Chen even sent people to hunt me down secretly. What do I have? Sin? I was really desperate, so I found the Dudu Mansion, and I wanted to ask the officials of Ming Dynasty to help, so that our memorial can be sent to the capital."

"I will understand what's going on." Zhang Fu said, "If you do this, you stay here first, it's safe. I will handle this matter properly."

Zhang Fu couldn't help saying, and immediately ordered: "Come here, find a corridor room for Mrs. Chen to settle down."

...After Chen Xianzhen left the lobby, Hou Hai, a civil servant next to him, said, "Why should such a trivial matter alarm the court? The Marquis of Xincheng has someone to talk to Queen Mother Chen to appease Chen Xianzhen's family and settle the matter."

Zhang Fudao: "At present, the Dudu Mansion has a great influence on the Chen royal family. If we talk about it, it will definitely affect the Queen Mother Chen's governance. We don't bother to take care of their own affairs. We simply send Chen Xianzhen back to his hometown and ask the local Annan officials to look after him. Don't worry about it." Let her come out and make trouble again."

"This is impossible." Hou Hai stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "Then Chen Xianzhen has lived in the palace for a long time, and may be with the Holy One..."

Zhang Fu was slightly surprised and said, "Is there such a thing?"

Hou Haidao: "The Marquis of Xincheng may not know, but the lower officials do."

Zhang Fu asked, "Then why did she go back to An Nanguo?"

Hou Hai replied: "The lower officials don't know the inside story. I'm afraid only the eunuchs in the palace know about it, people like Cao Fu. But it's not surprising. During the Yongle period, I went to conquer the Hu family in Annan Kingdom and got close to them. A few Annan girls were also forgotten in the end."

Zhang Fu nodded.

Hou Hai pondered and said: "The sage is a master, and he ordered to prohibit the collection of Luo beauties and jewelry in Annan Kingdom, but this Chen Xianzhen should not be regarded as the beauty of the collection."

Zhang Fu was noncommittal and stopped talking about it.

As Youshi approached, the rain had stopped and a sunset glow appeared on the horizon.Zhang Fu left the lobby, asked where Chen Xian really was, and walked over there.

I saw Chen Xianzhen writing vigorously at the desk, as if he was writing a memorial.She turned her head and saw Zhang Fu, she got up and bowed respectfully.Zhang Fu saw that she was knowledgeable and polite, and then looked at her appearance, and nodded his head calmly.

Zhang Fu asked in a casual tone: "I heard that Mrs. Chen lived in the capital for a long time. Is the capital not good? Why did you go back to Qinghua?"

Chen Xianzhen immediately said angrily: "It's not that Empress Dowager Chen's slander!"

"Oh?" Zhang Fu said.

Chen Xianzhen said: "There are so many concubines in the Imperial Palace of the Ming Dynasty. The Empress Dowager Chen is not jealous, she insists on making things difficult for me. She blows the pillow wind whenever she has the opportunity..."

Zhang Fu was embarrassed, because according to the official statement, the relationship between the Empress Dowager Chen and Zhu Gaoxu was very innocent, because her son was the legitimate heir of the Chen Dynasty in Annan, and he was protected by the Emperor Ming.

Chen Xianzhen said aggrievedly: "Which point am I worse than her? It's not like she was married before. Maybe it's because the Queen Mother Chen is very flattering. The Holy Majesty was deceived by her and wanted to support her son to become king. The Holy Majesty would not bear me. If Without Empress Dowager Chen's repeated slander, the Holy Majesty would not have sent me back and suffered so much."

Zhang Fu nodded, and it seemed that His Majesty Xin Dao was indeed that kind of person, but it was not because of the beauty of Empress Dowager Chen.

Chen Xianzhen said again: "I said good things for the commander-in-chief in the memorial, so you can help me and send the memorial to Beijing. The Empress Dowager Chen has held grudges to this day, and she really doesn't want to give our family a life."

Zhang Fu didn't agree, and asked again: "Who else is in your family?"

Chen Xianzhen said: "I am the real clan of the Chen Dynasty. If the commander-in-chief doesn't believe it, he can send someone to investigate. My parents have passed away, and I have a brother, nephew and other relatives. We used to live in Thang Long, and then went to Qinghua. It has been in Qinghua until now. But now the houses and mansions have been taken by force."

Zhang Fu nodded: "The Dudu Mansion is completely different from the Annan royal family, and the Dudu Mansion is still subordinate to the royal family in name. Therefore, it is inconvenient to take care of the internal affairs of Annan Kingdom, whether you are allowed to play, etc. But you can Go to the capital in person, and our people will recommend you to the eunuch in the palace, and the eunuch will deal with this matter."

Chen Xianzhen shook his head and said: "There is a eunuch Cao Fu, who has been bought by the Empress Dowager Chen. I don't want to go to the capital, I just want the Ming court to give our family justice."

Zhang Fu persuaded: "Ben will not be able to use the name of the Ming court to put pressure on the Annan royal family without authorization. If you don't go, then I won't be able to help you."

He said again: "After a while, the left guard of the Northern Department of the Shou Yu Division may return to Beijing. You will go to Beijing with their team. If the Hou Zuo envoy has not left, Wang Jinghong's fleet to the West should also return within this year. , and when they pass the sea of ​​An Nanguo, you can go to Beijing by sea."

……

At the beginning of the next month, Hou Hai really set off to return to Beijing to report on his duties.

But at this time, Wang Jinghong's fleet was also on its way back.When they left for the journey, they had already sent the envoys from various countries who had entered Beijing during the Yongle period back to their original places, and appointed Shi Jinqing, a Han Chinese, as the consolation envoy of the old port, leading the Han Chinese and some Sanfoqi people there.

Then the fleet continued to explore the straits near Adan (near the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea), looking for towns and markets along the way to trade, selling silk, porcelain, brocade brocade, brocade brocade, ruby ​​jewelry, various Chinese medicinal materials and other precious Ming Dynasty. In addition, we obtained long-necked unicorns (giraffes), lions, long-horned horses, peacocks, black bears and other rare animals, as well as some rare plants.

Having completed the mission of sending back the envoys of various countries and canonizing Shi Jinqing, Wang Jinghong ordered the fleet to return to the third mission: to collect the king's promised compensation of 6 taels of gold from Java.

Unexpectedly, when they reached the sea north of Java, they found that it was not so easy at all.

On Wang Jinghong's treasure ship, a few dark Javanese people came.

The Javanese were quite polite, and when they got on the deck, they pressed their hands on their chests and bowed to Wang Jinghong; it seemed that before the Deming fleet came here, the Muslims from Persia also came here.

Wang Jinghong also got up and clasped his fists together. He heard them chattering for a while, but couldn't understand them at all.Wang Jinghong and others knew nothing about Javanese writing or speaking. Fortunately, the Sanfoqi people under Shi Jinqing had fought against the Javanese country and knew some Javanese, so they came with the ship as translators.

The envoy in front of him seemed to have an interpreter, but he didn't say anything.The Sanfoqi people are not very proficient in Javanese and Chinese, so they can only simply translate the general meaning: "They come to negotiate."

Wang Jinghong said: "Didn't we negotiate a few years ago?"

The Sanfo Qi interpreter made gestures with the Javanese, and the interpreter said, "Can they only give [-] yuan?"

Wang Jinghong frowned and said, "Your subordinates want to be corrupt?"