Spoiling History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

At the Qinhuai River ferry, the two princes exchanged a few words and sympathized with each other.

However, they could only vent their complaints quietly here. In the end, the two were most curious about the reason for the summons.

After all, both of them had already been enfeoffed. Logically, they would not be summoned lightly if there was no important matter.

And has there been any major events this year? Of course there have been. The whole court was trembling with fear over Hu Weiyong's incident, but to be honest, this matter had nothing to do with the two brothers.

In addition, there were foreign affairs. Although the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty in the north had made some unusual movements, Wanzhebuhua had already been captured, and if you count the time when the two brothers received the summons, the Northern Yuan Dynasty had not moved at that time.

And Yunnan was similar. Although the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty there held on, they had not made any major movements for a long time.

In the end, Zhu Chong, who had experienced military service, put the matter aside for the time being:

"What's the matter? Won't you know it naturally when you see your elder brother?"

Zhu Yu also agreed with this. After all, when the two brothers were scolded by their father, it was all thanks to their elder brother's mediation that they did not receive a more severe punishment from their father.

Outsiders may not know, but as the flesh and blood brothers of the crown prince, the two brothers know very well how much their father values ​​their elder brother.

However, Zhu Yu did not forget to warn:

"Now that you have entered Yingtian Prefecture, you still need to be careful in your actions, after all..."

"I know it."

Zhu Chong nodded to show that he understood.

He has now begun to experience some of the happiness in the fiefdom, so it is not difficult for him to be patient when he is by his father's side and learn to be a good son from his elder brother. Anyway, when he returns to the fiefdom, he will have time to enjoy himself.

The plan is very clear, but what Zhu Chong and Zhu Yu did not expect is that after only two years away from Beijing, Yingtian Prefecture has become very unfamiliar.

Since entering the palace, the Yiluansi, which was once the most common, disappeared, and was replaced by an organization called Jinyiwei. The status of the two brothers as vassal kings seemed to have no effect in front of Jinyiwei.

Now it is the end of the year, which is the busiest time for the emperor. The Ming emperor, who is busy offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors, does not have much time to talk with the two vassal kings. The crown prince who is brought by the emperor is also busy.

In addition, the fourth brother Zhu Di and the sixth brother Zhu Zhen are busy with schoolwork. In their spare time, the two brothers always get together to talk about maritime affairs and Western countries, which makes Zhu Chong and Zhu Yu very unfamiliar and there is not much to say.

The fifth brother Zhu Su is even busier. Zhu Chong and Zhu Yu have not seen this brother several times from beginning to end. They just heard from their mother that the fifth brother is now busy studying classics.

After all, the only person who can easily be found to accompany the two brothers is their mother, Empress Ma.

It's just that every time they sit and talk with their mother for a while, they can see their mother smiling at them. The two brothers are very familiar with that smile. When they were young, their mother hid something delicious for them to guess. They had the same expression.

Could it be that there are some changes in Yingtian Prefecture that have not been discovered?

My father's good brothers, General Xu Da and Li Shanchang, the Grand Censor, should know something, but now they have the status of vassal kings in addition to the princes, and there are many inconveniences in visiting them, so they can only put it aside for the time being and wait quietly after the New Year to see what medicine my father is selling.

For Zhu Yuanzhang, the sacrifices to heaven and ancestors during this period are very exciting.

Zhu Biao, who always accompanies him and is right beside Zhu Yuanzhang, can see clearly that every time his father recites the sacrificial text, when he mentions words such as "Fengtian", "Yingtian" and "Chengyun", the eyebrows on his face almost rise to the bottom of the crown and disappear.

He knows the reason. In the records of later generations, the Ming Dynasty may have many shortcomings, or the country may not last long.

But there is no doubt that in destroying the Yuan Dynasty and restoring China, Daddy did a very good job.

Zhu Biao even suspected that if there were no ceremonial officials accompanying him during the sacrifice to the heaven and ancestors, the excited old father would probably sit down and chatter with the ancestors about what the Hongwu Emperor was and what the light curtain favored.

However, after the sacrifice to the heaven and ancestors ended successfully, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao almost breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. For them, everything about the New Year could be said to be half settled.

The next big court meeting on the first day of the first lunar month also went quite smoothly. After all, for all officials, this was an unprecedented rest time of more than half a month since the Kaiming period. Going through the procedures, speaking congratulatory speeches, and getting along with His Majesty, and then adjourning early to go home and continue to enjoy the holiday, that was the best thing.

In comparison, the officials who needed to stay during the New Year were a little sad - although His Majesty said that they could make up for the rest after February, but could the rest then be the same as now?

After the grand court meeting, it was time to entertain envoys from various countries. For the etiquette officers, this process could be considered familiar.

Champa, Zhenla, Java and other countries were regular visitors who came to pay tribute every year, but this time, His Majesty, contrary to his usual practice, pulled the envoys from these places to talk about local customs and customs, and even gave the Champa envoy a seat, and recalled the history of Champa as a part of China during the Han and Tang dynasties with great sincerity, causing the Champa envoy to cough loudly.

There is no need to say more about Ryukyu. This isolated country is fully dependent on the Ming Dynasty. It was received three times the year before last, five times last year, and four times this year, including the New Year tribute. In short: old friends.

After the envoys presented their tributes, the last one to meet the emperor was the Japanese envoy, holding gifts.

The etiquette officers were also familiar with the Japanese envoy.

If the Ryukyu envoys were familiar to them like old friends, then they even had some sympathy for the Japanese envoys.

From the seventh year of Hongwu to the present, they have been paying tribute every year, but every year they have been rejected by His Majesty without any pretense.

A ceremonial officer remembered that the Japanese envoys had said privately that if they still could not please the emperor of the Ming Dynasty this year, they would probably not come again next year.

Then the ceremonial officer watched the Japanese envoys raise their gifts above their heads and present them, and then the leader respectfully held a piece of paper and presented it step by step.

Seeing the Japanese envoys' apprehensive faces, the ceremonial officer in charge of the transfer shook his head in his heart. Similar things have happened six times, and this seventh time will definitely not change.

He took the memorial, turned around and presented it to His Majesty, and waited for three breaths. It must be His Majesty's reprimand. The ceremonial officer was ready to be splashed with spit, but unexpectedly, the thin memorial was picked up.

The ceremonial officer was surprised, and the Japanese envoys below were also startled, and then they were ecstatic, but they dared not make a sound. They could only hold their thighs tightly and stare at the Ming emperor, sincerely hoping that things would be different this time.

Or maybe their prayers were answered. The Japanese people watched Zhu Yuanzhang carefully read the memorial, and then raised their chins and asked a question:

"Is it possible for Minamoto no Yoshimitsu to suppress the Japanese pirates?"