Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

Beijing, which was as hot as a steamer that night, finally ushered in the first rain in July.

Raindrops as big as soybeans fell from the dark sky and sprinkled on this ancient city swallowed by the night. The raindrops made the roof of Qianqing Palace crackle.

Meow!

The little tabby cat that was catching mice meowed and was squatting on the eaves looking up at the rainy night.

This rain is very strange. Qianqing Palace obviously has a thick roof, but Zhu Youtang and Fan Jinling both seem to be soaked by the rain at this moment.

The tip of Qi Fan Jinling's nose was wet, her bangs were sticking tightly to her white forehead, and her charming eyelashes were also stained with water, which was even strange.

Fortunately, the candlelight in the room was not affected by the rain outside. The light yellow lights filled the entire room, showing a touch of warmth in the crackling rain outside.

Zhu Youtang panted slightly. Fortunately, he was young now, and he had acquired enough theoretical knowledge in his previous life. Now he was invincible as long as he didn't overdo it.

It's just that some things can't be forced after all. Even though he tosses the enthusiastic Fan Jinling and the shy Qingyue every day, their stomachs never move.

But don’t be too anxious about things, as what is supposed to come will eventually come.

Fan Jinling's body was very soft and fragrant. In the thunder outside, she was like a little vixen, and she gently got into the bed. Zhu Youtang was so happy that she couldn't help biting her lower lip.

The golden bell rang at night, after all, it was Zhu Youtang who showed his majesty as a man, and it also exposed that Zhu Youtang was actually a warlike emperor.

The morning sun rose high the next day, and the bright sunshine cast rays of light, making the whole world seem brand new.

A lot of cotton is planted in Gyeonggi, and now it is the season of cotton blooming. Cotton blossoms are blooming in the fields like white snow.

Zhu Youtang had an advance plan for spring plowing, and now it is the harvest period.

Since the emergence of the royal cloth mill, the efficiency of producing cloth has been significantly improved.

In the past, the inefficient model that required two people and took as long as half a month to produce a piece of cotton cloth was eliminated. Now, the flying shuttle loom has led to a qualitative leap in the efficiency of cloth production in the capital, and the royal weaving factory has strong demand for cotton.

Due to the increase in demand for cotton, the price of cotton has also risen, making Wu Xun regretful that he did not grow cotton with Zhu Youtang earlier.

Now that cotton is about to be harvested, this undoubtedly solves the urgent needs of the royal weaving factory and provides fuel for the textile industry that is about to take off.

It's just that the cotton price system in Beijing has not suffered a major impact. After all, the first batch of cotton from the Royal Weaving Factory is not intended to be sold domestically, but intended to be traded with North Korea.

Although North Korea is also a country lacking gold and silver, North Korea has commodities such as ginseng, furs, and Chinese medicinal materials, and even cotton that the North Korean ruling class exploits the people, which is undoubtedly beneficial to the development of the Ming Dynasty.

It was under the control of Zhu Youtang that the tenants of Huangzhuang would pick cotton and send it to the Royal Weaving Factory to be woven into cotton cloth and then send it to the newly built Daming City in Shenzhi City to exchange for ginseng, Chinese medicinal materials, furs and other commodities with North Korea. .

Although there are still many stubborn problems within the Ming Dynasty, under the leadership of Zhu Youtang, the entire dynasty can now be said to be thriving.

Due to the heavy rain last night, the temperature dropped significantly this morning.

Gonghouyuan, a garden located in the center of the Forbidden City.

Covering an area of ​​12,000 square meters, there are many centuries-old Sophora japonica trees growing here, which now look lush and green, even more green after being washed by the rain.

Zhu Youtang came in from Kunning Gate. This place was dominated by pavilions, mostly with strange stones. Unlike the later dynasty named after flowers, there were not many flowers and plants here.

This is actually related to the tradition of the Ming Dynasty emperors. After all, their ancestor was Taizu, who was famous for his diligence, so there was no emperor in the Zhu family who loved flowers and plants.

In the middle of the palace road, there is a magnificent Qin'an Hall. This Qin'an Hall also establishes the main style of the palace garden.

Zhu Youtang had no intention of playing around at all. At this moment, he walked into the hall with a solemn expression, and in the center of the hall was the Taoist Emperor Zhenwu.

Since he was praying for rain here on the first day of this month, and it rained heavily last night as scheduled, Zhu Youtang came early in the morning to worship and thank Emperor Zhenwu.

The end of science is metaphysics after all. As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, even if he cannot ask for any favor from heaven, he should still make a gesture.

In fact, the people of China don't really want much. They need an emperor who can always pretend to be theirs. Even if the emperor only makes a gesture, then they are willing to support him.

It's a pity that this dynasty has too many greedy officials. Although they have already lived a life of ample food and clothing, they still think about the glory and wealth of their descendants.

Xu Pu's home in the capital has been searched. Although Xu's name was not found, it was found that Xu Pu had received filial piety silver worth one hundred thousand taels.

Compared with the big greed later, one hundred thousand taels is actually not much.

It's just that Taizu clearly stipulated that 800 guan can be executed, and he has not been deceived into canceling this law. He doesn't know how many times he can behead Xu Pu with these 100,000 guan.

If they don't reveal their masks, it seems that each one of them is a wise minister of Hongzhi ZTE, but after all, they still don't want China to live in false prosperity, and are more willing to lead China to overcome all obstacles and take a path of real prosperity.

"Your Majesty, the weather is good today, why don't you go to the Royal View Pavilion above to enjoy the scenery of the Forbidden City!" Liu Jin suddenly suggested when returning.

Zhu Youtang raised his head and glanced at the Yujing Pavilion above. He knew that the palaces under the blue sky and white clouds were really pleasing to the eye, but he still gently shook his head and said: "Today is not the full moon and the sun, we will go to the Yangtze River immediately." Go to the Heart Palace!"

Not to mention that there are still various cancers in this dynasty that have not been eradicated. There are a lot of government affairs to deal with every day, but it is not time to relax yet.

Especially after these days, he has a profound understanding: the more diligently he handles government affairs and nip problems in the bud as early as possible, the more government affairs will become less and less.

That's right. He doesn't want to waste his previous efforts. Now as long as he works hard for half a day, he can spend half a day fishing. Why not?

"Follow your orders!" Liu Jin was actually afraid that Zhu Youtang's body would be overwhelmed by hard work day and night. Seeing that Zhu Youtang was diligent in government affairs, Liu Jin bowed his hands in a polite manner.

The sky seems to have been washed after the rain, and everything looks so beautiful.

As usual, Zhu Youtang took a dragon chariot out of Xihua Gate, then entered through Xiyuan Gate on the opposite side, and arrived at Xiyuan Yangxin Hall where government affairs were handled.

Zhu Ji, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, came here to guard, while Han Niu and Feng Ma, the eunuchs in charge of the army, came to serve as Zhu Youtang's bodyguards.

Although morning dynasties have been reduced, the efficiency of each yamen has obviously been greatly improved.

Before Zhu Youtang comes to Yangxin Hall, Wan An and Liu Ji will arrive one step ahead.

Although Wan An is older, he is better than Liu Ji in terms of attendance. He comes here every day regardless of rain or shine.

Although he has gotten older, he is becoming more and more skillful in handling government affairs, and many of his voting opinions can be adopted by Zhu Youtang.

The clerk's office receives memorials from two capitals and thirteen provinces from the General Affairs Department early every morning, and sorts these memorials into categories. Important memorials will be sent to Zhu Youtang, while some less important memorials will be sent directly to the cabinet.

Zhu Youtang usually gives priority to urgent matters, but when he learned that Datong had not delivered the news, he knew that he was impatient, but he still hoped that Datong would send the results as soon as possible.

However, there was no news of peace talks in Datong, but the situation in Guangdong continued. News that the pearl fishing ship was killed and burned by pirates again.

When the Shendian Guards patrolling the area rushed over this time, they saw only one burnt main ship, and there were still no survivors on the main ship.

Judging from various traces, and fleeing in the direction of Annan every time, it all proves that this incident is a kind of revenge from Annan to face the Ming Dynasty.

If it was just once or twice, it might be a small revenge on Annan's side, but now that he has burned ships repeatedly, then they may think that Ming is a soft persimmon that is easy to bully.

Zhu Youtang was actually disappointed in his heart. Although the memorial of the censor in Guangdong speculated that it was the Li Dynasty, this was ultimately a speculation without factual basis.

The evidence is not sufficient yet. If troops are used now, it will damage the image that Ming Dynasty has always created, and will also make many countries wary of Ming Dynasty.

So now he has to endure it a little longer, but he is waiting for a reason enough to launch an act of annihilation against the Li Dynasty.

You bastards, you have to live up to your expectations!

Zhu Youtang looked at the fussy memorial from Guangdong and seemed to hate the iron.

Originally, he wanted to directly replace the Shendian Guard commander, but he still held back.

After all, he followed Guangdong thousands of miles away, and he didn't want to blame the commander of the Shendian Guard entirely for his current fault. Maybe he needed to give him a little more patience and trust.

In fact, it is also a kind of helplessness of the emperor. At certain times, he is really a "blind man".

July is a good time. The dark clouds over Datong have dissipated, and the whole sky looks clear. The white clouds in the blue sky are like cotton candy.

As a mighty team returned to the city, a Tang soldier rode away from the east gate of Datong Fucheng, carrying a Tang newspaper stuffed in a cylinder and running along the post road towards the capital.

Tuk-tuk-tuk...

The horse's hooves stepped on the post road and ran forward. Although it was not as magical as the horse stepping on the flying swallow, it was still like a sharp arrow piercing the sky.

Due to the introduction of the attendance model of later generations of delivery workers, the normal delivery time of each Tongbao was repeatedly calculated, and a reward and punishment system was set up, so that the delivery speed of Tongbao is now astonishing.

Each link was closely coordinated, making the Tangbao system a powerful weapon for the Ming Dynasty to command all directions.

In just half a day, a Tang soldier arrived in front of Fucheng Gate carrying a Tang newspaper, and entered Beijing just before the city gate closed.

Fortunately, the closing time of the city gate and the palace gate were not consistent. The "Tang Station" in the capital rushed to send the latest military information to the Forbidden City before the palace gate closed.

In fact, it is not accurate to say that the military situation is because what was sent was the result of the third round of peace talks just now.

Manduhai finally agreed to the conditions listed by the Ming court for the benefit of the entire Northern Yuan Dynasty and for her dream of unifying Mongolia.

They, the Northern Yuan Dynasty, no longer regarded themselves as the "Great Yuan" to the Ming Dynasty, and Dayan Khan was not the emperor of the Great Yuan Dynasty, but became the King of Beishun canonized by the Ming court, while Manduhai became the Princess of Beishun.

As for Yixi, the more accurate name now should be Princess Yixi. This time she became the victim of the marriage between the two countries and will be adopted as a noble concubine by Zhu Youtang.

Manduhai also got the mutual trading opportunity that she valued most. Although she could not directly trade weapons from the Ming Dynasty, she still managed to obtain iron pots as a trading item in the mutual market.

In this peace negotiation, there is no real loser.

Although Manduhai sacrificed his daughter and made Dayan Khan give up claiming to be Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, he succeeded in trading tribute and trade with the Ming Dynasty. Especially in the mutual market, she can use the horses of each tribe under her command to obtain supplies from the Ming Dynasty, thereby solving the tribe's livelihood problem.

In addition, with the supply of materials from the Ming Dynasty, she would have the confidence to drive Wala to the coldest land in the west, and she could also start to slowly deal with the Minkeli tribe that had always been hostile to them.

As for the Ming Dynasty, once they have the card of Yixi, they can make Manduhai, which really rules the Northern Yuan Dynasty, use the rat weapon.

With this peace negotiation, the Ming Dynasty could ensure that the Datong border residents were protected from the harassment of the Mongolian cavalry, allow the Datong army to recuperate, and at the same time promote the economic development of the northwest border.

When this pond report was delivered to the palace, Zhu Youtang was eating the crucian carp and tofu soup he had caught.

He originally wanted to fight the Mongols to the bitter end. After all, only by killing them all could the root cause of the problem be solved. However, they were not fully prepared after all, and the current external situation was too turbulent.

The Jianzhou Jurchens in the northeast needed to implement their late emperor's last wishes, and the Li Dynasty in the southwest needed to finalize it, so they secretly sighed at the outcome of the peace talks.

Now that Datong is stable, he can concentrate on dealing with the Jurchen and Li Dynasty issues in Jianzhou.

Liu Xuan did a great job when he took office in Liaodong. Perhaps his military ability was not outstanding, but the governor who walked out of the stable was indeed very pragmatic.

He seemed to have been inspired by Wang Yue's actions. After taking office as governor of Liaodong, he directly attacked the group of salt merchants and investigated and punished several illegal salt merchants who took the lead.

After the problem of Liao Salt was completely cured, he immediately restarted the Kaizhong method in the early Ming Dynasty and used Liao Salt to consolidate the empty Liaodong granary.

After all, the road has to be walked step by step. Once the granary in Liaodong is sufficient, then whether it is Jianzhou Jurchen, the stronger Haixi Jurchen, or Jianzhou Jurchen, they will all be a bunch of local chickens and dogs.

As for the southwest, Zhu Youtang still chose to wait, hoping that Guangdong could catch the so-called pirates and thus have reason to send troops to Annan.

Just when things were on track, the latest news came from Huguang, which shocked Zhu Youtang and said, "Wang Zhi is rebelling?"