Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

It is late autumn, and the sea current flows from south to north.

The fleet returning to Beijing was sailing on the vast sea. No matter how arrogant these young men were, they felt their own insignificance at this moment.

The Chinese people's blind arrogance and lack of ambition are largely caused by seclusion.

But after Zhu Youtang came to power, everything quietly changed.

The Imperial College, which was originally used for imperial examinations, has quietly transformed into a cradle for cultivating imperial talents. This time, outstanding students from various disciplines were sent to Luzon to open their eyes and see the vastness of the ocean.

The fleet sailed northeast from the northern part of Luzon Island. When approaching the Fujian area, it passed through the Taiwan Strait and then went north along the coastline of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty's maritime ban policy has a long history, but in this era there is a lack of harbors to anchor, so the fleet basically needs to spend the night offshore, and relatively safe bays have become the first choice for overnight stays.

At dusk that day, the fleet was anchored in a bay.

Under the setting sun, the waves were sparkling, a few fish jumped out of the water, and a few white seagulls were circling on the mast of the ship, occasionally making a few crisp calls.

Wang Shouren was wearing a soldier's uniform and stood on the deck with his back straight.

Although his face was still childish, his whole body exuded a maturity that belied his age. However, his left eyelid twitched a few times inexplicably, which made him feel vaguely uneasy.

After Changning Bo Zhou Yu's grandson Zhou Gui mysteriously disappeared, he guessed that the matter was not that simple, and even felt that it was related to Zhang Heling's case.

Under the guidance of a young man, a young man was brought here to bathe in the afterglow of the sunset.

The young man was about eighteen years old. He had a very delicate face, bright eyes, fair skin, and a thin body. He exuded a faint smell of Chinese medicine.

During this trip, not only were the young masters who were rich or noble, but also outstanding students from various subjects of the Imperial College.

Wang Shouren, who was regarded as a leader among the traveling Imperial College health officials, asked the young man who was led over: "Li Yanwen, I heard that you found something fishy in Zhang Heling's death?"

"...Yes!" Li Yanwen hesitated for a moment, then nodded seriously.

Wang Shouren suddenly became energetic and looked up and down at this Huguang student who was somewhat related to him: "What did you find?"

"That day I inspected Zhang Heling's body. It was true that Zhang Heling was stabbed by the kitchen knife, but his lips and fingernails were cyanotic, and his face was distorted. Uh... cyanosis is a color that is black and red, so it is consistent with what medical books say. You have the characteristics of being suffocated to death!" Li Yanwen felt Wang Shouren's anxiety and looked serious.

Wang Shouren knew that the young man in front of him was a genius in the ship's medical department, but he frowned slightly: "Why didn't you tell me then?"

"I have little knowledge, so I don't dare to talk nonsense. There were military doctors doing autopsies at the time, and they quickly found the Aeta people, and they had already closed the case. At that time, I couldn't speak anymore!" Li Yanwen said bitterly.

It's not that he doesn't want to find out the truth of the matter, but he is just an ordinary student from a poor medical family, and he can be said to be underestimating his position.

Although he found something strange about the body at that time, the imperial envoy and the two generals had already closed the case and had the murderer executed on the spot. To raise any objection on his own could be said to be a slap in the face.

If he hadn't been unable to help but talk about various conditions of death when communicating with others, he would have decided to keep this discovery in his stomach.

Wang Shouren knew that the case was concluded very quickly that day. He only took his troops out to bring the murderer to justice. He looked thoughtful and said: "So, I'm afraid the real murderer is someone else!"

"This matter cannot be determined in this way! Although the cause of death of the corpse was that someone covered his mouth and nose, it cannot be ruled out that the Aeta man stabbed Zhang Heling first and then covered the person to death!" Li Yanwen corrected.

Wang Shouren's logical ability was far better than that of ordinary people, but he shook his head gently and said in denial: "If the murderer had already stabbed Zhang Heling to death, why bother to cover the murderer with his hands?"

"Zhang Heling... shouted for help at that time. The Aeta man was worried about alarming the others, so he hurriedly stepped forward and covered Zhang Heling's mouth and nose. As a result, he covered the unfortunate Zhang Heling to death!" Helped to bring Li Yanwen over. Zhao Kuo, Prince Wu Jing's eyes lit up slightly and he speculated excitedly.

Wang Shouren glanced at Zhao Kuo, but he didn't expect this idiot to have such wisdom.

"According to the subsequent investigation, no one heard Zhang Heling calling for help that night. Judging from the position where he was stabbed, the knife happened to hit his lungs, so Zhang Heling could no longer speak at that time!" Li Yanwen shook his head gently. , combined with the knowledge of medical books to deny the Tao.

When Wang Shouren saw that Zhao Kuo's hypothesis had been overturned, he immediately became more convinced that the real murderer was someone else: "In this case, there may be someone else who killed Zhang Heling!"

When he said this, he couldn't help but glance at the cabin behind him, but found that the cabin was so eerie.

"If everything is true, when the murderer tried to strangle Zhang Heling to death, Zhang Heling must have fought hard to survive. At that time, he might have reached out and scratched the murderer's face or hands!" Li Yanwen was also a passionate young man with justice in his heart, so he put his judgment to the test. Say it.

Zhao Kuo's eyes suddenly lit up and he said with great enthusiasm: "Let's search hard and find out the real murderer!"

Wang Shouren knew that this was the only clue at present, and he silently accepted the plan.

Although no one else has been killed since Changning Bo Zhou Yu's grandson Zhou Gui mysteriously disappeared, he always felt that this was the calm before the storm, and even the next target was himself.

"It was scratched by a branch. Don't you have any on your body?"

"I hate it, it's inconvenient here. Let's get off the boat and find an inn to play!"

"The injuries on my face are indeed caused by being caught, but can you care about it?"

…

Wang Shouren and others followed the clues to conduct a secret investigation. Although there was a different kind of affair, they still targeted the most arrogant Zhang Lun.

After making this crucial discovery, Zhang Cang, the extremely arrogant young master, became the focus of attention, but Wang Shouren wanted to steal from others.

After all, they believed that the basis for the murderer being scratched was just a conjecture on their part, but it could not constitute substantial evidence.

The coastal terrain is very complex, and even some offshore areas are covered with reefs.

Another day at dusk, the fleet circled towards the deep sea area.

The sky is filled with red clouds, and the setting sun is like blood.

Due to the length of the voyage, they chose to anchor in the lee of an uninhabited island for the night. Little did they know that a danger had quietly arrived.

ah……

Just before nightfall, a scream suddenly rang out.

Everyone followed the sound to search, but the surrounding area of ​​the ship was completely dark. Wang Shouren was vaguely aware that the third victim had appeared. He just shouted into the sea a few times, but got no response.

But at this time, the wind had risen on the sea, and the originally calm sea surface seemed to suddenly boil, indicating that a storm was coming at any time.

"One person is missing!"

"Who's missing?"

"Zhang Lun!"

…

After counting the personnel, they quickly identified the missing person as Zhang Lun of the British government.

When the name was spoken, Wang Shouren felt a chill, and he suddenly felt as if he was being stared at by a hungry wolf hiding in the darkness.

If it wasn't Zhang Lun, then the real murderer was more powerful than he had guessed, and the next one was likely to be himself, who held the position of leader in the group.

At the same time, the sky outside was filled with lightning and thunder, and the breath of death had enveloped everyone in the cabin, and the entire ship was even in danger of capsizing.

It is also October, the sea in the southeast is windy and swells, and the night sky in the capital is bright with stars.

Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

The lights here are brightly lit, as bright as day.

Dozens of palace maids and eunuchs were busy like hard-working worker ants, working hard to serve the emperor who stayed in Dongnuan Pavilion.

The lights are bright and the sandalwood scent is rising.

Zhu Youtang, who was wearing a dragon robe, came here after taking a bath as usual, and read intelligence from all over the country every night. His beard has grown longer, and he is slowly transforming into a leader and emperor.

Zhu Youtang carefully read through each piece of information, as if he were peering into his own territory through God's perspective, and could accurately know the latest major events.

Although he has been in power for more than three years, the empire is not necessarily very peaceful. The recent disputes over water transportation and the Yellow River have even given him a headache.

Water transportation is an important transportation line for the empire to fill the northern grain supply, and it is also related to the emperor's largest grain reserve strategy, but now it conflicts with the management of the Yellow River.

The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal itself has no water source. The water of the canal comes from the surrounding water systems, mainly the Qiantang River water system, the Yangtze River water system, the Huaihai River water system, the Yellow River water system and the Haihe River water system.

The Yellow River managed by the Ministry of Industry needs to change its mouth into the sea. However, this move will inevitably change the river course, which will naturally affect the water volume of the canal and even cause the Shandong section of the river to dry up.

Everything affects the whole body! Once the canal in Shandong becomes unnavigable, grain cannot go north, and a large amount of goods are stranded in southern Zhili and other places, which will inevitably cause a lot of economic losses.

Even though the imperial court has not yet come up with a plan, the price of rice in the capital has already soared.

Zhu Youtang knew that the Yellow River must be regulated, but the losses caused by the canal's suspension were too great, so he had to worry about this dilemma.

After my own investigation, I found that neither the river channel nor the water transport were exaggerated. The river channel yamen changed the direction of the Yellow River to regulate the river, and the water transport yamen's objection was also to ensure the smooth flow of the canal.

After some weighing, he decided to throw the issue to the Supreme Council, and let the important ministers come up with a feasible plan.

"Your Majesty, it's time to turn over the cards tonight!" An older eunuch stepped forward gently, holding a tray containing wooden cards, and said respectfully.

Zhu Youtang sighed softly. He was not happy that he had so many beautiful concubines. It was not that he was tired of these beautiful women, but that no matter how hard he worked, there was no reward.

No matter whether they choose the reserved queen or the vixen Fan Jinling, no matter how many positions they try, or even changing to several different locations, there is still no movement in their stomachs.

To this day, he still doesn't understand what the problem is. If he didn't know a little history, he would have even begun to doubt his body.

Zhu Youtang ran his fingers through the rows of brands. In fact, with his observation and memory, he already roughly knew the corresponding brands. At this moment, it was as if pictures of beauties were passing through his mind.

"It's her!"

Zhu Youtang suddenly thought of a scene where the blood of an animal was boiling. Thinking of the woman who once made him want to stop, he immediately opened a sign.

After the eunuch saw the sign, he asked the palace maid next to him who was responsible for taking notes to record it. In order to prove that they had not committed any fraud, he opened all the other signs.

Zhu Youtang liked peace and quiet, so he asked them to bring a bowl of chicken soup for midnight snack, and then waved gently.

Niu Mengmeng brought the tea, placed it gently on the table, and then stepped aside to wait for instructions.

She has been with Zhu Youtang for more than three years. She has witnessed with her own eyes that Zhu Youtang slowly transformed into a calm and powerful emperor, and she herself has also changed from an ugly duckling to a white swan.

Zhu Youtang slowly continued to read the information sent from various places while sipping tea.

When he saw the latest military information from Jianzhou, he couldn't help but frown.

In the war to regain Jianzhou last year, the Ming Dynasty swept through the entire Jianzhou with devastation, crippled the Jurchen tribe in Jianzhou, and thus brought the entire Jianzhou back to the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that Jianzhou borders the Haixi Jurchens and the Savage Jurchens. Both the Haixi Jurchens and the Savage Jurchens are accustomed to looting, and now they frequently disturb the people who immigrated to Jianzhou.

Zhu Youtang knew that this matter must be handled properly, not only to appease the emotions of the people who immigrated to Jianzhou, but also as a strategic goal related to the Northeast Granary of the Ming Dynasty.

Originally, the best approach was to send troops to attack, but the Haixi Jurchens and the Barbarian Jurchens were only a small group of invaders, and they also made gains on their own side, so they would not go to war.

However, everything is a process from small to large. This time, the savage Jurchen not only robbed the people of Jianzhou of their property, but also committed murder and arson.

Zhu Youtang knew that he could no longer tolerate it at this time, and immediately gave instructions: "Giving the Haixi Jurchens a generous gift, and sending troops to the west to prepare for the war against the wild Jurchens!"

Although the current financial situation of the Ming Dynasty cannot support a two-front battle, it is not impossible to squeeze out some money to fight against the wild Jurchens.

After formulating the strategy for the Northeast, he became more deeply aware of the importance of healthy finances to an empire.

"Haha... we can finally start mining for gold!"

Zhu Youtang originally thought that Guangdong was asking for money again, but when he opened the secret report from Chen Zheng, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, a long-lost smile appeared on his face.

Although gold cannot increase productivity, with enough gold in hand, the Ming Dynasty can establish a new monetary system, thereby slowly holding the entire world's seigniorage in its hands.