Regarding the arrangement of the vassal king, Zhu Ying had already made up his mind.

The speed of information dissemination determined the territory that the Ming court could directly control.

For example, the Western Regions were nominally under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, but in fact it was difficult for the Ming Dynasty to achieve direct control.

Just talking about the back-and-forth dissemination of information, even if it is done at a high speed, it will take nearly a month to go back and forth.

This time difference resulted in many policies of the Ming Dynasty being unable to be implemented in the Western Regions.

Zhu Ying did not want to launch a large-scale war. Any nationwide effort would easily shake the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

In this regard, the only ones suffering are the common people.

Although in the early Ming Dynasty, more than 70% of the areas in the Ming Dynasty were still in good weather, once the war started, all the reserves accumulated over the years would be consumed.

From this point of view, only small-scale local wars are most in line with the current interests of the Ming Dynasty.

This is also the biggest purpose of Zhu Ying's invention of the matchlock gun and the professional soldier.

Adding the two together, the effect will be obvious for some small areas.

And the feudal king is the best vanguard.

Regardless of whether it was a vassal king who had already become a vassal or a vassal king who had not yet become a vassal, Zhu Ying planned to move their vassal territory outside the Ming Dynasty.

If you want a vassal territory, you can give you a matchlock gun and professional soldiers, and you can fight for it yourself.

Of course, even the conquered vassal territories, economy, culture, and local government affairs were subject to Ming Dynasty control.

Zhu Ying currently has twenty-six imperial uncles, two who died young, and several others who died young.

There seemed to be many princes, and perhaps Zhu Yuanzhang was a little worried about these vassal kings.

But in Zhu Ying's opinion, it's really not enough.

If you add it several times more, there will be no problem.

Not to mention other places, one Goryeo alone is enough to confer dozens of princes.

That's right.

What Zhu Ying wanted to do was to enfeoff the princes similarly to the Zhou Dynasty.

For example, Goryeo was divided into more than a dozen regions and granted to vassal kings.

Under the influence of Chinese culture, it was only a matter of time before the entire Goryeo was completely Chineseized.

And there are so many tributary countries, all of which were nominally suzerain states under the Ming Dynasty, developed into vassal states, and then became vassal states under the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Ying thinks the problem is not big.

Anyway, there is no other meaning. If the vassal country is poor, it should be poorer. The Chinese culture should be spread first, and all the local people should be Chineseized first.

In the Huagai Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang was listening to Liu He reporting on the conversation between his eldest grandson and the princes.

After listening, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't express much, and was just a little bit sad.

"This eldest grandson, eh, but this is not bad. Our eldest grandson is right. We are all members of the same family and should help. We sons cannot just look forward to their eldest nephew."

"It's worthwhile to put in some effort for our Ming Dynasty. Just try hard. There's nothing bad about it outside. It's all developing slowly."

"I can also plant the sweet potatoes and other crops that my grandson sent me. I'll have enough to eat, so there won't be any hardship."

Zhu Yuanzhang understood Zhu Ying's thoughts immediately.

He knew very well that it seemed that the Great Sun was going to hand over the military power to these vassal kings, so that they could lead the troops to fight the war.

Just thinking about sharp weapons such as matchlock guns, Zhu Yuanzhang personally thought it was good.

And this can also reduce the conflicts between the emperor and the vassal princes to a great extent.

...

The princes were young and could not hide things in their hearts. Soon, the news that Zhu Ying supported the vassal king and intended to let the vassal king take over the military power spread in the palace.

"Mom, why do you think my eldest brother is doing this? If all the vassal kings take control of the military power, wouldn't it lead to a situation of separatism among the heroes?"

In the back hall of Chunhe Palace, Zhu Yunwen told Mrs. Lu about this.

Then he asked doubtfully.

Although he had only been a grandson for a period of time and had not been canonized, he had thought about it in the same way as the emperor.

After hearing this, Mrs. Lu was silent for a long time, her beautiful eyebrows slightly wrinkled.

For a moment, she didn't understand the key to this.

Although Lu is smart, the information available is limited. Without enough information to analyze and guess, it is difficult to make accurate judgments.

After thinking for a moment, Mrs. Lu said: "This matter is not as simple as it seems. Although I haven't figured it out yet."

"But your eldest brother is by no means such a simple person. Even if your eldest brother doesn't know clearly, His Majesty will intervene."

"And from the current situation, it seems that His Majesty supports your elder brother's approach, which means there must be something we know about it."

"Not only do we not know, but perhaps no one else knows your brother's purpose except His Majesty."

Lu said after analysis.

Although she didn't know why His Highness Changsun did this, there was no doubt that Lu was very good at guessing people's minds.

Putting this matter aside and going to see His Highness Changsun and His Majesty, I found something was wrong.

Zhu Yunwen nodded, acknowledging his mother's words.

Huang Zicheng was the teacher assigned to him by Grandpa Huang.

Above Huang Zicheng, there were more knowledgeable gentlemen, all of whom gave advice to Grandpa Huang.

It’s impossible for Grandpa Huang to be unclear.

It shows that what my mother said makes sense.

"It's just my mother. No matter what eldest brother and grandpa Huang think, this is military power. Once the vassal king has military power, it will be completely different."

Zhu Yunwen said slightly excitedly.

Whether there is military power or not, in today's early Ming Dynasty, it is completely clear-cut.

For example, the vassal kings who guarded the borders and the vassal kings within the Ming Dynasty were not on the same level.

It seems that when he becomes a vassal, he can also control the military power.

At this time, Zhu Yunwen suddenly thought of the soldiers practicing in the palace martial arts field.

The scenes of neat military appearance and powerful deterrence.

My heart felt a little hot.

"Don't think too much about it for the time being, and don't get too involved in this matter. It may not be a good thing to control the military. My mother always feels that there is something very fishy about it."

"It's not that easy, and it won't be that simple."

Lu said in warning.

She comes from a low background, and although she is not at the bottom, she understands it in other ways.

Some things seem easy to get, but when you get them, you may lose even more.

Before she became the crown prince and second concubine, her family also ran a business, and Mrs. Lu helped manage it behind the scenes, and learned a lot from it.

Although the status of women in the Ming Dynasty was low, it was not obvious in the palace. Lu would study every day.

Hearing what his mother said, Zhu Yunwen said unhappily: "Mom, you told me two days ago that you wanted to declare vassal status as soon as possible. Why do you have to wait again now?"

"I've been thinking of ways lately to see if I can go to Grandpa Huang to beg him to be crowned king first. Maybe it's the best time to crown my eldest brother."

"I think that when the matter of my canonization was revealed, how could the emperor give me a good domain?"

When Mrs. Lu heard this, she had no intention of blaming her. She followed the instructions and said, "If it was favor from other aspects, my mother would naturally not say much."

"But you also know very well what military power means. From Wei Niang's point of view, there are only two situations for opening up military power."

"The first is to replace the military generals and put most of the military power in the hands of the royal family."

"Secondly, it can only mean that there is a war. Now the Ming Dynasty is generally stable. Although there are some places that are not convinced by the king, it is not to the extent that the princes go to war."

"It seems that it is your eldest brother who intends to launch a conquest."

Speaking of this, Lu's eyes suddenly lit up.

She suddenly thought of the possibility of Zhu Ying doing this.

In particular, allowing the princes and grandsons to directly participate in training soldiers, and even relaxing restrictions on military power, naturally means expanding to the outside world.

After trying to figure out some of Zhu Ying's past events, Lu felt more and more that her guess was very accurate.

After giving Zhu Yunwen a complicated look, Lu said warmly: "I'll take this as my mother's word. Don't go to His Majesty or your elder brother to talk about the vassal state again."

"Let's leave it alone for now. According to the rules, your vassal territory will be arranged only after your eldest brother ascends the throne."

There is no doubt that Zhu Yunwen is Lu's most beloved son.

When it was speculated that Zhu Ying might expand his territory and let members of the royal family lead troops to fight, how could Lu, as a mother, be willing to let her son live such a miserable life?
To be continued...