Although after Zhu Gaochi deprived him of the crown prince position and deposed him as the king of Gan, the emperor did not make King Qi the crown prince.
However, King Qi was able to be appointed as the supervisor of the country again. In fact, there was only a thin line between him and the prince. Apart from the nominal gap, King Qi's actual power was no less than that of the prince in his heyday, or even better.
The reason why Zhu Di did not make King Qi the crown prince was because he did not want to make things too embarrassing.
After all, in order to give Zhu Gaochi a dignified resignation, the process of deposing the crown prince was not to directly depose him, but to ask Zhu Gaochi to "resign due to illness." After three resignations and three stay-at-home orders, Zhu Gaochi was allowed to step down.
And since he resigned due to illness, it would be too ugly if King Qi ascended the throne directly.
Whether or not he has the title of "Prince" actually makes no difference to Zhu Gaojie. Moreover, it is only a matter of time before the Crown Prince is re-established.
…
In order to celebrate the Ming Dynasty's overseas majesty, His Majesty the Emperor held a grand banquet in the Fengtian Hall. According to the Ming system, it can be divided into large banquets, medium banquets, regular banquets, and small banquets. Generally, there are only festivals, such as Beginning of Spring, Lantern Festival, and April.
On the 8th, Dragon Boat Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Laba Eighth Day, or when the suburbs offer sacrifices or when ancestral temples and palaces are built, there are opportunities to hold "big banquets".
At the beginning, Zhu Gaojie and Zhang Fu put down the rebellion in the southwest, went on an expedition to Mobei to defeat the Oara, and converted the northeastern barbarians into Han and established Jianzhou Province... all were grand banquets.
The preparation work for the grand banquet was in charge of the Shang Baosi. First, the throne was set up in the hall, covered with yellow robes, and twenty-four Jinwu guards were appointed to serve. The Jiaofang Secretary set up nine music and songs in the hall, and set up the Great Music Hall.
Outside, a dance team is waiting outside the hall. Guanglu Temple has a wine pavilion to the west of the throne, a dining pavilion to the east of the throne, and a delicacy pavilion to the east and west of the wine and meal pavilion.
The imperial palace is placed on the east and west side of the throne. According to the rules, the crown prince should sit east of the throne and face west. The kings should set up their seats from south to east and west. The ministers of the fourth rank and above should be entertained in the palace, and those below the fifth rank should be entertained outside the palace.
In addition, a team of people including pot cooks, wine sellers, and food sellers were arranged to serve.
However, there is no crown prince in the capital now. There are only King Qi and King Gan. The prince is staying in the East Palace. Zhu Gaojie, who has the status of supervising the country, naturally sits on the east side of the throne, which is the original position of the prince. It is reasonable and reasonable.
After the nine rounds of great gifts and thanksgiving, the rites and music were melodious, and the envoys from various countries who accompanied Zheng He to Beijing came to see him one after another. All the ministers from all over the world were ministers of the Ming Dynasty, and it was like a Yongle and prosperous era when all nations came to visit him.
"What do you think, Fourth Brother?" Zhu Di played with the golden bottle and waited for a long time but did not hear a reply.
He looked at King Qi next to him, only to find that this guy was eating like crazy, stuffing his mouth with all the delicacies on the table. It was really embarrassing.
"You brat!" Zhu Di scolded with a smile, "Look at how you look like you're eating, as if you haven't eaten in eight lifetimes!"
Zhu Gaojie casually took out his napkin, wiped the corners of his mouth, and muttered: "I couldn't hold it back for a moment. I couldn't hold it back. When we were fighting in Jianzhou, I crawled on the black soil, slept in the snow, slept in clothes, and ate all night. As a coach, I always set an example."
, I shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, and what I ate was hard buckwheat pancakes, which were worse than what the soldiers ate. I was so hungry that I lost weight. Can't I take a good supplement after I return to the capital?"
"What's going on over there in Jianzhou now?" Zhu Di asked.
When it came to business, Zhu Gaojie said seriously: "The manpower we have invested in Jianzhou is mainly used in farming, basic engineering development, mining excavation, etc. Judging from the results in the first half of this year, Jianzhou has already carried out agricultural development
It went very smoothly. The Naturalization Department has been insisting on converting the barbarians into Han people, with the Chinese Academy of Literature as the core, assimilating the Jurchens. In the first half of this year, the first batch of Han household registrations was issued, with a total of more than 5,000 people. Troops were stationed to prevent the Jurchens
The dog jumped over the wall to mutiny and cause chaos, so he used the Fourth Division of Jianzhou and the Han Academy to convert the barbarians into Han, and the progress was very smooth."
Zhu Di asked: "How many years do you think it will take to completely tame Jianzhou Province and let Han civilization replace the Jurchens' ideas?"
Zhu Gaojie thought for a while and said: "If you want to tame Jianzhou Province, it will only take one or two years. If you want to completely tame the Jurchens, it will take five years to get them accustomed to the identity of Han people. If you want to civilize the Han people
It will take at least ten years to replace the Jurchens' ideas. After this generation of Jurchens has died, the new generation of Jurchens will have grown up receiving Han ideological education, and then they will be truly domesticated."
"Ten years..." Zhu Di's eyes had an unobvious hint of confusion.
Ten years is too long and he doesn't have that much time left.
In the simulated life, Zhu Di remembered clearly that he died of illness in Yumuchuan on his way back from the Northern Expedition in the 22nd year of Yongle.
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It would take ten years to convert the barbarians into Han in Jianzhou Province. After that, there would be Korea, Japan, and the more distant West. He could not see that day.
Zhu Di was sixty-three years old when he died. Counting the emperors of the Central Plains, this age was not short of longevity. However, he was still unwilling to give up. He still had many things to do, but...
Time waits for no one.
When Zhu Di opens his eyes every morning, he will feel a huge sense of emptiness in his heart. Another day has passed, and his remaining time has passed a little bit. How much time does he have left to save the Ming Dynasty?
"Father?" Zhu Gaojie couldn't help feeling a little strange when he saw that the old man was distracted.
"Well, it's okay." Zhu Di came back to his senses and waved to Zheng He on the other side, "Zheng He, come here."
Zheng He heard His Majesty the Emperor's voice and came over to salute: "Your Majesty, do you have something to tell me?"
"Zheng He, let me ask you something." Zhu Di said, "When do you plan to sail to the West again?"
Zheng He replied: "It all depends on your Majesty's orders."
"I'm asking you, not asking you to ask me."
"This... should first wait for the envoys from Guli and other countries to return home, lead the fleet to set off, return the envoys and visit various countries, and finally set off from Changle Port." Zheng He said, "As for the specific time, it should wait until the year after tomorrow."
"Let's put these things aside for now." Zhu Di shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it will be difficult for you to go to the West again in the past few years."
Zheng He felt as if he was struck by lightning: "Your Majesty, why is this happening?"
He also thought that the emperor felt that the voyage to the West was too expensive and planned to stop exploring the West.
Zheng He is actually not of Han descent. He was originally from the Western Regions and was an Arab nobleman. He later moved to Kunyang Prefecture in Yunnan.
He has an ideal hidden deep in his heart.
——Pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.
The holy city of Mecca is located in Tianfang Kingdom, which later became Saudi Arabia. It is tens of thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty. Under normal circumstances, Zheng He's wish to go on a pilgrimage would probably only be a wish. To realize this wish,
The easiest way is to be reincarnated in the Arabian Peninsula in the next life.
What's more, although Zheng He's ancestors were Arab nobles, his childhood was not very happy.
He spent his childhood in Yunnan, and his life was quite happy at first. Later, two people followed the orders of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, to expedition to Yunnan and regained Yunnan in less than a year. These two people,
One is named Fu Youde and the other is named Lan Yu.
After this war, the eleven-year-old "Ma Sanbao" became a prisoner of war for no apparent reason, and was also inexplicably made a little eunuch.
It can be said that his childhood started from hell.
It was not until later that he met Zhu Di, who was still King of Yan at the time, and became a close confidant of King Yan. He experienced meritorious service in the Battle of Jingnan, and became the national surnamed "Zheng He" from an unknown little eunuch "Ma Sanbao"
.
Although he lived a pleasant life, Zheng He still couldn't let go of his dream of "pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca". However, one day after Zhu Di ascended the throne, he finally discovered the possibility of realizing this ideal.
Go to sea!
The navy of the Ming Dynasty went to sea to explore the Western Ocean!
As a naval envoy and the best diplomat of the Ming Empire, Zheng He was fulfilling the duties entrusted to him by His Majesty the Emperor while also struggling to find the legendary holy city of Mecca.
Although Zheng He has never found the Holy City on his four voyages, he has never given up the idea of going on a pilgrimage. He believes that there is still a chance.
But now Zhu Di's words caused Zheng He to fall from heaven to hell.
No more sailing to the West?
What's going on?
"No, you still have to go to sea, but it's a little different from the previous ones." Zhu Di also knew that Zheng He had misunderstood what he meant, so he explained to him to appease him.
"What does your Majesty mean?" Zheng He still didn't understand.
Zhu Di said: "This time it is not you who will be the envoy, but someone else."
"So that's it, I understand." Zheng He was comforted in his heart, but he was a little aggrieved. "Who does Your Majesty intend to appoint as the envoy?"
He really couldn't figure out that in terms of qualifications, experience, and status, who could be more suitable to be an envoy than him?
Traveling across the western seas, and attracting thousands of people from all over the world, Zheng He was indispensable for the Ming Dynasty to have such prestige overseas. He was the most outstanding diplomat and the most outstanding navigator of the Ming Dynasty.
He had been appointed as the envoy before, so now he was asked to be the adjutant for someone else. Even though Zheng He had always been loyal to Zhu Di, he still felt a little uncomfortable.
Zhu Di slowly said the name: "King Qi."
"King Qi?"
Zheng He froze on the spot, "Your Majesty, are you joking?"
He looked at Zhu Gaojie with complicated eyes.
What a good King Qi! I regard you as a small boss, but you want to steal my job?
Zhu Gaojie said happily: "Zheng He, don't look at me like this. I'm not trying to steal your job, it's just a cooperative relationship?"
"Cooperation?" Zheng He felt that he was being played around by the father and son, and he was a little confused. "What does the prince want to do when he goes to sea this time?"
We were just going out to sea, why did we send the prince of the prison country out? What was this for?
Zhu Gaojie said with calm eyes: "Destroy the country!"