In the Wenhua Palace, Zhu Qiyu briefly explained to Dai Wang all the disputes in the court about the Imperial Palace and the Prince Dai's Mansion.
The prince finally understood and said something while twirling his beard. However, his expression was not very good. He snorted lightly and spoke immediately.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. You are usually too lenient with these ministers. The imperial decree has been issued, but these ministers dare to defy the decree and openly resist it. It is really hateful."
It seems that since he was approved to move to the vassal, the pressure brought on him by the old king gradually disappeared, and now he has a bit of the true demeanor of the vassal king.
Looking at the angry Dai Wang, Zhu Qiyu did not pick up the issue, but continued.
"Uncle Dai Wang, don't worry. I have already ordered them to go down and take care of this matter. It means that the ritual system will be slightly reduced. I will let the inner treasury spend the remaining money first, but the construction of the palace will not be delayed."
Hearing this, King Dai felt a little uneasy and said.
"Your Majesty, how can I allow your Majesty's inner treasury to make expenditures in my palace? Why don't I go and negotiate with the Ministry of Household Affairs? The treasury is so huge, and no matter what, there is no reason for your Majesty to withdraw money..."
Zhu Qiyu waved his hand and said.
"It doesn't matter, the ministers below are not easy to deal with. There is no need for Uncle Wang to get into trouble. They are all a family. What's more, Uncle Wang helped me a lot with the military settlement. Now that we have to move the feudal clan, I should naturally help.
"Uncle Wang, there is no need to refuse."
this……
Seeing that the emperor was saying this, Zhu Shixi could not continue to shirk. Besides, the last time he went to the Ministry of Household Affairs to block the door, he had already seen the slippery Master Shangshu.
If he was asked to go this time, he was afraid that he would still come back without success, so the acting prince hesitated for a while, then stood up and said, cupping his hands.
"Thank you very much for your Majesty's grace. I will definitely feel deeply grateful for it."
Zhu Qiyu smiled, raised his empty hand and said.
"Uncle Wang, there is no need to be polite. I am still young, do not have enough prestige, and cannot do much. The government and the country still need the full support of Uncle Wang and the other clans."
As soon as these words came out, King Dai blinked, as if he had guessed something. As expected, the emperor continued to speak.
"I heard that Uncle Wang has sent people to Zhangzhou. I wonder how the chart is being used?"
Therefore, this is the reason why Zhu Qiyu refused to postpone the construction of Prince Dai's palace, and asked Prince Dai to move to Zhangzhou. His intention was to prepare for the opening of the sea.
This is a major event. In Zhu Qiyu's heart, it is as important as the defense line in the north. Therefore, no matter how frequent natural disasters occur and the national treasury is tight, we can only save money from other places, and Zhangzhou cannot save money.
.
Of course, you have to work after you get the 'benefits'. King Dai has obviously been aware of this for a long time. After hearing this, he pondered for a moment, then took out a memorandum that he had already written from his sleeve and handed it to him.
Up.
"Your Majesty, this is the list of wealthy squire families who intend to come to seek refuge after I released the news. According to your wishes, I sent people to check the situation in Zhangzhou. It was found that many of these families are related to the local Japanese pirates.
implicated."
"and……"
At this point, Dai Wang hesitated, so Zhu Qiyu raised his head and looked at him. Seeing this situation, Dai Wang continued.
"There are even a few Japanese pirates here who pretend to be merchants. The local people know it. However, the government has never been able to find evidence, so they can only let them run rampant in the local area openly."
Mentioning this matter, a trace of sadness flashed across Dai Wang's eyebrows.
During this period of time, in addition to dealing with various matters related to moving to the feudal state, he was also inquiring about the local situation in Zhangzhou and preparing for the errands assigned to him by the emperor.
However, the more he learned about it, the more he felt that Zhangzhou was really not a kind place.
The poor mountains and rivers make the people's lives miserable, but what's even worse is that there are bandits in the mountains and Japanese pirates near the sea, and robberies often occur.
In this situation, I'm afraid it's not much better than Datong...
Although he had already expected it when he decided to move to the feudal state, he did not expect that the environment in Zhangzhou would be so bad.
When he received the report from the royal palace official, Dai Wang almost thought not to bother with it. In the end, the internal eunuch sent by the emperor to help him move the feudal clan reminded him that the palace had been demolished, and he was afraid he would regret it.
Only then did he give up the idea.
Zhu Qiyu's eyes flashed, and he heard the dissatisfaction in Dai Wang's words. After hesitating for a moment, he spoke.
"It turns out that Uncle Wang is worried about this. In this case..."
At this point, Zhu Qiyu stopped talking, as if he was hesitating for something. After a moment, he continued.
"Well, how about I give Uncle Wang a guard force to guard the palace?"
??!
Dai Wang shivered violently, stood up immediately, and said.
"I don't dare!"
In recent days, Dai Wang has indeed undergone some changes, but in the final analysis, things like personality cannot change when the environment changes.
He had been cautious in the first half of his life, but now he was a little more relaxed. This was also because the emperor was backing him, but this did not mean that he was bold.
On the contrary, Dai Wang actually just wanted to stay away from Datong and his brothers and live his own life peacefully.
As a vassal king, he knew very well how deep the court's fear of the vassal king was.
According to regulations, in the kingdom of a vassal king, the full complement of the royal guard army can have three guards. However, in fact, since Yongle, the royal guard armies of various vassal states have long been confiscated. Nowadays, most of the royal guards in each prince's palace are housekeepers.
The handymen, who can be called a guard force in a serious way, are only a few hundred people.
Moreover, this is the treatment that only some senior vassals have. For example, for some ordinary vassals, it is good to have a guard of two to three hundred people. Regardless of the number, these people must register with the Ministry of War.
Registration and local inspections must be carried out regularly, which is very strict.
But now, the emperor opens his mouth with a guard of soldiers and horses. Even based on the lowest strength of the guard station, a guard has at least 5,000 people.
How could he dare to take on such a huge force?
Even the moment he heard these words, King Dai felt that the emperor might have some strange intentions in him.
If he really dares to agree, he may not be able to leave the capital.
Seeing the frightened expression of King Dai, Zhu Qiyu was stunned for a moment, then raised his hand and lowered it, saying.
"Uncle Wang, don't be nervous. What I mean is to send an additional guard to be responsible for ensuring the safety of the palace. I don't want Uncle Wang to raise the soldiers and horses of this guard..."
This was said with a bit of a joke, obviously the emperor wanted to liven up the atmosphere.
However, King Dai did not dare to take it lightly, saying.
"Your Majesty, this is against the rules. The local area has its own troops and horses to guard it. I am reporting this matter. I just want to ask your Majesty to reprimand the local government, deploy officers and troops, and wipe out the bandits. I have no other intention. I sincerely ask for your Majesty's enlightenment."
Seeing this situation, Zhu Qiyu had a smile on his face and said.
"Uncle Wang, sit down first."
So, Dai Wang sat down tremblingly.
Afterwards, Zhu Qiyu pondered for a moment and said.
"I understand what Uncle Wang means, but whether it is bandits or Japanese pirates, they are not a one-day problem. The Japanese pirates have been a chronic problem since Taizu founded the country. In addition, Zhangzhou is barren and there are many people.
They made a living by fishing, and Japanese pirates often plundered them. Coupled with the raging natural disasters and excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes, many people could no longer survive and went into the mountains to become bandits."
"It's not that the imperial court won't suppress the bandits, it's that they won't be able to suppress them completely. Therefore, I will of course supervise the local government agencies to suppress the bandits at the local level. However, this is not a fundamental solution after all."
"What's more, Uncle Wang just said that many squires in Zhangzhou and other places have even colluded with Japanese pirates and bandits. I can't let the local officers and soldiers kill everyone they see in Zhangzhou, right?"
The first words were okay, but the last sentence scared Dai Wang to the point where he almost stood up again.
But when he looked up, he saw that the emperor had no intention of blaming him. King Dai suppressed the panic in his heart and said.
"Your Majesty is Holy Ming."
Zhu Qiyu didn't care about this, but continued.
"If we want to fundamentally improve the situation in Zhangzhou, we can only... impose a sea ban!"
Looking at Dai Wang who was stunned on the spot after hearing these words, Zhu Qiyu looked calm.
It should be said that this is the first time he has explicitly proposed lifting the maritime ban.
Before that, although he had handed over the sea chart to King Dai, and King Dai must have guessed what Zhu Qiyu asked him to do, but after all, there was still a layer of window paper that had not been pierced.
Nominally speaking, Zhu Qiyu just wanted to verify the authenticity of the charts, so he just wanted to send people out to sea.
However, now that the matter of King Dai's transfer to the feudal vassal has been settled, in a sense, King Dai's palace has been completely tied to his ship, so naturally it should not be concealed any longer.
If you want others to do things for you, the most taboo thing is to be secretive. If the king himself doesn't know what his real task is, then there will inevitably be big deviations in the specific execution process.
But it was something Zhu Qiyu didn't want to see.
"This... Your Majesty... the sea ban is after all..."
Although he had already vaguely guessed in his mind, when he actually heard what the emperor said, the king was still a little uneasy, a trace of cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and he couldn't speak clearly.
Seeing this situation, Zhu Qiyu shook his head and said.
"Indeed, the sea ban was established by Emperor Taizu. However, at that time, when Taizu founded the country, the situation was unstable, and the northern border was more in need of management. But now, Xian is dead, the grassland is in chaos, and the court naturally
We should focus on the troubles caused by the Japanese pirates in the southeast."
"What's more, in recent years, there have been many places in the imperial court that need money. The situation on the grassland is uncertain. It has been difficult for the mutual market to operate normally for more than half a year. If we don't open up more money, the imperial court may not be able to support it. As a member of the clan, Uncle Wang can't see it.
I'll just try my best to survive and just sit back and watch..."
When I heard these words, I was heartbroken.
The emperor began to cry. What else could Dai Wang himself say? After all, he was just a clan member, not a bunch of sharp-tongued civil servants. The emperor put out such a reason, so that he could not even refute it for a while.
It's hard to find any reason.
However, despite saying this, King Dai still hesitated and lowered his head and did not dare to agree.
Seeing this situation, Zhu Qiyu said again.
"Uncle Wang, please relax. I just have an idea. Why don't you listen to it and talk about it?"
It would be bad if he didn't answer these words. King Dai hesitated for a moment, then he cupped his hands and said.
"Your Majesty, please tell me..."
As a result, Zhu Qiyu turned his head and looked at Wang Cheng, who was standing aside. The latter immediately stepped forward and knelt down in front of the two of them.
Then Zhu Qiyu said.
"Uncle Wang should already know this person, the eunuch of the Imperial Palace, Wang Cheng!"
King Dai frowned slightly. Unexpectedly, the emperor did not say anything directly. Instead, he first pulled the eunuch out and nodded, but he did not speak.
Seeing this situation, Zhu Qiyu continued.
"In addition to being the eunuch of the imperial palace, Wang Cheng is also the general eunuch of the imperial store, responsible for cooperating with the Ministry of Household Affairs and presiding over all matters related to border trade."
Hearing this, King Dai was stunned for a moment, and then he looked at Wang Cheng with a more serious expression.
He naturally knew the reputation of the Imperial Store, which had always been one of the largest sources of financial resources for the emperor's inner treasury. There were also places for mutual trading near Datong.
He had also heard before that the imperial store was managed by the eunuchs in the palace. However, after all, the Prince's Palace could not get involved in such matters. Therefore, he did not know before that that the person in charge of the imperial store was actually
The great eunuch in front of me.
After letting King Dai get to know Wang Cheng again, Zhu Qiyu spoke.
"Uncle Wang must also know that the situation in the grassland has been unstable recently, and the mutual market has been intermittent. As a result, many of the treasures, porcelain, silk and other items that Huangdian purchased before will not be able to continue to be sold. In this way,
Come, they are all stored in the warehouse, and the imperial store is also a little stretched."
"A few days ago, I looked through the ancient books of the Song Dynasty and found that the countries in Europe and the West were very interested in these things, so I thought that since Uncle Wang was going to Zhangzhou, I might as well transport these things to Zhangzhou and send them overseas. Maybe I could sell them.
It might be a good price..."
Why did it feel so strange to hear these words coming from the emperor's mouth?
However, this reason is quite reasonable, but...
"Your Majesty, this sea trade is not as good as mutual trade. Japanese pirates are frequent at sea. In addition, I don't know whether the chart is authentic or not. Although I have never seen the sea, I know that various shipwrecks happen at sea. If something goes wrong, I will
I am afraid……"
There was still a sense of evasion in his words, but Zhu Qiyu obviously didn't give him a chance to refuse. He shook his head and said.
"Uncle Wang doesn't have to worry about these. I just said that I would send a guard of troops to Zhangzhou. For this reason, I will allocate a guard of troops from the Forbidden Army to escort these supplies to Zhangzhou. By the way, help
Wang Shuqing suppressed the local bandits. As for the trade matters, there is no need for Wang Shu to intervene. It is just that we need to borrow Wang Shu's name and say that these people are escorting Wang Shu. That's it. How about that?"
Although his tone was gentle, it clearly conveyed an undeniable tone.
Seeing this situation, King Dai also knew that he couldn't shirk it, so he could only nodded helplessly and said.