Chapter 175 The Lord Should Take the Blame for the King of Yan
When Zhu Yuanzhang received the letter from Zhu Biao, his head was buzzing.
He picked up Zhu Biao's letter and read it from side to side, acting as if he was illiterate and couldn't understand the letter.
Li Shanchang, Ye Zheng and Liu Ji were accompanying Zhu Yuanzhang in reviewing memorials.
After reading the memorial, Liu Ji handed it to Ye Zheng, who revised it and gave it to Li Shanchang. Li Shanchang made a final review and then handed the classified memorial to Zhu Yuanzhang to increase Zhu Yuanzhang's work efficiency.
When Li Shanchang was delivering the memorial, he noticed that Zhu Yuanzhang was pretending to be illiterate and asked in confusion, "Your Majesty, what happened to Biao'er's letter?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said very seriously: "Is it possible that I can't read?"
Li Shanchang: “?”
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "I may also be hallucinating!"
Li Shanchang: “???”
Ye Zheng put down his brush and laughed, "Did something happen in Beijing that Your Majesty couldn't believe?"
Liu Ji couldn't help but complain, "My Lord, you are now the Emperor. Can you please stop deceiving yourself when you see news you don't want to see? What happened?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said nothing and handed Zhu Biao's letter to Li Shanchang.
Li Shanchang quickly glanced at the letter, then suddenly covered his chest with his hands, looking like he was about to faint.
Ye Zheng quickly patted Li Shanchang's chest and said, "Prime Minister Li, what's wrong?"
Li Shanchang's eyes were dull, his mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out for a long time. He just gestured to stop Ye Zheng from calling the imperial physician.
Liu Ji stood up and walked over, puzzled, and picked up the letter that Li Shanchang had left on the table: "Let me see... Hmm? Ah?! What?! Me!!!"
Liu Ji quickly fell into the chair, staring blankly ahead, as if he were stupid.
Zhu Yuanzhang muttered, "You say I am deceiving myself, aren't you the same?"
Ye Zheng helped Li Shanchang calm down and hesitated for a long time before picking up the letter.
Seeing the actions of Zhu Yuanzhang and the other three, Ye Zheng had already prepared for .
The worst-case scenario is probably that the remaining Yuan Dynasty captures Beijing and Biaoer is injured?
He was mentally prepared. Although Ye Zheng was also shocked, he was not as shocked as Zhu Yuanzhang and the other two.
He didn't frown. "Your Majesty, did Biao'er's memorial come directly to you? Don't let anyone else know about it!"
Zhu Yuanzhang calmed himself down and said, "Biao'er's letters and memorials naturally come directly to me. How could I let others read them first?"
Ye Zheng breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good. Your Majesty, I suggest that we keep this matter secret for now and deal with the follow-up based on the results after the matter is over."
Li Shanchang finally caught his breath and said weakly, "Your Majesty, please quickly send Biao'er an imperial edict to allow the Prince of Yan to send troops."
Zhu Yuanzhang cursed, "What? I have to take the blame for that idiot Zhu Wenzheng!"
Liu Ji also came to his senses and said, "I'm not taking the blame for Zhu Wenzheng, but for Biao'er. Although Biao'er is a civil servant, if anything happens to Zhu Wenzheng, he can't escape the blame."
Zhu Yuanzhang cursed for a long time before reluctantly picking up his pen to write an imperial edict in plain language.
The three of them were all shocked and had no time to polish the imperial edict for Zhu Yuanzhang. They asked Zhu Yuanzhang to send his plain-language imperial edict directly to Beijing to reassure Biaoer.
When the guard was about to leave with the imperial edict, Zhu Yuanzhang quickly stopped the guard and rewrote it in a different handwriting.
He was so angry that he almost forgot to write the imperial edict to Biaoer using Wang Xi's left handwriting.
After relieving Zhu Biao of his worries and allowing him to stop worrying about being punished by the court, the four emperors and his ministers continued to discuss Zhu Wenzhen's lone advance into the deep.
This discussion was like no discussion at all. They were just busy scolding Zhu Wenzheng.
Zhu Yuanzhang kept swearing, while the three great writers quoted from classics, each with his own way of cursing.
After being tired of cursing, the four of them drank their tea and finally turned the topic to the possibility of Zhu Wenzhen winning this trip.
Liu Ji said, "Biao'er said that the Prince of Yan might disguise himself as a Mongolian noble. Does this seem feasible?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said, "If it wasn't feasible, Biao'er wouldn't have used all the grain in Beijing to support Zhu Wenzheng's actions! Damn it! How could Zhu Wenzheng be so bold?"
Ye Zheng tried to smooth things over, saying, "Your Majesty has given the Prince of Yan the power to send troops to the grasslands on his own. As long as the Prince of Yan's troops are heading beyond the borders and not to other parts of Ming, they can act without reporting to the court. The Prince of Yan is not acting recklessly."
Zhu Yuanzhang rolled his eyes. "If he wants to take care of Biao'er and it will implicate Biao'er, he won't disregard the law. If he fails in this expedition, he should be able to escape back... No, this guy has absolutely never thought that he will fail! He is so arrogant!"
Li Shanchang gnashed his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, this is not what you taught us!"
Zhu Yuanzhang argued: "What does it have to do with me? I'm just his fourth uncle, not his father!"
Li Shanchang scolded: "But he was raised and taught by you, so you are still his adoptive father!"
Zhu Yuanzhang: "...Okay, okay, it's my fault."
Seeing that Li Shanchang was so angry that he almost fainted, Zhu Yuanzhang gave in.
He also wanted Lao Li to work for him for a few more years.
After Li Shanchang became the prime minister, he kept in mind the boundaries between the monarch and his subjects most of the time and rarely treated Zhu Yuanzhang rudely as he had before.
Seeing that Li Shanchang was so angry that he even scolded Zhu Yuanzhang, Ye Zheng and Liu Ji felt a lot more relaxed for some reason.
"Alright, alright, Lord Li, don't be too angry. Zhu Wenzheng is capable, so he'll only send troops if he's sure of his chance." Liu Ji calmed down and smiled. "Even if you don't trust Zhu Wenzheng, Biao'er chose to use all the grain reserves in Northern Zhili to support him instead of chasing him back. I'm afraid Biao'er also has confidence. You should trust Biao'er."
Li Shanchang cursed, "Of course I trust Biaoer! But that bastard Prince of Yan should at least discuss this with Biaoer before setting out! Is he forcing Biaoer?"
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned. He had also thought of this.
No matter how good the relationship between Zhu Wenzhen and Biao'er is, Zhu Wenzhen is the Prince of Yan, and Biao'er is the crown prince and the future emperor. As a vassal king with military power, how can he force the crown prince?
Zhu Yuanzhang said coldly: "He may not want to be a vassal king anymore."
Li Shanchang said, "We should let him calm down. We can't rely on Biao'er to protect him. Otherwise, he won't know what he can and can't do!"
Ye Zheng thought for a while and said, "But Zhu Wenzheng forced Biao'er this time, probably for Biao'er's sake."
Zhu Yuanzhang said unhappily, "For Biao'er? When did you become friends with Zhu Wenzheng?"
Ye Zheng was at a loss for words: "I'm not familiar with Zhu Wenzheng. It's just that Zhu Wenzheng scolded the court officials, and the court officials' impeachment memorial to Zhu Wenzheng happened to pass through my hands."
Ye Zheng's words reminded Liu Ji of this. He was also in charge of the Imperial Censorate, so of course he would be the first to read the memorials that insulted others.
"Biao'er wants to allocate some of the steam engine's productivity to research equipment for land reclamation, water pumping, and other livelihoods," Liu Ji said. "After consultation with the court officials, Your Majesty believes that with the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty still standing in the north and Japanese pirates at sea, further research should be conducted on how to use steam engines in new weapons. The Prince of Yan submitted a memorial criticizing the court officials for only caring about war and not caring about the lives of the people."
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned: "Yes, that bastard even wrote a memorial to scold me!"
Every time Zhu Yuanzhang refused Zhu Biao's request, he felt guilty, thinking that he had failed as a father and could not meet his son's small request. So even when Zhu Wenzheng scolded him, he endured it.
He really couldn't meet Zhu Biao's request this time. The production process of the steam engine was very complicated, and although the cost had been reduced to a level acceptable to the Ming Dynasty, it was still too extravagant to use it for farming machines or water pumps.
Furthermore, the steam workshop's production and R&D capabilities were limited. If it were to develop tillers and water pumps, it would be impossible to continue researching warships and chariots. Zhu Yuanzhang had no choice but to refuse based on reality.
But what does this have to do with Zhu Wenzhen’s expedition?
Ye Zheng explained, "In his abusive letter, Prince Yan made a bet that he would soon wipe out the remaining Yuan Dynasty members, and that this group of people were not allowed to oppose Biao'er's proposal again."
Zhu Yuanzhang immediately remembered: "Yes, yes, yes! I remember too. Wen Zheng said that after he destroyed the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty and brought temporary peace to the north, he would be able to meet Biao'er's request and allocate some craftsmen to research what Biaoer wanted. I agreed!"
Li Shanchang, Ye Zheng, Liu Ji: "..."
They all looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with speechless eyes.
Zhu Yuanzhang was confused: "Why are you looking at me like that...at me!"
Li Shanchang gnashed his teeth and said, "This old minister apologizes to the King of Yan. This old minister has wronged the King of Yan and should not have scolded him."
Ye Zheng smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty... My Lord, you, you..."
Liu Ji flicked his sleeves and put his hands behind his back : "My Lord, since you agreed to this expedition, there is nothing more to say."
Zhu Yuanzhang was even more confused: "Why did I agree? I didn't agree!"
Li Shanchang closed his eyes and didn't want to talk anymore.
Ye Zheng continued to smile bitterly and shook his head repeatedly.
Liu Ji said angrily, "My lord, if you agree to the Prince of Yan's proposal and he destroys the remaining Yuan Dynasty, then you will satisfy Biao'er's request. Why didn't the Prince of Yan seize the opportunity to go to war? I finally understand why the Prince of Yan didn't tell Biao'er. If Biao'er knew that the Prince of Yan was going to war for him, he would definitely grab the Prince of Yan's legs and not let him go out."
Ye Zheng sighed, "Yes. Although the Prince of Yan is confident in this expedition, it is also very risky. Given Biao'er's caution, he will definitely advance northward mile by mile, turning it into Ming territory. This way, he will spend several years or even more than ten years to gradually erode the territory of Mongolia. Although this will consume more time and energy, the cost to Ming may be less."
Li Shanchang opened his eyes and said calmly, "If we want to carry out Biao'er's plan, Biao'er must continue to rule the north for several years, even more than ten years. No one else can do this except Biao'er. Even if we all go north, we are not as good as Biao'er. My lord, you should know this."
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned.
Of course he knew. Even if Biaoer wrote down his proposal on how to incorporate the grasslands into the Ming Dynasty, apart from Biaoer, no one else in the court had the "merchant mentality" to mobilize the resources of the border and grasslands and convert them into food and money.
No one else in the court was like Biao'er. Even though they were enemies of Mongolia, they still regarded Mongolia as a part of the Ming Dynasty. They always wanted to conquer the Lingbei Province of the Yuan Dynasty and bring the people of the Lingbei Province under the management of the Ming Dynasty.
Biaoer even thought about letting the herdsmen in Lingbei Province live a prosperous life without starving to death.
If the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty were not defeated in a major battle, the upper-class nobles of the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty were killed, and the Lingbei Province was not quickly occupied, Biao'er would be tied up in Beijing for several years or even more than ten years. Even if he became the crown prince, he would have to stay in Beijing to achieve his goals.
But Zhu Biao once said that when he grew up he wanted to visit other places in the Ming Dynasty and go to sea.
