Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 358: Restoration of Zhou's Enfeoffment
Zhu Suzhen thought that he was called in to take care of the mess in the Tang Palace. So when Fang Zhenghua and a few eunuchs carried Zhu Shuohui, who had collapsed into a pile of mud, out, he also wanted to leave. But he was kept by Zhu Youdong.
After Fang Zhenghua carried Zhu Shuohui away and closed the door, Zhu Youdong spoke: "Three uncles, please take a seat. I have a final solution to the problem of my royal family, please consult with me."
Huh? Is this so-called ultimate plan aimed at our vassal king?
Zhu Youdong considered the decision of choosing these three people for a long time.
No matter how enterprising and vigorous these Ming royal family members were before, after being kept in captivity for so long, most of them had already become useless.
But in order to carry out Zhu Youdong's ultimate plan, he had to set a benchmark among the royal family. There was no other way but to pick the tallest one among the short ones.
Among these "high sons", Zhu Youdong first circled Prince Fu Zhu Changxun. Because, whether it was Concubine Zheng's help after the "Snow" incident, or Zhu Changxun's firm stand in the case of hook kiss, Zhu Youdong owed this family a great favor. In addition, this was Wanli's favorite son, so Fu Fan was the first choice.
The next one was Zhu Changying, the vassal of Gui. He was only three years older than Zhu Youdong, so they were the same age. At this time, he had not yet been enfeoffed, and he was still young and had some spirit. So he was also included in the first batch of considerations.
As for Wanli's sixth son, Prince Hui Zhu Changrun? He was also the same age as Zhu Youdong, but he was a devout Buddhist. Forget about this kind of thing.
Of course, since the benchmark is to be set within the royal family, it cannot be just the princes of Zhu Laosi's branch - that would be detrimental to unity. Therefore, one or two branches must be selected from the branches of Zhu Laosi's other sons.
Of these two branches, Zhu Youdong first selected the Tang Wang branch: Zhu Shuohui would definitely be deposed this time. Then Zhu Qizhen and his son Zhu Youjian were good choices.
As for choosing the Zhou Wang line, of course, it was because on the one hand, the first Zhou Wang and Zhu Laosi were brothers from the same mother. On the other hand, in the original historical plane, when the peasant uprising army swept across the Central Plains, only the Zhou Wang organized an effective resistance - the son of the current Zhou Wang Zhu Suzhen, Zhu Gongyao, was one of the few capable princes in the late Ming Dynasty.
"My three uncles, before I tell you about my ultimate solution, let me first inform you of the recent situation of the war between our Ming Dynasty and the two thieves Siam and Japan.
Since the victory of the decisive battle in the East China Sea on February 15 this year, our Yunnan garrison, led by General Ma Chengzhao, has entered Myanmar from Yunnan and joined forces with the Burmese army to fight the Siamese on the Irrawaddy River Plain. Well, it was a draw. In fact, if the Burmese army had not retreated in the middle of the battle, our army should have at least won a small victory.
In addition, the Second Army of our new army has entered Annan from Guangxi under the leadership of General Liu Zhaosun. The Zheng family of Annan has generally cooperated, supplying food to the army along the way and organizing civilians to build bridges and roads. At present, Liu Zhaosun's army has entered the area controlled by the Nguyen family in southern Annan and has received strong support from the Nguyen family. Now, I am preparing to let Yan Siqi lead part of the fleet to the south to cooperate with Liu Zhaosun to launch the Mekong River Campaign and completely capture the Mekong Delta.
On the eastern front, at the end of February this year, Li Guozhu had already transported the Third Army of our new army to Taiwan Island. The army is conducting training in accordance with the local terrain and climate. After that, Li Guozhu led the fleet northward, and after resting and replenishing at the Binhai Shipyard, it will sail to the waters near North Korea to cut off the connection between the Japanese pirates in North Korea and their homeland. "
"Your Majesty is wise. The might of our dynasty cannot be resisted by these two thieves."
"Yes, it seems that the defeat of the two thieves happened only in the last one or two years."
"Hmm." After speaking softly, Zhu Youdong looked at the three princes with a smile: "Three uncles, what will happen after the defeat of these two thieves? Do you have any ideas?"
"Your Majesty, I am a vassal king, what can I do... Your Majesty, you!"
"Hahaha, Uncle San, what did you think of? Please just tell me."
"Your Majesty, I do have some ideas, but I think this idea is too, too absurd? No, no, no, it's too bold."
At this time, Zhu Changying and Zhu Suzhen also reacted, and their eyes were filled with astonishment and a hint of expectation.
"Hahaha, that's right, three uncles. I want to restore the true feudal system of the Western Zhou Dynasty to my Ming royal family!"
"emperor!"
Standing up, Zhu Youdong personally took out a roll of East Asian map and unfolded it in front of the three princes: "Three uncles, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, we have fought many wars with foreign countries, but basically we withdrew our troops after winning, rarely occupied land, and basically did not plunder local people. You have all read the six major newspapers in recent years, so what has Spain done in the Americas in the past hundred years?
Think about our Ming Dynasty. We fought for Korea for six years, and tens of thousands of soldiers died in a foreign land. The rich treasury that Zhang Taiyue had accumulated for our Ming Dynasty after ten years of hard work was completely emptied. But what did we get? And what about Spain? Every year, millions of taels of gold and silver were shipped back to the mainland from America... I have been wondering, why is our Ming Dynasty so generous? Would rather suffer losses to the point of almost collapsing the treasury, and become so poor that hundreds of thousands of royal family members almost starved to death, than take even one tael of silver from Korea?
Yesterday, at my coronation ceremony, the Korean King Li Hui came in person. According to Sun Wei of the Censorate, this guy actually wanted to mobilize the imperial censors to impeach the Liaodong Governor Li Sancai, saying that Daofu had emptied the entire Korean treasury on the pretext of arranging expenses for the Liaodong Army, and said that he wanted to come to the imperial court to file a complaint when I was free. Humph, I am really busy and have no time to deal with him. Even if I have time to see him, I will tell him that Li Sancai only took some money from him, but what I want is the land of Korea! "
After saying this, Zhu Youdong tapped his finger on the map: "After all, they are countries with millions or even tens of millions of people, and they have their own independent writing, language and culture. Therefore, after this war, Japan and Siam will not be completely destroyed. But as a punishment, in addition to their current kings and generals being beheaded, a large piece of their existing land will also be cut off as compensation for the invasion of our Ming Dynasty. In addition, North Korea and Myanmar need us to restore their country, shouldn't they cut off half of their land to express their gratitude? Also, the Mekong Delta is a no-man's land. If my Ming Dynasty takes it this time, will it be transferred to Annan? If Annan's Nanzheng and Beiruan don't cooperate well in this war, I will cut a piece of meat from Annan!"
Then, according to the emperor, these places may become our fiefdoms in the future?
After hearing Zhu Youdong's domineering declaration, Zhu Changxun's eyes sparkled, and Zhu Changying was also very excited. As for Zhou Wang Zhu Suzhen, he was in his fifties after all, and after his excitement, he quickly thought of a question.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty is so domineering that even I, the ministers, feel terrified when we get closer. But..."
"What does Uncle Zhou want to say?"
"Your Majesty, Emperor Chengzu also sent troops to occupy Annan in the past, but..."
"Uncle Zhou is right. This is one of the reasons why I did not consider completely destroying Siam and Japan. However, after Chengzu conquered Annan, he did several things wrong. The first of these was to arrange for temporary officials to manage Annan. Annan is a country with its own main ethnic group, writing, language and unique culture. In addition, it is too far away from Nanjing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, it was actually inappropriate to use temporary officials to manage it at that time. Secondly, Chengzu, Renzong and Xuanzong also made a mistake, which was to regard the people there as the people of the Ming Dynasty!
Now, first, I will not completely destroy these countries that already have their own independent cultures. Second, I will not send officials to manage them, but will enfeoff my royal family kings there as kings, and the kings there are not the kings of my current Ming Dynasty. When you go there to be king, except for maintaining a common voice with the Ming Dynasty in diplomacy and obeying my dispatch in military affairs, you can make all other decisions on your own! Third, now that my Ming Dynasty has steam engines and cement, we will soon build railways and roads on a large scale. Improved transportation will make it faster for the court to deploy its power. With these three measures, as long as the royal family we send there to be kings is not too useless and their governance level is slightly higher than that of the original local rulers, once this comparison comes out, what will the local people choose? Need I say?"
Looking at the three uncles whose eyes were getting brighter and brighter, Zhu Youdong chuckled: "Three uncles, I heard that among the twenty-eight princes of the Ming Dynasty, the Shu Palace is the most magnificent and the largest in area. But how big can the Shu Palace be? It's only more than three hundred acres.
"Three uncles, do you want to go to these places to be kings, to govern tens of millions of acres of land and hundreds of thousands or even millions of people? Or do you want to continue to stay in the palace of a few hundred acres and be idle and wait for death?"
"Your Majesty, if you don't mind, I am willing to give it a try and become the king of Joseon in the future. When I go there, I will definitely abolish the two-class system and implement the imperial examination system. Within ten years, the people in the remaining lands of Joseon will definitely rush to my rule!"
Zhu Changying, who was standing next to him, cursed his third brother in his heart for being so shameless and directly robbed him. At the same time, he quickly bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to give it a try. If I go to Japan, I will definitely reduce taxes and levies, so that those Japanese people who still live under the five officials and five people system will all yearn for the benevolence of our Ming Dynasty."
The fifty-year-old King Zhou was obviously stunned: after all, he was old, and his fighting spirit had been reduced too much. Moreover, as he got older, he had to be more stable, so he did not express his opinion immediately. But he immediately thought: he was old, but what about his son? What about his grandson? It was rare that the emperor gave priority to Zhou Fan because the first King Zhou and Chengzu were brothers from the same mother. If he did not seize this opportunity and the news spread, wouldn’t he be blamed to death by his own children and grandchildren? !
So he hurriedly paid his respects and said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to go to Siam in the future, abolish the local serfdom, cancel the right of first night, and let the local people enjoy the benevolent rule of our Ming Dynasty."
"Hahaha, please stand up, three uncles." After helping the three of them up, Zhu Youdong said, "I know the ambitions of the three uncles. After the war, I will give priority to arranging the three of you to return to your country. Yes, we also need to add the Tang vassal. The current King of Tang is a bastard, but I heard that the Prince of Tang insisted on teaching his eldest son to read in prison, and he seems to be a good person."
"Your Majesty, please rest assured. I will personally escort Prince Tang to Nanyang after the meeting and will definitely send Prince Tang to Beijing in one piece."
"Okay, then I'll leave it to Uncle Zhou."
After saying this to Zhu Suzhen, Zhu Youdong said to the three princes: "Let me reveal a little more news to the three uncles. In the future, there will be no more princes, let alone county princes, in the mainland of Ming Dynasty. I plan to spend 20 to 30 years to achieve this goal."
When the three princes heard this, their first reaction was to dissuade them, but after a little thought, they thought: I would rather die than let my friend die! We have already found a good place, so let the other royal families die!
So the three of them bowed again in unison: "We will follow the emperor's orders and do our best to cooperate!"
"Hahaha~" Zhu Youdong helped the three men up one by one: "This matter is extremely important. It involves the change of our Ming Dynasty's national policy and the national destiny of all the surrounding countries. So please keep it a secret after you leave. If there is any rumor, I will not admit it. And even if the Zhou Dynasty's enfeoffment is implemented at that time, it has nothing to do with you three uncles. At least the first batch has nothing to do with you."
