Chapter 631: The emperor guards the gate of the country, and the king dies in the country

Since Taizu divided the vassal kings into vassal kings, although the vassals were not allowed to leave their fiefdoms without permission, they could always go to the capital for pilgrimage once every three to five years. However, the number of vassals going to the capital gradually decreased over time. Since Zhu Di After Beijing was established as the capital, the only vassal king who stayed in Beijing was the King of Zhou - and even this one was not on a pilgrimage, but because he was stabbed in the back.

It is well known throughout the world that the King of Han fell out of favor. The prince had not been allowed to go to Hajj for several years and could only stay in his fief. This time, he finally managed to persuade the prince to bring his third son, King Zhu Zhanluo of Jiyang, to the throne. It was sent to the capital to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. The day before Zhu Zhanluo entered the capital was the Wanshijie Festival and others left the capital for an envoy to Wala. However, compared with the deserted place there, the team that greeted them at Tongzhou Pier that day was quite impressive. Young people Zhu Zhanhe was not like his father and his elder brother who had imprisoned Xi Nei, but he was quite shy.

Since the emperor was still ill and Prince Zhu Gaochi came to Beijing to plead for mercy, the Ministry of Rites agreed that Zhu Zhanluo should enter the palace from Dong'anmen, visit Qianqing Palace first, and then visit the East Palace. People entered the city through Chongwenmen first. No vassal king had entered the palace for many years, and Zhu Zhanluo was the eldest among the seven sons of the King of Han. Naturally, the Jin Yiwei put the entire Chongwenmen Street under guard until people entered the palace. Then the guards along the way were withdrawn.

The late Yizhuang Crown Prince kept his secrets secret. The previous King Shouguang was a fool, and this King Jiyang was only thirteen years old. His timid appearance was not like that of a noble man from Tianhuang. He was really the nine sons of a dragon. same!

After returning home at noon, Yuan Fang couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when he thought of the golden man he had just met, and then thought about the news sent by Zhang Yue. Naturally, he kept staring at Le'an, but because there was Where the Han Palace is located, everyone up and down has been carefully screened by the palace guards like a sieve. There are few spies left by the Jin Yiwei, so even though he has accumulated a lot of reports in his hand, he will not easily Take action.

After all, the emperor was completely disappointed with the king of Han. He had tolerated it again and again, but now even if he retaliates, it would only attract the emperor's anger and have no real effect. Besides, the emperor's illness made him even more suspicious of the prince. If His report was mistakenly thought to be unclear between him and the prince, but it was not worth it. Moreover, instead of wasting it, it was better to calculate the opportunity to take action and let the evidence in his hand become the last straw that broke the king of Han's head. Furthermore, if the information sent by Zhang Yue is verified, then find an opportunity to send a letter to the leader of the White Lotus Sect. If there is chaos in Le'an, there will naturally be an opportunity!

"Ah Qi!"

Hu Qi had been following Yuan Fang disguised as a servant of the Yuan Mansion recently, and understood that the commander of the Jin Yiwei was already preparing for a retreat. At this time, he heard the sound and stepped forward. Compared with Zhang Yue, he was suddenly thicker at this time. His mustache looked very majestic and mighty: "What are your orders, sir?"

"I have something to tell you, which is the letter you brought back yesterday." Seeing that Hu Qi's expression did not change at all, Yuan Fang knew that Zhang Yue had not mentioned the above content to him at all, so he sighed, " Zhang Yue said in the letter that if I were not in my position, you might not be able to control the Jinyiwei underground spies for long. Now that he has been ordered to reorganize the spies of the Ministry of War, he just has such an opportunity. If you are If you are willing, it is better to take care of this matter. When the time comes, he can legitimately write to the emperor and ask for a parentage for the four of you. It will be better than the current unclear situation."

Although he was cultivated by Yuan Fang as the backbone of Jinyiwei in the past, since it was not allowed to enter Jinyiwei at will, and Dongchang was watching from above, Hu Qi gave up the idea. Therefore, after hearing Yuan Fang's words

, he just felt unbelievable. He thought of something else for a while, and then he suppressed the ecstasy.

"Sir, the young master is so kind, so I am naturally willing. However, if we leave, you..."

"It's not that all four of you have to be transferred away together. There has to be a sequence. Besides, I still have people available here. I called you back just to make you familiar with those affairs and to have more people on my hands. Now that Zhang Yue

I came up with such a good idea, which is just right for you. Besides...you have worked hard these years."

Yuan Fang finally changed the second half of what he said. He himself knew that it was difficult to start and end successfully in the Jinyiwei profession, but since he had entered this profession at the beginning, he had already given up. As long as the prince ascended the throne, he, as the commander of the Jinyiwei, would be cautious.

Well, he can at least be a comfortable farmer.

"You go back and report to your three brothers and sort out the matters at hand for now. By the way, you will release the messenger pigeon later and let Lin Sha take over the matter of Le'an. If Doctor Feng really

If you fall into the hands of the King of Han, you have to find out what he wants to do. In addition, you have people keeping an eye on King Jiyang, and you should not judge people by their appearance. The children of this emperor's family are all scheming people."

Since the founding of the country, the north has been a serious concern for the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, tribal leaders who come back from the north have always been treated favorably. This was the case with Huo Zhen, the former general under Zhu Di. Almost all the returning tribes were scattered along the Great Wall.

If other Mongolian tribes invade, they can resist one or two. If they can't resist, they will have reinforcements from the guard station. This has always been considered a great good governance. And because of the depth of this road, from here to the grassland, it is not very easy for the Mongolian people to invade.

It was difficult to gain a foothold, so almost all of the spies in the north of the Ministry of War were Mongolians, while the scattered smugglers were afraid of the court's punishment and rarely reported anything they gained to the government.

There are advantages to using Mongolians as spies, but there are also disadvantages, that is, a lot of information is often contradictory, and the credibility almost depends on luck. Therefore, since Zhang Yue has Zhu Di's approval, he selects from the Royal Horse Guards and his own troops.

A hundred men with innocent wealth but sharp wits appeared. After a brief training, he came up with the idea of ​​​​Jinyiwei.

In his opinion, if there is no profit, it is too late. What the Mongols care most about now is mutual trade. Therefore, although it is extremely risky for private traders to go out, there are still tribes willing to provide shelter. It is naturally the safest to obtain information through this channel.

, as for the required funds, it can be fully earned through the private goods carried, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone. In addition, he remembered that Hu Qi and others have never crossed the open road, so he thought about letting these masters of the secret front come.

He manages this business. However, his memorial was submitted through the General Affairs Department three days ago, but there was no reply for a long time.

That afternoon, a decree suddenly came from the palace to the Ministry of War - to strengthen the security of the border guard posts. The three guards of Jizhou, Baoding Prefecture, Zhending Prefecture, and Tianjin were ordered to select 20,000 elite guards for the guard posts and lead them to the

Beijing, in preparation for the retinue. Since all matters such as recruitment and deployment were under the control of the staff department, although he was frightened and uncertain, he could only prepare official recruitment documents and troop deployment letters with his equally uneasy colleagues. However, he had just drafted

After two official documents, a Zao Li's voice came from outside.

"Master Xiao Zhang, Eunuch Hai, the Royal Horse Supervisor in the palace, is here. He said that the emperor has summoned you to visit the Palace of Qianqing."

This shout immediately caused a commotion in the quiet room. Although everyone knew that the last time Zhang Yue was on duty alone at night, he met the emperor who paid a private visit incognito, but this could still be attributed to coincidence, but now this call is nothing. It couldn't be a coincidence. Everyone, including doctor Tang Yong, thought that Zhang Yue had been hanging around the Ministry of War in the past two or three years. When he packed up and went out, they immediately exchanged glances in twos and threes.

Hai Shou, who was dressed in a bright red robe of Jiangya seawater, saw Zhang Yue approaching and greeted him with a smile. Although he only came to deliver an order to Zhang Yue, he did not forget to go to the lobby first and meet Zhao Yue and Li Qing. Minister, after meeting each other now, he heard Zhang Yue say that he was going to the lobby to report to the two officials. He secretly sighed that this person was as smart as himself, so he nodded without saying anything. When they came back, As they went out to mount their horses together, he couldn't help but think of what the emperor had said to Zhu Gaochi just now in the Qianqing Palace.

"I forced him to be on the fifth level and trained him for three years, just so that you can use him in the future!"

Although what he likes most is money, Hai Shou also understands that these days, without power, there is no money. If he was just a low-level eunuch, then it would be impossible for him to go to North Korea several times, let alone to let the once aloof country. The Lord gave him so much property, let alone living comfortably in the capital. Therefore, on the way from the Meridian Gate to the palace, he had to get close to Zhang Yue, and by the way, he also conveyed the emperor's intention of summoning him to the palace. It was revealed. At the end, he reminded me softly.

"The Emperor has improved a lot today and is in a very good mood. If Mr. Zhang has anything to say, please feel free to say it. There is only one thing. You must not be like Xia Yuanji and do not accept the favor. The Emperor gave him a gift from an envoy yesterday. Two sets of winter clothes, but the people who came back didn’t know what to report, and the emperor’s face was gloomy all night long!”

After receiving such a warning, Zhang Yue felt awe-inspiring. He had been to Qianqing Palace many times, but his experience was very different every time. Therefore, as he entered, he paid close attention to the servants around him and found that many of them were strangers. Face. In front of the big red and gold-threaded brocade curtain embroidered with colorful clouds and rising dragons in front of Dongnuan Pavilion, Hai Shou, who was leading the way, stopped and opened the curtain himself. He raised his right hand and made a gesture. Seeing this scene, Zhang Yue bent down and stepped across the curtain. After crossing the threshold, I immediately smelled the scent of ambergris.

There was no trace of the emperor outside Dongnuan Pavilion, only two eunuchs standing with their hands down. Seeing Zhang Yue coming in, they were completely silent. At this moment, a deep voice came from inside: "Zhang Yue, come inside Come!"

Although there are three rooms inside and outside Dongnuan Pavilion, Zhang Yue had only been to the spacious outer room before. Now he heard the voice clearly coming from Zhu Di, and he quickly gathered his thoughts. There was a thick layer separating the inside and outside. As soon as he entered the agarwood-colored curtains, he saw Zhu Di reclining there covered with a tapestry on a soft couch facing the door, his eyes as sharp as ever.

"I've read your article before. It's not profitable. Even if you have to involve the word "profit" in this kind of thing, what should I say to you?" Zhu Di threw the note in his hand angrily. He sat on the plum blossom table next to the soft couch and saw that Zhang Yue just smiled. He knew that this boy must not have taken these words to heart. He couldn't help but sit up straight and said, "Since I promised you this in the first place, this time It's up to you to take care of things. You said you could be self-sufficient, so I won't spend even a penny. Let's see how you, a clever woman, can make a living without rice!"

Zhang Yue wanted this name. He was overjoyed and quickly bowed and said, "I will do my best."

"Although the grassland produces horses and cattle and sheep, there is no tea, no salt, and few iron tools. They have always relied on mutual trade. Now you use this method to send people there, and it will indeed work. But there is one thing, you are not a businessman, do you understand

?”

"I understand that this is just to obtain information, not entirely to make profits. Moreover, in order to prevent the original smugglers from leaking military information, we must crack down on the private market, so that we can be safe." Seeing Zhu Di nodding, Zhang Yue said that he would not do anything good.

The contents written in the memorial are carefully explained one by one, and at the end he said, "In addition, I feel that a group of people should be selected from the people who surrendered in the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty and repatriated. After all, this can also confuse the public, but

Occasionally, important information can be obtained. After all, caravans have to go step by step to find out information. Furthermore, in order to be quick, in addition to fast horses, carrier pigeons can also be used to convey information..."

"You can just take care of these things. I will ask the cabinet to draw up an edict today and grant you the title of Fangsi Langzhong. But..."

After a pause, Zhu Di stretched out his thumb and middle finger and pressed the temples next to his eyes, and then said without raising his head: "Now that the weather is high and the horses are fat, since there is news that Arutai is going to invade the border, we must be on guard. I

We decided to lead an army to patrol the border, reaching Wanquan in the west and Daning in the east. This time we did not recruit too many soldiers and horses, but only selected 10,000 soldiers from the capital camp, plus 20,000 people from the counties of North Zhili, for a total of 30,000 people.

If we do encounter them, we will give them a head-on blow. When we reach Daning, these 40,000 troops and horses can also be used to rebuild the Daning city wall. I know you have a few capable subordinates, take them with you, and you can patrol the border with me."

Even though Zhang Yue had already made some assumptions when he got the news, he was still shocked when he heard the word patrol. Why did Zhu Di decide to leave when he was still ill?

Beijing? Even if you are really worried about the Tatars or Oaras invading the border, you can adopt Yang Rongjin Youzi's idea to send more troops to the borders to take precautions. There is no need to go there in person?

"Since I moved the capital to Beijing, I want to suppress Meng Yuan and make them unable to move. Even if this is not a northern expedition but a border patrol, it will be enough to scare those Xiaoxiao who have ulterior motives!" At this time, Zhu Di suddenly joined his five fingers and clenched them tightly.

He raised his fist and said, "I want those barbarians to know that even when I am old, I am still a tiger that they cannot touch. They can never underestimate me!"

Seeing Zhu Di's eyes widening, showing an indescribable determination and enthusiasm, Zhang Yue immediately shut his mouth. In the eyes of those scholar-bureaucrats who follow the way of sages, it is natural for the emperor to rule the world with his clothes, but this kind of governance

How can it be so easy in the world? What's more, Zhu Di was originally a very independent emperor, and he would never change things he had set his sights on.
Chapter completed!