Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1149 The hero of Ziguang Pavilion

As the cabinet was busy, Shaowu's 22nd year passed in a blink of an eye, and the time came to Shaowu's 23rd year.

The Zhengdan Dynasty was as lively as ever.

Zhu Yixi didn't pay much attention to those fancy articles and simplified them a lot. At three or four o'clock in the afternoon, he left after eating the food and allowed the officials to do their thing.

At the banquet, Du Yinxi, the chief minister of the cabinet, had a gray beard and sat slightly stooped, holding a wine glass and taking a sip from time to time.

No one dared not give the chief assistant face.

Even if the prince saw this 69-year-old man, he would have to bow to him.

The second assistant, Yan Yingyuan, sat aside, holding back a lot of wine from the first assistant, with a slightly respectful expression.

Du Yinxi was naturally satisfied with this.

It is naturally a happy thing to have a second assistant who is sensible and interesting.

For the ministers, Du Yinxi is old and strong, but Yan Yingyuan is a future star and has great hope of taking over as the chief minister.

In comparison, Liu Xiangke and Yan Qiheng, the two group assistants, were quieter, but there was an endless stream of people coming to toast.

Of course, those with low status are not eligible to queue.

In this formal entertainment, the envoys of various vassals in Beijing (full name of the envoys to the Ming Dynasty Emperor) were not far behind, and their position was very high.

Du Yinxi, who squinted his eyes slightly, saw the Qin Dynasty envoy approaching, took a sip from his wine glass, and said softly:
"Now the Qin vassal is in peace and contentment. How many kings have been granted in Liao?"

The envoy of Qin was stunned for a moment, lowered his head and said: "Thanks to your majesty's great blessing and the blessing of our ancestors, my king has made three great kings and will be stationed in the wilderness in the hope of becoming a king."

"The Qin vassal territory has almost doubled in size. I'm afraid there aren't many Han people!"

Du Yinxi was noncommittal and agreed to Qin's conquest of Laos. Naturally, the court agreed. Of course, he had no objection.

But in order to prevent Qin from developing unnecessary ambitions, it is natural to crack down on it.

The Qin envoy was puzzled.

"Your Majesty knows the situation of the Qin vassal, so he promised that your vassal can recruit people from various places to move to Qin, as long as it is approved by our Ministry of Civil Affairs."

Du Yinxi chuckled and said: "We, the Han people, entering the Qin Dynasty are really great benefits and noble vassals!"

As expected, the Qin envoy was overjoyed and immediately bowed down: "What the chief minister said is absolutely true. The Han people are the foundation. The more of them there are, the more stable the vassal state will be!"

This conversation was fair and aboveboard, and the envoys on the side were immediately excited.

Du Yinxi shook his head, picked up the wine and drank it, paying no attention to it.

Yan Yingyuan took over the matter and said with a smile: "Your Majesty is concerned about the vassal states. In addition to the Qin vassal, the Qi vassal, the Liao vassal, the Yue vassal, and the Zhao vassal can go into the mainland to recruit people, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs will finally approve it. .”

“This greatly reduces your time and geographical constraints.”

"But one thing, I have to say it at the beginning, people are naturally free to move, but after entering the feudal country, they must treat each other well and don't do anything stupid."

"It should be noted that the vassal states are all in foreign lands, and the Han people are the fundamental ones."

These words were beautifully spoken, and the scene became increasingly heated.

After the banquet, it was evening.

A formal banquet is a social event, while a serious conversation is a private banquet.

No, the envoys headed by the State of Qin began to hold banquets in private.

Compared with the taboo of making friends with courtiers privately, the exchanges between envoys of various dynasties are quite open.

The Qin envoy sat in chief, followed by the Qi envoy on the left and the Liao envoy on the right.

Then they were arranged according to the order of the princes: Yue Envoy, Wei Envoy, Fu Envoy, and Zhao Envoy.

The only exception was the North Korean envoy, who had to force his way in, while Burma and Japan had their eyes on them and went home early.

The eight envoys looked relaxed, and the wine table in front of them was filled with delicacies. Because they wanted to talk about serious business, there was no beauty to accompany them.

"This immigration incident is just the icing on the cake for our country of Qin, but for our country of Qi, it is a timely help!"

The Qin envoy smiled.

The envoy Qi poured a full gulp of wine and said, "That's true. I've been traveling around the provinces over the years, and I finally encountered a few victims who were robbed by you. It's not easy!"

"Who doesn't know that your country, Qi, has made a fortune by selling its minerals? Gold and silver mines are being exploited in a big way, so naturally there is a shortage of people!"

The envoy of Qin felt sour in his heart. Damn it, Qin only has a lot of coal and grain. What does this mean?

"That means I can live a good life in these two years!" The envoy of Qi said with a hint of contentment: "There is no shortage of money now. As long as the immigrants keep up, I will be able to enter the feudal court within the year, and the eight judgments will be within reach!"

"This is really a timely help."

Several other people looked envious, but Yue Zhi buried his head in eating without getting involved too much.

But there are no secrets in the capital.

The country of Vietnam was close to Japan and made an unknown amount of money through the exchange of gold and silver and the export of copper ore.

It is typical to make money by changing hands, which is much more comfortable than opening a mine in Qi State.

"How many people will be admitted to your clan?"

Facing the inquiry, Yue Shi put down his chopsticks and smiled: "My Yue country is narrow, bitter and cold, and cannot compare with Qi country. Two to three million is enough."

Now, everyone knows the strength of the Yue Kingdom. Without one or two million, who dares to boast?
A resettlement household will receive at least ten silver yuan in food and grain resettlement. The resettlement depends not only on the land area, but also on the overall strength.

"The noble domain has previously sought to co-administer Sakhalin Island, which is no smaller than Hainan. It seems that it has been well prepared."

Seeing the lively conversation among these people, the Liao envoy was unhappy and put down his chopsticks directly: "It's convenient for you. Just drive people to the beach and take a trip on the boat, and you can get there directly."

"Our country, Liao, is thousands of miles away. It's not unusual to travel for half a year, and it's easy for three to five months. Immigration is not easy."

"Everyone, your family has a big business and a lot of money. Can you let me pick first to avoid losing everything?"

This miserable performance made several people laugh.

This is also the original intention of them coming to eat together.

"I can let you choose [-]% first!" Qin envoy said seriously.

"Too little, maybe [-]%!"

"At most [-]%."

"That's all!"

When meeting a refugee, he first selects [-]%, which satisfies this condition.

Others don't mind anything

The Liao Kingdom was short of people and soldiers. Even if all the strong men were taken away, it would not matter, because they were not short of soldiers, but farmers.

Next, several people discussed for a long time and reached a consensus:

In the next three years, regardless of private recruitment, once refugees are encountered, Liao will first select [-]% of the people, Qin and Qi will select [-]%, Yue will select [-]%, and Zhao will select [-]%.

Fuguo and Weiguo have no say, their capitals are under construction!
North Korea will naturally not interrupt. They cannot control the refugees in their country.

After talking about immigration, the next step is naturally the highlight: resource exchange.

This is a move for them to gain political weight at home.

Because this is not for trade with the vassal states, but for the private treasury of the kings.

The first words of the Qin envoy were: "Our Qin State has a lot of land and three crops a year. Not to mention, there is a lot of food. I heard that there are droughts in Korea. If there is a shortage of food, just say a word and it will be delivered within a month."

"Of course, there are more cattle."

At this time, North Korea could only reply: "North Korea is a small country and the people are poor, so they are short of food. However, our country does not have much money, which can be replaced with Korean ginseng, silk, books, herbal medicine, lacquerware, paper, etc." Compared with the Ming Dynasty, North Korea is worthy of its reputation. It’s Little China, and the exported goods are basically reduced-grade Ming products. The quality is poor, but they are still usable.

This made several countries happy.

After all, silk from the Ming Dynasty was too expensive for ordinary people and nobles to afford, so they could make do with silk from North Korea.

Ginseng is a life-threatening thing, extremely rare.

So everyone started booking.

The envoy of Qi spoke grandly: "We in Qi have no shortage of gold and silver, and we also have copper mines, as well as sugar and spices. If you need them, you can come and exchange them."

Gold, silver, and copper were hard currencies, and sugar and spices were also rare items, so they were naturally sought after.

The Liao envoy could only bite the bullet and said: "We in Liao have only sweat-blooded horses, which are expensive and take a long time. This needs to be prepared half a year in advance!"

However, this made several envoys' eyes gleam.

Is there any more majestic mount than a bloody BMW?
What king doesn't need this?
In an instant, almost every family ordered two horses, a male and a female.

The State of Yue was even more powerless: "I do have some gold and silver. What is scarce are grain, farm tools, and pig iron. The only exports are some mink skins and whale oil."

Fu Shi is far away from the grassland and cannot rely on the sea. It is not cost-effective to transport things there. It is better to go directly to Beijing to import!
Weiguo, on the other hand, was captured by the Khmer every two years. It was still in a state of blood transfusion from the imperial court and had no special products to offer, so it could only remain silent.

In this way, several countries negotiated and settled on an order worth millions. It was all barter, which was simple, convenient, and more profitable.

Several people made an agreement that if the transaction goes well, they will continue it after half a year.

Making money for the king in the country means getting promoted and making a fortune.

After the Lantern Festival, the spirit of the new year fades away, but some people did not survive it.

On the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, Duke You Shiwei of Yiguo died of illness at the age of 73. His eldest son You Chengdong, who was nearly fifty, presided over the funeral.

He also appealed to the clan government and asked for a successor.

This is of course a natural answer.

Countless nobles came to attend the funeral.

Although You Shiwei, one of the ten most powerful princes, has been out of power for many years, he still cannot be defeated.

His third brother, You Shilu, was awarded the title of marquis because he pacified Horqin, which helped support the You family.

The emperor seemed to have recalled his old friendship and came to pay homage in person.

He was also awarded 5000 silver yuan as funeral expenses.

This can be considered a lot of help.

You must know that everyone in the world has died again. When You Shiwei left, hundreds of people were invited by monks and Taoists alone. Not to mention all kinds of banquets, the white cloth alone stretched hundreds of feet.

Without 5 to [-] yuan, it would be impossible to match the dignity of the Duke of Guo.

Zhu Yixi naturally knew what was going on, and the 5000 yuan was no more or no less, which was considered his sincerity.

This is the first among the Dukes to die.

Feeling grateful, Zhu Yixi decided to imitate Emperor Taizong's 24 heroes of Lingyan Pavilion, and he really wanted to rank the Shaowu heroes and debut in a group.

"Just Ziguang Pavilion!"

"Twenty-four is too few. Ninety-nine are one, just the 24 heroes of Ziguang Pavilion!"

Once the plan was decided, it was natural to arrange it.

There is no doubt that No.1 is Zhao Shu. This person is comparable to Xiao He and Li Shanchang, and he also presided over the emperor's wedding. He is a veritable No.1.

Ranked second is naturally Zhu Meng, Duke of Xuan, and then Li Jizu, Duke of An.

One is the closest clan member, and the other is a good brother who has followed him from the beginning, so he is naturally the top three.

The remaining people basically include all the princes, most of them are marquis, and some civil servants.

Such as Zhu Mou, Feng Xianzong and Wang Yingxiong.

Wang Yingxiong died of illness three years ago.

Naturally, this matter cannot be left to others. Zhu Yixi handled it personally. The ranking was also based on the credit and distance in his mind.

Roughly fair.

Even Wu Sangui was ranked at the forefront because of his contribution to the Guanning cavalry and his help in the destruction of Liaodong.

The ill feeling from future generations did not sway him.

After all, in this era, Wu Sangui had not yet committed any serious crimes.

However, Zhu Yixi didn't want to hide it, so she casually revealed some rumors.

At this time, the government and the public were boiling.

Not to mention the military generals, the civil servants are also gearing up.

Everyone wants to know if they are more prominent in the history books.

Among them, Zhu Mou, who had become an official, could not hold back his anger and came to the Duke's Mansion.

The former chief minister, Duke Zhao Shu of the Kingdom of Fu, who had been in charge of the court for more than ten years, was personally writing the story at this time.

"Mr. Zhao!" Even though he had retired for seven or eight years, Zhu Mou still had respect for the nearly seventy-year-old man.

After all, I have worked under him for nearly 20 years, and my awe is deeply rooted in my bones.

"Why does Lord Zhu have the intention to come to my place?"

Zhao Shu raised his head and then immersed himself in writing again.

He said casually: "Just wait for me for a moment. I'll be fine in a while."

"The history of the Ming Dynasty has been completed. Some finishing work, I, an old man, will not join in the fun and leave it to the young people."

"Perhaps because I have compiled too many books, I want to compile a genealogy for the family and trace it back to its origins. The closest thing in the world is blood. It is far away, but there is an ancestral hall. That is where I belong."

"Although there are many people, good and bad, there are still some talents. It will be good for my family to support them."

"En Yin is something that won't last for a few years."

Listening silently, Zhu Mou sighed: "Mr. Zhao still has his family, mine can only be scattered, some die, some escape, and very few survive!"

Almost a quarter of an hour later, Zhao Shu raised his head and stretched his body: "Drink tea."

"As the saying goes, if you don't have anything to do, you don't go to the Three Treasures Palace. Why does Lord Zhu have the intention to come to my place for tea?"

Zhu Mou smiled: "I am also a common person in this world, caring about fame and fortune."

"Now His Majesty is preparing the heroes of Ziguang Pavilion, and sir is naturally at the top of the list. I wonder if I can be among the 30 people!"

The emperor's rumor was really just a little bit, and he didn't mention the number of places, which naturally made many people panic.

Zhu Mou is no exception.

He is now just the earl of Jiaenlai, and because he had evilly treated the emperor before, which led to a large-scale transformation, the possibility of being included in it is very small.

Naturally, he wanted Zhao Shu to help.

"I heard it!" Zhao Shu chuckled and said, "The number of people and the order are all based on His Majesty's wishes. You can't force it!"

"If I intercede for you, I will bore Your Majesty and the gain will outweigh the loss."

"Relax, you are famous for your kindness these days!"

(End of this chapter)