After listening to Zhen Zhijing's words, Xu De and Zhao Lian breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. It was good that the information was correct.
After looking at each other, Zhao Lian asked again, "How did you receive the goods?
Is there anything I need to pay attention to? "
Zhen Zhijing didn't dare to hide anything. He told them everything, and then he was taken away.
"Eunuch Xu, it seems that this time, all our previous efforts will be in vain!" After waiting for Zhen Zhijing to leave, Zhao Lian couldn't help sighing and said.
According to Zhen Zhijing, they didn't have any agreement with those Hongyi. After all, nothing had happened for so many years.
However, it was not certain whether anyone had passed the message.
After all, the Zhen family's matter was not small at that time. In addition, they killed a lot of Zhen Nippon pirates. Zhen Zhijing couldn't guarantee that no one had passed the message.
However, with so many people, it was very likely that the news would be leaked if one of them delivered the letter.
After listening to Zhao Lian's words, Xu De didn't show anything. He just smiled and said, "Now, we can only do our best and leave the rest to God. On the one hand, we must strictly investigate whether the message has been leaked. On the other hand, we must be prepared to receive the ship in three days."
At this time, they could only do this. Zhao Lian nodded and agreed with Xu De's opinion.
The capital, the Forbidden City, Wenhua Palace.
After the New Year, although the weather gradually became warmer, the sunny weather was still somewhat unbearable.
However, it was just the beginning of spring, and the weather was actually a bit hot. The key was that it didn't rain!
Since the New Year, whether it was rain or snow, there really wasn't any.
According to the past experience, the spring drought was coming again. It was simply terrible.
Zhu Yijun sighed. He was a little annoyed. The heavens were throwing a tantrum again.
Once God was in a bad mood, life on earth would be difficult. Whether it was the people or the emperor, all of them were looking forward to good weather.
Although he knew that it was impossible, Zhu Yijun couldn't help but think about it.
Zhu Yijun had imagined countless times that he, as a butterfly, would flap his little wings and blow away the Earth's Little Ice Age.
That way, his life would be much better, and he wouldn't have to be so conflicted. Now, it seemed that he was thinking too much.
Walking back to his throne, Zhu Yijun picked up the memorial in front of him and sighed tiredly.
Every time he faced these memorials, he needed a lot of courage. It was one thing, but the key was that the content inside was really all kinds of things.
Some people even put a lot of effort into their rhetoric. The words they used were gorgeous, and the allusions they used were accurate. However, it gave Zhu Yijun a headache.
Glancing at Zhang Jing, Zhu Yijun ordered, "Pass the decree to the cabinet."
Zhang Jing was startled and quickly bent down to listen carefully.
"Let the six departments of the cabinet, as well as the various yamens, simplify all the memorials in the future. Only talk about the matter, and save all unnecessary words."
At this point, Zhu Yijun said angrily, "Do they think that I am not tired of looking at them?"
"Tell them that this is not an essay in the imperial examination. This is writing memorials. Whoever writes nonsense and writes a bunch of useless nonsense can go teach for me."
Hearing his Imperial Majesty fly into a rage and even use vulgar words, how could Zhang Jing not know that his Imperial Majesty was extremely angry?
Without the slightest delay, Zhang Jing quickly bowed and said, "Old Slave will do it now!"
After Zhang Jing left, Zhu Yijun sighed helplessly. Gathering his courage, he reached out to pick up a memorial and began to flip through it.
He finally understood why the Daming Emperor was so annoyed by these things. It was an endless repetition, a daily life, and from time to time, he would be angered by the memorials of his subjects. In order to gain fame, he would dare to say all sorts of nonsense.
The one who submitted this memorial was Ceng Shengwu. Zhu Yijun found that there were still people who understood him.
For example, Ceng Shengwu's memorial did not have any nonsense words. It was basically a summary report.
The military reform of the Wei of Datong had been completed. The soldiers who were dismissed had also been arranged. The land had also been distributed, the recruitment of soldiers had also been completed, and the equipment had also been distributed. The defensive line had also been rebuilt. Everything was on the right track.
The construction of the Wei of Datong's woolen mill had also begun, and the goal was to complete it before the spring ploughing.
At the end of the memorial, Ceng Shengwu asked Zhu Yijun for an imperial decree to carry out military reform of the Xuan Manor.
Seeing the scene of the Wei of Datong in full swing, the Xuan Manor could no longer suppress it. The voices of the military households were very loud.
It was clear that the military households had been oppressed too much over the years. Now that they saw the situation of the Wei of Datong, how could they not be envious and want it?
Ceng Shengwu also proposed the matter of appointing teachers as soon as possible. He also asked Zhu Yijun to approve some money to establish private schools in the Wei of Datong and other places.
This proposal attracted Zhu Yijun's attention. He reached out to tap the memorial. Zhu Yijun felt that this was a good starting point, a good opportunity to establish a state-run school.
Compared to places like Jiangnan and other places with private schools, it was clear that the northwest, where the foundation was poor, was more suitable.
Teaching something different would not cause a huge uproar. This was a very good point.
"A semi-military school!"
Zhu Yijun decided on this point after some thought. Most of the commoners of the Wei of Datong had faced the Wala before, especially the military households.
If he built a semi-military school, there would be much less opposition.
It would be beneficial for him to promote the culture of learning and practicing martial arts. He would strive to let the Confucian disciples remember what Confucian scholars were like in the past.
Becoming a general and entering the prime minister realm, even wielding a sword to chop down people was not a problem. This aspect of the School of Heart was more suitable.
One had to know that there was a person like He Xinyin in the School of Heart. He studied literature and practiced martial arts, and his sword techniques were very powerful.
However, He Xinyin was now dead, but he still had Li Zhi!
"Having Li Zhi lead a group of people over might be a good idea." This was what Zhu Yijun thought.
He reached out to put Ceng Shengwu's memorial to the side. Zhu Yijun felt that he needed to carefully consider and study this matter.
The matter of the Xuan Manor's military reform could be put on the agenda. This was no surprise.
With the precedent of the Great Datong, the Xuan Manor's military reform should be much smoother.
He reached out to pick up the second memorial. This was Zhang Weixian's memorial.
In this memorial, Zhang Weixian introduced the process of the military reform in detail, as well as some of the problems encountered.
At the back, he wrote about the recruitment of soldiers for training, as well as his thoughts on asking Zhu Yijun to transfer students from the Martial Arts Lecture Hall.
Zhu Yijun did not want to object to this. There were indeed people who wanted to practice in the Martial Arts Lecture Hall.
It was also good to send these people to the Great Datong Guard. They could learn and gain experience there, and they could be of use in the future.
In addition, the Datong Guard was newly recruited. Zhu Yijun also hoped to bring some fresh things to the Datong Guard, and the students from the Martial Arts Lecture Hall were very suitable.
Zhu Yijun put down Zhang Weixian's memorial, and a smile appeared on his face. These memorials were very comfortable to look at, because they represented his achievements.
It had been 15 years. He had used 15 years to lay the groundwork, and 15 years to arrange various methods. Now, it was finally time to bear fruit.
Once again, he picked up the memorial from behind. This time, it was from Song Yingchang.
The materials for the Tianjin Shipyard had been prepared, and construction would begin when the weather warmed up.
The people from the Ordnance Department that Zhu Yijun had sent a few days ago had arrived. The cement and red bricks were also being prepared, which would greatly save time for construction.
This was another memorial that made Zhu Yijun feel very comfortable. It was very good.
As he tapped on the memorial, Zhu Yijun once again fell into deep thought. He planned to start building roads and cement roads after the spring ploughing.
Perhaps in the future, cement roads would not be strong enough because they would use mechanical vehicles.
In this era, when horse carriages were the main means of transportation, cement roads were definitely an epoch-making product.
Liao Yuan was prepared to build the first cement road to the Tianjin Harbor. After accumulating experience, Zhu Yijun was ready to start building cement roads from the capital to the Nine Regions.
Once these roads were built, the speed and loss of troops and supplies from the capital to the Nine Regions would be greatly reduced.
Once the ships were built at the shipyard and the route from Jiangnan to Tianjin was opened, Jiangnan's supplies could be continuously transported to the capital, and then quickly transported from the capital to the Nine Regions.
The cost was reduced, and the speed was increased. This represented huge war potential.
Once the training of the troops was complete, the military reform was complete, and the road construction was complete, it would be time for him to lead troops to conquer the plains.
Although he didn't know what the others were thinking, Liao Yuan really, really wanted to do this.
The Datong Prefecture Guards could work in the textile mills after they were retired, but the other Guards could not.
Zhu Yijun had another arrangement for them, and that was the construction team.
He would use the name of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to recruit large numbers of retired Guards in the provinces and turn them into specialized city construction workers.
With benefits, treatment, and wages, these people would become Daming's first batch of workers.
However, this would require money from the tournament. But Zhu Yijun was confident that he could use the country's funds and local funds, or perhaps sell something.
According to Zhu Yijun's calculations, even if he was short of money, he wouldn't be short of too much. The Datong Wei was about to start levying commercial taxes.
Once this gap was opened, he would have the money to do these things. In addition to the impending opening of sea trade, he would definitely have the money to do this.
Right now, Daming didn't lack money. As long as he thought of a way, he would be able to gather the money.
Putting Song Yingchang's memorial aside, Zhu Yijun stretched his body, and the expression on his face suddenly relaxed a lot.
He picked up another memorial. Zhu Yijun took a look and saw that it was from Xu De.
It described in detail the process of the raid on the Zhen family, as well as the discovery that the Zhen family had colluded with the pirates.
In reality, Zhu Yijun wasn't surprised at all that the Zhen family had colluded with the pirates. It wasn't the first time that large coastal clans had colluded with the pirates, and it wasn't a big deal.
As for what Xu De had asked about how to deal with the people in Fujian, the first thing that flashed through Zhu Yijun's mind was: pull a group, kill a group.
In reality, there was nothing to discuss about colluding with the pirates like the Zhen family. They could just be killed.
After Fujian was cleaned up, it would be Jiangzhe, then Guangxi, Guangdong, and other places. The coastal provinces had to be cleaned up.
After getting rid of some people, it would be easier for him to start. However, Zhu Yijun wouldn't be too hasty. He planned to use a year to do this.
When the coastal clans were almost cleaned up, he could propose to open up the sea.
He would set up the customs, establish the Department of Commerce, and establish a foreign trade company with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Now that the Dutch East India Company was plundering and looting everywhere, if he didn't join in, he would be letting them down.
Zhu Yijun really wanted to know how much power the coastal merchants could unleash once they were freed from their shackles.
Under the circumstances of Daming's restrictions, there were still Wang Zhi, Xu Hai, Li Dan, and Zheng Zhilong. Once they were released, and he supported them from behind, Zhu Yijun was looking forward to seeing what they could do.
Putting Song Yingchang's memorial aside, Zhu Yijun continued to read.
The rest of the memorials were basically no big deal. In fact, the memorials that Zhu Yijun saw were all screened.
Part of it was screened by the cabinet. Things that the cabinet could do and things that could be replicated were handled by the cabinet.
After the cabinet screened, the Department of Rites would also screen and put the important and urgent memorials on it.
After being busy for a long time, Zhu Yijun's back was sore, and even his buttocks were numb. He finally stopped his morning work.
Zhang Jing, who went to deliver the imperial edict, also returned. At the same time, he also brought back a person.
Cabinet Grand Secretary Wang Xijue.
Since the incident in Shandong, Zhu Yijun had given Wang Xijue the cold shoulder for a period of time. He didn't even mention the matter of opening up the vassal state again.
Wang Xijue also knew that Zhu Yijun was dissatisfied with him, so he was very low-key during this time.
However, what should be done still had to be done. The problem of the vassal state had to be solved.
After Wang Xijue walked into the hall, he respectfully saluted Zhu Yijun, "Wang Xijue greets Your Majesty!"
Zhu Yijun nodded, then said indifferently, "You may dispense with the formalities!"
When Wang Xijue stood up, Zhu Yijun asked, "How is you thinking about opening up the vassal state?"
In fact, the restrictions on the vassal states in the Ming Dynasty also led to the lack of power of the royal family.
If there were princes in the court, they and the civil officials would not be in the same pot, and the relatives would also have a leader.
Of course, this would also breed the ambitions of the princes. The fight for the throne would divide the officials, but it would also cause a lot of problems.
In short, there were advantages and disadvantages, but the problems faced were different according to the choice.
After listening to Zhu Yijun's words, Wang Xijue quickly bowed and said, "I already have a plan!"
Zhu Yijun nodded, "Then tell me about it!"
"I want to start with a vassal state first."
Wang Xijue also knew that he had been dissatisfied with Zhu Yijun last time. If he wasn't needed to open up the vassal state, he would have gone home already. So opening up the vassal state became his last straw, and he didn't dare to neglect it.
"Set an example with a vassal state, and then further open up the vassal state for other vassal states." Wang Xijue said the method he thought of, then waited for Zhu Yijun's answer.
Starting with a vassal state, it was obvious that the vassal state that Wang Xijue referred to was definitely not the later vassal states, but the flourishing first generation of vassal states, because their family pedigree was large enough and the most representative.