Zhu Yuanzhang's brows were furrowed, and the eunuchs below were trembling with fear.
Even Liu He held his breath and did not dare to make any sound.
It is said that accompanying a king is like accompanying a tiger. Although Liu He and Jiang Yu have always been by Zhu Yuanzhang's side, they never dared to go beyond the limits. They also did not dare to say that they felt that they had some weight in His Majesty's heart just by getting along with him day and night.
.
Maybe other dynasty kings have this possibility, but this will definitely not happen to Zhu Yuanzhang. Anyone who has such an idea will have more than three feet of grass on his grave.
Not to mention the eunuchs in the palace, even those founding officials who made great contributions, and a few of them have been able to live well, haven't they all been buried in the ground?
The original group of people who followed His Majesty have been gone since the death of King Tang He of Dongou.
This is because the return of Zhu Yuanzhang has made Zhu Yuanzhang's once violent murderous intention much more restrained. In today's court, countless people in the court have been beheaded.
And Zhu Yuanzhang is in a very bad mood today.
The cold wind was howling outside, and there were charcoal fires for heating in the Huagai Hall, but Zhu Yuanzhang's expression still felt so cold.
"This group of scoundrels used to feel lawless and unscrupulous when they left this capital. Now they feel like they have gone overseas, so they don't take us seriously at all."
"You have eaten the heart of a bear and the courage of a leopard, and now you even dare to intercept our things."
Zhu Yuanzhang became furious and threw the memorial to the ground.
The eunuch guards in the palace immediately fell to their knees on the ground.
Zhu Yuanzhang stood up angrily. Unable to vent his anger, he kicked the standing cabinet next to him violently.
The top-quality blue and white porcelain that was loaded on it shattered just like that.
The flying debris was everywhere, but Zhu Yuanzhang's anger still couldn't be reduced by half.
At this time, the door opened, and the cold wind rushed in.
Zhu Ying was the only one who dared to open the door without warning.
Zhu Ying took a look at the situation inside and ordered: "Everyone, get out."
Everyone in the palace was relieved and hurriedly bowed their heads and left, especially Liu and Jiang Wei, who were even more grateful that their grandson came to the rescue.
After the door closed, Zhu Yuanzhang was still angry.
Zhu Ying stepped forward and picked up the scattered memorials from the ground, and quickly browsed them.
In fact, he probably already knew what made the old man so angry.
This report tells the story of the King of Qin, King of Jin, King of Yan, and King of Qi who secretly withheld mineral deposits.
According to the laws set by the Ming Dynasty, 30% of these mineral deposits on the Japanese island of Kyushu must be paid to the national treasury as taxes from overseas vassals.
Wealth and silk attract people's hearts, and of course the vassal kings will not care about a little money, but this amount of silver, which can easily cost hundreds of thousands of taels, is not a small amount.
After one month of mining, the wealth contained in it may exceed the sum of a small country.
In fact, such a large amount of mining is inseparable from the strong support of Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty provided a large amount of gunpowder for blasting mountains, and a large number of craftsmen with exploration experience were transported there.
For the establishment of almost all processing plants, the initial expenses incurred were supported by the Ming Dynasty treasury.
Otherwise, it would just be a few vassal kings capturing some Japanese people to use as slaves, which is extremely inefficient. How could it be so high?
High-yielding crops in the Japanese country have not yet become popular, and the Ming Dynasty still exports a large amount of food supplies. This is the reason why many feudal lords can steadily station in the Japanese country and still cause trouble.
In fact, although the current silver mining is very large, the actual silver transported to the Ming Dynasty has not yet covered the previous expenditure.
After all, whether it is the stationing of a large army or all kinds of support, a huge cost is incurred.
Among them, although sea transportation is cheap, it still consumes a lot of money.
The wear and tear of shipping vessels, labor expenses, official salaries, etc., add up to a large sum.
That is to say, the current value of silver in the Japanese country is very valuable, otherwise stationing in the Japanese country may completely drag the Ming Dynasty's finances into the quagmire.
Historically, many dynasties did not want to expand their territories, mostly for this reason.
The war has already had a huge impact on the national treasury, and local construction needs to be supported. Occasionally, there will be an uprising or something like that, and no one will have a headache if it happens.
In history, there were very few emperors who didn't want to expand their territory, seal the wolf as a vassal, and so on.
It's just that you don't know how expensive food, rice, oil and salt are before you become a prince. After you become an emperor, you realize how big the country's mess is. It's completely different from when you were the prince.
With this kind of support for the Japanese feudal kings, several feudal kings secretly united to conceal the amount of mining and embezzled large amounts of silver.
Not only that, but other mineral deposits were also embezzled.
Then sell it to other businessmen to make huge profits.
Moreover, he also avoided paying 30% of the tax.
"Dasun, you were right before. Your uncles are not suitable for staying in one place for a long time."
"When they get the territory ready, it will become a scourge like it is now."
"With so many mineral deposits, we didn't ask them for more. We only paid 30%. We have already spent tens of millions of gold coins on building factories and other things."
"People's hearts are not as good as snakes swallowing elephants. We have already treated them like this, and they are still doing these little tricks secretly."
"This is because I am overseas. If my wings are strong, we can't control it."
Zhu Yuanzhang really laughed in anger, but there was a hint of helplessness in his tone.
After all, they are all of their own kind. The distance overseas makes it difficult to govern. The most important thing is that the Japanese garrison cannot be replaced.
After all, it was his son, and the meat was rotten in the pot.
If it were other generals, Zhu Yuanzhang would have to take advantage of the nine tribes now.
Zhu Ying walked over the broken porcelain pieces on the ground.
The porcelain vases that can be placed in the Huagai Hall are of course the best blue and white porcelain, and the one that was kicked to pieces is a pair with the one next to it.
In today's market, at least it starts with tens of thousands of gold coins. If it is overseas, it will be a priceless treasure, and it can even trigger a national war, just like that.
Of course, the value of the remaining Dumiao porcelain bottles would be even higher under Zhu Yuanzhang's control.
"Grandpa, please don't be angry. Things like this are somewhat inevitable. Money is flowing in front of you. Whoever can resist not extending a hand is not a saint. All emotions and six desires are inevitable."
Zhu Ying gently squeezed Zhu Yuanzhang's shoulders and said comfortingly.
In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang now just needs a step down.
"It's really shameful for them to be like this. They must be severely punished this time. Otherwise, in a few years, they will become even more serious and all the mined mineral deposits will be stolen.
"
"This trend cannot last forever. We currently have huge expenditures on the Japanese state in the national treasury, and we are still losing money."
"There were 500,000 troops mobilized ahead, and there are now 150,000 troops stationed there. The reward for the soldiers is quite a sum."
"In other words, Dasun, you have filled the money bag of the treasury in recent years, otherwise our Ming Dynasty will be dragged to death."
"If it is not cured now, it will be even more incurable in the future. From now on, our country will suffer a big loss."
"Dasun, you have to think of a way to punish them severely."
"The most ruthless thing we have is corrupt officials. I didn't expect that these ineffective guys would be corrupted by themselves."
Zhu Yuanzhang said with some confusion.
Zhu Ying burst out laughing when she heard this.
In fact, he had already heard it. The old man was afraid that after he left, he would take action against these imperial uncles, so he said this.
If he had followed his previous temper, he would have simply issued an edict and summoned the four vassal kings to the capital to reprimand him, but now he said that Zhu Ying would be the one to punish him.
He was just afraid that after Zhu Ying inherited the throne, he would hold his anger in his heart towards his uncles who were serving overseas feudal vassals.
Zhu Yuanzhang actually understood Zhu Ying's character very well. The eldest grandson looked kind-hearted on weekdays, but in fact, once something didn't go his way, he never acted with restraint.
Besides, he has lost his memory and has not grown up in the palace since he was a child. He and these uncles feel no different from strangers.
If he really wanted to be cruel, Zhu Yuanzhang actually didn't want to.
He still wanted his children to live in harmony and not have uncles and nephews fight against each other.
"First, let's recruit some people from the household department who know arithmetic to the entire inspection team, so that we can investigate and see how much money these scoundrels have embezzled." Zhu Yuanzhang added with a cold snort.
Zhu Ying said, "It's not that troublesome. Recently, the Japanese envoys have been thinking of ways to protest every day, saying that the emperor's uncles have abused the people of the Japanese country and should not be used as human beings. The young and strong people have been dragged to work as laborers.
"
"According to my grandson, the Japanese state is now very wary of the imperial uncles, and the conflicts between them are quite acute. There may be another fight at some point."
"Taking advantage of this time, Sun'er means to bring back 10,000 soldiers and generals from each of the emperor's uncles. This is a warning. I think the uncles should also know the reason, and they will not do this in the future.
Dare to stretch too far."
"The Japanese country has given them an explanation, which makes Ashikaga Yoshimitsu less afraid."
Zhu Ying's move can be regarded as hitting the snake within seven inches.
Soldiers and horses are the mainstay of overseas vassals. The first thing these soldiers and horses currently obey is, of course, the dispatch of the Ming Dynasty court.
Moreover, as of now, they do not have the ability to disobey the decree.
"Okay, just do as Dasun said."
Zhu Yuanzhang actually didn't care that much about the feudal princes' greed for money, he was just worried that this behavior would cause irreconcilable conflicts between his uncle and nephew.
This is just like when Zhu Yuanzhang asked Zhu Yunwen what he would do to these uncles before Zhu Ying showed up.
"There is one more thing I want to report to Grandpa today, and it's about Timur."
After talking about this, Zhu Ying turned to say.
Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but ask: "Is it the grassland alliance that has stimulated this guy Timur?"
Zhu Ying sighed slightly: "That's right. Not only the troops on the grassland, but also our ocean-going fleet, made Timur become more ferocious."
"According to the latest intelligence received, Timur has assembled an army of 300,000 to directly attack the Delhi Sultanate. I think this time he will take down the Delhi Sultanate in one fell swoop, thus forming a deterrent to the grasslands and our Ming Dynasty."
"If we can't defeat the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, we will vent our anger on the Delhi Sultanate. This is more in line with Timur's temperament of not wanting to suffer losses."
The Delhi Sultanate borders Tubo and the Ming Dynasty. It is not the name of a certain dynasty, but a name similar to the Central Plains.
The present sultans of Delhi are the Tughluq dynasty.
The Tughluq dynasty reached its peak during the reign of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq.
During his reign, he launched four southern expeditions and occupied almost the entire southern India.
However, due to excessive local power and administrative errors, the Tughluq dynasty also began to decline after Muhammad.
The current Sultan of the Tughluq Dynasty is Nahiruddin Mahmud Shah.
In fact, Sultan Shah was somewhat capable, but the legacy of the Tughluq Dynasty was too huge, and the local governors had already formed a state of vassal-town separatism. Under internal and external troubles, the national power was naturally in decline.
And even in the era of Muhammad, the Tughluq dynasty at its peak was not as good as the current Timurid Empire.
"Tughluq must have been defeated miserably now." Zhu Yuanzhang asked after hearing this.
Zhu Ying nodded: "It is indeed tragic. Timur wanted to demonstrate this time and directly cleaned up the mountain people along the road, forcing a large number of people to live in the mountains. The village and town fortresses were used as supply stations."
"The news coming this time is that Timur's army has rushed through the Khyber Pass and is advancing in the footsteps of Alexander and Genghis Khan."
"The former city of Peshawar was destroyed by the Mongols and reduced to ruins two hundred years ago. Now Timur's army is marching hastily, hoping to capture the well-supplied Indus River Valley. Otherwise, in the depth of winter, the 300,000-strong army will
Logistics are a hassle.”
"Although the local governors near the Indus River have surrendered to the Tughluq dynasty, from my perspective, they will probably surrender without even putting up any decent resistance."
"The Sultanate of Delhi is no longer the dynasty that dared to resist the Mongols in history. I guess it won't be able to resist this time. It's time to change the dynasty."
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "My eldest grandson already knows so clearly. I must have made arrangements for it long ago and made up my mind to go to Delhi Sultan to get a share of the pie."
Zhu Ying did not hide it, and said with a smile: "Sure enough, I still can't hide it from grandpa. Now the fall of the Tughluq Dynasty has become a foregone conclusion, but it is not so easy for Timur to win it quickly."
"Year ago, for Timur, he occupied the Indus River area for a short rest, spent this cold winter, and attacked the capital of the Tughluq Dynasty until the spring of next year."
"During this period, Sun'er is planning to summon some elite Tibetan cavalry and hire a certain number of Mongolians in the name of our Ming Dynasty to send people from the Uzang Command to attack the Tughluq Dynasty.
support."
"There is no way we can let Timur go so smoothly. This can be regarded as a confrontation between our Ming Dynasty and Timur."