The ironclad ship won the first battle, but it was not over yet.
Next, a major purge of Qiongzhou Guards began.
The commander Zhang Shiying killed the nine tribes, and ordered his colleagues and other senior officers to investigate them all.
All those involved in the case were killed or exiled according to the seriousness of the circumstances. For a while, the Jinyiwei was extremely busy, and the whole Qiongzhou was full of heads and wailing.
Zhu Qizhen was not in a hurry to return home, but summoned King Zhu Qiyu and King Zhang Fu of Jing'an County to discuss matters.
Jiaozhi and Luzon were not far from here. After receiving the order, the two set off immediately and rushed to Qiongzhou one after another.
After a brief chat and reminiscing about old times, Zhu Qizhen told the two of his plans.
"According to oral confessions, these foreigners are from the Eastern Roman Empire, and the drawings have been sent to Constantinople."
"It doesn't make sense, it really doesn't make sense!"
When Zhang Fu heard this, he couldn't hold back his temper: "How could the iron-clad ships developed by Ming Dynasty, which I spent huge sums of money on, fall into the hands of those foreign devils? Your Majesty, I asked for a battle and led the navy to attack Huanglong... No, directly
To mess with the military...what kind of treasure is that?"
Zhu Qiyu, however, looked more calm and asked: "How much does the emperor know about the situation in Constantinople?"
"About this location!"
Zhu Qizhen pointed to the map and said: "Constantinople is the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and was captured by the Ottoman Empire a year ago."
Hearing this, Zhu Qiyu was a little confused and asked: "What is the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire?"
"You can understand it as the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Song Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty destroyed the Yuan Dynasty. This is roughly the relationship."
"Oh..."
Zhu Qiyu thought for a moment, and then said: "In other words, the drawings of the ironclad ship are in the hands of the Ottomans?"
"It's not clear yet."
Zhu Qizhen shook his head and said: "Maybe it was taken away by the Eastern Roman Navy, maybe it was still in Constantinople, or maybe it was destroyed in the war."
The scene was temporarily quiet, and Zhang Fu said dissatisfiedly: "I don't care if he is here or not, I request to lead the navy to kill him. If the blueprint is still there, we must snatch it back!"
Zhu Qiyu looked cautious and said, "What if I'm not here?"
"If you're not there, you're not here!"
Zhang Fu looked disapproving and said: "In the whole world, is it the land of the king? I, the Ming Navy, patrol the world, do I still need to say hello to a mere barbarian country?"
Zhu Qiyu thought for a while, nodded and said: "This is also a way. Even if we can't get the drawings, it can at least act as a deterrent to the Western countries."
"The drawings must be brought back!"
Zhu Qizhen clicked heavily on the map and said: "The armored ship is a weapon of the country and the hard work of thousands of students and craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty. Even if we start a war, we must get the blueprints back!"
Zhang Fu hurriedly agreed: "The emperor is right, we must get it back, whether it's Eastern Rome or Ottoman, fuck him!"
Zhu Qizhen glanced at him meaningfully and said: "The Qing family is old. If we travel long distances... our bodies may not be able to bear it, so why not do some logistical support work?"
"Your Majesty, are you scolding me?"
Zhang Fu was of course dissatisfied. With a dark face, he cupped his fists and said, "Old minister, your body is tough. Please be the vanguard in this battle!"
Zhu Qizhen was also helpless. When it came to fighting, Zhang Fu was indeed a talented person, but after all, he was over seventy years old.
It’s really unnecessary to go out to sea with a boat at this age.
"Zhang Qing's family, I'm here to ask you..."
Zhu Qizhen thought of an idea and asked: "How many sons do you have?"
Zhang Fu was a little confused, but he still answered truthfully: "I have two sons. The eldest son Zhang Zhong was born with a disability and has been bedridden for a long time. The second son Zhang Mao was born with a leopard head and ringed eyes, which is quite the legacy of his father." p>
His father was Zhang Yu, King of Hejian, who was the greatest contributor to Jingnan. It was the greatest honor of the Zhang family to be worthy of being in the palace of Emperor Taizong.
The Ming Dynasty has always been very particular about the eldest son ascending the throne, but Zhang Fu specifically said that the eldest son Zhang Zhong was born with a disability and praised Zhang Mao profusely, indicating that he was very optimistic about this younger son.
If nothing else happens, the title will be passed to Zhang Mao in the future.
Zhu Qizhen asked again: "How old is Zhang Mao?"
"Back to the emperor, I have just turned eighteen this year."
"Eighteen years old, a bit young..."
"Your Majesty, you don't know. My child is tall, mature, and stable. Although he is only eighteen years old, he looks like he is thirty. He has also learned archery and horse training since he was a child, and he also has a lot of knowledge about marching formations. He conquered Annan two years ago.
During the battle, he followed the Duke of Guizhou and took the lead, and also made some military exploits."
Zhu Qizhen thought to himself, he was only sixteen years old two years ago and he was able to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy. He is a fierce man!
"Since he has such talent, why didn't the Qing family bring him here?"
Zhang Fu said with an innocent face: "Old minister... I didn't know we were going to fight..."
"Jin Banban, immediately send someone to announce Zhang Mao's arrival."
"Yes!"
Zhu Qizhen turned his head and said: "Two of you, let's talk about the deployment of troops. How many ships, troops and horses do you have?"
Zhang Fu said: "The old minister has twenty-five large and small ships under his command, and a force of about thirty thousand."
Zhu Qiyu then said: "My brother has thirty-two ships and a force of about fifteen thousand."
Since Jiaozhi and Luzon were included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, the military configuration has been restructured.
The original organizational structures were all dismantled, with the Ming army as the main force, and elite troops selected as supplements from the original troops. The Annan Three Guards, the Xianglin Three Guards, the Linyi Three Guards and the Luzon Three Guards were reorganized. The number of troops in each guard was roughly the same.
There are anywhere from three to five thousand.
Among them, Annan, Xianglin and Linyi belong to Jiaozhi Dusi and are under the control of Zhang Fu.
The Luzon Islands were controlled by King Zhu Qiyu.
It seems that Zhang Fu has more power than Zhu Qiyu, but in fact, the Luzon Islands are completely independent islands, and 70% of the people come from Luzon itself and the surrounding islands, and only 30% migrated from the Ming Dynasty. If there are too many troops,
It is easy to create a situation of separatism.
For this reason, Zhu Qiyu took the initiative to request that the three guards of Luzon be reorganized and strictly control the number of soldiers and horses to show his loyalty.
Zhu Qizhen didn't care because he knew his little brother very well.
Rebellion?
Doesn’t exist!
Even if you give him the emperor, he won't be willing to do so.
Historically, Zhu Qiyu was a firefighter. When he was pushed to the stage by a group of ministers to become emperor, he didn't even know what to do.
Because he had not been a candidate for emperor since he was a child, no one, whether it was Zhu Zhanji or the Manchu ministers, had ever trained him as a prince.
At most, they can talk about some Confucian concepts of governing the country, so that he can grow up to be a dutiful prince.
If Zhu Qizhen had not studied abroad, he would not have even thought about that position.
It wasn't until I tasted the sweetness later that things got out of hand...
In other words, he is not coveting the throne and taking the initiative to grab it.
Rather, he was first placed in the position of emperor, and then his desire for power developed.