At the beginning of the first lunar month of the fourth year of Jianye in the Ming Dynasty, Yunxi woke up after three hours of sleep.
However, he did not get up immediately. Instead, he turned his head and looked out the window at the heavy snow falling like catkins, lost in thought.
'This year is already the fourth year of Jianye. In the first month of this year in history, Zhu Di made the decision to cross the Yellow River southward and approach the capital after repeated thinking. After several battles and small battles, he captured the capital in June and succeeded to the throne and proclaimed himself emperor.'
'But Zhu Di in his own plane failed three years ago and was exiled to Sumatra. Now for himself and indirectly for the Ming Dynasty, he is working hard to eliminate the local barbarians who are not convinced by the king and strive to occupy the entire island. Things are really strange.'
'Speaking of which, this year both Pu King Zhu Xianyao and Luo King Zhu Mo came to the capital to pay tribute. Why didn't Zhu Gaoxu come to the capital? There were too many vassal kings coming to Beijing to pay tribute in the twelfth month of this year, so they ignored him for a while. Ask Xianyou when you have time. The fiefdom is very close to Qian'an (formerly Palembang), the capital of the Su vassal, and the two vassals also share the navy. You should know the reason.'
Just as Yunxi was thinking about it, suddenly there was movement in the person in his arms. He looked down and saw Xiyao, who had just woken up, opening her sleepy eyes and looking towards him.
"Are you awake so early?" Yunxi said with a smile.
"It's getting late." Xiyao turned her head and glanced at the engraved table beside the bed and said.
"It's not too late." Yunxi said, "You can sleep a little longer. I've worked hard on you during the twelfth lunar month, so take more rest."
"Well, husband, I'll sleep a little longer." Xiyao closed her eyes and said. After the clan banquet, she felt much more relaxed. She had nothing to do until Yunxi worshiped at the Ancestral Temple, so she could sleep in.
Yunhe smiled and gently scratched her nose, got up from the bed and put on his slippers, walked outside and asked the palace maid to come in and dress him.
Xiyao can sleep in these days, but he can't. Today he has to receive envoys from the foreign country, and he has to attend a banquet with hundreds of officials in the evening, so he is very busy.
After getting dressed, Yunxi walked out of the dormitory and glanced at the palace where Min'er, Wenyuan and others rested. Wang Xi immediately said: "Your Majesty, several of your highnesses just went to bed after bed last night, and they are not awake now. Woolen cloth."
Yunxi nodded, didn't say anything, and continued walking. But after he walked a few steps, he suddenly thought of something and said to Wang Xi: "Wang Xi, you have worked hard these days. From tomorrow on, I will let you go." It's a day off, and you won't return to the palace until the tenth day of the lunar month."
"Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty." Wang Xi replied with a smile.
"There is also the reward I promised you yesterday. I thought about it and realized that you don't need anything even if you stay with me, so I will give it to your family. I heard you say last year that your second brother passed the exam as a scholar in Hanzhong Middle School in your hometown. ?I will give him a favor. If he is willing to enter the Imperial College, I will let him enter the Imperial College." Yun He said.
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Wang Xi said even more happily. As the Ming Dynasty's various systems have become increasingly rigorous, it is no longer the same as in the early years of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Scholars cannot directly become officials; but students who graduated from the Imperial College can still be appointed officials, and if they perform well A good person can become a high official. Ru Yu, the Minister of Punishment, and Zhao Haode, the Minister of Works, one of the six ministers of the imperial court, once studied in the Imperial College. Chen Di, the Minister of Rites, and Mei Yin, the Minister of War, were not from the imperial examination. So Yunxi was directly promised to the emperor. How unhappy was he that he had lost an official position to his second brother?
"Don't be too happy too early. I have decided to make the examination of the Imperial College more stringent. If you cannot pass the final examination, you will not be able to graduate." Yunxi said. Since he has decided to continue to let the graduates of the Imperial College play a role in checking and balancing the imperial examinations. Of course, we need to strengthen the selection of talents and not allow incompetent people to serve as officials.
"Your Majesty, I believe that my second brother will not be unable to graduate." Wang Xi said with a smile.
While they were talking, they had already arrived at Qianqing Palace, and Chen Di, the Minister of Rites, and Zheng Yi, the Minister of Taichang Temple, were already waiting here.
Yunxi took them to the dining hall and listened to their reports while eating.
"Your Majesty, this year there will still be tributes from Korea, Fuso, Ainu, the three Ryukyus, Brunei, Bangni, Siam, Majapahit, Sumendana, Rambang, Temba, Baihua, and Ahong. , a total of fifteen countries."
"In addition, Annan sent people to express his desire to change his past, and said that in March last year, the powerful official Li Jiya died of illness, and that the power returned to the king Chen Xi." Chen Di said.
"But I remember that the king of Annan was named Chen Rikun, not Chen Huan." Yunxi said.
"Your Majesty, according to what the Annan envoy said, Chen Rikun suddenly died of illness in October this year. Because he had no children, the ministers supported the king's younger brother Chen Kuang as the king. After Chen Kuang became the king, he sent people to pay tribute and wanted to restore our Ming Dynasty. The vassal genus." Chen Di said again.
"This thing is a bit strange." Yunxi said softly.
Last night, after the clan banquet, Yunxi went to the small study to read the memorial, which was about this matter.
He felt very strange at the time because it was completely different from what he had seen in history books in his previous life.
The history of what happened is this: Li Jishou killed Chen Rikun, the former king of Annan, in the second year of Jianye, proclaimed himself king, and later passed the throne to his son Li Hancang. It seems that he also changed his surname. Yunxi can't remember clearly what happened to his name.
In the first year of Yongle, Li Jiyou sent people to pay tribute and told Zhu Di that the powerful minister Li Jiyou had handed over his power and the power returned to the king Chen Rikun. Unfortunately, this king died of illness and had no heirs. Li Hancang was Chen's nephew and got the minister With their support, he succeeded to the throne and asked the Ming Dynasty to recognize and canonize him.
Zhu Di did have doubts about this at the time, but he had just become emperor at that time and had not yet become a king through normal methods. There were many things worthy of his concern. Who the king of a small country was was not worthy of attention, so he just sent a Officials went to Annan to visit, and after receiving the report, they consecrated Li Hancang as the King of Annan.
But in the next few years, Chen Tianping, a descendant of the Chen family, and Pei Boqi, a loyal minister, came to the Ming Dynasty one after another and said that Li Hancang had usurped the throne. Zhu Di used some means to confirm that they were telling the truth, and issued an edict to rebuke Li Hancang. He also named Chen Tianping the King of Annan and sent people to escort him back to his country. ascended the throne.
But Li Hancang sent people to kill Chen Tianping and also eliminated the Guangxi army escorting him. This angered Zhu Di completely. Zhu Di sent a large army to conquer Annan, captured Li Jiya and his son alive, and established the Jiaozhi Chief Envoy Department after pacifying Annan. Zhu Zhanji withdrew his troops because he could not make ends meet while ruling Annan.
'Although Li Jisou was not young, it was not surprising that he died of illness suddenly, but historically he lived for many years and was very healthy until he was captured by the Ming Dynasty in the capital in the fifth year of Yongle (1407 AD). And even though Li Jishen was captured by the Ming Dynasty, he lived for many years. If Ji Ya suddenly died, the power would be returned to Chen? Li Ji Ya's son Li Hancang is not incompetent, and he will not let Chen regain power easily.' Yunxi thought.
Chen Di and Zheng Yi also felt that this matter was not normal. However, their doubts were different from Yunxi's. After all, they did not know what happened in history. Zheng Yi and Chen Di were somewhat confused about Chen Rikun's sudden death and suspected that it was Chen Rikun. Xiang killed Chen Rikun and established himself as king, but he had no doubts about Li Jiya's death from illness.
So Chen Di thought it over and said: "Your Majesty, even if Chen Xi kills Chen Rikun and establishes himself as king, it is still an internal matter of the Chen family. As long as no one comes to the capital to redress grievances against the Ming Dynasty, Your Majesty should not get into it."
As civil servants, of course they were unwilling to fight. If Chen Rikun's descendants came to the capital to ask the Ming Dynasty for justice, they would have no reason to stop them. But now that this has not happened, they have reasons to stop the emperor from raising troops to fight.
'Is it true that a man named Chen rose up in this time and space and killed Li Jiyou and his son Li Hancang, and then there was internal strife among themselves, and Chen Xi killed Chen Rikun and became king?' Yunxi listened to Chen Di's words , thought so.
This is not impossible. Who dares to say that people named Chen cannot produce a few talents? Maybe there were people named Chen in the last time and space who did this, but failed; but in this time and space, due to some reasons, they succeeded.
‘Is it because I have never accepted the tribute from the Annan people that the tendencies of their domestic ministers have changed, so Chen Huan or other people named Chen succeeded?’ Yunxi thought.
Yunxi lowered his head and looked at the memorial again. It said that the matter was very simple, and there was no way to deduce more information.
"In this case, Chen Di, you arrange for the envoy from Annan to be the last one to meet with me. I want to speak to him personally and ask what happened in Chen Rikun of Annan." Yunxi thought for a while. , said.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Chen Di and Zheng Yi said.
"As for the first country to pay tribute, let the Koreans come as usual; followed by the Fusang people, the Siamese people in the third place, and the Ahong people in the fourth place. After that, you can arrange it as you like." Yunxi said again.
"Your Majesty, Ahong is ranked fourth?" Chen Di asked with some confusion. Ahong is a foreign country that just accepted this year, so being ranked fourth is too privileged.
"Ahong is ranked fourth." Yunxi said firmly. Ahong is much more useful than other countries.
When Chen Di and Zheng Yi saw Yun Hei's insistence, they could only agree.
After that, they talked about a few more things. Just as Zheng Yi and Chen Di were about to leave, Yun He suddenly said, "My dear friends, wait a moment, I have something else to say."
"During the Hongwu period, officials did not have a New Year's holiday, so a ceremony to receive envoys from foreign countries was arranged on the first day of the first lunar month; but now that there is a New Year's holiday, officials from the Ministry of Rites and Taichang Temple cannot rest like officials from other yamen. "I can't bear this, so I decided to postpone the meeting with the foreign envoys from next year's New Year to the sixteenth day of the first lunar month. What do you two dear ministers think?" Yunxi said. He has had enough of meeting these people on the first day of the new year. An envoy from a foreign country.
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty." Chen Di and Zheng Yi said immediately. They have been officials in the Ministry of Rites and Taichang Temple for many years, and they are very reluctant to meet with envoys from foreign countries during the New Year. So although they know that they are allowed to He also had selfish motives, but he still sincerely thanked him for his grace.