The calmer the emperor became, the more uneasy the several pavilion elders felt. Yang Yiqing stepped forward and said to Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty..."
Zhu Houzhao handed the letter to Yang Yiqing casually.
Yang Yiqing took a deep breath and glanced over the letter. Although Zhu Houzhao's reaction just now made Yang Yiqing and others guess a little, when they actually saw the content of the letter, Yang Yiqing couldn't help but feel overwhelmed.
Make waves.
After scanning the letter, Yang Yiqing handed it to Wang Shouren. After passing it to several cabinet ministers one by one, Wang Zheng carefully put the letter away and placed it on the desk.
Zhu Houzhao, who was sitting there, looked at the few people calmly, and then slowly said: "Tell me, my companion disappeared inexplicably on the way to the West. What should I do?"
Look at me and I look at you. It’s true that they really don’t know how to answer Zhu Houzhao’s question.
Seeing that several people were silent, Zhu Houzhao called Yang Yiqing's name and said: "Qing family, please tell me!"
He smiled bitterly in his heart. His name was called by the emperor. Even if he wanted to avoid it, as the chief minister of the cabinet, he could not avoid it. After thinking about it for a while, he heard Yang Yiqing say to Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty, I thought that King Wu
His Highness is the noble prince of the Ming Dynasty. He disappeared overseas and must be thoroughly investigated. Regardless of whether His Highness King Wu is alive or dead, the investigation must be clear."
In fact, with Yang Yiqing's intelligence, and thinking about some of Chu Yi's previous actions, if it was still unclear before, Yang Yiqing now somewhat understood Chu Yi's intentions.
Chu Yi's disappearance during his voyage to the West was definitely not due to any accident. I'm afraid it was all planned by Chu Yi. In other words, Chu Yi's disappearance was not anyone else's business, but Chu Yi's own disappearance.
To be honest, Yang Yiqing had never been worried about Chu Yi's safety. All he was worried about was Zhu Houzhao's reaction.
After all, Zhu Houzhao is the emperor, and his words and deeds will have a great impact on the world. No one can lose the friendship between Chu Yi and Zhu Houzhao. Now Chu Yi can be said to have said goodbye without saying goodbye. Zhu Houzhao certainly does not.
I'll just forget it.
His eyes fell on Wang Shouren, and Wang Shouren said immediately: "Your Majesty, I believe that what the Chief Assistant said is true. No matter what, we must find out the whereabouts of His Highness."
Wang Shouren did not know that Chu Yi had a conversation with Yang Yiqing before leaving, but from Wang Shouren's point of view, if Chu Yi disappeared, it would be of no benefit to Ming Dynasty.
With Chu Yi in charge, the Ming Dynasty is definitely a great shock to some people who have his thoughts. It can be said that as long as Chu Yi is there, some ghosts and snake gods will never dare to jump out. Otherwise, Chu Yi's hand will not be enough.
Is it sharp?
Chen Ding coughed slightly, then looked at Zhu Houzhao and said: "Your Majesty, I thought that the imperial court would send a special person to investigate the matter of His Royal Highness King Wu. If this involves too much energy of the imperial court, even if His Royal Highness King Wu knows about it,
, I’m afraid this is not what he wants to see..."
Yang Yiqing and others couldn't help but look at Chen Ding, with admiration in their eyes. They dared to say such words at this time. Among them, Chen Ding was probably the only one who had the courage.
Chen Ding is really not afraid of the emperor's anger.
With a bang, the Emperor slapped his hand on the table, and stared at Chen Ding with anger in his eyes: "Chen Ding, what you are saying is that I can't send people on a large scale to find the whereabouts of my companion.
?”
Holding his head high, Chen Ding is worthy of being a famous old stubborn in the court. Even if he faced the emperor's anger, he would not be afraid to say to Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty, the country is the most important thing!"
"Get out, get out of here!"
As he spoke, Zhu Houzhao roared at Chen Ding with an angry face. Ever since he saw the content of the letter and realized that Chu Yi had disappeared on purpose, Zhu Houzhao could be said to be holding back a burst of anger in his heart, but as the Supreme Emperor, he
Even if I really have a lot of anger in my heart, it is difficult to vent it in front of my ministers.
But at this time, Chen Ding himself was very angry with Zhu Houzhao, so it was reasonable to become the target of Zhu Houzhao's anger.
Chen Ding knelt on the ground and said to Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty, I speak from the bottom of my heart. If King Wu knew about it, he would definitely not want to see your Majesty mobilize troops and mobilize people for him..."
"Drag me out..."
Wang Zheng coughed lightly, and several chamberlains quickly stepped forward to carry Chen Ding out.
Even when he was furious, Zhu Houzhao still maintained some sense and just carried Chen Ding out, who looked a bit annoying.
If it had been anyone else, how could the emperor have cared so much when he was so angry? I'm afraid he would have dragged out a bunch of sticks and served him by now.
The anger in his heart was vented to some extent. Zhu Houzhao glanced at Yang Yiqing, Wang Shouren and others, and sighed slightly: "Everyone, please go back first, I want to be quiet for a while."
Yang Yiqing, Wang Shouren and others felt as if they had been granted amnesty after hearing this. They were facing Zhu Houzhao here, and they were also under a lot of pressure. Now that the emperor let them leave, they naturally breathed a sigh of relief.
However, Yang Yiqing and Wang Shouren were loyal to the emperor, so they heard Yang Yiqing say to Zhu Houzhao: "Your Majesty, you must take care of yourself and don't hurt the dragon body."
Watching Yang Yiqing, Wang Shouren and others leave, Zhu Houzhao sat there, looking a little silent.
When it became dark outside, Wang Zheng, who was waiting on the side, stepped forward to light the candle. When the candle flickered, Zhu Houzhao slowly exhaled, stood up and walked out of the imperial study.
Wang Zheng and several chamberlains did not dare to disturb Zhu Houzhao at this time, but just followed Zhu Houzhao silently.
Queen's palace.
As a queen, Queen Xia is looking at her prince, Zhu Zaiji, with a smile on her face.
Zhu Zaiji had just finished his homework for the day. With a bit of joy on his face, he said to Queen Xia: "Mother, my child has finished his homework. Can he go to see his father?"
Patting Zhu Zaiji on the head, Queen Xia said with a smile: "Your father may be dealing with government affairs at the moment. If he has some free time, he will naturally come to see Ji'er."
Zhu Zaiji showed a look of disappointment on his face, nodded slightly and said, "Ji'er understands."
While he was talking, he heard a voice saying: "Your Majesty is here!"
Queen Xia couldn't help being stunned, and quickly stood up and walked towards the entrance of the hall.
Queen Xia saluted Zhu Houzhao and said, "I respectfully welcome your majesty. May your majesty be safe!"
Zhu Houzhao, who looked gloomy, waved his hand slightly, and then walked past the queen.
Queen Xia obviously noticed that something was wrong with Zhu Houzhao's expression. Even Zhu Zaiji seemed to feel Zhu Houzhao's look, but he did not dare to run over. Instead, he bowed to Zhu Houzhao in a polite manner.
After glancing at the emperor who was sitting there in a daze, Queen Xia glanced at Wang Zheng and said to him in a low voice: "Prince Wang, what is going on with your majesty? Is it possible that some minister has angered your majesty?"
The harem was not allowed to interfere in politics, so Queen Xia did not dare to interfere with the political affairs of the court, but when it concerned the emperor, it was normal for Queen Xia to inquire about it.
Wang Zheng explained with a wry smile, and Queen Xia couldn't help being stunned after hearing this. She obviously didn't expect that Chu Yi would disappear during the voyage to the West.
For a moment, Queen Xia didn't know whether to be happy or disappointed.
If Chu Yi is here, at least half of the emperor's attention will be on Chu Yi. As for other things, Zhu Houzhao doesn't attach much importance to him. Now that Chu Yi is missing, Queen Xia only feels a faint sense of joy in her heart.
Suppressing her inner turmoil, Queen Xia carefully poured tea for Zhu Houzhao and said softly: "Your Majesty, please have a cup of tea."
Zhu Houzhao took a sip of tea, put it down, and suddenly looked at Queen Xia and said: "Queen, do you think I should go find my eldest companion myself..."
With a shake of her hand, Queen Xia almost broke the teapot in her hand. She was obviously startled by Zhu Houzhao's sudden words.
Fortunately, Zhu Houzhao himself realized that his idea was wrong at this time, shook his head and said: "I can't leave, so I must find a trustworthy person to find the whereabouts of my big companion for me."
Queen Xia couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty, I have also heard that the Western Ocean is vast. It would be difficult for Your Majesty to find such a person as the General Manager. It would be fine if it were in the land of the Ming Dynasty. After all, it is in the Ming Dynasty."
On someone else’s territory…”
A bright light flashed in Zhu Houzhao's eyes, and he said in a deep voice: "Is it the king's land in the whole world? Is it the king's ministers who are on the shore of the land? I don't believe that I have searched all over the world and can't find my great companion."
Zhu Houzhao seemed to be very sure when he said that, or he was comforting himself by saying: "Why did Daban take advantage of the opportunity to go to the West and leave without saying goodbye? After all, Daban knows that if he is in the Ming Dynasty, sooner or later I will
We will surely find him one day, so I left the Ming Dynasty with him and then left without saying goodbye."
Wang Zheng and others were listening, and they felt that what Zhu Houzhao said was not unreasonable. Otherwise, why did Chu Yi leave without saying goodbye during the voyage to the West?
"I will send people to keep searching. If you can't find it at home, then go abroad to look for it. If you can't find it in the West, then go to Southeast Asia. No matter whether it is the southeast or the northwest, as long as the big companion is alive, I will find him even if I search all over the world."
The news of Chu Yi's disappearance could not be concealed at all, but in just one day, the news spread throughout the capital.
When the news came out, the first reaction of many people in the capital was disbelief.
What many people think about is not what changes will happen to the court after Chu Yi disappears. The first thing that comes to mind is whether Chu Yi is digging a hole again and waiting for them to jump out on their own initiative.
The shadow that Chu Yi left on everyone was so great that few people dared to believe that Chu Yi was really missing.
In the restaurant
Several scholars gathered together, drinking tea and talking about everything. Naturally, they came to the most popular topic in the capital at the moment.
"Brothers, have you all heard the news about the disappearance of General Manager Chu Yi? If you ask me, who is Chu Yi trying to plot against this time?"
"Once or twice, anyone who jumps out at this time is a fool."
"The disappearance is fake. I'm afraid he is playing a double act with the emperor!"
Three days later, during an early morning court meeting, Zhu Houzhao appeared in the court hall. A group of civil and military officials first discussed some important national affairs. After discussing these, as usual, all officials naturally retired from the court.
But this time, no one thought about leaving immediately, but rather looked forward to what would happen next.
As expected, Zhu Houzhao coughed slightly, drawing everyone's attention to him, and then heard Zhu Houzhao say: "Wang Anlun, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Chen Ding, the Minister of the Ministry of Household!"
I saw two old ministers walking out, it was Wang Anlun and Chen Ding, two of the six ministers.
"I have met your Majesty!"
Zhu Houzhao said lightly: "I would like to allocate ten million taels of silver from the royal treasury, and the Ministry of Household Affairs will allocate ten million taels of silver, totaling twenty million taels of silver, to start building sea ships. Wang Anlun, you are the minister of the Ministry of Industry, please give it to me
Tell me, with these 20 million taels of silver, how many big ships can be built?"
The civil and military officials in the court were shocked. They obviously did not expect that as soon as Zhu Houzhao opened his mouth, he would involve as much as 20 million taels of silver. This had a huge impact on the civil and military officials. The most important thing was that Zhu Houzhao made it clear that he wanted to build ships crazily.
, its purpose is self-evident.
Apart from vigorously developing maritime power, no one can think of any other possibility.
Wang Anlun took a deep breath, stepped forward and said to the Emperor: "Report to Your Majesty, if Your Majesty really allocates 20 million taels of silver, I can guarantee the construction of 3,000 large ships!"
Zhu Houzhao's eyes lit up. Now under Chu Yi's insistence, the Ming Dynasty Navy has invested tens of millions of gold and silver. Just the large ships that were built early, now have almost dozens of ships.
The most important thing is that as the large ships are being built at an extremely fast speed, more and more ships will be equipped and entered into the army, eventually strengthening the military power of the Ming Dynasty.
If we add in the large ships that Chu Yi insisted on building before, there will be as many as three to four thousand ships by then.
Just thinking about it makes people tremble. You must know that even though the Western world is in the Age of Discovery, the maritime power of countries such as the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and even England has skyrocketed, but even if the maritime fleets of these countries are
Added together, I am afraid that the number of ships built by the Ming Dynasty is equivalent to that of the Ming Dynasty.
After hearing this, many officials silently calculated in their minds, and many of them looked pale.
Once thousands of large ships are built, even a fool can imagine how large the Ming Navy will expand.
As a result, the strength of the navy will inevitably increase greatly, which will obviously affect the army officers and soldiers. Fortunately, there is no gap between the officers and soldiers and the navy. Several military leaders naturally strongly support this, but on the civil servants' side,
The expressions of several important ministers obviously changed.
[I recommended a book to a friend, "The Four Officials of Han". If you are interested, you may want to read it. 】
