Chapter 188: There is an insider in the family

In the Eastern Palace, the crown prince Zhu Yunwen read a letter with great interest after a generous table. This is the performance report Li Wei was writing to him from Liaodong. It has been two months. This is the second letter, which is very punctual. In the report, Li Wei told him in detail about the situation in Liaodong, including how to attack Goryeo, how to attack, how to cross the river, and how to intercept. Each step is written in detail.

Zhu Yunwen was very satisfied, which shows that Li Wei was truly his own person. Zhu Yunwen had been in charge of the Eastern Palace for three months. In the morning, he studied in the Eastern Palace and went to the imperial study room of the emperor's grandfather to study government affairs in the afternoon. Three months made him gradually mature and his affairs were much smoother. He no longer knew nothing about governing the country like before. Now, more and more ministers began to rely on him, and the emperor's grandfather did not stop him and allowed them to be loyal to him. However, Zhu Yunwen knew that it was far from enough to just be loyal to him by civil servants. He also had to control the army. This was the key. His uncles all held heavy troops in his hands, and now the army that he really controlled was only in Liaodong, and other troops were controlled by the emperor's grandfather. If the emperor's grandfather suddenly had something to do and the emperor's uncles rebelled, it is not known who the army finally supported.

Therefore, Zhu Yunwen attached great importance to Li Weizheng, and he had to read every sentence in his performance report carefully. The end of the report was Li Weizheng's request. First, he hoped that he could agree to promote several thousand households. During the Goryeo War, he discovered many talents and found that many hereditary officers were very incompetent. Second, he said that the people of Liaodong were in trouble, and he wanted to promote sweet potatoes in Liaodong. The last request was that he hoped that he would persuade the emperor to migrate some Han people to Liaodong, saying that Liaodong was fertile and vast, and that the number of Han people in Liaodong was conducive to ensuring the source of military rations, thereby stabilizing the morale of the army, and at the same time, reducing the burden on the court, curbing the expansion of Goryeo and weakening the Jurchen power, which was a killing of the throne.

In fact, Li Weizheng could make the decision on the first two requests. Asking for instructions to him is just to show respect to him. The key is the last request. Li Weizheng asked to immigrate to Liaodong, but this was something he could not do, and he, Zhu Yunwen, could not do it, and he had to ask the emperor's grandfather for instructions.

Zhu Yunwen pondered for a moment and carefully put away Li Weizheng's report. He didn't want to show the report to the emperor's grandfather. At this time, an eunuch stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, the time is coming, please get up!"

It was time to have lunch with the emperor and grandfather, Zhu Yunwen nodded and said, "Okay! Let's go."

He got on a sedan chair and, under the tight escort of nearly a hundred guards, headed towards Zhonghe Hall.

Zhonghe Palace is the location of Zhu Yuanzhang's imperial study. In the past few days, the Ming emperor has been in a very good mood. Good news comes one after another. One is that a few days ago, the envoy of Goryeo came and pleaded guilty in the form of a letter of state and asked the Celestial Empire to grant Lee Chenggui the king of Korea. Zhu Yuanzhang finally generously forgives Lee Chenggui's rebellion. At the same time, North Korea replaces Goryeo, but he did not agree to Lee Chenggui as the king of Korea, but only granted him "the power of the state affairs of Korea", which was a small punishment for him.

In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang also knew that although North Korea was defeated, its foundation was not damaged. In order to prevent North Korea from going back on its word in the future, he had to suppress North Korea with his army. Therefore, he divided the Liaodong Dusi into two, with the Liaohe River as the boundary, and led the army to defend Mongolia to the west by King Zhu Zhi of Liao to defend against Mongolia. The eleven guards in the east were General Li Weizheng to suppress Goryeo. Of course, he would not let Li Weizheng command the whole place for a long time, so he decided to change it every four years. Four years later, he moved to another place, even if he was the crown prince, he would not do it, after all, he was not his son.

The settlement of Goryeo made Zhu Yuanzhang excited for several days, but soon another great event came. Today, the large-scale sweet potato planting in Fengyang and Shandong achieved great success. The average yield per mu was more than two or three thousand kilograms. Zhu Yuanzhang himself planted two acres of sweet potatoes in the imperial vegetable garden. After careful cultivation, the yield per mu was 3,500 kilograms and the yield of another mu was 3,200 kilograms. This was the process and result that Zhu Yuanzhang witnessed with his own eyes. He believed it, and he was also very happy. The food problem that had plagued him for many years finally got a solution. Not only could military rations be sufficient, but the people of the Ming Dynasty no longer had anyone starved to death.

For this great success, he almost wanted to award Li Weizheng the title, but he finally restrained it. After the Goryeo War, Li Weizheng had been promoted from the third-rank official title to the second-rank official title, and was also the general of Liaodong. He could no longer add the title. This title was left to his crown prince. Zhu Yuanzhang thought very carefully. Li Wei was the crown prince's person, and his more favors should be left for the crown prince to be implemented. However, he gave Li Weizheng the reward for money and goods, rewarding his family with 5,000 taels of silver, and awarding his father Li Hougen the honorary official from the sixth-rank Wuqiwei. It can be seen that the official will not be worshipped.

Although he was very fond of Li Weizheng's, he still kept a fuss. He installed a spy next to Li Weizheng and secretly reported to him about Li Wei's every move in Liaodong. On average, every half a month, he would write a secret letter to the Jinyiwei, and then the Jinyiwei would submit it to him.

At this moment, he was reading a secret spy from Liaodong. The secret report listed many things that Li Weizheng did, mostly training and strengthening coastal defense. However, there were some special places inside. For example, Li Weizheng liked to work on a boat, and he specially set up a public room on a treasure ship. For example, Li Weizheng obviously did not like the Jurchens. He broke up the Jurchens and the Han people and reorganized them, so that the Jurchens were not allowed to be a single house for thousands of households. These two news attracted the attention of Zhu Yuanzhang. The previous news was fine, and Zhu Yuanzhang knew that this was his habit when he was in Shandong.

, liked to take a boat. In the past, Zhu Yuanzhang did not attach much importance to the navy, but the huge role played by the navy in this Goryeo War made Zhu Yuanzhang start to look at the navy with admiration. He also realized that the army was the main force to put pressure on North Korea, but the navy had a unique role in dealing with North Korea. The country is mountainous and difficult to march, but the navy was not restricted and could be sent to any place in North Korea at any time. It is precisely for this reason that Zhu Yuanzhang specially approved the transfer of half of the warships in Penglai Water City to the Liaodong Navy, and was preparing to establish the Lushun Wei when conditions were ripe.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang did not take Li Weizheng's love of taking a boat. What he paid attention to was the second information, that is, not allowing the Jurchens to become a thousand households alone. It should be said that what he was interested in was not Li Weizheng doing this, but Li Weizheng opened up a brand new idea.

How to deal with the Jurchens in Liaodong is also a headache for Zhu Yuanzhang. He also knew that there was an extremely vast land north of Liaodong. In this land, all ethnic groups whose main Jurchens were living on this land were always considering how to include this land in the Ming Dynasty. Some ministers proposed to establish the Nuergan Dusi in the Jurchen area and appoint Han officials to govern the Jurchens. This was a solution, but Zhu Yuanzhang did not think that this was the most thorough method. He was familiar with history. Didn’t the Liao Dynasty also appoint officials to manage the Jurchens? In the end, it could not stop the Jurchens from being powerful. Zhu Yuanzhang knew very well that the Jurchens would cause great troubles. Now the establishment of the Dusi may be possible, but a hundred years later, once the court neglected, those armed Jurchens were likely to become a major trouble for the Ming Dynasty.

Today, Li Weizheng gave Zhu Yuanzhang a new idea by using the Han and Jurchens to intervene in the army, reminding him of the Tang Dynasty's solution to Goguryeo, which was to immigrate the Goguryeo people to the Central Plains, live with the Han people, and finally completely wiped out Goguryeo, but he still had to carefully consider this matter.

Just as Zhu Yuanzhang was concentrating on his mind, a shout came from outside, "The Emperor's Grandson is here!"

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately put away the secret report, ordered the meal to start, and waited for his grandson to come in with a smile. He was very satisfied with the grandson, tolerant and kind as his father, and was talented and intelligent. He could handle many government affairs thoroughly. He was only three months old for the crown prince, and he could review some simple memorials.

After a moment, Zhu Yunwen walked in quickly and knelt down and saluted, "Grandson meets the emperor and grandfather."

"Get up quickly, grandson!" Zhu Yuanzhang quickly helped his grandson up and said with a smile: "I have said a long time ago that you don't have to kneel down."

"But the masters said that the king is the leader of the minister and is the leader of the three pillars. How can the grandson violate it?"

"Pediatric!" Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said, "It is true that the king is the subject of his subject, but that is not done on the surface, but in the heart. I know that you have filial piety, and there is no need to kneel down to express it."

Zhu Yunwen quickly gave a tribute and said sincerely: "The grandson has been taught."

"Okay, let's have a meal, let's talk about it after dinner."

Several guards brought a small table. The food was ready, four side dishes, one soup, two bowls of rice. Most of the side dishes were vegetarian dishes, and only one plate was a bit meaty. This was specially prepared for Zhu Yuanzhang for his grandson. He knew that his grandson was still growing and needed a little meaty.

Zhu Yunwen picked up the rice and just took a bite, but suddenly found something sticky and sweet in the rice. He was stunned and had never seen this thing before.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "This is sweet potato. It was grown in my vegetable garden. I ate it. It tastes very good. And it's enough. You can try it."

Zhu Yunwen took another bite carefully and tasted it. He also smiled and said, "It's not bad, it tastes very sweet."

"This thing actually produces more than 3,000 kilograms per mu, while the dry land in the north only produces two or three hundred kilograms per mu. This is a big deal! Although Li Weizheng has done so many things, I am truly satisfied with this matter."

"Then the emperor's grandfather wants to promote his official position?" Zhu Yunwen asked tentatively again.

"No! He is now in charge of the realm alone. He is still young and has opportunities. I will leave him to you and you will slowly improve him in the future."

Speaking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly stopped chopsticks and asked, "What do you think of this person?"

Zhu Yunwen pondered for a while and decided to tell the truth. He said, "The grandson felt that he had read the wrong person. He was loyal to his grandson and would write a report every month. With him in Liaodong, the grandson felt that he had more arms."

"That's his cleverness. You will be the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in the future. If he doesn't hug you, who else can he hug you?" Zhu Yuanzhang smiled faintly and asked casually: "What is written in his performance report?"

"It's all about his affairs in Liaodong, but this time he begged a few things to his grandson?"

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly became interested, and he asked without saying a word: "Tell me, what's the matter?"

"One is that he wants to promote some capable officers, I hope I agree."

"This is no problem. He is the general officer. Except for the commander of the guard, commander and assistant magistrate, he can be promoted. Even thousands of households can be promoted first and then reported to the Ministry of War for filing. What else is there?"

Seeing that his grandfather was very domineering, it was Li Wei who was asking for instructions from him. After asking, he pretended to be asking for instructions from him, but Zhu Yunwen did not dare to reveal it. After thinking about it, he said carefully: "He also said that there were too few Han people in Liaodong, which was not conducive to the Ming Dynasty's rule in Liaodong. In order to suppress Goryeo and weaken the Jurchens, he hoped that I would make suggestions to the emperor's grandfather and immigrate to Liaodong appropriately."

The five words "weak the Jurchens" hit Zhu Yuanzhang hard in his heart. He suddenly remembered that Li Wei was carrying out the Jurchens and Han gangs in Liaodong. "Immigration!" This is the most realistic way, but if you really want to immigrate, where should you start?

Zhu Yuanzhang fell into deep thought without realizing it.

Li Weizheng was not on land at this time, but on his beloved treasure ship of Weizheng. After the end of the Goryeo War, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly figured it out and allocated more than half of the warships of the Penglai Navy to the Liaodong Navy. Now there are more than 400 warships in the Liaodong Navy, and there are as many as 50 large-scale troop transporters. Based on each troop transporter 400, 50 troop transporters can transport 20,000 troop ships. In addition to other warships, he can transport at least 50,000 troop ships at one time, and of course, there are food and grass, so that 40,000 people are not a problem.

Not only did he give him many sharp warships, but more importantly, he also allocated the Wei Zheng treasure ship. This was his favorite big ship, which left him too many memories. Li Weizheng immediately moved his general's headquarters to the treasure ship so that he could arrive at any garrison on the Liaodong Peninsula. He believed that Zhu Yuanzhang could accept this reason.

Li Wei was reviewing military articles in the cabin. At this time, his personal soldiers led a man in, "Sir, he is here."

The person who came was Sun Ji, who made contributions in this Goryeo War. However, his current superficial identity is still the shopkeeper of the pharmacy, and his real identity is a secret stake that Li Wei was setting up in Liaodong, which is his "Embroidered Uniform Guard".

Sun Ji had completely recovered his energy, so he stepped forward and bowed: "See sir."

"You're welcome, sit down!" Li Wei was asking him to do it, and then asked with a smile: "How is it? Have you found it?"

"My subordinates found out that Chen Zhian secretly placed two pigeons every half month. Yesterday, a brother shot one and got a pigeon letter."

After saying that, Sun Ji handed a letter to Li Weizheng. Li Weizheng opened it and looked at it. As expected, it recorded his usual words and deeds. He sneered. It seemed that Chen Zhian was the secret whistle that Zhu Yuanzhang was stuck beside him.

Li Weizheng found out two months ago that Chen Zhian's relative in the Jinyiwei was Chen Baihu, who went to Guangdong with him, and was later promoted to a deputy Qianhu. This Chen Baihu was probably a spy of Zhu Yuanzhang at that time. Could Chen Zhian be the insider of Chen Baihu's development in Liaodong? But this is just a speculation. After all, there is no evidence, so he ordered Sun Ji to monitor this person at all times, and finally got conclusive evidence today.

"What do you want to deal with this person? My subordinates have a way to make him die of illness."

"No!" Li Weizheng immediately shook his head and said, "I went to Chen Zhian, and I will come to Li Zhian and Zhang Zhian. Killing him is not a solution."

He thought for a long time, then suddenly raised his head and laughed: "Why did I forget that thing?"
Chapter completed!