Only the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty would dare to be so bold, or rather, only with the old Zhu as his backer would young Zhu be so fearless. Of course, this doesn't exclude the possibility that young Zhu was just young, so even though the abundance of resources made him more mature than his peers, he was still a child after all.

Zhu Yunying smiled and shook his head, then said, "Elder, go and fetch a cloak and a sword, and send them to the Empress. Let Xu Yingxu and Xu Zengshou wait and see if the Crown Prince summons them."

Being considerate of others depends on the situation. Zhu Yunying certainly wouldn't show unparalleled favor to his ministers, nor would he expect the emperor and crown prince to wait on them; it was the ministers who had to wait.

Wang Chengen naturally accepted the order, but still had some questions to ask, "Your Majesty, there are still several cloaks sewn by Her Majesty the Empress in the treasury. As for the sword, should I take the imperial sword or something else?"

“Zhang Fu is not in such a presentable position right now. Take a scarlet cloak, without any embellishments.” Zhu Yunying laughed and said, “Let’s wait until Zhang Fu has made great contributions before we make a cloak for him.”

While it's meant to help young Zhu win over his subjects, excessively generous rewards aren't necessarily a good thing. A slight increase in rank is acceptable as a sign of favor, but too much kindness is not necessarily a good thing.

Wang Chengen naturally knew what to do. In fact, if he weren't so quick-witted, he wouldn't have asked so many questions. The main reason was that it concerned the Crown Prince and his top general, so Wang Chengen naturally asked a question to ensure the task wasn't botched.

He should just continue doing what he needs to do. Zhu Yunying still has many memorials to review and needs to summon several ministers from time to time. He is very busy now.

As for Wang Chengen, he didn't need to do anything personally. He had many people under him who were capable of handling things. Serving the emperor was Wang Chengen's job.

Overjoyed, little Zhu ran to the Qianqing Palace and immediately shouted, "Great-grandfather, Father told us to go and get the Imperial Guards!"

Old Zhu, who had been lying on the recliner pretending to doze off, opened his eyes and said with a smile, "Yu Lin has been under your name for a long time, what's there to say? What's going on, are you leading Yu Lin out to suppress bandits?"

"Great-grandfather, Father is going to issue an edict to establish a guard within the Imperial Guard, under the jurisdiction of the capital garrison. Zhang Fu will be appointed as its commander, and a lot of men will be sent to Goryeo." Little Zhu said to Old Zhu with great joy, "Father is still busy, so he asked us to ask Great-grandfather if we can go and summon Zhang Fu."

Old Zhu was taken aback, then laughed and said, "He really dares to give us military power. It's one thing to give the Crown Prince's Three Guards, but this time we're going to give you the orphans of the Imperial Guards, to let those people go to the battlefield to make merit. This trip will probably cause quite a stir in the court."

“When our father was this age, he commanded quite a few naval forces and numerous coastal garrisons!” Little Zhu said matter-of-factly, “We only command one garrison now, so what?”

Old Zhu found it amusing and patted his leg. Little Zhu, just like when he was a child, quickly sat on Old Zhu's lap.

“Your father was precocious, and you know that,” Old Zhu said gently. “When he took command of the navy or those coastal garrisons, he was also tasked with suppressing the Japanese pirates and establishing the Maritime Trade Office. Furthermore, when we gave your grandfather and father military power in our early years, we only gave them the authority to command the troops; the men were still our own. Do you understand?”

Little Zhu didn't understand and said, "Our father only gives us the power to command troops now. The Imperial Guard will still be under the jurisdiction of the Beijing Garrison in the future. It's just a matter of our team, not something we can decide."

“That’s different. Those orphans of the Imperial Guard were supported in your name in the early years. In recent years, either your two uncles trained the troops or your mother bestowed favors upon them. Those are your people.” Old Zhu said with a smile, “Now that your attendant has taken up the position of commander, you will have people in the Five Armies Commandery in the future.”

Little Zhu thought for a moment and seemed to understand, “Our eldest uncle is different, he doesn’t dare to be close to us, he’s our father’s man. Our maternal uncles are different, they are close to our father and also close to our second uncle.”

“That’s different. Your father’s uncles are all useless. They only have Lan Yu who can do some things.” Old Zhu continued patiently. “Besides, your father lost his mother early on. If his uncles don’t protect him, some people might have bad intentions.”

Little Zhu nodded seriously, as if he understood something. But whether he truly understood or not, only Little Zhu himself knew the answer.

Old Zhu doesn't seem to care about some things. It doesn't matter if Little Zhu doesn't understand now. Given time, the child will definitely understand. Right now, it's better to focus on more important matters.

“In the early years, we had Zhu Shou, the Marquis of Zhulu, and Zhang He, the Marquis of Hanghai, serve under your father,” Old Zhu said slowly. “At that time, both of them had made some contributions and should have been eligible to be ennobled. We held back for a while and had your father intervene before ennobled them.”

Little Zhu understood immediately. He said, "We know that when we bestow favors, we must let them know who they should be grateful to! It's just that Zhang Fu can't be granted a marquisate right now; the titles in our Great Ming Dynasty are extremely valuable!"

“Zhang Fu can’t be ennobled now, but his father could probably get a hereditary title,” Old Zhu said with a smile. “We know that titles are precious in the Ming Dynasty. This isn’t like the old days when we bestowed titles on meritorious officials. Once a title is granted, the court has to provide a salary. This is a matter for several generations, even dozens of generations, so it can’t be taken lightly.”

Little Zhu thought so too. A title isn't just something that sounds good. Being enfeoffed as a marquis means receiving a salary, and the Ming Dynasty will also take care of your descendants. How can you be enfeoffed as a marquis without great merit?

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!