The word "name" sounds like it's of no use.

But in fact, even the current Ming Dynasty is not very clear about how great its influence is in the world today.

In the entire world, among the more powerful forces, the Ming Dynasty is naturally ranked first.

The next one is the Timurid Empire, which is constantly developing.

The Ottoman Empire was the most powerful.

The Ottoman Empire was located at the intersection of Eastern and Western civilizations and controlled the land transportation lines between the Eastern and Western civilizations for six centuries. It did not perish until modern times.

The opposite of this is naturally the Byzantine Empire.

This is an extremely ancient empire, which was established in 395 AD and has a history of a thousand years.

Faced with the newly born Ottoman Empire, the ancient and corrupt Byzantine Empire was obviously more difficult to contend with, and it had been losing ground on the marginal battlefields.

Compared with the new Ottoman Empire and the ancient Byzantine Empire, although Timur had extremely strong ruling power, he also had the most powerful cavalry in the world.

But the poor ruling system was Timur’s biggest hidden danger.

The ruling power of the Mongol khanates was constantly declining, and the defeat of the Golden Horde by the Principality of Moscow also marked the beginning of the decline of the Mongol ruling power.

The Hundred Years' War between England and France was still ongoing, and the outbreak of the Black Death caused a drastic reduction in the population of the whole of Europe, but the economy was on the rise.

The Renaissance had already begun in Italy.

Throughout Europe, the influence of the Church has remained extremely strong.

The Maya in America was gradually declining, and the Inca Empire was slowly rising.

Sindhu is India in later generations. The Khalji dynasty and the Tughrik dynasty ruled the Delhi Sultanate successively and the country was strong.

However, the Timurid Empire's army was eyeing the border covetously.

In Africa, the Kingdom of Mali began to grow stronger, Egypt was ruled by the Mamluk dynasty, and the Marin dynasty in Morocco was splitting up.

Looking at the entire world, today's Ming Dynasty is undoubtedly the most powerful, whether in terms of economic volume, military strength, development, system, people's livelihood and so on, it is crushing the world.

…

Ming Dynasty, Fengtian Hall, morning court.

"Japan is an evil neighbor, a perverse gang, with little humanity and righteousness. It is cunning and aggressive, stingy and extravagant, with a lot of false rituals and a cunning and chaotic nature."

"Although they have received the kindness of China for generations, they have never thought of repaying it. In the early years of the Hongwu period, they started pirates and bandits, harassed the coastal areas, seized land, harmed people, and destroyed cities."

"So they were filled with anger and were determined to protect the country. They beat the drums and killed the Japanese invaders. The people also cut down trees and raised their banners, joining the expedition. Once they succeeded, the Japanese invaders threw down their swords and armor and surrendered."

"But the Japanese slaves are extremely hateful. They took advantage of the situation and harmed us. They were ungrateful and disregarded the peace treaty. They even secretly harmed the prince of the Ming Dynasty."

"I, your humble servant, have made the above report and implore His Majesty to issue an order to strike a heavy blow to Japan and restore the dignity of the Ming Dynasty."

In front of the Fengtian Hall, an imperial censor spoke eloquently and loudly with great momentum.

The ministers in the hall were filled with indignation and responded one after another.

Zhu Ying stood in the hall with a calm expression.

It turns out that those who study well are all capable of some things. This is really a true principle.

In fact, today's court meeting is mainly just a formality.

Because the issue of the silver mine had already spread in the Ming Dynasty, almost everyone, from high-ranking officials and nobles to peddlers, was preoccupied with the Japanese silver mine.

This matter was not published in the official gazette, but the gossip was the most exciting.

Things had come to this point, and after discussion between Zhu Ying and Zhu Yuanzhang, they felt that there seemed to be no need to continue the peace alliance with Japan.

So he made some simple arrangements at the court meeting.

Naturally, the censor was very pleased. He notified everyone in advance, prepared a statement, and then brought up the matter.

According to the rules, Zhu Ying needs to be reserved at this time, otherwise it would seem like she is lacking in ceremonial if she is too direct.

"The Japanese side seems to be showing some sincerity, as they sent the mastermind behind the assassination of the crown prince here."

After Zhu Ying finished speaking, the censor immediately kowtowed and said, "This is all a conspiracy of the Japanese. The difference is so far away. Who can know whether he is a scapegoat?"

"The assassination of the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty shows that Japan is either unable to control it or has been secretly plotting for a long time. No matter which one it is, the Ming Dynasty must restore order for it."

Zhu Ying nodded, then looked at the ministers and asked, "Do you have any other opinions?"

All the civil and military officials shook their heads.

Everyone knows that discussing this matter in the morning court today was just a formality, and the outcome of the matter has already been decided.

Soon, the situation regarding Japan was determined in the court.

This time, Japan will not be given any chance to explain.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty would not mobilize a large number of troops to attack Japan again. Only tens of thousands of people would be sent.

…

Qin Palace.

Zhu Chong asked the eunuch beside him nervously, "Do you think His Royal Highness will really let me lead the army to Japan?"

Originally, there was no need to communicate with the eunuchs about such matters.

It’s just that Zhu Chong is a little worried now.

Because of what happened before, even though Zhu Yuanzhang had forgiven Zhu Chong for the sake of Zhu Biao's death, this guy's concubine still broke the only jade pendant left to Zhu Yuanzhang by Empress Ma.

The death of Deng only relieved Zhu Yuanzhang's hatred, but could not resolve Zhu Yuanzhang's disappointment with his son.

He led troops once later, but after Zhu Ying established overseas fiefdoms, the military power in his hands was taken back again.

With Zhu Yuanzhang around, no vassal king dared to cause any trouble. Zhu Yuanzhang's deterrent power was the shadow of many vassal kings' childhood. Even Zhu Chong, the second son, was afraid of his father from the bottom of his heart.

The eunuch was at a loss when he heard what the King of Qin said.

When it comes to palace affairs, interfering without permission would only lead to your own death.

He could only kneel down and kowtow: "Your Majesty, I don't know, I don't know."

Seeing this, Zhu Chong waved his hand in disappointment and asked him to leave.

The eunuch left in a hurry as if he had escaped a life-and-death situation by luck, fearing that he would be left behind again if he left a step later.

There were many eunuchs in the palace who were beaten to death because they were involved in royal affairs.

Zhu Chong was left alone, pacing back and forth in the yard, his mind full of random thoughts.

After an unknown amount of time, hurried footsteps were heard again outside the yard.

Zhu Chong didn't care about anything else, nor did he care about his own Qin's demeanor, and hurried over to open the door.

Outside the door, several eunuchs came with imperial edicts.

Zhu Chong hurried to greet him.

The eunuch did not hesitate to see this, and directly opened the imperial edict and said, "In compliance with the imperial edict of your majesty, Qin Wang Zhu Chong is appointed as the Supervisory Envoy, with 30,000 troops in charge of investigating the assassination of the Crown Prince of Yancheng, an overseas vassal state."

In front of the eunuchs, Zhu Chong had nothing to care about.

He walked over, took the eunuch's decree, and read it carefully again.

The eunuchs who delivered the imperial edict were accustomed to this. When the imperial edict left their hands, they immediately bowed their straight backs to show their respect to the King of Qin.

When the imperial edict was in hand, they represented the face of His Majesty. Now that the imperial edict is gone, they have naturally returned to their status as eunuchs.

These actions of the King of Qin were somewhat against the rules, but this was an internal affair of the royal family and it was not their turn to interfere.

Even if His Majesty knew about it, he would just give a few words of reprimand and leave it at that.

Zhu Chong couldn't stop smiling.

After enduring for so long, I finally made it through.

Life in this capital city is really too annoying.

It’s not because of anything else, but because of the suppression from his father, he has to be cautious in everything he does.

As the leader of all the kings, Zhu Chong is still the clan leader of the Zongrenfu, which means he cannot go out for a walk. His previous attempts to go abroad to establish a vassal state were directly rejected.

Now I have finally got what I wanted.

Perhaps this idea will not be understood by others, and only the princes themselves know how happy it is to be able to go out of the Ming territory and go overseas under the current circumstances.

…

On the vast grassland, Zhu Di sat on a stone to rest in an untidy manner.

Months of war had made Zhu Di look a little more tired, but the gleam in his eyes had not diminished in the slightest.

While taking a break, Zhu Di glanced at the soldiers who were resting.

After continuous fighting and replenishment, the team of 10,000 people is now reduced to only 7,000 people, and the number of Han people among them is less than half.

Most of them became cavalrymen of various tribes on the grassland.

It was also this kind of long-term fighting that allowed some young new recruits to grow rapidly, and the combat effectiveness of the team of 7,000 people was even higher than the previous 10,000 people.

However, Zhu Di's life was not easy either.

With the counterattack of the entire Northern Yuan Dynasty and the alliance of various tribes, he could no longer advance deeper into the heart of the grassland.

If you go in rashly, you may easily be surrounded and killed.

"Zhang Yu, notify everyone to organize the troops and withdraw to the grassland military base in one stick of incense."

"After fighting for several months, it's time to let the soldiers take a good rest."

After thinking for a while, Zhu Di called his general Zhang Yu and gave him orders.

Soon, cheers were heard from the army.

Mongolia and Japan are completely different concepts.

Here, the matchlock gun cannot play a big role, not to mention the siege weapon cannon.

The grassland is the native land of the Mongolians. It is a vast plain with almost no obstructions.

The only way to start a war here is with a large number of cavalry.

Of course, a powerful infantry regiment could also advance slowly, but the losses would be extremely high, and a large amount of rations would be consumed every day. Once the logistics could not keep up, they would have no choice but to retreat.

The method of the Zhuying Grassland Military Base is to reduce consumption and use powerful material and financial resources to drag down the grassland.

At the same time, it caused unrest in the entire grassland, making it unable to plunder the Ming Dynasty's borders.

The most obvious point is that since the establishment of the grassland military base, there has been no more extortion. All the borders bordering the Ming Dynasty have been swept by Zhu Di, Lan Yu and others.

This forced many grassland tribes to migrate deep into the grassland.

The method sounds simple, but only the current Ming Dynasty has the strength to implement it.

After all, the money and food spent here is a huge amount.

The total loss this year alone has exceeded seven million treasure notes.

Think about how much the annual income of the Ming Dynasty was back then, it was only over 10 million. If this had happened before, it would have completely dragged down the Ming Dynasty's finances.

After the embargo, trade at the border has been gradually decreasing, but the tribes in Liaodong that have surrendered are living a relatively good life, and normal trade is also going on.

Many other tribes could only find ways to sell their products to the surrendered tribes in Liaodong at a lower price in exchange for meager food rations.

In the end, these livestock or livestock products, furs, etc. will still flow into the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Di and Lan Yu, with more than 20,000 cavalrymen, conquered everywhere on the grassland.

This number sounds like a lot, but compared with the vast grassland, it seems insignificant.

Even though the sweep lasted for several months, most of the time was actually spent on the journey. Moreover, when the sweep began, many tribes heard the news and migrated.

Meanwhile, things were also brewing in the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

They were secretly preparing a large army, hoping to launch a more direct attack on the grassland military base.

The reason why Zhu Di chose to return to the base was because he sensed danger.

The most powerful armor of the Ming Dynasty is difficult to wear on the grassland, and is generally composed of light leather armor.

Heavy armor will affect the speed of the cavalry. If the speed cannot keep up, it will be tantamount to handing life and death to the enemy.

Therefore, the current grassland conquests are still mostly carried out by Mongolian cavalry, and Zhu Di and Lan Yu's side also consists entirely of cavalry.

It was about an hour after Zhu Di left.

Several Mongolian cavalrymen arrived at the camp.

The traces of the army's station could not be erased. Feeling the residual temperature of the campfire on the ground, the leading Mongolian commander said in Mongolian: "It's not too far, we can catch up."

Then immediately turn around and retreat.

As several Mongols ran, a large group of black shadows appeared in the distance.

Looking closer, we saw tens of thousands of cavalrymen stationed.

This is the commander-in-chief of the military under the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Unlike the grassland tribes, the Northern Yuan Dynasty, even now, still follows the same system as the previous Yuan Dynasty, implementing the three-province and six-department system.

This is also the reason why the Ming Dynasty has always wanted to completely destroy the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

The Northern Yuan Dynasty was not only inhabited by Mongols. After being driven into the grasslands by Zhu Yuanzhang, there were still a large number of Han scholars working for the Northern Yuan Dynasty. They wanted the Northern Yuan Dynasty to move into the Central Plains again so that they could also get the credit of following the dragon.

The Northern Yuan Dynasty also inherited the system of the Song Dynasty, which was completely different from the primitive and barbaric rule on the grassland. If it found an opportunity to invade the Central Plains, it would be easy to open up the situation and it would also be easy to get the support of some local families.

Therefore, destroying the Northern Yuan Dynasty was the top priority for the Ming Dynasty.