"Yuan Rong pays respect to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

In Kunning Palace, Yuan Rong was summoned, his face still showing joy and excitement.

He didn't expect that after he had talked to Yuying about the relevant matters yesterday, he would be summoned by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince today.

When the eunuch arrived at his house and conveyed the order from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, there was no doubt that everyone in the mansion had already looked at him with admiration.

Including his father Yuan Hong, his eyes also changed.

Although he is considered a royal relative, can anyone see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?

Yuan Hong's status is not low. Although he is only an assistant to the Rear Army Governor's Office, he is not good enough in front of a crown prince like His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

This is also because the current military power system has undergone several reforms, and the actual power of the Five Military Governor's Office is constantly declining. In particular, the continuous impact of the Ming Military Academy on various guards has greatly expanded the military power in Zhu Ying's hands.

Moreover, this situation is getting worse and worse with each graduation of students from the Ming Military Academy entering the army.

Some former commanders of the garrisons were complaining bitterly, because the centurions and thousand-man commanders under their command, and even the general and small flags, were constantly being replaced by graduates of the military academy.

With the support of the Ming Military Academy, no one of the garrison commanders could resist them, let alone the Five Military Governor's Office. No matter who the left governor or the right governor is, they dare not intervene.

Some things that involved drinking soldiers' blood gradually disappeared.

Some of those who were unwilling to give in were quickly defeated. According to the military discipline of the Ming Dynasty, they either stepped down or were demoted.

Under such circumstances, naturally, the power of people like Yuan Hong was slipping away.

For someone like Yuan Hong, who wouldn't want to be close to the Crown Prince? As His Majesty gets older, the Crown Prince's prestige becomes more and more sufficient.

It can be seen that the current Ming Dynasty throne is firmly established, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is a wise monarch, so future successions will naturally be smooth sailing.

Zhu Ying looked at Yuan Rong in front of him.

No wonder Zhu Yuying was attracted to him, he was really handsome. Of course he couldn't compare with Li Jinglong, who was so handsome, but he was also very good.

"Come on, we are related after all."

Zhu Ying didn't have the intention of trying to pressure him. At his position, he no longer needed such things.

Summoning him into the palace for a face-to-face meeting is itself a kind of deterrent.

"Thank you, Your Highness." Yuan Rong stood up respectfully.

A descendant of nobles like him who has neither an official position nor any honors cannot be considered a commoner, but he still has to perform the ceremony of kneeling and worshiping.

"I summoned you to the palace this time because I want to ask you about the situation of the noble children who are similar to you in the capital."

"You don't have to be too restrained. Let's just treat this as a chat between friends. I'm not that old, so we can just chat as peers."

Seeing that Yuan Rong was obviously very nervous, Zhu Ying smiled and said.

That being said, Yuan Rong naturally couldn't take it seriously, but his nervous heart also relaxed a lot.

He stammered and began to describe the current situation of the second generation of nobles in the capital.

As Yuan Rong told his story, Zhu Ying had a general understanding of the current situation of the second generation in the capital.

The system of primogeniture is supported not only by the emperor, but by everyone.

The eldest sons of each family basically have their status determined from birth, and will receive a lot of care. They will learn both civil and martial arts, and will spend a lot of money to hire famous teachers to teach them.

The second son was slightly inferior, but not too different. Except for some inheritance of titles from the court or official positions, everything else was similar.

It is completely different for a concubine's child.

The specific situation depends on the concubine's family. If her family is slightly better, the concubine's life will be relatively comfortable.

But if compared with the direct descendants, there is a huge difference.

Yuan Rong was born out of wedlock, so when he talked about the situation of these illegitimate children, he naturally had a lot of subjective emotions in his mind.

Yuan Rong was somewhat indignant after being suppressed at home for a long time.

The same situation exists not only at home, but also in the outside circle.

It is basically impossible for the eldest son to get along in the circle. According to the system of hereditary titles, he will be given an official position when he comes of age, and embark on a career in politics early, or serve as a military officer in a garrison.

Therefore, these street urchins in the capital are basically the legitimate sons, the second sons, and the illegitimate sons.

Among these sons, a concubine's son has much less status than the legitimate second son.

Of course, the key to ranking still depends on the size of one’s official position.

Don't underestimate these second-generation street urchins; they often have strong connections, especially with ordinary businessmen or officials.

Maybe they may not be able to get things done, but it is relatively easy to ruin it.

It also creates a lot of difficulty for others.

Yuan Rong naturally spoke everything to Zhu Ying, including all the detailed operations, such as how to make some extra money.

Firstly, Yuan Rong was about to become the chief eunuch of Prince Yan's mansion, so he didn't have to worry about his future.

Secondly, it is hard to say that there is anything to hide in front of Zhu Ying.

Zhu Ying didn't even need to ask. With just a glance, Yuan Rong had revealed all his secrets.

In fact, these are not any secrets in the capital, but whether it is the civil officials or the generals, as well as the people in the palace, generally pay little attention to these second generations.

Even the Jinyiwei felt it was very troublesome and were too lazy to intervene until trouble occurred.

Getting involved will not only bring you trouble, but also cause a lot of trouble.

At this point, Zhu Ying basically understood everything.

After listening to it, he didn't say anything else, not even a word about Yuan Rong and Zhu Yuying's marriage, and just let him go back.

Zhu Ying knew very well that by summoning Yuan Rong to the palace for a face-to-face meeting, he already represented his attitude.

Zhu Di himself would not have any intention of objecting.

Or it could be said that Zhu Di actually didn't care that much about the status of legitimate or illegitimate children. In history, Zhu Yuying also married Yuan Rong.

Now this has not changed because of Zhu Ying's changes.

With Zhu Ying's support, Zhu Di would naturally not have any objections. Besides, Zhu Di knew something about Yuan Rong. Although he came from a poor family, he had a good reputation.

Because of some relationships in his childhood, Zhu Di didn't care about his background at all.

On the wedding day, Zhu Ying also went there.

He wouldn't just show up and leave, he put too much pressure on everyone there and easily stole the spotlight.

Zhu Yuanzhang specially approved that Zhu Yuying's return banquet be held in the palace, which could be regarded as a direct support.

Yuan Hong was of course extremely happy. He did not expect that his illegitimate son was so capable and could be valued by the eldest daughter of Prince Yan, Princess Yongcheng.

Even His Royal Highness the Crown Prince showed up in person at the wedding banquet.

During this time, a separate classroom appeared at Daming Military Academy.

This class was specially prepared by Zhu Ying for these street urchins who were the second children of noble families.

In the capital, all sons of hereditary nobles can enter the special recruitment class of the Ming Military Academy without taking an exam.

This made all the nobles very happy.

It was already a headache to take care of these sons, but now they are admitted without examination. Even though it is a special recruitment class, it is still the Ming Military Academy.

As long as you graduate, you can become a military attaché.

It doesn't matter if you hold a low official position. With some connections, you will definitely be able to get promoted. Some problems related to family division have also been solved to a large extent.

Just by launching such a special recruitment class, all the nobles seemed to be tied to Zhu Ying's boat.

It won the hearts of the nobles to a great extent.

No matter how Zhu Ying took control of the military power, without having experienced the Lan Yu case, the Ming Dynasty now has a large number of founding heroes.

These meritorious officials and nobles are the backbone of the current Ming Dynasty’s military strength and can be said to be the backbone of the entire Ming Dynasty.

Their support would allow Zhu Yingtai to hold the same power as Zhu Yuanzhang.

…

Years later, a large number of people went to Japan.

Among them are the most influential ones.

They are Zhu Chong's Palace of Prince of Qin, Zhu Gang's Palace of Prince of Jin, Zhu Di's Palace of Prince of Yan, and Zhu Gui's Palace of Prince of Qi.

It was also during this year that several major princes married off their daughters.

It can almost be said that as long as it is considered possible, even the engagement will be kept simple and the wedding will be held directly.

Since he went to the eldest daughter of Prince Yan, he can't not go to the other princes' places.

For about ten days, Zhu Ying appeared at various weddings.

By the way, at this point in time, Xu Miaojing's enthronement ceremony was also held, and she was officially enthroned as Concubine Jin.

During this period, the capital was in a state of excitement. Except for some unlucky days, weddings were held almost every day.

Some officials lamented that this wave of money had wiped out all the family assets that they had worked so hard to build.

After all, these are weddings of princes and their palaces, so the gifts naturally cannot be cheap. Even though these princes have gone to Japan, their status is still there. If the gifts are less, what will His Majesty and His Royal Highness think?

As for Japan in the future, it will probably be these princes who will make the decisions. It is said that there is a lot of gold and silver there, so it would definitely be a good idea to establish good relations with them as soon as possible.

"My great grandson, Japan is probably a troubled place right now."

"I know these sons of mine very well. None of them are simple. They have been living with me in the military camp since they were young. They learned their arrogant temperaments from those soldiers."

"Now everyone is rushing to Japan. Haha, I'm really looking forward to seeing how exciting it will be."

With so many sons setting off together, as a father, of course I have to see them off.

Looking at the dozens of large ships sailing away at the dock under Zhengyang Gate, Zhu Yuanzhang's tone was obviously filled with happiness.

Not only those nobles, Zhu Yuanzhang was also worried about his sons.

To be honest, starting from the second son Zhu Chong, none of them was simple.

Now that everyone has gathered in Japan to expand the territory of the Ming Dynasty, it is certainly a happy thing.

Zhu Ying smiled and replied, "Grandpa, with these uncles going to Japan, there is almost no need for us to behave in Japan. However, we still need to supervise them and not make too much trouble."

Zhu Gaochi, the only one who still took the peaceful approach, is no longer with us. Japan is now in a situation similar to the struggle for supremacy among heroes at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

It can be imagined that several feudal lords would inevitably engage in a large-scale land grabbing in Japan, constantly digging for minerals to increase the strength of their own armies.

These princes include not just himself, but also a large number of outstanding generals.

Because of the relationship with the vassal kings, many descendants of nobles also went with them, but they all went for military merit.

Why is it said that expanding territory is difficult?

The main reason is that some small places are too barren, and there is no benefit at all in spending effort to conquer them, only losses.

Those who have a little knowledge also regard it as a bitter and cold place. Going there feels like exile, with no dignity and no future.

These shortcomings are the reason why the territory of the Central Plains dynasty has never been able to expand on a large scale.

It's different now.

The craze for Japan has become a trend. Merchants want to make money, scholars want to realize their ambitions, and warriors want to earn military merit or even a hereditary title.

Even ordinary people wanted to go to Japan to work.

Because according to the latest laws promulgated by the Ming Dynasty, working in Japan can earn at least several times the wages of working in the Ming Dynasty.

Once you go there, you will be given land and the taxes will be unprecedentedly low.

Currently in Japan, the Ming Dynasty only occupies part of Kyushu Island.

Perhaps by the end of this year, all of Kyushu Island will belong to the Ming Dynasty.

How could we let these vassal kings go?

The most prosperous place in Japan is not Kyushu Island, but Honshu Island, where a large number of Japanese royal aristocrats are concentrated.

As of now, neither Zhu Ying nor Zhu Yuanzhang were prepared to deal with the Japanese envoys.

In the face of huge interests, any peace treaty is meaningless.

It all depends on how the feudal lords slowly conquer the entire Japanese country.

On the other hand, in Annan, the situation is clearer.

The cold winter is the most comfortable time for Annan, as it is finally not as hot as usual.

After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Ming army in Annan began to sweep the entire Annan.

As for Qinghua, the western capital where Hu Jima was located, it was completely under siege.

The Ming navy cut off the entire coastline, leaving Hu Jima with no chance of escape.

By mid-March, 400,000 Ming troops had gathered outside Thanh Hoa, the western capital of Annan.

Among these 400,000 troops, nearly 200,000 are Annanites.

Hu Jima's situation was hopeless, and the only thing left was the last city of Qinghua to resist in Europe.

"Pass the order to open the city gates. There is no need to resist any more. This is the last bit of dignity left."

When the day really came, Hu Jima originally thought that he would defend Qinghua to the death, but in the end he chose to give up.

This is not to say that he cares about his identity as a commoner, but that he is making the final consideration for his family and descendants.

The greater the consumption of the Ming army and the more deaths, the heavier his guilt will be in the future, thus implicating all the family members.

Besides.

In this Western Capital City, countless forces have already secretly surrendered to the enemy.