Wuli, should now be called Wucheng.

This place has been a vassal state of Zhu Yunwen for several months.

When he first came here, Zhu Yunwen was deeply shocked by the dilapidated state of the place.

In his opinion, Uli was one of the big cities in Champa. It was definitely far inferior to the capital, but it should be similar to some big counties in the south of the Yangtze River.

However, when he arrived here, he found that it was completely different from what he had imagined.

Apart from the mottled city walls, it feels like a village inside, and is not even as good as some wealthy villages in the Ming Dynasty.

There are 100,000 residents in the city, and there are no old, weak, sick or disabled people. The Champa King Cha also wanted to play some shady tricks at first and took away all the young and strong people.

Later, when the Ming navy was stationed in Champa, they no longer dared to have that thought.

When Zhu Yunwen arrived in Champa, Chaye went to greet him personally.

When he saw Commander Jin of the Ming Navy being respectful in front of King Wu, he knew that his choice was right.

Along with Prince Wu Zhu Yunwen came 50,000 elite soldiers from the Ming Dynasty, making the event even more grand.

There were rumors earlier that the King of Wu and the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty had a bad relationship, but it seems that they were all rumors.

Therefore, Wu Li still has quite a lot of property now.

But in Zhu Yunwen's eyes, this was no different from a refugee camp.

There are only more than 100,000 residents in total, and almost all of them are ragged, pale and thin.

Of course, the original Champa nobles had moved away long ago.

They did not want to live under the rule of King Wu of the Ming Dynasty, and cultural differences were a big problem.

How can one hundred thousand residents support fifty thousand elite soldiers? This is absolutely impossible.

Whether it was Zhu Yunwen, Lu, or the ministers who followed him, their greatest blessing was that the support of 50,000 elite soldiers was all borne by the Crown Prince.

They had some bad thoughts at first, but now they know that the Crown Prince really loves his younger brother.

Otherwise, when he arrived in Wuli, Zhu Yunwen would go bankrupt.

This is equivalent to the taxes collected by Zhu Yunwen, which was only needed to support his own expenses and the salaries of officials.

With more than 100,000 residents, this is enough.

Under the leadership of Lu, the first step of Wucheng was to start construction reform, demolish buildings everywhere, and replan the entire city.

On the one hand, it can better control Wuli, and on the other hand, it can also enhance Zhu Yunwen's prestige.

Not only does it require conscripting young and strong men from the city of Uli to do the labor, but it also requires more than 20,000 Ming soldiers to work together.

The army can build camps outside the city, but the officials' houses and the King of Wu's palace are indispensable.

Such a major transformation obviously cannot be completed in one or two years. It is estimated that it will take two or three years to be fully implemented.

However, it will be completed before the end of the year.

"Your Majesty, where are you taking your people? I would like to discuss the construction of the east part of the city with Your Majesty."

"Now these people in the city, they..."

When Zhu Yunwen was about to leave the house with his guards, he happened to meet Huang Zicheng.

Huang Zicheng came forward and told the story upon seeing this.

But before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Zhu Yunwen.

"Well, you can talk to the Queen Mother about these things. I am going to the port now."

"Duke Cao will be arriving in the next two days. I have to go to the port to greet him."

Zhu Yunwen interrupted impatiently.

Huang Zicheng wanted to say something else, but Zhu Yunwen didn't want to pay any more attention to him. He called on his guards to get on the carriage and leave.

In the end, Huang Zicheng could only sigh helplessly.

It’s not that anything has changed since he came here. Huang Zicheng has indeed been given great power and is truly the head of all officials.

However, Zhu Yunwen's performance made Huang Zicheng very uncomfortable.

Most of the officials were full of energy and worked overtime every day to handle a large number of affairs. Zhu Yunwen was also very diligent at the beginning.

But he soon became bored with the tedious construction work and began to focus his attention elsewhere.

The one who replaced her was Zhu Yunwen's biological mother, the current Queen Mother Lu.

Empress Lü began to interfere in state affairs, which made many officials dissatisfied. After all, His Majesty had personally stipulated that the harem should not interfere in state affairs, and now Empress Lü had clearly violated this iron rule.

Zhu Yunwen didn't think much of it. She was his biological mother, so how could she influence him? She would only help him deal with some busy affairs.

When officials submitted memorials advising against giving Empress Lü any more power, they were reprimanded by Zhu Yunwen.

After this, naturally, Lu's power became even greater.

In addition to Huang Zicheng, there is another person in the court of Wucheng who can compete with Huang Zicheng, and that is Lu Ben, the father of Empress Lu.

Lü Ben was previously the Minister of Taichang Temple, one of the Five Temples of the Ming Dynasty, and a third-rank official.

In terms of status and position, he is much higher than Huang Zicheng.

Huang Zicheng is currently the Minister of Personnel in the vassal state, which means he has the greatest power, but the Ministry of Revenue, the purse, is in charge of Lu Ben.

There are only two or three big and small cats in the vassal state now, and the Minister of Personnel has no room to display his abilities. Instead, the Ministry of Revenue has more work to do.

Wucheng today is roughly divided into two factions.

There is the Wu Wang faction headed by Huang Zicheng, and the Queen Mother Wang faction headed by Lu Ben.

Of course, there is no problem on the surface, but there is a rivalry behind the scenes.

But Zhu Yunwen now listens to Lu in many matters.

Huang Zicheng once thought that it must be Lu who was behind this.

The only thing to be thankful for is that the Lu family has no military power. These elite soldiers from the Ming Dynasty, according to the instructions of the Crown Prince, will only obey the orders of King Wu Zhu Yunwen.

Three days later.

Zhu Yunwen, accompanied by three thousand elite guards, rushed to the Champa port of Qui Nhon.

Wucheng is more than 200 miles away from the seaside, so Zhu Yunwen had to set off early after receiving the news.

At this time, Li Jinglong's fleet had already arrived at the port.

This is even more spectacular than the previous Ming Dynasty navy.

Jin Kaishan has only twenty or thirty treasure ships, while Li Jinglong has two hundred treasure ships.

It is so overwhelming that when you get close to the port, it is like a city moving on the sea.

The Ming navy originally stationed in Champa was already a major concern for King Cha of Champa. Now with the arrival of 800 ships, King Cha can only tremble in fear.

Not to mention in Wuli, oh no, there are still 50,000 elite Ming soldiers in Wucheng now.

With all these forces added together, Champa could easily transform itself.

At this time, Zhan Wangchaye was already facing it with a humble attitude.

“Cousin, cousin!!!”

Zhu Yunwen shouted loudly with some excitement. The feeling of meeting an old friend in a foreign land made him forget about his manners as the King of Wu.

Li Jinglong also walked over quickly and gave Zhu Yunwen a warm hug.

Although it is winter now, the weather in Champa is very hot, so they just hugged each other and then separated.

"Cousin, you're dark." Li Jinglong teased with a smile.

Zhu Yunwen was a little speechless. He didn't expect to hear such words when they met. He said immediately, "Who here can be darker? Cousin, wait. When you return, I'm afraid you will be darker than me."

Li Jinglong said confidently, "That's not necessarily true. During these days at sea, most of the soldiers in the army have become much darker, but I have not been affected at all."

Zhu Yunwen looked at it carefully and found it was true. He was even more speechless.

"Okay, I won't tease you anymore. This time, the Crown Prince brought a lot of new things from the capital, as well as new rouge and powder for Empress Lu. I'll have people move these over."

Zhu Yunwen's eyes lit up: "Brother, did you bring gifts for me and my mother?"

Li Jinglong said: "This was instructed by the Crown Prince himself."

Zhu Yunwen felt a hint of warmth in his heart, and some of the original distances completely disappeared.

Zhu Yunwen originally came to Wuli City to establish his fiefdom with some complaints. He did not expect that his fiefdom would become so dilapidated. He thought it was a life of enjoyment, but in the end it was pure suffering. It felt like no different from exile.

Now it seems that the eldest brother obviously doesn't know the specific situation here and doesn't deliberately want to trick me.

Choosing Wuli is ultimately a choice between myself and my mother.

All I can say is that after seeing the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, the gap between us and these small countries is too huge.

Zhu Yunwen was chatting with Li Jinglong, while Zhan Wangchaye, the naval commander Jin Kaishan, and Yu Tongyuan, the Marquis of Yuexi, could only wait.

One is a vassal king of the Ming Dynasty, and the other is a duke of the Ming Dynasty.

Their status obviously does not allow them to interrupt.

Of course, Li Jinglong would not neglect others too much. After a brief chat with Zhu Yunwen, he greeted Zhan Wangcha and attended the dinner prepared by him.

The Ming Dynasty's ocean-going fleet will stay here for about five days.

One is to replenish daily necessities on the ship, and the other is to hold a market here to dump the goods carried.

Because of the large supply, the price is naturally much cheaper than before. This is a very good opportunity for the nobles and wealthy people of Champa.

At the banquet, Zhan Wangcha also arranged singing and dancing to liven up the atmosphere, but no one present took it seriously.

Jin Kaishan naturally had to report the situation to his boss.

Zhu Yunwen drank with Li Jinglong and reminisced about the past, talking about their days in the capital.

Even though no one paid attention to Cha, he still had to smile awkwardly, for fear of angering the people of Daming.

"What a pity. We are very rushed this time. We must set off in five days without delay. Otherwise, we will not be able to visit my aunt."

Li Jinglong sighed and said.

Champa is too close to the Ming Dynasty, and especially in recent years, commercial activities have been very frequent, so that a large number of Han people have settled in the cities of Champa.

Politically speaking, the Ming Dynasty already had enough deterrence on Champa, and economically speaking, Champa’s specialties were no longer rare items.

So Li Jinglong had to stop for a short while and then set off again following the monsoon.

Although Li Jinglong was the main commander of the ocean-going fleet's voyage, eunuchs compiled a log of the entire process.

After we return, it will be handed over to His Majesty and the Crown Prince for review.

Moreover, as the commander-in-chief of the Five Military Commanderies and the commander-in-chief of the ocean-going fleet, Li Jinglong would have brought gifts to the King of Wu, Zhu Yunwen, if it were not for the order from the Crown Prince.

Contacting the prince privately is suspected of having an affair.

The time when King Zhu Su of Zhou fled his fiefdom to Fengyang, with the possibility of meeting his father-in-law, Duke of Song Feng Sheng, which led to his exile to Annan and imprisonment in the capital, is still vivid in people’s minds.

Li Jinglong couldn't afford the responsibility, so he just had to honestly complete the Crown Prince's instructions.

Zhu Yunwen's eyes were filled with regret: "I was hoping that my cousin could stay for a while longer, so that he could help me visit Wucheng and give me some advice."

"Since Grandfather Huang has made arrangements, we can only wait until my cousin returns to see you."

At this point, Zhu Yunwen said happily, "My cousin is going to visit so many countries. When you go, please remember to bring me some new and interesting things."

Li Jinglong smiled and said, "Needless to say, I will bring them all with me. How could I forget my cousin?"

"My cousin has gotten used to living here. How is Wucheng developing now?"

Zhu Yunwen had a lot of things on his mind, and when he heard what his cousin Li Jinglong said, he immediately started to complain.

This is overseas, there is no possibility of Jinyiwei or anything like that, so of course you can be more casual in your speech.

Zhu Yunwen complained about the dilapidated state of Wucheng, saying that it would still require a lot of manpower and resources to renovate it. He said that the renovation should be completed by the time his cousin returned.

Since they grew up together, he also talked about the matter of the 50,000 elite soldiers.

The fact that the 50,000 elite soldiers were supported by the Crown Prince was a secret and was not announced to the public. Zhu Yunwen did not pay much attention to it when he said it.

"Are the military pay and food supplies for these 50,000 elite soldiers provided by the Crown Prince?"

Li Jinglong didn't know about this and was shocked when he heard Zhu Yunwen talk about it.

Because in my impression, the relationship between the Crown Prince and Zhu Yunwen was not bad, but it was not good either.

In terms of origin, even if Lu was made the second wife of the Crown Princess, from the perspective of the Crown Prince, what was the difference between her and a concubine's daughter? The Crown Prince was the legitimate and legitimate Crown Prince.

In addition, the position of Crown Prince had originally been decided by Your Majesty to be Zhu Yunwen, but was snatched away by the appearance of Zhu Ying.

It's like an inherent contradiction.

I didn’t expect that the Crown Prince would be willing to help support 50,000 elite soldiers.

"It can't be said that they are fully supported. After all, these soldiers have a lot of land after being stationed in the camp, and they can produce on their own just like the garrisons."

"If production is insufficient, we will report it to the emperor, and then purchase it from Champa and Annan, or ship it from Ming."

Zhu Yunwen's tone was somewhat indifferent. He no longer had the initial excitement he had for helping his elder brother.

He even felt that it was natural. He had been given the position of Crown Prince without fighting for it, so what did it matter if he was just supporting 50,000 elite soldiers?

People always change, especially after leaving the Ming Dynasty. Now Zhu Yunwen is also the ruler of a country.

The 50,000 elite soldiers have a huge influence on the areas around Uli. Coupled with the title of the vassal king of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yunwen can be said to be able to walk sideways in the entire Champa Kingdom.

Being praised every day is completely different from being in the capital of the Ming Dynasty. It is inevitable that one is a little arrogant.

Li Jinglong frowned slightly, he keenly noticed the change in Zhu Yunwen.

It’s hard to say anything.

Previously I thought that the Lu family was abusing their power, but now I think they are not bad.