Grasslands are not a big problem now.

Although the Tatars and the Oirat were still struggling, tribes like the Arutai were also hiding everywhere, including Cabest's 100,000 cavalry.

But in fact, with Guihua City there, it can be said that the situation has been basically pacified.

Relying on the continuous transportation of supplies to Guihua City by train, the country has already crushed the grassland as a whole in terms of national strength.

The Ming army occupied many pastures on the grassland, forcing other tribes that were unwilling to surrender to migrate.

But they did not have the ability to confront the Ming Dynasty.

If they gathered a large number of troops and were discovered by the Ming army, it would be a big problem, because the Ming army now has hundreds of thousands of cavalry, and they can easily crush them without even pulling artillery.

The most important thing is that because of the embargo, the lives of the grassland tribes have become increasingly difficult. The tribes that cannot survive have no choice but to surrender in the end.

If you don’t surrender, you will die. If you surrender, you can have enough food.

In fact, most of the herdsmen wanted to surrender. Those who were unwilling to do so were the grassland nobles, because the news they received let them know that after surrendering, the Ming Dynasty would not retain their identities, and they would become like slaves in their eyes.

They would rather die in battle than be in such a situation.

Anyway, no matter how miserable the tribe is, they will never starve.

In fact, many officials of the Ming Dynasty proposed at the court meeting to retain the status of grassland nobles. The Oirat, Tatar, and Arutai all wrote letters, saying that as long as the Ming Dynasty was willing to retain their status, they would be willing to submit to the Ming Dynasty.

But this proposal was rejected by Zhu Ying.

If we do this, what will be different from before? It will only be a temporary solution and not a fundamental solution.

If one wants to completely eliminate the grassland crisis, the only way is to subvert their social structure, educate them completely, and integrate them into Han culture.

What's the point of conferring a title? In the end, it will still be the same. After waiting for decades or even hundreds of years, these white wolf eyes will become the same as before.

Wolves need to be completely domesticated and turned into dogs before they can be good helpers in guarding the house.

Zhu Yuanzhang was actually somewhat tempted, but since his eldest grandson insisted, he didn't care.

The reason why I was interested is that Guihua City is really a gold-devouring monster.

According to current calculations, 30% of Ming Dynasty's annual revenue is consumed in Guihua City. Now Ming Dynasty's annual revenue is tens of billions of treasure notes, and 20% means a consumption of more than 1 billion treasure notes every year.

The Ming Dynasty was a large and powerful country with many places to spend money. If it weren't for Zhu Ying raising money everywhere, there would be no way to support Guihua City.

"The revenue of the Ming Dynasty's treasury is all generated by you, my great grandson. Since you want this, I support you."

"There's news from the Imperial Guards that many of the officials who submitted memorials received bribes from the grasslands and spoke for them. Although there's no actual evidence, it's roughly certain."

"Nowadays, these guys are becoming more and more secretive. If we hadn't planted a lot of traps long ago, we really wouldn't have been able to find them."

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a sneer.

After the Jinyiwei was established, its main function was to arrange spies, or to put it simply, to go undercover.

Many of the secret agents of the Jinyiwei were not people of great merit. They could be a butler or a servant.

This is also the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang was able to supervise all officials.

Otherwise, who would not recognize him if he was walking around the street in the Jinyiwei official uniform?

In fact, there were many beggars in the capital who were secret agents of the Jinyiwei. However, as Zhu Ying cleaned up the beggars, they had no choice but to change their identities.

Zhu Ying listened to what the old man said and said, "It seems that it is time to reap a wave. Guihua City is also in a tight spot right now, and it is time to let them contribute to the court."

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed: "Well, it should have been so long ago."

Anti-corruption.

No matter which dynasty or period, it is the main theme of the court.

It's just that sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail.

Judging from the history throughout the ages, the number of failures actually accounted for the majority. After all, in the era when aristocratic families were kings, it was a bit of an exaggeration to say that there was corruption, as that was clearly their own industry.

The corruption problem in the Ming Dynasty has never been resolved.

Money comes too quickly nowadays. Many officials see businessmen picking up money as if they were picking it up. How can they not be envious?

Collusion between officials and businessmen has always been the fastest way to make money.

It’s just that some are very greedy, while others are not very greedy.

Even if one wants to be an honest official, he still needs some protection from his own clan. If he can't keep his bottom line, he will naturally become more powerful.

Once an imperial decree was issued and the imperial sickle was waved, naturally large areas of leeks were harvested.

This was a nationwide cleansing operation across the Ming Dynasty, not just targeting those officials who were bribed by the grassland.

A large amount of money was confiscated, and the pockets of the Ming Dynasty suddenly became bulging.

In just three months, at least 2 billion treasure notes were collected, which was close to more than half of the annual revenue of the Ming Dynasty. It was truly terrifying.

But this kind of thing can't last too long.

From the perspective of the superstructure, if it goes on for too long, it will also have an impact on the economic development of the entire Ming Dynasty.

Control of the overall situation is also something that needs to be considered.

At this time, the matter about Zhu Di was officially confirmed. After all, the month of May was very suitable for fighting a war.

This time the Northern Expedition was easier.

What Zhu Ying didn't expect was that the two uncles came to the palace.

"Grandson, this is not right. Can't I, your second uncle, fight in the war? I suffered such a great loss on the grassland last year, and I have been thinking about when I can get revenge. Now you let the fourth brother go, but you don't take your second uncle seriously."

Zhu Chong didn't dare to face his father, but it was okay for him to say a few words to the crown prince.

Besides, Zhu Chong and Zhu Ying’s private relationship is not bad.

Zhu Gang was also unhappy and said, "Nephew, you know what happened between your uncle and me, the fourth brother. The fourth brother was already so powerful last year, and you still let him go now? That's 300,000 cavalry, and you let the fourth brother lead them."

"I don't care. I have to go with your second uncle in this Northern Expedition. We can't let that guy, the fourth one, get too proud."

Zhu Ying did not expect that his two uncles would lower their dignity and come here to ask to fight.

Fortunately, the specific appointment of King Yan has not yet been announced, so it is not a big deal to make a slight change now.

"Okay, since the two uncles also want to go to the grassland to stretch their muscles, as their nephew, of course I have to agree." Zhu Ying compromised.

After hearing this, the two kings left with smiles on their faces.

As soon as they left, Zhu Yuanzhang came over.

"We heard that those two rebellious sons are here to cause trouble?" Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily.

When I arrived I realized that the person had already left, so I just missed him.

Of course, no one knows whether it was just a coincidence or intentional.

"It's okay, Grandpa. My second and third uncles are also bored in the capital and want to go north to fight. I have already promised them."

Zhu Ying said with a smile.

In fact, when he first decided on Zhu Di, he had guessed that there would be such a possibility.

Even if Zhu Chong didn't say anything, Zhu Gang would definitely look for him.

Although Zhu Gang and Zhu Di seemed to have always been quite peaceful in Japan, in fact, there was always a lot of open and covert fighting.

When one reaches their status, face is the most important thing, and no one can resolve the grudges that were once made.

The only one who could solve the problem was Zhu Yuanzhang. However, from the perspective of imperial power, such struggles among vassal kings were actually more in line with the interests of the court.

Even the conflict between the two brothers back then might have been caused by Zhu Yuanzhang.

At that time, Zhu Chong, Zhu Gang, and Zhu Di were the princes with the best military abilities. If the three of them had too good a relationship, it would obviously pose a great threat to the imperial power.

But no one talks about these things. After all, they are royal affairs and are under the dictatorship of the emperor.

"It's better to let the three brothers go. If they stay idle in the capital, it will easily cause trouble."

"As for those going to Brunei, Da Sun has made arrangements."

Zhu Yuanzhang obviously cared more about Brunei. He was the one who gave the name Huang Senping personally. Now he was willing to increase the territory of the Ming Dynasty, so naturally he had to do it as soon as possible.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang has now completely delegated power to the crown prince in military affairs, and he himself basically does not interfere much.

This is also to better suppress the Huaixi noble group and complete the power change.

Fundamentally speaking, the real leader of the Huaixi noble group was Zhu Yuanzhang himself.

Zhu Ying listened to this, sighed and said, "I plan to let Yunxun go."

Zhu Yuanzhang was somewhat surprised: "Why let Yun Hun go? Was it his own request?"

Zhu Ying nodded.

"Yun Hu originally didn't want to be an overseas vassal king, so I asked him to work on Ming's overseas trade. Who knew that this kid would become interested in things at sea?"

"I heard from the report that he is not very interested in business. Instead, he likes to follow the caravan around and see the local customs and practices."

"Just a few days ago, after hearing the news about Brunei, he came to me and said he wanted to go to Brunei with me."

After Zhu Ying entered the palace, Zhu Yunhuan completely lost control of her.

Of course Zhu Ying took extra care of his own brother.

Whether it was overseas vassal kings or other aspects, Zhu Ying waved his hand and let them speak for themselves.

In Zhu Yunhuan's heart, of course he admired his elder brother very much. He knew that his elder brother had established the huge Qunying Chamber of Commerce earlier, so he requested to join the Overseas Trade Chamber of Commerce and follow in his elder brother's footsteps.

But it was obvious that Zhu Yunhuan had no interest in traveling for business.

After all, he grew up in a different environment and grew up in the palace. How could he possibly do things as petty as businessmen?

However, following the caravans back and forth between countries made Zhu Yunhuan fall in love with the feeling of traveling.

After all, he is the emperor's grandson and the younger brother of the current crown prince. Of course, he is at the highest level in all aspects, which is equivalent to traveling around the world.

Hearing that a new country had emerged for the Ming Dynasty to station troops and hearing about the Brunei Kingdom, Zhu Yunhuan immediately became interested and begged to go there.

Zhu Ying had no choice but to agree.

"Forget about this child, let him be." Zhu Yuanzhang said casually.

Zhu Ying said: "Since Yunhuan is going, let's arrange for more people to follow him. After all, Brunei is different from our Ming Dynasty."

"My grandson thought that this might be an opportunity. A few years ago, the king of Malacca, Parameswara, requested to submit to the Ming Dynasty, and my grandson agreed and gave him a title."

"The Majapahit Kingdom sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty to lodge a protest, but my grandson ignored them. I don't think they dare to make any unusual moves. Now that Yun Hun is going to Brunei, it may be an opportunity to open up the Majapahit Kingdom."

"Japan is also an island country. Since Japan has rich mineral resources, I think these South Sea island countries may be similar."

"Now that the grasslands are basically settled, it is time for our Ming Dynasty to completely control Nanyang."

"These island nations in the South Seas are good at naval warfare. Our Great Ming now has steam ironclad ships to suppress them. It is time to bring them under the purview of our Great Ming."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang actually understood that his grandson was about to start the Ming Dynasty's road to conquest.

This approach is actually similar to that of the Mongols back then.

But now the Ming Dynasty has a solid foundation and can withstand the turmoil.

Zhu Yuanzhang just frowned and said, "Our Ming Dynasty is already very wealthy now. Those wild lands will make the Ming Dynasty's expenditure even greater. Grandson still needs to think carefully."

Now that the grassland has been pacified, Zhu Yuanzhang no longer wants to fight a war. According to the current development of the Ming Dynasty, from Zhu Yuanzhang's point of view, there is no need to engage in a wasteful war.

But he knew that his eldest grandson had ambitions in his heart.

He even gave up the honor of Champa's surrender, which clearly shows that the eldest grandson's ambitions are even greater.

Zhu Ying explained: "Don't worry, Grandpa, these island countries still have something. Haven't many gold mines been discovered in Luzon? With the current strength of the Ming Dynasty, these small countries will not cause any serious damage to the Ming Dynasty."

"They are not as troublesome as the grasslands. Some so-called small countries only have tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of subjects, and only a few thousand soldiers who can fight. My grandson thinks that it is enough to arrange 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers to conquer them separately."

This is the truth.

To attack these countries and mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

For most of the small countries in Southeast Asia, the Ming Dynasty only needed to dispatch the troops of one garrison to easily crush them.

The difficulty lies in the problem of sea transportation.

Now Zhu Ying already had an ironclad steamship, which greatly reduced the risks at sea.

Besides, given Zhu Ying’s situation, what would be the point of not carrying out a great voyage in advance?

"Okay, since the eldest grandson has made up his mind, we won't say any more."

Zhu Yuanzhang agreed.

Anyway, the Ming Dynasty’s treasury now has more money than can be spent, and the mobilization of only a few hundred thousand troops is really a small matter.

He was too lazy to ask more questions.

However, in this era, we should not underestimate the impact of these hundreds of thousands of troops on the situation in Southeast Asia.

As long as it is handled properly, these hundreds of thousands of troops can basically unify the South Pacific island countries.

Conquering a country is one thing, and ruling it for a long time is another.

Zhu Yuanzhang was obviously worried about the issue of long-term rule.

Zhu Ying was planning to mobilize the Ming Dynasty's civilian power against the island countries in Southeast Asia.

For example, as long as the Ming people are willing to go to these island countries, each person will be given 50 acres of land and exempted from taxes for five years?