"Teacher is the governor of Siam, so our future is bright. It was not in vain that we overcame all difficulties and followed the teacher to this desolate place."

"This is because the Crown Prince saw your talent and entrusted you with this important task. Now that there are many vacancies in Siam, when the opportunity comes, we will follow you and teach the Siamese barbarians."

"Nowadays, there seem to be many classmates in Wucheng, but Champa is just a small place compared to Siam. We still need to write letters back to our country and call on more classmates to come over and help us."

"That makes sense. Although the Ming Dynasty is great, since the Crown Prince opened schools in various places, the number of students has increased. I heard that there were hundreds of thousands of scholars last year, and the number of successful candidates was as high as that of officials crossing the river. Even if the court is constantly adding more official positions, how can so many students be accommodated?"

"As the saying goes, it is better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix. This barren land with vacancies everywhere is a place for us to realize our ambitions. It would be a waste of our good life to enjoy ourselves in the capital."

As soon as the news that Huang Zicheng was appointed as the Left Governor of Siam's Provincial Administration Office spread, all his disciples in Wucheng were extremely excited.

Those who have some channels have heard that the Crown Prince has separated the power to appoint local officials from the Ministry of Personnel and handed it over to his own teacher. This means that the teacher now has countless official positions waiting for them.

The small city of Wu can accommodate so many classmates, let alone the vast Siam region.

Today's scholars are not as blind as they used to be. They are not only tested on the Four Books and Five Classics, but also on the geography of the world. Therefore, everyone knows how large the entire Siam region is.

Moreover, after arriving in Wucheng, many students discovered that the Nanyang region was not as barren as they had imagined. Apart from the hot weather, the grain production was still very sufficient.

Not every student has a strong background. Those who followed Huang Zicheng to Wucheng generally did not come from well-off families. If they really had strong family connections, they would not have traveled thousands of miles to Wucheng to seek an official position.

Now, overwhelming wealth is beckoning them.

The backyard of Wucheng Palace.

Zhu Yunwen said to his mother, Mrs. Lu, with an unpleasant expression, "What does this mean, my elder brother? He didn't even bother to ask me, but directly issued an order to remove my most capable minister. Does he really not want to see the development of Wucheng?"

"When I was in the capital, several of my uncles were transferred to the grasslands by Japan. I thought they had gone too far, collecting too much money in Japan and raising private soldiers, which is why they were attacked by my eldest brother."

"But I have been doing my duty in Wucheng. I have neither taken advantage of the people nor raised private soldiers. Why do you treat me like this, brother? Don't you have any regard for our blood relationship?"

At this point, Zhu Yunwen gritted his teeth and said in hatred: "Grandpa Emperor is still alive."

Looking at her son with a ferocious face, Lu sighed, "Perhaps the Crown Prince has his own ideas. Now that Siam has just been conquered, it is a time when talents are needed. There are many talented people in the court, but there are only a few to choose from."

"Mr. Huang is knowledgeable and has managed Wucheng in an orderly manner. Mr. Huang has contributed eight-tenths to Wucheng today. Mr. Huang also knows the languages ​​of various countries in Southeast Asia, so it is natural for the Crown Prince to choose Mr. Huang."

"Wucheng is now stable and has all the laws in place. Even if Mr. Huang leaves, it won't have much of an impact."

"Yun Wen, you should stop being like this. It is a happy event for Mr. Huang to be recognized by the court. You and Mr. Huang have a master-disciple relationship. He has gone to Siam now, so you should be considerate of our friendship. By then, I, Wu Cheng, will also be able to get some help from him."

"The Crown Prince's order cannot be disobeyed. It has been sent directly to Wucheng. There is no room for maneuver. Now that things have come to this, don't think too much about it, lest bad words be spread out."

Lu was very satisfied with his current life. Wucheng was not big, but there was nothing missing here. Even some goods from the capital could be bought there, but they were a little more expensive. This little money was nothing to Lu.

What she was worried about was that Yunwen would make too much trouble and the news would eventually spread to the capital, making the Crown Prince in the capital unhappy.

If the Crown Prince is unhappy, will the mother and daughter be happier?

In fact, in Lu's view, transferring Huang Zicheng away would bring more benefits than disadvantages to Yunwen. Huang Zicheng did make great contributions to the construction of Wucheng, but at the same time, the power of the entire Wucheng was also concentrated in Huang Zicheng's hands.

Yunwen followed the example of the Crown Prince and delegated power to Huang Zicheng. However, the situation in Wucheng could not be compared with that of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, almost 80% of the officials in Wucheng are Huang Zicheng's disciples, and all matters in Wucheng, big or small, are decided by Huang Zicheng.

Lu said it several times, but Zhu Yunwen didn't take it seriously. Fortunately, Wucheng had the support of the Ming Dynasty, so these few things were not a big deal and he didn't take it seriously.

Now that Huang Zicheng is gone, power naturally returns to his son.

As Zhu Yunwen listened to his mother's words, his anger gradually subsided.

In the end, his rage was meaningless, so he said aggrievedly, "If Mr. Huang leaves Wucheng, his students will most likely resign and follow him. I'm afraid the palace will become deserted all of a sudden."

Mrs. Lu shook her head and said, "You are overthinking. Wucheng itself does not need too many officials to be properly governed. Previously, because of Mr. Huang's relationship, many positions were created to accommodate his students, which made Wucheng bloated with officials and made it difficult to implement government orders."

"Now that Mr. Huang has left, it's just the right time for each government office to streamline its staff, leaving a lot of salaries. And you don't have to worry too much. Although some officials will leave, many will stay."

"Siam has just been conquered. Although various places have surrendered, it would be difficult to go there rashly. It's not that easy to deal with. Smart people will naturally figure it out."

After hearing what Lu said, Zhu Yunwen felt much more relieved.

But there was a hint of hesitation on his face.

Seeing Yun Wen's expression, Lu asked, "But is there anything else that you are worried about?"

Zhu Yunwen was silent for a while, then raised his head and asked, "Mother, although I am the vassal king of Wucheng, I am a cowardly vassal king. I have no soldiers and no power outside. Last year, the court sent an order to transfer my 30,000 elite soldiers. Today, an imperial decree was sent to transfer my ministers of Wu as well."

"It's called a vassal state, but it's no different from a Ming city. Maybe you never took me seriously, brother."

"Now the Ming Dynasty is conquering the Southeast Asian countries under the order of my elder brother. In addition to Lan Yu's troops, there is also Yun Hu's troops going to Majapahit."

"I want to use the money from the national treasury to develop maritime trade and to raise troops at sea to strengthen the power of Wu. What do you think, mother?"

There was surprise in Lu's eyes.

Previously, Yunwen had always disdained business, thinking it was a lowly profession. Now he suddenly brought up the matter, obviously because he was hit hard by Huang Zicheng's departure.

"Mother will certainly support you. It just so happens that your grandfather has always been interested in this matter and can take on this important task."

Lu's father, Lu Ben, was originally a businessman. Later, because of Lu's relationship, he entered the official career and rose rapidly.

A father's status is determined by his daughter. The reason why Lu Ben was willing to give up his position as the Minister of Taichang Temple and come to Wucheng was that he understood that his official position came from being the daughter of the Crown Princess.

Now that his daughter and grandson have gone to the vassal state, he is like a rootless duckweed staying in the capital, and it is easy for him to offend people.

Besides, he is old and has few people to rely on, so it would be better for him to help his family.

When he came to Wu State, Lu Ben proposed the strategy of enriching the country through maritime trade.

At that time, Huang Zicheng believed that maritime trade should not be conducted, as dealing with those merchants would only bring shame to scholars.

Zhu Yunwen obviously accepted Huang Zicheng's advice.

Now that the situation has reversed, we must restart this matter.

"According to what mother said, matters of maritime trade will be left to my grandfather." Zhu Yunwen nodded in agreement.

In fact, by now, Zhu Yunwen had already discovered the huge profits of maritime trade, but because he was deeply influenced by Confucianism, he had been unwilling to participate in it.

In fact, most of Wucheng’s taxes came from maritime trade.

After Lan Yu conquered Siam, he gathered 120,000 Siamese soldiers and then stationed them on the Siamese Peninsula.

According to Zhu Ying's order, he had to take a boat from the Siam Peninsula to the Tianzhu area across the ocean.

According to the information provided by Li Jinglong, one can cross the Andaman Sea from the Siam Peninsula and then arrive at the Pelangi Dynasty in the Bay of Mottama. Then, starting from the Pelangi Dynasty, crossing the Lampreys Strait and crossing the Bay of Bengal, one will reach the Eastern Ganga Dynasty in India.

The Eastern Ganga Dynasty was the first step to conquer the Indian region.

Tianzhu is not a specific country, but a general term for the current Indian region used by the Ming Dynasty, similar to the name Central Plains.

However, unlike the Central Plains, the Indian region has rarely been unified in history.

Throughout world history, division is the norm and unity is the anomaly.

The reason why Qin Shihuang was great was that he left the concept of great unification to later kings, which led to the division and unification of the Chinese region, but ultimately it was moving towards great unification.

Ancient India had a brief period of basic unity during the reign of Ashoka, but in fact there were still some places that were not ruled, and the Maurya Empire had already fallen apart.

In today's ancient Indian region, there are still eight types of forces coexisting, which is similar to the concept of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms during the Central Plains period.

They also have dozens of languages. Even within the same dynasty, there are several languages ​​and scripts coexisting.

When comparing it with India, we will understand how great the significance of Qin Shihuang's standardization of writing and wheel gauge is.

While Zhu Ying ordered Lan Yu to lead his army to attack the Tianzhu region, he also conquered Tubo and recovered the Delhi Sultanate.

Ancient India has always been known for its weakness. The only relatively strong state, the Delhi Sultanate, although it belonged to India in later generations, was actually in Central Asia.

Historically, after Timur's death, the empire split and collapsed. His sixth-generation grandson Babur established the Mughal Empire and unified India. The territory of India in later generations originated from the Mughal Empire.

Therefore, Zhu Ying believed that it would not be a big problem for Lan Yu to attack India with his own 80,000 Ming soldiers plus the more than 200,000 troops collected from Cambodia and Siam.

Perhaps Lan Yu could help the entire Tianzhu region realize its dream of unification ahead of time.

It can even help them unify their writing and language.

This is a great merit.

India is rich, with a vast territory and a large population, which is not inferior to the Ming Dynasty. You should know that in later generations, the overall population of India has surpassed that of the Central Plains.

If Lan Yu could control India, he would be able to accumulate enough troops here to fight against Timur.

I think under the leadership of the Ming Dynasty, India might be able to get rid of the reputation of being a weak country.

However, just as Lan Yu was reorganizing his troops on the Siam Peninsula, trouble began to arise in Japan.

Ever since the four kings of Japan were transferred back to the Ming Dynasty by Zhu Ying to conquer the grassland, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was able to hold back at first, after all, he didn't know when the four kings would return.

However, after more than a year, the spies sent by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu to the Ming Dynasty also learned that the four kings were marching north to the grasslands.

The Northern Expedition was no secret, and news about it was always published in the official gazette.

Even in this situation, when many people in Japan called for the recapture of Kyushu Island, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu still did not send troops.

Until the Ming Dynasty started a war against Cambodia and Siam.

When the news reached Japan, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu became impatient.

Because according to the intelligence, the Ming Dynasty is now at war with the grasslands, Zhenla, and Siam, and it is even said that it will send troops to Tibet and navy to Majapahit.

And Lan Yu stationed his troops on the Siam Peninsula, and it was obvious that the war had no intention of ending at all.

This means that the Ming Dynasty was at war with almost all its neighboring countries.

Under such circumstances, it is naturally the best opportunity for Japan to retake Kyushu Island.

Even if Ashikaga Yoshimitsu could bear it now, the daimyo under his command really couldn't bear it anymore.

Kyushu Island is not a small place that Japan can abandon at will. In fact, as the leading region of Japan, Kyushu Island has the most developed foreign maritime trade and once occupied an important economic position in Japan.

Kyushu Island, as the island closest to the Central Plains, is also the place where the entire Japanese civilization rose. The first emperor of Japan, Emperor Jimmu, came from Hyuga Province on Kyushu Island.

After the Ming Dynasty occupied Kyushu Island, all high-ranking nobles, including Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, were always thinking about taking back Kyushu Island.

However, the strength of the Ming Dynasty, especially the military capabilities of the Four Kings of the Ming Dynasty, made them feel fearful.

Unless a national war is started, it is basically impossible for Japan to retake Kyushu Island.

Even if a national war breaks out, the possibility of Japan being completely unified by the Ming Dynasty is far greater than taking back Kyushu Island.

Also because the Ming Dynasty successfully landed on Kyushu Island and established roots, there are rumors everywhere in Japan today that the Kamikaze has abandoned Japan. This makes the Japanese people uneasy, but there is nothing they can do.

Until now.

"General, this is a rare opportunity. The Ming Dynasty can no longer take care of us. As long as the general gives the order, we will raise an army and take back Kyushu Island in one fell swoop."

"We now have powerful firearms. There are many Ming troops, Ming craftsmen, and workshops making firearms on Kyushu Island. If we can recapture Kyushu Island, all of these will belong to the great Japanese nation."

"With these, the Ming Dynasty will never be able to occupy our Kyushu Island again."