In the Huagai Hall, the Ming Imperial Palace.

The seven ministers of state and Zhu Yuanzhang and his grandson were discussing matters.

Zhu Ying was talking about the plan of connecting the sea stations to reach Dongsheng Shenzhou.

"In the northern part of the former Wa country, there is an isolated island called Ezo. It has been persecuted by the shogunate for generations. Now we should rescue it and educate its people."

"Afterwards, we will build a sea station here as the third stop on the way to Dongsheng Shenzhou."

The Ming Dynasty's steam ironclad warships had stopped being manufactured because their number had reached five hundred.

If there were more, the consumption of coal would be too great.

Railway tracks are now being built everywhere in the Ming Dynasty. When it comes to coal consumption, priority is naturally given to ensuring train transportation.

Besides, the Ming Dynasty was already the overlord of the sea, so it didn’t make much difference whether it had ironclad ships or not.

In the absence of sea stations for resupply, the steam ironclad ships lacking coal would be in an awkward position.

After Zhu Ying finished speaking, Shen Xi, the Minister of Industry, bowed and said, "Your Highness, should we consider postponing the matter of Dongsheng Shenzhou?"

"Now the Liang Kingdom is storing troops in Siam and will invade India in the spring. Perhaps we can first build a sea post to India to prepare for the expedition."

"Forgive me for being blunt, but the situation of Dongsheng Shenzhou is still unclear. The whereabouts of the 50,000 expeditionary troops who went there that year are still unknown, and we don't know whether they are alive or dead."

"The ancient books that Your Highness has seen may have been fabricated in novels or stories. Why spend so much time looking for them?"

Shen Xi's face was filled with some worry.

The so-called Dongsheng Shenzhou is just a story in rumors, and few people believe it really exists.

The most important thing is the significance of searching for Dongsheng Shenzhou itself.

In the eyes of many ministers today, the Crown Prince wants to be like Qin Shi Huang in the past and search for the unattainable elixir of immortality that only exists in legends.

Maybe it's out of filial piety, wanting to present it to His Majesty, or maybe it's also for myself.

But looking at history, no dynasty that had anything to do with these myths of gods had a good life.

Shen Xi wanted to persuade the crown prince to give up this idea. Although the Ming Dynasty was now strong, the search for immortals was a bottomless pit. Who knew how much it would cost.

The Crown Prince is still young, not even thirty years old. If he starts looking for immortals now, how many years will it take?

Twenty years, thirty years, or even forty years.

How much money will this cost?

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said, "The matter of Dongsheng Shenzhou was decided by us, and Da Sun was just involved in the plan. You don't need to say more about this matter."

His Majesty had spoken, which meant that the matter had already been settled. Shen Xi could only sigh in his heart: "I will obey your order."

Zhu Ying said: "I know what you ministers are thinking, but Dongsheng Shenzhou is not nonsense, nor is it a mysterious place that cannot be found."

"There has never been an immortal person in this world, so there is no such thing as an elixir of immortality, and I will not entertain such wishful thinking."

"Please rest assured, ministers, on this point."

"The reason why we have to arrange this is to consider the future of our Ming Dynasty. Now it has been nearly five years, but there is no news. This shows the vastness of the region and the authenticity of the ancient books."

"Such a vast and rich land should belong to our Ming Dynasty. Now that the four seas are conquering us and we have powerful weapons like steam ironclad ships, we should be willing to explore the world instead of just focusing on what is in front of us."

"In the minds of Xia and Shang, the world is the land of Henan. In the mind of the First Emperor, the world is the land of Kyushu."

“However, today’s world is not limited to the four seas, but also includes the South Seas, the West, the Middle East, and even further afield.”

“Who can know that the world we see today is the world we own?”

"I want to see how vast this world is."

Zhu Ying's words displayed an incomparable aura. Only the ancient sages could do such a thing of measuring the heaven and earth.

The ministers, who were originally uneasy, no longer had any other thoughts and were in awe of Zhu Ying's words.

This also shows that the same thing, if expressed in a different way, has a different nature.

Seeking the divine land of Dongsheng, a king may be looking for the elixir of immortality.

Or he could be a king or a sage who wants to explore the vastness of the world.

"Good grandson, you hit the nail on the head. Now that Ming has this strength, we must do something far-sighted."

"My dear ministers, please don't delay and act according to the previous plan immediately." Zhu Yuanzhang laughed.

"I will obey your order."

At this point, the ministers had nothing more to say.

…

On a luxury carriage train heading from the grassland to Nanjing city.

Zhu Chong, the Prince of Qin, Zhu Gang, the Prince of Jin, and Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, are all here.

After the fall of Goryeo, the Oirat migrated to the far north, and the remaining Tatars no longer posed a threat to the Ming Dynasty.

They could only hide in the big forest and live a miserable life.

And now, there are still a large number of grassland people who are constantly trying their best to escape from the forest.

Before the three kings set out, nearly 70,000 grassland people had already defected to the Ming Dynasty, and this number continued to increase with the arrival of winter.

Not only ordinary herdsmen, but also many scattered tribes have completely surrendered.

The chiefs of these tribes were relatively kind-hearted. They could not bear to see their tribes perish with them, even though they knew they would lose their noble status after joining the Ming Dynasty.

This also indicates that the Tatars are collapsing, and even if they resist stubbornly to the end, they will only become remnants in the great forest.

Therefore, there was no need for the three kings to stay on the grassland any longer, and they returned to the capital.

"Every time I take this train, I can't figure out what's going on in the prince's mind and how he could come up with something like this."

"If there were no trains, how could our Ming Dynasty conquer the grasslands and accomplish this greatest feat in history?"

"Even if Feng Liang lived in Xu, he couldn't compare to her."

Zhu Gang sighed and said that this was much more comfortable than rushing on the road.

The luxury carriage is specially built and not only has separate rooms, but also beds, tables and chairs.

Drinking tea, playing chess, drinking wine and appreciating the scenery make the whole process comfortable and not monotonous.

Zhu Chong also nodded and said, "It is indeed a good thing. It is precisely because of this sacred artifact that our Ming Dynasty can surpass all previous dynasties and achieve today's feat."

"Today's Ming Dynasty has the largest territory in history. Now Annan, Champa, Zhenla, Siam, Goryeo, Japan, the grasslands, and the Western Regions have all fallen into the hands of the Ming Dynasty."

"The third son's father-in-law, Duke Ying, is currently following the orders of the emperor to lead a large army to conquer Tibet. I think it won't be long before Tibet is completely incorporated into the territory of the Ming Dynasty."

"Have you ever thought that the Ming Dynasty is so powerful today? Such a war has not only not been a waste of troops, but has made us more powerful. It is incredible."

"Every time I think about it, I can't help but sigh at the Crown Prince's ability, which is truly unprecedented in history."

At first glance, Zhu Chong's words might sound like an attempt to flatter the Crown Prince, but when one thinks about it carefully, it seems like an understatement.

Even though Zhu Di had many opinions about the Crown Prince in his heart, he had to admit that it was indeed the Crown Prince who led the Ming Dynasty to its current prosperity.

"Perhaps we should think about the current situation regarding the feudal state."

Seeing that the two of them were only praising the Crown Prince, Zhu Di felt helpless but had to speak first.

Now Japan has suddenly disappeared and has been divided into the four provinces of the Ming Dynasty. But what should be done with their vassal states?

According to the rules set by the Crown Prince, the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty's vassal kings were not allowed to be within the Ming Dynasty's territory, but could only be outside the Ming Dynasty's territory.

With this happening, do they have to move again?

"Ahem, maybe the prince should have made some arrangements."

There was silence for a moment, and no one spoke. Zhu Gang had no choice but to cough twice and say something nonsense.

Zhu Chong sighed and said, "Right now, the Duke of Liang is preparing to conquer India. You all should know the Crown Prince's temperament. He definitely doesn't want us to live a peaceful life in the vassal state."

"We were able to stay in Japan before because we still had a role to play. Now that Japan has been pacified and the four provinces have been established, it would be impolite for us to still stay where we are."

Zhu Di's face turned black.

How impolite.

According to Zhu Chong, he just followed the arrangements of the Crown Prince and did not want to cause any disputes.

There was even the intention of proposing it first without waiting for the Crown Prince to speak.

However, Zhu Di was also very clear in his mind that the original vassal state of Japan could probably not be preserved.

Even if it is forcibly preserved, it actually has no meaning.

There are too many tempting mineral deposits there, and now that they have been returned to the imperial court, the crown prince will naturally not hand them over to them again.

Even if we don't deal with him now, I guess the Crown Prince will counterattack against him after his father passes away.

If the second and third brothers were in cahoots with him, he could still resist a little, but looking at the situation, if he resisted, I'm afraid the second and third brothers would unite first, tie him up and send him to the crown prince.

Zhu Di said, "Since we are moving, we have to find a good place."

Zhu Gang replied: "Where else can we go? Of course we should go to India. We should not expect to become vassal kings now. It would be good to be a general on an expedition and conquer some territory for the Ming Dynasty."

"Even if we move the vassal state to India, when we conquer India, we will still have to move again. I have seen through it."

"According to our eldest nephew's intention, don't even think about living a fool's peaceful life. Let's just be a general."

Zhu Gang spoke frankly and said that after so many things had happened, some of Zhu Ying's thoughts were now clear.

He had no intention of letting them live peacefully as princes. The only one who lived a relatively stable life now was Prince Wu Zhu Yunwen.

But Zhu Yunwen's situation was different. He gave up the position of Crown Prince because Zhu Yuanzhang felt guilty about it.

Moreover, Zhu Yunwen was not a military man and had never led troops to fight a war. It can be said that he posed no threat to the Ming Dynasty court.

It is equivalent to giving Champa a city for retirement.

Although Ning Wang Zhu Quan was in Goryeo, he did not establish a vassal state. He was just like a frontier minister.

At present, most of the princes have actually reached the age to be crowned as kings, but Zhu Yuanzhang did not do so.

Zhu Di heard this and could only say, "Forget it, forget it. Just be the general. After fighting for most of his life, it would be a waste of time to govern the local areas."

"I am destined to be busy anyway, which suits my mind."

Zhu Chong agreed, "We don't need to think too much. As for the princes, according to the situation of our Ming Dynasty, they will be settled by the imperial court anyway. When the territory of Ming Dynasty is expanded in the future, we can find a good piece of land and become a vassal state."

"The more merits we have made, the more likely the Crown Prince will treat his brothers unfairly. It's useless to worry about it."

After chatting for a while, the three kings simply didn't care anymore.

Anyway, they have no way to resist, so they might as well let nature take its course.

Zhu Gang said with some interest: "I heard a rumor from the capital a few days ago that the Crown Prince is planning to set up a route to serve as a post station to replenish the steam ironclad ships and directly reach Dongsheng Shenzhou."

"Five years ago, we sent out an expeditionary force of 50,000 troops. They were all the elite troops of our Ming Dynasty. Now we are establishing sea routes. It seems that the Crown Prince is determined to find the Dongsheng Shenzhou."

"If the Duke of Liang heard this news, he would probably be very happy. His eldest son, Lan Taiping, was the leader of the expeditionary army back then. Now such a long time has passed, and there is no news at all."

"Second brother, fourth brother, what do you think? Why don't we go look for Dongsheng Shenzhou? Maybe it really exists. Then we can set up a vassal state there, and we don't have to worry about moving. Isn't that wonderful?"

Zhu Chong waved his hand and said, "Stop talking nonsense. It's still unclear whether there is any. We have been marching for five years and must have walked tens of thousands of miles. Now there is still no news and we don't even know the situation."

Zhu Di couldn't help but think deeply after hearing the joke.

If such a place really exists, going there and becoming a vassal king would indeed be a very good choice.

The emperor is far away and there is no need to worry about trouble from the Ming Dynasty.

On the way back to Beijing, the imperial court had already formulated policies and started to build a sea route to Dongsheng Shenzhou.

The first thing to do, naturally, is to locate the Ezo area.

As soon as an order was issued, the imperial court's troops set out, and all kinds of materials for the construction of the post station were also being prepared for transportation to Ezo Island.

No one thought that the Ezo could rebel against the Ming Dynasty. After all, Japan had already been defeated, and the Ezo, who were even smaller in number, were just easy prey.

According to Zhu Ying's plan, what he brought was more than just the supplies for building a post station.

After arriving in Ezo, the construction team would continue northward by boat to look for a suitable location for the post station.

This time, the imperial court mobilized 50 steam ironclad ships and 300 small Fu ships to build post stations on the sea routes.

Due to the last expeditionary force transportation, the map of the northern border has been basically explored in the past few years, and there is also a basic plan for the route directly to the Bering Sea.

Once the location of the post station was finalized, the small Fu ships would begin transporting coal to ensure the steam ironclad ships' voyage.

In terms of planning, this is a route starting from Nanjing and directly reaching the Bering Strait.

According to the calculation of the Ming Cabinet, the budget will be 500 million treasure notes.