In the 35th year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty, on the first day of the first lunar month, a grand court meeting was held.

At this court meeting, the first thing that happened was the surrender ceremony of Lee Seong-gye of Goryeo, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu of Japan, Bunyashiri, the Prince of Siam and other countries that were defeated by the Ming Dynasty.

For some of them, this should be the first time they have come to the imperial palace in the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

After arriving in the capital, he understood why he was defeated by the Ming Dynasty.

The splendor of Nanjing City, the magnificence of the imperial palace, and the rows of troops.

They felt that their loss was not unfair.

Especially Bayanchur and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, when they took the train, they realized how big the gap was between their country and the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, their country no longer exists and has become a province of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not sentence them to death, but allowed them to live in the capital and even allocated some small houses to them as a final respectability to them.

Such behavior also made envoys from other countries feel the benevolence and righteousness of the Ming Dynasty.

The second thing, naturally, is the one that attracts the most attention, which is about Dongsheng Shenzhou.

First, the plan for an expedition to Dongsheng Shenzhou was announced. The construction of a new route is expected to be completed within a year.

That is to say, in the summer of the 36th year of Hongwu, the expedition plan would be launched and a large-scale migration would be carried out.

And in June this year, a group of advance troops will set off first.

…

In the first month of the Ming Dynasty, Lan Yu's 300,000 troops set out during the monsoon, heading for India.

After more than ten days of sailing, we finally arrived at the Tianzhu region, the border of the Eastern Hengjia Dynasty.

If you read the war history of the Indian region, you will be surprised to find that it is almost a painful history of being beaten.

For thousands of years, the Indian region had been constantly invaded by foreign races and had hardly ever won a victory.

The people who originally lived in the Tianzhu area were dwarf blacks, whose average height was even shorter than that of the Japanese, with short heads and legs, dark skin, wide noses, thick lips, and curly hair.

Fifteen hundred years ago, the white Aryans came to northern India from Iran and began their war against India.

It was obvious that the pygmies could not defeat the Aryans, and eventually the Aryans established the caste system, which has continued to this day in India.

Even after the arrival of the Aryans, the Indian region was constantly invaded and beaten and never won.

This is also the reason why Zhu Ying felt that the Tianzhu region was within his reach.

This is also true.

Lan Yu sent people to the coastal cities to pass on the message, asking them to submit and surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

After all, it is immoral to go to war without declaration. As a country of etiquette, we still have to observe this respect.

Lan Yu, who had already prepared for war, suddenly received news from the front that the cities on the coast had surrendered.

Lan Yu: ???

I have prepared my army to attack, and you are telling me you surrender?

"What's going on?"

Lan Yu, who treated the treasure ship as a temporary military camp, couldn't help but ask.

"Reporting to the general, we entered the city without any obstruction, and then met the city lord. We ordered him to surrender, and he surrendered."

The Jinyiwei who was in charge of translation replied.

"So you surrender now? Is this a trick?" Lan Yu asked.

The Jinyiwei paused for a moment, and then said, "General, the city lord and thirty-two ministers in the city have followed the treasure ship. Please meet them, General."

At this point, Lan Yu was speechless.

A few people went to pass on the message, and then brought back other people's city lords and ministers. What else can you say?

Lan Yu couldn't help but sigh: "When I came here, I asked the Crown Prince what to do with India. The Crown Prince told me that it could be easily destroyed."

"I thought the Crown Prince was just trying to boost morale, but I never thought what he said was the truth."

This is actually because Lan Yu did not understand the situation in India.

Before, Li Jinglong's fleet heading to the West had come here. Because this place is a prosperous coastal area with many merchants and trading ports, it is very sensitive to the spread of news.

In fact, long before Lan Yu set out, the news that the Ming Dynasty was going to declare war on India had already spread. However, after the city lord sent the news back to the royal capital, he had not received a reply on whether to fight or not, nor had he seen any reinforcements arrive.

Therefore, they surrendered directly. In India, surrender was a very normal thing, let alone the powerful Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty had a great influence in India.

India is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and maritime trade is the bulk of the dynasty's income in the coastal areas of India. And in terms of maritime trade, is there any country in the world with greater influence than the Ming Dynasty?

Especially in recent years, the Ming Dynasty has continuously developed its maritime trade business, and a large number of Ming Dynasty products have been sold all over the world. India, as the second stop, has also made a lot of money by reselling Ming Dynasty products.

The place where Lan Yu arrived was called Orissa, one of the territories ruled by the Eastern Ganga Dynasty. It was composed of more than seventy tribes and had a population of about three million.

During this period, the population of the Tianzhu region was very close to that of the Ming Dynasty, and there was even a tendency for it to surpass the Ming Dynasty.

According to historical trends, the population of India has now reached more than 94 million.

In fact, there are more than in the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, India is now in a state of fragmentation, with twelve ruling forces including the Delhi Sultanate.

For example, the present-day state of Orissa nominally belongs to the Eastern Ganga Dynasty, but in reality it is similar to a vassal state.

Lan Yu's 300,000-strong army sounds powerful, but in terms of population, it may be only comparable to the military strength of Orissa.

However, the soldiers of the Indian country were famous for their low combat effectiveness.

To put it simply, it is a mob.

This is also why they surrendered directly to the Ming army.

They felt that there was no way they could defeat the Ming army, even though they had an army of more than 100,000 soldiers able to defend the city.

Lan Yu quickly took over the nearby large city.

After entering the city, Lan Yu discovered that the city lord had an army of over 100,000 under his command.

However, those soldiers were all skinny, short in stature, and completely spiritless. They were far inferior to the soldiers of Siam and Cambodia. There was no comparison with the Ming army at all.

"Cao Zhen, sometimes I feel like something is wrong. How could we occupy this place so easily?"

"I thought it would take some time. Even if it won't take as long as Siam, it won't be conquered in a few days."

"Today seems to be only the third day of the first lunar month. If we had left a few days earlier, would we have been able to celebrate the first lunar month in this city?"

"I just learned that there are more than 700,000 people living nearby. I even suspected that the translation was wrong, but it is true."

Lan Yu couldn't believe it. This was a big city with hundreds of thousands of people, and he captured it without any soldiers.

Tianzhu is weak, but it can’t be this weak.

Cao Zhen replied: "These soldiers are too weak and can only be used for logistics. They are just for making up the numbers when charging into battle."

"There is no shortage of food in this city, and much of the money is used to build temples, so the people are resigned to their fate."

Lan Yu nodded: "Then let's fight first and see if there is anything we can fight."

…

Zhu Ying didn't know the situation in Tianzhu, but his impression was that they were always weak in combat. Anyone who went there would be able to win anyway, so it was a purely simple difficulty.

In fact, Zhu Ying had not really figured out how to manage Tianzhu.

Because India's population is so large, it is not weaker than that of the Ming Dynasty. Other countries that invaded India in history basically did not change the caste system. This is one of the reasons.

It is precisely because of the caste system that a small number of people were able to rule such a large population in India.

Zhu Ying was also worried. If the caste system was abolished, there would be nearly 10 million people, and the Ming Dynasty was separated by the sea. Would it be possible to control them?

So when Lan Yu led the army to India, Zhu Ying did not make any arrangements for education, or he did not dare to do so.

If this were to civilize India and create an Indian version of the "Are kings, princes, generals, or ministers of different races?", that would be really asking for trouble.

For the time being, India can only be used as a food and reserve base so that it can better attack the Timurid region.

As for the matter of education, let’s take a look first.

In any case, even in later generations, the caste system in the Indian region has not changed at all.

Today is the fourth day of the first lunar month.

Zhu Ying changed the court meeting again.

After the grand court meeting on the first day of the first lunar month last year, the small court meeting was held on the seventh day of the first lunar month.

However, in Zhu Ying's opinion, the court meeting was actually not very relevant during the first month of the year. Therefore, after this grand court meeting, he simply suspended the court meeting until the 16th day of the first month of the year.

It’s better to wait until the Lantern Festival is over before starting to prepare for the court meeting.

Of course, although there was no court meeting, all government offices still worked as usual. Even on the first day of the first lunar month, at least the Public Security Office needed people on duty.

Xiao Wencheng is seven years old this year.

As the saying goes, even dogs hate a seven or eight-year-old. Little Wencheng is indeed very naughty now.

Zhu Ying once didn’t understand why the old man was so fond of his eldest son. Shouldn’t he take better care of him?

Zhu Ying now understands a little bit. He now has nine children, seven boys and two girls, and it can be said that he is completely overwhelmed to take care of them all.

Many times, some children may not be seen for more than half a month.

Except for the eldest son Xiao Wencheng and the eldest daughter Xiao Yuting, who can enter and leave Kunning Palace at will, other children are not allowed to enter and leave at will.

This is the rule, and there is nothing we can do about it.

We can't always have a group of kids making noise everywhere.

And when you see each other often, naturally the feelings between you will become deeper.

Moreover, several concubines, such as Princess Sultana of Zhenla, Princess Xiangzi of Japan, and Princess Ananiya of Champa, are pregnant again.

As the crown prince, it was naturally impossible for him to use any contraceptive measures. No matter how many children he had, there was no possibility that he would not be able to raise them.

So it means that you keep giving birth.

This is actually a restrained relationship, otherwise Zhu Ying would have more than a dozen children by now.

"Your Highness, the two concubines in the Western Region and the Jade Concubine, Your Highness should show more favor to them these days."

"It's been so long and I'm still not pregnant. I'm afraid people will gossip about me."

The whole family was enjoying the snow in the back garden, while the children were making snowmen on the ground. Next to Zhu Ying were ten concubines.

Ye Yueqing leaned over and whispered to Zhu Ying.

The sisters Amira and Ibaiti from the Western Regions, as well as Zuo Xiaoyu from the Pear Garden, have been serving him all the time, but so far, there has been no sign of pregnancy.

As the saying goes, a mother's status is determined by her son's. After a long time, there will inevitably be some gossip in the palace.

As the Crown Prince's Consort, Ye Yueqing was in charge of Zhu Ying's harem, so she specifically said this to Zhu Ying.

"Well, I will pay attention. Let them take turns sleeping with me for a few days."

Zhu Ying also understood that something must have happened.

However, as the crown prince, it is actually best not to fight for some situations in the harem and leave it to Ye Yueqing to handle.

If he gets out, bigger problems will easily arise.

As the saying goes, three women make a drama. Now there are ten concubines in the harem. How can they live in harmony with each other? There will always be some disputes.

Sometimes, all Zhu Ying needs to do is just express a meaning.

There are only three people left who don’t have children, so Zhu Ying naturally has to take care of them more.

Ye Yueqing continued, "As for Dongsheng Shenzhou, I am now quite yearning for it. I heard that the territory there is very vast, not inferior to that of Ming Dynasty, and even larger."

"I don't know what your Highness thinks. It should be decided on the policy of enfeoffment of various countries in Dongsheng Shenzhou, and also as a vassal state."

"If that's the case, I'm afraid we need to divide the area properly."

"These are all your highness' children. Who wants to be an idle prince and live a muddle-headed life? Your highness should have made plans earlier."

Zhu Ying nodded.

As the number of children increases and they grow up, these are the things he needs to consider first.

Under the current circumstances, if we allow them to have children, having hundreds of children and thousands of grandchildren will not be a big deal.

It is also because of the relationship with the Crown Prince that there are only ten concubines. In fact, there are many more people who want to offer concubines now.

Not only within the Ming Dynasty, but there are also many countries outside.

Even a few days ago, Mr. Zhao, who was far away in Europe, wrote a letter saying that princesses from many countries over there wanted to come to the Ming Dynasty.

As for Europe, due to the long distance, a letter usually arrives every two or three years.

Because Ming Dynasty's products were popular and the Ming Dynasty was powerful, Zhao Xiucai was doing quite well in Europe.

I heard that he had already married a European princess.

At present, Zhu Ying cannot take care of places as far away as Europe, and his main target is still Timur in the Middle East.

Only after we have dealt with Timur can we turn our attention to Europe.

Of course, this is probably going to happen more than ten years from now.

Zhu Ying’s current plan is to starve Timur to death.

Because of Timur, even though the Timurid Empire has a lot of problems now, it is still at its peak.

According to Zhu Ying's calculations, after Timur's death, India would have been basically conquered, and it would become much easier to take action against the fragmented Timurid Empire.

It is actually meaningless to forcibly send a large army to fight Timur now. It will only waste the Ming Dynasty's military strength in vain.

I have to say, being young is really a huge advantage.

Living long is a skill.