Chapter 5: Huzhongtianman (V)
"Sister, sister! I want this!"
"Sister, that one looks good too!"
"Sister, this is also a large shipment, I want this!"
Zhu Youhuan was pulled from both sides by his younger brothers and sisters. He raised his hand helplessly, signaling the followers around him to give him money.
Zhu Youkai and Zhu Youhang cheered and immediately took the gadgets handed to them by the vendor, feeling very satisfied.
Since following his grandmother on the expedition, Zhu Youhuan was allowed to enter and leave the palace at will. As long as he carried a tooth card, he could leave the palace and walk around the capital freely. Therefore, his older and more naughty brothers and sisters all clamored to go out of the palace to play with their eldest sister.
The Crown Prince had his own guards, including personal escorts and soldiers who protected him in secret. This was why Zhu Youhuan could confidently take his brothers and sisters out of the palace.
When my grandmother was allowed to leave the palace, she was naturally very considerate in terms of safety.
However, Zhu Youhuan left the palace not only to let her experience the lives of ordinary people and the level of governance in the capital, but also to perform other tasks.
When the emperor was still a princess, he and the empress dowager founded a charity hall together. After the emperor ascended the throne, the charity hall gradually became an official organization. Considering that some people might cheat in it, the emperor handed the charity hall over to the crown prince to "manage". Therefore, Zhu Youhuan went to the charity hall from time to time for simple inspections and inspections.
But compared to the charity hall, Zhu Youhuan still prefers Taiping Teahouse. The reason is simple. Taiping Teahouse has always been bustling and is one of the most lively places in the capital. If you want to know what is popular among the people, you will definitely find the answer by going to Taiping Teahouse.
For Zhu Youhuan, the most important thing was to be able to arrange for the two little guys around him. In addition, the court had recently launched a counterattack against the Japanese pirates. In late autumn last year, the Ming navy captured Tsushima and cleared the island of Japanese pirates. They also used it as a base to investigate the specific situation in Japan.
Although Zhu Youhuan did not know the specific situation, when he saw that the court had already begun to make various logistical preparations, he knew that the Ming Dynasty would inevitably go to war with Japan this year.
"elder sister?"
Zhu Youhuan turned around and saw Zhu Youkai handing her a booklet, which was the menu of Taiping Tea House. She smiled slightly and said, "I'm a regular customer here. I'll do as usual and have someone send me red bean plum cake and amber walnuts, and jasmine tea."
"Okay."
Zhu Youhang was somewhat envious and said, "I wish I could enter and leave the palace as freely as my sister in the future. I heard from my mother that my grandmother was afraid that my sister would not be able to make it back to the palace at night, so she gave the original Shunde Princess Mansion to my sister..."
Not only is Zhu Youhang the youngest, but she is also not as healthy as her sister and brother. On weekdays, everyone in the palace takes care of her very carefully. They are afraid that she will fall ill if she sneezes. It is not easy for her to leave the palace with her sister Zhu Youhuan today.
Zhu Youhuan cleared his throat and said, "It's just a temporary stay. The princess's mansion still belongs to my grandmother."
Zhu Youkai said with a smile: "Hang'er, wait until you gain another two pounds and you won't be blown down by the strong wind outside."
Zhu Youhang muttered, "I eat well every day, but I just can't gain weight... Empress Xu has given me many remedies, chicken soup, mutton soup, bone soup, I've tried them all..."
Seeing her feeling a little disappointed, Zhu Youhuan comforted her, "Empress Xu said that she'll be fine in two or three years, so there's no need to rush." Then she said, "Look, the storyteller is on stage. Today he's telling the story of the Lady's Gate, which you didn't finish listening to last time."
Zhu Youhang, who was originally a little melancholy, immediately looked towards the stage with anticipation.
Taiping Teahouse always has the latest storybooks. At the end of the Xuande period, many scholars who came to Beijing to take the imperial examinations sold their storybooks to Taiping Teahouse in exchange for money to rent a house in Beijing to prepare for the exam.
By now, storybooks had become popular among the people, and many writers contributed to teahouses and taverns like the Taiping Teahouse. Most of these places had connections with bookstores, and if a storybook received a good response, it would be published and printed, and the writers would receive a share of the money. This made storybooks a way to make money.
Zhu Youhuan had heard from several elderly palace maids that his teacher Han Guilan seemed to have written such a storybook when she was young and was quite famous. However, writing storybooks was not considered a glorious thing at that time, and most authors were unwilling to reveal their real names and used pen names. Zhu Youhuan had no way of knowing what story Han Guilan wrote.
"The last chapter mentioned that Li Sanniang bid farewell to her husband, changed her name to Master Li, and led her servant Ma Sanbao to recruit soldiers in the Guanzhong area. She quickly recruited heroes of all kinds and formed a powerful righteous army to fight in all directions..."
Zhu Youkai and Zhu Youhang were fascinated by what they heard, while Zhu Youhuan asked his followers to bring the accounts sent by the charity hall.
Accompanying her younger siblings was one thing, but completing the tasks assigned to her by her grandmother was another.
While the storyteller was in Taiping Teahouse, someone came running in and said, "Good news! People in Dengzhou say that our Ming Dynasty has completely defeated those Japanese pirates!"
The storyteller had a good eloquence, and when he heard the good news, he first told everyone the good news, and then continued telling the story.
Zhu Youkai and Zhu Youhang were both focused on listening to the book, but Zhu Youhuan was a little absent-minded because of the news and wanted to go back to the palace to see his grandmother right away.
The good news of Ming Dynasty's victory over Japan was indeed true, but it was not as exaggerated as the rumors said. They only occupied Kyushu Island and changed its name to Kyushu Dusi, and the way of attack was also different from the previous combat style of the Ming army.
In the past, the emperor would simply assign responsibility for surrendering enemies and then deal with them. Unless they were guilty of heinous crimes, he would often treat them with leniency. However, this attack on Kyushu Island was different. The emperor ordered the army to be fearless. If anyone dared to resist, they would be attacked with artillery. If a village or a town resisted, they would be doused with oil and burned. No one should be spared.
With the precedent of the Xinjiang Dusi, everyone could see that the emperor hated the Japanese pirates so much that he didn't even want to keep the Japanese on Kyushu Island and planned to wipe them out. Some also speculated that the emperor was in poor health recently and was in a bad mood, so he was so "cruel".
However, afterwards the emperor rewarded the naval generals and soldiers, and also rewarded Prince Ji, who was commanding the fleet to gather intelligence along the coast. It seemed that he was not in a hurry at all.
However, judging from the emperor's naming style, Jiuzhou was not simply used as a temporary port for the Ming army to repair, but like the earlier Jinghai Chengxuan Administration and the current Pengzhou Chengxuan Administration, Jiuzhou was to be officially incorporated into the territory of the Ming Dynasty.
In any case, under the emperor's extremely harsh policy towards Kyushu Island, quite a few people surrendered on Kyushu Island. The emperor ordered people to reorganize the population and household registration, survey the land, and temporarily manage it by the army, just like the Xinjiang Dusi. At the same time, he sent officials to Kyushu Island to educate the local surrendered nobles and people and teach them the cultural customs of the Ming Dynasty.
As for those who were disobedient, they had already been burned to ashes or turned into food for fish in the sea. Some of those who surrendered and then rebelled were directly escorted by the army to mine silver.
After the joy of the good news passed, the capital soon became lively because of another event, that is, the emperor ordered the construction of a separate mausoleum for the empress dowager.
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