Chapter 58: Luchuan Disturbance
Zhu Yuhuan left the carriage to her sister and brother, and rode directly back to the palace to avoid delaying important matters. As for whether she would be seen by others, that was not within her consideration.
Whether she was anxious in her heart was one thing, and whether she showed her anxiety was another. Both sides did not delay each other.
When Zhu Yuhuan arrived, Zhang Fu was already in the hall, and Zhu Qizhen was flipping through a memorial.
Seeing Zhang Fu here, Zhu Yuhuan immediately guessed that this matter was probably closely related to military affairs, otherwise Zhu Qizhen should have summoned the four people from the cabinet first rather than Zhang Fu, the Duke of Ying in name only.
Zhang Fu quickly stood up and greeted Zhu Yuhuan, saying, "Your Highness greets the Princess."
"You are very kind, Duke."
Zhu Qizhen caught a glimpse of the Duke of Yingguo being respectful to Zhu Yuhuan, and he felt very satisfied.
Although the eldest princess is a woman, she is also a member of the royal family. Even if Zhang Fu is the Duke of Ying, he should be respectful to Zhu Yuhuan. This is the respect for the emperor.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you."
Before Zhu Yuhuan could salute, Zhu Qizhen said, "Princess, please excuse your formalities. Please take a seat." Seeing Zhu Yuhuan sitting on the chair, Zhu Qizhen asked Wang Li to pass the memorial to Zhu Yuhuan, saying, "This is a memorial from Mu Ang, the general of Yunnan, requesting that the central government send 120,000 troops to conquer Luchuan."
Zhu Yuhuan took the memorial handed to him by Wang Li and quickly glanced through it. He found that the content was basically the same as Zhu Qizhen's summary.
In addition, Mu Ang also proposed to recruit soldiers locally in the areas of Huguang, Sichuan and Guizhou, and then divide the troops into three groups to attack Wandian, Mangbu and Tengchong at the same time, so as to encircle the invading Luchuan army and wipe it out.
The so-called Luchuan, like Jiaozhi, is located in the southwest of the Ming Dynasty. It originally called itself the Damao Kingdom. Later, the Yuan Dynasty government established Luchuan Road here. After the Ming Dynasty unified Yunnan, it changed this place to the Luchuan Pingmian Military and Civilian Weisi, and appointed Si Lunfa as the envoy, who paid tribute every three years.
After Si Lunfa's death, his eldest son inherited the position, but soon after he personally submitted a petition to the court, appointing his younger brother Si Renfa as the acting envoy. Si Renfa was much more active than his brother, actively expanding his power and harassing the Ming Dynasty on the Yunnan border. Two years earlier, the Ming Dynasty had invaded Luchuan. At that time, there was still a significant gap in strength between the two sides. Although Si Renfa won several times, he was ultimately defeated by the Ming and sent envoys to pay tribute.
At that time, some people in the court proposed to reduce the rewards for Luchuan's tribute, but Zhu Qizhen felt that Luchuan could not cause any trouble, so he only gave gifts but did not hold a banquet to entertain them.
Now, after two years of recuperation, Si Renfa has made a comeback and invaded Yunnan on a large scale. Although the Mu family tried their best to resist, they were soon asked for help by the Left General Mu Ang, which was the memorial in Zhu Yuhuan's hand at that time.
Zhu Yuhuan looked at him for a long time before he asked, "Duke Ying once conquered Annan and is quite familiar with the southwest. I believe he has already offered advice to Your Majesty."
Zhang Fu immediately replied, "Luchuan is plagued by miasma, and spring and summer are approaching. If we divide our forces into three groups, each group will inevitably be outnumbered and defeated individually. Furthermore, if the miasma attacks, the army's combat capability will decline, and a panicked retreat will result. I'm afraid Si Renfa will surrender again, rest for a few years, and then harass Yunnan again, making Luchuan a nasty sore on the Ming Dynasty's side. Therefore, I implore Your Majesty to send an important official to Luchuan to take charge of the expedition, act at your discretion, supervise the troops, and put an end to this threat once and for all."
Zhu Yuhuan glanced at Zhu Qizhen out of the corner of her eye. Seeing he showed no sign of reaction, she knew he fully agreed with Zhang Fu's proposal to send troops. "What the Duke of Ying says makes a lot of sense, but why aren't the cabinet ministers here?" She looked at Zhu Qizhen and said, "Besides conscription, the most crucial aspect of a large-scale military campaign is logistics. Furthermore, Yunnan and Luchuan are remote, and the logistical challenges are far greater than when the Empress Dowager and His Majesty joined forces with the Oirat to attack the Tatars. Why haven't the cabinet and officials from the six ministries come to the palace to discuss this with His Majesty? Could it be that they haven't sent eunuchs to notify you?"
Although Zhu Qizhen held great power, no one could stop his subordinates from pretending to obey his orders but actually disobeying them. It was not difficult for Zhu Qizhen to make decisions arbitrarily, but it was difficult to make the cabinet fully implement his decisions.
Now the Prime Minister is still Yang Shiqi, and behind him is Yang Pu. These two are the ministers of state left by Zhu Zhanji, and they are also highly respected cabinet ministers. They have considerable influence on all officials. It is not a good thing for anyone to directly bypass them to decide such national affairs.
Zhu Qizhen followed up on Zhu Yuhuan's words and said, "That's right. Why haven't the Prime Minister and the cabinet arrived yet?"
Wang Zhen, who was standing nearby, saw this and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, we have already sent someone to invite the elder in."
This action of taking the blame actively is very familiar.
However, as Wang Zhen was the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, it was impossible for him to be so careless. I'm afraid he did it on purpose just to let Zhang Fu, the pro-war faction, give Zhu Qizhen a "peace of mind" in advance.
Zhu Yuhuan looked at Zhang Fu beside him, only to see that he was still sitting there, but there was a thin layer of sweat on his forehead.
As a minister of state, Zhang Fu entered the cabinet to discuss matters earlier than the cabinet, which makes people wonder.
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