Chapter 75 Little News
Princess Shunde's absence from the capital was a matter of some joy and some sorrow. While the officials were worried, Wang Zhen was even happier.
Wang Zhen was originally overjoyed because Princess Shunde, the heavy stone weighing on his head, had left the capital. Now that the princess was no longer in the capital, the officials who had been somewhat wavering all began to curry favor with Wang Zhen.
Seeing that his "recruitment" work was going so smoothly, Wang Zhen felt happy and wished that Princess Shunde would never come back in her life.
Wang Zhen's proposal to open up trade was naturally put on the agenda and proceeded exceptionally smoothly. The Ming Dynasty not only opened up trade on the border but also allowed the Oirat to send envoys to Beijing to pay tribute, thus maintaining the status quo of peace between the Ming Dynasty and the Tatars.
It was just a trade on the surface, but in reality it was a secret smuggling operation between Wang Zhen, Guo Jing and the Oirat Mongols.
For a time, Wang Zhen held money and power, and was extremely influential. He wanted to get involved in everything. As long as there was a place in the court that needed money, Wang Zhen would inevitably try to take advantage of it.
The title "Mr. Wang" that Zhu Qizhen used to call out when he was a child gradually began to appear in the mouths of many officials. Some even called Wang Zhen "Master", which ensured that Wang Zhen had "successors" within the court.
With the support of others, Wang Zhen showed off his power everywhere, especially to those officials who were unwilling to even show outward obedience. He used all kinds of means to make them surrender.
If Zhu Qizhen had not been alive, I am afraid he would have also experienced what it means to be the "Executive Vice Emperor".
Fortunately, the military examination was coming soon, and Wang Zhen also considered that the military examination was something the emperor cared about, so he temporarily stopped his actions against officials.
After all, the emperor was his only support. If he offended the emperor, everything Wang Zhen had now would be gone. He also wanted to replace the Jinyiwei with his own people so that he could further understand the secrets of the officials and use this opportunity to control those originally unruly officials.
The capital was busy with various affairs, while Zhu Yuhuan went south early with Wang Ji, Jiang Gui and others.
Although Zhu Qizhen issued an order to declare war on Luchuan in a swift and decisive manner, this war required the mobilization of more than 100,000 soldiers. Both court officials and local officials had to work at high speed. Just to prepare food and wages, half of the world's granary reserves and manpower transportation had to be mobilized, which shows the scale of this war.
In particular, Wang Ji, Jiang Gui, Tuotuo Boluo and Zhu Yuhuan, the four people named by Zhu Qizhen, needed to go to Yunnan in advance to make preparations as soon as possible.
The Ming army had not made such a big move for many years, especially on the southwestern border which had been "stable for many years". Whether it was military exercises or intelligence acquisition, they had to start almost from scratch. Naturally, the sooner they went, the better.
Zhu Yuhuan had been assisting in the administration for over a year and had met Wang Ji and Jiang Gui, but he was far from being familiar with them. Therefore, he often discussed countermeasures with the two of them along the way so that they could quickly get to know each other.
If an army wants to march in unison, harmonious relations between the commander and the general are one of the important factors. After all, all three of them can be considered leaders. If the concepts and plans are not unified, it will have a great impact on the battle situation.
For Wang Ji and Jiang Gui, this was the first time they had such in-depth contact with the eldest princess, especially during a major battle like the conquest of Luchuan.
More importantly, the eldest princess was ordered by the emperor to supervise the army and had a high status. Even though Wang Ji and Jiang Gui were both experts in fighting, and they both asked for discretion, they had to respect the opinions of Zhu Yuhuan, an "outsider".
Fortunately, although Zhu Yuhuan would ask about everything, he had his own judgment on the two people's opinions and would never rashly agree with the approach of one. As for the final decision, it was often a way to neutralize the two.
If that were all, Princess Shunde would have been nothing more than an ordinary leader. Zhu Yuhuan, however, was not only familiar with the military but also had insights into how to manage it and provide logistics. His actions were all practical, which impressed the two men.
They originally thought that Princess Shunde's experience in patrolling the border and suppressing rebellions was only due to her royal status, but when they really came into contact with this Princess Shunde, they found that she was not a person who only talked about military affairs on paper. Of course, this made the two of them look at her with new eyes, and they became more serious when talking about military affairs with Zhu Yuhuan.
Even including the time when he followed Zhu Zhanji on border patrol, Zhu Yuhuan had only participated in two wars. Even compared with the emerging general Toghto Boluo, Zhu Yuhuan did not have much experience.
But Zhu Yuhuan's advantage lies in his strong learning ability. He has studied military knowledge with Saihazhi and Liu Yongcheng. Combining his own experience in patrolling the border and suppressing rebellions with the opinions of Wang and Jiang, Zhu Yuhuan is at least not a person who only knows how to nod and make decisions blindly.
The three of them chatted along the way, and they had to contact officials from various places on the way. It was already March when they entered Yunnan. Zhu Yuhuan now felt what a changeable climate was. The rise in temperature and humidity was one thing, and the rainstorms in some extreme weather were no less severe than the heavy snow in the capital in winter.
Although Zhu Yuhuan had heard Saihazhi mention that Yunnan's climate was changeable, and sometimes it didn't rain or snow but rain and hail, when he actually arrived in Yunnan, Zhu Yuhuan still felt that he was not acclimatized.
Fortunately, she was not the only one who felt this way. Most of the people in the team were trying to endure the discomfort. Jiang Gui, a military general, was in an even worse situation than Zhu Yuhuan. After all, he had been on the northern front for many years. If no one could be trusted, Zhu Qizhen should not have transferred him from the north to the south and let him fight away from home.
Thanks to the gradually warming weather, Zhu Yuhuan had asked Xu Wangzhi in advance for methods to deal with acclimatization. Huai En simply gave them a few acupuncture needles and boiled a medicinal soup for everyone to drink, so the group did not lose time due to illness.
But Zhu Yuhuan could almost foresee how difficult it would be for the Ming army to fight in Yunnan later.
This place is really not a place for ordinary people to stay.
"Your Highness, this is a letter from the capital."
Zhu Yuhuan scratched the red spot on his wrist before taking the letter handed to him by Huai En.
After being in Yunnan for some time, Zhu Yuhuan had adapted to the climate a lot, but his body had not yet completely adapted to it after so many years in the north, so he soon developed a rash, and Zhu Yuhuan couldn't help scratching it.
Seeing this, Huai En hurriedly stopped Zhu Yuhuan and said, "Your Highness, stop scratching. The medical book that Madam Xu gave me says that if you scratch the rash, it will easily become festered in this kind of weather..."
Zhu Yuhuan sighed, and finally withdrew his hand obediently, saying, "I know... She taught me how to deal with the weather, but why did she also give you a medical book to control me..."
"This medical book was originally intended for Guilan, but Guilan is a woman and it is inconvenient for her to accompany the army, so Guilan gave it to Huai En." Huai En sighed and said, "Huai En is taking care of His Highness together with Guilan's copy."
Zhu Yuhuan nodded repeatedly and said, "You two are more talkative than each other now..." As she spoke, she opened the letter in her hand.
The Shen family has been committed to developing the ancient Tea-Horse Road in Yunnan, so the delivery of letters along the way was relatively fast. The court officials were very aware of Zhu Yuhuan's business affairs, but they just turned a blind eye. Wang Ji and Jiang Gui naturally didn't care.
Anyway, the manpower and material resources of the post station were not used, Zhu Yuhuan only received letters but did not send them, and he was not in the army at the time, so there was naturally no possibility of leaking secrets.
Since the eldest princess paid for it herself and put in the effort, they couldn't say much.
Huai En saw her glance at the beginning of the letter and widened her eyes in surprise. Unable to help but feel a little puzzled, he asked cautiously, "But is there any important news in the capital?"
Zhu Yuhuan has become more and more nonchalant in her interactions with others in recent years, making it difficult to understand what she is thinking. But now she is so out of place that Huai En can't help but be curious about the contents of the letter.
Zhu Yuhuan raised her hand and calculated for a while, muttering: "This year is the sixth year of Zhengtong... Duke Yingguo is at least sixty-seven years old this year..." She couldn't help but be surprised when she said this.
"Duke of England?"
Zhu Yuhuan looked at Huai En and said slowly: "Brother Zhong is going to be a big brother."
The effect of Wang Zhen's actions was too significant. Zhang Fu had completely lost his trust in Zhu Qizhen. Before he even had a grandson, he had already had a second child...
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