Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1064 Preparation
After leaving the Qianqing Palace and returning to the Changchun Palace, Zhu Cizhao still felt as if he was in a dream.

He himself had never thought that meeting the emperor today would have such a result. Although before meeting the emperor, Zhu Cizhou had guessed that the emperor might meet him because of the external title. After all, several months had passed since he had asked them through his father Zhu Youjian who was willing to accept the external title. After that, this matter had never been brought forward again, and even Zhu Cizhou himself had forgotten about it. But when the emperor called him to go to the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Cizhou remembered it again.

In fact, when Zhu Cizhuo expressed his willingness to accept the title of emperor, he had considered how the emperor would choose to confer him a title. In Zhu Cizhuo's opinion, there were two possible places for him to be conferred a title of emperor. One was in the north, that is, Mongolia or Liaodong. After all, the enemies of the Ming Dynasty were always in the north, whether it was the Northern Yuan Dynasty at the beginning, Mongolia later, or the Jiannu who had been fighting against the Ming Dynasty for decades.

The former was the enemy that the Ming Dynasty had been on guard against for more than 200 years, and the later Jiannu was the biggest worry for decades. But as time went by and with the emperor's measures, Mongolia was no longer a hidden danger. Whether it was Chahar or Tumed, including the Mongolian tribes further west, their attitude towards the Ming Dynasty changed from hostility to alliance. In addition, the emperor's enthronement of Mongolia, border trade cooperation and even military cooperation, the two sides have almost become one family.

As for the Jiannu in Liaodong, after several wars after Zhu Shenzhui took over the government, the Jiannu's momentum was suppressed. After the death of Huang Taiji, the Jiannu began to split. At present, Dorgon, the regent, and Huang Taiji's eldest son Haoge were tit-for-tat and incompatible. The possibility of a civil war among the Jiannu was very high. The threat of the Jiannu to the Ming Dynasty had been greatly alleviated. Moreover, the military deployment of the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong had been greatly strengthened in recent years. The Jiannu could no longer easily go south and continue to plunder the Ming Dynasty as they did in the Jiyi Incident.

Therefore, from the perspective of the border and the security of the Ming Dynasty, the possibility of sealing off the north is very high. Moreover, when Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country, he sealed off several kings of the frontier to protect the border of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, there is the south. The southern countries, especially the South China Sea countries, have always been the sphere of influence of the Ming Dynasty, and the foreign countries there are basically vassal states of the Ming Dynasty. However, with the infiltration and colonization of the South China Sea by Western countries in the past hundred years, the influence of the Ming Dynasty in the South China Sea has been greatly weakened. In order to ensure the position of the Ming Dynasty in the region, sealing off the south is also an option, just like the Mu family sitting in Yunnan, with a vassal king ruling a place, thus becoming an external vassal of the Ming Dynasty to stabilize the surrounding areas.

With this in mind, Zhu Cizhou had already made plans to seal off the country to the north or the south, but he never expected that the emperor's final choice would not be to seal off the country to the north or the south, but to send him to the New World, which was extremely far away from the Ming Dynasty. This result surprised the unprepared Zhu Cizhou.

However, compared with previous speculations, Zhu Cizhuo was even more anxious at this time. You know, whether it is to be sealed in the north or go to the south, there are great risks. Although the Mongols in the north have become an ally of the Ming Dynasty in recent years, and the momentum of the Jiannu has been curbed, no matter whether it is the Mongols or the Jiannu in Liaodong, who can guarantee that the situation will not change in the future?

Moreover, the outer seal is different from the King of Sai back then. When Taizu appointed the King of Sai, he let the prince lead the army. The prince not only had the territory but also the command of the army. But the outer seal now is definitely not like that. Moreover, he is the son of the deposed previous emperor and a de facto prisoner. How can the emperor trust him to hand over the military power to him? And without military power, how can he gain a foothold in the vassal land?

But if you go to the New World, it will be completely different. According to Zhu Shenzhui, the New World is not only a vast place, but also has no political power or country. Back then, Europeans were able to defeat and conquer tens of millions of natives with just a few hundred people, so the Ming Dynasty could do the same, even if it used slightly more people. It's impossible that the Ming Dynasty is not as good as the Europeans, right?

Moreover, the Europeans only occupied the eastern and southern parts of the New World, and their sphere of influence did not extend to the western part. However, going east from the Ming Dynasty, they could directly reach the western part of the New World, which meant that the western part of the New World was completely uninhabited. As long as they brought some people over, they could completely conquer the local tribes with the weapons in their hands, and then manage the occupied land patiently to make it their own vassal state.

What does this mean? Doesn't it mean that he can become the real king of the New World in the future? It is no different from the feudal states during the Zhou Dynasty. Moreover, the native tribes in the New World have the same appearance as the people of the Ming Dynasty. Coupled with the rumored origins, everyone can be considered one of us.

With the cultural tolerance and strong assimilation ability of the Ming Dynasty, as long as we spend some time to integrate these people, we can not only own the territory, but also own our own people. If we spend decades or even hundreds of years to manage it, then this will be a foundation that can be passed on to future generations.

Although the foreign vassal states were still considered as the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and he, the vassal king, was also a subject of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor was far away, and the constraints he faced there were much weaker than under the emperor's nose. Moreover, as time went by, once he had established a firm foothold, as long as he still recognized the Ming Dynasty as his suzerain in name, paid tribute and gave the Ming Dynasty a certain amount of property every year, then what was the difference between being with the emperor in his own territory?

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. Zhu Ci Zhao even looked forward to heading to the New World as soon as possible.

After returning to Changchun Palace, he went to look for the contents of the "Book of Liang" mentioned by the emperor, intending to find out whether the so-called Fusang Kingdom in the emperor's mouth was really the New World. What's more, after searching for a few days, Zhu Ci Zhao really found evidence from the Dongyi Records in the "Book of Liang". According to the records in it, it is indeed written that Fusang Kingdom is thousands of miles to the east. In addition, he also found similar records in the "Records of the Four Dukes of Liang", which also wrote about the geographical features of Fusang Kingdom, etc. Combined with what the emperor said, this made Zhu Ci Zhao more confident and full of confidence.

Of course, although it has been decided that Zhu Cizhuo will be granted the title of the New World, it is impossible to officially grant him the title immediately. After all, this era is not the future, where you can go at any time, buy a plane ticket, take a taxi to the airport, and then arrive in America in ten hours. It is impossible to cross the Pacific Ocean directly from Ming Dynasty to the New World. The most suitable route is to take the northern route, that is, starting from Bohai Bay, then heading north along the direction of Korea, passing Japan, Hokkaido, and then arriving at Kuwu Island.

After arriving at the north of Kuwu Island, which is near the Nurgan area, we rested there and then continued north along the North Sea (Sea of ​​Okhotsk), turning back east along the route, and finally crossing the Yanian Strait to reach North America.

Once we get there, half the journey is completed. Then we go southeast along the Alaska region of North America in later generations, and finally arrive at the western region of the United States in later generations, thus completing the voyage from Ming Dynasty to the New World.

The Ming Dynasty only controls half of this route, that is, the route to the North Sea. As for continuing eastward, this route has never been taken before. In addition, it is close to the Arctic Circle and the climate is cold. Due to the weather, the suitable time for this route is limited every year. For safety reasons, it is only suitable for four months.

Moreover, this external closure is of great significance. Zhu Shenzui does not want Zhu Ci Zhao to die easily on the way, so he must make preparations in advance and send people to explore the route first, and then set off after opening up a safe route.

To this end, Zhu Shenzhui has ordered the Shandong Navy, which is about to be reorganized into the Beiyang Navy, to establish supply points and temporary docks in Ezo and the northeast of Kuwu Island, and then send an advance fleet to explore the route and draw nautical charts. After ensuring that there is no risk, it will be officially sealed and people will be sent to the area.

A few days later, Zhang Xijun returned to the capital from Nanjing.

Since the Jiangnan case began, Zhang Xijun was sent to Jiangnan by the emperor to inspect Jiangnan in the name of governor and imperial envoy, and at the same time investigate the case.

The reason why the Jiangnan case was able to cut the Gordian knot and solve the chaos at the time in one fell swoop and successfully concluded can be said to be that Zhang Xijun played an indispensable role. If Zhang Xijun had not arranged in Jiangnan in advance, collected complete evidence, and decisively dealt with it when it was launched later, the Jiangnan case would not have been solved so easily.

After the Jiangnan case, a large number of officials at all levels in Jiangnan, including Nanjing, fell. The court then sent Qian Qianyi and others south to handle the case, but the person who actually handled the case was Zhang Xijun.

After that, Zhang Xijun stayed in Nanjing temporarily, and served as the Nanjing Minister of Personnel in the name of the Imperial Commissioner and Nanjing Governor. Zhang Xijun could have come back last year, but he didn't expect that because of the outbreak of a major treason case in the capital, in order to stabilize the south, Zhang Xijun stayed in Nanjing for nearly a year, until the case was completely over and there was no turmoil in Jiangnan, then he set off to return to Beijing.

After returning to the capital, Zhang Xijun was exhausted and had no time to rest when he received an imperial decree to enter the palace. After changing his clothes, Zhang Xijun went straight into the palace and came to the Qianqing Palace to meet the emperor.

"Thank you for your hard work, Lord Zhang." Zhu Shenzhui was very happy to see Zhang Xijun. He had left the capital and gone to Jiangnan for nearly three years. He had done a great job in the Jiangnan case. In the subsequent treason case, Zhang Xijun also stabilized the south for the Ming Dynasty and prevented the case from causing turmoil. More importantly, during the past few years in Jiangnan, he not only rectified the official system of Jiangnan, but also appeased the local area and encouraged farmers and merchants. He attacked local gentry and wealthy merchants, and at the same time won over many prominent families and many businessmen. As a result, the economy of Jiangnan was not only not affected, but developed rapidly. These were all his political achievements.

"As your Majesty's subject, I have done my best for you and the Ming Dynasty. Your Majesty, I haven't seen you for a few years. You are thinner than before. I ask you to take care of your health and not to work too hard. As long as your Majesty is here, the Ming Dynasty can be peaceful and stable, and it can be prosperous as it is now!" Zhang Xijun stood up and saluted, his words were earnest and sincere. Although he knew that half of his words came from his heart and the other half were deliberately flattering him, who doesn't like to hear good words? Zhu Shenzhu was even happier after hearing this.

(End of this chapter)