Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1209: The vassals

When Zheng Sen arrived at the Bibo Palace, the first thing he saw was a scaled-down white sailboat.

What shocked him was the one hundred and twenty-eight cannons on it.

I heard that this was a newly built ship with eight thousand materials prepared by the Navy as a gift for the Emperor's Longevity Day.

"How big does this have to be?"

He murmured in his mind and glanced at this luxurious palace again.

This palace alone cost nearly one million yuan. You must know that the entire Forbidden City was rebuilt with only five to six million yuan.

The luxury of Yuquan Villa has surpassed that of the Forbidden City.

Yan Yingyuan, Yu Chenglong, and Liu Xiangke were all close in age, so they started their official careers at the same time. He jumped directly from group assistant to chief assistant, which made him doubt his life to this day.

But he thought about the emperor living in the villa again, and he suddenly realized.

None of these three people is under seventy. They have been in the officialdom for forty years and it is time for them to step down and make way for others.

"Reporting to Mr. Ge, it was sent by the King of Liao and the Kingdom of Xing. I heard that they defeated the Persians and robbed many noble children, and even a few Persian beauties..."

The young eunuch knew he was too talkative, so he bowed his head and remained silent.

Zhu Yixi has a deep understanding of the queen's existence, and she is no less important than Dinghai Shenzhen in the harem.

The emperor has both palaces and beauties. Could it be that the once wise and mighty Holy Lord Zhongxing has become a coward?

Thinking of this, his heart sank.

What if we become queen again?

The eunuch who led the way walked briskly and led the way with a smile.

"Your Majesty—" After entering the palace, he saw the emperor playing with the birds.

Now that the magic needle is gone, the harem is in turmoil.

Zheng Sen's steps were steady, but he felt uncomfortable in his heart.

Zheng Sen took a brief glance and suddenly noticed the difference:

After establishing a queen, doesn't this mean finding a rival for the prince?

"Mr. Ge, come with me!"

I saw that among the group of young eunuchs, there were actually a few blond and blue-eyed barbarians with high eyes and deep eyes, and I felt surprised in my heart.

His eldest brother Sun Shirui became an official, and a group of disciples and former officials; his younger brother Sun Shining was still in the officialdom and was already a big official.

After all, the old emperor is old and there is nothing the old men can do, so why don't he come?

After gathering his thoughts, he walked slowly.

Most of the nobles in Shaanxi are also close to the prince.

Or is it possible to establish an imperial concubine to temporarily take care of the affairs of the harem?

On the surface, the former dynasty and the inner court had little relationship, but in fact they were inseparable.

In other words, his love has long since died, but family affection and inertia are still there.

At this time, a group of eunuchs passed by and bowed their heads in salute.

After taking a few steps calmly, he said, "Why are there barbarians in the palace?"

The emperor, who was in his sixties and had not many gray hairs, quickly recovered from the queen's death.

"Zheng Qing is here?"

Zhu Yixi came back to her senses and saw Zheng Sen, who had gray hair and looked older than herself, and couldn't help but smile:

"I came to you today mainly for one thing."

"Didn't Siam fall? I intend to move the King of Xiang to it. After all, he has rich experience and is second to none in governing the country among the vassal kings."

"Besides, as a legitimate son, Xiang State is not suitable for him now, so it is suitable for him to be controlled by a big country!"

"Your Majesty, your Majesty!" Zheng Sen rolled his eyes and immediately agreed.

This must have been requested by the Queen during her lifetime.

Secondly, this is the emperor's explicit support for the prince.

Finally, once the vassal state can move its town, it will become a routine, and the court can let the disobedient vassal king go to the corner of the corner at any time.

Even deposed the vassal state.

Maybe it won't be used, but it's possible that it can be used.

This is good for centralization.

"Xiang Guo will give it to King Tan according to the order!"

Zhu Yixi ordered casually. Compared with Xiang, which has been under construction for many years, Siam has a larger territory and more people, which is more tempting.

As a result, the number of vassal states today has expanded to thirty-one.

It is divided into four parts.

There are two northern grassland countries: Liang State (western Mongolian Plateau) and Fuguo (eastern Mongolian Plateau).

The six northwest kingdoms: Xu, Chen, Zheng, Xing, Zhao, and Liao.

Two southwest kingdoms: Yong (Nepal) and Cao (Ladakh).

The Yue Kingdom of Hokkaido in later generations.

Twenty countries in the Nanyang region:

The Qin Kingdom (Annam), Wei Kingdom (Khmer), Xiang Kingdom (Siam), Ji Kingdom (Malacca Peninsula), and King Cai (Pattani region in southern Thailand) in the peninsula area

Qi State in Mindanao.

Huo, Shen, Qi and Guo in Sumatra.

The east of Java Island is the Tsou Kingdom and the west is the Six Kingdoms.

The northern part of Borneo is the Ni Kingdom, the west is the Qi Kingdom, and the south is the Min Kingdom.

The four islands of Sulawesi are the country of Xiang.

The island of New Guinea is owned by the kings of Hu, Sui and Tan.

Later East Timor became the country of Fei.

It can be said that it is a huge force to occupy the entire Nanyang.

But the cost of all this cannot be underestimated.

The imperial court's judicial expenditure in the vassal state is about five to six million per year, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs also has the same expenditure.

That's all. The Thirty Kingdoms continued to build, taking away a large number of people to migrate.

The number of people migrating south from the mainland every year exceeds 500,000.

Fujian lost an estimated three million people in just twenty years. Forty years later, the total population has not exceeded eight million.

The Guangdong and Guangxi regions have also suffered greatly, with the population declining instead of increasing, and population loss continues.

This has also directly led to a slowdown in population growth. Until now, the population is still 250 million, and it has only increased by 20 million in sixteen years. It can be said to be a big brake.

Qi State alone has nearly two million immigrants.

In the country of Yue, it reached one million.

Not to be outdone, Qin also moved millions of people.

The migration of 1,800 people from the 20 countries in Southeast Asia was just for fun, and as development continued, people continued to migrate again, forming a cycle.

It's just an ordinary mud-legged person, but the departure of scholars makes many people feel worried.

In the Ming Dynasty, one could only serve as a citizen, while in foreign vassals, one could only serve as an official. The gap was too big.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Rites, more than a thousand people who were educated after birth were lost every year. In many counties, even county officials moved south with their families.

This is the largest civil population migration since Shaowu.

Due to the continuous development of Nanyang, in addition to diversifying timber and food and reducing costs a lot, mineral resources also continued to be imported into the Ming Dynasty.

The Nanyang region has surpassed Japan and became the second largest import region of precious metals in the Ming Dynasty. The prices of gold and silver have become lower, while the price of copper is rising.

There is no way, there are too many people using copper coins.

Zheng Sen said cautiously: "The governor of Nanyang and the governor of Nanhai (Batavia) may not be able to do enough..."

"did you mean?"

"The minister wishes to establish a new governor to appease the vassal state!"

When Zhu Yixi heard this, she didn't say anything immediately. Instead, she closed her door to rest for a long time before saying:

"That's all, to avoid wasting manpower and material resources, it wouldn't be appropriate to split the navy into two..."

"Your Majesty is still thinking carefully, I have not thought carefully enough!" Zheng Sen hurriedly lowered his head, his mind was racing.

"Nanyang aims to appease, support, and regulate rather than control. This must be kept in mind——"

(End of this chapter)