In the winter of the 12th year of Dayu, the mountains and fields on both sides of the Xiang'e Avenue connecting the north and the south through Lumen Mountain were covered with heavy snow. A dozen knights in armor surrounded four ordinary carriages, crushing them.

The remaining snow on the road slowly moves northward.

Chidao, located on the southwest slope of Lumen Mountain, has a high terrain and a wide view. Sitting in the carriage, Zhu Zhi can see through the window the Yuliangzhou Bridge, which spans the clear and quiet Han River and connects the west bank of the Han River.

The old city of Xiangyang and the new capital city on the east coast.

There is a lot of traffic on the Yuliangzhou Bridge, and it looks like a swarm of ants from a distance.

The biggest difference between the new capital city and the old city is that it is not surrounded by city walls and has a radial open layout. Two iron towers more than ten feet high stand in front. A huge banner is raised above the avenue with the number "Xiangyang Welcomes You" written on it.

To mark the formal entry into the new capital city. ??

The people greeted by the Political Council were waiting under the boundary tower.

Zhu Zhi stayed in Xishu Province for many years to take charge of military affairs. The city of Chengdu was also very prosperous in the world. The new capital did not bring much shock to Zhu Zhi. The biggest difference was probably the dense factories, docks, and ships on both sides of the Han River.

The busy traffic of steamships with billowing black smoke from their chimneys on the Han River is a sight that has not yet been seen in Chengdu.

Entering the new capital, the flow of people began to thicken.

When Zhu Zhi came to Beijing this time, he did not stop in any big city. The journey of more than ten days was quite lonely. At this time, when he came to Beijing and saw the dense crowd, he felt very friendly. The people accompanying and welcoming him were not allowed to clear the road, but

Let the teams of carriages and horses walk slowly through the new capital city along with the dense flow of people, and feel the rich smell of fireworks.

"The nickname is alias. After Shuo Guogong and the Protector General Tang Pan personally led the army to attack the Hulu King's city and forest, and the Jiuyuan Hou Sumi destroyed the Hulu King Tu Ge in the south of Langjuxu Mountain, the Northern Expedition army spread again from Mobei.

The good news is that Yunzhong Marquis Xu Peng led 20,000 cavalry in the south of Yanran Mountain to annihilate the troops of the captive king Wululie, annihilating more than 8,000 remaining captives, and capturing nearly 30,000 remaining captives, women and children..."

On the long street, a 13-14-year-old newsboy shuttled among the crowd, waving the newspaper with the ink in his hand not yet dry, and shouting loudly.

"Have the Northern Expeditionary Army finally captured Uluru Lie's men?" Zhu Zhi was sitting in the carriage. When he heard the newsboy shouting, he was filled with joy and quickly ordered his eldest son Zhu Wei, who had followed him to Beijing to study at Xiangyang University this time, to buy a newspaper.

Nowadays, there are newspapers and periodicals in the imperial capital of Xiangyang and in various provinces that publish current affairs news on a regular basis, but the publication intervals vary. If there is a sudden big news, additional reports will be published temporarily, also known as "outside the number".

When Zhu Zhi set out from Chengdu, he already knew the news that Duke Shuo, the Protector General Tang Pan, Xu Pang, Su Mi, Sun Yanguan and other generals led the army to the north to conquer the city and forest of King Chihu. Afterwards, Sun Yanguan was responsible for leading his troops to escort the troops.

Escorting tens of thousands of prisoners and the rescued children of the Zhao clan, they set off from Helin and headed south. Tang Pan, as the main division of the Northern Expedition Army, temporarily stayed in Helin to take charge, while the two generals Xu Pang and Su Mi continued to go north in two directions.

Chasing the remnants of the Red Guards.

When Zhu Zhi marched eastward and arrived at Jiangling, he learned that Jiuyuan Hou Su Mou led his troops to annihilate the remnants of Prince Pingyanzong's palace in the south of Langjuxu Mountain. Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered the new capital today, he heard good news again from Mobei.

came.

In the fourth year of Dayu, generals such as Wang Xian, Han Shiliang, Chen Jin, Fu Liang, Su Mi, and Xu Pang led the 120,000-strong army on the West Road to advance westward and successfully annihilated the Jingpan clan on the West Road. The palace was entrenched in Longyou, Lingwu, and Hexi.

The main force in Hehuang and other places will only be truly mature in the northern expedition to Mobei at this time.

The original plan was to march north to capture Wang Ting and Lin of the Chihu people, and then direct the troops to the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains. The empire's territory in the northwest would be restored to the heyday of the Han and Tang Dynasties. However, it was not expected that the empire that had ruled the Wusizang area in the sixth year of Dayu would

The forces of Rejia Temple first annexed and then rebelled, which not only caused many rebellions in various parts of Tubo, but also made the Dali Kingdom, which was quite reluctant to surrender, take the risk and detain the vassal mission headed by Zhu Tong. This echoed the forces of Rejia Temple, forcing the empire to have no choice but to

The planned northern expedition strategy was once again suspended and the military focus shifted to the southwest.

In the seventh year of Dayu, Guangxi established a deputy envoy to pacify, and the military and horse forces were deployed. Xu Xin'an led 30,000 troops to march south to Dali. Generals such as Su Mi, Zhao Shan, and the eldest prince Xiao Bai, who had established Xiao Linshi as the prince of Xiyan County, commanded 20,000 troops.

Ma's expedition to the West took two years to pacify the Dali Kingdom and the Wusizang area, and established the Nanzhao Province and the Protectorate of Western Tibet.

It was not until Yang Qiye led his troops to pacify the Bohai Kingdom and incorporate the old counties in western Liaoning into the Liaoyang Province that the Northern Expedition against the core areas ruled by the Chihu people could be truly implemented; that was already the eleventh year of the founding of the Yu Dynasty.

.

Although the Northern Expedition army was mainly composed of the most elite infantry and cavalry stationed in Shuofang, Jiuyuan, and Yunzhong, not only had the conditions in all aspects matured long ago, but they had also successfully expelled the Chihu people from the Monan grassland before, but the military situation was unpredictable.

, it was not until this moment that Zhu Zhi heard the news that Xu Pang led his troops to annihilate the remnants of the Zhennan Sect King Ululu Lie in Yanran Mountain that Zhu Zhi completely felt at ease.

Anyone with a slight understanding of history knows how important it is to annihilate the remnants of the Red Husbands near Yanran Mountain and Langjuxu Mountain. This was after the heyday of the Han and Tang Dynasties, when the Central Plains Dynasty once again successfully conquered the entire desert.

The northern region was included in the territory of the empire. Yanran Mountain and Langjuxu Mountain were the extreme places where the Central Plains military frontier pointed to the north in the past dynasties.

In the 11th year of Dayu, the Northern Expedition army successfully completed its first expedition to Mobei, which means that the empire's military front still has great potential to continue its northern march.

Seeing the excited and joyful expressions on the faces of the crowds running up and down the long street, Zhu Zhi was also filled with joy. At this moment, the territory of the empire could be said to have completely surpassed that of the heyday of the Han and Tang Dynasties - before this Northern Expedition, Hexi

The province has also established the Shannan and Beiting Protectorate in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains - incorporating the Tubo Highlands into the empire's territory was a great achievement that had not been completed during the heyday of the Han and Tang Dynasties.

However, the "Xiangyang Times" that was temporarily issued had a very brief report on the battle of Yanran Mountain and did not have detailed records of the battle. Zhu Zhi was excited at this moment and wanted to know more news, urging his entourage to quickly go to Zhu's house.

He rushed to the mansion in Xinjing City, thinking that since the Xiangyang Times had issued an "extra number", his father and brother would definitely be able to see more detailed battle reports.

As soon as the carriage team turned into Zhuque Street, Zhu Zhi saw his younger brother Zhu Tong rushing over from the other side, surrounded by dozens of guards. He got out of the carriage excitedly and shouted with a smile

"I thought you had prepared fine wine in the house long ago, waiting for us to come to Beijing. Where did you come from in such a hurry?"

Zhu Tong turned over and dismounted, happily grabbed his brother Zhu Zhi's arm and looked around. Seeing that his temples had frosty hair, he sighed with emotion, "I haven't seen you in a few years, and you are much older than me. I originally wanted to go out of the city today."

I wanted to welcome you and Wei'er, but I didn't expect that urgent news suddenly came back from Yongjia. At noon, Your Majesty called you and the princes to the palace to discuss matters. At this time, I thought that you should be home, so I hurried back..."

Zhu Zhi did not expect that when he arrived in Beijing, he heard about the great victory in Mobei and the changes in Yongjia Kingdom. He was surprised and asked, "What happened in Yongjia to cause such a big alarm?"

Zhu Tong was detained by the Dali Kingdom for three years until Xu Xin'an led his troops to defeat Dali.

He was rescued, and after returning to Beijing, he served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs under the reform of Honglu Temple Minister.

The affairs of the vassal states were also in charge of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Zhu Tong and other ministers went into the palace to discuss for a long time but could not reach a conclusion. Zhu Zhi knew that the changes in Yongjia Kingdom were definitely not minor.

"The Ge family couldn't help but take action!" Zhu Tong didn't have much worry on his face, he just said in a low voice.

"Ah..." Zhu Zhi couldn't help lowering her voice and asked, "How far has the Ge family taken action? Does father know about this?"

After Emperor Shaolong abdicated, he settled in Yongjia, always intending to suppress the Ge family's control over the Yongjia Kingdom.

Three years ago, Ge Boyi, the Prime Minister of the Yongjia Kingdom, and Gaochunnian died of illness one after another. Under various obstructions from Emperor Shaolong, Ge Yu failed to take up the post of Prime Minister of Yongjia. Instead, Wei Chujun and Ye Changbin took over as the Minister of the Republic of Yongjia to act as ministers of state affairs.

After that, Emperor Shaolong repeatedly rebuked Ge Yu for his incompetence in running the army, deposed Ge Yu from military power, and handed over the military and horses of the county to Gao Juntang, Gao Mingde and other direct generals of the Gao family.

At that time, many people realized that the Yongjia volcano was destined to erupt one day, but Zhu Zhi did not expect that he would hear such news just after returning to Beijing, and that it would reach Xiangyang almost at the same time as the victory at Yanran Mountain.

What he is now concerned about is how far the Ge family will take action and whether there is room for reversal of the situation. At the same time, he also wants to know how his father Zhu Hang will react when he finds out about this.

His father, Zhu Hang, resigned from Jingnan in the fourth year of Dayu. Although he entered the Counselor Yuan due to his age and no longer held specific positions in the court, his father Zhu Hang still did not forget to work for the rescue when he was the Counselor.

He captured Emperor Tianxuan and his clan descendants from Mobei, and actively worked to consolidate the status of the Zhao clan in Lelang and Yongjia counties. He can be said to be a representative figure of the old imperial faction in the court.

The reason why Emperor Shaolong was so strong against the Ge family in Yongjia Kingdom was largely due to his father.

In his early years, Zhu Zhi served as the secretary of Lizhou, and he secretly followed Xu Huai's orders to organize caravans and fleets to participate in the trade of goods with the remnants of the Khitan. After the layout of the remnants of the Khitan in the west of Qionglai Mountain was made public, Zhu Zhi took charge of Lizhou.

Xu Huai directly placed that part of the caravan and fleet under the name of the Zhu family, and did not roughly merge it into the Zhufengtang.

When he came into power in the Sikong Mansion and the Yu Kingdom, Xu Huai encouraged various companies to actively participate in the development of industry and mining, and participate in domestic and foreign business activities as compensation for suppressing the annexation of land by meritorious ministers.

After the founding of the Yu Dynasty, the empire not only tried its best to restore the territory of the Han and Tang Dynasties, but also actively developed maritime armaments. It encouraged various companies to form high-sea fleets to actively carry out trade from the Central Plains, and encouraged various companies to form expedition fleets to go to sea to find new continents.

, new resources, rather than waiting for maritime merchants from feudal states to come to trade.

Among the many high-sea fleets, Dongyang and Nanyang Shipyards, which are directly under the central government, are naturally the largest. In recent years, the Zhu family has had more than a dozen large high-sea ships plying between Annan, Yongjia and Jianye.

Since the founding of the dynasty, in addition to abiding by the original agreement and allocating an annual fee of 1 million to Emperor Shaolong Zhao Guan and Prince Lelang respectively, the central government also actively encouraged the gentry and people from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Qilu and Hebei to move there and strengthen trade exchanges.

, various advanced manufacturing technologies are not intended to be blocked.

When Emperor Shaolong moved to Yongjia, even though he had the support of hundreds of Gao clan members and his eldest son Zhao Xian had the name to rule Yongjia, the actual power they held was far from being comparable to that of the Ge family.

However, in recent years, the Zhu family has actively participated in trade with Yongjia, and under the promotion of his father Zhu Hang, sent a large number of gentry who were loyal to the old emperor to Yongjia, including secretly transporting a large number of sophisticated weapons and warships to strengthen the Gao family.

The commander's force was such that Emperor Shaolong couldn't wait to make an impulsive move to suppress Ge Boyi after Ge Boyi died of illness three years ago.

Although Zhu Zhi had expected that there would be chaos in Yongjia Kingdom at that time, when things finally happened, he was worried about whether his father Zhu Hang could bear it.

"Ge Yu probably decided to launch a mutiny after he heard the news about the army's northern expedition in Yongjia. Although we noticed the change in Yongjia a month ago, all ports in Yongjia Kingdom were blocked by Ge Yu's troops, and the DPRK and China were also temporarily blocked.

We don't know how serious the situation is, and we can't directly order the navy to dispatch. Three days ago, Ge Yu personally took a boat to Jianye to plead guilty. Jianye first imprisoned Ge Yu, and today he sent Ge Yu's confession.

"Xiangyang," Zhu Tong said, "According to Ge Yu's confession, the Gao family has been uprooted, leaving only more than a hundred women and children alive; the old emperor is now imprisoned in the Yongjia Palace, and the Yongjia County Prince and the Crown Prince are all dead.

Yu Liuya..."

"Ge Yu's attack was so ruthless!" Zhu Zhi couldn't help but sigh and asked, "What are Yongjia Kingdom's plans to do with Ge Yu and the Ge family now?"

"Father, he is old and confused. He insists on taking action against Ge Yuzhan and wants His Majesty to send troops to conquer Yongjia until the rebels are completely wiped out. The opinions of Shi Zhen, Dong Cheng and other counselors, as well as Han Gui, Liu Shiwang, Cheng Lunying and others are also different.

They are not all the same. Some advocate imprisoning Ge Yu and exile the Ge clan, some advocate choosing another clan descendant to return to the south to conquer Yongjia, and some advocate direct jurisdiction over Yongjia. Today, we have been discussing it all afternoon in the palace, but Your Majesty has not reached a conclusion.

When I return to Beijing this time to serve as deputy prime minister, I need to listen to your opinion on this matter. How do you think this matter should be handled?"

"Is it because Ge Yu crossed the sea to plead guilty after learning about the Northern Expedition's invasion of Helin?" Zhu Zhi guessed and asked.

"Looking at the time, Ge Yu probably didn't know about the Northern Expedition's attack on Helin before he crossed the sea to plead guilty," Zhu Tong said, "and the various ports in Yongjia were blocked by Ge Yu's troops, so they had no way of hearing the news on the island in time.

——Ge Yu just bets that His Majesty is so merciful that he might let the Ge family go!"

"Father, he also entered the palace in the afternoon and didn't quarrel with Han Gyu and the others?" Zhu Zhi asked.

"Why didn't we quarrel?" Zhu Tong said with a bitter smile, "I couldn't argue in the palace. I was so angry that I almost fainted. I felt unwell so I went back to the house first. Your Majesty even sent Marquis Li Yang here to comfort him! Marquis Li Yang probably hasn't left yet, right?

…”

Zhu Zhi has been working abroad for many years. He is counting the days for his return to Beijing today. The Zhu Mansion has also made great preparations with lanterns and colorful decorations. Not only the Zhu family's nephews and nephews have gathered together, but also relatives and friends have rushed to the Zhu Mansion to wait for him, but they don't want Yongjia to wait.

When such a big change occurred, the Zhu family was also involved.

When Zhu Zhi and Zhu Tong returned home, their relatives and friends did not dare to disturb them. They just exchanged greetings and went to the yard where their father Zhu Hang lived to visit.

Marquis Zhengtu of Liyang had not yet left. Zhu Zhi stepped forward and greeted him, "I haven't seen Marquis Zheng for a long time. You are in good spirits!"

It is said that the body moves and nourishes the body. This is perfectly explained by Zheng Tu. Zheng Tu, who is nearly seventy years old, is not tall, but he is not as skinny as in his early years. There is not even a gray hair on his head. He is wearing a

Purple robe, extraordinary bearing, holding hands with Zhu
To be continued...