Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1118: Western Expedition

Chapter 1118: Western Expedition

Old Zhu asked Zhu Su to go, and Zhu Di was naturally very happy.

Tie Xuan was also happy to see this. His fleet was originally built by Zhu Su, and later Zhu Su was sealed in Fengmingzhou by Zhu Mingzhi, and Tie Xuan was actually assigned to the Zhou Wangfu.

Moreover, he and Zhu Su are master and disciple, so he naturally hopes to become Zhu Su's deputy rather than someone else's.

As for Zhu Su himself...he actually didn't have much aversion to the expedition to the West.

Now that Zhu Biao has inherited the throne, even if he makes more contributions, it will not cause any unrest in the court. It's just that it's difficult to be rewarded for his great achievements, so he can be given a few more titles when the time comes.

This matter was quickly finalized, and King Zhou led his fleet on a sea expedition. Even the officials in the court were happy to see it happen.

After all, in this way, the court would not need to decide where to allocate troops to go to the expedition. It only needed to prepare some supplies and send King Zhou to the expedition.

Then time came to March. At this time, the ice and snow melted, the grass grew, and the birds were singing. It was time for the army to set out, and there was abundant pasture along the way.

First, Zhu Di, Xu Da, Tang He and others were going to leave Shuntian. Xu Da and Tang He went to their respective fiefdoms, while Zhu Di went to Yilibali to gather his cavalry. Zhu Su and Tie Xuan went to Tianjin Port together, led the fleet from Tianjin Port to the expedition, and went to Quanzhou and Malajia by sea, and then went west all the way to the European continent. This day was the day when everyone left Shuntian.

Old Zhu was now the emperor emeritus, free from many red tape constraints, and could personally go out of the city to send his two sons off to war. He first talked to his two old brothers for a while, then came to Zhu Di and Zhu Su, looking up and down at his two sons.

Zhu Di and Zhu Su also stood up straight unconsciously.

Because they were going to war, Zhu Di and Zhu Su both wore red mandarin duck jackets with dragon patterns embroidered on them, looking energetic. Old Zhu looked at the two for a while, and he didn't know what he was thinking about, and there was a flash of nostalgia in his eyes.

"...Go ahead, when you two come back, I'll pour you some wine." It seemed like he had a thousand words to say, but when they came to his lips, Lao Zhu only said this one sentence.

Zhu Di and Zhu Su both nodded, and Zhu Su couldn't help but say:

"My fourth brother and I are going to conquer the west first, so that we can take father to see the exotic customs in the west in the future... By then, father will be the emperor with the broadest vision in China in thousands of years."

"Father, please take good care of yourself. Otherwise, this unprecedented title that will go down in history will not be yours."

Now, it is already the first year of Jianwen in history, and Zhu has lived one year longer than the original history. But after all, he is too old, and it is not surprising if Zhu Di and Zhu Su have passed away after returning from the expedition.

In this era, the traffic is too slow. After so many years, if this meeting is forever, it will be a lifelong regret.

Old Zhu's expression was touched, and after a moment he smiled and said, "Don't worry, we are not only going to Europe, but also to Fengming Island."

"This title of the emperor with the broadest vision cannot be taken away by others!"

These days, Zhu had no government affairs to worry about. He walked incognito among the fields and interacted with the villagers every day. His health was much better than when he was in Yingtian. Moreover, with Dai Sigong, whose medical skills had greatly improved, by his side, he thought he would be safe. Zhu Su was relieved.

Then Xu Da and Tang He stepped forward and said to Zhu Su and Zhu Di, "In the blink of an eye, you young men have become capable of leading the army. You two are about to march west, and although we old antiques are old, we cannot be completely powerless."

Tang He said, "We have discussed with Tiande. Each of our two families will send a force to accompany you on your westward expedition. Tiande will send a cavalry force of 5,000 to follow the Fourth Prince westward."

"We will also send out a fleet, including five large ships and fifteen small ships, to accompany His Highness the Fifth Prince."

"This fleet is just a small contribution. We are now considered vassal states. The Ming Dynasty is our great clan. If the great clan is in need of service, we vassal states should serve them."

"I have already sent a letter home, asking my son Tang Li to stay in Taicang. When the Fifth Prince goes south to Taicang, he can go look for my son."

Xu Da also said: "This time when we go north, I will also let Zeng Shou lead 5,000 cavalrymen, and then merge them into the Fourth Prince's army."

Zhu Su and Zhu Di bowed to express their gratitude. This was also one of the obligations of the major vassal states in the Ming Dynasty's border policy. As the suzerain of China, the Ming Dynasty could not personally take care of everything. For matters such as pacifying the borders, if the Ming Dynasty court issued an edict, the vassal states would gather their forces and form a large army to serve China.

At present, most of the other fiefdoms were newly granted and did not have the strength to send out troops. On the contrary, Helin, which was granted by Xu Da, had gathered and converted many Mongolian tribes over the years and had a considerable military force. Tang He was granted the Japanese Kingdom and had many Japanese daimyos under his command. Although these Japanese daimyos had been obedient to the Ming court for a long time, the Tang family had just arrived and might not be able to subdue them.

It would be better to send them to join the expedition fleet, weakening the strength of the local daimyo while verifying their loyalty.

In addition to the Xu and Tang families, the Li family, the Duke of Han, who was enfeoffed in the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and the Lan family, the Duke of Liang, who was enfeoffed in the Western Regions, would also send troops to join them. While earning military merit, these first-generation vassals of the Ming Empire were also practicing their duties as vassals, setting a good example for the fulfillment of the rights, responsibilities and obligations of the feudal system in later generations of China.

Zhu Di quickly led his troops northward to summon his troops. Zhu Su also bid farewell to Zhu Di and boarded the treasure ship fleet with Tie Xuan and others to start heading south. He went south from the newly built Tianjin Port and arrived at Taicang to meet Tang Li. Then he planned to go straight to Annan for supplies and then turn from Annan to the Malacca Strait, the throat of the sea.

In Taicang, Zhu Su also met Fu'an, the eunuch who was close to Zhu Biao. Fu'an conveyed Zhu Biao's care and greetings to Zhu Su.

"If His Majesty had not been persuaded by the ministers in the cabinet, he would have wanted to come to Taicang in person to meet with you, the Fifth Prince!" Fu'an said.

"Brother, now that you are the emperor, how can you leave the capital so easily? Eunuch Fu, please tell brother that I am protected by our Chinese warriors and will be safe. When I return victorious one day, we will have a drink together." Zhu Su said with a smile.

Fu An nodded and smiled, bowing his body and said, "Don't worry, Fifth Prince, I will definitely pass on your message."

"Thank you." Zhu Su said with a smile. Fu'an bowed to Zhu Su again and then left the treasure ship.

Seeing that the fleet had been fully supplied, Zhu Su was about to order the fleet to set off, but unexpectedly a group of people and horses suddenly rushed over to the dock, and the leader shouted loudly: "Slow down the ship! Slow down the ship!"

The person who came was actually Li Jinglong.

(End of this chapter)