Court meeting.
All the officials gathered.
Since the Wude Dynasty, hundreds of officials have figured out the temper of Emperor Wude.
His Majesty the Emperor has a rather lazy temperament. He may be the laziest emperor among all the emperors since the founding of the Ming Dynasty!
When he was fine, he would be sick for three days and only for five days, and all the government affairs of the court were left to the prince Zhu Zhanhe.
When something happens, His Majesty's dragon body suddenly recovers. He looks like a dragon and a tiger, but he doesn't look sick at all!
Whenever there was a major event, His Majesty the Wude Emperor would go to court in person for a meeting.
Therefore, when all the civil and military officials saw Zhu Gaoxu coming, they were immediately shocked and tense as a string.
I don’t know what big thing happened this time!
"Something happened over there at Hamiwei!"
"Fei Wei, the commander-in-chief of Gansu Province, reported that the two kings of Hami were fighting for power and civil strife continued. They even spoke rudely to me, Jishan, the chief historian sent by the Ming Dynasty. He seemed to want to establish his own business!"
As soon as these words came out, the whole court was in an uproar.
Hami Guard, or Hami Kingdom, this is a strategically important place!
This place is located in the easternmost part of the Western Regions. It is the eastern gateway of the Western Regions and the main route from the Western Regions to the interior of the Ming Dynasty. It has been the throat of the Silk Road since ancient times. It is known as "the throat of the Western Regions, guarded by China" and the "Gateway of the Western Regions"!
During the Hongwu period, the famous general Fu Youde led 5,000 elite troops, starting from Liangzhou, Gansu (now Wuwei, Gansu), and marched forward with great success, successively capturing Liangzhou, Yongchang, Saolinshan, Gansu Town (now Zhangye, Gansu), and Biedushan. So they took advantage of the victory and captured Gua, Sha and other states, driving all the Yuan Dynasty troops out of the Hexi Corridor. From then on, the Ming Dynasty regained the entire Hexi Corridor!
The area west of Yumen Pass in the Hexi Corridor belongs to the Western Regions. Emperor Taizu Gao built the Jiayuguan Pass at the westernmost pass of the Hexi Corridor, not far from Yumenguan. Beyond Jiayuguan, it is the boundary of the Western Regions. , and begins to border with Hami country!
This Hami country was founded by the descendants of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate. It has a very small territory and a weak national power, so it does not pose any threat to the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty's attitude towards Hami is mainly to appease!
But Hami is the northwest end of the Ming Dynasty. Its geographical location is extremely important. It is located at the hub of the ancient Silk Road. The Silk Road is a trade route with extensive political, economic and cultural exchanges, so this route is also called the "Golden Silk Road". "The road", so always leaving it to outsiders to take care of it, is always a bit uneasy.
Until the Yongle period, civil strife broke out in the Hami Kingdom, and the king was poisoned. Emperor Yongle took the opportunity to free Anke Timur's nephew, who had been a hostage in the Ming Dynasty, and sent people to the Hami Kingdom. Support Tuotuo to ascend the throne.
To put it bluntly, the Ming Dynasty needed a puppet king like Tuotuo to rule Hami. Everything was under the command of the Ming court. In order to ensure that Tuotuo could truly control Hami and make Hami truly the Ming Dynasty’s intelligence center for the Western Regions, Emperor Yongle also set up a guard station in Hami. , and at the same time, the Ming Dynasty official Zhou An was sent to serve as the chief historian of the loyal and shun king, and Liu Xingjishan (the prince's lecturer). This move meant that the military and political affairs of Hami required the Ming Dynasty to participate, so the Ming Dynasty firmly controlled the Hami country.
This gateway to the Western Regions also became the center of the Ming Dynasty's Guanxi intelligence network. "The envoys were the throat of the Western Regions, and all the barbarian envoys who paid tribute were ordered to be heard by Hami Translators."
In addition to spying on intelligence from the Western Regions and even Central Asia, the Hami Guards could also suppress the nomadic tribes in the northwest such as the Oara and Tatars, which also played a certain role.
Because of this, the Ming Dynasty has always attached great importance to the land of Hami.
Now that they suddenly heard the news, all the ministers were very angry.
You are just a small country, and you have always been my little brother, Ming Dynasty, and now you dare to rebel?
What, the wings are hard, right?
Do you want to fly solo?
Do you really think that my Ming soldiers are just for show?
The ministers discussed and began to whisper.
Jian Yi looked at Xia Yuanji, who had a very strange look on his face.
Xia Yuanji believed the news His Majesty the Emperor just said and the previous paragraph.
Because for the strategic purpose of controlling Hami, His Majesty Emperor Yongle designated Tuotuo as the son of Anke Timur's elder brother, and parachuted into Hami to inherit the throne of Zhongshun. Although Tuotuo was not the queen of the three Wunasili brothers, he belonged to Chagatai. He is a descendant with noble blood, and his accession to the throne is in line with the orthodoxy of the northern nomads since Genghis Khan.
However, the Hami royal family would certainly not be happy when such a king descended. Therefore, Hami has been experiencing constant civil strife and various struggles since Tuotuo.
Even in the end, in order to appease the original royal family of the Hami Kingdom, the court had to canonize two kings. Tuotuo's lineage was the Zhongshun King, and the original royal family became the Zhongyi King. There was a ridiculous situation where the two kings ruled together.
A really big place was ruined just because the Ming Dynasty intervened.
But it is precisely in such a big place with a weak national power and a small population that these two little kings from Hami are crazy enough to dare to provoke the Ming Dynasty. Isn't that asking for death?
Therefore, Xia Yuanji didn't believe even a single punctuation mark in the last half of His Majesty's sentence.
It’s so fake!
"Your Majesty, this matter may need to be verified!"
Xia Yuanji instinctively sensed something, so he immediately stepped out to stop Zhu Gaoxu's mouth.
When Zhu Gaoxu saw this situation, he immediately became happy.
"What else is there to verify?"
"Fei Chen is a famous official. He has been sent by the country and has been in charge of Gansu for more than fifteen years. Do you still dare to question him?"
Fei Yu's grandfather, Fei Yu, served as the left prime minister of King Zhu Di's palace during the Hongwu period. Later, he was appointed as the commander of the Yanshan Central Guards. He passed it on to his son Fei Su. When it was passed to Fei Su, he followed Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, to join the army with meritorious service and was promoted to the rank of rear army. The governor was the governor of Qianshi, so Fei Chu was truly the queen of the generals, and also the queen of Jingnan, an old minister.
Although Fei Chu's military strategy was not good, he was successful because he was mature and prudent, and he was strict in running the army. He was a good general who was good at defending. It was precisely because of this that Zhu Di gave him the command of the northwest gate.
When Xia Yuanji heard this, his face almost turned green.
"Your Majesty clearly knows that I have no such intention!"
"It's just that this matter is quite strange. With the country of Hami being so weak, how dare it suddenly provoke our great dynasty..."
"Master Xia!" The British Duke Zhang Fu suddenly came out of the queue, interrupting Xia Yuanji's continued barking.
"Master Xia doesn't understand war, so it's better not to speak."
"The truth of this matter has become clear. I ask your Majesty to issue an order to send troops to the Western Regions to scare all the young men!"
As soon as Zhang Fu came out, the noble military ministers also followed him. They had already received the news, so they were very excited at the moment.
When Xia Yuanji saw this scene, he felt even more uneasy.
But before he could speak, the scene that happened next made him freeze on the spot.
I saw Chen Qiashi, Minister of the Ministry of War, marching out of the queue and saying: "Your Majesty, what the British Lord said is very true. If we don't send troops to conquer, it will not be enough to quell the people's anger!"
Immediately afterwards, Xie Jin, Wang Jing, Gu Zuo and other important officials in the court also spoke out, requesting the court to send troops!
Behind them, all the officials from the seven departments and one hundred divisions stood up and shouted for the court to send troops!
Wu advocated war, and Wen rebelled. Is this the rule of the past dynasties?
Why do these civil servants and gentry also support sending troops?
How could it be like this now?
