"Father, what are you looking at?"
"Oh, this is a world map...it says it, do you see it?"
"World map...Father, this is your handwriting!"
"That's it, that's what I drew with my own hand! You see, this is the Eastern Song Dynasty, which is our territory. This is the Dongzhou Continent, your eldest brother's territory. It's very big, right? This is the African continent, and this is the Jin Dynasty. The continent of Europe where Rome is located..."
"Father, where is this? This land under Nanyang... I have never seen it on other maps."
"This land is..."
Nanjing, Jinling Palace, inside the Star Observation Tower. Song Dynasty official Zhao Kai "lost his memory" again! Just when the Emperor of Dongzhou was preparing to establish a kingdom along the coastline of Dongzhou Continent, Zhao Kai forgot that Australia existed... probably because the Europeans had lost their age of exploration. ?
There is no force on the current Dongzhou Continent that can stop Zhao Lun from circling the feudal circle. Even if he cannot complete the circle in his lifetime, he will reach the Caribbean Sea by the time his son and grandson become Emperor Zhou.
At that time, it will not be Europeans who discover the New World, but Eastern Europeans who cross the Atlantic and discover Europe.
"I don't know what the name of this land is," Zhao Kai said with a frown, "I just read the relevant records in an ancient book, and I don't know if they are true?"
Seeing that Zhao Kai had some "amnesia", Zhao Ping, who had already fulfilled his wish and became the crown prince, seemed to be in a good mood. He smiled and said to Zhao Kai: "Father, you want to know whether the things recorded in this ancient book are true or false. What to do? Just ask Zhao Chen to send an expedition fleet to check it out. Didn’t Uncle Chairman go to Hue to visit his uncle recently? Why not ask him to bring your edict and order Zhao Chen to search south of Nanyang? Sea area.”
Chair King Zhao Yi is indeed going to Hue, the imperial capital of the Southern Emperor, to visit Zhao Huan who is seriously ill due to excessive drinking and sex. At the same time, he also needs to discuss with Southern Emperor Zhao Chen about the western expedition to the Great Food Kingdom.
Hearing Zhao Ping mention Zhao Huan, Zhao Kai couldn't help but sigh and showed a sad expression... Of course he was not pretending to be compassionate like a cat crying, but he was thinking of his eldest son Zhao Lun.
Although Zhao Lun was not a "biological" child (Zhao Lun had to vomit blood if he wanted to know Zhao Kai's thoughts), Zhao Kai and him still had a kind of father-son relationship after all. Zhao Lun has now become the "Emperor of Zhou" and will never be able to return to China again in this life. Naturally, Zhao Kai will not be able to see him...
What makes Zhao Kai even more sad is that on the way Zhao Lun crossed east, a boatload of sons disappeared!
That's Zhao Kai's grandson!
Although there are only two "grandsons in a boat" in total, these two are Zhao Kai's favorite grandchildren and he has watched them grow up. It’s gone now! Can Zhao Kai not be sad?
Zhao Kai sighed and said to the chamberlain on duty at the Star Observation Tower: "Go and announce the appointment to see the king!"
The servant immediately took the order and left.
Zhao Kai said to Zhao Ping again: "Second brother, go ahead... I have left all the matters of this Western Expedition to you. This is your first battle after becoming the prince. It will definitely This can’t be done!”
Of course, the Western Expedition used the grassland tribes and the savage Jurchens to conquer the Seljuk Turks. This was the key to Zhao Ping's success in defeating Zhao Lun in the "National Selection Examination"!
But what Zhao Ping came up with at that time was just an idea and a blueprint. In the words of later generations, it was the "PPT Western Expedition." If it could not be implemented, it would be deception! How can this convince the public?
Therefore, after Zhao Ping became the prince, the most important thing was to implement the "PPT Western Expedition". The Western Expedition team must be pulled up no matter what, and it must be dominated by strong men from the grassland tribes and wild Jurchens... Moreover, the military command of this Western Expedition team must still be in the hands of the Song Dynasty.
It can be said that it is extremely difficult to implement this "PPT Expedition to the West" and it also tests Zhao Ping's execution ability.
And Zhao Ping's execution ability seems to be good now!
Just a few months after he became the crown prince, Yue Yun, who was commanding the army in Mobei, captured the main force of the Naiman and Zubukele tribes and forced them to submit to the Song Dynasty after a violent beating.
After the forced landing of these two rebellious grassland tribes, the Song Dynasty had actually conquered Mobei... Yelu Yanxi was dying, and it was obvious who Yelu Yuliyan and Yelu Pusuwan listened to. After the death of Yanxi Palace, the great righteousness of the grassland naturally transferred to the Song Dynasty, and the various tribes of the grassland had been conquered before that.
Therefore, Zhao Ping’s “PPT Western Expedition” can be implemented!
Now the army for the Western Expedition has almost been put together. People from all the Mobei tribes and the Savage Jurchen tribes have come out. A total of 40,000 regular soldiers and 40,000 auxiliary troops have been assembled. Plus an army from the Song Army, the total strength is more than ten Ten thousand.
The commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief of the Western Expeditionary Army were respectively held by Zhao Ping's half-brothers, King Wei Zhao Yi and Yue Yun. Of course, it was Yue Yun who was actually responsible for commanding, and he was responsible for "picking fruits" and becoming king in the conquered territories. It was Zhao Yi, King of Wei.
The dispatch of Wei Wang Zhao Yi and General Yue Yun shows how much Zhao Ring spent on the implementation of this "PPT Western Expedition".
If this Western Expedition is messed up, then Zhao Ping's prince will be "lame". Of course, Zhao Kai does not want his "eldest son" to be lame, so Zhao Yi's mission is to visit. Zhao Huan was just a pretext, and privately discussing the Western Expedition with Zhao Chen was Zhao Yi's main purpose of going south to Hue.
And now there is another task for Zhao Chen to explore the Southern Ocean.
...
"Brother Emperor, did you draw this picture based on that ancient book?"
Zhao Yi looked at the world map drawn by Zhao Kai, and his curiosity could no longer be suppressed - he had seen this map from Zhao Kai a long time ago, but he didn't take it seriously. Zhao Kai didn't say that this was a world map at the time. It wasn't until Dongzhou Continent was discovered that Zhao Yi knew that this map was unusual.
"Let me think about it..." Zhao Kai pretended, shook his head and said, "I can't remember clearly. I'm getting older and my memory is bad!"
Zhao Yi looked at his "Third Brother No. 1 Scholar" and felt bad... He was so young, why couldn't he remember things clearly? Can I still be an official? Otherwise, I should give the inner meditation to the prince as soon as possible!
"Chair," Zhao Kai looked at Zhao Yi again and said, "Didn't you tell me about the windless zone in Nanyang before... This southern continent should be blocked by the windless zone. , that’s why it wasn’t discovered.”
Zhao Yi was stunned for a moment, "Brother Emperor, did I tell you about this?"
"I said it," Zhao Kai said, "I said it at the court meeting on May 11th in the seventeenth year of Hongwu... Sheng Xin and the others had just returned to Nanjing at that time. I want to send people to explore south. You Just use the matter of the wind-free zone to prevaricate me!"
It really happened, Zhao Yi had already remembered it.
Zhao Yixin said: Third brother, you are not confused! You remember things so clearly for so long, how come you forgot about the ancient book?
"Brother," Zhao Yi, of course, couldn't pursue Zhao Kai's question, so he had to change the subject, "If this southern continent is really so close to Java, it wouldn't be a problem if there was no wind on the sea. We just need to send a few water steamers from the Western Port to explore. That’s it.”
Xiyangkou is the Strait of Malacca, which is also a windless area. It is not completely windless, but the wind is very small and the wind direction is changeable. The maneuverability of large sailing ships that rely entirely on wind power is very poor in Xiyangkou, so in order to completely control the toll industry in Xiyangkou, Zhao Chen built a batch of gunboats equipped with water wheels.
Zhao Kai nodded lightly and sighed: "It seems that this is Chen'er's destiny! You told him that although this southern continent is not as good as Dongzhou, it is vast enough and has a pleasant climate. If it were his, , I should be able to pass down my family and country for thousands of years, so that I can be considered worthy of my sister-in-law!"
My sister-in-law Zhu Lian is no longer alive! Before she passed away, the most worrying thing was that she went to Zhao Chen, a place with malaria in the south...
Zhao Yi saw Zhao Kai's face looking sad and felt sad too. To him, the fact that his eldest sister-in-law is like his mother is very real. His mother, Queen Liu of Mingjie, died in the third year of Xuanhe (1121) when he was only 3 years old. Five years later, his father Zhao Ji died again. Zhao Yi, who was only 8 years old, lost his parents and lived in a chaotic world. He relied on his sister-in-law Zhu Lian to take care of him, so he didn't suffer much.
Zhao Kai sighed again and handed the map to Zhao Yi, "Zhi Yi, take this map to Hue... In addition, bring some medicinal materials to the elder brother so that he can rest well."
Zhao Yi took the world map that Zhao Kai handed him, stood up and left. According to the plan, he will set off in the next few days, and the treasure ship is ready. Now he is waiting for the northwest wind to blow on the Yangtze River.
It seems quite far from Nanjing to Hue, but as long as the wind direction is right, we can reach it in less than a month.
On the eighth day of November in the 32nd year of Hongwu, Zhao Yi waited for the northwest wind and took a boat to leave Yuejiangmen Pier in Yingtianfu, Nanjing. It took 30 days to travel five to six thousand miles by land and water, and finally arrived at Hue, the capital of the Southern Emperor Zhao Chen, on the seventh day of December.
This Hue city is located at the mouth of Dazhan Haikou, which is in the area of Hoi An, the ancient Annam city that was once the hub of maritime trade between China and Southeast Asia.
Because of its unique geographical location, Hue is now extremely prosperous. It is not only a trade center, but also the "academic center" of the Southern Confucian School. The Confucian atmosphere in this trading city is quite strong!
Inside and outside Hue Castle, you can see "Heaven's Law", or stone tablets or flags that "preserve Heaven's Law and destroy human desires" everywhere. Near these stone tablets and flags, there must be an academy, Tianli Hall or a large ancestral hall under the jurisdiction of the Southern Confucian Sect. The ancestral hall was originally a place mainly used for worshiping ancestors and should be managed by each clan. It has nothing to do with the Southern Confucian Sect. big.
However, since the "Southern Emperor emerged and Tianli was established", the Confucian Southern Sect began to intervene in clan ancestral halls. After the Southern Emperor moved south, "big ancestral halls" where all surnames were worshiped together and managed by the Tianli Hall of the Southern Confucian Sect began to appear!
With the joint efforts of the Academy, Tianli Hall and the Grand Ancestral Hall, Tiannan Confucianism has become more and more prosperous in recent years!
