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

Chapter 933 Dilemma
These two strategies each have their advantages and disadvantages. Zhu Su guessed that this must be the difficulty that Zhu is in today.

Finding a way to rescue a descendant of the Chen family, and in the future, raising the banner to attack the Li family in the name of helping the Chen family, is undoubtedly the most worry-free and labor-saving method. With the great cause of the Ming Dynasty in hand, people from all over Annan will surely respond... Whether it was the previous conquest of the Three Han lands of Goryeo, or the early stage of the Ming Dynasty's conquest of Annan in history, this method was adopted.

But the disadvantages of doing so are also obvious. Zhu Yuanzhang's ambition for Annan is different from that for Goryeo: the imperial court could use places like Goryeo, Mobei, Yingzhou and other places as fiefdoms, send a meritorious royal relative to establish a fiefdom, educate the people, and after many years, perhaps they could become part of China.

But as for Annan, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to bring it under the central court and did not intend to divide it up.

Because of Zhu Su's advice, Zhu was determined to use Annan, Champa and other places as food reserves to prevent the invasion of the Little Ice Age. Even Yingzhou and Fengmingzhou, which were rich in gold and silver, were far less important to Zhu than the southern countries bordering the Ming Dynasty.

If the world does not produce food, what good is gold and silver? Can it fill our stomachs or protect us from the harsh winter?
Zhu was born into a peasant family, and his obsession with food was deeply rooted in his bones. After hearing that his descendants would lose food due to frequent natural disasters and insufficient treasury, he felt a sense of crisis and wanted to stockpile a large fortune for the Ming Dynasty. It is impossible to stockpile gold, silver, food and fodder for a generation to have surplus after hundreds of years. However, land is undoubtedly the best fortune to pass on to future generations.

Annan and Champa, which were able to produce a lot of food during the Little Ice Age, were the targets that Zhu Yuanzhang had set his sights on. In his mind, such a good place should naturally belong to the Ming Dynasty. His attention to Annan naturally exceeded that of other places.

Rescuing the descendants of Chen would certainly help defeat Annan, but annexing Annan after the war would also undermine the reputation of the Ming Dynasty, and was therefore resisted. What Zhu wanted was definitely not to retain the royal family like Japan and Goryeo, and temporarily govern the local area in the name of concessions and colonies, but to completely incorporate it into the territory of the Ming Dynasty. However, the lesson of Emperor Yongle's failure to occupy Annan in history has already shown that supporting the descendants of Chen and then tearing off his face to annex Annan is not feasible.

Although the Ming Dynasty had a large number of well-trained soldiers and sufficient food supplies, Zhu Yuanzhang also knew that if he forcibly swallowed Annan, Annan would still rebel as it had done in history, and the Ming Dynasty would most likely still be dragged into the quagmire of endless war.

But the other method, to sit back and watch the Li family kill all the royal family members of the Chen family... this also has great disadvantages. First, if the Li family wipes out the Chen family, the Ming Dynasty will no longer have the reputation of being righteous if it wants to send troops to Annan again, and the difficulty of conquering Annan will inevitably be much more difficult than that of Emperor Yongle in history.

Second, will the officials of Annan, having lost their orthodox support, give up and simply support the Li family wholeheartedly? This is also uncertain.

To put it bluntly, unlike other wars, the Ming Dynasty needed two righteous justifications. First, the justification for intervening in the civil strife between the Li and Chen families for power; second, the justification for annexing Annan without being rejected by the people of Annan.

It is difficult to satisfy these two points at the same time.

After discussing with Lao Zhu for a long time, he still had no clue. Lao Zhu said tiredly: "Forget it, you have been traveling all the way, you should go and rest first."

"You go back to your own residence first. Let the Royal Guards carefully monitor Annan's movements."

"Thanks to you for stabilizing the situation in the southwest, otherwise, I might not be able to spare any time when the Li and Chen families are fighting each other tomorrow."

"I will give you a garden on Mount Qixia first, so you can spend some time there to cultivate yourself."

"Yes." Zhu Su bowed, secretly happy in his heart.

"...Don't forget to go to Xiaoling Mausoleum to meet your mother." Old Zhu said suddenly, with his back turned and staring at the Kunyu World Map on the screen.

Zhu Su's heart sank and he bowed again in response. Old Zhu waved his hand tiredly and respectfully left the Jinshen Hall. When the cold wind blew outside the hall, Zhu Su was shocked to find that he was sweating all over.

Father still cares about the killing of Ma Ye!

Zhu Su was now extremely grateful that the Crown Prince Zhu Biao had stepped forward to block him. If it hadn't been for Zhu Biao, he was afraid that when he came back this time, the old Zhu would not have asked him to "meet" Empress Ma, but would have asked him to kneel in the Xiaoling Mausoleum to plead guilty.

It was also because of Zhu Biao's intervention that no deeper grudge arose between him and his cheap father, Zhu.

When Zhu Su returned to Prince Zhou's mansion, Xu and her family had been waiting at the gate for a long time. Zhu Su was quite comfortable taking a bath and changing his clothes with the help of Xu. Without waiting to rest, he put on his casual clothes for home and called the eunuch Xiang Deng to go to the East Palace to see if Zhu Biao was on duty.

Zhu Biao helped him a lot this time, and Zhu Su wanted to visit Zhu Biao as soon as possible to express his gratitude.

Just before it got dark, Xiangdeng came back from the Eastern Palace and told Zhu Su that Crown Prince Zhu Biao had returned to the Eastern Palace tonight. Hearing that Zhu Su wanted to meet him in the Eastern Palace, Crown Prince Zhu Biao was overjoyed and began to order the Eastern Palace to prepare a banquet. He also asked him to tell Zhu Su to bring the princess to the Eastern Palace for the banquet.

Zhu Su would naturally not refuse. He immediately took Xu with him and personally selected some rare things he brought back from Guizhou as gifts, and then went to Zhu Biao's Eastern Palace.

Strictly speaking, this was Zhu Su's first visit to Zhu Biao's East Palace. In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Biao filled the lake to build the Ming Palace. Due to the huge project, the palace was built and lived in for more than ten years. Because the palace complex was not yet complete, the crown prince Zhu Biao, like other kings, first lived in a mansion outside the palace. It was not called a palace, but temporarily called the "crown mansion".

However, a few years ago, the Yingtian Imperial City was finally completed. Because the Ming Dynasty at that time was more prosperous than the Ming Dynasty at the same time in history, the magnificence of the Nanjing Imperial Palace was even greater than that of the imperial palaces of previous dynasties. Zhu Biao finally moved from the "Prince's Mansion" where he temporarily lived to the "Eastern Palace" in the palace. The Eastern Palace is strictly called "Chunhe Hall", which is located on the side of Wenhua Hall where the cabinet usually works. Zhu had already made it a custom for the prince to serve in the cabinet, which also made it convenient for the princes of the Ming Dynasty to go to the cabinet to work on weekdays.

When Zhu Su entered the palace to look for his brother, he naturally could not go through the main gate of the palace, Chengtian Gate, but entered from Donghua Gate on the east side and passed through Chunhe Gate to look for Crown Prince Zhu Biao.

(End of this chapter)