Wandering the Heavens

While Yu Qian was enjoying a peaceful time in the Ministry of Personnel and the Cabinet, Yu Xian was thinking of how to escape.

He kept going to the palace every now and then to check on Zhu Jianji's condition, looking for opportunities to take the child's pulse and inject a little internal energy to nourish him, but he was still unable to save the child. He was powerless to watch the child's condition deteriorate day by day.

Under such circumstances, he had to find an opportunity to take Zhu Jianshen out and hide, so as to avoid being targeted by that group of cruel court officials.

In May of the fourth year of the Jingtai reign, the Japanese Kanko ship caused trouble everywhere after docking at the Daming port, injuring the commander of Linqing, and after entering Beijing, beat the officials of Huitongguan.

Yu Xian personally led people to arrest all members of the fleet. Before the court officials could react, he executed all of them except the chief and deputy envoys, and requested to send troops to Japan to seek an explanation.

Zhu Qiyu did not want to mobilize troops. The Ming Dynasty did not need trade with Japan. If their envoys were misbehaving, he could just issue an order to reduce the reception standards and the size of the Japanese ships.

However, since Duke Xuanwu ended his campaign on the grassland and returned to the court last year because of the Prince of Yi incident, the ministers have become excited again and are making trouble every day. There has been no peace these days. Since he wants to go, let him go.

However, Yu Xian made another incredible request, which was to take Zhu Jianshen with him.

Zhu Qiyu agreed after considering for a long time. Zhu Jianshen's existence was like a thorn, but he could do nothing. Now Yu Xian proposed to take him to fight at sea. He was only six years old. What if...

Yu Xian went to the palace to ask for instructions in the afternoon, but the imperial edict to attack Japan was issued in the evening, causing an uproar in the court. Many people could not sleep and wrote memorials overnight to request the withdrawal of the imperial edict and the punishment of Yu Xian. Because the imperial edict was like playing house, the chief general was the six-year-old Prince of Yi Zhu Jianshen, and the deputy general was Yu Xian, the Earl of Xuanwu.

Yu Xian was also shocked that Zhu Qiyu would be so crazy to pave the way for Zhu Jianji that he directly put the matter of Zhu Jianshen following him on the expedition on the table.

The civil officials were even more angry. Not to mention that Japan was a country that Taizu had designated as unconquerable, how could the Ming Dynasty put its face if the absurd news of the Duke of Xuanwu taking a child to fight a sea battle got out? Yuan Ting had been blown away by typhoons several times when he went out to sea. Who did he think he was? Was he a relative of the Dragon King of the East China Sea? What if something happened to the Prince of Yi!

However, they didn't know what to do except write impeachment memorials, so Zhu Qiyu's desk was flooded with memorials impeaching Yu Xian. Yu Qian was much more straightforward. He rushed to Xuanwubo Mansion to settle accounts with Yu Xian regardless of being exposed. When Yu Xian was not around, he went to Yujiazhuang outside the city without stopping.

At this time, Zhu Jianshen was wearing tailor-made armor and turning around for Wan Zhen'er to see.

"Aunt, this great general is about to go to war!"

"Your Highness, stop turning, or you'll get dizzy and fall." Wan Zhen'er hugged the child nervously.

Because Wan Zhen'er was also wearing armor, she was afraid of hurting Zhu Jianshen and did not dare to hug him too tightly, which gave Zhu Jianshen plenty of room to move.

"Aunt, I'm grown up now, and there are differences between men and women! Let me go!" Zhu Jianshen struggled in Wan Zhen'er's arms.

"Then your Majesty is not allowed to go around in circles."

"Okay, okay, I agree, let you go!" Zhu Jianshen lied without thinking.

As soon as Yu Qian came in and saw this scene, he was furious.

"I pay my respects to the King of Yi!"

Wan Zhen'er hurriedly helped Zhu Jianshen to stand steadily and stood aside with a red face.

"No thanks. Minister Yu, is there anything you need in Yujiazhuang?" Zhu Jianshen asked with his hands behind his back, pretending to be mature.

"I am here to see the Earl of Xuanwu." Yu Qian explained quickly.

"Master Yu has gone to see the leader of the Tianxuan tribe. Aunt Wan, serve tea to Minister Yu!"

At the age of six, he was already so sophisticated in dealing with people. After paying his respects, Yu Qian sat on the chair and admired secretly. Then he thought of Zhu Jianji who was tortured half to death in the palace. No wonder Yu Xian took a huge risk to bring Zhu Jianshen out. Thinking of this, Yu Qian was a little depressed. Could it be that the way of educating the crown prince since ancient times was wrong?

In fact, there is nothing wrong with it. What is wrong is that these people ignore the fact that many princes were still children when they were appointed as crown princes, and they insist on teaching them in an adult way. There is no way they can be taught well.

The East Palace team was either top-ranked in the imperial examinations or well-educated scholars. They used all their knowledge of more than ten years or even decades to deal with a child...

Take the Ming Dynasty for example, when Zhu Biao was just born, Zhu Yuanzhang was still fighting everywhere. When things stabilized and he wanted to teach his son, Zhu Biao had grown up. Zhu Gaochi said something very Versailles, that the children of poor families had to take care of themselves early and had their mothers to help them, but their bodies were also broken. Zhu Zhanji was brought up by his grandfather to teach him, and what else could Zhu Di teach him except how to chop people? Anyway, he would not teach him to read, but this child had good learning ability and was also good at drawing.

Zhu Qizhen, a bunch of civil officials can't fight for a child but a dead eunuch...

Counting further, Zhu Jianshen, Zhu Youtang, and Zhu Changluo, three princes who could inherit the throne, all failed to receive standard education in the Eastern Palace for various reasons. Zhu Houzhao was the only one who could be appointed as the crown prince and receive formal education in the Eastern Palace from a young age. As a result, if this naughty child weighed 100 kilograms, he would have 101 kilograms of rebelliousness.

"Your Highness, I, Yuxian, pay my respects to you. Is Minister Yu here?"

As soon as Yu Xian entered the room, he saw Zhu Jianshen sitting opposite Yu Qian, pretending to be mature and drinking tea. He said, "You are only six years old, what do you know about tea?"

"Master Yu, you and Minister Yu are discussing matters, and I cannot sit in on it. Aunt Wan, take me to the backyard!"

"Congratulations, Your Majesty!"

"no!"

Zhu Jianshen waved his hand and jumped down from the chair, but he forgot about his armor and almost fell down. Fortunately, Wan Zhen'er was quick enough to reach out and support him. The naughty boy hurriedly pretended to cough twice and then walked away in a square step.

"I didn't expect the prince to be so smart! Was this etiquette taught by the little snotty eunuch?" Yu Qian sighed as he looked at the direction where Zhu Jianshen left, but he didn't expect Yu Xian's face to be getting darker and darker.

"Talk about something!"

"Why do you want to take him to wander on the sea? In the Tang Dynasty, Jianzhen made eight voyages to the east before reaching that place. The Yuan court's several expeditions were overturned by typhoons and suffered heavy losses. Not only do you have to conquer there now, but you also have to take Prince Yi with you. If something goes wrong, what will happen to the Ming Dynasty in the future!" Yu Qian remembered the important matter and grabbed Yu Xian's collar and questioned him.

"After I came back last year, I instructed the Military Affairs Office of the Governor's Office to begin formulating a strategy for the expedition. At the same time, we arrested a large number of Japanese pirates and forced them to confess and plot the route. We also mobilized a large amount of weather data from the Imperial Observatory and the Hanlin Academy. We can't say that this expedition is foolproof, but we still have more than 90% chance of success." Yu Xian let go of Yu Qian's hand and explained while smoothing his collar.

"Can't he just live a good life in Beijing? Or I can petition for him to go to his fiefdom early and choose a reliable person to be the chief historian of the palace." Yu Qian calmed down after hearing the explanation.

"He was the crown prince before. With the current madness of the person above, I dare not bet! Maybe he doesn't know it at the age of six, but there is no way that some ministers will do something irrational to put him on the spot."

"You don't trust civil servants that much?"

Yu Xian nodded without giving any face.