Chapter 722: Before the Expedition.

When evening came, the wind was a little sluggish, but at this time everyone's hearts were happy.

All the antiques donated by the Manchu Dynasty were sold out within one day, and the silver taels obtained from the charity sale were by no means more than Ye Xing and the others could imagine.

With so many antiques, a total of 12 million taels of silver were sold in one day.

When Ye Xing finished counting this number, he was shocked, are the rich businessmen of Daming still very rich, and they are not stingy at all in this kind of thing.

After getting the silver, Ye Xing and the others immediately entered the palace to see the emperor and told Zhu Di all these things.

After listening to this, Zhu Di was very happy and praised Ye Xing again and again.

With these silver taels, the cost of their expedition was not a problem at all, but about the sudden fire in the Zhongshan Palace, Zhu Di felt very strange, and he decided to let Ye Xing investigate with all his might.

It is obvious that this matter was done by Ji Gang, but now the clues are slim, so you can't rush to investigate.

After the silver taels were ready, Zhu Di immediately sent people to buy grain and grass, and asked the regions north of the Yangtze River to allocate troops to gather to join the army, and during this period, Zheng He began his third trip to the West.

Autumn has a tail left, the weather in Jiangnan is always gloomy, I don't know when it will suddenly rain in autumn, all this feels very hazy.

Zhu Di is preparing for the imperial expedition, this expedition to the north will not be able to solve it in a short period of time, not to mention half a year, so he must make a proper arrangement for the big and small things in the DPRK and China.

Ji Gang, as the commander of the Jinyi Guard, is responsible for protecting the stability of the palace and the capital, so he can't go on an expedition with Zhu Di, but Zhu Di is not at ease with Ji Gang at all, so he must make a foolproof strategy.

And in the entire court, only Ye Xing, the king of the Ming Dynasty, can fight against Ji Gang, so Zhu Di asked Ye Xing to stay in the capital to contain Ji Gang, and be responsible for the preparation of follow-up grain and grass.

After these arrangements, the only thing left for Zhu Di to do was to find someone to supervise the country.

This is a very difficult choice for Zhu Di, and this problem has also plagued the emperors of various dynasties.

Now, Zhu Gaochi has been established as the crown prince, and it stands to reason that he should be in charge of the country, but Zhu Gaochi is calm and quiet by nature, too gentle, and very different from Zhu Di, so Zhu Di does not like his crown prince very much, and the reason why Zhu Gaochi is the crown prince is because when Zhu Di was still the king of Yan, Zhu Gaochi was made the prince of Yan by Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhu Gaochi has always been at fault, and during the Battle of Jingyan, he also resisted the 500,000 army of Li Jinglong, the general of Emperor Jianwen, with an army of 10,000 people. This is very beneficial to Zhu Gaochi as the prince, and the ministers at that time, such as Xie Jin and others, supported Zhu Gaochi very much, and Zhu Di had no choice but to set up Zhu Gaochi as the prince.

In contrast, the second prince Zhu Gaoxi is more deeply loved by Zhu Di, Zhu Gaoxi is more similar to Zhu Di, brave in battle, and witty, more suitable to be the prince than the crown prince Zhu Gaochi.

Zhu Gaochi, as the crown prince, should be in charge of the country, but he is too elegant, and he is fat, and he seems to be a little benevolent and weak, and he is easily coerced.

Zhu Gaoxi is decisive, very much like himself, and can achieve great things, but according to the rules of etiquette and religion, there should be a prince in charge of the country, and let the second prince Zhu Gaoxi be in charge of the country, which is likely to attract criticism.

Faced with such difficulties, Zhu Di could only listen to the minister's decision.

On this day, after listening to Zhu Di's troubles, the civil and military officials expressed their opinions one after another.

Ji Gang was the first to speak: "Your Majesty, the second prince Wen Taowu is strategic, and it seems that he is more capable of supervising the country, I believe that if there is a second prince supervising the country, during this period of the emperor's personal expedition, he will definitely be able to protect the peace of the imperial city." ”

Ji Gang said this, which is also very much in line with Zhu Di's heart, he was originally partial to his second prince!

But at this time, a minister like Xie Jin stood up, and he shouted loudly: "By all means, the emperor, the eldest prince has been established as the prince, and the prince will be responsible for the future of the Ming Dynasty, and now it is time for the prince to be in charge of the country and exercise the prince's ability to deal with national affairs, not to mention that the prince is elegant and benevolent, and is very loved by the people." ”

What Xie Jin said is not unreasonable, and for Zhu Di, there is another reason why he made Zhu Gaochi the prince, that is, Xie Jin once said that he is a good saint, although Zhu Gaochi is elegant and a little fat, but Zhu Gaochi's eldest son Zhu Zhanji is very smart and abnormal, and he is deeply loved by Zhu Di.

With this consideration, Zhu Di made up his mind to make Zhu Gaochi the crown prince.

Now that Xie Jin has stood up to say something, Zhu Di has been reminded of this good saint Sun Theory for no reason.

It's just that at this time, the court is still divided into two forces, most of the ministers support Zhu Gaochi, because he is very benevolent and loved by the ministers, but many generals support Zhu Gaoxi, because they have fought with the two princes Zhu Gaoxi in the south and the north.

This situation still made Zhu Di very embarrassed, he wanted the ministers to give him an idea, but he didn't take this idea, so he didn't know what to do.

And at this time, Zhu Di saw that Ye Xing was very calm standing under His Royal Highness, so he asked loudly: "Ye Aiqing, what do you think about this matter?" ”

Seeing this, Ye Xing hurriedly stood up and said, "Back to the emperor, Weichen supports the crown prince's imprisonment. ”

Zhu Di saw that Ye Xing said so concisely, so he continued to ask, "But what is the reason?" ”

Ye Xing nodded: "There is indeed a reason, in addition to understanding the reason that Lord Jinjie just said, Weichen also has another reason." ”

"Tell me about it!" Zhu Di sat on the dragon chair and commanded.

Ye Xing hesitated for a while, but still nodded and said, "Weichen wants to ask Your Majesty, who will inherit the throne after a hundred years of His Majesty?" ”

This kind of thing is a bit ugly, because every emperor wants to live long live, long live, long live, how can they be a hundred years, but Zhu Di knows very well that a person can't live that long, so he doesn't blame Ye Xing's words, but just replied: "Of course, there is a prince who will inherit the throne." ”

Ye Xing smiled slightly: "Today's prince is the eldest prince Zhu Gaochi, I wonder if the emperor has ever thought about abolishing the crown prince?" ”

As soon as Ye Xing's words came out, the entire court was shocked, the abolition of the crown prince was a big deal, how could he say it casually.

Zhu Di looked at Ye Xing, and he already knew a little in his heart that the current prince was not at fault, and it was impossible for him to abolish the prince, so it was his son Zhu Gaochi who became the emperor in the end, but if he let Zhu Gaoxi supervise the country, wouldn't this give Zhu Gaoxi hope, wouldn't this encourage Zhu Gaoxi to rebel?