Zhu Yuanzhang can see my dreams

Chapter 388 This is not the first time I have confronted the emperor

It’s not Zhu Yuanzhang’s fault that he was surprised by Yu Qian’s actions.

At this time, Yu Qian was the Minister of War and had all the elite troops in the capital in his hands, so he could easily stop the mutiny.

As a result, Yu Qian did nothing and was sentenced to beheading for treason.

The poem left before the final execution made Zhu Yuanzhang savor it for a long time.

In addition, the family had no extra wealth, and even his biological son had died long ago, leaving him with no direct descendants.

It is rare in the Ming Dynasty to achieve such great achievements and yet be able to restrain himself.

Zhu Yuanzhang knew about Zhang Juzheng's affairs, and in comparison he found that Yu Qian was truly like a "saint".

Instead, Wang Buli reminded him, “Your Majesty, before Zhu Qiyu ascended the throne, there was an agreement that the throne would be returned to Zhu Qizhen’s lineage in the future. When he died, his own son also died a long time ago.

The heir to the throne should have belonged to Zhu Qizhen's son Zhu Jianshen, but it was taken away by his father, and Yu Qian had no objection.

Yu Qian's loyalty was not simply loyalty to a particular emperor, but loyalty to the entire Ming Dynasty.

Yu Qian's loyalty was not based on narrow personal gain, but rather on loyalty to world stability, people's prosperity, the stability of the imperial system, and national peace.

No matter who becomes emperor, he is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, so he has no reason to object."

After hearing Wang Buli's explanation, Zhu Yuanzhang was completely stunned.

Having experienced the chaos at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he always felt that no one would be loyal to a dynasty, but mostly loyal to individuals.

As a result, Yu Qian really taught him a lesson.

Even though Yu Qian's actions, coupled with those of Zhu Qizhen, led to the dominance of the civil service group, Yu Qian's loyalty to the Ming Dynasty really frightened Zhu Yuanzhang.

For a long time he couldn't believe that there really was such a minister in our Ming Dynasty!

After all, according to Zhu Yuanzhang's innermost idea of ​​officials, they are all black-hearted. Even if they work for his Ming Dynasty, they do so for fame, wealth and the benefit of future generations.

Now there is a loyal minister like Yu Qian.

It was impossible for Zhu Yuanzhang to say that he was not shocked.

"Master Yu does have a good grandson."

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed slowly, not knowing what to say.

After all, the minister he expected appeared, but unfortunately the ending was not so good.

In this way, if there are any more ministers who are loyal to the Ming Dynasty in the future, they will probably have to think about Yu Qian's fate.

Zhu Di on the side didn't know what to say. In short, everyone was surprisingly silent.

Such a capable "pure minister" is what the emperor hopes to see, but if he really appears, whether the emperor can grasp him is something worth thinking about.

After coming out of the fairyland, Zhu Yuanzhang sighed in the post station, still feeling a little lost, and stayed there for several days.

Li Jinglong finally caught up with the emperor's guard of honor.

Zhu Yuanzhang had been traveling incognito for so many days, but he had gained something in the end.

"Uncle, long time no see."

After Li Jinglong experienced the hardships of life in the north, his face became a little darker and he could not get it back to normal after recovery.

"Yeah." Wang Buli responded. Although the two had a brief exchange in the hall, he still looked at Li Jinglong carefully:

"People in the north are still experienced. They become rough men in a short time."

"Hahaha."

Li Jinglong was very happy after hearing this, and he thought it would be beneficial to the Ming Dynasty.

At least he provided a lot of intelligence to the border troops.

Wang Buli picked up his fishing rod and said, "Let's go and talk about the northern grasslands."

"it is good."

The south is densely covered with rivers, so you can go fishing anywhere.

Zhu Yuanzhang had to communicate with Empress Ma on everything. Even though he always insisted that the harem should not interfere in government affairs, in practice Zhu Yuanzhang himself could not avoid it.

He felt even more uneasy because he had to discuss this matter with others.

The emperor continued his incognito visit, but this time a woman was added.

Wang Buli and Li Jinglong were his personal bodyguards.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang did not have to wait long. Xu Da and Mu Ying had achieved remarkable results in their fishing operation against Mongolia, and they were unwilling to give up the land of Karakoram easily.

So they were defeated and fled.

After receiving the battle report, Zhu Yuanzhang was really happy for a while.

The bad feeling in his heart about the capture of the Ming emperor by the Oirat army was much relieved.

I will crush you all to death first, to prevent our disappointing descendants from being bullied by you.

Zhu Yuanzhang left Xu Da in the north to continue guarding the city and make them afraid to invade the border in the short term. The next step was to kill King Liang who was entrenched in Yunnan to avoid being attacked from two sides.

That is why Zhu Yuanzhang sent Mu Ying to fight first and show his power, and then let Xu Da be the commander to fight a big battle.

The investigation of Yunnan has never stopped over the years.

Moreover, none of Prince Liang's subordinates had a general like Wang Buli who used damaging tactics in battle. After Mu Ying returned, Zhu Yuanzhang was ready to take action.

"Buli, we saw those old men agreed to go to Beijing to ask for orders and to guarantee the local officials, hoping that they would continue to stay in office." Zhu Yuanzhang stood by the boat with some emotion:

"I have been inspired. Will the people try to retain the local officials who have resigned or been arrested? If they do, it means that the local officials are popular with the people. If they do not, it means that the local officials are incompetent. This is what the people want, which means that I am doing the right thing."

Wang Buli looked at the fish float and said without raising his head, "What does your majesty mean?"

"I think you understand what I mean."

Wang Buli stopped talking.

Li Jinglong felt that he really had no idea what the two of them were saying, and he was scratching his head, but no one explained it to him.

"I want to grant the elders the privilege of jointly reporting officials who harm the people, tying up clerks and vagrants who harm the people and sending them to the officials, and going to the capital to act as guarantors for good officials. What do you think?"

"Why did Your Majesty suddenly come up with such a policy?"

Zhu Yuanzhang understood that Wang Buli asked because he thought his policy was strange, so he explained:
“Since ancient times, the government has always consulted with local elders on major issues. Therefore, the ancients used outstanding moral conduct and being praised as a good person by the city and village as the standard. I have selected some local elders and let them serve as “elders”.

When a wise official encounters a difficult public matter, he will invite the elders to discuss the matter.

These elderly people are old and experienced, so the decisions they make are definitely appropriate.

If the Ming Empire's government at all levels generally employs senior officials, government affairs will surely be handled well."

"Your Majesty, these famous old men not only have a lot of experience, but they also fart a lot. When you were in the Yuan Dynasty, why didn't you listen to their farts and be loyal to the Yuan Dynasty?"

"you."

Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry at Wang Buli's words.

Li Jinglong on the side wished he could cover his ears and pretend he didn't hear any of this nonsense.

What does my uncle think?

Even if the policies formulated by Your Majesty are unreasonable, there is no need to say such harsh words!

Queen Ma smiled and was very satisfied with her son-in-law's impolite words.

After all, in today's court, few people are willing to give such advice to Chongba.

There are more and more flatterers, and even the imperial censors dare not directly advise the emperor!

"Your Majesty, Buli has served as a clerk and a prefect in the county government for many years, so he must know a lot about the realities at the grassroots level." Empress Ma acted as a lubricant and said, "Buli, explain this to your father-in-law."

Wang Buli responded, still looking at the float:

“Your Majesty, I guess that your decision to allow the elders to participate in local governance and to allow them to intervene in so many grassroots affairs means that Your Majesty has high expectations for the elders.

They hoped that they could become channels for local governments to understand the people's sentiments, and also hoped that they could play a supervisory role over local officials.

It does have some effect, but I think this move will disappoint His Majesty and lead to chaos, and eventually lead to the abolition of the government."

Although Zhu Yuanzhang's chest was heaving with anger at Wang Buli's words, he still sat patiently on the stool, waiting for his advice.

"Once people have a little power, they will try to seek greater benefits for themselves. This is human nature." Wang Buli first gave Zhu Yuanzhang a reassurance:

“I think that after many elders were given the power to participate in local governance, they did not supervise and restrain the local officials’ behaviors that harmed the people, but instead became new harmers of the people.
Moreover, they can easily collude with officials, tying up the interests of the elders with the interests of local officials, or oppressing officials from other places, and legally exploiting ordinary people in the officialdom.

Wang Buli glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang again and said, "Besides, I remember that Your Majesty announced this year that all civil and military officials over the age of 60 should retire. Why do you want to use the elderly to supervise the grassroots?" In Zhu Yuanzhang's view, "elderly people governing the country" has two major advantages.

On the surface, they can use their rich life experience and social experience to serve local governments, and also reduce the administrative costs of the Ming Dynasty and save money.

However, one benefit that cannot be put on the table is that the psychological and behavioral characteristics of the elderly tend to have low curiosity, aversion to novelty and victory, avoidance of risk, and complacency with the status quo.

This is reflected in real life, where the elderly are often more conservative, stubborn, and obedient than young people in their behavior.

Zhu Yuanzhang was committed to creating a static society with extremely poor mobility of goods and population through the system of knowing the population, the system of collective responsibility, and the system of road permits. It was the most appropriate approach to use the elderly as local officials and grassroots managers.

Young people pursue wealth, marriage and children, and various possibilities in life, so it is inevitable that they will intentionally or unintentionally impact Zhu Yuanzhang's static society.

But the elderly will not do that. They have reached the end of their life journey. Compared to challenging the existing order, it is more important to live the rest of their lives in peace.

Zhu Yuanzhang would not tell Wang Buli what he was thinking, but just said:

"I have discovered that the people of Liangzhe love to sue each other. They cannot tolerate even the smallest matters and will go straight to Beijing to file a complaint."

“If the judge finds the person, makes a thorough investigation and immediately sends a sentence, he will also need money to travel back and forth.

If the judicial organs have too many prisoners and cannot deal with them in time, or the trials are unclear, many prisoners will be detained for long periods of time and die. Many people involved in the crimes will die even though they are innocent.

The reasons for this are all due to their inability to advise each other on a daily basis, and their inability to suppress small anger, which would lead to their own deaths and the destruction of their families.

This has been going on for years without warning, so I want the elders to mediate this conflict."

“How can they make fair adjustments?”

Wang Buli let go of the fishing rod and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang:
"Your Majesty, these people feel that the case decided by the county magistrate is unfair and want to go to the capital to file a complaint. So why do you think they will agree with the mediation of those old people?"

Zhu Yuanzhang knew that because of the Ministry of Justice, many people did not receive timely trials and died in prison, which caused some bad effects.

He wanted to change this situation, but secretly he still felt that the people in Liangzhe were of poor quality and prone to litigation.

Who made them support Zhang Shicheng in the past!

Zhu Yuanzhang had not yet transformed them into the people of the Ming Dynasty from the bottom of his heart.

Hearing Wang Buli's question, Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said, "I think too much."

Li Jinglong was speechless.

He knew clearly that since His Majesty had come up with a policy, he must have been thinking about it for a long time in secret.

Li Jinglong never expected that just when he wanted to share something with Wang Buli, he would be criticized by him, so he decided to abolish this policy.

He glanced at Wang Buli and saw him slowly hanging the earthworm on the fishing rod. He was full of admiration and said, "It has to be you."

He was just a minor official back then, but he made a young master like me lose my temper!

He hasn't changed in all these years!
Li Jinglong wanted to laugh but didn't dare to, mainly because the emperor's face looked really dark.

Queen Ma thought what Wang Buli said made sense.

There are too many people in the world who are disrespectful to their elders, especially those who, as he said, have the slightest power, will actively seek benefits for themselves.

Now that Chongba has so much power, doesn't he want to govern the country according to his own temperament?

Zhu Yuanzhang stroked his beard, looked at the scenery on the shore, and didn't know what to say for a moment.

Wang Buli criticized his policy like shit, almost saying it was shit.

This is still a face-saving thing for my son-in-law.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was angry, after thinking about it carefully, he felt that what his son-in-law said was indeed reasonable. People will change once they have power.

Don’t old people seek benefits for their descendants?
Obviously this is impossible. Zhu Yuanzhang himself felt that he worked so hard so that his descendants could live a better life.

Are those selected elderly people necessarily fair and just and convincing?

He saw what the officials of the Ming Dynasty looked like, both in reality and in the fairyland.

There are very few loyal ministers like Yu Qian.

"I will not mention this matter again."

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his sleeves, completely abandoning this idea and deciding to govern the people according to the normal administrative system.

Wang Buli was not too happy about Zhu Yuanzhang's decision, but he kept saying:

"Your Majesty is still wise!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's high-profile inspection tour of Jiangnan did make the locals a little frightened. After all, there was nothing wrong with not mentioning some things.

But once you get on the scale, you can't hold it down.

The emperor might even open the coffin in your house.

After returning to the capital, Zhu Yuanzhang held a family dinner where everyone got together after not seeing each other for a long time.

Wang Buli discovered that Zhu Biao's eldest son Zhu Xiongying was really strong.

In this case, wouldn’t it be a bit troublesome for the fourth brother to take the position?

After all, Zhu Biao worked hard every day and put in a lot of effort.

After Wang Buli came back, he found that Zhu Biao looked obviously older. This shows how busy Zhu Yuanzhang was as he put aside government affairs and left the Crown Prince Zhu Biao to govern the country.

"Brother Prince, you have grown old." Wang Buli toasted bluntly:

"In the past few months, I can see that you look haggard. Do you have no time for family matters?"

Facing Wang Buli's joke, Zhu Biao put down his wine glass and couldn't help but sigh:

"You are right. I am busy until midnight every day and have to get up early. Being the crown prince is too tiring. But fortunately, my father has returned to the capital, so I will have someone to help me share the burden from now on."

He now understood how difficult it was to be a diligent emperor.

"Unlike you, you haven't aged at all in the past few years, not even a wrinkle." Zhu Biao drank it all in one gulp and said enviously:

"Can you teach me some beauty tips?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing to do?"

"Yes, I don't do anything."

Wang Buli spread his hands and said, "You definitely can't learn this, so give up on this idea as soon as possible."

Zhu Biao stood there in a daze. He really couldn't compare in this aspect.

Compared to Wang Buli, although he was an official, he was just like Adou, and he really dared to delegate power to his subordinates to do things.

It not only trains a group of capable subordinates, but also screens out officials who are not suitable for detective work.

This selection of materials is indeed possible.

But for the emperor, the power in his hands is held with great difficulty. If he loosens his grip even a little, it will take a lot of effort for his descendants to get it back!
Although Zhu Biao envied Wang Buli's free and easy attitude, he knew that this was impossible.

"I really envy your mentality."

Zhu Biao sighed, and then asked in a low voice: "I heard that during your inspection, you often criticized the policies proposed by your father?"

"Not bad." Wang Buli put down his wine glass and sighed:
"Once people get older, they tend to become conservative. Your father probably feels that he is old, and the policies he comes up with are a bit conservative. How can that work?"

"I heard that my grandfather or great-grandfather died at my father's age, so it's normal for my father to be a little worried."

"Oh, so that's it!"

Wang Buli understood that the Zhu family might not have a very high longevity gene, so it was normal for Zhu Yuanzhang to make more conservative policies.

But he suddenly remembered that Zhu Yuanzhang should have known that he could live to be over 70 years old, so why did this happen?

"But don't worry, your father is still alive, and you will be the crown prince for a long time." Wang Buli squinted his eyes:
"Brother Prince, don't wait too long to get promoted, or your mentality will collapse!"

"Hahaha."

Zhu Biao laughed loudly. He had already imagined what the scene would be like when he ascended the throne.

But as long as his father is alive, he will always be the crown prince.

"Brother-in-law, you are drunk."

"I just had a few drinks, how can I be drunk?" Wang Buli said jokingly, "Or do you not have such thoughts in your mind?"

"You should stop saying things that would sow discord among the royal family members." Zhu Biao patted Wang Buli on the shoulder.

"After all, my father is not that magnanimous. What if the Imperial Guards hear our conversation?"

(End of this chapter)