Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 163: Follow me to kill people!
Zhu Di sat back in his seat.

His eyes were a little dazed and his expression changed again and again.

Finally, there was complete silence.

Zhu Yuanzhang's military talent far surpassed everyone else in the world.

Although later generations believed that giving up the Mongolian Plateau was a miscalculation of the future situation in the world, Zhu Yuanzhang took many measures to strengthen the border defense of the Ming Dynasty. He set up a large number of military towns and garrisons along the Great Wall, and constructed a very complete set of solid fortresses to defend against the Mongols' southward advance.

This is what later generations know as the "Nine Border Towns".

Even so, Zhu Yuanzhang still thought it was not enough. As a man who had read a lot of books and was familiar with the ruling experience of all dynasties, Zhu Yuanzhang, after careful consideration, implemented a ruling system that combined the county system with the feudal system. Local officials were in charge of civil affairs, and thirteen princes were stationed in various military strongholds in the north.

Then a situation of the King of the Frontier guarding the border was formed.

Under Zhu Yuanzhang's planning, the kings of various frontiers stood along the Great Wall, connecting from east to west and from inside to outside to form layers of defense that were enough to resist the Mongols' successive attacks.

It is also enough to ensure the eternal stability of the Ming Dynasty.

But Zhu Yuanzhang was also aware that these kings of the Frontiers held great power. They could mobilize the army and appoint officials to the royal palace. To a certain extent, these kings of the Frontiers who held military power had themselves become a dangerous force that could threaten the central court.

Therefore, it must be curbed and restricted.

The military and politics must be separated.

This is the red line.

However, Zhu Di's political sensitivity was obviously not as good as that of other frontier kings. Therefore, under the influence of the "Guo Huan Case", Peking suffered the greatest damage and Zhu Di was the one who was frightened the most. But in the final analysis, Zhu Di's understanding of Ming Dynasty politics was too low. He had ambitions but lacked the ability to realize them.

In the eyes of Zhu Yuanzhang, who attached great importance to rules, not following the rules was extremely fatal.

In a certain sense, the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang gave up on enthroning Zhu Di in history might be because Zhu Di did not follow the rules. The successor Zhu Yuanzhang wanted was an emperor who could continue his own line, not someone who liked to change his own system. Zhu Di was still just a vassal king, but he was so restless. If he really became the emperor, wouldn't he be even more outrageous under the legitimate title?

The Ming Dynasty's system requires an emperor who sticks to the rules.

Don't be a self-righteous emperor.

Perhaps at the beginning Zhu Di had the same possibility as the Prince of Jin, the Prince of Qin and others, but the Prince of Jin and the Prince of Qin were better than Zhu Di in one respect, that is, when the court asked them to lead troops to fight, they only focused on leading troops to fight, and would never mix it with other things. Even if they were domineering and arrogant in their fiefdoms, even if they bullied the local provincial governor, they would only bully him and would never think of bringing the provincial governor under their command.

This is the biggest difference between the King of Yan and the King of Jin and the King of Qin.

Zhu Di didn't understand it before.

He also always felt that Zhu Yuanzhang was partial, but he didn't know that it was Zhu Di's self-righteousness that led to all this.

Zhu Yuanzhang could tolerate his descendants oppressing the people, bullying the locals, and even doing whatever they wanted, but he would never tolerate them crossing the political red line.

He can forgive.

But what about the emperors of the Ming Dynasty?
Do you really expect the Ming emperor, who has been separated by several generations, to remember the old friendship?

Xia Zhibai was sincerely grateful to Zhu Di.

If it weren't for Zhu Di's self-righteousness, Zhu Yuanzhang would not have been so angry, which led to Zhu Yuanzhang's doubts about his system of guarding the border, thus finally making the "military reform" a reality.

In the past, Zhu Yuanzhang was confident that the system he designed would be as solid as a rock, but now Zhu Yuanzhang would probably just be disappointed in his failure to live up to expectations. Fortunately, Zhu Di was not in Yingtian Prefecture, otherwise Zhu Yuanzhang's shoe horn would have hit Zhu Di's face long ago.

even
It is possible to kill Zhu Di.

Zhu Di was too compliant. He didn't know how to restrain himself, let alone lie dormant.

He was arrogant and revealed his ambition too early. It was only because Zhu Yuanzhang's three sons died of illness one after another and Zhu Yunwen liked to micro-manage that Zhu Di was lucky enough to win. Otherwise, if there was a normal "crown prince" who ascended the throne in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di would have been suppressed.

Zhu Di now needs to understand one thing.

He now wants to be a general or a vassal king.

As for competing for the throne, don't even think about it.

He couldn't even do what Zhu Yuanzhang asked him to do, so how could he have the qualifications or ability to fight for it?

Zhu Di also understood.

He must first be a good border guarding general and a good vassal king before he can think about competing for the throne in the future, instead of thinking of getting rich overnight and fantasizing about ascending to the throne and ruling Yingtian without doing anything well.

a long time.

Zhu Di raised his head, his face a little pale.

There were stains of sweat on his forehead.

As if he had just been pulled out of the water, his eyes were filled with fear and dread.

Zhu Di asked, "You mean I extended my hand too far?"

Xia Zhibai nodded and said, "Your Highness has the talent to lead troops, but you overestimate your own talent. It is only because the Ming Dynasty is at its peak that it can allow for large-scale conquests, but can this peak of national strength really last for a long time?"

"I'm afraid not."

"As a major military town in the North."

"If Your Highness does not regard himself as a vassal king, but only as a general leading troops."

"Then we need to develop some skills in training soldiers."

"If Your Highness considers himself a vassal king, he should plan strategies and tactics from the perspective of the royal family, consolidate Beiping's strategic position, deduce the means of attack and defense, and achieve the greatest results at the lowest cost."

"In his position, seek his own government!"

"You can only gain if you give up something, but the imperial family of the Ming Dynasty has long been shrouded in the aura of the royal family."

“If you have not experienced the suffering of the people, you will not know their fatigue. How can you speak for the people and keep your original aspirations?”

Xia Zhibai shook his head.

He looked at Zhu Di and said, "If Your Highness really wants to achieve something, you should first do your own work well, and then prove yourself in strategy and tactics. Only in this way can people look at you differently. Otherwise, the outside world's flattery of Your Highness is the real 'flowery talk'."

"I have no intention of arguing with Your Highness."

"Your Highness may listen to it, or not." "That is all I have to say."

"From now on, I will only care about business in Peking. As for other things, I don't want Your Highness to cause me trouble, nor do I want Your Highness's soldiers to stop me. Similarly, I will not secretly target Your Highness and make things difficult for Him."

“I have a lot to do at the moment.”

"There are many vassal kings and guards in the north, and we all need to visit them."

“We all need to open up new trade routes.”

“There’s a long way to go.”

Xia Zhibai bowed to Zhu Di and walked out of the hall.

He didn't want to waste any more words with Zhu Di.

He just wanted to make some things clear to Zhu Di. As for what Zhu Di would do in the future, he had no say and didn't want to care too much. He also didn't want to be involved in these inexplicable disputes. He had already said everything he wanted to "appeal" to the court.

As for what His Majesty will do today, that is what the court needs to do.

He still has to do business now.

Make money.

Make bricks without straw.

Without sufficient financial support, it would be wishful thinking to control the entire northern salt market or even promote the upgrading of the steel industry.

As for the subsequent opening up of trade routes, doing business with the Northern Yuan Dynasty, or winning over the Semites and Mongols and developing them into spies for the Ming Dynasty, or even bribing Northern Yuan officials, etc., all of this would require a large amount of money and grain to do.

This is not possible at the moment.

Thousands of tall buildings rise from the ground.

Precisely because there is so much to do, Xia Zhibai is able to calm down and make choices.

Things in Peking can only be done quickly.

Click till.

If you keep on dwelling on it, you will only sink deeper into the quagmire and eventually die in it.

This is not what Xia Zhibai wants to see.

He has been in Peking for some time, and it is impossible for him to waste all his energy on a temporary dispute.

What's more, this is Zhu Di's home court.

Zhu Di stared straight at Xia Zhibai's departing figure.

I suddenly felt empty inside.

Everything Xia Zhibai did and said when he came to the mansion was completely unexpected.

He originally wanted to use the opportunity of encircling Xia Zhibai and continue to put some pressure on him, so as to gain some say for himself and get these "booklets" back more smoothly, but Xia Zhibai was more straightforward and just handed them over.

He also pointed out the problem for him.

As for the questions he wanted to ask about the beggars and the Semites, he now found the answers.

Are there really people in the world who want to be beggars?

I'm afraid not.

The reason why there are so many beggars is that the officials in Peking neglected their duties and did not take the issue of these beggars seriously. They allowed these beggars to wander the streets and were unwilling to provide them with some land for resettlement. Even the local officials and the military officers under his command were responsible for all this.

They did not want to distribute the land in Peking to these people at all; they would rather keep the land for themselves.

That's the problem.

As for the Semites and Mongols, what do they matter?
They are just a small group that has been marginalized. They can't find jobs or ways to make a living, so they will naturally change with the wind.

Can we really blame these people for this?

As the King of Yan, what practical things has he really done for the local people?
perhaps
The only practical thing he did was to win over the officials of the Peking Provincial Government, which resulted in these officials being wiped out by his father. This did reduce a lot of the burden on the people of Peking, but did his father really expect him to be just a vassal king guarding the border?

What my father wants is for the princes and provincial government officials to supervise each other.

Severely punish lawbreakers.

He didn't do it at all.

Zhu Di took a deep breath and perked up a bit.

He looked at the book that Xia Zhibai had sent him, flipped through a few pages, and a hint of ruthlessness and murderous intent flashed in his eyes.

He has changed his mind.

Originally, he wanted to play it safe and kill as few people as possible.

but now.

As a local general and a vassal king who stabilizes the local people's hearts, what he really needs to do is to kill more people, so that the officials in Peking will be afraid and dare not commit crimes. Only in this way can he restore his image in his father's heart.

He said to the outside of the palace: "Come here, call Yao Guangxiao to me."

"Also call Zhang Yu and Zhu Liang."

"Tell them to sharpen their knives for me."

"Follow me to kill people!"

　Adjust the pace and continue with three updates tomorrow.

　　Three intermittent updates.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)