Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 234: Military and political affairs are inseparable, arrest them together!

Wenhua Pavilion.

Zhu Yuanzhang took a rest here.

What happened at today's court meeting was quite unexpected.

The methods proposed by Tian Jing and Xia Zhibai also made Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes light up.

Indeed, Zhu Yuanzhang has always been a headache for Jiangnan, because it is the most important source of tax revenue for the Ming Dynasty. He has always wanted to strengthen his control over the financial resources of the south. However, because he himself made his fortune in Jiangnan, many of the civil and military officials who followed him to conquer the world were also from Jiangnan. Therefore, the southern forces dominated the court.

Moreover, the forces in the south are numerous and deeply rooted. He has made many attempts over the years but has never been able to break this situation.

I have always been quite worried.

The Guo Huan case was actually a test.

The result is just disappointing.

so so.

His original idea was to use this opportunity to rectify the officialdom, eliminate some unhealthy tendencies, and at the same time test the situation in other parts of the country. In the north, there were many princes in charge, and with just one order from the imperial court, it would be easy to strike down the gentry and merchants entrenched in the local area.

But it is not the case in the south.

As soon as the imperial court extended its hand to the south, many provincial government officials in the south, as if they had agreed, all submitted memorials to the imperial court, saying that unrest had broken out in the south, the people were living in misery, the common people were complaining, and the people in some places were starting to cause trouble. Founding heroes such as Li Shanchang and Mei Sizu also submitted memorials to advise the court.

He was very dissatisfied at first.

But in the end, after Li Shanchang and others submitted a list of "corrupt officials" and related evidence of corruption, as well as more than 10 million shi of grain, he chose to stop there, because enough people had been killed and enough grain had been seized. Continuing would not be worth the cost and would really cause unrest in the area.

However, Li Shanchang and others were obviously not reconciled.

At the beginning, various officials were recommended and the official positions in the court were arranged clearly.

He would never let him have his way.

He directly took on the duties of six ministers, and finally felt that it was not feasible, so he re-assigned ministers to the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Justice. However, as for the most important Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Personnel, and Ministry of War, he still kept a firm hold in his hands and did not allow outsiders to interfere.

As for other officials from the six ministries, he completely ignored the recommendations of Li Shanchang and others.

He directly promoted last year’s Jinshi.

There were also the Imperial College students who had been in reserve for some time in the Hanlin Academy. It was with the help of this group of officials who had only a superficial connection with the court ministers that he was able to truly control the entire court completely in his own hands. However, even so, the number of people he could use was still not enough, and there were still many official positions that were filled by people recommended by Li Shanchang and others.

After about a year of adjustment, the court has actually become stable.

But he originally didn't want to cause any more trouble in the court.

He just wanted to concentrate his energy and prepare for a decisive battle with the Northern Yuan Dynasty, completely defeat it, and completely solve the border problem in the north. However, all this has subtly changed as Xia Zhibai went north and returned south.

First, some ideas that Xia Zhibai mentioned in Peiping made Zhu Yuanzhang hesitate.

And this summer Zhibai is more directly and clearly touching the financial resources of the south.

This made Zhu Yuanzhang even more excited.

Since the Guo Huan case, he has actually let it go.

Because the South was severely damaged by this incident, and the statement and sincerity given by the South were more than enough, these money and grain were enough to support the Ming Dynasty's future several northern expeditions.

However, the kitchen owner's incident and the appearance of Li Shanchang, Mei Sizu and others at the court meeting made Zhu Yuanzhang somewhat frightened.

Because the submissiveness shown by Li Shanchang and others before was all fake.

Just to fool myself.

So that he could stop staring at Nan Fang, it could be regarded as a heroic act. But deep down, Nan Fang had not really surrendered. He was always making small moves and even regarded his last concession as a compromise. He wanted to use this incident to test himself and even force himself to compromise again.

This was something Zhu Yuanzhang could not tolerate.

These people are not convinced, they are just afraid of being killed by themselves!

Zhu Yuanzhang put his hands behind his back and scratched his back with the jade ruyi. He looked at Zhu Biao beside him and said coldly, "The ministers of our Ming Dynasty are all worried. If Xia Zhibai hadn't revealed their thoughts, I'm afraid we would continue to be kept in the dark."

"These bastards want to die!"

Zhu Biao was stunned.

He looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and said in a deep voice: "I did not dare to believe it before. The old ministers who followed my father to fight together have now become obsessed with profit and are willing to ignore the world for their own selfish desires."

Zhu Yuanzhang closed his eyes slightly and sneered, "You think too highly of them."

“They never change.”

"Before, they just didn't have the opportunity, and because they had the Yuan court, Zhang Shicheng, and Chen Youliang above them, they didn't dare to show it too obviously. But when we were conquering the world, these people more or less revealed their flaws, but we didn't care at the time and didn't take it to heart."

"Now that they have achieved success, they will naturally consider their own family."

"We can't figure it out either."

"We gave them the name, and we also gave them the official position."

"Money, isn't our reward too little?"

“Why did they become like this one by one?”

"Take the salt policy for example. Xia Zhibai had mentioned it to me before. I considered it over and over again and didn't adopt it. But I also wanted to use him to test the reaction of the court officials. But how many snakes, insects and rats jumped out after this test?"

"Do they think we really don't know the real situation in the South?"

"They may have forgotten."

"I am also from the South, and I started from the South."

"We know as much about the South as they do. We also have our own eyes and ears in the South!"

"The reason why I didn't bring this up is because I wanted to see what these people were thinking. I also wanted to see if none of the brothers who followed me through thick and thin really cared about me."

"But you saw what happened in the court today, Biao'er."

"Who among all the officials in the court has spoken for us and the Ming Dynasty?"

"no!"

"They all attacked and opposed Xia Zhibai and Tian Jing in various ways. Their ferocious eyes looked like they wanted to eat them alive. Did they really think we couldn't see their expressions in the palace?"

"We can see it clearly!"

"Don't we really understand what they are thinking?"

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly and placed the jade ruyi on the table. A fierce look flashed in his eyes. "When our Ming Dynasty was first established, my sister asked me to treat these brothers well. I did it. I granted them iron certificates of immunity from death and conferred titles on them. But I also said at the time that as long as they behaved themselves, I would guarantee their family a lifetime of wealth and glory. But what did they do?"

"Don't you know that people all over the world say that you are mean and ungrateful, and that you don't care about old friendships now that you are the emperor?"

"I have actually always admitted it." "But they are forcing me not to admit it!"

"If we lose one city today, we will lose ten cities tomorrow, one city after another."

"They think that since I am the emperor and I rule the world, everything in the world belongs to me. If they steal something from my house, I won't say anything. I am not that generous, but I am not stingy either. But Biaoer, can you judge for me how to behave? Is there anyone who does things this way?"

"They deliberately stirred up local unrest to threaten us to make concessions."

"Is this still a minister of our Ming Dynasty?"

"Tell us about it."

"Is it wrong for us to kill these bastards?!"

After Zhu Yuanzhang's angry shouts, he could no longer suppress the murderous intent in his heart.

Zhu Biao trembled, and was also frightened by the furious Zhu Yuanzhang. He looked solemn, knowing the dissatisfaction and anger in his father's heart. He now understood why his father was so angry.

My father often turned a blind eye to the dirty deeds done by his subjects.

But my father is the emperor after all.

How can I allow myself to be bullied by my subjects again and again?
These people passed!
Zhu Biao pondered for a while, and said in a concentrated voice: "Your Majesty, I think that Tian Jing and Xia Zhibai's idea is good. The court cannot be led by old ministers like Li Shanchang, otherwise they will think that the court is really afraid and will become more and more aggressive."

"The imperial treasury is now full and can afford the expenses of relocation."

"We must not tolerate their arrogance any longer."

"And judging from the situation in the court, I'm afraid that the incident in the south this time was not only intentionally provoked, but also used as an opportunity to demonstrate to the court. Although it was under the guise of the influence of the last incident, the fact that riots have occurred twice in a row is enough to prove that local officials do not have enough control over the area."

"I also request that you conduct a strict investigation of the provincial governments, prefectures, states and provinces in the south."

Zhu Biao's eyes were cold.

He was also fearful and dissatisfied with what happened in the court today. A salt official could suppress the silence of the whole court and no other ministers could speak. This situation was too scary. If it continued to develop, sooner or later, the court's orders would become empty talk.

The Ming Dynasty was ruled by the Zhu family.

It’s not for the literati!

If there are still people who are not clear, use blood to calm them down.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.

“That’s how we see it, too.”

"But this matter cannot be rushed. Do you know why Zhou Dexing, Wang Bi and others are so confident? Because they know that we want to fight a war and we are eager to fight a war. Once we fight a war, we must use them. Most of our Ming generals are from Huaixi. Therefore, even if we know what happened in the south, we can't blame them."

"Because we need them."

"They are sure of this, so they put their names out in such a high-profile manner. How can we not see their little tricks? However, these people have been thinking about it, but I am afraid they have not figured out one thing. In addition to wanting to change the salt administration, Xia Zhibai also wants to tamper with the Northern Expedition that we originally planned."

"If we had given up the idea of ​​a northern expedition, everything they did would be enough for us to kill them ten times!"

Zhu Biao's expression changed slightly.

He hesitated and said, "Father, the court has already decided on the Northern Expedition. If we change it easily, wouldn't it be inappropriate? And if we do this, wouldn't it completely push Xia Zhibai to the forefront? In his current situation, he has already offended a large number of civil officials and scholars. And because he interferes in military and political affairs, I'm afraid the military generals will also dislike him."

"Then he will have enemies all over the court."

Zhu Biao was a little worried.

Xia Zhibai is already arrogant. If his father does this again, I'm afraid Xia Zhibai's situation will become even more difficult.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Biao and said indifferently: "Do you think he didn't consider facing this situation when he said these words? I don't know whether he did it intentionally or unintentionally. I saw it a long time ago. Xia Zhibai chose to be a 'lone minister' from the beginning, but he is not loyal to our emperor, nor to our Ming Dynasty."

"It's his own!!!"

"Or maybe it's the people of the world that he mentioned!"

"Moreover, many things in the world were caused by him. He should bear the responsibility. If he can't even convince the court officials, how can he make us change our minds? If he can convince the arrogant soldiers and generals of our Ming Dynasty, we will follow his wishes, temporarily postpone the Northern Expedition, make friends with the Northern Yuan Dynasty, and reform the salt administration at the same time."

Zhu Biao's face changed.

He stood there in a daze.

He also felt his scalp tingling. If the court really held another meeting to discuss the war with the Northern Yuan Dynasty, with the violent tempers of Lan Yu, Chang Sheng and others, they would most likely take action out of anger. How could a weak scholar like Xia Zhibai withstand it?
Just when Zhu Biao was about to say a few words of advice, he seemed to think of something and stopped again.

He thought of Xia Zhibai's trip to Beiping. Zhu Di also had a violent temper. And not only Zhu Di, his second and third brothers also had bad tempers. But Xia Zhibai said these words in front of his violent brothers and got away with it.

perhaps
Will it be successful this time as well?

Zhu Biao couldn't help but feel a bit of struggle in his heart.

finally.

Zhu Biao remained silent.

Because he always remembered one sentence.

Internal troubles outweigh external threats.

External troubles are just a diversion of internal troubles.

If the country is not thoroughly reorganized, even if the Northern Yuan Dynasty is destroyed and torn apart, it will eventually have to return to domestic affairs.

The Huaixi Group headed by Li Shanchang, as well as a large number of military merit groups and some local forces in the south, have now shown their fangs. If the court does not step up its precautions, once the war in the north breaks out, it will be even more difficult for the court to deal with it in a short period of time.

Now that the north is relatively stable and the imperial treasury is full, it is indeed the best time to solve the problem.

Zhu Biao said: "Everything is subject to the will of the emperor."

"Well, but there is no rush for this matter. Let's wait until Li Shanchang, Xia Zhibai and others submit their memorials. You can send someone to call Tang He for us later. The only person we can trust in the court is this old brother." Zhu Yuanzhang sighed, his eyes full of desolation.

Zhu Biao nodded: "I obey your order."

Zhu Yuanzhang stood up from his seat, put his hands behind his back and walked out of Wenhua Pavilion.

He only came here for a short rest. Now that he has rested enough, it is time for him to go back and continue dealing with memorials.

Now all the affairs of the world are on his shoulders alone, and he cannot afford to delay or slack off for even a moment.

But when he left, Zhu Yuanzhang's steps were unusually firm.

It seems that some kind of determination has been made.

Zhu Biao respectfully watched Zhu Yuanzhang leave. When Zhu Yuanzhang's figure completely disappeared from his sight, he sighed and said, "Father, you are old after all. If it were the old father, how could you have hesitated for so long and made a decision only now?"

"But the south." Zhu Biao snorted coldly, a cold light flashed in his eyes.

　Guangzhi saved me, I will recover tomorrow, but I am confused today!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)