Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 398 Xia Zhibai is a disaster!

Tang He looked calm.

He doesn't think these are a big deal.

What other options did these military households have? They colluded with each other and occupied the land distributed to them by the court. They couldn't find any other way to make a living, so they could only be led by the nose by other powerful people and do whatever they wanted.

After this in-depth investigation, Tang He finally understood why Xia Zhibai was so critical of the Wei Suo system and why it was so unpleasant.

Admittedly, the Weisuo system itself has some merits, but the court provided too little supervision and gave too much power to local military officers. No matter how good the system is, it will easily be broken if no one abides by it.

Tang He said: "Your Majesty, there is no need to pursue these now. The most urgent task is to purge the bad apples in the army and clear out the parasites that corrupt the guards. Bring these people to justice and cut them into pieces, otherwise it will be difficult to eliminate the long-term hatred of the local soldiers."

"But when I was in Yuhang, I was also thinking, if we really get rid of Lin Xian and others, will all the garrisons be clean in the future?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Or, as Xia Zhibai mentioned, letting the army fend for themselves and be self-sufficient may be a wrong decision. After all, this is an army, and too many interests are involved. Now that His Majesty is still here and the constraints on the military commanders still exist, it's already like this. I'm afraid it will get worse in the future."

"The Northern Yuan Dynasty has always been eyeing the Ming Dynasty."

"Your Majesty, you have to be vigilant."

Zhu Yuanzhang had a dark face and said nothing.

He could tell what Tang He wanted to say to him, which was simply that the army could no longer be allowed to roam freely like this, and the imperial court must exercise strong control and impose strict restrictions on the army, otherwise, sooner or later, the army would be completely corrupted by these evil-minded parasites and military officers.

If something happens to the Ming Dynasty by then, there will probably be no troops to send.

Simply abolishing the Wei Suo system would mean that the imperial court would have to pay for the support of a million-strong army. Not to mention that the imperial court couldn't afford it, even if it could, it would be reluctant to do so. That was a million-strong army, and it would have to support hundreds of thousands of officials. With so many people asking it for money, even if it could turn money into cash, it wouldn't be able to feed so many mouths.

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a gloomy face: "We know."

"You have to understand me. We are not the same as before. Many things have already been exposed. It is not so easy to take them back. If I just issue an imperial decree, it will affect many people and things. We still have to think about it."

"Yes, I understand. The court has no money," said Tang He.

Zhu Yuanzhang glared at Tang He.

He waved his hand and said, "Let's not bother with you about these things. Let's just put things in the south aside for now. We will slowly deal with all these things one by one later. It's just that sometimes we can't imagine that we just asked Xia Zhibai to go to the south, and he came back, but he still caused such a big mess for us."

"Do you think this person is a disaster?"

"Before he came to the court, our Ming Dynasty didn't have so many problems, right?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Tang He in surprise and indignation.

Tang He shook his head helplessly and said, "Your Majesty, aren't you asking even though you already know the answer? Just because you haven't seen something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It's just that the court hasn't investigated this aspect. Many things have already had signs and clues, but Xia Zhibai kindly brought them up, and the court used this as an opportunity to investigate, and only then did they find out the situation in the local area. In my opinion, the Ming Dynasty has a lot of bad debts right now."

"They are all buried in the ground, waiting to break down and plunge the Ming Dynasty into a quagmire."

"I don't care at the moment."

"I am already quite old, half of my body is buried in the ground, and I may die tomorrow. I have followed Your Majesty, and I have eaten and drunk, fought and enjoyed myself. I have not been greedy and have been self-sufficient for a long time." "But Your Majesty needs to think about this carefully."

"After all, this world was won at the cost of the lives of so many people. We can't just follow the path of the Yuan Dynasty."

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Tang He and his gray beard and was speechless for a moment. If other people said these words, he would just feel a little uneasy, but when Tang He said these words, he only felt an inexplicable sadness.

Are getting old.

He doesn't have many years left to live.

Now Tang He can still help him deal with things, but if it is true as Tang He said, and he dies one day, he is afraid that he won’t even have anyone to talk to, let alone someone who can help him so wholeheartedly.

It's just that he has been avoiding one thing all these years.

He himself still has a few years to live.

He is no longer the same as when the country was founded, and his health is getting worse and worse. He is asked to put so much effort into making changes, but he is afraid that he may not be able to complete them. He is also very worried that halfway through, at the most critical moment, his body will collapse. What will happen to the Ming Dynasty then?
It was because of this concern that he was determined to strengthen the imperial power.

At this time.

Tang He asked curiously, "I still don't understand. The situation in the south has not been investigated clearly yet. Why did Your Majesty suddenly call me back? Is the court going to go to war with Nahachu who is entrenched in the northeast?"

When he was recalled to Beijing this time, Tang He was still a little confused.

too suddenly.

Unless there was something important, Zhu Yuanzhang seldom summoned him so urgently. On the way, he also wondered if it could be something else. However, no matter how he thought about it, he could only think that the court was going to send troops to the north, either to the northeast or to the Northern Yuan Dynasty in the north.

Other than that, there is no need.

Zhu Yuanzhang came back to his senses and said coldly: "We are preparing to fight Nahachu, but this is not the reason why we called you back."

"We called you back because we have something more urgent."

"What's the matter?" Tang He asked.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "During the time when you were away, our eldest brother rebelled and kept fighting against us. We told him to go east, but he insisted on going west. We told him to go north, but he insisted on going south. He also said that we were too strong and that he was a little breathless. He even wanted to set up his own faction."

Hearing this, Tang He's face suddenly changed, and he stood up and said seriously, "Your Majesty, I have to say this in advance. The crown prince's position as heir cannot be moved, and you can't move it either. If you dare to depose the crown prince, don't blame me and Your Majesty for getting angry. The crown prince is related to the stability of the country, and it must not be moved rashly."

Seeing Tang He's nervous look, Zhu Yuanzhang grinned.

He jokingly said, "When did I ever say that I would depose the crown prince? And whether I depose the crown prince or not is none of your business. If I want to depose him, I will depose him. If I don't want to depose him, I won't. When is it your turn to point fingers here?"

Tang He said hurriedly: "You can't say that. He is the crown prince of Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Yuanzhang said unhappily, "Get lost, I didn't say I wanted to depose the crown prince, so stop talking nonsense. Even if I had a big fight with Biao'er, I never thought of deposing him. Don't I know more about these things than you?"

"What does Your Majesty mean?" Tang He frowned.

(End of this chapter)