Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 189: Lao Zhu’s proposal, a fundamental shift in national policy!
"Your Majesty...Your Majesty is wise!" Yoshigaki hurriedly flattered.

Old Zhu turned his eyes to the side and waved his hand.

The guards immediately brought Ashikaga Yoshimitsu forward.

"Are you Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, the great general of Japan?"

Old Zhu looked at Ashikaga Yoshimitsu who was kneeling on the ground under the guards' pressure and said, "It was you who killed the members of the envoys we sent twice and humiliated the envoys of the Ming Dynasty?"

"Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty." Ashikaga Yoshimitsu spoke the official language of the Ming Dynasty, which he was not very fluent in: "That was not my idea, but the Emperor's idea."

He had been planning this for a long time, and when he met the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he hurriedly told him about it.

"Nonsense!" Old Zhu shouted angrily, "We all know that the Japanese emperor is just a figurehead, and the one who actually holds power is you, the Japanese general."

"Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, you only know one side of the story, not the other."

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu said: "Our emperor does not govern because he claims to be a descendant of Amaterasu, a god rather than a human, so naturally he does not care about human affairs."

"As the Shogun, I hold great power over government affairs, but I must obey the orders of God."

"I have to obey the Emperor's order."

Old Zhu snorted coldly and said, "How dare a small country like you call yourself the 'Emperor'?"

"Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, is wise enough to bear witness to this." Ashikaga Yoshimitsu immediately complained, "It is precisely because he claims to be the 'Emperor' and a descendant of 'Amaterasu' that he is dissatisfied with the Ming Dynasty."

"Because the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty also calls himself the 'Son of Heaven'."

"He felt that this was an insult to the gods, so he killed the Ming envoys, humiliated the Ming envoys, and ordered the warriors to come to Ming to burn, kill and loot."

"All of this is the will of His Majesty the Emperor. It has nothing to do with me!"

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's entire family was killed, and he himself was taken to the Ming Dynasty to be punished.

In Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's heart, the person he hated the most was not Zhu Yunhuan, but Emperor Go-Komatsu of Japan.

Unlike the common people of Japan, the emperor was never a sacred and inviolable existence in the eyes of the shogun, but a puppet used by successive shoguns to control their subjects.

But now, the puppet jumped out and killed his entire clan.

The entire shogunate was killed.

He hates it!
Hate to the extreme!
The "chamber pot" that he used actually turned against him.

I clearly have never treated him unfairly.

He was provided with good food and drink and kept like a bird in a cage.

He was never allowed to go hungry.

This damn guy is so ungrateful that he actually killed my entire shogunate family!
If we had known this would happen, we would have killed the emperor and made a young child the emperor.

Or he could simply use his own son Li Tao to be the emperor.

Could that puppet still resist?
It’s all my fault that I’m too soft-hearted!

At this point, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu only wanted to provoke the anger of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and make him kill the Emperor.

To avenge his family.

"Smooth words and charming words."

"Today, you still refuse to admit your guilt?"

"We have received a report that you are preparing to mobilize your entire army to attack the Ming Dynasty."

"It was just that they happened to encounter our Ming Navy expeditionary fleet, and were completely wiped out."

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu shouted: "It's unfair!"

"Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, I have always had only yearning and admiration for the Ming Dynasty."

"No offense intended."

"At that time, I decided to send troops to the Ming Dynasty because I was completely deceived by the Ming traitor Huang Zicheng."

"This matter has already been investigated, and His Majesty the Emperor will know once he asks!"

Old Zhu was slightly stunned, then asked: "What's going on?"

Zhu Yunhuan never reported Huang Zicheng's matter, so Zhu Yunhuan did not know about it.

The eunuch who had delivered the imperial edict earlier immediately stepped forward and recounted Huang Zicheng's story in detail.

The father-in-law who can work for Lao Zhu are all capable.

As early as when I saw Huang Zicheng being detained together with Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, I went to inquire about the whole story.

Even if Lao Zhu didn't ask now, he would have to report it later.

"All nine clans should be killed! All nine clans should be killed! All nine clans should be killed!" After hearing what he said, Old Zhu was so angry that his veins popped out.

In order to change the crown prince, he did not hesitate to take the opportunity of visiting Japan to persuade Japan to send troops to the Ming Dynasty.

Not only did he promise to allow Japan to burn, kill and loot at will, but he also signed a traitorous agreement that required Japan to pay tribute of several million yuan a year, cede the land of Zhejiang, and have Japan send people to supervise the court!

How dare such a person call himself a disciple of a saint?

What made Zhu Yuanzhang even more angry was that was it really true that no one in the court knew that Huang Zicheng did such a thing?
If he wanted Japan to send troops, he would definitely collude with certain ministers in the court so that they could cooperate from inside and outside.

Why did no one take the initiative to report to the court before?
"Investigate, tell our rebellious grandson that the matter of Huang Zicheng must be investigated thoroughly."

"No matter who is involved, we will kill them all without mercy."

He suddenly remembered something and waved his hand again, motioning the eunuch to come closer.

He whispered in his ear, "Go and remind him to use Huang Zicheng's case to make a fuss. This will be a good opportunity to purge those who secretly oppose him and those forces that want to oppose him openly or secretly!"

The eunuch's body trembled, his expression horrified, and he hurriedly said, "I obey your order."

Old Zhu added: "Don't say that this was our idea. We don't care that much about that rebellious grandson."

My father-in-law almost couldn't hold back his laughter, so he quickly twisted his facial muscles to keep a serious expression.

Zhu turned to look at Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and said, "Send this Japanese general back to Jinling City and interrogate him strictly to see if there are other people in Ming Dynasty who are colluding with Japan." The eunuch received the order and was about to leave when Zhu remembered something and said, "However, the title of Japanese 'Emperor' he mentioned is indeed inappropriate."

"You are just a tiny country living overseas, and you dare to call yourself the 'Emperor'?"

“This title needs to be changed.”

"There are many bandits in Japan. The so-called 'Emperor' of Japan is, in our opinion, the leader of the bandits."

"In the Ming Dynasty, we call the bandits who occupy the mountains as kings 'the Great King'. Let's look at the 'Emperor' of Japan, who is also a sea king and an island king."

"From now on, we should change the name from 'Emperor' to 'King'."

Old Zhu made the final decision.

Someone immediately took Ashikaga Yoshimitsu back and conveyed the order to change the title of "Emperor" of Japan to "King".

Lao Zhu's team did not stop and soon set off again, heading straight for Suzhou.

……

Jinling Palace.

Zhu Yunhuan immediately took the imperial edict from Emperor Zhu and summoned all civil and military officials.

When the decree was announced, everyone in the court was shocked.

Rumors about the reform of the clan system have been circulating for a long time.

But in the expectations of many ministers, the reform plan they analyzed was first to reduce the salaries of princes of the royal family.

Someone had previously proposed to reduce the prince's salary from 50,000 dan of rice to 10,000 dan, and the same applies to other items.

The same is true for other titles.

In this way, the expenditure required is greatly reduced and it can be maintained for many years.

But I never expected that the reforms announced by His Majesty would lead to a complete demotion of inheritance.

The son of a prince will not be able to inherit the throne, but can only be a prince of a county.

If he was not the eldest son, he would be directly demoted to a general guarding the country.

This still requires passing an assessment.

If you fail the assessment, you will be demoted one level.

The original rank of Fengguo lieutenant could not be lowered any further, but the new royal family system allowed the rank of the clan to be lowered to the level of a commoner.

At the same time, the restriction that prohibited royal family members from doing business or engaging in any other occupation for a living was also lifted.

The welfare of royal family members was greatly reduced, and they were required to fend for themselves.

Of course, there is a way to obtain a title that will never be demoted.

But the conditions are extremely harsh, and one must have made great contributions to the court.

Many people immediately sensed a different meaning in this imperial edict.

This is to encourage the princes to expand the territory for the Ming Dynasty!
Because only in this way can one achieve unparalleled merit and obtain an iron hat title that will never be demoted.

This also means that the national policy of the entire Ming Dynasty, and even the foundation of the country, will undergo a fundamental change.

From defending the current territory to comprehensive outward expansion.

For a moment, many ministers were stunned.

One of the things that scholars like to advise the emperor the most is that he should not be too ambitious and launch foreign wars at will.

It can be said that if there had been no foreign invasion, at least eighty to ninety percent of the people in the court would have been anti-war.

I have to say that the Chinese are really a very peace-loving nation.

Since ancient times, war has only become the main theme in the courts of various countries when the Central Plains are divided.

For example, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the time of the Three Kingdoms.

Once unification is achieved, no one will want to expand outward.

This is certainly due to geographical factors, because the land surrounding the Central Plains is all wild and uncultivated and does not bring any benefits.

On the other hand, it can also be seen that the Chinese nation is naturally fond of shutting themselves in and living their own lives.

Foreign wars are often fought as a counterattack against foreign invasions.

Sending troops to conquer or even to control those places was usually only to use those places as barriers for the Central Plains, expand the scope of defense, and protect the Central Plains from invasion.

This is a completely different way of thinking from the development of colonies during the Western Age of Exploration.

The Chinese nation has never thought of enslaving other nations. All they wanted was to educate the barbarians in foreign lands and guide them to become civilized people.

Of course, there is a bit of arrogance in this.

After all, in the eyes of the Chinese people, the Central Plains is the center of the world and the best place in the world, far superior to the barbaric lands outside.

Since he has already occupied the best place in the world, of course he doesn't want any other shabby places.

Not only are there no benefits or profits, but it is also laborious and time-consuming to manage.

But no matter what, under the influence of this mentality and culture, the Chinese nation has indeed become the most peace-loving and most opposed to external expansion nation.

This imperial edict, ostensibly for the purpose of reforming the royal family system, actually meant changing everything.

From then on, the Ming Dynasty will embark on large-scale external expansion.

This also means that there may no longer be peaceful and comfortable days in the future, only endless wars.

Thinking of this, the ministers in the court could no longer sit still!

……

(End of this chapter)