Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 190 The Ming Dynasty expands its territory, starting today! Huang Zicheng's followers!
"This move may be inappropriate. Should we make a decision after the court discussion?"

"If we drastically reduce the royal family's benefits, I'm afraid those princes who hold heavy military power will become disloyal."

"This is a matter of great importance, so it's better to discuss it more."

The officials first discussed the matter, and soon someone stood up and made a suggestion.

"Your Highness, I think it is inappropriate to relax the restrictions on the royal family and allow them to engage in business freely and to engage in any occupation to make a living."

"The royal family's children have a special status and are difficult for court officials to control."

"If they are allowed to do what they want without any control, many of them will definitely bully others by taking advantage of their power."

"This will certainly greatly damage the prestige of the court and the reputation of the royal family. I hope Your Highness will think twice."

He did not directly say that it was inappropriate to allow the princes to expand territory and establish achievements, but instead he seized on the provision of allowing the children of the royal family to make a living on their own.

It is obvious that he has mastered the essence of "making a feint to the east and attacking in the west" in officialdom.

All the officials seconded the motion.

"Yes, the local government certainly can't control those royal family members."

"The court has a system of discussing relatives and nobles, which is in accordance with etiquette and law. But if we allow the royal family members to compete with the people for profit, and then discuss relatives and nobles after committing crimes, how will the people view the court?"

"Once this precedent is set, there will be endless troubles!"

Someone else stood up and retorted: "What are you arguing about? This is His Majesty's order, not His Royal Highness's decision. What's the point of arguing in front of His Royal Highness?"

In fact, everyone understands it in their hearts.

Although the imperial edict was issued by the emperor, this matter was undoubtedly the idea of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

But after all, it was not an official order from the Crown Prince, so those who supported Zhu Yunhuan could certainly use this point to refute it.

Zhu Yunhuan smiled faintly, and waited until the discussion among the crowd gradually died down before he spoke: "What everyone said makes sense."

"But in the past, it was difficult to discipline the royal family members because there were no means or measures to punish them."

"Unless someone has committed a heinous crime, otherwise, for ordinary things, the court will not easily punish them, and it is not easy to punish them."

"The title cannot be revoked casually, and punishing a member of the royal family is also beneath the dignity of the court."

"Most of the time they just give a scolding, and the royal family members naturally feel safe and secure."

"But now that the royal family system has been reformed, things are different."

"If anyone commits crimes again and oppresses the people, his title will be stripped."

"Once you commit a crime, you will be demoted from prince to duke. If you commit a second crime, you will be demoted to general guarding the country. If you commit a third crime, you will be demoted to general supporting the country, and so on until you are a commoner."

"From my point of view, there shouldn't be any royal family members who are stupid enough to keep committing crimes, right?"

The court suddenly became quiet.

The officials looked at each other, unable to utter a word of rebuttal.

That's right.

If they face the punishment of being stripped of their title for committing a crime, the children of the royal family will indeed be very cautious.

It was also easy for local officials to control them.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince has a point. As the Chief of the Imperial Clan, I will definitely discipline the clan members strictly, and those who should be stripped of their titles will be punished without hesitation." Zhu Di stood up to support.

When officials say that clan members are difficult to discipline when they commit crimes, isn't that tantamount to saying that he, the clan leader, is not doing a good job of disciplining them?
Of course Zhu Di had to stand up to clear his name.

What's more, the new clan system formulated by Zhu Yunhuan was extremely unfavorable to other vassal kings and clan members.

But for Zhu Di, that was not necessarily the case.

After all, he is now the head of the clan, and his two sons are in charge of the Taxation Bureau and the Ming Manufacturing Bureau respectively.

No matter how you look at it, his chances of achieving success are much greater than those of other princes' sons.

Although it was obvious that Zhu Yunhuan was luring people to confer the title of Iron-Hat Prince and grant them a hereditary title, the imperial court still had to confer the title on a few people.

Otherwise, how can we motivate people?

There is no doubt that Zhu Di's descendants were the most likely to be granted the title.

Of course, Zhu Di would not oppose the new clan system.

"Your Highness, if the princes need to make great achievements in order to obtain the hereditary title, they will definitely start foreign wars. If this happens, there will be no peace in the court or the country."

Finally, an official hit the nail on the head and said what he cared about most.

Once someone takes the lead, others will no longer hide anything.

"Yes, doesn't this encourage the princes to use foreign troops wantonly?"

"War is a matter of great importance to a country. It is a matter of life and death, a matter of survival and destruction. We must not start a war lightly!"

"Now that the world is unified and at peace, who is the imperial court planning to attack?"

"If the world had not yet been unified, there would be no harm in using military force, and we would fully support it. But now that the Ming Dynasty has unified the world, how can we use force lightly?"

"This barbaric land is separated from the Ming Dynasty by mountains and seas. Even if we gain control of this land and its people, we will not be able to use them. It will be useless to us!"

"If wars continue, the people will not have peace, and the Ming Dynasty will be unstable!"

“Although this decree was well-intentioned, the consequences it caused were difficult to predict.”

"Your Highness, please think twice!"

"Your Highness, please ask His Majesty to withdraw his order."

Zhu Yunhuan picked up the tea on the table, took a sip, and listened to them calmly.

After a full quarter of an hour, the officials finally stopped talking and looked up at Zhu Yunhuan.

"That's right. The new royal family system is to encourage princes and royal family members to make contributions to the country and expand the territory."

When these words were spoken, all the officials were stunned.

Your Highness, the Crown Prince, is he simply going to give up even the superficial cover-up?
"But you are wrong about at least one thing. Although the wild land is separated from the Ming Dynasty by mountains and seas, it is not completely useless to the Ming Dynasty."

"Otherwise, how could I bring back 20 million taels of silver from this expedition?"

"Not to mention, there will be annual tribute income later."

Zhu Yunhuan slowly glanced at the crowd and said with a smile, "I know you are worried that the court's excessive military expansion will overwhelm the people."

"That's right!" A white-haired official stepped out and said, "A country may be great, but it will perish if it loves war."

"Your Highness the Crown Prince has returned victorious from his expedition to Japan, which is a great thing."

"But if we become complacent because of a victory and let the Ming Dynasty go into endless wars, that is absolutely unacceptable."

"Poor bones by the river, still the man in the spring girl's dream."

"A king should care about the people's livelihood. He should not waste the people's strength and drive them to fight in all directions just to achieve success. There are many lessons in this since ancient times. I hope Your Highness will think twice!"

Other officials also came out.

"Your Highness, please think twice!" "Your Highness, please think twice!"

"Your Highness, please think twice!"

Zhu Yunxun smiled faintly: "I know your concerns, but I tell you that I do not intend to expand the army to prepare for war."

"On the contrary, this palace has decided to reduce the military by one million."

After these words were spoken, everyone below was stunned again.

Isn't it about expanding the territory and launching expeditions to the surrounding barbarian countries?

How did it become disarmament again?

"Do you think that expanding our territory and conquering barbarians will cause countless Ming soldiers to die on horseback and be buried in a foreign land?"

"I'm telling you, you're wrong."

"During this expedition, I defeated the Japanese pirates, recovered Taiwan, and conquered Japan. However, none of the officers and soldiers of the Ming navy died on the battlefield."

"I have brought them all back, not one is missing."

Zhu Yunhuan's words were sonorous and powerful, and they were thought-provoking.

All the officials were extremely surprised.

Although I have read the battle reports before, except for the first battle report on the suppression of Japanese pirates in Wengshan County, the other battle reports only talked about what achievements were made and what were the gains, but never mentioned how many casualties the Ming Navy had suffered.

They guessed that the Ming Navy's casualties must be very small, but they never thought that not even a single person was killed in the battle.

"Now my Ming Dynasty has more than 1.8 million troops."

"I believe that the Ming Dynasty only needs elite soldiers and strong generals, not so many redundant soldiers and generals."

"The Ming Dynasty will not engage in excessive military expansion."

"Even if the Ming Dynasty wants to go abroad, it will not mobilize hundreds of thousands of people, and it will not let too many of our Ming people die in foreign lands."

"I will only send a small number of troops, just like a diplomatic mission to other countries, to tour the world."

"Are you satisfied with what I said?"

There was silence in the field.

Officials are still digesting this totally unexpected news.

disarmament?

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince actually wants to expand outward while reducing the military?
This……

If it were in the past, they would definitely think this was too outrageous.

How is it possible to carry out disarmament while waging foreign wars?
But when I think about the achievements of the Ming Navy, it seems reasonable.

If every army of the Ming Dynasty had the combat power of the Ming Dynasty navy, then the Ming Dynasty would not really need so many troops.

If it was just a small-scale military expedition, they would have no reason to object.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince is wise, and I have no objection."

At that moment, some officials quickly changed their positions and expressed their support.

"I have no objection either."

"I have no objection either."

Soon, all the officials changed their tune.

The vast majority of officials in the court supported disarmament.

If there was any opposition, it came from the nobles and generals who held military power.

But they themselves are Zhu Yunhuan's most staunch supporters.

Although he felt uneasy about disarmament, it was impossible for him to oppose his decision at this time.

"Since there is no objection, then this matter is settled."

"Order the Ministry of Rites to announce the imperial edict to the entire nation."

"It's getting late today, let's all go home."

Zhu Yunhuan waved his hand and ordered all officials to leave.

At this time, the eunuch who had come to convey the imperial edict returned to the palace.

"Your Majesty said that Japan is just a small country, how can the ruler of the country call himself the emperor? From now on, he should be called 'the king'."

Zhu Yunhuan was stunned.

king?

Wouldn't that mean the word "Emperor" has been removed from its beginning?

It’s quite meaningful!

There is still a sky above Japan, and that is the Ming Dynasty.

Only the Son of Heaven of the Ming Dynasty can be called the Emperor.

Isn’t the ruler of Japan the king?
"Does the Emperor have any other instructions?" Zhu Yunhuan asked.

"Your Majesty has asked me to bring Ashikaga Yoshimitsu back and interrogate him strictly to see if there are any other people in the Ming Dynasty who are colluding with Japan."

He walked closer and lowered his voice, saying, "I think Huang Zicheng should also be interrogated strictly. He must have accomplices in the court."

"Only by uncovering those people can His Royal Highness the Crown Prince govern the country smoothly and no one will dare to be his enemy."

Zhu Yunxi's eyes lit up.

Yup!

Why didn't I think of that?

Cracking down on big cases and eliminating enemies have always been Lao Zhu's forte!
The previous cases of Hu Weiyong, Empty Seal, and Guo Huan killed countless people and completely consolidated the authority of Emperor Hongwu.

Isn't it possible to make use of Huang Zicheng right now?
Whoever opposes himself and the new policies that are about to be implemented is Huang Zicheng's accomplice!
Wonderful!

Huang Zicheng's crimes are too numerous to list.

As soon as it is announced, it will surely draw condemnation from all over the world.

So who is Huang Zicheng's accomplice? How many people are hiding in the court and in local areas who are colluding with Japan? We need to investigate thoroughly.

The local gentry who opposed the taxation department's taxation, the generals who deliberately opposed the court during the disarmament, or other ministers who opposed him...

That's right!

These people must be Huang Zicheng's accomplices and traitors of the Ming Dynasty who are colluding with Japan!
Zhu Yunhuan was so happy that he couldn't help himself and started to plan immediately.

……

(End of this chapter)