Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 326 Panic! Plan and Mercy!

Just last night, King Zhou Zhu Su told him that Zhu Gaoxu agreed to help the kings.

A large number of muskets and artillery were taken out from the Ming Dynasty military factory to arm the three guards brought by each king.

If this is true, the three guards of the kings will immediately become a powerful army.

At least, Feng Sheng was confident that he could train the three new guards brought by King Zhou into a strong army.

You know, according to the Ming system, one guard had more than 5,600 soldiers and horses, and the three guards had 16,800 soldiers.

Of course, this is just the number of establishment, not the actual strength of the troops.

Ordinary garrisons had many vacancies, and in fact the number of soldiers in a garrison was often less than half of the established number.

However, the three personal guards of the princes are basically fully staffed.

Now that the kings have returned to the capital, the number of their personal troops alone, which they have brought back, is as high as over 100,000.

These people gathered outside the city of Jinling and formed a very powerful military force.

It turned out that there were nearly 200,000 troops directly under the imperial court stationed near the city of Jinling.

However, after Zhu Yunhuan came to power, the army was restructured and the old army was continuously disbanded.

The 200,000 troops stationed in Jinling City and its vicinity had long since disappeared.

Instead, there was a new army that had been rigorously trained and equipped with muskets and artillery.

Their number is much smaller than that of the original old army.

After sending six brigades of new troops north to attack the three Jurchen tribes and also sending several brigades to station in other provinces, there were only a dozen brigades of new troops left inside and outside the city of Nanjing.

Since the combat effectiveness of the new army far exceeds that of the old army, the new army with more than a dozen brigades and tens of thousands of troops has a combat effectiveness far exceeding the original 200,000 old army. It is enough to intimidate the capital and make the troops brought by the kings dare not act rashly.

But if the kings could get their hands on muskets and cannons, the situation would immediately be reversed.

After all, the total number of troops brought by the kings far exceeded the military strength of the imperial court near Nanjing.

If both sides use muskets and artillery, the number of troops will undoubtedly become a decisive factor.

But King Zhou just told him the news last night, and today Zhu Yunhuan suddenly strengthened the management of the military factory.

Every weapon that leaves the factory needs approval from the Government Affairs Office and permission from the military.

Once this order is notified, Zhu Gaoxu's plan to obtain weapons will fail.

Although he still holds the position of Minister of War, he can issue permits on behalf of the military.

But the Government Affairs Office was not so easy to deal with.

Of course, there are ways around this.

For example, let the generals below submit an application, and after receiving it, ask the Government Affairs Office for approval.

The Government Affairs Office has no reason to block it.

But if you do this, the number of weapons you can get will be limited.

The most important point is, how could this happen so coincidentally?

Why did Zhu Yunhuan issue such an imperial decree at this time?
Although the cause of the incident was still the request for instructions from the military.

However, the daily "Military Intelligence Express" of the Military Affairs Office and the "Daily Briefing" of the Political Affairs Office may seem to have few words, but the content is highly concise, and in fact there are countless matters of various kinds.

Most of the time, Zhu Yunhuan just read the reports without making any comments.

Let the Military Affairs Department and the Political Affairs Department handle it on their own.

But today, the imperial decree was issued on this matter.

Could it be that Zhu Yunhuan already knew about what Prince of Zhou Zhu Su and Zhu Gaoxu discussed?
Is the imperial decree issued today just to warn me?
Feng Sheng had to think about it, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong.

Before I knew it, my hands and feet were getting cold and I was sweating.

He is not a coward who fears death.

Otherwise, there would not have been a rebellion back then.

But the situation today is very different from what it was back then.

At that time, Feng Sheng had nothing, but he dared to risk his life in exchange for wealth and glory.

If you lose the bet, you will just lose your life.

If you win the bet, you will be rich and prosperous for the rest of your life, and even your descendants will enjoy the blessing.

But now, he is the Duke of Song in the Ming Dynasty and is no longer the poor man who had nothing.

Why does he still want to gamble his life and fight?

Before, it was to protect himself, because he was worried that Zhu Yuanzhang or Zhu Yunhuan would kill him.

Now...is there any way out?

Feng Sheng felt extremely bitter.

At this time, Xu Huizu came over with a document with drafted terms and said with a smile, "Duke Song, please sign it and I will send someone to pass it on immediately."

Feng Sheng came back to his senses and took a look at the document. It was an order regarding the management of weapons in the military factory and the relocation of the ammunition depot. He couldn't help but be surprised again and asked, "So soon?"

In his impression, for general affairs, the emperor issued edicts to various departments, and each department received the edict and acted according to the edict. This time could be as fast as ten days to half a month, as slow as one or two months, or even three to five months.

But the imperial edict on strengthening the management of weapons in military factories had just been issued. Why did Xu Huizu come to him with the document for his signature?

Could it be that he had been prepared for this?
Xu Huizu smiled and said, "Although Duke Song was appointed as the Minister of Military Affairs, he was previously in Kaifeng and has only been back to court for a few days. He is not yet clear about the style of our Majesty's work."

"His Majesty has already issued strict orders that the Military Affairs Office and the Political Affairs Office must not delay any matters he has ordered to be done, and that matters must be completed on the same day."

"Let's first pass on the order according to His Majesty's will."

"The specific implementation details will be carefully considered later."

“This matter involves the Government Affairs Office and needs to be coordinated between the two parties.”

"Hurry up and finish it, so that we can report to His Majesty."

Zhu Yunhuan issued an imperial edict on this matter, but it was only issued to the Military Affairs Office and the Political Affairs Office, not to the military factory.

When it came to the officials of the military factory, what they got was a document jointly issued by the Military Affairs Department and the Political Affairs Department, not an imperial edict from His Majesty.

They didn't know whether this was His Majesty's will, nor did they need to know.

This is how the power of the court works.

For the people below, whether it was an order from the supreme ruler or whether the supreme ruler knew about it was unknown.

Through a certain degree of ambiguity and mystery, the direct conflicts between the supreme ruler and those below are reduced in order to maintain authority.

Feng Sheng quickly put on a smile and said, "Duke Wei is absolutely right. I will sign it now."

Zhu Yunhuan appointed a total of nine military ministers, among whom Lan Yu, Zhang Fu, Zhu Neng and others were still away, commanding the army to launch a war against the three Jurchen tribes.

Currently, there are only six military ministers in the capital.

Zhu Yunhuan established a rotation system and a duty system.

It is stipulated that regardless of any holiday, the Minister of War must have someone on duty at the Military Affairs Office to deal with urgent matters.

All orders issued by the Military Affairs Office must be signed by at least two or more Military Affairs Ministers, and the files must be kept and other Military Affairs Ministers must be notified.

For important matters, all military ministers in Beijing must sign collectively.

The same is true for the Government Affairs Office.

In addition to daily affairs, the Military Affairs Office and the Political Affairs Office had to seek permission from Emperor Zhu Yunhuan before issuing any orders.

However, in reality, apart from personally inquiring into major issues and important personnel appointments, Zhu Yunhuan basically tacitly approved requests from the Military Affairs Office and the Political Affairs Office.

After all, it was impossible for him to understand every detail; he didn't have that much time and energy.

Without understanding the situation, it would be reckless to issue an order at random.

It would be better to let the Military Affairs Department and the Political Affairs Department handle it themselves.

The emperor worked on the side, and the military ministers and political ministers came to see him and ask for his orders at any time. This method was probably the first in history.

Previously, it was not easy for officials to enter the palace to see the emperor. It was precisely because of this poor information transmission that officials had more room for independent operation.

Zhu Yunhuan's method undoubtedly greatly strengthened the imperial power.

For example, now, although Feng Sheng really wants to suppress and delay this matter, he dare not not sign.

The uneasiness in his heart was growing stronger.

There are six military ministers in Beijing, two of them are on leave today and four are on duty.

The management of weapons in military factories is just a general matter and only requires the signature of two war ministers.

Xu Huizu didn't go looking for anyone else, but came to him instead, which made Feng Sheng, who was already feeling guilty, very uneasy.

He didn't know that although His Majesty had set the rule that at least two people must sign it.

But normally, when the emperor issued an imperial edict, all the military ministers on duty in the Military Affairs Office would sign it.

Xu Huizu left quickly and gave it to the Minister of Military Affairs of the Military Affairs Office for signature, and then handed it over to the Political Affairs Office for signature.

Because the military factory was still under the management of the Imperial Assets Department under the Political Affairs Office, this order jointly signed by the Military Affairs Office and the Political Affairs Office was passed down by the Political Affairs Office.

Soon, the order was passed down.

In the past, even during the time when Zhu Yuanzhang was in power, such an order, after being passed to the six ministries, would usually take three to five days or even longer before being conveyed to the lower levels.

After all, the imperial edict only gave a very rough solution, and the specific implementation details still need to be carefully considered and formulated.

Apart from urgent military intelligence, for general government affairs, the transmission of official documents between departments has always been neither hurried nor slow.

However, Zhu Yunhuan's previous series of reforms and rectifications enhanced work efficiency and greatly shortened the process time.

His decree became an official document jointly signed by the Military Affairs Department and the Political Affairs Department and was issued that day.

……

Early in the morning, Zhu Gaoxu rushed to the Assets Department of the Ming Dynasty court to meet his brother Zhu Gaochi.

After leaving Zhou Wang Zhu Su last night, he couldn't wait.

If it weren't for the fact that it was too late and it would be inconvenient to do things at night and it would easily attract attention, he would have come here last night.

As soon as they met, Zhu Gaoxu immediately asked Zhu Gaochi to send his attendants away.

After there was no one else in the room, he explained in detail the purpose of his visit.

"Brother, you are in charge of the Assets Department of the Ming Dynasty. As long as you give an order to the military factories below in your name, they will never dare to disobey."

"I am the chief officer of the Ministry of Justice. With the official documents issued by me, all checkpoints along the way will be unimpeded."

"As long as we can smoothly deliver the weapons to the personal guards brought by the princes, they can collectively force the emperor to abdicate."

"Rescue the imprisoned Grandpa Emperor from the harem."

"At that time, Father, as the only eldest son still in the Ming Dynasty, and with our contribution in saving the emperor, he would definitely be made the crown prince."

"The status of you and me is no longer comparable."

However, after he finished speaking, Zhu Gaochi's face darkened and he said, "Didn't my father and I tell you that day not to have wishful thinking and not to act rashly? Why didn't you listen?"

"Brother, what a great opportunity this is!" Zhu Gaoxu was anxious and angry, and said, "He Zhu Yunhuan is just taking advantage of us, father and son, and brothers."

"I helped him get the tax commissioner job, so he transferred me to the Ministry of Justice and deliberately didn't give me any real power."

"And you, too. You worked hard to establish the Ming Manufacturing Bureau for him."

“Now we are finally on the right track.”

"He issued another imperial decree to dissolve the Ming Manufacturing Bureau and set up this damn Ming Imperial Assets Department."

"Although it still nominally manages the factories below, its actual power is nowhere near that of the Ming Dynasty Manufacturing Bureau at that time."

"Now, the Ministry of Assets of the Ming Dynasty needs the approval of the Ministry of Personnel even to appoint a factory manager, and the Censorate is still there to make decisions."

"But the power is much smaller than that of the Ming Dynasty Manufacturing Bureau."

"Loans from the Ming Bank and the court's investment money no longer go through the Ming court's asset department, but are directly distributed to the factories and companies below."

"The Ming Dynasty's Department of Assets only has the power to review."

"Brother, he is depriving you of your original power. Can't you see it?"

"He doesn't trust us at all and is always on guard against us."

Zhu Gaochi looked at him deeply.

He was a little speechless about his younger brother.

Isn't it normal for an emperor to be on guard against his subjects?

What's more, his family members are all royal relatives and have special status.

It would be strange if Zhu Yunhuan could trust them unconditionally.

Zhu Yunhuan was very generous in letting them do things and hold power.

"Have you told your father about this?"

After taking a deep breath, Zhu Gaochi asked.

Zhu Gaoxu said: "My father is old and always hesitates to do things."

"For this to succeed, we brothers must work together."

"Brother, think about it carefully. If father becomes the crown prince and becomes the emperor, and you are father's eldest son, then the throne will belong to you in the future, right?"

"Aren't you tempted at all? Don't you want to give it a try?"

In fact, Zhu Gaoxu's mind at this moment was full of thoughts about seizing the position of crown prince and becoming emperor in the future.

However, in order to convince his elder brother Zhu Gaochi, he could only persuade him in this way.

Zhu Gaochi looked at him deeply again and was about to say something, but at this moment, footsteps were heard outside, and he quickly shut up.

"Sir, the Military Affairs Department and the Political Affairs Department jointly issued an official document."

Zhu Gaochi was slightly startled.

Nowadays, the Military Affairs Department and the Political Affairs Department have separate offices and each is in charge of its own affairs. The Assets Department of the Ming Dynasty court is under the Political Affairs Department. This is the first time that the Military Affairs Department and the Political Affairs Department have jointly issued a document to them.

"Send it in." Zhu Gaochi ordered.

At that moment, someone pushed the door open and respectfully handed him an official document.

When Zhu Gaochi unfolded it and took a look, his eyelids couldn't help but twitch.

Immediately, he took a deep breath, his face slowly relaxed, and a smile appeared on his face.

"Don't let your fantasies run wild. Put aside your original thoughts." Zhu Gaochi casually handed the document to Zhu Gaoxu and said, "Read it yourself."

"From now on, all weapons and ammunition leaving the factory must have a document of approval from the Government Affairs Office, and also permission from the military?"

Zhu Gaoxu's pupils shrank slightly and he blurted out.

As a result, Zhu Gaochi's Ming Dynasty court finance department could no longer transfer weapons from the military factory.

Wouldn't all my plans go to waste?
Zhu Gaoxu felt as if a huge bell hit his heart. The painful and heavy feeling made it difficult for him to breathe in an instant.

Suddenly, he thought of something, jumped up and said, "There is another way."

"The military factory is still a subordinate department of the Ming Dynasty's Assets Department. This document jointly signed by the Political Affairs Office and the Public Affairs Office must be conveyed by the Ming Dynasty's Assets Department to the military factory."

"If you just withhold this document for a few days, the military factories below won't know about it."

"We can still proceed as planned."

He was so excited that he cheered for finding a solution.

Zhu Gaochi, who was standing next to him, looked at his brother as if he were a stranger, his eyes full of pity and sympathy.

……

(End of this chapter)