Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 14: Military Affairs Office, Marriage or Not? [Seeking Follow-up Reading]

Facing Zhu Yuanzhang's sighing and unwilling expression, Liu Kuan also sighed: "For the Ming Dynasty, Your Majesty's dismissal of the prime minister is indeed in vain."

"But for the Qing Dynasty, which followed the Ming Dynasty, your majesty's experience of abolishing the prime minister and centralizing power was invaluable. It can be said that it paved the way for the Qing Dynasty, a dynasty where imperial power reached its peak."

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know what the situation was like in the Qing Dynasty at this time. Considering that Liu Kuan had previously said that the peasant army had captured Beijing, he thought it was a Han dynasty similar to the Ming Dynasty that he established through the Red Turban Rebellion.

He just frowned slightly and asked curiously: "Why do you say that?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty has deposed the Prime Minister and forced me and the Crown Prince to work tirelessly on state affairs. The Crown Prince even died from overwork."

"At the same time, Your Majesty was also busy with state affairs and neglected to care for Empress Ma and other family members. While this cannot be said to be the primary cause of the deaths of the Imperial Grandson, Empress, and Crown Prince, it definitely had a certain impact."

"However, after Your Majesty abolished the Prime Minister and the Secretariat, for more than two hundred years after the Ming Dynasty, the emperor still needed to rely on the cabinet and the chief minister, while competing with them for power, and even allowed eunuchs to interfere in politics."

"In fact, one of the main reasons why the Ming Dynasty fell was that it was caught up in factional struggles centered around the cabinet, eunuchs, and imperial power."

"In other words, although Your Majesty and the Ming Dynasty have made great efforts, they have never been able to properly handle the relationship between imperial power and prime ministerial power. Isn't this just a waste of the prime minister?"

"The Qing Dynasty, which succeeded the Ming Dynasty, drew inspiration and experience from the Ming Dynasty and still chose to establish a cabinet."

"But outside the cabinet, the Grand Council was established, rather than relying on eunuchs to control the government. This led to a more stable dynasty with highly centralized imperial power."

Although Liu Kuan’s previous theory of “the prime minister’s position was wasted” made Zhu Yuanzhang very depressed.

But when Liu Kuan mentioned the Grand Council of the Qing Dynasty, his interest piqued, and he immediately asked, "What is the Grand Council?"

Liu Kuan knew that if he wanted the Ming Dynasty to embark on a path of rapid development, he must first straighten out the Ming Dynasty's system.

During the Hongwu period, the Ming Dynasty court was still in its early stages of establishment, and various departments, institutions, and official positions were experimental in nature.

This can be seen from the fact that Zhu Yuanzhang changed the official positions of the six ministries, abolished the prime minister and the Secretariat, and successively established four auxiliary officials, grand secretaries, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The reason why he wanted to explain the affairs of the Cabinet and the Grand Council to Zhu Yuanzhang today was that he hoped Zhu Yuanzhang would stop conducting random experiments and directly copy the answers from later history.

He recalled and said, "The Grand Council was originally a temporary institution used by the Qing emperor to summon cabinet ministers to assist in handling military and political affairs."

"Later, the Qing emperors found that the Grand Council could help them effectively control imperial power, so they kept it."

"But the Grand Council was always a temporary institution. The ministers who were summoned to work there, although they were called upon to hold the title of Grand Councilor, were only part-time. Their dismissal was a matter of a single word from the emperor."

"In the Ming Dynasty, cabinet ministers were selected by the ministers. The court selected a few people and recommended them to the emperor, who would then choose those who could join the cabinet."

"Therefore, compared with the cabinet ministers, the Grand Councillors, who can be appointed or dismissed by the emperor at a word, are obviously more useful."

After listening to Liu Kuan's description, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded continuously, thinking that the team model of the Grand Council plus the Cabinet was really useful for the emperor.

Zhu Biao hesitated and said, "The imperial power is so great. If a tyrant ruler appears, wouldn't it be easy for the people to suffer and even for the country to perish?"

Liu Kuan said, "That's true. However, the Qing Dynasty adopted a secret system of appointing the heir. Counting from the time Nurhaci established the Later Jin Dynasty, the dynasty lasted for 296 years and had twelve emperors, all of whom were known to be wise rulers."

Old Zhu and Little Zhu showed surprised expressions again.

Zhu Yuanzhang then felt uncomfortable - his Ming Dynasty only lasted for 276 years, and the Qing Dynasty that came after it actually lasted 20 years longer than the Ming Dynasty. Doesn't this mean that his Ming Dynasty was inferior to the Qing Dynasty?

In addition, how could he dare to claim that all the twelve emperors were wise rulers? How is that possible?

"How is this possible?" Zhu Biao asked a similar question. "If all twelve emperors were wise rulers, how could the Qing Dynasty have fallen?"

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "It's true that the Qing dynasty's descendants boast that all twelve emperors were wise rulers, but compared to the emperors after the Ming dynasty, the Qing dynasty truly didn't produce a single emperor who was clearly incompetent."

"As for how the Qing Dynasty fell, that's very simple." At this point, Liu Kuan's smile unconsciously faded, his expression becoming grim. "Because it was the Manchu Qing Dynasty, a minority ruling over a majority, rather than a Han dynasty."

"They were more wary of the Han Chinese than of foreign enemies. They were ignorant of the Han people, complacent and self-contained, and deliberately ignored the great changes that had not happened in 3,000 years. As a result, China fell behind the world's powers and suffered a century of humiliation..."

At this point, Liu Kuan's stomach suddenly growled, ruining the atmosphere and drawing him out of his thoughts. Looking up, seeing the sun nearing zenith, Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, the history of the Qing Dynasty is no less profound than that of the Ming Dynasty. How about we discuss this another day?"

Zhu Biao felt embarrassed and was about to agree.

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "We have already asked the Queen to prepare a family banquet. We can go to eat later. It doesn't matter if we wait for a while."

"Ever since we drove out the barbarians and destroyed the Yuan Dynasty, people have said, 'The barbarians can't last a hundred years.' But how did the Qing Dynasty manage to last nearly three hundred years? What was the origin of this?"

Liu Kuan could only explain, "The Manchu Qing dynasty originated from the Jianzhou Jurchens—well, the name Jianzhou Jurchens probably doesn't exist now. It was probably the name Your Majesty gave to a certain Jurchen tribe that defected from Goryeo after he conquered Liaodong."

"At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Jianzhou Jurchens first annexed other Jurchen tribes, and later incorporated some Han Chinese and Mongolians from Liaodong, first calling themselves the Later Jin, and later changing the Jurchen name to Manchu, establishing the Qing Dynasty."

"After the peasant army captured Beijing, the Qing army entered the country under the banner of revenge for Emperor Chongzhen, and successively conquered the Dashun and Dashi empires established by the peasant army, and later destroyed the Southern Ming Dynasty, unifying the country."

"The Qing rulers bribed Han gentry and landlords, and with the experience of previous dynasties like the Ming Dynasty to draw on, they were able to avoid various institutional drawbacks and establish a more complete court system, thus enjoying the country for nearly 300 years."

"I see." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded at first, then revealed his murderous intent without disguising it. "The Jianzhou Jurchens... According to you, they were originally just slaves who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty. They actually devoured their master and came to power. They truly deserve to be killed!"

Zhu Biao said, "The Manchus were able to rule the Central Plains for nearly three hundred years as barbarians, which is quite unusual. As they ruled over a large number with a small number of people, it was inevitable that they would be wary of the Han people."

"But what is this tremendous change that hasn't happened in 3,000 years? And how did it cause China to suffer a century of humiliation?"

The word "China" is not unique to later generations, but has existed for a long time.

In the "Edict to the Central Plains" drafted by Song Lian, a great Confucian scholar in the early Ming Dynasty for Zhu Yuanzhang, the opening line reads: Since ancient times, emperors have ruled the world by placing China inside to control the barbarians, and the barbarians outside to serve China. I have never heard of placing barbarians in the middle to control the world.

Therefore, "China" has long been used to refer to the land where the Chinese people live and multiply.

Liu Kuan did not answer Zhu Biao's question, but said: "Your Highness, this matter is longer than the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Let's talk about it another day."

"Hahaha," Zhu Yuanzhang laughed heartily and said, "Master Liu must be extremely hungry. In that case, let's go back to the palace to eat!"

Zhu Biao said apologetically, "I was just too anxious, please don't be offended, Master Liu."

Liu Kuan said, "Since I am staying in Daming, there will be plenty of opportunities to talk about future affairs in the future. Your Highness does not need to worry."

"Shall we return to the palace?"

Liu Kuan took another deep look at the Yangtze River Bridge from the city gate tower. Seeing that it still stood across the river with no sign of "flying away", he sighed lightly and followed Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao down the stairs.

···
Because Liu Kuan was still an outsider, the family banquet prepared by Empress Ma was not held in the Qianqing Palace or other palaces in the harem, but in the "dining room" specially used for entertaining ministers, the Dashan Hall to the west of the imperial kitchen.

Out of curiosity about Liu Kuan, Empress Ma informed Zhu Yuanzhang and then appeared in the Dashan Hall.

When the group met, Zhu Biao introduced them warmly, "Master Liu, this is my mother."

Liu Kuan glanced at the elegant yet kind-looking middle-aged woman before him, then quickly averted his gaze, bowed, and said, "Liu Kuan pays respects to the Empress!"

After Liu Kuan stood up, Empress Ma looked him over carefully with a smile on her face. She then asked, "What a handsome young man! How old are you? Is he married?"

Liu Kuan had never expected to travel back to the Ming Dynasty and see female elders asking about his age and whether he was married. He felt a little uncomfortable, but still replied, "I am actually 26 years old and still unmarried."

For a moment, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao and Empress Ma all looked surprised.

One was that they were surprised at Liu Kuan's age - because Liu Kuan looked relatively young to them, as if he was in his early twenties, but they didn't expect that he was the same age as Zhu Biao.

The second reason is that I am surprised that Liu Kuan is still unmarried at this age.

It should be noted that Zhu Biao, who was the same age as him, was already the father of several children.

　Please collect it and read it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)