The Ming Dynasty: The opening scene features Zhu Di angrily accusing him of illegitimate succession.

Before Li Zhigang could finish speaking, Lin Yue suddenly took a step forward and spat on the ground, once again causing an uproar among the officials.

Everyone agrees that you can accuse the emperor of usurpation, but if you directly attack the ministers of the court, then everyone will have to defend the dignity of civil officials.

"Pah! You despicable scoundrel!" Lin Yue pointed at Li Zhigang, the Minister of Rites, and launched a furious attack.

"You, Li Zhigang, a mere sycophant, dare to discuss matters of national importance? Do you even deserve to talk about the atmosphere of the court?!"

Lin Yue puffed out his chest and flicked his green robe, making it flutter loudly.

"Emperor Taizu Gao established the Ministry of Rites so that you could correct etiquette and speak frankly, not so that you could be a sycophant who tries to guess the emperor's intentions and blindly obeys him in everything!"

You are only good at flattering and sycophancy, and you dare not utter a single word of honest advice. A spineless person like you is a disgrace to civil officials and a disgrace to the court!

What I, Lin Yue, despise most is a sycophant like you!

Li Zhigang turned pale with anger, trembling all over. He pointed at Lin Yue, his lips quivering, "How dare you slander me like this! I am loyal to my country, how can I allow you to defame me like this?"

"Slander?" Lin Yue interrupted sharply, his voice drowning out Li Zhigang's explanation. "Do you dare to tell the world that those words you just uttered about showing compassion for your relatives and that the relocation of your fiefdom was an act of grace, and that weren't just sycophantic remarks to curry favor with the emperor?"

Li Zhigang, enraged, staggered back half a step and retorted, "You...you're being insolent! The ancestral precepts of the Great Ancestor Emperor Gaozu state that one should be considerate of one's relatives and allow the princes..."

Lin Yue immediately interrupted, his tone becoming increasingly sharp: "You say His Majesty's relocation of the fiefdoms is to keep the princes away from the harsh and cold lands, but I think it's because he's afraid the princes will hold military power and get in His Majesty's way!"

Emperor Taizu Gao enfeoffed princes to protect the imperial family and the nation, and to command troops to guard the borders and protect the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

But what about now? The princes' guards have been taken back, their military power seized, and they have only been given some gold, silk, and land. The princes who should have been guarding the four directions have been turned into a group of idle people living in luxury and doing nothing.

Emperor Taizu Gaozu's founding of the Ming Dynasty was arduous, and he instructed his descendants to guard the borders and defend the country, so that the imperial family would live and die with the Ming Dynasty!

You, Li Zhi, keep talking about the ancestral precepts of the Ming Dynasty, but you deliberately misinterpret their meaning to help His Majesty cover up the fact that he is weakening power, saying things like "the land of plenty enjoys peace and prosperity."

"By stripping them of their military power and duties, and keeping them confined with high-ranking positions and generous salaries, you are clearly treating the Ming imperial family like parasites. Isn't this a betrayal of the Taizu Emperor?!"

"Enough!" Zhu Di abruptly interrupted, "Lin Yue! You have repeatedly disobeyed my orders and insulted ministers. Do you really think I dare not punish you?!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Yue's face lit up with joy. He immediately raised his head, took half a step forward, and said loudly, "If Your Majesty wishes to punish someone, then punish me for 'speaking frankly'!"

If you want to kill me, then kill me for my crime of "upholding ancestral precepts"!

"What I, Lin Yue, must say today comes from the bottom of my heart, and every word is worthy of the founding emperor, the Great Emperor, and worthy of the Ming Dynasty!"

Lin Yue stared at Zhu Di and said emphatically, "If Your Majesty truly wants to be a sage ruler, you should dismiss sycophantic villains like Li Zhigang, restore the military power of the princes, and abide by the ancestral precepts!"

If we insist on keeping our imperial relatives and princes in captivity and betray our ancestral precepts, the Ming Dynasty will be in grave danger!

Zhu Di was still relatively calm, but Li Zhigang was trembling with anger. He pointed at Lin Yue, his lips quivering for a long time before his vision went black and he fainted.

Officials from the Ministry of Rites rushed forward to help, and chaos erupted in the square.

Zhu Di stared at Lin Yue for a long time, then suddenly sneered: "I bestow high-ranking official positions and generous salaries upon the princes, allowing them to stay away from the flames of war and enjoy peace. What's wrong with that?"

Must we grant them command of large armies and command them on the frontiers to be considered treating our relatives well? You constantly spout ancestral precepts, yet you fail to understand that my actions are precisely to prevent internal strife among the clan. Is this also considered weakening the power of the princes and mistreating our relatives?!

"Your Majesty's words are utterly wrong!" Lin Yue's voice was loud and clear, displaying a spirit of fearlessness in the face of death.

"How foolish Your Majesty is! You cannot even grasp the profound meaning behind the enfeoffment by the founding emperor!"

Lin Yue raised his hand and pointed straight to the north, saying loudly: "Emperor Taizu Gao established nine border kings to guard the vast border from Liaodong to Gansu. The Prince of Ning guarded Daming, the Prince of Jin guarded Taiyuan, and the Prince of Dai guarded Datong. The kings formed a defensive triangle, keeping the remnants of the Mongols firmly outside the Great Wall!"

Now Your Majesty has relocated the Prince of Ning to Jiangxi and taken back the guards of the Princes of Dai and Jin, turning the princes who should be guarding the frontier into a group of idle people who only know how to enjoy themselves. If a powerful enemy from the north marches south, the Great Wall will be left undefended. Who will guard the nation's gates for Your Majesty?!

Zhu Di angrily said, "If there are foreign enemies, I will personally lead the army to protect the world!"

"I have spent half my life fighting, and neither the Tatars nor the Oirats are my match. Why should I rely on princes?"

"Your Majesty is valiant, I am naturally aware of it!" Lin Yue acknowledged Zhu Di's military capabilities, but then changed the subject and asked a follow-up question.

"But can His Majesty personally lead troops into battle for the rest of his life?"

A century from now, if future generations produce incompetent rulers, like the Jianwen Emperor who lacked military knowledge and readily trusted treacherous officials, then the northern border defenses will be lost, and foreign cavalry will sweep south. Who will protect the people then?

Zhu Di was stunned.

You know what, it's true. What if one of his descendants is a spendthrift like Zhu Yunwen?

No one knew better than Zhu Di how incompetent the Jianwen Emperor was.

Seeing Emperor Yongle remain silent, Lin Yue looked around with disdain and said loudly, "Your Majesty is determined to move the capital to Beiping and place the capital on the front line of the northern border!"

However, Beiping is located on the border. Without the protection of the border king, the capital would be directly exposed to the enemy's military might!

The imperial court would need to mobilize the entire nation's military to protect the capital, inevitably diverting immense resources. At that point, how could it possibly have the focus to control the Jiangnan region?

Lin Yue was beaming with joy, showing no sign of his successful remonstrance, only the exhilaration of a great victory in the debate.

Haha, the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty are really in a mess; you can't win an argument with them!

Lin Yue, you win!

Lin Yue spoke faster and more passionately: "Jiangnan is the foundation of the Ming Dynasty's tax revenue. The five prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou account for 30% of the country's tax revenue. If the Ming Dynasty moves its capital to Beiping and is affected by the war, how can the court manage the important affairs of the country if it cannot collect taxes from Southern Zhili?"

Without tax revenue, the capital will continue to be bleed dry by foreign enemies, border wars will rage on, and resentment will boil over in the south as taxes become increasingly difficult to collect. The Ming dynasty will collapse in an instant!

Zhu Di's expression gradually turned serious as he fell into deep thought.

Although Lin Yue was arrogant and spoke rather extreme and reckless, many of his suggestions were still good.

At least, the scenario we're discussing now—the abolition of the various kingdoms, the relocation of the capital to Beiping, the bleeding out of the country by foreign enemies, and the decline of control over the south—is quite possible.

Seeing that Zhu Di remained silent, Lin Yue pressed his advantage.

"Has Your Majesty forgotten the lessons of the Song Dynasty?"

The Northern Song Dynasty abandoned the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, leaving them defenseless. Ultimately, the Jin Dynasty captured Bianjing (Kaifeng), and its two emperors were taken prisoner. The Southern Song Dynasty retreated to the south of the Yangtze River, cowering along its banks, and was eventually destroyed by the Mongols. China was submerged, and the Han people were enslaved by a foreign race!

Lin Yue stared intently at Zhu Di, his eyes blazing.

"Today, the king of the border is stripped of his military power, and tomorrow the capital is moved to Beiping. He is consolidating his imperial power for his own selfish interests, destroying his own Great Wall and harming the world!"

If another powerful foreign enemy invades from the south, and the capital is in danger and taxes are cut off, will Your Majesty's descendants be captured and humiliated like Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong of Song?

Must my Ming Dynasty suffer another devastating catastrophe, with the entire land sinking to the ground?!