Father can be an enemy to the country

After listening to Zhu Zhen's words, Zhu Yuanzhang finally realized his previous misunderstanding, which was that he did not consider the consequences of being implicated.

Zhu Zhen’s words are by no means alarmist. In the previous case of Guo Huan, the gang from the Interrogation Department kept arresting people and extorting confessions. After confessions, they arrested people again and extorted confessions again. This cycle continued, and the scope continued to expand, almost wiping out all the government offices in the capital.

If such a "Guamanchao" were to appear in the army, the Ming army would definitely be injured and its combat effectiveness would be greatly reduced.

But Zhu Yuanzhang still didn't want to let those 'thought criminals' go so easily, so he said in a low voice:

"Anyway, the world has been settled, and Beiyuan is finished. Ming Dynasty doesn't need such a strong army. It's time to vigorously rectify it and scrape the bones to cure the poison."

"That's such a pity, isn't it?!" Zhu Zhen said with true emotion: "This army was built by my father alone - from only twenty-four brothers back then, it has grown to the point where it is invincible in the world today. It took thirty-four years! How many hardships and hardships did we go through? "

"Yingtian Mansion, Poyang Lake, Pingjiang City... After fierce battles one after another, we unified the north and south, regained Youyan, restored China, and finally destroyed the remaining Yuan in Mobei, sealed the wolf in Xu, and drank from the vast sea of ​​horses! How brilliant has this journey been? Looking at China for thousands of years, it is unique! How could we let them be destroyed by our own people?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was so excited when he was told by Zhu Zhen that this was all his life achievements. It turns out that they are all closely connected with this army.

After a while, he suppressed his surging heart and sighed:

"There is no way. Why did Zhao Kuangyin want to drink and release his military power? Because the stage of conquering the world immediately has passed, and he has to dismount from his horse and rule the world. Those soldiers who can only fight on horseback have become a burden to the country and even a danger. "

"Father, don't you hear that 'Although the world is safe, if you forget to fight, you will be in danger?'" Zhu Zhen retorted in a deep voice: "After the Western Jin Dynasty destroyed the Kingdom of Wu, Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty, Sima Yan, believed that there would be no more major wars, so he ordered the dissolution of the state. , and county troops, let the generals become civilian officials. "

"However, Du Yu quoted this sentence from "Sima Fa" and warned Emperor Wu of Jin that he should not think that after destroying Wu and unifying the world, he could sit back and relax. He himself also set an example and immediately returned to Xiangyang after destroying Wu to hold on to key areas. , staggered the troops and kept the troops on tight alert, 'treating nothing as if something happened', thus maintaining a stable situation for a long time." Zhu Zhen continued:

"But Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty did not take Du Yu's words to heart. After Du Yu's death, the Jin army's armaments were depleted, their swords and guns were put into storage, and their horses were released in Nanshan, giving opportunities to internal and external enemies. Soon the world was in chaos."

"In any case, abolition of martial arts is an extremely stupid and short-sighted move! Especially this dynasty! Why have we, the Han people, languished under the cavalry of the barbarians for hundreds of years? Isn't it because the Song Dynasty stupidly emphasized culture and suppressed military force, and the armaments were depleted? How long has it been since we used this invincible army to drive out the Tartars, restore China, and re-establish the Han Dynasty?" Then he spoke generously:

"Future generations should never forget the teachers of the past and must not follow the old path of the Song Dynasty. Therefore, we must always forge ahead and maintain a strong army!"

"But the sentence you just said, we remember that there is also the first half, which is 'Although the country is big, if it is warlike, it will perish'?" After listening to Zhu Zhen's long speech, Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "What do you mean by this? "

"Back to my father, being warlike does not necessarily lead to death. It's about fighting too many losing battles, and the more we fight, the more we lose, and the country becomes poorer and poorer, which is why problems arise." Zhu Zhen said with confidence:

"For example, the Qin, Han, and Tang Dynasties became stronger and stronger as they fought in the early stages of the dynasty, because the benefits gained from the war outweighed the losses! So as long as we don't fight at a loss, how can we bring down the country?"

"For this reason, the war must not be carried out on the mainland. It is best to stay away from the core area. In this way, the people in the country will not be affected by the war, the country can benefit from the war, and the national power will naturally become stronger. And the soldiers can also expand the territory through the war. , obtain meritorious service and fiefdom, naturally have strong fighting spirit.”

"You just say you want to continue to expand the border in the southwest, isn't that enough?" Zhu Yuanzhang said with a chuckle.

"My son didn't say that we have to expand to the southwest, but currently only the southwest seems to meet the conditions." Zhu Zhen said with a smile: "The success of the Shibo Division has eloquently proved that the profits of opening up to the south are huge. And other , no matter the direction is north or northwest, it is currently losing money, at least it will not be like the south direction, which only makes a profit but no loss. "

"Well..." The 20 million taels of silver handed over by the Prime Minister's Office every year were piled there like a mountain, leaving Boss Zhu unable to refute.

"Moreover, the strongest Luchuan Kingdom on the Indochina Peninsula has been destroyed by us with a small number of troops. This is enough to prove that the enemies in the southwest are far from being comparable to the threat of the grassland. Therefore, we can use a small number of troops and pay a limited cost, To gain huge profits. I can guarantee you that as long as you make decisions and act cautiously, you will definitely become richer and stronger as you fight!" Zhu Zhen said again.

"But continuing to fight will make the problem of arrogant soldiers more prominent, and it will easily make the military more powerful, thus threatening the rule of the imperial court." Zhu Yuanzhang asked: "What's the explanation for this?"

"In the southwest expansion, this problem almost does not exist." Zhu Zhen replied without hesitation:

"Because the southwest peninsula is separated from the core area of ​​the Ming Dynasty by mountains and seas, it does not threaten the Central Plains like the northern grasslands, so there is no need to worry about being counterattacked. Moreover, there is no need to invest too many troops in the southwest, which means that the military power in the southwest cannot always compete with central counterbalance.

Zhu Zhen added: "In this way, the Holy Son of Heaven sits in the Divine Land, with millions of people and millions of soldiers, and is as solid as a rock. The vassal kings lead troops outside the Divine Land to expand the territory for the Ming Dynasty and maintain the combat effectiveness of the army. Not only does it not cost the court money and grain, but it can also pay money and grain to the court. Usually, without the emperor's order, they cannot cross the line, but if there is something wrong in the world, the emperor can order them to return to the capital to defend the Ming Dynasty for thousands of years!"

Zhu Zhen finally smiled and revealed his fox tail: "So why doesn't the father throw all the redundant troops and those problematic generals in the country to Yunnan to play their remaining heat, which is much better than killing them directly."

"What you said is really tempting." Zhu Yuanzhang also smiled. He was tempted.

In fact, he had heard these words from Zhu Zhen many times, and Zhu Zhen even wrote a feasibility report for him, so he was familiar with them. It's just that the Northern Yuan Dynasty has not been destroyed, and the world has not been settled, so he can't think about those things.

Now is indeed the time to consider this issue.