First Minister of Ming Dynasty

Zhang Ximeng finished writing the article, checked it several times, sealed it decisively, and sent someone to send it to Yingtian overnight...

Chapter 561 Great Ming Qunxian

Zhu Yuanzhang is facing a very strange situation... It is obvious that the Ming army won an unprecedented victory after recovering Dadu, but looking at the whole situation, it shows that it is hot below and cold above.

The folk celebrations followed one after another, and one wave was higher than the other.

The big guys look forward to peace in the world, no more wars, and live and work in peace and prosperity from now on.

Some businessmen have already thought about taking their business to the north and making a fortune.

More people feel that restoring their homeland, the Ming Dynasty surpassing the past, and clearing up its shame are something to be happy about anyway.

But what makes people speechless is the court of the Ming Dynasty, officials from top to bottom, even the Imperial College, Imperial Academy, Zhan Shifu...the places where civil servants gather, all present a strange tranquility.

Their inactivity is simply jaw-dropping.

Yingtian's newspapers couldn't help it anymore, and published a satirical article: "The princes in the court only want to restrain the enemy, and they don't want to attack the enemy."

Inspector Zhang Xiang thought it was a great honor, but now he discovered that it was the princes who couldn't stand the wind and sand.

Are civil servants of the Ming Dynasty so weak?

The anger of the people is rising rapidly. Faced with this situation, Li Shanchang has become a mouse in the bellows.

He knew what these people were thinking too well. When they were asked to go to Shandong, that was the hometown of saints, and no one wanted to go there.

Now let them go to the farther north, the colder Dadu, and they are even more reluctant to face the barbarians everywhere.

It's not just that the Ministry of Rites doesn't want to allocate places for the imperial examinations, the Ministry of Industry is also unwilling to build the Great Wall and canals.The Ministry of Criminal Justice does not want to deal with the cases of those barbarians.The Ministry of Officials also did not want to appoint people from the north.The household department is also unwilling to pay to fill the hole...

All in all, the territory has been expanded, a large piece of fat is put on the edge of the mouth, stuffed into the mouth, and it can be swallowed with just a few chews, but the man just doesn't move his teeth.

Do you have anything else to say?

After holding back and forth, there were even voices, or let the clan guard the frontier, and divide the borders.

When this suggestion was put forward, it was only circulated in a small area, and one person stood up.

It was Queen Ma.

"Your Majesty's subordinates are gathered together, and their ideas are extremely clever. The prince is not yet ten years old, and he is also the heir. He can't go north. The second and third sons of the emperor are weak, so it seems inappropriate. Let the fourth son The child goes north to Dadu. Considering that he took off his crotch pants for a few days, my mother followed him to the north, washed his clothes and cooked for him every day, put him to sleep, and don't let the child cry."

Empress Ma was so angry that Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't hear it.

"Sister, don't be angry. No matter what, you can't let people who wear crotch pants guard the frontier. There are still some people in our Daming."

Empress Ma snorted coldly, "Who is it? Is it a group of sages from the Ministry of Rites? Or a senior scholar from the Ministry of Household Affairs? You don't know what kind of fart these people are holding back? They don't want to endure hardship, don't want to cut their flesh, so they bully children instead! Who the hell is this? The world? If you use your ministers to deceive the emperor, everyone should be killed!"

Good guy, even Empress Ma can't stand it anymore.

Everything is fine, and you should never suggest that the feudal lord defend the border!

Even if this is the case, it will have to wait a few years, at least let the child grow up, how can there be such a rush?You don't want to suffer, so let your children suffer for you?

There is still a law of heaven, is there a king's law?

Zhu Yuanzhang stretched out his hand, pressed Mrs. Ma on the seat, and then said with a smile: "Don't panic, girl, we have long been displeased with these things, but if we want to deal with them, we must have a name."

Empress Ma took a deep breath, "What's the name? Don't you always do whatever you want, killing whoever you want?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a chuckle: "My sister is joking again. We have recovered Dadu now. In terms of structure, we have surpassed Zhao Song and are catching up with Han and Tang Dynasties. We must always think carefully before doing things."

Mrs. Ma turned her head, looked directly at Zhu Yuanzhang, and said seriously: "Chongba, don't get dizzy, the current Ming Dynasty is far worse than the Han and Tang Dynasties! The literati in the Han and Tang Dynasties are the ones who report the emperor's golden platform and support the Jade Dragon as the emperor. Died. They wished to make meritorious deeds on the battlefield and sacrifice their lives for the country. Look at the group of people under you...except Mr. Zhang, who else can endure hardship? In my opinion, count on this group of people to surpass Han and Tang Dynasties. It’s probably over, if you don’t get pissed off by them, your life will be long.”

These few words made Lao Zhu's face flush, and he was almost speechless.

"Sister, Zhao Song has been decadent for 300 years, and the Yuan court has been tyrannical for a hundred years. They have long since destroyed the integrity of scholars. Instead, they are full of decadence, selfishness, caressing, petulance, family opinion, villain's tricks... the more important things are. , the more so. We are also unlucky to meet this group of things!"

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and was quite speechless.

Seeing her husband like this, Empress Ma gradually calmed down, and instead comforted her: "It's not a day's cold to freeze three feet, it seems that it can only come a little bit, what can you do?"

With a smile on his face, Zhu Yuanzhang took out the article Zhang Ximeng gave him.

"Look, it's not the gentleman who rushed to deliver this to us."

Mrs. Ma took it in his hand, looked at it briefly, and couldn't help but said: "Mr. has a lofty outlook, even the ancient sages can't compare... It's just that Mr. has worked hard, and these civil servants may not be able to achieve [-]% !"

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed loudly, "They can't do it, so we force them to do it. You see, with this great unification, we have a plan in mind what to do next."

The corners of Zhu Yuanzhang's mouth turned up, revealing a smile that scared people to death.

Finally, His Majesty the Emperor is about to make a move.

Zhu Yuanzhang issued an order to summon the nine ministers from all ministries to come to discuss politics.

Among the ministers, Zhang Ximeng was the governor of the capital, and Jia Lu was still repairing the river to control the water. In addition to them, Li Shanchang, the Prime Minister of the Zhongshu Province, Zhu Sheng, the Minister of Political Affairs, Yang Yuangao, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, and Minister of the Ministry of Rites Li Xi, Minister of Household Affairs Yang Siyi, Minister of Military Affairs Chen Liang, Minister of Criminal Affairs Zhou Zhen, Minister of Taxation Wang Guangyang, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mao Gui, Minister of Industry Shan Anren, Doctor Yang Xian, Minister of Rites Tao Kai, Minister of Hanlin Song Lian, a bachelor, and Yao Guangxiao, the servant of the province...these great sages, almost all of them are absent.

In fact, the current official system in Ming Dynasty is quite different from that in history.

As the core of government affairs, Zhongshu Province has evolved into different levels.

For example, Li Shanchang is the prime minister and is in charge of government affairs, and Zhu Sheng is in politics and assists Li Shanchang.And some senior ministers will also be awarded the title of political participation and perform ministerial affairs.Other ministers who are actually in charge of government affairs will also be given the title of minister.

Lao Zhu is deliberately increasing the number of ministers, breaking the six-part structure, and at the same time increasing the number of deputy prime ministers to divide up the prime minister's power.

In the future, the trend of the evolution of the court will mostly be group phases, plus a considerable number of ministers, forming a relatively stable structure of Zhongshu Province.

It's just that no matter how sophisticated the design of the official system is, it can't solve the problem of officials' laziness and stupidity.

Today's Zhu Yuanzhang is facing the group of sages under him with monstrous anger.

"In the past few days, it has been said that we have recovered Dadu and taken back the land of Yanyun. In terms of national power, we have already surpassed Zhao Song. We recognize this and are really happy. But some things that happened in the court made us I suddenly figured out something."

Old Zhu looked at Li Shanchang. This Li Xianggong was trembling all over, and his hairs were standing on end.

"Mr. Li!"

Still unable to escape, Li Shanchang hurriedly bowed, "The minister is here."

"We've been thinking these days why Zhao Song didn't want to go to the Northern Expedition. Maybe he couldn't. But there are famous generals like Yue Fei and soldiers like the Yue Family Army, but they are still hesitant. They would rather destroy the Great Wall than the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains." ..." Zhu Yuanzhang laughed suddenly: "Mr. Li, do you think the important ministers of the Song Dynasty know that even if the Northern Expedition succeeds, they will not have a good life, so it is better not to attack!"

Li Shanchang was stunned, with sweat on his forehead, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the Zhao Song Dynasty is the most boneless and hopeless, all the monarchs and ministers are like this, it is a shame through the ages!"

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand, "Don't say that. We have read the history books and found that not only Zhao and Song were like this. After the Eastern Jin Dynasty settled in a corner, they also enjoyed enjoying the south of the Yangtze River and were unwilling to go north. Every time someone brought it up, they were hindered in every possible way and frequently caused stumbling blocks."

"Pian'an Dynasty, it's probably like this!"

"But we don't understand! Why did the Ming Dynasty, which was just established, have such a habit of peace? Could it be that we have become the emperor of the Song Dynasty?"

Lao Zhu suddenly raised his voice and asked, scaring all the officials.

People were still hesitating, but Li Shanchang was the first to kneel down, tears streaming down his face.

"Superior, the ministers are guilty, please punish!"

No one else dared to accept Lao Li's apology, and they knelt down one after another, saying they were guilty.

Zhu Yuanzhang glared at them, and snorted, "It's not a crime, it's just bad intentions! I would rather let our son eat sand than go north by ourselves. This abacus is really shrewd!"

It was a heart-wrenching question, several ministers were already sweating, as for Tao Kai, he was short of breath and almost fainted.

"We might as well tell you that in the land of Kyushu, the upper and lower are integrated, which is called great unity!"

Old Zhu suddenly took out Zhang Ximeng's article and held it up high.

"This is written by Mr. Zhang, and it is what we mean! In the future, we may send vassal kings to guard the border, but the local government system must be integrated inside and outside. The people on the frontier are generally the same as the people of Yingtian! If this cannot be done, then It is not worthy of being called a great unity!"

Zhu Yuanzhang said to Li Shanchang: "Mr. Li, get up, take this article and read it carefully."

Li Shanchang hurriedly got up, his heart beating wildly.

Even if Zhang Ximeng is not in Yingtian, he still holds him tight.

Li Shanchang took the article tremblingly, looked at it tremblingly, and said: "Mr. Zhang is right. My Ming Dynasty really wants to surpass the Qin and Han Dynasties and establish a more brilliant unification!"

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly: "Since this is the case, you can't just talk but don't practice? What's your opinion?"

Li Shanchang's mind turned quickly, and suddenly he thought of a solution that was not a solution.

"Superior, can you divide the various departments of Zhongshu into two, and send half of the officials to the north to Dadu, and then rotate every three years, so that the cycle will go on and on. This will enable the officials to be familiar with the situation in the north and the south, and have the world in mind, so that they will not have the pleasure of enjoying partial peace." Heart!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly taken aback, and blurted out: "It seems to be a way too!"

Looking at the sages of the Ming Dynasty below, Qi Qi's face was as pale as paper...

Chapter 562 Zhu Yuanzhang Goes North

"Mr. Li, this move of yours has been rotated between the north and the south. It is really well-intentioned and well-intentioned. In the past, people always said that you are not as good as Mr. Zhang. In fact, we know in our hearts that you and Zhang Xiang have their own merits. Now the world is gradually peaceful, and the burden of internal affairs is heavy. , more than military affairs. In some matters, we must rely on your wisdom!"

God is pitiful, after so many years, Zhu Yuanzhang finally uttered words of praise for himself... Li Shanchang suddenly felt that he would die without any regrets, and he wished he could immediately take the lead for Lao Zhu, to block and kill the gods.

It's just that Li Shanchang didn't notice the faint smile on Zhu Yuanzhang's face.

Almost at the same time, several ministers secretly shook their heads.

From then on, Li Xianggong was just the son of heaven's minions, and he couldn't take care of the big guys at all, and needed to find suitable talents.

Hu Weiyong and Yang Xian shook their bodies at the same time, and the two of them seemed to have glimpsed an opportunity.

The court situation of the Ming Dynasty is very interesting.

Zhu Yuanzhang is wise and martial, aloof.

From Lao Zhu, you can't get any benefits, unless you serve the country and reward you for your merits.

The founding emperor of the country does not need to follow the people below.

Lao Zhu alone can fight against all officials.

On the other hand, Zhang Ximeng is neither a group nor a party, he concentrates on his academics, and builds the future of Ming Dynasty from the top.

These two people are both in a state of detachment, each in charge of their own business, and occasionally cooperate.

Under them, there are not many benefits that can be distributed, and this is where the power of the Prime Minister Li Shanchang lies.

And once Li Shanchang completely followed the emperor and became Zhu Yuanzhang's eagle dog, it meant that there were really too few things left for the courtiers, so little that the big guys couldn't bear it.

As far as the officials are concerned, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhang Ximeng are things they can't deal with for the time being, but Li Shanchang is relatively easy. It seems that it is good to get rid of this person and recommend someone who can take care of the officials better. Let him be the prime minister. s Choice.

So it is said that people are in officialdom and cannot help themselves.

Is Tao Kai, the Ministry of Rites, so willing to offend Longyan?

There is no way, as the owner of the weakest title of Shangshu, he has no choice but to say nothing. The Ministry of Rites has lost two Shangshu in a row, and he has become the younger brother of all the ministries.

If he didn't take the opportunity to gain some reputation, he might be disgusted by everyone.

So he would rather jump out and say a lot of nonsense... This is not a choice between good and bad, but a question of choosing one of two ways to die.

If he died at the hands of the emperor, maybe his colleagues would appreciate his benefits.

If he died at the hands of his colleagues, it would really be infamous for thousands of years.

He was lucky that Zhu Yuanzhang didn't kill anyone.

Unfortunately for him, Lao Zhu chose him to join the Beishang team.

Zhu Yuanzhang separated the officials from the various ministries, and selected a group of ministers from them, each with at least one person, and more than two, and then mobilized a bunch of official scribes, totaling more than 300 people.

This is the end of the matter, and it is still not enough.

Lao Zhu also transferred a group of scholars from the Imperial College and the Hanlin Academy, making the entire northward team reach as many as 800 people.

"Sister, we told the big guys that if we want to drink Yanshan together, we must go north in person. Yingtian wants you to work hard."

Empress Ma was not surprised, instead she nodded, "It's time to go. If I didn't have a lot of things at home and the children are young, I would also like to see Yanyun Land."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "It's okay. After a while, when the prince is old enough to supervise the country, we will go north together."

Empress Ma nodded, and she said again: "Chong Ba, I heard that you intend to divide the feudal lordship, but have you ever thought about it?"

Old Zhu was stunned for a while, and then sighed: "Sister, there is nothing we can do. You look at these things, you dislike the hard work in the north, and you don't want to bear the wind and sand. As our child, when we grow up, we can handle things. We have to send them north."

Empress Ma was speechless for a long time, she couldn't say anything, she just let out a long sigh.

It may not be a good choice to guard the border with a vassal king.

But the problem is that you have to choose!

Zhu Yuanzhang explained a lot to Empress Ma, and then he led a huge team to get up from Yingtian and patrol Yanyun in the north.

Knowing that the emperor was going north, the people of Yingtian helped the old and the young, and came out together to send off Zhu Yuanzhang.