First Prince of Ming Dynasty

  Chapter 579 Tracing the source

  Zhu Yuanzhang snorted a few times: "Yang Ji died last year. I thought I could make them do their duty. I didn't expect it to be like this. We have to kill their arrogance this time!"

Yang Jizi Mengzai is famous for his poems, and also works in calligraphy and painting. You are good at painting landscapes, bamboo and stone. He was also the secretary of Zhang Shicheng's shogunate. "New sorrow in the drizzle" was sung among those literati who refused to serve in the Ming Dynasty.

The so-called Four Heroes of Wuzhong, Gao Qi, Yang Ji, and Xu Ben all served Zhang Shicheng, and the remaining one, Zhang Yu, served with his father in Qianyuan. Zhang Yu and Xu Ben took refuge in Wu Xing and refused to answer the call.

   In fact, there are not many such people in the south of the Yangtze River. If there is any advantage of the Yuan Dynasty or Zhang Shicheng that makes the literati so obsessed, it should be the relaxed political environment.

  Zhu Biao sat down and picked up his teacup and said: "Zhang Shicheng has long been defeated and hanged himself, but there are still people who want to use his name to stir up troubles and trace the source. The fundamental purpose is actually to point to the emperor's move to purge officials."

"Presumably, if the father gave up the officialdom to suppress corruption, and then abolished the military captain's mansion, and cut down the power and duties of the supervisory censor, thousands of scholars will go to the capital in a short time, and the power of the court will be just around the corner. .”

  The hall fell into silence. The father and son looked at each other for a moment, unable to see the meaning, but suddenly they laughed together. How could they give in at this time after having survived the most difficult years? It was nothing more than killing.

"At that time, Zhang Shicheng's territory went from Xuzhou in the north to Shaoxing in the south, Sizhou in the west, and connected to the sea in the east. It spanned more than 2,000 miles and had hundreds of thousands of armored men. There were also counselors such as Gao Jidi, Shi Naian, Luo Guanzhong, and Chen Weixian. There is no second in the limelight in a bullfight, Biaoer, do you know why he lost?"

Zhu Biao lowered his head and thought for a while and replied: "Zhang Shicheng used to have a strong army to occupy the right place and people, but he was cowardly in nature. This is taboo for the monarch!"

  Zhu Yuanzhang nodded happily and said: "That's right, starting from a young age and holding a high position, he was self-satisfied and peaceful, which is the biggest problem of Zhang Shicheng, Chen Youliang, Ming Yuzhen and others."

"We were caught in the middle by Zhang Shicheng and Chen Youliang. Among the three parties, we were the weakest and most dangerous. They kept sending people to persuade us to surrender. Seeing that we were unmoved, they joined forces to attack Yingtian and prepared to carve up us first. At that time, everyone thought that we were going to be defeated, and the people below were all doing what they wanted to make a living."

  Zhu Biao couldn't help recalling the situation at that time. He was five or six years old that year. Although he was still trapped in the rear mansion, he was able to walk and run after all, and he came into contact with more people.

I remember that at that time, Lao Zhu hadn't returned to the mansion for several months to rest. He had been in the military camp outside the city with Xu Da and others, but the mansion never stopped. To persuade the commander-in-chief, even if he surrenders, his family will be full of glory and wealth, so why risk his life?

At that time, the atmosphere in the mansion was very depressing, the sky was covered with dark clouds, and it felt like black clouds were overwhelming the city. Even though no one would talk about it with the young Zhu Biao, he still had a fresh memory. He was much haggard, but he still held him and sat in the back of the town. He didn't go out of the city to see Lao Zhu, and he didn't even send a letter to him.

  Zhu Yuanzhang got up and swayed around twice. When he was faced with troubles back then, he was devastated, but now he thinks about it with arrogance, because he made the most correct choice at that time, and his former difficult opponent is now dead.

"At that time, we were actually very hesitant. The odds of winning were so small that even the morale of the soldiers under our command was low. We thought that we had already mixed up with the Duke of the state. Even if we voted, we should be able to be rich. We are not afraid of death, but we have to do it for you and you. Mother thought about it, but the more she thought about it, the angrier she became, why should our son kowtow to someone else's son in the future?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's tiger's eyes became brighter and brighter, as if he had returned to the troubled times of the old days when the heroes competed for the throne, and he muttered loudly: "So we broke the boat and fought with our backs, and we won and won again. We have done this all the way. My son no longer has to kneel down to others, hahahahahaha!"

The laughter stopped abruptly. Zhu Yuanzhang looked back at Zhu Biao and said, "Biaoer, it's the same now. It's easy to bow your head and make concessions, but sooner or later you'll have to pay it back. We don't know that as long as they make a little concession, they will rush to kneel down and beg for officials, but This is not what we want!"

  Zhu Biao stood up and saluted: "Thunder, rain and dew are all the grace of the king, but my father can be a domineering one!"

  Looking at Zhu Biao and Zhu Yuanzhang, he couldn't help laughing again. Maybe outsiders think that the prince has a completely different temperament from him, but knowing a son is like a father. As a father, he knows the character of his son best.

They all thought that after surviving his tyrant, they would usher in a prosperous age where the monarch and the scholar-bureaucrats ruled the world together, but they were destined to be disappointed or even desperate. In vain.

  Zhu Yuanzhang turned around and returned to his seat: "We are going to stop the imperial examination. It will not be held for the past few years, and we will not be able to select talents for middle use."

Zhu Biaoxin was prepared. It has not been a day or two since officials from the imperial examinations made his father dissatisfied. Old Zhu is a pragmatist. Suitable for this dynasty.

   This is also a blow to those who are obviously capable but refuse to take the imperial examination. You were not arrogant in the past and thought that you could become an official as long as you wanted, but now you can’t, the road to imperial examinations is temporarily closed. "

In the future, the imperial court will mainly use scholars from Guozijian, supplemented by the recommendation system. Of course, the recommendation system must be approved by the emperor or the prince to become an official. This is another kind of screening, and the gentry group limit.

And Zhu Biao also has plans for the future. The imperial examinations flourished in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. The scale of the imperial examinations also became larger and larger. In the Tang Dynasty, there were more than 20 or 30 candidates for each subject. In the Song Dynasty, each subject was selected for scholars. More than a hundred people, the more people there are, the more people will pretend to be numbers.

  The imperial examination is good, but Zhu Biao intends to restrict it. In the future, the imperial examination will only be used to select elites. Ordinary grassroots officials are mainly from the Guozijian.

  The imperial court actually does not need many outstanding talents. If the people in the local prefectures, counties, and villages live and work in peace and contentment, then most of the problems in this world will be solved.

  Of course this is just a conception, Zhu Biao has enough time to properly improve its structure, but the expansion of the Imperial College is imminent.

  Zhu Biao unconsciously figured out where else to get some money. The Guozijian is also a big money-consuming household. The various supplies are a huge sum every year. Not to mention the expansion of enrollment and expansion. Education is so difficult.

   Or let Tang Ding Sapphire get from Dongying, after all, the amount of silver mines in Dongying at this time is very amazing, and most of them are very shallow and easy to mine. In this era, this is actually the most important thing.

  Going to the sea is about to start. Europe should still use gold and silver coins, so it is very urgent to reserve some silver, after all, it is a hard currency.

  There are many silver mines in Japan, but the only one that Zhu Biao can remember is Shijian Silver Mine, and the location is also the most suitable. It is very close to Koryo across the sea.

If Tang Ding Sapphire can be obtained in a way, it will be easy to handle. You can go to Daming via Koryo, and Zhu Biao is not worried that Koryo dares to be greedy. In name, it is still a vassal state of Ming Dynasty, so one has to worry about the opinions of other vassal states.

  However, we still have to ask Tang Ding what he meant first. Zhu Biao would not command indiscriminately from such a long distance.

   "Biaoer."

  Zhu Biao came back to his senses and replied: "My son is here."

  Zhu Yuanzhang didn't ask him what he was thinking just now, but ordered in a flat voice: "It's still the old rule, don't interfere too much in this matter, and restrain the people in the East Palace."

Zhu Biao's main role now is to act as a buffer to keep those people from despairing. People can survive the long night of storms and rains because they know in their hearts that there will always be a sun that will dispel the wind and rain and illuminate the world. How sad.

  ………

  (end of this chapter)