The eldest grandson of Emperor Ming Dynasty!

Chapter 146 The Wolves of the North

In front of Duanmen, Li Jinglong and many ministers walked slowly.

Most of the ministers went directly to the office when they arrived at Qianbulang. Li Jinglong passed by the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, but he didn't enter, but walked directly outside the palace.

"Cousin, cousin, don't blame your cousin for not helping you. His Highness the eldest grandson and other ruthless people, if there is even the slightest involvement, it will be bad if His Highness the eldest grandson misunderstands you."

"My cousin is always said to be the younger brother of His Highness the eldest grandson. Even if there are some unpleasant things, it's not a big problem, but my cousin is not."

"My cousin still doesn't understand what my cousin is thinking. If this is settled, my cousin's life will be lost."

While walking, Li Jinglong was talking to himself in his heart.

In the early court, he certainly saw the wink from his cousin Zhu Yunqi, but in the next court, he certainly did not go to the Hall of Spring Harmony.

Instead, he left the palace in a hurry, not even going to the Governor's Mansion of the Left Army, so as to save his cousin from finding someone to summon him.

Anyway, he hasn't been back to the capital for long, and he doesn't have too many things to do.

It's not that there aren't many things going on in the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, it's just that Li Jinglong's position is still on Xifan's side, and the capital's side is seconded, and has not been rescheduled.

The governors of the five armies are not only responsible for the training and production of the guards, but also participate in the central military decision-making of the Ming Dynasty.

Although the Ministry of War has the right to appoint, remove, promote, and train in the army, it is not qualified to govern when it comes to the management of the army and the guards.

Before the Tumu Fortress Change in the mid-Ming Dynasty, the army of the Ming Dynasty was in the hands of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, and civil servants could not intervene.

As far as this matter is concerned, Ming's army has a very strong combat effectiveness.

The Tumu Fort change, after the Lanyu Case and the Jingnan Battle, once again had a huge impact on the development and changes of the Five Armies Dudufu.

The Ministry of War, represented by Yu Qian, rose rapidly in status.The military affairs of the governor, the control of the army, and the power of the general army are actually the management and command powers of the army that were previously held by the governor's office of the five armies.

This led to civil servants commanding generals, so that in all aspects, the status of generals was lowered, and the combat effectiveness of the Ming army declined rapidly.

In particular, the corruption of civil servants has affected the army. Most of the civil servants lead the army by drinking the blood of soldiers and eating empty pay.

The Ming army was directly corrupted, and all kinds of unpaid things happened repeatedly.

The reason why the army led by Qi Jiguang in the late Ming Dynasty had such a strong combat effectiveness was that Qi Jiguang himself gave gifts to Zhang Juzheng, the literati boss, and even Yan Song in the capital.

Even the military salary of the army was made up by Qi Jiguang himself.

Under the circumstances at the end of the Ming Dynasty, how could the soldiers not die, and Qi Jiguang's own military ability was naturally stronger.

And Qi Jiguang's money mainly comes from the family property left to him by his father.

Qi Jiguang's father, Qi Jingtong, was also the hereditary commander of the Dengzhou Guard. In terms of rank, he was a senior official of the fourth rank.
At that time, Qi Jingtong didn't want to do a good command job, but he wanted to find a way to be a general manager from the seventh rank.

This general manager from the seventh rank is the general manager of Jiangnan Water Transport.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, water transport was the most fertile job, and the gray income was quite high. Qi Jingtong has been the general manager of water transport in the south of the Yangtze River for many years, and the wealth accumulated in it can be imagined.

It was for this reason that Wanhu Nanxi Wangdong at that time married his daughter to Qi Jiguang.

At the same time, Zhu Ying was in the courtyard, inspecting the military system of Ming Dynasty.

"From this point of view, the pace of military-government separation is about to speed up."

Zhu Ying frowned as she looked at the jurisdictional functions of the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion.

Today's Ming Dynasty is under the rule of the unity of military and government.

In Zhu Ying's view, the centralization of power by the old man is a very uncomfortable thing, because the emperor himself is all bound by affairs of the whole country.

The so-called daily management is not a joke at all. All kinds of things involve all the energy of the emperor, so there is no other thoughts.

There are endless memorials and endless morning courts.

If the emperor with a weaker ability is replaced, he will not even have time to go out of the palace. If it is not dealt with, it will be difficult for the government to leave the palace.

Centralization, in Zhu Ying's view, is not actually reflected in internal affairs, but in military power.

The advantage of military-government integration is the high efficiency of local governance, but the disadvantage is that local independence is enhanced.

Conversely speaking, the biggest advantage of the separation of military and government is that military power can be completely in the hands of the emperor.

As for the place, the emperor himself can completely reach the vertical arch and rule.

In Zhu Ying's mind, the rule is to return the power of the civil servants to the civil servants and govern the place.

If the governance is not good, it is natural to question the crime, and if the governance is good, it is of course a promotion.

The emperor who controls the army will have a great right to speak. He is not afraid that civil servants will be disobedient and mess around.

Ensure that the army's salary is not a problem. With so many people in Ming Dynasty, there will never be a shortage of talents, and there will always be ministers capable of governing the world.

Thinking of this, Zhu Ying took out a blank piece of paper and began to write her thoughts on it.

For the current army of Ming Dynasty, especially the Weisuo system, it must not be discarded.As far as military households are concerned, it is a very efficient existence.

Because today's army itself is also a manifestation of productivity. It cannot be regarded as a professional soldier, but can only be a registered military household.

So of course we cannot copy the model of later generations and implement a one-size-fits-all approach.

What needs to be restructured is the implementation of two-line management of the army, that is, the separation of military, political and military orders.

The military and political department is responsible for the daily production of military households, including farming, military registration, combat readiness, and other tasks that are relatively logistics, and they are divided into one.

The military order department is a complete combat department, especially the elite soldiers who have been trained for a long time, and they are completely under the control of the military order department.

In normal times, the military and political line is the main line, supplemented by the military order line.In wartime, the two lines are reversed, and the commander-in-chief of the military command department uniformly commands the combat forces of all services and arms to achieve centralized and unified command.

Take Liang Guogong Sapphire as an example.

When Sichuan suppressed the rebellion of Yuelu Timur, Lan Yu, the Duke of Liang, was the main one responsible for coordinating the army and arranging operations.

But after the end of the counter-insurgency, apart from the elite soldiers, the guards and soldiers in the field will be handed over to the person in charge of another military and political department of the army to manage and arrange.

In other words, the army itself will face two situations, wartime and non-wartime.

This is Zhu Ying's vision for the Ming army in the future.

"Boss, the old man is here." Uncle Zhang entered the study and reported to Zhu Ying.

Zhu Yuanzhang has not yet officially disclosed his identity, nor has he officially called Zhu Ying into the palace to announce the identity of his eldest grandson.

Although there was only one layer of window paper that was not pierced, obviously only Zhu Yuanzhang was qualified to pierce this layer of window paper.

Therefore, although Zhu Yuanzhang's identity is known to everyone, in terms of address, Zhang Bo still refers to him as the old man.

Zhu Ying heard the words, put the pen on the pen stand, and then got up and went out to meet him.

"Da grandson, do you miss grandpa? We miss you so much."

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw Zhu Ying, his eyes lit up immediately.

Now Zhu Ying no longer wears the coarse linen clothes before, but puts on brocade clothes made of silk and satin.

Of course, the comfort of sackcloth is not as comfortable as silk and satin, and Zhu Ying is not a pedantic person, insisting on making some sackcloth to show herself.

Although his identity has not been officially announced, but wearing good clothes, there is no way to criticize him.

Apart from other things, the Jinyiwei near the house alone, the current Zhu Ying is not something that ordinary people can get in touch with if they want to.

"Grandpa, you have arranged so many things for your grandson, how can your grandson have time to think about you, and he is so confused every day."

Zhu Yingying said with a little complaint in his anger.

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed out loud when he heard this.

He understood what Dasun meant. He was thinking about himself while reading the memorial.

"On this matter, we have to talk to you carefully. In your opinion, the memorial is extremely cumbersome, but it is related to the survival of the people of Ming Dynasty, so, grandson, your idea is not good."

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile, seemingly accusing, but his tone was teaching.

"Grandson thinks that it doesn't need to be so tiring." Zhu Ying said bluntly.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he paused for a moment, and then seemed to understand something, and asked, "Could it be that the great grandson has come up with a good way to help us share our worries?"

For the grandson, although Zhu Yuanzhang didn't get along for a long time, he now understands the habits of the grandson more and more.

If it was changed before, Zhu Yuanzhang would definitely reprimand and preach the party first, but now, Zhu Yuanzhang, who is familiar with Zhu Ying, is naturally more patient.

"Well, my grandson does have some ideas. Grandpa, please come in with me." Zhu Ying rubbed her nose in embarrassment. She wanted to pretend to be aggressive, but the old man saw it right away.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled triumphantly, and followed Zhu Ying into the study.

As soon as he entered the house, Zhu Yuanzhang was attracted by the white paper full of words on the desk.

The memorial on the book case is placed aside, the ink next to it is fresh, and the ink on the white paper can be vaguely seen.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't care about his eldest grandson, he went directly to the book case and began to check it.

Seeing this, Zhu Ying smiled helplessly.

Come on, I'm too lazy to talk nonsense, let's talk about it after the old man finishes reading it.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the thousands of words eloquently on it, and at first he just took a look with interest.

At the beginning of the above, it is written: Talking about the Ming Army.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help being amused.

"Our eldest grandson is really ambitious. How much effort we spent ruling the millions of lions in Ming Dynasty can't be changed by these thousands of words."

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang settled down, read what Dasun wrote carefully, and then prescribe the right medicine and teach again.

However, when Zhu Yuanzhang came into contact with the content of the text, the four characters of a separation of military and government made Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes suddenly become serious.

The simple four words made Zhu Yuanzhang feel an unprecedented impact.

The current system of the Ming army is based on the inheritance of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, and then improved with reference to the Tang and Song Dynasties.

The concept of military-government integration has been running through ancient and modern times, and few people have made any suggestions in this regard.

So when Zhu Yuanzhang saw these four words, it was as if a new door to the world had been opened.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was very familiar with the army, had a premonition in his heart that these four words would have an incalculable impact on Daming today.

It was when Zhu Yuanzhang carefully pondered the articles written by Zhu Ying.

On the Mongolian grassland, two teams of men and horses are chasing and fighting.

"Batu, you are a man on the grassland, a noble descendant of Genghis Khan. Why do you want to serve a Han as your master and work hard for him? Are you worthy of your great Borjijin surname?"

There is a big difference in the number of people in the two teams. One side has thousands of knights, and the other side has only a little over 300 people.

Soon thousands of cavalry surrounded 300 people and forced them to stop.

The leader of the thousand people, riding a tall horse with pure black hair, yelled at the besieged cavalry.

The man named Batu rode out of it, looked at the leader of the thousand people ahead, and shouted:
"In the severe winter of the previous year, my tribe was short of food and almost starved to death. It was my master who gave me a new life. At that time, I had already sworn to the Changshengtian that I would swear allegiance to my master to the death."

"Hasbagen, give up, I will never betray my boss, even if I die here today."

Hasbagen, the leader of thousands of people, pulled out the scimitar from his waist, held it up high, and looked indifferently at Batu, his childhood friend.

Seeing this, the surrounding Mongolian cavalry bowed their bows and set up arrows one after another. They waited for Hasbagen's order to start shooting.

Seeing this, Batu tightly gripped the horse rope with both hands, ready to charge.

At this critical moment, suddenly there was a shout and the sound of horseshoes in the distance.

"The Khan has an order that Timur is coming, and the warriors of all ministries are called to return quickly and not fight each other." The herald, holding up the flag representing the Golden Horde, roared and shouted loudly.

Hasbagen looked at Batu in front of him, struggled in his eyes, and thought about forcibly ordering him to be shot.

But the surrounding Mongolian knights had already put down their bows and arrows when they heard the shout.

This is the rule of Mongolia. Normally, tribes can fight each other for survival, but when encountering foreign enemies, they must unite.

Even if the knife is already on the neck, it must be stopped.

Now Hasbagen had lost the chance to kill Batu. In desperation, he turned his horse's head and led thousands of knights to leave in a mighty way.

"Brother, what shall we do now?"

Beside Batu, a majestic man asked.

Batu hesitated for a moment, and said firmly: "Since we have been loyal to the owner, we no longer belong to the Khan of the Golden Horde. The Khan's orders are useless to us. Go back, report the situation to the Chamber of Commerce, and wait for instructions."

After finishing speaking, Batu did not hesitate, and galloped away directly.

The cavalry men who followed followed closely without any hesitation.

All of them have already sworn to Changshengtian to be loyal to the owner to the death.

During the Mongolian Yuan period, there were four major khanates in Mongolia, which did not belong to the Mongolian Yuan rule.

Since Genghis Khan Temujin unified Mongolia, he proclaimed himself emperor in the Onan River and turned Mongolia into a military group.

He started his own road of external expansion, and after a series of expeditions to the west, east, and south, a great empire spanning Eurasia was born.

Faced with how to rule this huge empire, Genghis Khan began to set up four major Khanates in view of the limited number of Mongolians.

With the Golden Horde Khanate as the core, the three Khanates of Wokuotai Khanate, Chagatai Khanate and Ilkhanate as auxiliary, ruled the affairs of their respective regions.

Genghis Khan used his direct blood as a link to carry out political rule.

This form still had a strong deterrent effect when Genghis Khan was alive.

Because Genghis Khan's status among the Mongols is unusual, he was the first in the history of the Mongols to completely unify the Mongols.

To some extent, Genghis Khan is to the Mongols what the Central Plains is to Qin Shihuang, a comparable existence.

It's just that after the death of Genghis Khan, just like the Great Qin Empire, the aftermath can still be intimidating for a while.

The relationship between the Khanates maintained by the bloodlines has begun to show cracks. After several changes in the imperial power, there have been certain contradictions in the connection between the four Khanates.Especially in the areas they ruled, the communication between each other began to appear discontinuous.

Kublai Khan conquered the south to establish the Mongolian Yuan and won the throne, but he did not win the approval of other khanates and tribal elders.

The military victory brought repulsion and hostility from other Khanates.For this reason, the two sides engaged in fierce war conflicts.Especially Haidu's attack, with the strength and strength of the two Khanates, attacked the Yuan Empire.

The long-term war between each other once made Meng Yuan very passive.After Kublai Khan's death, his successors continued to fight against him. Although this war lasted for more than 30 years, it ended with the victory of the Yuan Empire.

It's just that the price is also very heavy.Through division, disintegration, and military intimidation, the background and national strength of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty gradually established their advantages in this protracted war, and finally wiped out the Wokuotai Khanate.

The Chagatai Khanate finally fought back, betrayed the alliance, and surrendered to the Mongolian Yuan. In the end, the two divided up the territory of the Wokuotai Khanate.

In addition to the destruction of the four major khanates because one of the Wokuotai khanates challenged the Mongolian Yuan, the relationship between the other three khanates was not very stable.

There are even many contradictions, and there are constant wars between them.The internal fighting among the three major Khanates was also very intense, and this internal fighting also caused serious internal friction.

Therefore, during the rise of Zhu Yuanzhang, the many Mongolian khanates basically chose to stand by and watch the demise of Mongolian Yuan indifferently.

However, after the end of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, the once powerful four major Khanates, now only the Golden Horde remains.

The Chagatai Khanate split into two parts, the East and the West. The West Chagatai Khanate was destroyed by the Timur Empire, and the East Chagatai Khanate survived.

After the death of Busayin, the Khan of the Ilkhanate, the kings fought for power, the Khanate fell into division, and the country declined.

In the 21st year of Hongwu, it was destroyed by the Timurid Empire.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang asked the Timurid Empire in West Asia to pay tribute according to the Yuan rule.Timur didn't pay attention to it at first, but when the empire's territory reached the Ilkhanate.

Seeing that it was getting closer to the Ming Empire, because of the impact of the Timur Empire's wars at that time, it began to send envoys to pay tribute.

Although Timur claimed to be a vassal in the document, he definitely did not think of the Ming Empire as the suzerain.

On the contrary, through envoys, he is constantly learning about the situation and national strength of the Ming Dynasty, and is preparing for the attack on the Ming Empire.

At the same time, wealth is obtained through tribute.

In fact, the Timurid Empire also mobilized millions of troops to conquer the Ming Empire.

However, during this period, Timur died of illness during the march, and the army of millions had not yet fought against the Ming Empire, and this Eastern Expedition stopped.

Batu escaped by chance just now, and it was at this time that the Timurid Empire conquered the Golden Horde again.

As a nomadic people, the Mongols started their careers by conquest. They have their own writing and cultural traditions, and their inheritance system is also self-contained.

But it did not establish its own cultural system on newly conquered territories like the Great Qin Empire and the Roman Empire.

On the contrary, the Mongolian people will be infected by the local civilization, and most of them will join the Communist Party.

The Mongols swept across the Eurasian continent, and apart from disrupting the civilization of the places they went, they did not leave any traces of their civilization. It can be said that they are typical barbarians.

However, the speed at which they were assimilated was indeed very fast, and their legacy of conquest was also inherited by the newly developed local forces.

In terms of conquest alone, almost all civilizations at that time were under the rule of the Mongol Empire.

From a civilizational point of view, when the Mongol Empire evaporated, nothing remained.

wrong.

After all, many Mongolians were left behind and integrated into the local culture.

Batu led the tribe and ran towards the border of Ming Dynasty. He wanted to report the situation of the Timur Empire, including his own exposure, to the Qunying Chamber of Commerce.

In a sense, Batu was not a cavalry team directly commanded by the Qunying Chamber of Commerce on the grassland, but actually Zhu Ying'an's nail in the Golden Horde.

And his exposure represents that there are some loopholes in Zhu Ying's layout in Mongolia, and there must be traitors among them.

While Batu was going to the border of Ming Dynasty.

Zhang San finally arrived in the Western Regions.

As Zhu Ying's confidant in the capital, to mobilize important materials such as sweet potatoes and potatoes, it obviously needs someone like Zhang San to come forward to achieve the effect.

After all, potatoes and sweet potatoes are the key to Zhu Ying's core forces, and it is impossible for ordinary people to make Zhu Ying's forces in the Western Regions obey.

Departing from the capital, Zhang San has the pass document given by Zhu Ying, which is already the fastest speed.

The reason why Zhu Ying was able to rise in the Western Regions at the beginning was actually related to the situation in the Western Regions itself.

The Western Regions itself is a broad name without any specific direction. There are many small countries here, and they have not been completely unified.

For example, the ancient country of Loulan that once existed, and the ancient country of Jingjue that mysteriously disappeared during the Three Kingdoms and Jin Dynasties, leaving today's Jingjue Niya ruins.

These small countries are very small, and they seem to be exquisite.

There are only 480 households in the country, with a population of just over 3000, and only about 500 soldiers capable of fighting.

The so-called 36 countries in the Western Regions is just a general term. In fact, there have been hundreds of countries and regimes in the Western Regions in the past 2000 years, each with its own culture and inheritance.

Zhu Yuanzhang defeated the Mongolian cavalry who once made the whole world tremble, fear, and invincible, and restored the Han regime, and established Ming Dynasty.

When he was young, the smug Zhu Yuanzhang naturally wanted to make unworldly achievements that surpassed the Qin Emperor, Han, Wu, and Tang.

After he ascended the throne, Zhu Yuanzhang adopted the carrot-and-stick policy of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and began to adopt an active ethnic policy towards the Western Regions.

In the third year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Deng Yu on an expedition to Gansu, moved to Hezhou, and conquered Tubo and Uzang.

In the tenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict again, Deng Yu and Mu Ying's army divided into three groups to make a big expedition against Tubo, and defeated Tubo by the Qinghai Lake in Kunlun Mountains.

After the victory, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Deng Yu's class teacher to return to Nanjing. On the way back to Beijing, the 40-year-old Deng Yu died unfortunately. Since then, the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and Tubo has eased.

Zhu Yuanzhang sent Zhu Zongli to Tubo to search for Buddhist classics that had been lost in the Central Plains for many years as a gesture of friendship.

At that time, Tubo was a state of disunity, and various factions with different ideas and interests continued to make troubles, which made Daming's overtures wishful thinking.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who had lost his patience, was angry, and in the 11th year of Hongwu, when the [-] ethnic groups in Chuzhou launched a mutiny, he issued another edict and sent Mu Ying to conquer Tubo again.

The first battle of Tumen Gorge was successful, and the victory of Taozhou was achieved. All the leaders of the 3 ethnic groups in Taozhou were defeated, 20 enemies were captured, and more than [-] cattle and sheep were captured. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty expanded thousands of miles, and Zhu Yuanzhang set up Taozhou Guards.

Zhu Yuanzhang knew that prestige is not a long-term solution, only moral service can achieve long-term stability, so he began to send envoys to carry out united front work against the Tibetans.

Keep in touch with the chief abbot of the Karma Sect in southeast Tibet, and make a wish that as long as they were officials in the Yuan Dynasty, they will be granted official positions in the Ming Dynasty.

Ruduobiji IV Living Buddha was moved and sent envoys to Nanjing to pay a return visit to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Meng Yuan always deliberately supported a certain force to manage Tubo, but no matter who he supported, it might cause a powerful force to confront him.

Zhu Yuanzhang first canceled Meng Yuan's title of Tubo Emperor.

The so-called Emperor Teacher has great political and cultural influence on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. After Ming abolished this title, the political core of Tibet ceased to exist.

Then there are multiple feudal and public constructions, with titles given to religious leaders in the east, and officials and ranks added to local forces in the west.

As a result, the plateau is full of forces supported by Ming. They each have their own spheres of influence and live in harmony with each other. No one can be strong, and they directly become subordinates of Ming and accept the leadership of the Ming Empire.

In the sixth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang sealed off various tribes in Tubo. The tribes were extremely happy, and followers gathered and asked for titles one after another.

For a while, Daming's title was not enough.

It’s okay, if it’s not enough for Daming, you can use Meng Yuan’s, anyway, it’s over.

As far as the current Western Regions are concerned, almost all of them are ruled by Ming Dynasty in name, and there are Daming vassals everywhere. This is a rare period of harmony in the entire Western Regions.

The reason why Zhu Ying was able to rise during this period of time actually has a lot to do with Ming's policy towards the Western Regions.

After all, Zhu Ying is a Han Chinese. If the Western Regions were in chaos, it would be difficult for Zhu Ying to even recruit people.

During the period when Zhu Ying rose, the status of the Han people in the Western Regions was relatively good.

Even in the early days of his rise, Zhu Ying used to pull up Daming's tiger skin, saying how awesome and powerful his family in Daming was.

All kinds of painting cakes for many subordinates, coupled with his ability to speak, made many subordinates think that as long as they follow Zhu Ying, their descendants will also be able to enjoy the blessings in Daming in the future.

Zhu Ying has a lot of territory in the Western Regions, after all, the Western Regions are vast.

In a sense, even calling the country is not a problem.

Some small countries do not have as many people as Zhu Ying.

The Western Region has a large area, many deserts and Gobi, and rivers are extremely precious.

The basic base of Zhu Ying's power is in the Tarim River, near the corner where the ancient Loulan Kingdom used to be.

There are mountains next to it, and the land is considered fertile.

Of course, this is not Zhu Ying's earliest site. In the five years, Zhu Ying's site has undergone three relocations to occupy such a good place.

When Zhang San arrived in the Western Regions, he contacted the chamber of commerce.

He led hundreds of cavalry to Zhu Ying's territory.

"It's Zhang San, Zhang San is back, did he bring back the news of the owner's house?"

When Zhang San just appeared, he was discovered by the patrolling cavalry here. After seeing the person clearly, many patrolling cavalry followed.

As the shout spread, dozens of middle-aged or elderly people in ornate costumes showed up.

Zhang Sanxing came to the front, got off his horse.

The leader is an old man, about 50 years old, with a burly figure, kind eyebrows and kind eyes, white beard and hair, and wearing bright robes.

Asked: "Zhang San, did you bring back the teacher's order?"

This old man is Zhu Ying's big apprentice and also Zhu Ying's acting manager in the Western Regions.

The old man was a slave bought by Zhu Ying, who originally existed as Zhu Ying's translator.

The old man is not a Han. Strictly speaking, there is no concept of nationality in the Western Regions. After following Zhu Ying, he is considered a Han.

As time went by, he gained Zhu Ying's trust, and slowly evolved from a slave to Zhu Ying's apprentice.

As a slave earlier, the old man followed a master, so he changed his name.

It is said that the ancestors had some relationship with the Han Dynasty, so Zhu Ying named him Liu Sheng, which means the victory of the flag.

"Old Liu, this is a document sent by the master from the capital."

Zhang San didn't dare to neglect, he quickly took out the document from his bag and handed it to Liu Sheng.

Liu Sheng took the document and checked it immediately.

He recognized at a glance that the text on it was indeed written by the teacher Zhu Ying.

After reading the content, Liu Sheng narrowed his eyes slightly, looked at Zhang San and asked, "Did the teacher hand this to you?"

Zhang San hesitated for a moment, and said, "My boss gave it to me through Uncle Zhang."

Liu Sheng asked again: "I read in this document that you set out from the capital and came here in less than a month. How did you come here?"

At this moment, Liu Sheng's tone was extremely flat, without the previous surprise at all, but with a faint feeling.

Zhang San didn't pay attention to these, and the continuous running around had made his spirit extremely exhausted, so he replied directly:

"I went through Daming Station, took a boat at Fengshui Station, and changed horses at Lu Station. I rode horses during the day and took a rest on a car and boat at night. I rushed here day and night."

When Liu Sheng heard this, his slightly narrowed eyes revealed a trace of murderous intent.

Without Zhang San noticing, he took a few steps back slowly, and then sternly shouted: "Come here, arrest this traitor for me."

Following the order, the surrounding soldiers hesitated slightly, seeing Zhang San's movement, they immediately restrained him.

"Well, Zhang San, the master treats you well, your family is supported by the master, how dare you betray the master, what is your intention!"

Liu Sheng shouted sharply again.

Zhang San was stunned, what's going on.He was clearly here to pass on orders from his boss, so why did he become a traitor.

After being dazed, Zhang San immediately came to his senses and quickly reprimanded Liu Sheng loudly.

"Why do you slander me? This document was clearly written by the Dong family. As the eldest disciple of the Dong family, Liu Sheng, how could you fail to recognize the Dong family's handwriting?"

"I think you are the one who wants to betray the boss. Is it because the boss has been away for a long time, so you have two hearts in Liu Sheng?"

Hearing Zhang San's rebuttal, the two soldiers who grabbed Zhang San couldn't help looking at Liu Sheng.

Even the rest of Zhu Ying's disciples avoided Liu Sheng subconsciously.

Now Zhu Ying's personal reputation here is quite lofty, as long as she gets involved with betrayal, she will easily be rejected by everyone.

Now both the knights and Zhu Ying's disciples are a little confused.

I don't understand why Liu Sheng suddenly said that Zhang San is a traitor.

Immediately, a middle-aged man, the second disciple of Zhu Ying, stood up and said to Liu Sheng: "Senior brother, how could Zhang San, as the teacher's personal guard, suddenly betray the teacher? Please give me an explanation."

Faced with the middle-aged man's doubts, Liu Sheng raised the document, handed it to the middle-aged man, and at the same time snorted coldly, saying:

"Junior Brother, take a good look at the contents of the document, and you will understand what I mean."

The middle-aged man took the document, and after reading it, he said in shock, "This, how is this possible, this is definitely not what the teacher meant."

After finishing speaking, he looked at Zhang San again and scolded: "Zhang San, I never thought that you really betrayed the teacher. You have to tell the truth about where the teacher is now and what the situation is."

After the middle-aged man finished speaking, he handed the documents to the crowd to watch, and the crowd was ebullient, and immediately began to curse Zhang San loudly.

Looking at the crowd, Zhang San felt that he was in a bad mood, and quickly shouted: "What's going on, don't you all want to betray the boss?"

"Hmph, I still want to quibble, so I'll let you know to death today." Liu Sheng said coldly.

"This is written by the owner himself. If there is any problem, why do you suddenly slander me." Zhang San retorted.

"Okay, don't admit it, I'll explain it to you."

Liu Sheng took the document back and opened it, and said to Zhang San: "The document says, what the teacher means is to send [-] shi of potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn and other grains to the Ming capital immediately."

"Everyone doesn't know how important these crops are to us in the Western Regions, and they are the foundation of our survival."

"A total of thirty stones, and almost half of the inventory has been transferred. How could the owner issue such an order."

Zhang San sneered and said: "What is my idea? It turns out that you want to take the crops as your own and keep ordering from the owner. So that's the case. Okay, then you just kill me."

"Can you hide it for a while, or for a lifetime?"

As Zhang San said, his eyes swept across the crowd, and he said at the same time: "I believe that among you, there must still be someone loyal to the master. If I am killed today, I only need to pass on the cause and effect to the capital."

"At that time, Liu Sheng, let me see how you deceive everyone with lies."

Liu Sheng laughed and said, "I have been with my teacher for more than six years, and I have no children under my knees. I am alone. For me in this life, the teacher is everything and everything."

"Now that I'm nearly sixty years old, I don't have a few years to live. Is there any reason to betray the teacher."

Hearing this, everyone nodded.

Liu Sheng never concealed that he was a slave bought by his master. For some reason, although Liu Sheng was not an eunuch, he no longer had the ability to conceive offspring.

So anyone could betray the boss, except Liu Sheng.

Zhang San was even more confused at this moment, and asked: "Then why do you think I betrayed the boss? These documents are the instructions written by the boss."

Liu Sheng said: "Of course this document was written by the teacher, but it was not the teacher's own will, so I don't know."

"Teacher Luozi Annan, I won't say much about the intention."

"So, it is absolutely impossible for the teacher to substitute these crops into the capital for no reason. Isn't this making Daming stronger."

Hearing this, Zhang San retorted: "Are you just relying on guesswork to designate me as a traitor?"

When Zhang San said this, everyone also felt that it was reasonable, and their eyes focused on Liu Sheng again.

Liu Sheng sneered and said, "Of course it's not only that, the most important thing among them is the wooden box that the teacher mentioned."

"The teacher is far away in the capital, why did he specifically ask to take the wooden box away? The teacher once told me that the wooden box was very important to him, so he kept it in the Western Regions so as not to lose it."

Zhang San argued again: "Since the owner mentioned it, it is natural that the wooden box contains something important to the owner. Why do you, Liu Sheng, make wild guesses?"

Liu Sheng laughed, and said: "The teacher's wooden box was entrusted to me for safekeeping, and there is nothing important inside, it's just a piece of broken rag, probably a thought of the teacher once."

"You said that in the document, the teacher asked to transfer these important crops by [-] shi, and at the same time implied to me that the wooden box must be delivered first, not with the crops."

"Isn't the meaning of this obvious enough?"

As soon as Liu Sheng said this, the crowd was in an uproar.

The current situation is almost very clear.

Obviously, the owner encountered a crisis in the capital, and even exposed the existence of potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn and other crops to save his life.

When the boss was writing the documents, there must be someone watching closely, so he could only use the wooden box to hint his own situation.

The crowd roared, cursing at Zhang San.

A strong man who was holding down Zhang San next to him, with his face shaking and furious, kicked Zhang San hard on the back and knocked him to the ground.

At the same time, he spat and cursed: "Okay Zhang San, your boss gave you this name. Are you doing this right to my boss? You are a wolf-hearted thing. I think you are reliable. You are really blind."

Following the action of the strong man, many people couldn't hold back any longer, they beat Zhang San for a while without even giving him a chance to argue.

In just a few breaths, Zhang San was severely beaten, and blood even overflowed from the corner of his mouth.

"Okay, don't beat him to death yet, I still need to interrogate him about the teacher's situation." Liu Sheng ordered.

Then everyone stopped and tied Zhang San firmly.

Zhang San's throat rolled, and he wanted to explain, but he didn't know how to explain it after thinking for a long time.

After all, he was just a personal guard, a warrior, and his words were not sharp.

"Hey, what is this."

Just as Zhang San was being tied up and dragged away, the former Zhu Ying disciple, a middle-aged man, looked through the luggage that Zhang San had brought.

See if there is any evidence.

I happened to see a blank post station document.

And on this document, a big seal has been stamped, and it can be used only by filling in the name.

"This"

Liu Sheng heard the sound, walked over and saw it, and stopped suddenly.

Then take a closer look at the passing documents.And in Zhang San's luggage, there is another copy.

It was on a document, and it was even stamped with a stamp of six hundred li expedited.

"Stop!"

Liu Sheng and the middle-aged man looked at each other, then quickly shouted, and the person who tied Zhang San stopped.

Liu Sheng walked up to Zhang San with the document, and asked, "How did you get this document?"

Zhang San said weakly: "My boss gave it to me. There are two copies. The urgent one is six hundred miles away. My boss asked me to send the wooden box to the post station and quickly send it to the capital."

"There is another one, which is for sweet potatoes and other crops, prepared by Tongxing Station."

Hearing this, Liu Sheng paused.

He realized that he seemed to have misunderstood something.

I was just a little puzzled in my heart. After hesitating for a moment, I said, "Untie Zhang San and ask the doctor to check the medicine."

Then he said: "Where is Li Xiucai, tell him to come and see me immediately."

Liu Sheng's words made everyone seem to understand that they might have misunderstood Zhang San.

Several strong men hurriedly carried Zhang San over to treat him, while others went to find Li Xiucai.

"Eldest brother, maybe this is really the teacher's order." The middle-aged man came over and said with a frown.

Liu Sheng replied: "It's really strange. A few days ago, I just received news from the desert that there might be a traitor. Now Zhang San is carrying such a strange order, which makes me a little hard to believe."

"Let Li Xiucai take a look. He understands the Ming system, so he should understand it."

The middle-aged man nodded in agreement.

The teacher had managed to build up such power with great difficulty, and it was not too much to be careful when he gave such an order suddenly.

In the courtyard, Zhu Yuanzhang read the article written by Zhu Ying on the white paper twice before stopping.

After stopping, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately fell into deep thought.

After a long time, he asked Zhu Ying: "Dasun, how did you come up with this idea?"

Zhu Ying had expected the old man's question for a long time.

Then it's show time.

"Grandpa, you also know that grandson is lazy. When he was reviewing the memorial, he was thinking about a question."

"Why do I have to review so many memorials every day, and many of the memorials, in the eyes of my grandson, are just trivial matters like sesame and mung beans, and an ordinary minister can handle them properly."

"The grandson also understands that the memorials represent power. If the memorials are handed over to others, it means that the rights have been dispersed."

"From this point of view, it seems that there is no way to achieve the best of both worlds. So my grandson considered from another angle, where did my Ming Dynasty's original power come from?"

"Is it a civil servant? No, it should be a general. The establishment of the Ming Empire is not just a few literati reciting poems and fighting against each other. I want the Ming Dynasty to be prosperous and peaceful for generations to come."

"The key lies in the strength of the soldiers. In other words, the military power is the power itself."

"No matter how great the power held by civil servants is, it is illusory, like a castle in the air, and can be withdrawn at any time."

"Thus, Sun'er turned his attention to military power."

"How to better control the military power, or even firmly grasp the military power, is the key to the problem."

Zhu Yuanzhang listened quietly, and then took Zhu Ying's words and said: "So the separation of the military and the government by the great grandson is to make the soldiers more pure and not participate in internal affairs, so as to control them."

Zhu Ying nodded with a smile and said, "Grandpa is really amazing, he hits the nail on the head."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled: "We have led soldiers for so many years, although we are not as smart as your boy, can't we understand after seeing it like this?"

After finishing speaking, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Ying and sighed: "We didn't expect that you, grandson, have such a deep understanding of the army. Do you know that if this method is successful, it will bring great benefits to my Ming Dynasty?" Does it change?"

"Grandson doesn't know." Zhu Ying replied.

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Zhu Ying, knowing that he was flattering himself, and then said:

"We have lived for most of our lives, and we have never thought about this matter. If it is really completed according to Dasun's plan, this Da Ming will usher in earth-shaking changes."

"From then on, successive emperors no longer need to worry about the power of civil servants being too powerful, and they don't have to fall into the tedious review of memorials every day like us."

"Achieved in the true sense, the Holy Son of Heaven will rule the world."

After speaking, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Ying deeply, he really wanted to open his grandson's mind to see what kind of person he is, who can have such wonderful ideas.

(End of this chapter)