Daming: My boss Zhu Yuanzhang

Although he knew that Zhu Yuanzhang did this to alienate the relationship between him and his subordinates, Li Wei still couldn't help feeling disappointed in them.

It would be fine for others, but people like Chen Su, who were also born as craftsmen, seemed to have forgotten the oppression he had suffered and gradually became a member of the powerful class, just like Zhao Shun, who was responsible for guarding him when he was imprisoned in Yangzhou.

"These awards are just empty titles. Don't take them too seriously. What matters most is our own strength!"

After everyone finished congratulating, Li Wei spoke softly.

Chen Su and the others finally put away their excitement about being conferred a title upon hearing this, and bowed their hands in a serious manner, saying, "We will follow the prince's instructions!"

Li Wei nodded slightly and then asked them to leave.

"Will the dragon slayer eventually become a dragon?"

Looking at the backs of the people leaving, Li Wei couldn't help but whisper to himself.

According to the current development momentum, if he really seizes the throne and becomes emperor, he will probably be the next Zhu Yuanzhang. In order to maintain the prosperity and stability of the dynasty, he will also have to take action against these once loyal subordinates. This is almost inevitable.

Moreover, in order to forcibly promote the system of equality for all, he even had to eliminate all those who were conservative. The killing that would be caused would certainly be far more and more brutal than Zhu Yuanzhang's punishment for corruption.

In the silent room, Li Wei pondered for a long time, but still couldn't make a decision.

By now it was very easy for him to settle his personal grudges. Lan Yu was already dead, and he could basically kill anyone else involved. Even Zhu Yuanzhang could not do it because of family ties.

But apart from personal grudges, he also has to arrange the future path for those who follow him, so that he can withdraw with peace of mind. He can't just give up when he is satisfied with himself, because that would be too irresponsible.

After sitting alone for a long time, Li Wei suddenly stood up and walked out the door.

It's not enough to just think on his own, he has to truly understand what other people want.

"teacher."

The person on guard outside the door was Xie Feihu, who immediately bowed when he saw him come out.

Li Wei nodded gently, and said casually without stopping: "Come on, follow me to inspect the military camp."

"Yes!"

Xie Feihu responded, and the ambush soldiers followed behind him as guards.

There were already military camps for the imperial army in the imperial city. After entering the city, they occupied several of them as temporary bases. Li Wei took Xie Feihu directly to the barracks where Chen Shan, Li Zhuang and other Yangzhou guards were stationed.

These soldiers were the first to accept his propaganda ideas, and he wanted to see what these ordinary soldiers thought now.

"Your Majesty."

As soon as Li Wei entered the barracks, Chen Shan and others who had received the news hurried out to greet him.

Li Wei hummed and said casually: "You guys take care of yourselves, don't worry about me, I'll just take a look."

Chen Shan smiled innocently and said, "Then, then we won't bother the prince anymore."

"Ah."

Li Wei nodded and signaled them to leave.

Upon seeing this, Chen Shan and his companions bowed and took their leave. Then Li Wei walked around the military camp by himself.

When he personally led the troops to take over these troops, many people had seen him. When they recognized him, they bowed to him and Li Wei responded with a smile.

Thanks to his propaganda ideas, it is now rare to see officers beating or scolding soldiers at will in the army, and the food, clothing and other expenses of ordinary soldiers are no longer as different from those of officers as before. Although officers are still treated much better than ordinary soldiers, ordinary soldiers are not forced to eat coarse vegetables while they eat meat and fish.

Li Wei found a place where soldiers gathered and walked over. When they saw him coming, they stopped chatting, stood up and saluted respectfully.

He waved his hand and said, "No need to be polite, everyone, just be casual. What were you talking about just now?"

"Your Highness, we are talking about your being crowned king. The brothers are all happy for you!"

A soldier said with a smile.

"Oh, really? Everyone sit down and continue."

"Yes!"

Everyone sat on the ground as instructed. Li Wei also stopped Xie Feihu who was about to find a chair for him, and sat down like the soldiers.

"Are you all happy that I was crowned king?" Li Wei asked softly.

"Of course, Your Majesty has been very kind to us. If it weren't for you, we would still be beaten and scolded by our superiors every day. Since we came under your command, our treatment has improved a lot, and we are no longer bullied like before!"

"Yes, thanks to the prince, our lives have become better. We are of course happy for you to be crowned king."

"The prince is so kind to us, we will go through fire and water without hesitation!"

Everyone was silent, with a smile on their face that came from the bottom of their heart.

Li Wei smiled and nodded slightly, but then his face straightened and he asked softly, "Do you still remember what I said to you before?"

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. After a moment, a soldier said, "We all remember what the prince said. What did you say?"

Li Wei took a deep breath and said seriously: "I have told you that the power of the king comes from the people. The people are more important than the king. According to this statement, even if I want to be king, I should be elected by you, not appointed by the emperor. Don't you think I am right?"

The soldiers were stunned when they heard this, and it took them a long time to react:

"Your Majesty is right. If we were allowed to choose, we would definitely choose you as the emperor!"

"Yes, with your kindness, you should be the emperor!"

Li Wei couldn't help but fall silent after hearing these words. After a while, he asked, "Why did you choose me?"

"Because you are good to us."

"We believe in you!"

everyone said.

Li Wei opened his mouth, not knowing how to explain to them.

In fact, the correct way of election should be that he proposes future governance strategies, and then everyone will choose him if they think it is good. However, now these soldiers recognize him without asking anything, and they act as if they will unconditionally support him no matter he wants to rebel and become emperor or do something else.

Although he was moved by such loyalty, on the other hand, he also realized that these soldiers had not listened to the theories he had promoted before, and only chose to be loyal to him because they had gained tangible benefits.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with this, but this is not what he wants. What he wants is to establish a complete system and rely on the system to govern, not himself.

This is completely different from the Confucian idea of ​​sages ruling the world. Under a perfect system, the good or bad of those in power will not have much impact on society. Only in this way can he withdraw, and these people will not return to their past miserable life just because they leave him.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. These ordinary soldiers, including the people in Yangzhou, could not even read a few words and could not understand these complicated theories at all.

Li Wei sighed inwardly and said to everyone, "Thank you!" Everyone was flattered and shook their hands:
"Your Highness is too polite. We should be the ones thanking you."

"Yeah yeah……"

Li Wei smiled, stood up, patted the dirt on his butt and said, "You guys continue chatting, I'm leaving first."

The soldiers also stood up and bowed, saying, "Farewell, Your Majesty."

Li Wei nodded, then turned and left with Xie Feihu and others.

Afterwards, he talked to other soldiers and got similar results. These soldiers believed in him as a person rather than the ideas.

Li Wei left the military camp somewhat disappointed and returned to his residence with guards including Xie Feihu.

On the way, Li Wei kept his head down and remained silent, thinking over and over again in his mind what the soldiers had said. It was obvious that what he had thought before about democratic elections and equality were just his wishful thinking. In the eyes of these soldiers, as long as the superiors could treat them a little better, it would be enough for them to be grateful. As for the rest, they didn't understand and didn't want to understand.

The idea of ​​a sage ruling the world is an inherent thinking formed in China over thousands of years. Whether it is the powerful or ordinary civilians, they all have a desire to be strong. No one thinks there is anything wrong with the existence of an emperor. On the contrary, it would be strange if there was no emperor.

After returning to his residence, Li Wei sat down thoughtfully. Seeing this, Xie Feihu bowed and said, "Teacher, I will take my leave first."

Hearing this, Li Wei raised his hand to stop him and said, "Wait a moment."

Xie Feihu was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Does the prince have any other instructions?"

Li Wei paused and asked softly, "Feihu, do you think the theories I told you at the beginning will work?"

Xie Feihu was embarrassed when he heard this, and said, "Of course I believe what the teacher says, but..."

Li Wei looked at him and smiled, "Just what? Just say it directly, don't worry about it."

"Yes," Xie Feihu said respectfully, and continued, "But I'm afraid that your idea is extremely difficult to realize."

"Oh, why?"

Li Wei asked with great interest. He also wanted to hear what his students thought about the ideas he brought from later generations.

"The students feel that no matter if they are ordinary people or those who have already achieved some status, everyone's hard work is for the sake of becoming a superior person, not the equality that the teacher wishes for. The teacher's idea is good, but..."

Having said this, Xie Feihu stopped talking.

Li Wei stared at him, took a deep breath, and murmured, "You're right, everyone wants to be the boss."

Xie Feihu lowered his head and said nothing. He felt that the teacher should have understood such a simple truth long ago. He even once thought that the teacher's remarks in Yangzhou were just a stopgap measure to win people's hearts.

What surprised him was that the teacher actually cared about these remarks, which seemed not to be what he thought.

"Oh, you go back first." Li Wei looked up and saw that he was still there, and spoke quickly.

"Yes."

Xie Feihu bowed, turned and walked out.

Li Wei sat alone in the room with mixed feelings.

Zhu Yuanzhang's move successfully made him face the reality and put him in a dilemma.

Whether it was generals like Chen Su and Jiang Long, or the soldiers under him, they basically agreed with his seizing the throne and becoming emperor. As for his ideas such as popular election and equality, they either disagreed or simply did not understand them.

It is very difficult to change people's inherent ideas. It requires decades or even hundreds of years of continuous education. It is definitely not a short-term effort.

Perhaps only the students he has taught since childhood could truly agree with his ideas.

"Well, we still have to start from childhood."

Li Wei couldn't help but sigh in a low voice.

These students were less than ten years old at the time, like a blank piece of paper. He only needed to paint them according to his ideas and they would become what he wanted.

On the contrary, these adults who have experienced many hardships have formed solidified ideas and concepts that are difficult to change.

"Hmm? White paper?"

Li Wei suddenly had an idea. He had always wanted to go far away and find a place overseas to build a new world. That was just like painting on a blank piece of paper.

If he took these people to a new place, where there were no emperors or generals at the beginning, and no existing ideological obstacles such as Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, would it be easier to build the new world of later generations?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but get excited.

If this is the case, it can not only satisfy his wishes, but also provide these people with a place to settle down, which can be said to be the best of both worlds!

"Hey! I should have known better than to waste my brain on this. I've come back to this after going around in circles."

Li Wei stood up and talked to himself excitedly.

This was his idea at the beginning, but after going through so many things in the middle, he was so confused that he ruled out this option. Now that he thinks about it, this is the best choice for both himself and those who follow him!

After figuring this out, Li Wei finally felt relieved and completely relaxed.

However, even if he chose to go far away, he had to finish what he should do before leaving. He also had to consider whether generals like Chen Su and Jiang Long would stop him.

After calming down, he sat down again and began to plan seriously.

First of all, the grudges that needed to be settled had to be settled. He took out a pen and paper and quickly wrote down a few names on the paper: Lan Yu, Mao Xiang, Li Shanchang...

Among those involved in Xiaoqing's death, Lan Yu had been beaten to pieces by his machine gun, but Mao Xiang, who was directly involved in pushing the matter, was still alive, and he would not let him go.

And Li Shanchang, who slandered Xu Yao and caused her death, also deserves to die!
There is also Zhu Yuanzhang, who is involved in everything.

When writing Zhu Yuanzhang's name, Li Wei couldn't help but pause, frowned and remained silent for a long time. Finally, he circled his name and continued to write other things.

In addition to these personal grudges, he also had to prepare for the ocean migration.

This time he was going overseas, and he needed to take a lot of people with him. It was estimated that there were no less than 200,000 soldiers and their families alone. In addition, he also wanted to take away those people from Yangzhou who were willing to follow him.

All in all, he had to prepare to relocate at least 500,000 people!

With so many people, it is impossible to relocate them all in one trip. We will have to make several trips, and we will also have to build a large number of ocean-going ships.

"Looks like I need to talk to the old man."

Li Wei said softly.

Such a large-scale operation requires a huge amount of resources. It is impossible to complete it when the outer city of the capital is blocked by Zhu Gang and others. It is necessary to seek cooperation from Zhu Yuanzhang. (End of this chapter)