The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 388 Strengthening the Royal Guards?
Geng Guang and others couldn't help but smile bitterly. In just a short while, they felt what it was like to have a huge ups and downs in mood.

They were worried about attacking the Western Regions, so they were relieved when the plan was changed to two years later.

But I didn’t expect that I would immediately change to a more difficult target.

Tianzhu.

It is farther away from Ming Dynasty, and the cost of attacking there is greater.

The key is that Tianzhu is strong on paper.

According to intelligence, the population there is between 80 and 100 million.

Of course, India is now divided into pieces, and the control over the grassroots is close to zero, so it is unrealistic to count accurate figures.

This number is estimated.

However, Ming Dynasty's country research department already has rich experience, so this estimate is credible.

There are nearly 100 million people there. How can it be conquered so easily?

At that time, the registered population of the Ming Dynasty was only 70 million.

If I had known that we would attack India, I would have agreed to attack the Western Regions.

However, they knew that their opposition was of no avail.

The only person in Ming Dynasty who could make the royal trio change their minds was Chen Jingke.

The only ones who could make Chen Jingke change his mind were the Royal Trio.

When the four of them agree on something, it means that this thing will definitely be implemented and no one can stop it.

Well...Empress Ma can stop it, but she never interferes in government affairs.

If you feel wronged, go to her and she will help you.

When it comes to government affairs, she can never be seen.

But fortunately, it was the Prince of Yan’s Palace that was dispatched this time.

They had already made preparations in their hearts. It would be best if the expedition went smoothly. If not, they would fight to the death to persuade the emperor to cancel the plan.

Although Chen Jingke didn't know what they were thinking, he could guess that everyone was not optimistic about this plan.

But he wasn't worried.

As for the fighting power of Tianzhu, only those who understand can understand it.

Soon the Ming dynasty's rulers and ministers will know what a professional coward is.

The plan to attack India was thus decided, but the specific implementation plan would have to wait until Zhu Di returned to Beijing to discuss.

After talking about this matter, Chen Jingke mentioned another issue.

"The expansion of the Imperial Guards..."

"What???" Before Zhu Yuanzhang and others could open their mouths, Geng Guang and others cried out in shock.

"Chen Bandu, you absolutely cannot do that."

"The people of the world fear the Jinyiwei like a tiger. Now is a critical period of change. Expanding the Jinyiwei may cause panic among the people of the world."

"Yes, and the Ming Dynasty is currently thriving, so there is really no need to expand the Jinyiwei."

Chen Jingke had anticipated everyone's reactions and was not surprised.

It can be said that there are two most annoying institutions in the Ming Dynasty now.

One is the Jinyiwei, and the other is the Tax Inspection Department.

In comparison, the Jinyiwei are more terrifying.

The Tax Inspection Bureau will only take your money, but the Royal Guards will take your life.

The officials dream of banning this thing, so how could they support its expansion?

Not to mention the ministers, even Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao were surprised.

Everyone who knew Chen Jingke knew that he didn’t really like secret service politics.

If there was no need for change, he would have proposed abolishing the organization long ago. Why would he take the initiative to ask for expansion?

Zhu Yuanzhang asked in confusion: "Jingke, you said you want to expand the Jinyiwei? Why?"

Chen Jingke's expression was very serious: "The implementation of a large number of projects and the spending of huge amounts of money will inevitably lead to increased corruption."

"The court must take severe measures to suppress this trend, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous."

"Relying solely on the censors is no longer effective."

"Past facts have proven that the Royal Guards are the most trustworthy at times like this."

"However, the Jinyiwei only has 6,000 people, and some of them must be kept in the capital to be used."

"Some of them are sent to gather intelligence from surrounding forces and monitor local areas... There is a serious shortage of manpower."

“Expansion is imperative.”

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao both nodded, it was indeed true.

The shortage of Jinyiwei was a long-standing problem, but it was just barely enough before, so in order not to irritate the ministers, the number of troops was not expanded.

Of course, one of the reasons was that Zhu Biao himself disliked the Jinyiwei.

But things are different now.

Internal changes require strengthened supervision, and the emergence of more new continents and new forces also requires the Jinyiwei to gather intelligence.

Expansion has become imperative.

The expressions of several cabinet scholars were very confused. What did Chen Bandu want to do today?

Why do you have to make these awkward suggestions?

Doesn’t he know that he will be scolded if the news gets out?

Not to mention the people outside, even these cabinet members wanted to curse.

However, they didn't dare to really curse out loud, and they didn't even dare to object too loudly.

Old Zhu naturally supports this proposal:

"Okay, we agree to this suggestion. We will expand the Jinyiwei into two guards. We'll see if it's not enough."

Then he said to his ministers: "I am not afraid to tell you that I am going to leave the capital and continue my inspection tour."

"The purpose is to curb this trend of corruption."

"Tell the people below that whoever falls into our hands will have his property confiscated and his clan exterminated."

Everyone was shocked when they heard this. The emperor's sword was finally about to be unsheathed.

I don’t know how many people will be unlucky this time.

When Zhu Yuanzhang agreed to expand the Jinyiwei into two guards, the matter was already settled.

The emperor has spoken, what is there to object to?

I'm afraid you don't think your life is too long.

However, Chen Jingke also knew that he could not really push the civil service group to the opposite side, otherwise he would fall into endless party struggles and there would be no peace.

If you beat up the other gang, you have to give them a red date, so he brought up the third topic of the day.

"…Our Chinese civilization has a long history, and the knowledge left by our ancestors is vast and boundless."

"But the books that carry this knowledge have either been lost or destroyed in the flames of war..."

"Less than one in a hundred has survived to this day. This is China's greatest regret."

"Today, our Great Ming has inherited the Mandate of Heaven and is ruling the world. We should..."

He first gave a long opening speech, praising the greatness of the ancient sages and regretting the loss of books and the loss of countless knowledge.

Then he made his own suggestion:
"I suggest that the court organize great scholars to collect and compile classics from all over the world..."

"All the books of classics, history, philosophy, and hundreds of schools of thought since the invention of writing, as well as the words on astronomy, geography, yin and yang, medicine, divination, monks, and arts, have been compiled into one book."

"If this book is completed, it will demonstrate the country's prestige and benefit future generations."

"Good." A cheer rang out.

When everyone looked, it turned out to be Zhu Yuanzhang.

He said happily: "Jing Ke really understands my thoughts. People say that the Ming Dynasty only has martial arts but lacks civil governance."

"I have long wanted to compile a document like this to shut those people up."

"It's just that writing this book is very time-consuming, and the most urgent task of the Ming Dynasty is to reform and should not be distracted, so we didn't do it."

"Today, you have taken the lead."

Zhu Biao also smiled and said, "The emperor lived through war and witnessed countless books destroyed in the war. He has told me about this several times."

"It is said that when the Ming Dynasty is peaceful and prosperous, a document must be compiled to compile all the classics in the world..."

Look, maybe Zhu Biao is still good at speaking. He raised the nature of the matter from defending himself to the level of inheriting the unique knowledge of the ancient sages.

Others naturally knew what to say at this time, and they all praised His Majesty for his wisdom and so on.

Among them, the most enthusiastic flatterers were three scholars of Confucian origin.

The main force in editing books is naturally these literati, which is a real achievement and reputation.

As the reform progresses, the status of science is forced to change by objective reality.

What made them most uneasy was the emergence of Fang (materialism), which directly shook the dominant position of Neo-Confucianism.

According to common sense, this speed should not be so fast.

In this era, the speed of knowledge dissemination is very slow. If Fang Xue wants to make a breakthrough, it will take at least ten to twenty years of preaching.

This also means that no matter how excellent Fangxue is, it will take decades to shake the status of Neo-Confucianism.

However, the emergence of Ming Weekly changed all this.

Its sales channels cover every county in the country, which means that certain information can be delivered to people across the country in a short period of time.

Several articles on Fangxue are published in each issue of the weekly newspaper.

All the scholars in the country knew that a new doctrine called materialism had emerged in the Ming Dynasty.

Naturally, Neo-Confucianism would not sit idly by and wait for death. They tried to force the Hanlin Academy not to publish Neo-Confucian articles.

Xie Jin was not going to indulge them, and he took out Zhu Biao's handwritten inscription on the spot:
Be loyal to the emperor and patriotic, be honest and dedicated to public service, abide by the law and serve the people, and be fair and truthful.

As soon as the sixteen-character mantra came out, this group of great scholars immediately fell silent.

There was no other way, they could only write articles to criticize the other side in all aspects.

However, no matter whether it is criticism, scolding or boycott, it cannot stop the spread of Fang's teachings.

More and more people are understanding materialism.

Moreover, there is a saying that the more you argue, the clearer the truth becomes, especially when the court is upholding justice.

The criticism of the great Neo-Confucian scholars actually helped everyone to have a deeper understanding of materialism.

As a result, more and more people choose materialism.

Of course, there is another reason why those people choose materialism.

The support of the court.

The imperial court did not make its position clear directly, but allowing Fang Xue to publish his article in the weekly newspaper was the best statement.

Since the imperial court supports it, naturally people will go to learn it, all for the purpose of becoming a better official.

Although science is still strong now, Fangxue has also gained a foothold and developed rapidly.

The monopoly of one company is about to be broken.

Now science urgently needs a major move to restore its reputation.

It is the perfect time to write a masterpiece.

Therefore, it can be said that Chen Jingke's proposal was passed unanimously without any obstacles.

Originally, Zhu Biao planned to set up an institution within the Hanlin Academy and gather three to five hundred people to compile the book.

However, Chen Jingke directly increased this number tenfold:
"The books left by our ancestors are as vast as the sea of ​​smoke, and each of the 360 ​​lines is related to the livelihood of the nation..."

"Since we have embarked on compiling this document, we must do our best... Three to five hundred people are simply not enough."

“I suggest that we select the best people from all walks of life across the country and gather them in Luoyang to compile this book.”

"The number is temporarily set at 5,000."

Five thousand? Everyone was shocked.

Originally, they thought that the scale of this revision of the book would at most be similar to that of the Song Dynasty's "Taiping Yulan".

Although it is a great achievement, it is less shocking because of the deeds of the predecessors.

Only now did I realize that I had underestimated Chen Jingke's courage.

Five thousand people participated, which is the highest number in history.

Compared with the two, "Taiping Yulan" is not worth mentioning.

Then there was a faint excitement.

With such a large number of people, the scale of this book will be beyond everyone's imagination.

If it is compiled, it will surely be a great event in Chinese civilization.

It is a huge honor for everyone involved.

how to say.

The chief editor is qualified to open a page in the history book of China, and ordinary participants can also open a page in the family tree.

but……

Zhu Biao frowned and said, "This... is so large in scale, the cost must be huge."

"The court is spending money everywhere right now, and it would be bad if this delayed reform."

Chen Jingke smiled and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry. The court is not short of money now."

"What we need to consider is how to reasonably make these money and grain flow, turn them into tangible things, and provide convenience for the world."

Having said that, he winked at Zhu Biao.

Although Zhu Biao didn't understand what he was going to do, he nodded out of trust:

"Okay, then this matter is settled for now. We'll discuss the specifics later."

All the ministers were very excited and praised Your Majesty's wisdom in unison.

After that, everyone discussed some other things and today's meeting ended.

Then the three Confucian scholars trotted away, apparently to make the good news public.

After everyone left, Zhu Biao asked:

"Jing Ke, what are you planning?"

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Xiongying also asked him, could there be any other purpose for compiling a book?

Only then did Chen Jingke reveal the whole reason.

"Those great scholars have extensive influence in local areas and can affect the implementation of national policies."

"In fact, they are already using their influence to hinder the implementation of new policies and new ideas."

"The situation in Nanyang has reached a critical point. I estimate that the indigenous forces will take action soon."

"When the time comes, the imperial court will send troops to Southeast Asia and formally implement the Great Enfeoffment, which will inevitably be opposed by Confucian scholars..."

"Compiling this document is not only a way to appease them, but also a good opportunity to bring them all to the capital and keep them under custody."

Once they arrive in the capital, they have no control over themselves. Once they leave the local area, they are like toothless tigers.

It will no longer be possible to prevent the promotion of new policies and new ideas.

This method was not invented by Chen Jingke, but is the wisdom of our ancestors.

Since the Han Dynasty, when the imperial court was strong, it would find various excuses to forcibly relocate local wealthy families to live around the capital.

Even famous local virtuous people would be forcibly summoned to Beijing to serve as officials.

The purpose of doing this is naturally to weaken local political power and strengthen central power.

Chen Jingke simply learned and applied it according to the actual situation of the Ming Dynasty.

It not only weakened local political power, but also cleared the way for change.

We can also concentrate the power of scholars to compile books and preserve the wealth left by our ancestors as much as possible.

In the previous life, the loss of documents such as "Taiping Yulan" and "Yongle Encyclopedia" can be said to be a huge loss to Chinese civilization.

As for the Siku Quanshu, saying that it was a revision of the book was actually a destruction of the book.

The books that had managed to survive various natural and man-made disasters were all destroyed at the hands of the Qing Dynasty.

In this life, Chen Jingke will never let something like this happen again.

Once the document is compiled, he will print thousands of copies using movable type.

Then libraries were built all over the country and this set of books was placed in them.

Not only this document, but all other books in the collection will be printed as much as possible.

There is one hidden in every place.

I don’t believe that all of them could be lost.

(End of this chapter)