The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 473 Time is for everyone

Zhu Xiongying did not take any major actions after he ascended the throne, which made the ministers feel much more at ease.

The first official administrative order was actually an order to recruit talents.

This was more or less beyond the expectations of the ministers.

The first official edict often reveals the emperor's inner thoughts.

Recruiting talented people shows that the emperor wants to achieve something, which is actually what his ministers are happy to see.

Who doesn’t want to participate in the creation of a prosperous era and leave their name in history?

But the difference is how to create this prosperous era.

Few of Zhu's subjects would like his behavior.

Zhu Biao is the kind of wise ruler that everyone hopes for.

Have ideas and means, but pay more attention to methods and approaches.

As someone who was identified as a third generation member early on, Zhu Xiongying is naturally the subject of everyone's research.

The ministers had mixed feelings about him.

The good news is that he is not as cruel as the Taisheng Emperor, and he can occasionally play jokes with his ministers.

Many of his replies to memorials were very humorous and were widely circulated.

What worries me is that he is not as steady as the emperor emeritus.

He has made several reforms, either starting from scratch or building a new building from scratch, and his methods are drastic.

This kind of radical behavior is something that the ministers do not want to see.

The risk is too great, there is no need to do this.

But overall, everyone is quite satisfied.

After all, whether it was controlling schistosomiasis in the south, appeasing the barbarians, reforming the Honglu Temple, implementing the pacification envoy plan, etc.

None of these efforts will produce results in the short term.

However, Zhu Xiongying has been able to persist for more than ten years and make changes bit by bit.

This kind of patience is an excellent quality.

Especially for a monarch in a period of change, patience is one of the essential qualities.

New policies require little adjustments, and sometimes it may take years to show results.

The monarch has no patience, and the so-called reforms are nothing more than changing orders every day.

One of the main reasons why Wang Anshi's reform failed was that Song Shenzong was anxious to get money, which forced Wang Anshi to rush for success.

The key point is that Song Shenzong himself was well aware that his actions had led to a series of bad consequences.

He even took these bad consequences to ask Wang Anshi whether there were such things and whether they could be solved.

But he never thought about changing himself and continued to force Wang Anshi to make money, which was the most fatal thing.

In this regard, Zhu Xiongying's performance was quite satisfactory to everyone.

In everyone's mind, he has the qualities of a wise ruler.

Otherwise, how could the ministers be convinced by him?

No one would think that because he is the prince or the emperor, everyone will respect him, right?
However, even so, it was still very surprising that Zhu Xiongying's first official administrative order was a recruitment order.

Because the order to recruit talents not only represents the emperor's lofty ideals and ambitions, but also means his emphasis on talents.

Throughout history, monarchs who valued talents have rarely failed to create great things.

And talented people can also display their talents under such a monarch.

To put it bluntly, if you value talents, you generally won't harm them at will.

Isn't this good news for the ministers?

Logically speaking, with the establishment of the imperial examination system, this talent recruitment order would not have such a great impact.

The problem is that Zhu Yuanzhang suspended the imperial examination last year, leaving a large number of scholars with no way to become officials.

Now that the imperial court wanted to recruit talents, it immediately caused a sensation.

Zhu Xiongying also stipulated that each province should recommend fifty people, the prefecture should recommend ten people, and the county should recommend two people.

Furthermore, the persons being recommended cannot be relatives, teachers or students, or have any other relationship with each other.

Everyone supports this point, in order to prevent the situation where all the people recommended are from the same family, which would lead to one family becoming too powerful in a certain place.

If the emperor doesn't even have this kind of precaution, then the ministers will be worried.

An emperor who is too naive is also a nightmare for his ministers.

The Ming Dynasty currently has 23 provinces, more than 300 prefectures, and more than 2,000 counties, which requires the recommendation of more than 8,000 people.

These more than 8,000 people will naturally have to undergo an assessment; they will not be given official positions just by arriving.

But this way of recruiting talents is much simpler than the imperial examination, and as long as one is not particularly bad, one can be appointed as an official.

The difference is that those with good assessment results become high-ranking officials, while those with average results become minor officials.

Under normal circumstances, if the emperor wanted to recruit so many people at once, he would inevitably be opposed by his ministers.

But last year, Lao Zhu killed too many people.

Although the court was able to maintain its operation by relying on the family fortune left by Zhu Biao.

However, the number of officials is still somewhat insufficient, and the talent pool has also run out.

Zhu Xiongying's recruitment order can greatly alleviate the pressure in this area.

It can be said that this recruitment order came at the perfect time.

The government and the public all praised it and were full of expectations for the future.

The recruitment order also helped Zhu Xiongying establish his prestige in a very short period of time.

Um...it’s not accurate to use the word “established”, but rather the prestige he had accumulated before exploded and was realized at this moment.

However, what everyone didn’t know was that Zhu Xiongying was also very happy in the palace.

"Haha... I was sold and still helped count the money, that's what it's like."

Chen Jingke said with a smile: "Don't mention them, I didn't expect you to do this."

"By the way, how did you come up with this idea?"

Zhu Xiongying said proudly: "It would be strange if you could think of this. Miao Jin and I discussed this for a long time before we came up with this idea."

"The Ming Dynasty hasn't relocated any wealthy households for nearly ten years, but there are many wealthy households among the people now."

"During the years when my father was in power, he implemented national plans and made many people rich."

"The key is that those who can make a fortune in the national plan must have some connection with the government."

"Such families often have great influence on local areas and can even override local government offices."

Chen Jingke deeply agreed with this.

The struggle between the imperial court and local tyrants lasted throughout the entire imperial era.

When the imperial court was strong, it weakened local forces by relocating wealthy households to ensure that central authority could extend to the grassroots level.

When the imperial court was weak, it was unable to implement this policy.

The wealthy families will grow stronger and stronger, monopolizing local power and making it difficult for the imperial power to reach the local levels.

Naturally, there were no local tyrants in the Ming Dynasty at present, especially in the first few years after Chen Jingke came out of retirement, when the imperial court adjusted the population distribution.

The clan's power suffered a huge blow.

But the population structure that has been formed over thousands of years cannot be disintegrated in a short period of time.

There are still many small families living together, but their influence is very small.

But over time, this small family can evolve into a large clan.

Especially after Zhu Biao came to power, the implementation of national planning made a large number of people with connections rich.

These people generally have the following characteristics:
First, there are many family members.

There is strength in numbers, and it is difficult for a family with a small population to gain a foothold in the local area.

Second, you need to have connections in the government; only in this way can you get included in national planned projects.

Third, it has a certain influence locally.

Only those who have experienced it know how difficult it is to do the work of the common people.

Without the local tyrants or local extravagant figures to step forward, nothing can be accomplished.

If such families are left unchecked for a long time, they will inevitably develop into powerful gentry.

But if the imperial court openly relocated these wealthy families, they would definitely find ways to hide themselves and push others out as scapegoats.

They have connections with the government, so it's easy for them to do it.

So Zhu Xiongying changed his thinking and asked them to jump out on their own initiative.

After the order to recruit talents was issued, government offices in all regions had to recommend talented people to come to the capital.

So, who will the local government nominate?
It is not ruled out that there are honest and good officials who recommend truly virtuous people in the local area out of public spirit.

But for most officials, the people they recommend must be wealthy families with connections.

Faced with the temptation of becoming an official, local wealthy families will inevitably be tempted.

It’s a very simple truth: when you have money, you will inevitably make political demands.

This is true throughout history, both in China and abroad.

At that time, Zhu Xiongying could easily solve the problem by simply moving all the families behind them according to the list.

Zhu Xiongying excitedly told his entire plan:
"I plan to recruit talented people from all over the country in two batches this year, and recruit two more batches from the south."

"A total of 30,000 talented people will be recruited to serve as officials."

"In this way, we can have a general understanding of the major households across the country."

"Next year, we will move all these families to a few fixed places to live."

Chen Jingke smiled and said, "Aren't you afraid that these officials will harbor resentment?"

Zhu Xiongying said nonchalantly: "What should we do? The fact is that most of the talents come from these wealthy families."

"Unless we ignore the consequences and resolutely refuse to employ talents from wealthy families, but this is impossible."

Chen Jingke nodded. This was the reality.

It’s not that children from wealthy families are smarter, but only wealthy families have the resources to systematically cultivate talents.

Zhu Xiongying continued, "Relocating wealthy households is a measure that has been adopted by all dynasties."

"Those dynasties also suppressed the rich while employing talents from rich families, and no one got into trouble."

"It turns out that although it is hard for these people to be relocated, it is not so bad that they cannot survive."

"As long as people can still live, they will not take the initiative to seek death."

"Besides, when faced with the choice between their career and family interests, most people would choose the former."

In particular, the Ming Dynasty encouraged the separation of households, and many large families were split into small families.

Is there any need to say which is more important, the interests of one's own small family or the interests of the extended family?

What's more, they are not allowed to hold real power from the beginning.

The Ming Dynasty’s personnel system was already fixed, and new officials had to observe government affairs at the grassroots level for two years.

After another assessment two years later, the employee will be formally assigned a position based on his/her usual performance and assessment results.

And most of them start from the grassroots.

Even if these people have grievances in their hearts, it will be a long time before they have the ability to destroy the government.

After such a long time, the resentment in my heart has long gone.

Moreover, once people join this system and become part of a community of interests, how many people would destroy this system?

So, there is no need to worry about this issue at all.

At this point, Zhu Xiongying suddenly said seriously:

"I am doing this not only to crack down on local wealthy households, but also to concentrate resources and build a few model areas."

"Then we can use this point to promote the whole country's economy."

"What do you think of my plan?"

Chen Jingke praised: "Great, that's great, this is really killing two birds with one stone."

"Especially building a central economic circle and revitalizing the overall situation from a point to a whole is a feasible and pragmatic approach."

"In terms of economics, you are ahead of everyone in this era."

With his affirmation, Zhu Xiongying became more confident and said:
"Haha, after learning from you for so long, I can see some of the tricks."

"But since you know how to use a particular point to guide the whole, why didn't you bring it up a few years ago?"

"Otherwise, the central economic zone should have already taken shape."

Chen Jingke explained: "The progress of the times is not driven by one or two people, but requires the joint efforts of all people."

“Previously, the thoughts and perceptions of officials and the public were still stuck in the past.”

"Under such circumstances, if we hastily create an economic zone, we will not get the support of the people and will get half the result with twice the effort." "Even if we succeed, it will be difficult to boost the surrounding economy..."

"Because everyone's thinking is still stuck in the past, they don't know how to join this new circle."

"The real purpose of the court's previous policies, including the first national plan, was to enlighten the people."

"Tell the people of the world that times are changing and roughly in which direction they are heading."

"Once everyone in the world is mentally prepared, building a central economic zone will be able to leverage the power of the people and achieve twice the result with half the effort."

"And the people can also spontaneously find a position that suits them and embed themselves in this new economic circle."

"Only in this way can we truly achieve balanced development from point to area."

"Instead of sucking blood from other places and building a few model cities, which will make other places poorer."

"The reason why I didn't tell you about this plan before was because I was afraid that the Holy Emperor and the Emperor Emeritus would get anxious."

"Now that you have figured this out yourself, there is no need for me to hide it from you."

Zhu Xiongying nodded. He could accept this explanation.

In fact, everyone knew that Chen Jingke was hiding a lot of things, and they could also guess that he had concerns.

But the trust that had been accumulated before prevented everyone from forcing him to reveal everything.

Because everyone believes that he will definitely say it when the time comes.

That's the situation now.

When the time came, he spoke naturally.

Now that he had opened his mouth, Chen Jingke no longer hid it. He sorted out all the things on this matter and told Zhu Xiongying bit by bit.

This course will be very long, not to mention that Chen Jingke’s own understanding of this aspect is very superficial, and he has to figure out many things by himself.

I don’t know how long it will take to finish.

But they are both young and have plenty of time.

Just as the throne of the Ming Dynasty was passed and the new emperor was ambitious and wanted to make great achievements, Anxi was in turmoil again.
-
Yan State.

Zhu Gaochi looked at the huge new city in front of him, his heart filled with pride.

How many people can achieve such success at the age of 20?

It took half a year to gain a foothold in southern Sindhu, then another half a year to recuperate, and another year to pacify the entire subcontinent.

Become the sole overlord of the region.

There are still many small forces in the corners, but they are no longer a concern.

Later, when we have time, we can just send any general to pacify the rebellion.

Yao Guangxiao was also very proud of himself as he had fulfilled the oath he had made that year.

With the trust of the monarch, he was able to display all his talents and conquered the enemy and established a huge country in two years.

Although this enemy is a bit vulnerable, this piece is big enough to make up for this flaw.

The city before us was built in less than a year.

It was built by the upper-caste nobles of Sindhu who mobilized the local people (slaves?) to show their submission.

Moreover, the architecture is full of Chinese style - of course, this was what Yao Guangxiao insisted on.

The reason was that they were afraid that the Yan nobles would be assimilated by others if they lived in the Sindhu buildings for too long.

By living in Chinese-style cities, the Sindhu people were gradually assimilated.

The scale of this city is naturally far smaller than that of Luoyang, and even Yingtian City cannot compare to it.

But in this land...even in other places outside the Ming Dynasty, it is one of the largest cities.

After discussion, Zhu Gaochi, Yao Guangxiao and others decided to establish this place as the new capital.

Zhu Gaochi named it: Mingcheng.

There is no need to explain the reason for this name.

Today is the day they enter the new capital.

As soon as I arrived at the city gate, I saw Zhang Fu who had been waiting there.

Zhang Fu is the son of Zhang Yu and one of the most outstanding talents of the second generation in the Prince of Yan's Palace.

Yao Guangxiao praised him for his ability to be both a general and a prime minister.

He made the greatest contribution in the battle to pacify the entire Sindhu.

If Zhu Gaochi had not intentionally promoted and appointed several generals to share the credit, his contributions would have been several times greater.

When the capital was moved this time, Zhang Yu was ordered to enter the city first to conduct a comprehensive search to confirm its safety.

Since Zhu Gaochi and his men have arrived, it means everything is safe.

There is another person behind Zhang Yu, Jiang Ying.

A person who made Zhu Gaochi feel extremely uncomfortable.

It’s not that Jiang Ying offended him, but... he is Jiang Li’s son.

When the old man sent him here, he specifically emphasized that their identities must be kept secret and no one should know that they were Jiang Lin's family.

Zhu Gaochi broke out in a cold sweat at that time.

This is definitely a beating.

However, this also completely relieved him of his worries, which showed that the old man really would not pursue the matter of Zhang Yu.

After learning about Jiang Ying's situation, I discovered that he came from a family of learned scholars and was very good at gathering intelligence.

Let him work in the Military Intelligence Department.

The Military Intelligence Department is different from the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

To be honest, he hated organizations like the Jinyiwei, but having grown up with Chen Jingke, he was well aware of the importance of intelligence.

Especially since they are outsiders in Sindhu, intelligence is even more important.

So the Military Intelligence Department was set up.

They did not have the various privileges of the Jinyiwei and were only responsible for gathering intelligence, mainly on foreign enemies.

Jiang Ying did a good job in this department, so Zhu Gaochi sent him here to inspect Xincheng this time.

After some greetings, everyone officially entered the city.

Mingcheng was divided into several areas, the most central area was naturally Yanwang City and Yanwang Palace.

The Yanwang Palace was Zhu Gaochi's office and residence, while the Yanwang City was where the Ming people lived, and only the Ming people could enter and leave at will.

Among the Sindhu people, only those of upper caste with permission could enter.

Even people of upper castes could not enter without permission.

As for people of lower castes, they were not even allowed to approach.

It is no exaggeration to say that the street sweepers in Yanwang City have a higher status than ordinary Sindhu people.

From this point, it can be seen that Zhu Gaochi, Yao Guangxiao and others have fully adapted to the caste system and have improved it.

After entering the capital, Zhu Gaochi led everyone on a tour with great interest, and then entered the palace with a sense of reluctance to leave.

But he was not a man who indulged in pleasure and soon returned to normal.

He also warned everyone: "Yan State has not yet been completely unified, so it is not the time to enjoy."

"If it weren't for the sake of stabilizing the Aryan people's hearts, I wouldn't be willing to move here."

Yao Guangxiao was even more satisfied with his performance and said:
"Your Highness is right. Compared to what the Ming Dynasty has done, we are just getting started."

"The Ming Dynasty is still constantly innovating, and the emperor, despite his old age, often tours the country..."

"What reason do we have to slack off?"

"What's more, we will face a truly powerful enemy, Timur, next."

It was only the end of the sixth year of Jianzhang, and the news of Zhu Xiongying's ascension to the throne had not yet arrived, so they still called Zhu the emperor.

When Timur was mentioned, everyone felt a chill in their hearts.

A man's reputation is like a tree's shadow. Timur was the overlord of the Western Regions for more than 20 years, and his deterrent power was still very strong.

Although he was defeated by the King of Qin last time, he was able to quickly stabilize his position and enter a confrontation with the Qin State.

Although the Ming Dynasty had a long-term plan and was preparing to hunt Timur from three sides.

But it has to be admitted that Timur is currently in the active position in the confrontation with the Qin State.

Although the Qin State's strength grew rapidly, it did not dare to make any moves on its territory.

Naturally, the generals of Yan State did not dare to underestimate such an enemy.

The topic naturally turned to Timur.

"The King of Qin made a plan two years ago, and the three kingdoms of Qin, Jin and Yan surrounded and hunted Timur."

"But Timur is also an old fox. Although he has seen through our plan, he also realized that something was wrong."

"I pretended to be sick and dragged it out for a year."

"But this also gives us time to unify Sindhu."

The State of Yan started too late and was still recuperating in the south at this time last year.

If they had attacked Timur at that time, they would not have been able to send troops. In fact, Qin and Jin were conspiring against Timur.

Once they win the war, the Yan State will no longer be eligible to share in the profits.

Of course, the State of Yan had no intention of taking advantage of the King of Jin; they just wanted to resolve a hidden danger.

That is the Khyber Pass.

The most important road choke point in the subcontinent.

However, this choke point is more like a curse for the subcontinent.

Because the Khyber Pass is close to the subcontinent, the area within hundreds of miles is barren land.

The real bird doesn't give a shit.

To station troops here, food, fodder, military supplies and even drinking water must be transported from hundreds of miles away.

The price is too high.

If the subcontinent is unified, relying on the strength of a unified country, it can still encourage support.

The problem is, the continent has never been unified.

Therefore, this throat has always been unguarded, which has made it easier for foreign enemies to invade.

Several foreign invasions in history entered from here.

What is even more dramatic is that the grass and water outside the Khyber Pass are relatively lush, making it suitable for human habitation.

Foreign enemies can even station there, graze and produce there, and continue to grow stronger.

When they become strong enough, they will cross the mountain pass and wreak havoc on the subcontinent.

The Sindhu people were unable to defend this place, and the State of Yan was very aware of the potential dangers and knew that this vital point must be in its own hands.

Since it is too costly to build a city for defense on the inside, we should mark out a piece of land on the outside and build a city there.

However, in order to achieve this strategic goal, it is necessary to make a contribution in the battle against Timur.

Otherwise, even if they were brothers, the King of Qin and the King of Jin would not give the land to the State of Yan for nothing.

According to King Qin's plan, they would definitely not be able to catch up.

At that time, Yao Guangxiao was worried for quite a while.

But thanks to God, Timur actually started pretending to be sick, which actually helped them buy a year.

Everyone in Prince Yan's Mansion knew about this hidden danger, and they were all holding their breath, ready to fight without regard for their lives.

Often, just a few hundred people would dare to charge towards tens of thousands of people in Sindhu.

Once, twice, three times... gradually the Sindhu people became frightened.

This Yan man is so good at fighting that he can defeat a hundred people with one.

Could it be that he was really sent by gods to rule the world?

So, later on, the situation evolved into that the people of Sindhu surrendered voluntarily before the Yan army arrived.

It was in this context that the Ming city was built on the initiative of the surrendered Aryans (high castes in Sindhu).

The unification had just been completed and they hadn’t even had time to catch their breath.

News came from Anxi that Timur finally stopped pretending.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to pretend, but that he can’t.

His pretending to be sick not only gave the State of Yan time, but also gave his mortal enemy Toghto Mishi time to recuperate.

After several years of accumulation, Toghto Mishi's army expanded to 200,000 and finally decided to take revenge.

"Tokhtamysh sent 150,000 troops to attack Timur, so that he could no longer pretend to be sick."

Yao Guangxiao said with a serious expression: "This also means that we don't have much time left."

(End of this chapter)