Zhu Yuanzhang can see my dreams

Chapter 307 307 Is there any emperor who does not attend court for thirty years?
Wang Buli's words spread quickly.

In short, it's just polite words like the emperor is thinking about everyone.

If you encounter any injustice while doing things, you can go to Wang Buli to talk about it.

So many people shouted out in joy.

It has to be said that among the simple views of the people, they need a "Judge Bao" who can make decisions for them.

Wang Buli's name is still quite popular in the areas around Yingtian Prefecture.

When Lu Tang, the head of the Ministry of Works, heard someone shouting loudly, he immediately became nervous.

If this group of unruly people cause chaos and harm the life of the prince consort, his entire family would be in danger.

The most important thing is, it is best not to cause trouble under the emperor's feet.

So he hurriedly asked a group of soldiers to follow him and run forward, shouting loudly that they were not allowed to make any noise, and asked those who needed to queue up for food to continue queuing up and not to go and watch the fun.

When they reached the source of the crowd, the soldiers roughly pushed aside a path and Lu Tang discovered that the prince consort was sitting nearby talking to the craftsmen next to him.

Anyway, a group of people gathered around and watched Wang Buli's excitement while eating.

When Lu Tang saw this scene, and saw a group of yamen runners protecting Wang Buli, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He wiped the hot sweat from his face.

"My Lord, would you like another bowl of rice?"

When Lu Tang saw Wang Buli glance at him, he quickly added something.

Wang Buli sat aside and finished the rice in his bowl, indicating that he had enough.

He didn't make things difficult for him. He stood up, patted his butt, handed the empty bowl to him, and told Lu Tang to find a place to rest for a while.

It's very hot at noon.

Lu Tang responded quickly and led Wang Buli out of the crowd.

Many craftsmen gathered together, and the one who was eating quietly was patted by a worker next to him.

"The Prince Consort was talking to you just now, why didn't you pay attention to him?"

"I don't know what to say. Eating is more important."

"Well, you are really good."

Soon their conversation was drowned out by all the noise. Everyone was talking about being able to take a two-hour break at noon, working more in the morning and evening, and having some cold mung bean soup to drink.

The food is not bad and can fill my stomach. I also get paid for working, and my life is becoming more and more promising.

Wang Buli was taken into the woods by Lu Tang.

There is a hammock tied next to the two trees, where Lu Tang usually rests.

Wang Buli tried it and felt a slight breeze blowing here, which was quite cool. It seemed that Lu Tang was a person who knew how to enjoy life.

Further away, there was a group of craftsmen who had just finished their meal, sitting or lying on the ground leaning against a tree to rest.

No one will come here to bother the officials.

Wang Buli took off his shoes, lay on them, swaying, looking at the emerald green leaves, with some sunlight leaking through.

When the breeze blows around, the cicadas chirp continuously, urging people to sleep.

……

Zhu Yuanzhang took Zhu Biao away from his busy schedule and into the fairyland, and Zhu Biao felt that he could finally relax for a moment.

He worked intensively every day and only had a half-day break every five days. Even though Zhu Biao was young, he still found it difficult to catch up.

Zhu Yuanzhang, however, was looking at the younger generation of Wanli, thinking that he would like to see what achievements he could make after he killed Zhang Juzheng.
Better not to disappoint me too much.

After Zhang Juzheng's death, the central court began to take actions to cut off his influence.

Zhu Yuanzhang carefully observed that after Zhang Juzheng's death, no one from the emperor to the ministers had made any achievements, but instead they kept trying to cut ties with Zhang Juzheng for justice.

Zhang Juzheng himself was accused after his death of accepting bribes, living an extravagant life, placing incompetent cronies in important positions, abusing his power, and arranging for his sons to pass the civil service examinations and enter the Hanlin Academy.

He colluded with eunuch Feng Bao, suppressed public opinion, deceived the emperor, and even attempted to usurp the throne.

Although some of the accusations were based on facts, most of them were brought forward by court officials who had suffered during Zhang Juzheng's reign and were eager to defend themselves at his expense.

In short, they tried to completely change his policies, stop his reforms in official procedures, and eradicate his influence whenever they could.

His successor, Zhang Siwei, who had been protected and recommended by Zhang Juzheng, served in the position of Prime Minister for a year before he understood the opinions of the emperor and his ministers (the public). He immediately stopped Zhang's previous land surveying work and began a thorough anti-Zhang campaign.

Many people who had connections with Zhang Juzheng were held accountable by "people all over the world".

After Qi Jiguang died, Wanli did not give him any pension.

Li Chengliang was quite smart. Long before he was impeached because of Zhang Juzheng, he had bribed court officials lavishly and had someone speak for him, so he barely got through.

As for Qi Jiguang, most of his money was given to his subordinates. He had no money to bribe people in the court, and his later years were extremely miserable.

After Zhang Juzheng's death, local officials no longer implemented the performance evaluation system and threw it all aside. They could finally breathe a sigh of relief and stop working.

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his eyebrows.

It is true that when a person dies, it is like a light going out.

Many things that are beneficial to the Ming Dynasty will not be inherited by future generations.

Instead, he threw it aside and ignored it.

However, when Zhu Yuanzhang discovered that Wanli was personally ruling the government, he was not successful in this regard either.

Just the prime ministers he selected were afraid to do anything, for fear of being impeached by the censors below.

Zhu Yuanzhang discovered that these censors did not do any practical work and were just finding faults every day to achieve their goal of attacking other factions, right?

This is completely contrary to his original intention of setting it up.

Zhang Juzheng's policies were abolished.

The court's control over the Ming's extensive bureaucracy further declined.

At this time, some small factions of officials in the Ministry of Personnel, officials in charge of education, and officials in the Ministry of Personnel were not under the control of the grand secretaries.

Through impeachment, these people finally realized how great their influence in the court was.

So they were busy arguing and trying to purge Zhang Juzheng's followers, rather than trying to restore and revive.

The most important thing is that the emperor was not decisive enough.

This undoubtedly does not help control the situation, but instead makes it worse.

"Dad." Zhu Biao's face was a little ugly when he saw this: "Wanli has always been under the wing of Zhang Juzheng and thought that handling state affairs was very simple.

But when he really started to deal with it, he found that he couldn’t adapt to it at all.”

Zhu Yuanzhang could not deny it.

Without the guidance of the older generation, if one has to deal with such complicated government affairs right away and does not have the mentality of a strong person, it is easy to collapse.

"Wanli neither lived up to the ideal of a virtuous ruler that his subjects expected, nor did he have the personal ability to act like a powerful 'tyrant'. This really disappointed us."

Zhu Yuanzhang felt that Wanli's methods were too immature, his ideas and mentality were immature, and he was not as good as Jiajing's.

Jiajing's situation at that time was even worse than Wanli's.

Even if you do something like Zhang Juzheng, will you still implement his policies?
Just like the King of Qin killed Shang Yang but continued his reforms.

Emperor Wanli also tried to make several cabinet ministers his confidants.

Unfortunately, it was too clumsy and unsuccessful.

He is no match for those experienced officials in the officialdom.

In particular, the consequences of his targeting Zhang Juzheng made many ministers dare not confide in the emperor anymore.

Who dares to work wholeheartedly for the Ming Dynasty?

In the end, even his family suffered such a miserable fate!
What's worse is that the emperor didn't do this in secret.

The other ministers suspected that the cabinet was conspiring with the emperor, and they did not stand on their side and refused to cooperate with the cabinet's work at all.

Benefited from Wanli's suppression of the cabinet.

The other six ministries began to fight back desperately. Who would still listen to the cabinet?

Wanli had no cards to play, and he could not restrain the censors who were speaking nonsense.

He didn't even learn Jiajing's ruthlessness to make people shut up.

Then, the court officials began to conflict with each other over the issue of appointing a crown prince.

The establishment of the crown prince must, of course, be carried out in accordance with the rules set by Zhu Yuanzhang. However, Wanli did not want to establish the eldest son as the crown prince, but wanted to establish the second son as the crown prince.

Outrageous.

After the ministers argued with him, he actually ignored the affairs of state.

Then a scene appeared that made Zhu Yuanzhang so angry that his beard was about to fly.

After being hit by reality, Wanli began to indulge in alcohol and sex, and ruined himself!
"This is outrageous." Zhu Yuanzhang angrily slapped the sofa and said, "He really disappoints me."

But it’s still a little early for Lao Zhu to say this.

Because of the dispute over the country's foundation, Wanli began to slack off.

He sent people to move all the confiscated property of Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng into the palace for him to enjoy, and sent eunuchs to collect mining taxes. Such hedonism and disregard for state affairs made Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes widen.

He looked at Zhu Biao beside him with some disbelief.

Zhu Biao was not mentally prepared for such behavior from his descendants.

"Dad, maybe he was spoiled since he was young. He will be fine after a while."

Zhu Biao tried to make up for it.

Zhu Yuanzhang, a diligent official, could not bear to see this situation.

As a result, both father and son found Wanli's behavior too difficult to understand.

As the great emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he never left the palace, took care of state affairs, went to the suburbs, temples, or court, met people, approved things, or spoke.

Many people wanted to retire and return home, but the emperor did not approve, so they just ran away and went home and stopped serving him.

Of course, you won’t get any retirement pay, let alone any money after you die.

As a result, there were not enough officials in the government offices, and many of them did not do their jobs.

"Is there any emperor in the world who doesn't attend court for thirty years?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned and had many things to say in his heart.

Zhu Biao was also stunned and didn't know what to say.

What an ambitious emperor! After getting rid of the powerful ministers, he found that he was incompetent and simply stopped working!

"Really, it's really a hopeless situation!"

Zhu Yuanzhang clenched his fists and cursed angrily.

With this emperor setting an example, wouldn’t the emperors who came after him follow suit?
"I am so heartbroken. How could the throne fall into the hands of such a person?"

Zhu Biao didn’t know how to comfort his father. After all, he was his own son!
But what made Zhu Yuanzhang feel better was that

Wanli did not attend court, there was no eunuch rebellion, no external relatives interfering in politics, and no powerful ministers like Yan Song and Zhang Juzheng. The factional struggles in the court were also within the controllable range.

Despite ignoring everything, the Ming Dynasty still fought three major battles and achieved complete victory.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and wanted to see what was going on.

The first battle was the Battle of Ningxia. The leader was a Mongolian whose father and brother were killed. He fled to the Ming Dynasty and served as a soldier for his entire life before being promoted to deputy general.

After Haobai retired and his son inherited the position, according to convention, the old Hao family retained more than a thousand "householders", still commanded by his son.

"What does house-servant mean?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at those well-equipped soldiers with great confusion in his eyes.

Zhu Biao spoke calmly: "Has the border of the Ming Dynasty developed into a private organization like the Wei Bo Yabing? They only listen to the private officials who pay them, and not the orders of the court?"

"Today, the servants of the generals in the northwest have ten times more food, clothing and weapons than the soldiers. Whenever they encounter a powerful enemy, they are used to break through the enemy's lines. Those who are good at fighting often boast of their first merits and sometimes even ascend the throne."

"How can ordinary generals afford to support so many soldiers? Where does their money come from?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said sinisterly: "I think they have taken the money for the Ming army to raise their own private soldiers. Look at those Ming soldiers, they are like beggars, in sharp contrast to those elite soldiers."

Zhu Biao also agreed with his father's analysis.

The Ming Dynasty had spent so much effort on border defense, but they never expected that it would turn out like this.

The food and wages of so many soldiers can support a small number of elite men and protect the border.

What had become of the Mongolian elite?

Only then could they be beaten by such a small number of elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty without any chance to fight back and dare not knock on the gate easily!
Zhu Yuanzhang and his son watched as the deputy general, Hai Chengen, who inherited the family's position as a retainer, was involved in a mutiny.

He was angry about the unpaid wages and killed the governor of Ningxia.

But the problem was not just about the unpaid wages, the governor was a literati.

Dang Xin had great official power and deliberately suppressed these warriors.

In particular, he believed that Haobai, a Mongolian, was not of our ethnic group and must have different intentions, so he recommended himself to be the general.

Where is your face?
As a result, the imperial court repeatedly refused to promote Hai Bai to the position of general.

The most important thing is that I have discovered that you, Haobai, are embezzling salaries to support servants.

Even if your father and brother were killed by the Mongols, and you fought for the Ming Dynasty all your life, that would not work.

Zhu Yuanzhang thought it was normal for scholars to suppress military men, and he was just slightly suppressing the status of one or two military men.

But why should the status of this governor be higher than that of the general?
Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't tell what had changed, but more serious problems were bothering him.

"The army owes wages? And they owe it for several years at a time!"

"Haibai is very brave!"

Zhu Yuanzhang, a veteran of many battles, knew that this was a serious accident.

Because even if Haibai falsely received the salary, the court did not pay it in full, and many soldiers could not get any money.

Since there was no mutiny in the past few years, he felt that these soldiers were still loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

"The military settlement didn't work?"

Zhu Biao also knew that farming in Ningxia was not easy.

Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to the issue of military settlements. Born in poverty, he knew firsthand the sufferings of the people who lacked food and clothing.

So when he joined the army, he was fully aware of the importance of military pay in maintaining the combat effectiveness of the army, and he tried every means to raise military pay.

When he was the King of Wu, the two brothers Wu Liang cultivated land in Jiangyin and became elite soldiers and good generals, which made Zhang Shicheng dare not rashly invade the west.

Kang Maocai cultivated land in Jinling and other places, and in addition to paying the military salaries, he had a surplus of 7,000 shi, for which he was praised by Zhu Yuanzhang.

After establishing the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang quickly established military farms in the newly occupied provinces. In order to deal with the Mongols in the north, he further strengthened the focus on military farms and border defense in the north.

Similarly, after recovering Sichuan, Yunnan and other places, large-scale military farming was also carried out.

Of course, not all provinces could have sufficient food and wages due to military farming, so the Zhongfa policy was introduced to supplement military pay.

In addition, the imperial court would allocate money and grain to places where there was a shortage.

It was transported from Kaifeng to Shaanxi, and then transferred from Shaanxi to Ningxia to be used as military pay for the local garrison.

Because military settlements were closely related to the military pay system, and due to the rapid development of military settlements and the supplementation of grain from commercial settlements and civilian transportation, the source of military pay was relatively abundant.

The current Ming Dynasty has almost realized Zhu Yuanzhang’s idea of ​​“sufficient soldiers and sufficient food”.

It was almost impossible for wage arrears to exist, and Zhu Yuanzhang would also look for opportunities to reward the soldiers stationed in the north.

Of course, the "salary" gap between officials and ordinary soldiers is too large.

It was also Zhu Yuanzhang's wishful boasting.

In addition to garrison service, most of these soldiers had to engage in hard labor, with a monthly salary of only one stone, which was barely enough to support two or three people.

If there is a military operation, some additional food will be given as expenses.

If there are natural disasters or man-made disasters, or if there are large numbers of soldiers' families, it will be difficult to maintain their lives.

"So, the Ming Dynasty has now reached the point Wang Buli said. The generals and other officers have a lot of land under their control, and many people have become serfs instead of soldiers of the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Biao nodded slightly. He remembered that Qi Jiguang relied on recruiting soldiers to ensure his combat effectiveness and gained the support of Zhang Juzheng.

"So now the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty do not rely on farming, but are recruited by paying. If the court does not pay, they will rebel. They are no different from the Wei Bo soldiers."

"Something is wrong." Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head again and said, "I remember that Zhang Juzheng was in power for ten years and the treasury had a lot of money.

The court should not be without money to pay the soldiers, but the money that should have been paid was not paid to these soldiers, and they were embezzled. "

Zhu Biao also nodded in agreement. With Yan Song, the most corrupt and powerful official in the Ming Dynasty, around, even if order was restored, it would be difficult for the border areas to turn around immediately.

Especially since the emperor is far away, it is easier to get out of control.

Then Zhu Yuanzhang and his son saw where Zhang Juzheng's accumulated wealth had been spent!

The imperial court sent a large army to encircle and suppress this group of rebels and took a lot of silver from the treasury.

Such a situation left Zhu Yuanzhang speechless.

A huge amount of money has been spent on suppressing the rebellion. You bastards, why don't you get a little money to pay the soldiers as soon as possible!
But he just made things bigger.

"Your motherfucker."

Zhu Biao, who was always known for his generosity, cursed directly.

During the riot, Liu Dongyang and his men forced the general Zhang Weizhong to commit suicide.

Then he declared himself the commander-in-chief and appointed Hai Cheng'en and another person as his left and right deputies.

Although Haibai never accepted any title in this series of mutinies, he was identified by the court as the mastermind behind the rebellion.

How could a mere sergeant be so courageous!

Especially, he dared to kill the governor and the general.

Could there not be some hidden support behind this?

(End of this chapter)