Daming: I am the Crown Prince

The former Minister of War Ru Heng was transferred to become the Minister of Personnel, and the Left Vice Minister of War Qi De was promoted to become the Minister of War.

The six ministries were once again fully staffed, which seemed to be a victory for the civil servants and a cause for celebration.

But in the eyes of some people, this was not a real victory, because the selection of these second-rank ministers was almost decided by the emperor alone, just like when those ministers were executed, there was no significant obstacle.

The power of life and death is entirely in the hands of the emperor, which is naturally not the political structure that scholars like best. However, under the current conditions, they can only comfort themselves that it is better than having one or two of the six ministers without a chief.

The position of Minister of Personnel had been vacant for nearly two years, and a series of civil servant assessments, promotions, etc. were actually managed by the Crown Prince. Now that Ru Rong was appointed as the Minister of Personnel, it was nothing more than the Crown Prince controlling the Ministry of Personnel and not caring about having more ministers.

Just think about the Five Military Commanderies; the civil servants are even more discouraged.

After Fu Youde went to Wuyuan, he no longer directly managed the affairs of the Five Military Commandery, and the Crown Prince immediately promoted a marquis to be in charge.

It is true that there is no harm without comparison. The Ming Dynasty was not ruled by warriors, and the status of civil officials in the Ming Dynasty was also slowly improving. But no matter how you look at it, it is too difficult for civil officials to survive.

There is definitely no hope in the Hongwu Dynasty, and judging by the character displayed by the Crown Prince now, once he comes to power, it will not be easy for the civil servants to survive.

Zhu Yunhuan was in a good mood. Now many things were basically stable. It was worth being happy that the internal affairs were stable. Now that the government was in good order and the people were in harmony, it was satisfying. Some things could continue to progress slowly.

Calling Fu Youde to Wenhua Hall, Zhu Yunxun said directly, "I will go to Wuyuan in two days. You should get ready."

Fu Youde immediately said with full confidence, "Your Highness can rest assured, the preparations for the Martial Garden have been completed, and all soldiers can enter the Martial Garden after the Dragon Boat Festival."

Zhu Yunhuan nodded in satisfaction. "Since the construction of the Martial Garden, the imperial court has always responded to requests. If the Martial Garden is not ready at this time, it would be a bit of an injustice to the imperial court."

Fu Youde immediately said, "I also know this truth very well, so I have never dared to neglect it."

It is a good thing not to be negligent. Some things need to be done quickly, otherwise you may miss a lot of things.

Fu Youde also understood some of Zhu Yunhuan's thoughts, and said, "We have recruited many craftsmen, and now they have all been incorporated into the Wuyuan. If there are outstanding craftsmen, they can be granted military positions."

Zhu Yunhuan was immediately happy. It was not easy to ask craftsmen to show their unique skills. Especially for some outstanding masters, they attached great importance to some skills and even thought that they were the livelihood of their descendants. Naturally, they would not teach them easily and kept them secret.

As for granting civil service positions to some craftsmen now, it is not so easy and such a result will lead to backlash from some civil service groups.

However, there is naturally not so much resistance in the military position. If the Five Military Commandery becomes strong, the civil officials will have no choice but to accept it. Even if the Ministry of War is extremely unhappy, if they don't want to be blocked and scolded by the dukes of the Five Military Commandery, or even beaten, they have to be smart about some things and not delay the military.

Fu Youde knew that his bet was right when he saw Zhu Yunhuan's smile, so he continued, "Now there are not only some craftsmen in Wuyuan who are familiar with the manufacture of military equipment, but also some craftsmen who are good at making agricultural equipment."

Zhu Yunhuan was very happy and said to Fu Youde, "Duke Ying is still loyal to the emperor and the country, which is very good. The matter of the craftsmen is not a trivial matter, and we will have to ask about it carefully when the time comes."

Transferring some craftsmen to Wuyuan now can only be regarded as a temporary measure, which will not make Zhu Yunhuan feel satisfied at all.

It’s not that people in history don’t care about certain skills at all, but the mainstream trend is still to emphasize literature over science, and some things don’t have a systematic learning and inheritance.

This was not a good idea in Zhu Yunhuan's opinion, so he really hoped to establish a preliminary "university" through some efforts, so that the development of science and technology could have a systematic inheritance.

This is obviously not an easy task, but it still requires hard work. Now we can see some hope.

Naturally, we have to continue to work hard, strive to do this matter better, and strive to achieve better results.

Zhu Yunhuan looked at Fu Youde and asked, "You also know what happened in Annan. There are some things that I cannot say in the court. If the traitor in Annan continues, the court will definitely send troops to conquer him."

Fu Youde didn't think there was any problem, because Annan was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. If there were traitors plotting to usurp the throne, the Ming Dynasty, as the suzerain state, would naturally have reason to directly mobilize the royal army to attack them. This was a righteous cause.

Of course, it doesn’t matter if the imperial court does not launch a campaign. In short, the initiative is in the hands of the Ming Dynasty. It just depends on how certain words are said and understood.

First, we need to take on the greater good. As for how to proceed later, we will naturally need to assess the situation and act according to the actual situation.

However, Zhu Yunhuan still asked, "You also led troops to pacify Yunnan and Guizhou before. If the court really wants to send troops to Annan, what do you think will be the most difficult?" Fu Youde answered without thinking, "I think the first is the dense forests and lush leaves, the second is the miasma, and the third is that it is too humid and hot, and the northern soldiers may find it difficult to adapt."

Zhu Yunxun asked seriously, "Oh? Apart from these, there are no other brave barbarians?"

Fu Youde said directly, "Your Highness, there are always casualties in war. But in my opinion, whether it is Luchuan, the remnants of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty in Yunnan and Guizhou, or Annan, their soldiers are not as brave as our Ming soldiers, and their weapons are also much worse."

Fu Youde said directly, "Prince Qianning suppressed the rebellion in Luchuan before. I heard that although those barbarians drove elephants, they looked ferocious, but they could not withstand a barrage of arrows from the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, Luchuan still used copper arrows, which I find ridiculous."

It's no wonder Fu Youde said that. Some things are just like that. There are simply some technical crushing and so on.

Whether it was Luchuan or Annan, their smelting industry had also developed, but due to various factors, when steel had long become standard weapons in the Ming Dynasty, those places still had some copper weapons.

This is basically a generation gap. No matter how brave the soldiers are, it is very difficult for them to fight to the death in the face of such a huge gap, not to mention that the military strength of those places is not as large as that of the Ming Dynasty.

Another one is Mongolia. After the Mongols retreated to the northern desert, the number of craftsmen became fewer and fewer, and they quickly degenerated into a nomadic people. Now the manufacture of military equipment has basically disappeared, and even some basic daily necessities have to be smuggled from the Ming Dynasty.

The result of this is that the Ming Dynasty's advanced weapons naturally have an absolute advantage when facing those barbarians.

Fu Youde continued, "I think if we send troops to conquer Annan, Xiping Hou should be the general."

"Brother Mu Chun?" Zhu Yunxun said with a smile, "Brother Mu Chun wanted to show off his power in the southwest. This would have been the best choice. But the southwest and other places are still somewhat unstable, so he can't act rashly."

Fu Youde was silent, he really thought that Mu Chun was the best choice, because Mu Chun, a young general who joined the army, had a high prestige in the army and was used to fighting in the dense forest.

If they really wanted to send troops to Annan, Xiping Hou would definitely be one of the best choices. Whether it was his ability, prestige, or background, he was very suitable, even better than Lan Yu.

Since the Crown Prince said so, Fu Youde naturally stopped recommending him, because it had nothing to do with him.

He had already seen through many things, and it was basically impossible for him to lead troops again. The good news was that he was stronger than Feng Sheng, although he seemed to be doing a job in Wuyuan that was somewhat far away from the center of power.

However, compared to Feng Sheng who was idle, suspected, and now has to travel all over the country after being reinstated, Fu Youde is very lucky and stable.

Since you no longer plan to lead troops, you should just enjoy your remaining years and seek more benefits for your descendants.

After briefly discussing some things with Fu Youde, Zhu Yunhuan did not say much for the time being.

It is only a matter of time before we use our military force against Annan, but the reality is that the probability of using military force in the next few years is not very high. So at most we can just make a plan, and it is not yet in the actual operation stage.

There are still many other things to do, which is no small matter for Zhu Yunhuan. Some things are even more important to him. Only after a series of preparations are done, can he solve a series of things without distraction.

There's no point in being anxious. Now we can only take each step down to earth.

After returning to the East Palace, Zhu Yourong said, "Little brother, we should go out for an outing in a few days. Do you want to go?"

"I should go." Zhu Yunhuan said helplessly, "If I don't go, the Imperial College will be anxious. Many scholars will probably rack their brains to think of some poems and songs."

Outing is not just an outing, it is also a political activity.

Zhu Yourong asked in confusion, "You should all know that your grandfather and you don't like poetry and songs. Is there anyone else like this?"

"Talent and learning. Even if we don't like it, we have to admit that some poems and songs look great." Zhu Yunhuan said with a smile, "We don't bother to care about the elegant affairs of literati and scholars. It's just that it's difficult for those people to succeed after entering the officialdom."

Li Bai, Du Fu and Bai Juyi all had bad careers in their official careers.

Not to mention Su Shi, who was either being demoted or on the way to being demoted, even though there was an element of party strife involved.

It seems that there are no great poets in the Ming Dynasty now, and Zhu and Zhu Yunhuan don't care much. First, they should govern the country and have enough food, and then talk about elegance! (End of this chapter)