Daming: I am the Crown Prince

Chapter 69: Divide the Cake

Old Zhu began to delegate power and allowed Zhu Yunhuan to cultivate some of his own trusted team members, which was certainly a good thing.

But now Zhu Yunhuan is a little bit in the dark. He has always lived in the palace and has not had much contact with people outside the palace.

Naturally, he subconsciously thought of the noble families. These people were naturally close to him and seemed like they could become his team.

However, the commander of the Five Cities Military Command was only of the sixth rank, and those close to Zhu Yunhuan were mostly dukes and marquises of the upper rank. Even those without titles were mostly princes.

This is a happy trouble, but Zhu Yunhuan has no choice at the moment.

It is still necessary to look for people among the noble families. Forget about the princes, just look for some second sons or illegitimate sons who have no titles, although these people will not look down on the sixth rank either.

In the past, Zhu Yunhuan tried every means to go to the Five Military Commandery, but was stopped again and again. But now the Five Military Commandery has no appeal to him, and Wenhua Hall has become his office.

The bearded Chang Sheng arrived at the Wenhua Palace in high spirits, "I pay my respects to His Majesty the Grandson of the Emperor."

Zhu Yunhuan nodded slightly and said, "Duke of the Founding Kingdom, do you know any young talents among the noble families in the capital?"

Chang Sheng immediately replied, "Duke Wei is a man of extraordinary talent and talent."

Zhu Yunhuan immediately said, "I know this. I am talking about those talented people who have not inherited the title and are not the crown prince."

Chang Sheng immediately thought of a suitable candidate and said, "Wang Zheng, the second son of Marquis Dingyuan, is strong and brave."

Wang Bi is now on guard duty outside, and his eldest son Wang De can be said to be Zhu Yunhuan's vanguard. His previous firm support has indeed won Zhu Yunhuan's favor.

Zhu Yunhuan nodded slightly and asked, "Where is he now?"

"In the palace guards, it should be the Honor Guards." Chang Sheng said a little embarrassedly, "Your Highness, I am not familiar with him. I am just closer to Wang De."

Zhu Yunhuan took a deep breath and did not get angry. "Okay, if he doesn't have an official position, let him come over tomorrow. Also, do you know who are thoughtful and steady?"

Chang Sheng thought about it carefully and said, "I heard that the third son of Zhu Shou, Marquis of Zhuo, is a calm person and has been helping to supervise the grain transport."

This Zhu Shou was a real marquis, not the Zhu Houzhao who later loved fighting and COSPLAY.

Zhu Yunhuan frowned upon hearing this and said, "That's definitely not possible. I need a few people without official positions here, and it's not good to demote them. Let's think about it and see who else we have."

Chang Sheng looked embarrassed, and after a long while he said, "Your Highness, I know many good-for-nothings among the noble families, but when it comes to young talents without official positions, I really don't know many."

Zhu Yunhuan took another deep breath and kept telling himself not to be angry, as this matter was understandable.

Originally, my second uncle was a well-known playboy in the capital. In addition, his family background was too prominent, and due to some coincidences, he was now forced to do something he was not prepared for.

As Chang Yuchun's second son, not many resources were invested in Chang Sheng. If Chang Mao had not committed a crime that led to the abolition of his title, how could Chang Sheng, who had only cared about eating, drinking and having fun, inherit the title?

Chang Sheng knew a lot of the playboys and bad friends of the noble families. Talented people like Li Jinglong and Xu Huizu could not play together, whether because they avoided suspicion or because they had different interests.

Zhu Yunhuan thought about it carefully and said, "Okay, let Duke Wei and Duke Cao come together."

Chang Sheng plucked up his courage and asked, "Your Highness, why do you want people without titles? I do know some who are powerful and influential, at least they are assistants in the Governor's Office."

"The second-rank assistant officials have some weight in the court." Zhu Yunhuan said unhappily, "Now we are trying to find something for them to do. Do we have to demote them first before we can use them?"

Chang Sheng said without much concern, "Your Highness, many people in the Governor's Office are given titles through nepotism. Giving them honorary titles of first or second rank means they don't care about anything."

Such situations do exist, and have become increasingly evident in recent years. These are all obvious attempts to take care of the children of noble families.

Serving as a guard of honor, he was appointed as a deputy governor of the second rank in the governor's office. This scene became more and more normal in the Ming Dynasty. Even Chang Sheng, the founding duke, was a bit superficial. If he was really allowed to go to war with the army, despite his duke title, he might not even be able to get the title of deputy general.

Chang Sheng continued to ask boldly, "Your Highness, I can go back and look for some people. I can always find a few available people. Your Highness, how many people do you need? What do you want to do?"

"At least five are needed, and ten is not too many." Zhu Yunhuan looked at Chang Sheng with a half-smile and said, "The Wucheng Bingmasi is short of people, I plan to find someone to fill the position."

Chang Sheng's first reaction was great joy. The status of the Wucheng Bingmasi was very special and certainly worthy of attention, and it should also arrange its own talents.

The next moment, Chang Sheng regretted it. If he had known earlier, he would have inquired more and reserved these key positions for "family members", such as Wang Zheng. He would not have let people like the Duke of Wei and the Duke of Cao interfere.

However, Chang Sheng also became a little worried. The Five Cities Military Department was too sensitive. "Your Highness, the matter of the Five Cities Military Department still needs to be decided by His Majesty."

"I know all this. I just reported a few people. Whether they can be used or not is up to Grandfather Huang." Zhu Yunhuan laughed and said to Chang Sheng, "Duke Kaiguo, go back and think carefully about whether there are any people who can be used."

Chang Sheng felt relieved and said quickly, "There must be someone who can be cultivated! Your Highness, if I may..."

"The Duke of the Founding Kingdom!" Zhu Yunhuan said in a more serious tone, "You are the Duke of the Imperial Court!"

Chang Sheng was naturally a little embarrassed, but no matter how frivolous he was, he understood the specialness of the Wucheng Bingmasi. He also understood how important this special organization was to Zhu Yunhuan, so of course he would care about it very much.

Xu Huizu and Li Jinglong also came to Wenhua Hall in confusion, but they did not think much about it. Since they were summoned, they just came over quickly.

Zhu Yunhuan also got straight to the point and said, "Each of you should report two people. The Five Cities Military Department is short of people. First, they need to be steady, bold and careful. Second, they must not have any titles, and their official positions cannot be higher than the fifth rank. Do you understand?"

Xu Huizu's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately said, "Your Highness, I understand."

Li Jinglong said without hesitation, "Your Highness, my younger brother Li Fangying has always been diligent and careful in his work."

Zhu Yunhuan smiled and said, "Okay, we should promote the virtuous regardless of kinship. Where is he working now?"

There is no need to doubt that since Li Jinglong inherited the title, the development of Li Zengzhi and Li Fangying will not be bad either. Basically, they will be awarded the title of Honored Guards first, and then they can be put into the Five Military Commandery.

Li Jinglong immediately replied, "I am currently serving in the Zhongdu Liaison Office."

Zhu Yunhuan frowned slightly immediately, because the Zhongdu Liaison Office was under the jurisdiction of the Central Military Governor's Office, which had eight guards and one post. The main responsibility of this Liaison Office was to protect the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum.

Seeing Zhu Yunhuan's worry, Li Jinglong said, "I am now the fifth-rank official guarding the Imperial Mausoleum."

That's good, if the chief lieutenant is of the second rank, the deputy lieutenant is of the third rank. If there is a commander or a deputy commander in the guard, they are all of the third rank.

Zhu Yunhuan said decisively, "Well, Duke Wei will issue it and send it to the Ministry of War for dispatch."

The Five Military Governors' Office holds all the military power in the world. Judging from its current relationship with the Ministry of War, the Five Military Governors' Office is the main one, instead of being surpassed by the Ministry of War as in the middle and late Ming Dynasty in history.

However, in order to prevent the generals from monopolizing power, Zhu Yuanzhang split the original Grand Military Governor's Office into five military governor's offices, and stipulated that the five military governor's offices had no power to dispatch troops, and the power to dispatch troops was directly controlled by the emperor. Although the Ministry of War had the power to appoint, dismiss, promote, and train soldiers in the army, it did not command the troops.

During the period of the Grand Marshal's Office, the first marshal was Zhu Wenzhen, the nephew of Zhu Yuanzhang, who became a legend after the Battle of Hongdu.

Zhu Yunhuan was dividing the cake. It was impossible for him to give all the important positions to the Chang family, nor was it possible for him to only consider the Xu family and the Li family.

In the final analysis, checks and balances must be imposed when necessary, even if it is just a sixth-rank commander, which may seem to be of low rank, but who makes this position special!

　Thanks to book friend 20200409192420226 for the reward of 200 starting coins

　　
　
(End of this chapter)