Father can be an enemy to the country

"Oh, brother, it's too hard." Zhu Zhen suppressed a smile and said: "The work is endless, and we still need to balance work and rest."

"You have to do it even if you don't finish it." The prince said helplessly: "Every day there are urgent military and national affairs chasing you behind you. If you don't finish it, it will affect the operation of the country. What can I do?"

"Yes." Zhu Zhen nodded and said, "After the abolition of Zhongshu Province, all the government affairs of Zhongshu originally fell on the shoulders of eldest brother and father, and they will definitely be too busy."

"Yes, it is definitely not a long-term solution at the moment." The prince sighed: "After deposing the prime minister and withdrawing from the Central Committee, my father and I also thought about alternative methods. First we created the 'Three Gongs' Theory', and later we created the 'Sifu' Official', it's all in vain."

"..." Zhu Zhen nodded. Although he was not in the capital, he still paid close attention to the government affairs and naturally understood the reasons for the failure of these two attempts.

The former "Three Gongs Discussing Tao" is because the status of the three Gongs is too high. The old thief appointed Li Shanchang, Xu Da, and Li Wenzhong as the three Gongs. The status of these three people is far higher than that of Hu Weiyong.

Hu Weiyong's tragic lesson was in front of him. Not only did Boss Zhu worry about them, but they themselves did not dare to interfere in national affairs. They only dared to sit down and discuss things honestly in preparation for their advisors.

But what Boss Zhu lacks is someone to give advice? What he needs is someone to help him work! The three gentlemen all sat with their hands folded, doing a good job, and did not share the burden on the shoulders of Boss Zhu and the prince at all!

So later, Boss Zhu appointed the "Four Auxiliary Officers" in spring, summer, autumn and winter, and ordered them to serve as guests of the prince, ranking second to the princes and governors. The incumbents take turns on duty within a month to assist the emperor and the prince in handling government affairs.

Boss Zhu said in the edict establishing the four auxiliary officers, "I have thought about it. A master can rule the world with one person and cannot do without auxiliary ministers, and the auxiliary ministers must be upright men." ’

So he ordered his courtiers to recommend famous Confucian scholars across the country, and promoted them from common people to assistant ministers, so that they could help him and the prince. But after using them for a period of time, he found that these so-called Confucian scholars were just a bunch of nerds. They only talked about benevolence, justice and morality, but knew nothing about military and state affairs. Asking them to assist him in handling specific government affairs was just asking blind questions and adding confusion. .

So in July this year, Boss Zhu canceled the establishment of the fourth auxiliary officer, which lasted only one year and ten months...

"Recently, my father will set up a grand master to assist in handling government affairs." The prince sighed and said without much hope: "I hope it can be of some use this time."

"It will be useful." Zhu Zhen comforted the prince, but he knew that it was useless to set up any auxiliary officials in the Hongwu Dynasty. Because it is essentially a question of centralization and decentralization.

The old thief finally deposed the prime minister and concentrated all the power in his hands, so how could he be willing to give it away again?

If we are unwilling to decentralize power, what is the use of setting up fancy auxiliary officials?

It's just that my good brother is suffering, and he is really going to be exhausted to death by the old thief...

~~

"So I sincerely ask you to stay and help me share the burden." The prince looked at Zhu Zhen sincerely: "Just treat your pity and pitiful big brother, okay?"

"Brother, it's not that I don't want to help you, but at the age of my brother, it is no longer suitable to stay in the capital." Zhu Zhen also looked at the prince sincerely and said: "You know that I will be killed in less than half a year if I stay in the capital. People who attack in groups. So my father has been sending me abroad for the past two years. Isn’t it a kind of protection? "

"That's right." The prince nodded bitterly and said: "I told the ministers that Gu's sixth brother is sincere and will never have any evil intentions. But they always say that people will change and should follow the rules. Thousands of years of rules, not emotion. How ridiculous!"

"So it's not that I don't want to stay and help my eldest brother, it's really not allowed in all aspects." Zhu Zhen said with a bitter smile: "Besides, the matter in Yunnan is too important. It not only affects the province of Yunnan, but also whether it can truly Incorporating it into our Chinese territory also affects whether my brother’s grand plan of ‘enfranchising overseas’ is just an unrealistic fantasy.”

As he spoke, he looked up at the stars in the sky and said firmly: "So no matter how hard it is, I will persevere in Yunnan to the end. If we can succeed in Yunnan, we can transplant the Yunnan model to any new country in the future." Go to the occupied territories and let the sun and moon shine on them, and wherever the rivers go, they all belong to the bright land!"

"Lao Liu, you are really obsessed with opening up new territories." The prince said softly: "If it is just to prevent brothers from turning against each other in the future, we must have other ways. The Ming Dynasty is already big enough to accommodate us. Brothers."

"I am not just doing it for our brothers, but because opening up new territories is the only way to keep the Ming Dynasty prosperous!" Zhu Zhen said loudly:

"Brother, let me ask you a question, why do the so-called prosperous times always occur in the early stages of a dynasty, rather than in the middle and later stages?"

"Because the founding kings all had great talents and strategies that future generations could not match." The prince replied, "And they knew the consequences of mistreating the people, so they paid special attention to people's livelihood."

"This is only one of the reasons, but not the fundamental reason." Zhu Zhen said with a smile: "In fact, we should not exaggerate the human factor. No matter how hard the emperor tries to govern, he is also subject to the morality and ability level of the official team. As a group of officials, the ability In fact, it’s pretty much the same.”

"Where does the gap come from?" the prince asked with interest.

"The real gap comes from objective factors - that is, the proportion of land and population. New dynasties were established in the troubled times when the previous dynasty perished. These troubled times lasted for a dozen years or a hundred years, which naturally resulted in a large population. Death. Therefore, the population at the birth of a new dynasty is often one-fifth or even one-tenth of that at the end of the previous dynasty."

"Furthermore, the old bureaucratic landlord class has been destroyed, and the new rich have not yet begun to annex land on a large scale. This leaves a large amount of ownerless land that can be cultivated by the surviving people. At this time, there are fewer people and more land, and everyone has enough to cultivate. The land, everything is prosperous, and the country is naturally prosperous. As long as the court is light on corvee and pays little tax, encourages reclamation, and rests with the people, the so-called prosperous times will naturally appear... This is something that even Sima Yan can do, so it is not surprising at all. .”

"Then why couldn't later emperors do it? Because a generation-long prosperous period will inevitably bring about a surge in population. On the other hand, the ever-expanding elite class is constantly annexing land, which naturally leads to the expansion of the people's land. There are fewer and fewer people coming. Now the survival of the common people has become a problem, how can there be any prosperity?"

"That makes sense." The prince nodded and said, "If the people cannot survive, they will rise up in rebellion. Therefore, all dynasties have perished due to land annexation."