Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

As soon as Zhu Di said this, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxu suddenly became uncontrollably nervous.

This was the first time that my father had openly discussed the topic of "establishing a prince" in front of them.

As the time for Zhu Gaoxu's release from prison approaches, his good comrades in the military circle, such as Qi Duke Qiu Fu, Cheng Guo Duke Zhu Neng, Yongchun Marquis Prince Consort Wang Ning, Wu'an Marquis Zheng Heng, Chengyang Marquis Zhang Wu, Tong'an Marquis Huolihuo In short, except for Gu Cheng and Zhang Fu, all the famous officials who contributed to Jingnan basically wrote to the emperor to recommend that the emperor appoint the second prince as the heir apparent as soon as possible.

Faced with such unanimous support for Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Di's head was also very big. Although he beat it and suppressed it temporarily, Zhu Di knew very well that it was better to block it than to remove it.

During the four years of Jingnan, Zhu Gaoxu took the lead in countless desperate charges and had long become the invisible spiritual banner of the Yan army.

Zhu Gaoxu was in the Yan army, from the generals to the soldiers, and they were all convinced by the most powerful general in the world. The Yan army was the basis for Zhu Di to ascend to the throne. Zhu Di had to consider this carefully.

"It would be better if the second brother didn't make so many contributions."

Zhu Di felt the heavy breathing of his second son behind him and thought silently in his heart.

If the second child were not so fierce, the eldest son Zhu Gaochi, who was the Crown Prince of Yan, would undoubtedly become the crown prince.

The sons are all legitimate sons, but after all, it is a rule from ancient times to respect the elder rather than the younger.

But the second son's contribution was too great, and Zhu Di could not reward him.

During the four years of fighting side by side, the father and son also risked their lives countless times in battles among thousands of troops. I don’t know how many times Zhu Gaoxu desperately protected his father, or worked hard to complete the mission assigned by his father. his mission.

People's hearts are made of flesh. Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu are both father and son and comrades-in-arms. It is difficult for Zhu Di not to be partial to his second son who looks more like him.

It was precisely because of practical factors (Yan Jun's support) and psychological factors (Zhu Di's partiality) that Zhu Di gave his legally untenable second son an opportunity to informally compete for the reserve.

Of course, he also had to use Zhu Gaoxu to do things for him.

Well, the final right of interpretation belongs to Zhu Di!

Although Zhu Di did not say clearly whether the reform of letting the two princes take charge of the two experimental fields of North and South Zhili was to select his favorite prince.

Just like the saying, "My son is often ill, so you should encourage him."

Anyway, this is how Zhu Di, a master of cake painting, always draws cakes for his sons.

At least verbally, there is no inevitable connection between the achievements of the two princes during the period when they were in charge of the Northern and Southern Zhili and implemented reforms, and whether they would become the crown prince chosen by Zhu Di.

But there is nothing Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxu can do!

The painted pie is right in front of you, although the final interpretation is in Zhu Di's hands.

Zhu Di can either say this is true or he can say it is false, but who can treat it as false? Who dares to treat it as fake?

You take it as a lie and think that your father is deceiving people, so you don't work hard and implement reforms seriously.

But in the end, if the father says this is true, he is just checking the governance skills of his two sons to decide on the candidate for the crown prince, then wouldn’t the title of crown prince be advantageous to others?

Therefore, even if they knew that their father was trying to draw a cake, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxu must be alert and take it seriously.

Zhu Di looked at the reactions of his two sons and smiled with satisfaction.

Adhering to the principle of "use it to death if it's easy to use," Zhu Di continued.

"Now is the time when the Ming Dynasty is waiting to be revived. Therefore, the changes in the two experimental fields of North and South Zhili must of course be implemented, but other aspects, such as population, grain production, economy, culture and education, cannot be ignored."

After listening, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but groan secretly in their hearts.

If it is just to implement changes, that's it. Although things are complicated and there are many measures, in the final analysis, one thing should be done one by one. Implementing it in the two Zhili provinces in the north and south is just a matter that needs to be done in a few prefectures. , I can always take care of it.

But if we also focus on population, food production, economy, culture and education, then the workload of governance will more than double.

To put it more exaggeratedly, even if there is a team to assist, it is hard to say whether there will be time to sleep every day.

After all, ordinary chief ministers can fish, but two princes must not fish for their own thrones!

"Father, I have something unclear."

Zhu Gaochi hesitated for a moment and asked: "If there is an exact measurement standard for the advancement of reform measures, but if population, grain production, economy, culture and education are really developed for the sake of development, wouldn't there be various problems? A kind of chaos?"

Zhu Gaochi didn't say it clearly, but everyone present understood what he meant.

Take population, for example. If the indicator of population becomes one of the indicators for two princes to compete for the heir apparent, then the rougher method will be to directly snatch people from other areas, while the more sophisticated method will be to lure them with profit and induce other governors on the border. Let the residents of Si come over.

This method had already appeared when the Yang Yan Liang Tax Law was updated in the Tang Dynasty.

In order to lure "clients" to their jurisdictions and thereby increase their political achievements, officials from various places in the Tang Dynasty launched various preferential immigration policies to lure people to immigrate to their jurisdictions with some small profits.

Grain production, economy, culture and education also involve various chaos such as reselling of grain, forced expropriation, and fraud in imperial examinations.

To put it bluntly, if you use indicators to evaluate the two princes, and the incentive is to be the crown prince.

Then don't overestimate people's consciousness.

Zhu Di's knuckles tapped the armrests of the chair regularly, and he looked at Zhu Gaochi, who was sitting at the bottom.

Zhu Di suddenly said: "Lao San."

"My son is here."

Zhu Gaosui, who was dressed in a bullfight uniform, put away the Kantu map scroll and bowed in response.

"Father has given you a task." Zhu Di said slowly, "Anyone of your two brothers who does something wrong, whether it is to put gold on their own face or to bring discredit on others, must be warned."

"Things can only be done three times."

Although Zhu Di's words were gentle and indifferent, they made Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxu feel shocked.

On the surface, Zhu Di handed over the supervision to Lao San.

But who knows who else Zhu Di has given this task to?

If you want to play tricks, whether you are cheating yourself or throwing dirty water on others, it is impossible to do it perfectly.

If he is found out, let alone doing nothing, as long as he is found out once, Zhu Di will undoubtedly be disappointed.

The final indicator results are actually far less important than Zhu Di's attitude.

In other words, the losses caused by such petty tricks were already too great for both princes to bear.

Zhu Gaochi was speechless, but Zhu Gaoxu, who was behind Zhu Di, said at this time.

"I also have something to say."

Zhu Di didn't even look back: "Let's just talk."

Zhu Gaoxu was straightforward and didn't cover up at all.

"Isn't it true that whoever goes to Beizhili will be unlucky?"

Faced with this soul question, several ministers could only sigh that the second prince was indeed as upright as the legend said.

But after sighing, several people were also curious about how Dao Yan solved this problem that sounded quite difficult to solve.

If it cannot be resolved, it will really become a situation where one party is bound to lose.

After all, North Zhili is quite different from South Zhili in all aspects.

"That's not the case."

At this time, Dao Yan took out another piece of material from the big sleeves of his black cassock that seemed to have "the world in his sleeves".

Well, the pocket for holding things is actually not in the cassock, but on the lining elbow sleeve, there is a lining pocket facing diagonally upward. As long as you don't move violently after loading, the pocket will naturally sag, but there will be a slight bulge. .

In ancient times, the word "stretched" actually refers to people who were too poor. In order to save fabric, they did not make elbow sleeves when making linings. There were no lining pockets. When you touch the coat, you can directly touch the bare elbows inside.

This is how the phrase "two sleeves of breeze" comes from, which refers to the fact that the elbow pockets inside the two lined sleeves have no money, so you can swing the sleeves to fan yourself.

Getting back to the topic, the material Dao Yan took out was exactly the number and proportion of large, medium and small landowners around Nanjing that he had entrusted to Xia Yuanji during the House Check, as well as the ratio of landlords to tenant farmers and self-cultivators, as well as the wealth among the self-cultivators. The number and proportion of farmers, normal farmers, and poor farmers.

In addition, there are specific grain outputs in various places around Nanjing.

At the same time, Dao Yan also used his own intelligence system to compile corresponding population and grain output data around Beijing.

In terms of economy, Daoyan counted grains, fish, fabrics, wood, clothing, furniture, paper, cars and ships, teeth, hooks, porcelain, meat, fruits, wine, tea, sugar, gold and silver, antique calligraphy and painting .etc. prices of various categories of goods and services.

In terms of culture and education, it includes the number of prefectural schools, state schools, county schools, and social schools in the two places, as well as the number of teachers and students and the level of teachers' reputations.

"this"

Zhu Gaoxu fell into a moment of sluggishness.

I just asked casually, Master, you don’t have to prepare so thoroughly, right?

How can I continue to ask this question?

And seeing Dao Yan preparing the outrageously detailed materials, except for Zhu Di and Xia Yuanji who knew it in advance, everyone else couldn't help but smack their lips.

It seems that Dao Yan has really put a lot of effort into implementing the Fertilizer Immortal's set of changes.

Later, Dao Yan took out the calculated floating indicator multipliers corresponding to each item and explained them one by one to everyone in the cabinet room.

At this time, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxu were convinced.

"Any more questions?" Zhu Di asked.

The two shook their heads.

"Two silly boys, if you want a donkey to grind, you have to tie a carrot in front of it. This is called the art of controlling people. Watch it carefully and learn it hard."

Zhu Di looked at his two sons and felt a little excited when he thought that they would implement reforms for him and work hard unswervingly.

That’s the way it is, how can there be any reason to just sit back and enjoy the success?

If you want to be the crown prince, you must first work hard for me.

Zhu Di smiled teasingly and said: "Third brother, let's start drawing lots from the golden pot."