Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 275 Ye Xianggao's Proposal
"He wants to touch the two million subordinates of Ming Dynasty..."

"It's a bit taken for granted..."

In mid-October, when a familiar voice appeared, in a villa outside Yuyao County, Zhejiang Province, within the courtyard wall, four old men each held chess pieces and played against each other.

If you look carefully, you can easily recognize their identities.

Zhejiang party leaders Fang Congzhe, Sun Ruyou, Zhu Guozuo, Shen Yu...

The four people who once stirred up the wind and rain and were dragged into the water by Zhu Youjian with one hand, now gathered together to play chess.

The one who spoke was Fang Congzhe and Sun Ruyou who were playing chess.

Perhaps it was Zhu Youjian's move that caused the two to retire early. As a result, Sun Ruyou, who was supposed to die of illness this year, escaped a catastrophe and is still lingering at the age of seventy-six.

At this moment, he is playing chess with Fang Congzhe, but there is another person involved in what he says and what he says.

Zhu Youjian...

"The subordinate officials of the Ming Dynasty have been working for more than two hundred years and have no salary. If they want to support the whole family, they can only form cliques for personal gain. Now Zhu Youjian thinks that he can change the situation with his tens of thousands of students in Yanshan? It's too much for granted."

Sun Ruyou was wearing a fox fur, and shook his head repeatedly when he dropped the ball.

Zhu Guozuo, who was playing chess next door, also sneered and said:

"But this time he was seriously ill, and let the officials see clearly the weakness of Long Live."

"He wants to be a vassal overseas, but he doesn't think about whether the people below are willing to go with him." Shen Li continued.

"To be in charge of Ming Dynasty is much more attractive than to be in charge of the so-called Qi State..." Fang Congzhe continued to pick up, and then made a few pieces to eat Sun Ruyou's chess pieces, and then said flatly:
"Looking at it like this, I might be able to return to the capital and plan ahead."

"It's still early, and it won't be too late for him to go north after he sets off." Sun Ruyou Luozi suggested, but then he paused and then said:

"It seems that we can make arrangements in advance. No matter how much Wansui pampers him, it is impossible to ignore the crown prince..."

"The prince is too young. I'm afraid you and I may not be there when we grow up." Fang Congzhe narrowed his eyes.

"In order to protect the family, we have to stand with the prince." Zhu Guozuo supported Sun Ruyou's idea.

"Zhu Youjian and I are not on the same boat. He thinks highly of himself and regards us as the Yellow River, while he is alone in the Yangtze River." Shen Teng added.

"The Yangtze River is not so easy to do..." Sun Ruyou fell down, and the cold wind blew, making him tighten his fox fur, and exhaled a white mist:
"It is the Yangtze River. Although its trunk is clear, its tributaries are indistinguishable from turbidity."

"That Huanglong hangs alone overseas, and now Shen Tingyang has moved hundreds of thousands of people to the south, which is enough to establish a country on its own."

"He wants to leave, but I have to see if the people below will let him go..."

"What if these warriors turn against each other?" Zhu Guozuo looked at Sun Ruyou cautiously, but Fang Congzhe shook his head and said:

"At present, all the generals at home and abroad have no choice but to check their opponents. Although Huanglong is alone overseas, the ordnance station is in Yanshan."

"He dares to rebel this year, and Zhu Youjian will dare to march south next year."

"Unless Xiong Fei pulls the flag in vain, Sun Chuanting, Hong Chengchou, Man Gui, and Sun Yingyuan alone are not the opponents of Zhu Youjian's Shangzhi."

Everyone talked and talked, and finally got involved with the key person, Xiong Tingbi...

But they also knew that Xiong Tingbi could not rebel, and Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting had no strength to rebel.

Man Gui and Sun Yingyuan are strong, but whether they can beat Zhu Youjian is still a matter of opinion.

Whether Zhu Youjian's cavalry rushed to attack Xu Hongru or went straight to Hetao, chasing and killing thousands of miles away, in terms of tactics and beheading rate, it was much better than Mangui's attack on Bayeux.

Man Gui may not be able to defeat Zhu Youjian with cavalry, but it is even more difficult to say with infantry.

The combat styles and tactics of Shangzhi and the current cavalry, infantry, and gunners of the Ming army are all based on Zhu Youjian's approach. Use Zhu Youjian's tactics to beat Zhu Youjian?

"We can't win the Qin and Qi clans, but we can try Man Gui, Sun Yingyuan, Hong Chengchou, and Sun Chuanting..."

Zhu Guozuo opened his mouth tentatively, but Sun Ruyou, who heard the words, stopped the hand that was about to make a son.

After a few seconds, he seemed to have thought of something, and then he slowly settled down and spoke slowly:
"Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou have power but no soldiers, Sun Yingyuan and Man Gui have soldiers but no power."

"Most of the people below them were promoted by Zhu Youjian and had fought with Zhu Youjian. Even if Man Gui and Sun Yingyuan are drawn by us, it will not affect the overall situation."

"This guy has too much control over the military power..." Shen Yu fell down, and Zhu Guozuo who was opposite him also frowned and said:

"Now all the military power in the world is in his hands, even the Bing Ma Si and the officials of the Ministry of Justice are under his control. If he seizes the officialdom and controls the court, it will be easy to deal with these two million subordinates. "

"Once the subordinate staff are taken care of, we won't be far away."

"Don't worry, his steps are too big. He only cares about himself and doesn't care about his back. He thinks that sweeping the north and reforming can solve the Ming Dynasty's affairs? How naive..." Sun Ruyou chuckled lightly, and continued with a son:
"He can't take care of each other now. As long as something happens between him and Long Live, our chance will come."

"So we can only wait?" Zhu Guozuo was a little unwilling, and hurriedly said:

"He took down Bansheng City, who knows if there will be something about us in Bansheng City?"

"..." After speaking, everyone stopped their actions and frowned slightly.

"If we take down Bansheng City and get the relevant things, we should not be the ones who should be the most alarmed now. Our people haven't dealt with Shanxi too much..."

After a while, Sun Ruyou frowned and spoke, and Fang Congzhe also said at the same time:
"It seems that he has to go back to the capital to have a look after he goes out."

"In addition, today seems to be the day when Ye Xianggao and Zhao Nanxing are begging for retirement..."

------

"Hey—"

"Long live thanks, long live long live..."

At the same time as Fang Congzhe's words fell, Zhao Nanxing and Ye Xianggao also slowly took off their heads with the singing of Liu Ruoyu, the eunuch of Bingbi, the eunuch who was more than [-] miles away. The black gauze hat on the table was placed on the tray.

Seeing this, the two eunuchs from the Supervisor of Rituals stepped forward, took the tray, and returned to Liu Ruoyu's side.

"You two, our family won't give away any more, this is the gift money Wanzai asked our family to hand over..."

After the tedious etiquette was over, Liu Ruoyu stepped forward with another eunuch carrying a heavy tray.

They handed the tray to Zhao Nanxing and Ye Xianggao, and inside the tray were three hundred coins made of gold.

The officials behind Zhao Nanxing and Ye Xianggao stepped forward to take it. The two bowed to Liu Ruoyu, then turned around and took the two officials to leave through the Yuntai Gate.

"Old man..."

"Mr. Saizuru..."

When they crossed the Wen Building and came to the square in front of the Wenhua Hall, some non-party officials in the Wenhua Hall, as well as Zuo Guangdou and Yuan Huazhong in the Donglin came out to see them off one after another.

On the other hand, the officials who were neglected by Zhao Nanxing pretended to be busy in the hall, and only pretended to follow after too many people walked out.

It's a pity that Zhao Nanxing's vision is too vicious compared to Yang Lian, who has been scolded many times by Zhu Youjian and is still stubborn.

He was not interested in the hypocrisy of this group of people, he just explained a few words to Zuo Guangdou and the others that they should put the people first, and then turned and left.

Such a shameless move made most of Donglin Qingliu frown in anger.

Compared with Zhao Nanxing, Ye Xianggao's treatment is much better.

Although he always likes to get along with each other, which leads to unsuccessful disputes among the parties, it also shows in disguise that he protects many officials.

Therefore, nearly a thousand officials sent Ye Xianggao off, and many even came from the Sixth Ministry, Sixth Division, and Metropolitan Procuratorate.

However, when the group of officials passed Donghua Gate, they all saw a very familiar carriage, so they couldn't help slowing down and passing by cautiously.

Zhao Nanxing walked all the way, and there were very few people who greeted him, and he didn't feel uncomfortable.

Since he proposed to solve the "redundant staff", a large number of officials have become hostile to him, and he has long been prepared for this.

He thought that he would pass the carriage safely, but he didn't want the window of the carriage to open when he passed by, revealing an immature face.

"Master Zhao, why are you walking in such a hurry without even saying hello?"

Zhu Youjian's voice sounded, and Zhao Nanxing also looked at his immature face.

The four eyes are facing each other, and contrary to the immature face, are Zhu Youjian's eyes that have experienced many vicissitudes.

"Why did His Highness make such a sarcasm?"

Although Zhao Nanxing didn't like Zhu Youjian, he still bowed and saluted, because this is the way of respect and inferiority.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian also opened the door on the side of the four-wheeled carriage, and bowed in return after getting off the carriage.

Such a move of his surprised the officials in the past, after all, the disagreement between King Qi and Donglin was only a matter of paper.

"This gift is to thank Young Master Zhao for his devotion to Daming and the world over the past few years."

People in the officialdom often become political enemies because of political differences, but this does not mean that this kind of hostility will last until death.

Zhu Youjian was willing to accept Zhao Nanxing's gift, and had no intention of showing off.

Zhao Nanxing and the others also want to change Daming, but their strength is not enough, or they are going on the wrong path. This does not mean that they are the same as the five parties.

The five parties are purely bad, Zhao Nanxing and the others are alone, and Donglin Yanguan is stupid.

Zhu Youjian is very aware of the difference, and his ceremony is also a recognition of Zhao Nanxing's deeds in office over the years.

Zhao Nanxing was dumbfounded by his salute, but he didn't say much after a while, turned around and left.

If he talks to Zhu Youjian right now, I'm afraid that group of officials will take the opportunity to attack him and accuse him of taking refuge in Zhu Youjian.

Although he was not afraid of impeachment by the officials, he didn't want to be framed for no reason, so he chose to leave.

Zhu Youjian also understood this very well, but he couldn't help but sighed as he watched his leaving back.

He turned around and returned to the carriage, because he knew that it would take some time for Ye Xianggao to get out.

As expected, when Ye Xianggao walked out of Donghua Gate, it was already half an hour after Zhao Nanxing left.

Compared to Zhao Nanxing, Ye Xianggao was not afraid of someone impeaching him, but walked directly to the door of the carriage, and opened the door familiarly.

The car door was opened, and a small study room came into view.

This one-foot-long, seven-foot-wide, and seven-foot-high two-horse four-wheeled carriage is basically where Zhu Youjian works while on the move. The bookshelf rests against the back of the coachman, and Zhu Youjian sits on a cotton-filled leather sofa. superior.

In front of him was a small table that could be lifted up and stuck on the wall of the carriage. On the three-foot-long table, thick military newspapers were placed.

"I'll finish reading this right away, please take a seat, Mr. Ye Ge."

Zhu Youjian, who was processing the military newspaper, asked Ye Xianggao to sit down, and Ye Xianggao also sat opposite Zhu Youjian when he saw this.

Looking at Zhu Youjian who was dealing with the military newspaper, Ye Xianggao sighed in his heart:
"If the previous emperors of the Ming Dynasty had such diligent people, maybe the situation wouldn't be so bad..."

For a moment, Ye Xianggao didn't know whether he thought of Wanli or Taichang, or Zhu Youxiao, feeling a lot of emotion.

Zhu Youjian didn't understand all of this. The reason why he ignored Ye Xianggao was not to show any airs, but the military report in his hand was indeed very important.

This is an armament order from the Commander-in-Chief of the Five Armies, and everything needed can be called an astronomical figure.

[[-] sets of cloth face armor, cotton armor, and mandarin duck battle jacket each, [-] sets each of tie armor, chain mail, and mandarin duck battle jacket, rifles...]

Nearly [-] million sets of orders for various armors were placed in front of Zhu Youjian. In addition, there were [-] rifles, [-] riding guns, [-] Yanling knives, ten [-] long knives, more than [-] long spears, and other items such as gunpowder.

In short, after reading the entire armament order, only a string of numbers appeared at the end.

[A total of [-] taels of military expenditure...]

"It's not worth so much to sell it at the price of my name as jade..."

Looking at the military expenditure of more than [-] million taels of silver, Zhu Youjian had a headache.

He didn't expect that among the more than [-] troops, there were still nearly [-] people who were not fully equipped.

More than [-] million taels of silver, even according to this year's revenue, it would take a whole year's revenue to settle this armament.

For a while, Zhu Youjian didn't know how to get the money.

What made him even more troublesome was that the equipment for nearly [-] soldiers, horses and government servants had to be raised, and the expenditure was more than four million taels of silver.

Adding these two sums of silver together, it is more than eighteen million taels of silver.

If the military salaries of these three parties were added, it would basically exceed [-] million taels of silver.

Such a problem caused Zhu Youjian's brain cells to continue to be consumed. Only the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion abolished more than [-] soldiers and horses with poor quality, which made Zhu Youjian a little relieved.

At present, the number of the Ming army is [-] people, with [-] guards and [-] Gongwei battalions.

This amount is nearly one-tenth less than the previous [-], and the military expenditure has also been reduced by millions of taels of silver.

However, it is impossible for the court to ignore those who have been eliminated, otherwise they will become an uncontrollable force among the people.

Therefore, they were arranged to enter the military and horse division. In addition, more than [-] disabled soldiers recruited by the Ministry of Punishment from various places entered the local yamen as servants of the Ministry of Punishment.

This number is only a quarter of the [-] soldiers, horses and yamen servants.

Not surprisingly, after the staff is fully recruited, Daming's annual expenditure on these people alone will be as high as [-] million taels of silver.

Coupled with the salaries of the officials, at least [-] million taels did not escape.

Therefore, while ensuring this team, Zhu Youjian had to find a way to provide food to deal with the great hunger.

This amount of grain has to be prepared from now on, because before the severe drought came, Zhu Youjian had saved enough grain.

If it weren't for Huang Taiji, Lin Danhan, and Bo Yunai, Zhu Youjian probably wouldn't want to fight now, but would honestly wait for the first wave of severe drought to break out and provide disaster relief, and then send troops while stabilizing the place.

While using hungry people as civilian husbands to "relief disasters with work" in disguise, they opened up territory and resettled refugees.

It's just that the current situation is not waiting for him, and the battle still has to be fought.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian could only write down his opinion in the face of this military newspaper:

"It can be divided into three years, and allocated in three sums of money..."

After writing down his opinion, Zhu Youjian put down the military newspaper, looked up at Ye Xianggao, who was in front of him, and couldn't help feeling resentment in his heart:

"You are old begging, what about the imperial court?"

"Ahem... I'm getting old. Although I want to govern the country, my body can't keep up." Ye Xianggao pretended to cough, but Zhu Youjian remained unmoved.

Both Zhao Nanxing and Ye Xianggao are begging for old age, which made him feel awkward and passive.

For a while, the imperial court really couldn't find a chief minister of the cabinet with the same level as Ye Xianggao. If he should look for it, Zhu Youjian could only find Yuan Keli.

As for the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Zhu Youjian is ready to let Gu Bingqian take over.

"The positions of Chief Assistant of the Cabinet and Minister of the Ministry of Officials, just now, Long Live decreed that Gu Bingqian and Cui Chengxiu should be appointed respectively. Does Your Highness know about this?"

"what?"

Ye Xianggao opened his mouth in the presence of the old god Gao, and Zhu Youjian was surprised by the appearance of hanging up high that the matter had nothing to do with him. At the same time, he couldn't help but think about why his brother arranged it like this.

Gu Bingqian served as the chief assistant of the cabinet. Obviously, Zhu Youxiao wanted someone to share his work, but it is not a good thing for Cui Chengxiu to be the secretary of the Ministry of officials.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian was about to ask someone to stop the car, but Ye Xianggao suddenly said:

"Your Highness, don't meddle in the affairs of the court. What you need to do most now is to look behind yourself..."

"Behind Gu?" Zhu Youjian frowned slightly, but Ye Xianggao could only sigh and shake his head when he saw this:
"When the old man was the chief assistant, he told Long Live many times that His Highness is not suitable for politics, and even the military power must be handed over to the people below step by step."

"At that time, Long Live was angry when he heard it, but now you don't even notice it, Your Highness."

Speaking of this, Ye Xianggao said to Zhu Youjian with calm eyes and calm eyes:

"Your Highness, have you ever thought about the whereabouts of the civil and military officials and workers of the Qi Palace after you become a feudal clan?"

"Naturally!" Zhu Youjian replied immediately, because he had thought about this many times.

His best idea, in fact, is to arrange the generals to guard one side, especially those who have proved their loyalty in history.

As for Hong Chengchou, he stayed in the capital to serve as a capital official, so he would not be unhappy either.

As for people like Wang Chengen, Cao Huachun, Man Gui, Sun Yingyuan, and Huang Long, he still hoped to take him to Levia.

He is very confident that he only needs a million Han people to make Qi a powerful country in the western frontier within his lifetime.

Tens of millions of Kunlun slaves will become the best free labor for building various large projects, and Zhu Youjian who has gone there will enjoy the water conservancy projects and canals they built.

After that, it only needs to get out the steam engine and install it on railcars and ships. It is very easy for Qi to control Levia roughly.

In addition, once the Suez Canal is opened, the Qi State will sit at the gate of Europe and collect taxes, and he can rest assured to raise his heirs, and then divide his heirs to North and South Merica.

He can even let Man Gui and the others go to the north and south of Merika to establish their own princely country, because all he wants is meat to rot in the pot.

It's just that he can't tell people about this idea, because once he expresses this idea, the saliva of the Zhu family's clan may drown him.

The clans don't know that the North and South Merika is good. If Zhu Youjian can move to the North and South Merika, he will also choose to go to the North and South Merika, and then entrust his heirs to the south and his ministers to Levia.

In these places far away from Daming, no minister would impeach him even if he used a more bloody method than chasing seedlings and expanding his career.

"Your Highness, if you have the idea of ​​taking the generals to the vassal state, then you should give up..."

Ye Xianggao's sudden opening made Zhu Youjian frown, and at the same time he added:
"I would rather be the minister of a big country than the king of a small country..."

"My Ming Dynasty is strong and powerful. As the governor of the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion in Daming, I can control the life and death of countless small countries. Even the vassal states of the vassal kings need to act according to the face of the Five Armies Commander's Mansion."

"At this time, Your Highness, do you think that with just a few friendships, everyone can abandon everything and leave their hometown with you?"

"They are not hungry or refugees. They have land and wealth in Daming. Do you think they can give up everything?"

Ye Xianggao's words made Zhu Youjian frown, but he still felt that the temptation to let the generals seal the country was greater than these.

It's just that he never seems to have thought that no one in Man Gui's group wants to be the boss by himself.

Even Huang Long, who was thousands of miles away, could obviously raise the flag to rebel, but what he wanted was to let Zhu Youjian stay in Daming.

To put it bluntly, they all know that they are not the material to be the king of a country.

At this moment, Zhu Youjian has fallen into a misunderstanding, but he himself does not want to break this misunderstanding.

He stubbornly didn't want to think about the bad things, because he knew what that meant.

If he leaves, no one will be able to protect Man Gui's status, power, and wealth.

He felt that his elder brother was old enough to send away a large number of generals who followed him, but he never thought about whether the future Zhu Ciran would settle accounts and uproot the families of these generals.

"Your Highness, think about it carefully. The reason why the old man reminds you is not to make you unprepared at certain moments in the future."

"Sometimes, when you break it, you break it, otherwise you will suffer from it..."

After Ye Xianggao finished speaking, he waited for Zhu Youjian to speak, but Zhu Youjian was a little uncomfortable with the meaning of his words.

To put it bluntly, the current situation is very similar to the situation in which Zhu Yuanzhang wants to solve the nobles in Huaixi, while the situation of Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Ciran is more similar to the situation faced by Zhu Yunqi.

Neither of them has Zhu Youjian's military ability, nor the ability to unite his ministers and workers.

In this case, even if they didn't attack the generals, wouldn't the descendants of the generals have other ideas?

"Since you reminded me, there is naturally a solution..."

Zhu Youjian stared at Ye Xianggao firmly, but Ye Xianggao said softly after hearing the sound:

"If Your Highness is willing to never leave Daming, the group of people behind you will naturally feel at ease."

"At your age, Your Highness, it is enough to make the generals feel at ease, and it is also enough to make their family heirs feel at ease."

"One word..." Ye Xianggao leaned forward, his expression darkened instantly:
"Either stay in Ming Dynasty as regent until death, or follow the example of Emperor Taizu Gao to Huaixi and Zhedong!"

(End of this chapter)