In front of Duanmen, Li Jinglong and many ministers walked slowly forward.

Most ministers went directly to their offices when they arrived at Qianbu Gallery. Li Jinglong passed by the Five Military Commandery, but did not enter. Instead, he walked directly out of the palace.

"My cousin, please don't blame me for not helping you. His Highness Changsun is such a ruthless person. If you are implicated in the slightest and are misunderstood by His Highness Changsun, that would be bad."

"My cousin is always called the younger brother of His Royal Highness Chang Sun. Even if there are some unpleasant things, it's not a big deal. But my cousin is not like that."

"How can I not understand what my cousin is thinking? If this is settled, my life will be in danger."

Li Jinglong talked to himself as he walked.

During the morning court session, he certainly saw the look his cousin Zhu Yunwen gave him, but when the court session was over, he definitely did not go to Chunhe Hall.

Instead, he left the palace in a hurry, without even going to the Left Army Governor's Office, to avoid the possibility that his cousin would send someone to summon him.

Anyway, he had just returned to the capital and there was not much to do.

It's not that the Five Military Commandery doesn't have much to do, but Li Jinglong's position is still in Xifan, and he is on a temporary assignment in the capital, and has not been reassigned.

Each commander-in-chief of the Five Military Commanderies was not only responsible for managing the training and production of the garrisons, but also had the ability to participate in the central military decision-making of the Ming Dynasty.

Although the Ministry of War has the power to appoint, dismiss, promote, and train personnel in the military, it has no jurisdiction when it comes to commanding troops and managing garrisons.

Before the Battle of Tumu in the mid-Ming Dynasty, the Ming army was controlled by the Five Military Commissioners' Office, and civil officials could not interfere.

During this period, the Ming army had very strong combat effectiveness.

The Battle of Tumu, following the Lan Yu Case and the Jingnan Campaign, was another incident that had a huge impact on the development and changes of the Five Military Commanderies.

The military department represented by Yu Qian rose rapidly in status. The power of supervising military affairs, commanding troops, and commanding generals, which were actually the management and command rights of the army previously held by the Five Military Commands, were all held by Yu Qian alone.

This led to civil officials commanding military generals, so that in all aspects, the status of military generals was lowered and the combat effectiveness of the Ming army declined rapidly.

In particular, the corruption among civil officials affected the army, and most of the civil officials who led the troops sucked the blood of the soldiers and drew empty salaries.

The Ming army became corrupt and various wage arrears occurred frequently.

The reason why the army led by Qi Jiguang in the late Ming Dynasty had such strong combat effectiveness was all because Qi Jiguang himself gave gifts to his literary superior Zhang Juzheng and even Yan Song in the capital.

Even the military pay was paid by Qi Jiguang himself.

Under the circumstances at the end of the Ming Dynasty, how could the soldiers not fight to the death? Coupled with Qi Jiguang's own military capabilities, he was naturally even more powerful.

Qi Jiguang's wealth mainly came from the inheritance left to him by his father.

Qi Jiguang's father, Qi Jingtong, was also a hereditary deputy commander of Dengzhou Guards, a high-ranking official of the fourth rank.

At that time, Qi Jingtong gave up his good job as a commander and instead tried to find a way to become a captain of the seventh rank.

This captain-general of the seventh rank was the captain-general of the Jiangnan water transport.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, water transport was the most lucrative job with very high gray income. Qi Jingtong served as the chief of the Jiangnan water transport for many years, and the wealth he accumulated can be imagined.

It was for this reason that Wang Dong, the Wanhu of Nanxi at that time, married his daughter to Qi Jiguang.

At the same time, Zhu Ying was in the courtyard, checking the military system of the Ming Dynasty.

"It seems that the pace of separation of the military and politics must be accelerated."

Zhu Ying frowned as he looked at the jurisdiction of the Five Military Commandery.

The current Ming Dynasty is in the process of adopting the ruling philosophy of combining military and political power.

In Zhu Ying's view, the old man's centralization of power was a very uncomfortable thing, because the emperor himself was bound by all the affairs of the country.

The so-called busy schedule is no joke. All kinds of things take up all the emperor's energy, so he has no time to think about anything else.

There are endless memorials to read and endless morning court sessions to attend.

If a less capable emperor came to power, he would have no time to leave the palace. If nothing is done, it would be difficult for the government decrees to leave the palace.

In Zhu Ying's view, centralization is not reflected in domestic affairs, but in military power.

The advantage of the integration of military and politics is high efficiency of local governance, while the disadvantage is increased local independence.

On the other hand, the biggest advantage of separation of military and political power is that military power can be completely in the hands of the emperor.

As for the local areas, the emperor himself was fully capable of ruling the country with ease.

In Zhu Ying's mind, "ruling by the throne" means returning the power of civil officials to them and governing the local areas.

If the governance is not good, then naturally there will be punishment, and if the governance is good then of course there will be promotion.

The emperor who controls the army has great say and is not afraid of his civil officials being disobedient. If they disobey him, he will dismiss them from their posts at the very least and sentence them to death at the worst.

Make sure the army's pay is not a problem. With so many people in the Ming Dynasty, there will never be a shortage of talents, and there will always be capable ministers who can govern the country.

Thinking of this, Zhu Ying took out a piece of white paper and began to write down his thoughts on it.

The current Ming army, especially the Weisuo system, must not be abandoned. Military households farming is a very efficient existence nowadays.

Because today's army itself is a manifestation of productivity and cannot be considered professional soldiers. They can only be registered military households. When they are not training, they have to go to the fields to plant rice.

So of course we cannot simply copy the model of later generations and implement a one-size-fits-all approach.

What needs to be reformed is the implementation of dual-line management of the military, that is, the separation of military administration and military command.

The military and political departments are responsible for the daily production of military households, including farming, military registration, combat readiness, and other relatively logistical work.

The military command department is a completely combat department, especially the elite soldiers who have been trained for a long time, are completely controlled by the military command department.

In peacetime, the military-political line is the main one, and the military command line is the auxiliary one. In wartime, the two lines are switched, and the general of the military command department will command the combat forces of all military services to achieve centralized and unified command.

Take Duke Lan Yu of Liang as an example.

When the rebellion of Yuru Timur was suppressed in Sichuan, Lan Yu, the Duke of Liang, was the main person in charge of coordinating the army and arranging the battle.

But after the rebellion was quelled, except for the elite soldiers, the soldiers of the garrisons who were engaged in farming were handed over to the heads of other military and political departments of the army for management and arrangement.

That is to say, the army itself will face two situations, wartime and non-wartime.

This is Zhu Ying's vision for the future Ming army.

"Boss, the old man is here." Uncle Zhang entered the study and reported to Zhu Ying.

Zhu Yuanzhang currently has no official public identity, nor has he formally summoned Zhu Ying into the palace to announce his identity as the eldest grandson.

Although there was only a layer of window paper between them that had not been broken, it was obvious that only Zhu Yuanzhang was qualified to break it.

So although everyone was already clear about Zhu Yuanzhang's identity, Zhang Bo still addressed him as the old man.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Ying put his pen on the pen holder and then stood up to go out to greet him.

"Grandson, do you miss grandpa? I miss you so much."

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw Zhu Ying, his eyes suddenly lit up.

Zhu Ying now no longer wears the coarse linen clothes she used to wear, but has changed into brocade clothes made of silk and satin.

Of course, linen clothes are not as comfortable as silk. Zhu Ying is not a pedantic person who insists on wearing linen clothes to show off himself.

Although his identity has not been officially announced, he is wearing nice clothes, so no one can blame him for it.

Not to mention anything else, just looking at the Jinyiwei near the mansion, it is not possible for ordinary people to get in touch with Zhu Ying now.

"Grandpa, you have arranged so many things for your grandson. How can your grandson have time to miss you? I am confused every day."

Zhu Yingwen said this with a hint of complaint in his tone.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he burst into laughter.

He understood what Da Sun meant. He was thinking about himself while reading the memorial.

"I need to talk to you about this matter. The memorials that seem extremely cumbersome to you actually concern the survival of the people of the Ming Dynasty. So, grandson, your idea is not acceptable."

Zhu Yuanzhang said this with a smile, and although his tone seemed to be accusatory, it was actually instructive.

"My grandson thinks that we don't need to work so hard." Zhu Ying said frankly.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he paused for a moment, then seemed to understand something and asked, "Could it be that Grandson has come up with another good idea to help us share our worries?"

Although Zhu Yuanzhang has not spent a long time with his eldest grandson, he now understands his habits more and more.

If it were in the past, Zhu Yuanzhang would definitely scold and lecture the other party first, but now, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was familiar with Zhu Ying, was naturally a little more patient.

"Okay, grandson does have some ideas. Grandpa, please follow me into the house." Zhu Ying touched his nose awkwardly. He wanted to show off, but he didn't expect to be seen through by the old man.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled triumphantly and followed Zhu Ying into the study.

As soon as he entered the room, Zhu Yuanzhang was attracted by the white paper covered with words on the desk.

The memorial was placed on the desk, with fresh ink next to it, and you could vaguely see that the ink on the white paper had not dried yet.

Zhu Yuanzhang ignored his eldest grandson and walked straight to the desk and began to check.

Seeing this, Zhu Ying smiled helplessly.

Forget it, I'm too lazy to talk nonsense, let's wait until the old man finishes reading it.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the thousands of words on it and just read it out of interest at first.

At the beginning of the article, it says: A brief discussion on the Ming Dynasty Army.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but laugh.

"Our eldest grandson is really too ambitious. How much effort has been put into ruling over millions of Ming lions? How can these few thousand words change that?"

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang calmed down and took a good look at what his eldest grandson had written. Then he prescribed the right remedy and taught him again.

However, when Zhu Yuanzhang read the main content of the text, the words "separation of military and politics" made Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes suddenly become serious.

These four simple words made Zhu Yuanzhang feel an unprecedented shock.

The current system of the Ming army was inherited from the Yuan Dynasty, and then improved with reference to the Tang and Song dynasties.

The concept of the unity of military and politics has been around since ancient times, and few people have put forward any suggestions in this regard.

So when Zhu Yuanzhang saw these four words, it was as if the door to a new world had been opened.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was very familiar with the military, had a premonition that these four words would have an immeasurable impact on the current Ming Dynasty.

It was when Zhu Yuanzhang was carefully studying the article written by Zhu Ying.

On the Mongolian grassland, two groups of people were chasing and fighting.

"Batu, you are a man from the grassland, a noble descendant of Genghis Khan. Why do you want to serve a Han Chinese as your master and work for him? Are you worthy of your great Borjigin surname?"

The number of troops in the two teams was very different, one side had over a thousand knights, while the other side had only over three hundred.

Soon, thousands of cavalrymen surrounded the three hundred people and forced them to stop.

The leader of the thousand men, riding a tall horse with pure black hair, shouted at the besieged cavalrymen.

The man called Batu rode out from the group, looked at the leader of the thousand men in front of him, and shouted:

"In the severe winter of the year before last, my tribe was short of food and almost starved to death. It was the Dong family who gave me a new life. At that time, I swore to Changshengtian that I would be loyal to the Dong family until death."

"Hassbagen, just give up. I will never betray my boss, even if I die here in battle today."

The leader of a thousand men, Hasbagen, drew the scimitar from his waist, held it high, and looked coldly at Batu, his childhood friend.

Seeing this, the surrounding Mongolian cavalry drew their bows and arrows, waiting for Hasbagan's order to start shooting.

Seeing this, Batu gripped the reins tightly with both hands and prepared to charge.

At this critical moment, suddenly, the sound of horse hooves was heard in the distance, accompanied by shouts.

"The Khan has ordered that Timur is attacking, and the warriors of all tribes should return quickly and not fight each other." The herald shouted loudly, holding high the flag representing the Golden Horde.

Hasbagen looked at Batu in front of him, with a struggle in his eyes, and he wanted to forcefully order him to be shot.

But the surrounding Mongolian knights had already put down their bows and arrows after hearing the shouts.

This is the Mongolian rule. Normally, tribes can fight each other for survival, but when encountering foreign enemies, they must unite.

Even if the knife is already at your neck, you must stop.

Now Hasbagen had lost the chance to kill Batu, so he had no choice but to turn his horse around and lead thousands of knights away in a mighty manner.

"Brother, what should we do now?"

A strong man next to Batu asked.

Batu hesitated for a moment, then said firmly: "Since we pledged allegiance to the Lord, we no longer belong to the Khan of the Golden Horde. The Khan's orders are useless to us. Go back, report the situation to the Chamber of Commerce, and wait for instructions."

After saying that, Batu did not hesitate and galloped away on his horse.

The cavalrymen who followed him did not hesitate at all and followed closely.

All of them have sworn to Changshengtian and pledged allegiance to the boss until death.

During the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, there were four great khanates in Mongolia, which were not under the rule of the Yuan Dynasty.

After Genghis Khan Temujin unified Mongolia, he proclaimed himself emperor at the Onon River and turned Mongolia into a military group.

He began his own path of external expansion. After a series of expeditions to the west, east and south, a great empire spanning Europe and Asia emerged.

Faced with how to rule this vast empire, Genghis Khan began to establish four khanates in view of the numerical limitations of the Mongolian people.

With the Golden Horde as the core, the three khanates of Ogedei Khanate, Chagatai Khanate and Ilkhanate served as auxiliary khanates, ruling the affairs of their respective regions respectively.

Genghis Khan used his direct bloodline as a bond to exercise political rule.

This form still had a strong deterrent effect when Genghis Khan was alive.

Because Genghis Khan had a special status among the Mongols, he was the first person in Mongolian history to completely unify the Mongolian people.

To some extent, Genghis Khan is to the Mongolians what the Central Plains is to Qin Shihuang, a comparable existence.

However, after Genghis Khan's death, just like the Qin Empire, his remaining power can still intimidate people for a while.

The relationship between the khanates maintained by blood began to show cracks. After several changes in the imperial power, the communication between the four khanates also showed certain contradictions. In particular, the communication between the regions they ruled began to become intermittent.

Kublai Khan marched south to establish the Yuan Dynasty and seized the throne, but he did not win the recognition of other khanates and tribal elders.

The military victory brought rejection and hostility from other khanates. As a result, the two sides engaged in fierce wars and conflicts. In particular, the attack by Haidu, with the military strength and power of the two khanates, attacked the Yuan Empire.

The long-term war between the two made the Mongols very passive. After Kublai Khan's death, his successors continued to fight him. This war lasted for more than 30 years, although it ended with the victory of the Yuan Empire.

But the price was also heavy. Through division, disintegration and military intimidation, the Mongols gradually established their advantages in this protracted war with their national strength and eventually destroyed the Ogedei Khanate.

The Chagatai Khanate eventually turned against the Mongols, betrayed the alliance, and surrendered to the Mongols. Eventually, the two divided the territory of the Ogedei Khanate.

Except for the four khanates that were destroyed because of the challenge of the Mongols by the Khanate of Ogedei, the relationship between the other three khanates was not very stable.

There were even many contradictions and constant wars between them. The internal struggles among the three khanates were also very fierce, which also caused serious internal friction.

Therefore, when Zhu Yuanzhang rose to power, many Mongolian khanates basically chose to stand idly by and watched the demise of the Yuan Dynasty with indifference.

However, after the end of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, of the once powerful four khanates, only the Golden Horde remains.

The Chagatai Khanate split into two parts, the Western Chagatai Khanate was destroyed by the Timurid Empire, while the Eastern Chagatai Khanate survived.

After the death of the Ilkhanate's Khan Busayin, the various kings fought for the throne, the Khanate fell into division and the country's power declined.

In the 21st year of Hongwu, it was destroyed by the Timurid Empire.

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang asked the Timurid Empire in West Asia to pay tribute according to Yuan regulations. Timur ignored it at first, but when the empire's territory reached the Ilkhanate.

Seeing that they were getting closer and closer to the Ming Empire, the Timurid Empire began to send envoys to pay tribute because of the Timurid Empire's wars at the time.

Although Timur called himself a subject in the documents, he definitely did not think of the Ming Empire as his overlord.

On the contrary, through the envoys he was constantly learning about the situation and national strength of the Ming Dynasty and preparing to attack the Ming Empire.

At the same time, they also gained wealth through tribute.

In fact, the Timurid Empire later mobilized a million troops to march eastward to attack the Ming Empire.

However, during this period, Timur died of illness during the march, and the Eastern Expedition was stopped before the million-strong army could engage in battle with the Ming Empire.

Batu had just escaped by chance, and it was at this time that the Timurid Empire once again invaded the Golden Horde.

As a nomadic people, the Mongols started out by conquering, and have their own writing system and cultural traditions, as well as their own system of inheritance.

However, it did not establish its own cultural system on the newly conquered territories like the Qin Empire and the Roman Empire.

On the contrary, the Mongols would be influenced by the local civilization and most of them would convert to Islam.

The Mongols swept across the Eurasian continent and left no trace of their civilization except disrupting the civilization of every place they went. They can be said to be typical barbarians.

However, they were assimilated very quickly, and their legacy of conquest was also inherited by the newly developed local forces.

In terms of conquest alone, almost all civilizations at that time were under the rule of the Mongol Empire.

From a civilizational perspective, when the Mongol Empire disappeared, nothing was left behind.

wrong.

After all, many Mongolians stayed and integrated into the local culture.

Batu led his people and rushed towards the border of the Ming Dynasty. He wanted to report the situation of the Timurid Empire, including his own exposure, to the Heroes Chamber of Commerce.

In a sense, Batu was not a cavalry unit directly led by the Chamber of Heroes on the grassland, but was actually a nail planted by Zhu Ying in the Golden Horde.

His exposure meant that there were some loopholes in Zhu Ying's layout in Mongolia, and there must be a traitor among them.

At the same time Batu went to the border of Ming Dynasty.

Zhang San finally arrived in the Western Regions.

As Zhu Ying's trusted subordinate in the capital, mobilizing important supplies such as sweet potatoes and potatoes obviously requires a figure like Zhang San to step in in order to achieve the desired effect.

After all, potatoes and sweet potatoes are the key to Zhu Ying's core power, and it is impossible for ordinary people to make Zhu Ying's forces in the Western Regions obey them.

Starting from the capital, Zhang San had the post station pass granted by Zhu Ying, which was already the fastest speed.

The reason why Zhu Ying was able to rise in the Western Regions was actually largely due to the situation in the Western Regions itself.

The Western Regions itself is a broad term without any specific reference. There are many small countries here and it has never been completely unified.

For example, there was the ancient kingdom of Loulan that once existed, and the ancient kingdom of Jingjue that mysteriously disappeared during the Three Kingdoms and the Jin Dynasty, leaving behind today's Jingjue Niya ruins.

These small countries are particularly small, like Jingjue.

There were only 480 households in the country, with a population of just over 3,000, and only about 500 soldiers capable of fighting.

The so-called Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the Western Regions is just a general term. In fact, there have been hundreds of countries and regimes of all sizes in the Western Regions over the past 2,000 years, each with its own unique culture and heritage.

Zhu Yuanzhang defeated the Mongolian cavalry that once made the whole world tremble, was terrified and arrogant, and restored the Han people's regime and established the Ming Dynasty.

When he was young, the ambitious Zhu Yuanzhang naturally wanted to achieve unprecedented achievements that surpassed those of the Qin Emperor, Han Emperor, and the Tang Dynasty.

After ascending the throne, Zhu Yuanzhang adopted the carrot-and-stick policy of the prosperous Tang Dynasty and began to adopt an active ethnic policy towards the Western Regions.

In the third year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Deng Yu on an expedition to Gansu, and then fought in Hezhou, conquering Tubo and U-Tsang.

In the tenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang issued another decree, and Deng Yu and Mu Ying's army was divided into three routes to launch a large-scale expedition to Tubo, and they won a great victory over Tubo on the shores of Kunlun Mountains and Qinghai Lake.

After the victory, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Deng Yu to return to Nanjing. On the way back to Beijing, the 40-year-old Deng Yu unfortunately passed away. After that, the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and Tubo began to ease.

Zhu Yuanzhang sent Zong Le to Tibet to search for Buddhist scriptures that had been lost in the Central Plains for many years as a gesture of friendship.

At that time, Tubo was in disarray, with factions with different ideas and interests constantly causing trouble, making the Ming Dynasty's goodwill gesture one-sided.

Zhu Yuanzhang lost his patience and became angry. In the eleventh year of Hongwu, when the eighteen tribes of Chuzhou launched a mutiny, he issued another decree and sent Mu Ying to expedition to Tubo again.

The first battle at Tumen Gorge was a victory, and a great victory was achieved in Taozhou. All the leaders of the 18 tribes in Taozhou were defeated, 30,000 enemies were captured, and more than 200,000 cattle and sheep were seized. As a result, the Ming Dynasty expanded its territory by thousands of miles, and Zhu Yuanzhang set up Taozhou Guard.

Zhu Yuanzhang knew that subjugating people by force was not a long-term solution, and that only subjugating people by virtue could bring long-term stability, so he began to send envoys to carry out united front work among the Tibetans.

He kept in touch with the great abbot of the Karmapa sect in southeastern Tibet, and conferred official titles and made promises. As long as anyone had served as an official in the Yuan Dynasty, he would be granted an official position in the Ming Dynasty.

The fourth Living Buddha Ruduobiji was moved and sent an envoy to Nanjing to pay a return visit to Zhu Yuanzhang.

The Mongols always deliberately supported a certain force to manage Tubo. However, no matter who they supported, it might create a powerful force to confront themselves.

Zhu Yuanzhang first abolished the title of imperial teacher bestowed on Tubo by the Mongols.

The so-called imperial teacher had great political and cultural influence on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. After the Ming Dynasty abolished this title, the political core of Tibet no longer existed.

Then there were many titles and constructions, titles were given to religious leaders in the east, and positions were promoted to higher positions in the west.

As a result, the plateau was full of forces supported by the Ming Dynasty. They each had their own sphere of influence and lived in harmony with each other. No one could become powerful, and they all became direct affiliates of the Ming Dynasty and accepted the leadership of the Ming Empire.

In the sixth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang bestowed titles on various Tibetan tribes. The tribes were extremely happy and their followers gathered together, requesting titles one after another.

For a time, the titles of the Ming Dynasty were not enough.

It doesn’t matter. If the Ming Dynasty doesn’t have enough, we can use the Mongols’. It’s fine to just confer it on them.

At present, the Western Regions are nominally almost entirely ruled by the Ming Dynasty, and there are Ming Dynasty vassal states everywhere. This is a rare period of harmony in the entire Western Regions.

The reason why Zhu Ying was able to rise during this period actually had a lot to do with the Ming Dynasty’s policy towards the Western Regions.

After all, Zhu Ying is a Han Chinese. If it were the chaotic Western Regions, Zhu Ying would have difficulty even gathering people.

During the period when Zhu Ying rose to power, the status of the Han people in the Western Regions was still relatively good.

Even in the early days of his rise, Zhu Ying once used the name of the Ming Dynasty to boast about how powerful his family in the Ming Dynasty was and how influential it was.

He made all kinds of promises to his subordinates, and with his oratory skills, many of them believed that as long as they followed Zhu Ying, their descendants would be able to enjoy the good life in the Ming Dynasty in the future.

Zhu Ying has a considerable territory in the Western Regions, after all, the Western Regions is a vast area.

In a sense, even calling it a country is not a problem.

Some small countries do not have as many people as Zhu Ying's forces.

The Western Regions are vast, with many deserts and Gobi, and rivers are particularly precious.

Zhu Ying's base of power is on the Tarim River, near the corner where the ancient kingdom of Loulan once stood.

There are big mountains nearby to block the view and the land is fertile.

Of course, this was not Zhu Ying’s original territory. Over a period of five years, Zhu Ying’s territory underwent three relocations before he occupied such a good location.

When Zhang San first arrived in the Western Regions, he contacted the Chamber of Commerce.

He led hundreds of cavalrymen directly to Zhu Ying's territory.

"It's Zhang San. Zhang San is back. Did he bring back news from the boss?"

When Zhang San just appeared, he was discovered by the patrolling cavalry here. After seeing who was coming, many patrolling cavalry followed.

As the shouting spread, dozens of middle-aged or elderly people dressed in fancy clothes appeared.

Zhang San walked up to him and dismounted.

The leader was an old man, about fifty years old, with a sturdy build, kind eyes, white hair and beard, and wearing a bright robe.

He asked, "Zhang San, did you bring back the teacher's order?"

This old man is Zhu Ying’s eldest disciple and also Zhu Ying’s acting manager in the Western Regions.

The old man was a slave bought by Zhu Ying, and originally served as Zhu Ying's translator.

The old man was not a Han Chinese. Strictly speaking, there was no concept of nationality in the Western Regions. After following Zhu Ying, he became a Han Chinese.

As time went by, he gained Zhu Ying's trust and gradually evolved from a slave to Zhu Ying's apprentice.

The old man had been a slave before, and he would change his name every time he followed a master.

It is said that Zhu Ying's ancestors had some connection with the Han Dynasty, so he named himself Liu Sheng, which means a successful start.

"Mr. Liu, this is the document sent by the boss from the capital."

Zhang San did not dare to delay and quickly took out the document from his bag and handed it to Liu Sheng.

Liu Sheng took the document and started to check it immediately.

He recognized at a glance that the words were indeed written by his teacher Zhu Ying.

But after reading the content, Liu Sheng narrowed his eyes slightly, looked at Zhang San and asked: "Is this handed to you by the teacher himself?"

Zhang San hesitated for a moment and said, "The boss gave it to me through Uncle Zhang."

Liu Sheng asked again: "I saw in the document that you left the capital and have arrived here in less than a month. How did you get here?"

At this moment, Liu Sheng's tone was extremely flat, completely lacking the previous surprise, but instead carrying a sense of melancholy.

Zhang San didn't pay attention to these. The continuous running around had already made him extremely tired, so he replied directly:

"I passed through Daming Post Station, took a boat at a water post station, changed horses at a land post station, rode during the day, and took a rest at night. I rushed here day and night."

When Liu Sheng heard this, his slightly narrowed eyes revealed a hint of murderous intent.

When Zhang San wasn't paying attention, he slowly stepped back a few steps, and then shouted sternly: "Come here, arrest this traitor for me."

Following the order, the surrounding soldiers did not hesitate at all. Seeing Zhang San making a move, they immediately tied him up.

"You are such a good fellow, Zhang San. The boss has treated you well. Your whole family is supported by the boss. How dare you betray the boss? Tell me, what is your intention?"

Liu Sheng shouted again.

Zhang San was completely confused. What was going on? He was clearly here to deliver his boss's instructions, so how could he be considered a traitor?

After a moment of stunned silence, Zhang San immediately reacted and quickly scolded Liu Sheng loudly.

"Why are you slandering me? This document was clearly written by the Dong family himself. As the eldest disciple of the Dong family, how could you, Liu Sheng, not recognize the Dong family's handwriting?"

"I think you are the one who wants to betray the Dong family. Is it because the Dong family has been gone for a long time that you, Liu Sheng, have second thoughts?"

Hearing Zhang San's rebuttal, the two soldiers who were holding Zhang San couldn't help but look at Liu Sheng.

Even the other disciples of Zhu Ying subconsciously avoided Liu Sheng.

Zhu Ying's personal reputation here is quite high now. As long as he is associated with betrayal, he will easily be ostracized by everyone.

Now both the knights and Zhu Ying's disciples were a little confused.

I totally don't understand why Liu Sheng suddenly said that Zhang San was a traitor.

Then, Zhu Ying's second disciple, a middle-aged man, stood up and said to Liu Sheng: "Big Brother, how could Zhang San, as the teacher's personal guard, suddenly betray the teacher? Big Brother, please give me an explanation."

Facing the middle-aged man's question, Liu Sheng raised the document and handed it to the middle-aged man, snorted coldly and said:

"Junior brother, take a good look at the contents of the document and you will understand what I mean."

The middle-aged man took the document, read it, and said in shock: "This, how is this possible? This can't be what the teacher meant."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Zhang San and scolded him, "Zhang San, I never thought that you really betrayed the teacher. You must tell me where the teacher is now and what the situation is."

After the middle-aged man finished speaking, he handed the document to everyone to read. Suddenly, the crowd became excited and started to curse Zhang San loudly.

Zhang San looked at the crowd and felt terrible. He shouted, "What's going on? Are you all planning to betray the boss?"

"Hmph, you still want to quibble. Today I will let you die knowing the truth." Liu Sheng said in a cold voice.

"This was written by the boss himself. What's wrong with it? Why are you suddenly slandering me?" Zhang San retorted.

"Okay, you don't admit it, right? I'll tell you in detail."

Liu Sheng took the document back and opened it, then said to Zhang San, "What the document says, teacher, is that you should immediately send 30 dan of potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn and other grains to the capital of the Ming Dynasty."

"Everyone knows how important these crops are to us in the Western Regions. They are the foundation of our survival."

"A full thirty shi, almost half of the inventory has been transferred away. How could the boss give such an order?"

Zhang San sneered and said, "I was wondering what it was. It turns out that you wanted to take the crops for yourselves and kept giving orders from the boss. I see. Well, then you can just kill me."

"Can you hide it for a while, or for a lifetime?"

Zhang San said, his eyes swept through the crowd, and said at the same time: "I believe that among you, there must be someone who is loyal to the boss. If I am killed today, just report the cause and effect to the capital."

"Then, Liu Sheng, let me see how you deceive everyone with lies."

Liu Sheng laughed and said, "I have followed the teacher for more than six years. I have no children and I am the only one. For me in this life, the teacher is everything."

"Now I am nearly sixty years old and I don't have many years left to live. Why would I betray my teacher?"

Hearing this, everyone nodded.

Liu Sheng never concealed the fact that he was once a slave bought by his employer. For some reason, although Liu Sheng was not a eunuch, he no longer had the ability to produce offspring.

So anyone could betray their boss, except Liu Sheng.

Zhang San was even more confused at this moment, and asked: "Then why do you think I betrayed the boss? These documents are the instructions written by the boss."

Liu Sheng said: "Of course this document was written by the teacher, but I don't know whether it was written by the teacher himself."

"Teacher, I'll leave you to Annan. I won't elaborate on the purpose behind this."

"So, teacher, there is no way you would bring these crops to the capital for no reason. Wouldn't this make the Ming Dynasty even more powerful?"

Zhang San heard this and argued, "You just based on your guesses and you labeled me a traitor?"

After Zhang San said this, everyone felt that it made sense and their eyes were once again focused on Liu Sheng.

Liu Sheng sneered and said, "Of course there is more to it than that. The most important thing is the wooden box that the teacher mentioned."

"Teacher is far away in the capital, why did he specifically ask me to take the wooden box with me? Teacher once told me that this wooden box is very important to him, so I kept it in the Western Regions to prevent it from being lost."

Zhang San argued again, "Since it was the boss who mentioned it, there must be something important in the wooden box. Why do you, Liu Sheng, make such a presumptuous guess?"

Liu Sheng laughed and said, "The teacher gave me the wooden box to keep. There is nothing important in it. It is just a piece of rag. It is probably a thought that the teacher had in the past."

"You said that the teacher requested in the document that 30 shi of such important crops be transferred over, and at the same time hinted to me that the wooden box must be delivered first and not with the crops."

"Isn't the meaning of this obvious enough?"

As soon as Liu Sheng said this, the crowd was in an uproar.

The current situation is almost very clear.

It was obvious that the boss had encountered a crisis in the capital, and he was even willing to expose the existence of crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn in order to save his life.

When the boss was writing the document, there must be someone watching him closely, so he could only use the wooden box to hint at his situation.

The crowd surged and cursed at Zhang Sanda.

A sturdy man who was holding Zhang San down next to him, with his face full of trembling flesh, was so angry that he kicked Zhang San hard on the back and knocked him to the ground.

At the same time, he spat and cursed, "Zhang San, you are so good, your name was given by the boss, how can you be so righteous to the boss, you are such a ruthless person, I thought you were reliable, I was really blind."

As the sturdy man started to take action, the crowd could no longer hold back and started beating Zhang San up, not even giving him a chance to argue.

In just a few breaths, Zhang San was beaten up and even had blood coming out of the corner of his mouth.

"Okay, don't beat him to death yet. We still need to interrogate him about the teacher's situation." Liu Sheng ordered.

Only then did everyone stop and tie Zhang San up tightly.

Zhang San's throat rolled and he wanted to explain himself, but after thinking for a long time, he still didn't know how to express himself.

After all, he was just a personal guard and a military man, and he wasn't very good at speaking.

"Hey, what is this?"

Just as Zhang San was tied up and dragged away, the middle-aged man who was Zhu Ying's disciple before, looked through the bag that Zhang San brought with him.

See if there is any evidence.

I happened to see a blank post station document.

This document has already been stamped with a great seal, so you just need to fill in your name before using it.

"this..."

Liu Sheng heard the sound, walked over and saw it, and stopped for a moment.

Then he took the pass and examined it carefully. In Zhang San's bag, there was another copy.

On one document, there was even a stamp of "Express Delivery from Six Hundred Miles Away".

“Stop!”

Liu Sheng and the middle-aged man looked at each other, and then shouted loudly, and the people who tied up Zhang San stopped when they heard the shout.

Liu Sheng took the document and walked up to Zhang San and asked, "How did you get this document?"

Zhang San said weakly, "This is what my boss gave me. There are two copies. The one that is 600 miles away is the one my boss asked me to send to the post station and have it delivered to the capital quickly."

"There is another one, which is for sweet potatoes and other crops, prepared for the post station."

Hearing this, Liu Sheng paused.

He found that he seemed to have misunderstood something.

He was just a little confused, and after hesitating for a moment, he said, "Untie Zhang San and let the doctor check and apply the medicine."

Then he said, "Where is Li Xiucai? Ask him to come and see me immediately."

Liu Sheng's words seemed to make everyone understand that there might be a misunderstanding about Zhang San.

Several strong men quickly carried Zhang San over for treatment, while the others went to find Li Xiucai.

"Big Brother, maybe this really is the teacher's instruction." The middle-aged man came over and said with a frown.

Liu Sheng replied: "It's really strange. A few days ago, I just received news that there might be a traitor in the desert. Now Zhang San has brought such a strange order. It's hard for me to believe it."

"Let Li Xiucai take a look. He understands the Ming Dynasty system and should have some understanding of it."

The middle-aged man nodded in agreement.

The teacher has worked so hard to build up such power, and it would not be too much for him to be more cautious when he suddenly receives such an order.

…

In the courtyard, Zhu Yuanzhang read the article written by Zhu Ying on the white paper twice before stopping.

After stopping, Zhu Yuanzhang fell into deep thought.

After a long while, he asked Zhu Ying, "Grandson, how did you come up with this idea?"

Zhu Ying had anticipated the old man's questions.

Then it's time to perform.

"Grandpa, you know that your grandson is lazy. While reviewing the memorials, he was thinking about a problem."

"Why do I have to review so many memorials every day? In my grandson's opinion, many of the matters in these memorials are just trivial matters that an ordinary minister can handle properly."

"My grandson also understands that memorials represent power. If memorials are handed over to others to handle, it is equivalent to the power being dispersed."

"It seems that there is no way to have the best of both worlds. So my grandson considered from another angle, where did the original power of our Ming Dynasty come from?"

"Are they civil officials? No, they should be military generals. The establishment of the Ming Empire is not something that can be done by a few literati reciting poems and writing couplets. If we want the Ming Empire to prosper and last for thousands of years, it will last for thousands of years."

"The key lies in the strength of the soldiers. In other words, the power itself lies in the military power in one's hands."

"No matter how great the power held by civil officials is, it is still illusory, like a castle in the air, and can be taken back at any time."

"Hence, my grandson set his sights on military power."

"How to better control the military power, or even hold it firmly in your hands, is the key to the problem."

Zhu Yuanzhang listened quietly, and then took over Zhu Ying's words and said: "So the separation of military and politics of Da Sun is to make the soldiers more pure, not to participate in internal affairs, and thus control them."

Zhu Ying nodded and smiled, "Grandpa is really amazing, he hit the nail on the head."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "I have led the army for so many years. Although I am not as smart as you, how can I not understand it after seeing it like this?"

After finishing speaking, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Ying and sighed, "I never thought that you, my great grandson, would have such a deep understanding of the military. Do you know how much change this will bring to my Ming Dynasty if this method succeeds?"

"My grandson doesn't know." Zhu Ying replied.

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Zhu Ying, knowing that he was flattering him, and then said:

"I have lived for most of my life and have never thought about this. If it is completed according to your grandson's idea, the Ming Dynasty will usher in earth-shaking changes."

"From now on, successive emperors no longer have to worry about civil officials having too much power, nor do they have to be bogged down in the tedious daily review of memorials like us."

"In the true sense, the Holy Emperor has achieved the rule of the world."

After finishing speaking, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Ying deeply. He really wanted to open his eldest grandson's head and take a good look at what kind of person he was who could have such a wonderful idea.