Xu Miaoqing was magnanimous; she was used to her husband's disappearances.

Her husband was either resting with other concubines or with the retired emperor, so there was nothing new about it. Besides, her chubby son was right there in front of her; holding her plump, chubby son made Xu Miaoqing feel very at ease.

Sitting cross-legged on the couch, Old Zhu chuckled as he read the memorials, adding with a hint of teasing, "I'm the retired emperor now, and you, the new emperor, are so powerful. If you hadn't shown me these memorials, I wouldn't have been able to see them!"

“That’s right. When I was the Crown Prince, if I had hidden the memorials, you wouldn’t have known.” Zhu Yunying said while looking at the memorials. “But speaking of which, although I am the emperor now, just like the Crown Prince, I still need you to review the memorials after I’ve finished reviewing them.”

Old Zhu looked up, his tone inexplicably cautious, "Ying'er, we're just afraid of you..."

“Grandpa, there’s no need for such formalities between us,” Zhu Yunying quickly said to his grandfather. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. If you really abandon me, I won’t feel at ease. Either wait five or six years until I can take control of the government, or you’ll really get senile. Otherwise, I’ll definitely have to help you.”

Old Zhu smiled and nodded, then asked, "What are you planning to do about your fourth uncle's matter?"

“Establishing a state is fine. Have Fourth Uncle send over the official letter.” Zhu Yunying said with a smile, “We’ll consider ourselves acknowledging this vassal state. Everything will be done according to the court’s system. That should be about right, right?”

Old Zhu nodded, then said, "Your fourth uncle said he wants to relocate people?"

“Our Ming Dynasty doesn’t have enough people, so it would be difficult to relocate them to Japan,” Zhu Yunying said with some difficulty. “But we really should relocate some people to Japan. Otherwise, if everyone is Japanese, Uncle Si won’t have any reliable people.”

This is only natural; without some subjects of the Ming Dynasty, it would be difficult for Zhu Di to govern effectively.

Old Zhu sighed and said, "We have established a foundation and are currently governing. However, they are still barbarians. It will probably take your fourth uncle and your brothers a hundred years to win the hearts of the people."

It might still be quite difficult. Although the shogunate existed there for many years, with the shoguns in power, the imperial lineage there has always been orderly and unbroken, and the people there highly approve of this.

Therefore, Zhu Di needed to expend a great deal of effort to win back the hearts of the people. After all, to the people of Japan, Zhu Di and the Ming Dynasty were foreign powers. Gaining their acceptance of Zhu Di was not an easy task.

“We were thinking of giving Fourth Uncle a letter of state and a gold seal. We also have troops stationed at the silver mine, so we can come to his aid at any time,” Zhu Yunying said with a smile to Old Zhu. “Actually, we have won against the Tartars this time, so the north is temporarily safe. As for Goryeo, I am also preparing to take it over.”

Old Zhu immediately perked up and said, "Good, those areas were originally the four commanderies of Han, and we can enfeoff two or three vassal states there. If they are connected, we can send out multiple armies at once if those Tartars want to go south. Your fourth uncle's side can also rely on each other."

Zhu Yunying shared the same idea, saying, "In this way, our north will be at peace. In the future, my grandson can manage the northwest, and we should take back the Western Regions. We also need to keep fighting and occupy the South Seas."

After thinking for a moment, Zhu asked what was on his mind, "Ying'er, our Ming Dynasty is big enough now. We can't even settle our own people. Having so much land is not necessarily a good thing. Even if we were to send your uncle to establish a vassal state, it wouldn't be like this."

"Grandfather, what I'm thinking about is that our army must always have a place to fight." Zhu Yunying began, sharing some of his thoughts. "Peace throughout the land is naturally a good thing, but our Ming Dynasty is strong enough that fighting some small battles is not a problem, and it won't put too much burden on the national treasury or the people. The most important thing is to keep fighting, so that our army will have combat power. Furthermore, the military merit system cannot be interrupted."

Seeing that Zhu Yunying was listening attentively, Zhu Yunying said, "Throughout history, at the beginning of a dynasty, military officials were always powerful and civil officials were weak. However, civil officials rise to power too quickly, and once they gain influence, it is difficult to suppress them. Our Five Military Commissions should always have military officials in charge."

This was also a headache for Zhu Yuanzhang. During the Grand General's Office period, generals like Xu Da and Li Wenzhong were in charge. Even after the Grand General's Office was changed to the Five Military Commands Office, it was still initially staffed by a large number of dukes and marquises, all of whom were founding heroes and seasoned veterans of the battlefield, making them incredibly powerful.

However, in recent years, a large number of veterans have either died or grown old, and it is indeed noticeable that the prestige of the Five Military Commands has declined. Those in high positions have begun to be somewhat "forced into their posts," or some are simply second-generation officials without much battlefield merit, making them less convincing.

These are things that naturally require attention, and Zhu Yunying indeed hoped that the Five Military Commands would maintain their strength. This base of nobles must remain sufficiently vibrant in order to better maintain a balance with the civil officials.

After thinking for a moment, Zhu Yunying continued, "I also plan to allocate the Ministry of War to it, and let the military merits take over from now on."

"The Ministry of War?" Old Zhu frowned slightly and quickly reminded her, "Ying'er, the Ministry of War and the Governor's Office are mutually restraining. If the nobles take over the Ministry of War, then no one will be able to control them in the future. No, we won't allow you to give the Ministry of War to the military nobility."

What Zhu Yuanzhang said is indeed true. The current Five Military Commands hold supreme power over all military forces in the country. Even with the Ministry of War, the Five Military Commands are actually the main body, with checks and balances between the two. Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang initially used civil officials to serve in the Five Military Commands to achieve his goal of directly controlling military power.

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