"The Ministry of Works is spending money way too much. The more I think about it, the more I want to slap myself in the face." Zhu Yunying poured a cup of wine and complained to Old Zhu, "We are incredibly generous. We promised many craftsmen the ninth and eighth ranks, and some professors even the eighth rank. We give them salaries, but they still keep spending our money."

Old Zhu immediately got excited and urged, "Then you should follow our household registration system and classify the craftsmen as lowly as well."

The social hierarchy of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants existed in every dynasty, and there was always a certain social hierarchy. During the Yuan Dynasty, in order to equalize taxes and corvée labor, the government implemented a system of dividing households into three classes—upper, middle, and lower—based on their assets, with each class further divided into three grades: "three classes and nine grades."

The Ming Dynasty also inherited this policy; in terms of population management system, it drew on the Yuan Dynasty's system of various household registrations, dividing people into different types of households such as civilian households, artisan households, and military households according to their occupation or type of service. Once registered, the registration was inherited for generations and was difficult to change.

Of course, this was also to keep track of the exact number of people in the country. The household registration system, the annual household registration system, the yellow register system, and the village system were all very effective ways to truly control the people of the country.

Commoners and military households are one thing, but artisan households were originally considered the lowest social class. Although the status of artisan households has not generally improved now, there is indeed some hope for the future.

In fact, Zhu Yunying was also very clear that only some master craftsmen and artisans from the Ministry of Works Academy could be considered to have status and official positions.

Old Zhu looked down on merchants, one could say with jealous contempt. But like many feudal old-fashioned people, Old Zhu also looked down on artisans, and his suppression of them was continuous.

If it weren't for Zhu Yunying's strong argument in his early years, or if Zhu Yunying's experiment was only on a small scale, Old Zhu would have been able to reluctantly accept it.

Zhu Yunying was naturally aware of Zhu's little schemes. However, although he respected Zhu, he did not blindly follow some of Zhu's rules, and in fact, he made many changes to them over the years.

It wasn't a complete rejection or a total subversion, not just because once Zhu Yunying became stubborn, Zhu Yunying couldn't do anything about it.

Furthermore, Zhu Yunying also understood that some of the so-called advanced systems of later generations were not necessarily applicable in the Ming Dynasty.

The Ministry of Engineering could afford to spend money, and Zhu Yunying had no choice but to accept it; working in technology and research was never an easy task. A considerable amount of money had indeed been spent, but Zhu Yunying had also reaped some benefits.

Even though some benefits might not seem particularly obvious, and some people might not have seen the hidden advantages, Zhu Yunying persisted, insisting that the Engineering Academy must continue.

Old Zhu was at his wit's end. He was a stubborn man, and his grandson was just as stubborn. It was all in the same vein; you couldn't deny the family's genes.

Remembering something, Old Zhu asked with a hint of concern, "You summoned Jiujiang to the palace. What's the matter? I'm not trying to criticize you, but you're fine as emperor. It's just that you need to be more careful with military matters. We can still keep an eye on things for you now, but once we're gone, this good thing will be over."

Zhu Yunying was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say. This was probably because his military talents had been repeatedly rejected by Zhu Yuanzhang, who labeled him as having no military talent.

"It's still about the Martial Arts Academy," Zhu Yunying said with a smile, explaining, "Your grandson is self-aware enough to know that he's no good at leading troops, so he can only plan for the bigger picture."

Old Zhu was quite proud and said with a smile, "That's true. Our Ying'er can't lead the army in person, otherwise we would probably suffer heavy losses. But if our grandson were to focus on being an emperor and planning the overall situation, he would surely achieve a great victory. Your vision is something we can't keep up with for a long time."

Zhu Yunying smiled and said to Old Zhu, "We're having my cousin Jiujiang make preparations. Right now, Goryeo is at war. The world has been at peace for too long, so military preparedness is bound to become lax, and the generals are probably only good at theoretical discussions. The founding generals are either dead or too old now, so our idea is to send someone to gain experience."

Old Zhu naturally understood Zhu Yunying's meaning; 'changing generals on the eve of battle' was naturally taboo. However, the Ming Dynasty would not replace some of its main generals at this time, but would send mid- to high-ranking generals to the Goryeo battlefield for experience.

Only by seeing blood and fighting can one truly grow and ensure that there are always generals in the court, so that there is no need to worry about a lack of successors.

Old Zhu agreed with this approach, saying, "That's right, surround Kaesong. We shouldn't use troops this winter; we should just be wary of a Goryeo counterattack. Stabilizing the situation during this period is better than anything else."

Zhu Yunying was still very confident, which was because he had a solid foundation. "Grandfather, our Great Ming will not launch an attack in winter. However, if the Goryeo people think of retaliating, we don't mind giving them another lesson."

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed as well. He was very confident in the strength of the Ming Dynasty and didn't need to worry about anything.

His army once unified the country from south to north, something that had never happened before in any dynasty. Even though the earliest batch of veterans had grown old, there had been constant battles, large and small, over the years, and the Ming Dynasty could not afford to let its troops graze freely.

Furthermore, Zhu Yuanzhang was well aware that the Ming Dynasty not only had many skilled and courageous soldiers, but also possessed formidable military equipment and other advanced weaponry.

As an expert in firearms, Old Zhu had to admit that his beloved grandson seemed to value firearms more and was more knowledgeable about them.

Old Zhu knew the value of the constantly improved artillery, muskets, strange grenades, and improved gunpowder over the years. If he had possessed such firearms back then, he would have unified the world long ago. Even his once invincible army would be overwhelmed by modern firearms.

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