Old Zhu was naturally extremely satisfied with this shrewd and farsighted grandson.

He conquered the country, and now the Ming Dynasty is growing stronger and stronger. Zhu Yuanzhang's crown prince is also an excellent heir apparent, managing state affairs in an orderly manner, with civil and military officials all obedient to him. He will surely become an accomplished and wise ruler.

Now that he has a grandson who appears to be very ambitious, visionary, and also kind and shrewd, Old Zhu is even more proud.

If these three generations of wise rulers do well, the foundation of the Ming Dynasty will be incredibly solid, and its rule may even last much longer. It is said that the people's hearts belonged to the Han Dynasty, and perhaps in the future they will belong to the Ming Dynasty, because three generations of wise rulers can lay an incredibly solid foundation for a prosperous dynasty.

As for Xiao Zhu's ideas, they sometimes leave Lao Zhu and Da Zhu speechless. Some of them think Xiao Zhu makes sense, while others feel that Xiao Zhu is still too young and needs to continue to train and learn so that he can gain more knowledge and make progress.

Old Zhu was in a good mood, so he naturally left some things to Zhu Xiong Ying.

In the early years when they were in Yingtian Prefecture, many government affairs were first reviewed and handled by the Crown Prince, who made most of the decisions. As for the remaining matters, or more important issues, Zhu Yuanzhang (the future Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang) would handle them himself.

Nowadays, it can be done this way: many things are first reviewed and dealt with by the Crown Prince before being sent to him.

However, considering the Crown Prince's age and limited experience in handling state affairs, it's fine to let him handle things first, but all matters still need to be sent to Emperor Zhu for his review. If they are satisfactory, he can issue an imperial edict or something similar.

If there's anything wrong with it, and it's harmless, then he'll send it out. Old Zhu allows his grandson to make minor mistakes; he can fix them. But if it's something more serious, Old Zhu will correct it himself and then talk to his grandson privately about it, pointing out the shortcomings.

This isn't laziness; it's simply that Old Zhu wants to give his children and grandchildren a chance to learn and grow.

"Grandfather, I did not interfere in local affairs when I was in Beiping," Zhu Xiong Ying said, looking at the memorial. "Such inquiries about Grandfather's health, should I just approve 'I am well'?"

Old Zhu nodded, sipping his tea, and said, "Alright, let's see which people submitted the memorials."

Zhu Xiong Ying couldn't help but chuckle; he knew Old Zhu's personality all too well. The reason he remembered these people's names was to gauge their relationship with them; those close were fine, but those more distant, or those in important positions who had submitted memorials specifically about these matters, would inevitably be noted down in his little notebook.

As Zhu Xiong Ying reviewed the memorials, he said, "These people are only writing about trivial matters. The monk has passed away, and the local fruits taste good. Of all the memorials I've read, only the one from the Zhejiang Provincial Administration Commission is somewhat reliable. It mentioned some things about favorable weather conditions."

Old Zhu immediately scoffed and said, "We've seen his memorials. They're sent over every few days, and they're always the same."

Zhu Xiong Ying was speechless. He had initially thought this was a decent official and had even discussed some serious matters. But the result was quite different; the same memorial was submitted repeatedly, with only a few words changed at most.

In fact, Zhu Xiong Ying had read many memorials, most of which concerned trivial matters. These were mostly sycophantic and attention-seeking memorials. Those containing truly important matters were actually quite few.

As Zhu Xiong Ying reviewed the memorials, he said, "Grandfather, there are too many political affairs to handle these days. You are diligent, but there are simply too many matters to attend to. How about forming a cabinet to provide advisors?"

Before Zhu Xiong Ying could finish speaking, Old Zhu interrupted, "Don't mention this again. What kind of cabinet are you talking about? Today you grant him the power of consultation, tomorrow he can approve memorials and review government affairs. Ying'er, this is not good!"

In fact, after Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the position of prime minister, the emperor directly controlled the administration of the Six Ministries and other government departments, effectively making him the prime minister. A few years earlier, Zhu Yuanzhang had also created the Four Grand Secretaries system, but it was quickly abolished. Now there is the Grand Secretary of the Wenhua Hall, but he is merely an advisor to the crown prince.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who controlled all political affairs, didn't want any assistants. He didn't trust anyone other than his eldest son and his younger son. In Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, only he and his family could handle political matters; no one else was allowed to.

Zhu Xiong Ying was not surprised at all by Old Zhu's attitude. The workaholic Old Zhu also hoped that his children and grandchildren would be just as diligent in their duties.

Watching Zhu Xiong Ying review the memorials, Old Zhu was quite satisfied. Most of the memorials were fine; the main problem was that the memorials from civil and military officials were rather uninformative.

Zhu Xiong Ying felt somewhat angry; this trend needed to be curbed. "Grandfather, such memorials should be rectified in the future. Submitting memorials about trivial matters is utterly outrageous. Writing a magnificent article without addressing any real issues is also a offense!"

“That’s the way to do it. We’ll talk to your father about it later.” Old Zhu said with a smile, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. “These scholars are too cunning. If it weren’t for the sharpness of our swords, they would be even more troublesome!”

Zhu Xiong Ying nodded, and then said, "The military merits of our Great Ming are also important. We cannot allow the civil official group to become too powerful, nor can the military merits become too dominant. The best approach is to maintain a balance and check between the two."

Old Zhu was very satisfied with Zhu Xiong Ying's attitude. He did not want his civil and military officials to have the same voice, nor did he want the military officials to suppress the civil officials, nor did he want the civil officials to make the military officials feel suffocated. There should be a proper balance.

In fact, both Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Yuanzhang were well aware that although there were many voices in the court that felt the Crown Prince was fond of military affairs and close to the nobility, it was just an illusion. Both Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Yuanzhang knew that it was only because of the Crown Prince's birth that he seemed to be naturally close to the military, and after all, only a little over twenty years had passed, and the relationship between the royal family and the military was still close.

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