After arriving at Jeju Island, the army could no longer continue and could only stay and rest.

The seemingly mighty army of 500,000 actually has its own difficulties, as 80% of them are landlubbers.

They can’t even swim, and most of them have a fear of the deep sea, which makes them particularly uncomfortable in water fights.

The remaining 20% ​​were all from the former Ming Dynasty navy, so they were naturally very familiar with them.

"General, let's think of a solution. Otherwise, we may suffer heavy losses when conquering Kyushu Island."

In the inner city of Jeju Island, Zhu Di said in a deep voice.

Zhu Gang did not oppose this suggestion this time because the soldiers under his command were in an even worse situation.

Apart from the Ming Navy, the only exception was the 5,000 fire gun soldiers led by the Xuanjia Guards.

Zhu Yu was somewhat unhappy: "I heard that there are many islands above the Japanese country. Even if we land there, a naval battle is inevitable."

In Zhu Gui's imagination, he should lead the cavalry to sweep across Japan. However, after the journey from Shanghai to Jeju Island, Zhu Gui realized that this expedition against Japan would be much more troublesome than he had imagined.

Feng Sheng pondered for a while and then said:

"We can't stay in Jeju Island for long. The more than 200,000 people on the island can't support our army."

"The current food and grass are only enough for three months. We must capture enough territory on Kyushu Island in Japan during this period to ensure food for the soldiers."

"In this way, we should first send a navy to Goryeo. Now Goryeo's national teacher Daoyan is also attacking Japan. Let's discuss a date and attack together to make the Japanese army in Kyushu Island exhausted."

"During this period of waiting, we should train the soldiers in basic water skills, so that they will not get seasick."

"Everyone living on Jeju Island is proficient in water. Let them teach our soldiers."

"Also, I was entrusted by your majesty and the Crown Prince to serve as the general in this expedition against Japan. I have no other requests. I only hope that you can obey military orders and not bully the people of Jeju Island."

"Jeju Island is our rear base. Anything wrong with it will be a huge problem."

Feng Sheng said very seriously.

He was really worried about the three princes, no, or should I say princes, in front of him.

Your Majesty appointed him as the general, to put it bluntly, just to let him take the blame.

If he wins, the three princes will establish fiefdoms in Japan, and he can escape unscathed.

If they lose, most of the responsibility will fall on him, and his life will be difficult.

To be honest, none of the three princes are easy to get along with.

We just entered Jeju Island yesterday, and last night my subordinates came to report that the prince's personal troops were killing innocent people and even looting.

As for which prince it was, Feng Sheng stopped his subordinates from investigating further. If the matter was really exposed, it would not be good for anyone.

In fact, there is no need to guess, the most likely person is Prince of Qi Zhu Yu.

Prince of Yan Zhu Di had a high opinion of himself and strict military discipline, so he would not allow such a thing to happen the day before.

Although Jin Wang Zhu Gang was also a rather tyrannical person who did not take the common people seriously, after his experience with the Crown Prince, he would not take the initiative to rob the common people.

Only Prince of Qi, Zhu Gui, had a bad temper and was arrogant. He was proud of his military strategy, and after leaving the territory of the Ming Dynasty, he became unscrupulous.

It was only because of the pressure from his two elder brothers, Zhu Di and Zhu Gang, that he was able to restrain himself.

Feng Sheng was originally a duke. Since the founding of the Hongwu Dynasty, he had made great military achievements and won the most victories.

For Zhu Di, Zhu Gang and Zhu Gui, military merit is the most important thing. Even the three princes had to take Feng Sheng's words seriously.

Especially when talking about the relations within Jeju Island, Feng Sheng's eyes were fixed on Zhu Gui, which made Zhu Gui understand that what his subordinates had done last night had been known.

After the meeting, Feng Sheng's brows did not relax.

Because he knew that among the three, the only one who had made considerable achievements in domestic affairs was Prince of Yan Zhu Di.

But he doesn't want to use it.

Once the internal affairs of Jeju are handed over to Prince Yan, there is a 100% chance that he will fail.

It goes without saying that Prince of Jin Zhu Gang will definitely not consider the overall situation and will directly take action in secret.

"Ask the magistrate of Jeju to come and see me."

After Feng Sheng pondered for a while, he gave instructions to his adjutant.

As a general, he naturally does not have too much energy to take care of internal affairs. If the three princes are not able to do it, then he can only turn to local officials.

Jeju Island belongs to the county of Goryeo, and the local chief here is naturally the county magistrate.

Not long after the adjutant arrived, he brought the local magistrate over.

When the magistrate saw Feng Sheng, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed: "An Qiming, the magistrate of Jeju, Goryeo, pays homage to the great general of the upper country."

An Qiming is in his fifties and looks relatively healthy, but he is in a state of constant fear.

"Don't worry. I, the general, represent the Ming Dynasty and will not do anything to the people of Jeju Island. But now you also know that Jeju Island is in a very critical position, so I came to talk to you."

Feng Sheng spoke kindly, his calm tone making people feel at ease.

An Qiming knelt on the ground and dared not get up: "Please ask the great general for instructions."

Feng Sheng frowned: "Stand up and talk."

Only then did An Qiming dare to stand up and nodded slightly, not daring to look directly at him, to show his respect.

"I heard that there was some unusual movement last night. It seems that the soldiers disturbed the people. County Magistrate An, please tell me in detail what happened."

An Qiming bowed quickly and said, "It was the common people who offended the majesty of the Heavenly Army. I have already severely reprimanded them."

Feng Sheng pretended to be angry and said, "How dare you, County Magistrate An, deceive this general. Tell me, what is the situation?"

Seeing the general of the upper country angry, An Qiming was so frightened that his knees weakened and he knelt on the ground again:

"General, I am innocent. The horse on the island was discovered by the Ming army. There may have been some misunderstandings during the tribute, which led to the conflict."

"I have already punished the herdsmen. Please, General, take a closer look."

pasture?

This is Feng Sheng’s first time to Jeju Island. In fact, even in the Ming Dynasty, he had not paid much attention to Jeju Island.

When Feng Sheng heard the word "ranch", he immediately became interested.

"Tell me about the ranch in detail." Feng Sheng asked.

An Qiming knew that now that the ranch had been discovered, there was no possibility of concealing anything, so he could only tell everything in detail.

It turns out that there is a large natural pasture in the eastern part of Jeju Island, where thousands of horses are raised. Due to the high quality of the pasture, a large number of tall and strong horses were bred, which only needed a little training to be used as war horses.

The army landed on Jeju Island from the northwest, so they naturally didn't know that there was a natural pasture on the east side.

This pasture is surrounded by mountains and is not close to the sea, so even if a ship passes by the eastern beach, it cannot be discovered.

Logically speaking, Feng Sheng had strict military discipline, and it was impossible for soldiers to run from the west to the east.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang's personal troops were as arrogant as the King of Qi.

I was thinking to myself that since the army was stationed in the west, it didn't matter what happened in the east.

So after a private discussion, dozens of riders headed directly eastward.

Naturally, the pasture and the horses in the east were discovered.

There were dozens of knights, all of them were strong and fully armored. Not to mention the herdsmen on Jeju Island, even the officers and soldiers had no chance of resistance.

In order to prevent the matter from being exposed, he raised the butcher knife.

However, it was a dark and windy night, so naturally some herdsmen hid there and then reported to the Jeju authorities.

Feng Sheng had never imagined that in such a remote place like Jeju Island, there would be a natural pasture and thousands of horses already raised there.

At this moment, Feng Sheng suddenly remembered what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said.

'Every piece of land in this world has its uses, but its value has not been discovered yet.'

The Ming Dynasty was short of horses, especially war horses.

Every pasture is a very important strategic resource for the Ming Dynasty.

Feng Sheng did not ask about what happened last night, but instead asked, "Is Magistrate An a Korean or has he always lived in Jeju Island?"

An Qiming did not hesitate: "Reporting to the general, I was born in Jeju Island, and then went to the capital of Goryeo to study for several years, and then I was appointed as the magistrate of Jeju Island."

Feng Sheng nodded with satisfaction, and then carefully asked An Qiming about some matters concerning raising horses on the ranch.

When he had asked almost all the questions, he was allowed to leave.

Taking out pen and ink, Feng Sheng immediately wrote down the situation of the ranch here on paper.

According to the careful questioning just now, Feng Sheng has estimated that the size of the ranch is over one million acres.

What is the concept of a million-acre ranch?

Currently, Guanshan Ranch, the most important horse-breeding area in Ming Dynasty, covers an area of ​​one million acres and provides nearly 80% of the war horse output of Ming Dynasty.

Now the ranches on Jeju Island are only likely to be larger than the Guanshan Ranch.

So now the strategic significance of Jeju Island is very important.

With this occupation, it is simply the second horse-breeding land of the Ming Dynasty.

By simply bringing in people with complete horse-breeding technology and horse trainers, the Ming Dynasty's war horse production could be doubled.

The biggest reason why the Mongols were so powerful in the early days was that they had enough war horses.

Even though we now have firearms, cavalry is still of the utmost importance.

The rapid mobility is something that infantry simply cannot match.

Even if it cannot be trained as a warhorse, it can be used to accumulate power.

Moreover, whether it is a war horse or a slow horse, it has a very high value in itself, and a war horse is worth hundreds of coins.

Feng Sheng knew that this was a great opportunity for him. He only needed to report the situation of the ranch and His Majesty would definitely take it seriously.

The most important thing is that I can save my life by virtue of this achievement.

…

Ever since Zhu Yuanzhang proposed the idea of ​​selecting scholars separately from the north and the south, it has caused a lot of controversy in the court.

In the eyes of southern officials, passing imperial examinations should be based on one's own ability, and there is no need to differentiate between people in the north and south.

Now that the rankings are divided into the north and the south, the number of selections is the same, which means that the northern scholars have an advantage.

Even though the number one scholar was chosen by His Majesty, he still felt at a disadvantage.

It can be seen from the regions that have held imperial examinations many times that the majority of southern scholars passed the examinations, while only a small number of northern scholars made the list.

However, it is obvious that Zhu Yuanzhang had already made a decision on this matter. Besides, it is fair to increase the number of places.

However, the subsequent official evaluation system immediately silenced the entire court.

Many people want to speak but dare not.

Because this time, they were unable to come up with a strong rebuttal.

Those with outstanding political achievements are given priority in selection for positions, and there is little reason to object to this.

You can't say it, or you think it's better to have recommendations based on relationships?

Wouldn't that be like shooting oneself in the foot?

And everyone knows that when His Majesty brought this matter to the court for discussion, he had actually already made up his mind.

If that fool comes out to oppose, it will be hard to say whether the future life will be easy or whether there will be any life at all.

When the third thing, the rules for officials' retirement, was announced, the whole court became as lively as if a boiling pot.

Retire at sixty?

According to the rank of retirees, the minimum monthly subsidy is five strings of cash?

When this plan came out, some people were willing to accept it and some were not.

Those who are willing are mainly older officials, some of whom are no longer able to work.

It is the older officials who are unwilling to do so, because they do not want to give up the power in their hands, and they also feel that their health is still good and they can continue to work for a few more years.

It would be more accurate to say that it was a notification from His Majesty rather than a discussion at a court meeting.

Whether officials opposed or agreed didn’t mean much to Zhu Yuanzhang.

In fact, the vast majority of officials in Beijing still agree with the retirement regulations.

Because this is the emperor's home, the strict surveillance of the Embroidered Uniform Guards makes it impossible for them to commit corruption and abuse of power.

In addition, His Majesty is a very hardworking person, and he encourages everyone to work hard as well. Those who are a little older feel a lot of pressure and find it hard to bear.

Retirement is actually a relief for them.

According to the retirement regulations promulgated by Your Majesty, it does not mean that one will completely lose his status after retirement. He or she is still qualified to submit memorials.

While the court officials were discussing, in a corner of the Fengtian Hall, there were several literati recording the court proceedings.

They were specially approved to attend court meetings and held no official positions. They were mainly responsible for recording major events.

They are the editors of the Beijing Gazette.

Two days later, the three major events in the court were published in the official gazette and distributed.

For the common people in the capital today, the most important thing to do during their free time every day is to go to the teahouse and listen to the court bulletins.

In less than a month, almost all the people had developed this habit.

In the capital, thousands of teahouses opened for business in less than a month.

The main focus is on narration in official reports.

When a trend emerges, it becomes big business for most merchants.

There are more and more people working as storytellers.

"Speaking of which, what is the purpose of this official retirement rule?"

"It's to make way for the young officials behind us."

"We cannot look at the three major events in today's newspaper separately, but must read them together to understand His Majesty's meaning."

"The selection of candidates is divided into the north and south, promotion is given priority based on political achievements, and retirement is allowed at the age of 60. By analyzing these three things in succession, we can understand the thoughts of His Majesty."

"This is to make the Ming Dynasty's administration clean and honest, eliminate those who engage in corruption and bribery, and allow older officials to enjoy their old age."