"Master Zhan, what do you mean by His Majesty's words? Does it mean that all officials to be transferred in the future must have two years of experience?"

"This makes it difficult for our Ministry of Personnel to carry out its work."

In the lobby of the Ministry of Personnel, the left and right vice ministers and Zhan Hui were discussing the new rules set by His Majesty for the morning court session.

The rules have been set, but it is their job to enforce the regulations. It is impossible for them to consult His Majesty about everything. They can only guess His Majesty's wishes and do things accordingly.

Zhan Hui did not rush to answer. He took a sip from the teacup and then said slowly, "This matter seems to be the intention of His Majesty, but in fact, it is the intention of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"Your Highness the Crown Prince has wanted to reform the Ming Dynasty's official system for a long time. He proposed a method once before, but under the circumstances at the time, His Majesty did not agree to all of it, and only made partial changes."

"You have all seen the results now. I believe that Your Highness's idea is to focus on the assessment."

The Ministry of Personnel's greatest power is to control the promotion, transfer, and assessment of officials.

However, the Ministry of Personnel was also the department that Zhu Yuanzhang attached the most importance to. Since Zhan Hui had been serving as the Minister of Personnel, he was naturally a minister that Zhu Yuanzhang could trust.

And Zhan Hui was indeed loyal and did not show any signs of forming a clique for personal gain.

When it comes to guessing the emperor's intentions, he has his own ideas.

When the left and right assistant ministers under his command heard this, they suddenly understood.

Pu Xiang, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, asked, "Sir, do you think that the assessments we set in the future should be more stringent?"

Zhan Hui shook his head and said, "It's not a strict problem. I think it's because His Royal Highness is dissatisfied with the imperial examination system and rejects the officials who recommended him."

"Although the scholars who passed the imperial examinations knew the Four Books and Five Classics, everyone knew that they only knew the Four Books and Five Classics. When it came to doing things, they relied on the clerks to do it."

"To be honest, although I passed the examination and became a scholar, I actually learned the skills of being an official from my father."

"Don't forget that His Royal Highness is completely different from other people. In the early days, His Royal Highness had been dealing with those small countries in the Western Regions, including officials from our Ming Dynasty, and he was good at smooth business."

"Your Majesty also rose from the bottom, but fighting a war is different from doing business, so Your Highness is very clear about the shortcomings of officials."

Zhan Hui's words deeply shocked the left and right assistant ministers.

I didn't expect that without realizing it, Minister Zhan had already had such a deep understanding of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. He really deserves to be a popular figure in His Majesty's eyes.

The left and right assistant ministers, who understood the emperor's intention, went back and summoned their subordinate officials to begin to seriously arrange the reform of the assessment for His Majesty.

At present, those who have suffered the greatest impact are naturally the newly-appointed Jinshi.

This also means that from now on, no matter whether they are officials who have passed the imperial examination or have been recommended for official appointment, they will no longer be allowed to directly become candidate officials.

According to the current situation, all candidate officials must begin to be classified.

This means that apart from the top Shangshu and Shilang in the six ministries who may be transferred according to the emperor's decree, the officials below are likely to work in a relatively professional manner.

That is to say, once you enter the Ministry of Industry, you will most likely stay there forever.

Once you enter the Ministry of Revenue, you will stay there for a long time.

Transfers across departments will be reduced.

…

On the grassland, the weather in October is already extremely cold.

In the absence of food and grass, they had no choice but to attack the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

However, a large number of soldiers had already been stockpiled in the Liaodong border area, so it was not something they could just attack at will.

At present, the Ming Dynasty has sufficient food. For example, important cities on the border basically have food reserves of more than six months. There is no point in a siege at all.

After the summer grain harvest, the surrounding people basically all moved into the city, which made the food and fodder available to the grassland cavalry even scarcer.

Northern Yuan Dynasty court.

Elbek, who was 33 years old this year, finally inherited the position of Khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Elbek was born in Yuan Dadu. Like all the expelled Mongolian subjects, he always wanted to return to the Central Plains to become the king again.

The only problem facing them now is how to deal with the situation in the Liaodong Plain.

The grassland now has long been covered with ice and snow, and it is white everywhere.

Inside the big tent, the fat of the roasted lamb sizzled on the fire, and the spices gave off an enticing aroma. The eunuchs in formal attire cut off the most delicious piece with a knife, and then placed it on a porcelain plate as a tribute to the Khan.

Elbek picked up the silver chopsticks, picked up the cut meat and put it into his mouth.

Unlike most Mongolians today, today's Mongolian nobles are almost all former subjects of the Yuan Dynasty. After all, when the Northern Yuan Dynasty collapsed with the remnants of the Ming Dynasty, they were a generation that grew up in the Central Plains, even if they were not assimilated to the Han culture.

Some habits and etiquette were naturally influenced by the Central Plains, and since Mongolian culture was weak, it was natural for it to imitate it in many aspects.

Grabbing meat with hands is something that only middle and lower class Mongolians would do.

Long before the Yuan Dynasty, there were a large number of Mongolian merchants transporting rice, flour and tea between the Song and Jin Dynasties. At that time, the Mongols in the south of the desert already had the habit of eating rice and using chopsticks.

Of course, these habits, like the Chinese language, only exist among the upper aristocracy.

Now, naturally, all those in this Mongolian tent are nobles.

Even though he had been expelled from the Central Plains, he was still served by eunuchs. He chewed his food slowly with small bites, and his movements seemed quite elegant.

After all, he was born in Yuan Dadu, and it was Elbek's habit to observe royal etiquette.

"Great Khan, the Liaodong grassland is in chaos now. I think why not take this opportunity to recruit them all. Then our Northern Yuan will have tens of thousands more cavalry."

"When the time comes, the enemy will be able to open the border easily."

Hao Hai Dayu said respectfully while prostrating himself on the ground.

He was born in Wala and was the most favored by Elbek. He was always able to bring many new and interesting ways of playing to the Khan on this boring grassland.

The surrounding Mongolian ministers all looked unhappy when they saw this.

One of them even stood up and shouted, "Haohai Dayu, you lowly slave, how dare you instigate the Khan? It's winter now, even our soldiers are starving, and you still want to recruit more people."

"Are you going to give away all our food and let our people starve to death?"

Hearing the minister's reprimand, Elbek looked a little unhappy.

Especially when he saw Haohaidayu's aggrieved look, Elbek became even more furious.

No matter what, Hao Hai Dayu was the general appointed by himself. He should look at the owner before beating the dog. This was completely disrespectful to himself, the newly promoted big man.

He didn't say anything at the moment, but just winked at Haohaidayu.

Haohai Dayu immediately stood up and scolded the minister: "Under the great Khan's command, there are 100,000 cavalrymen. Which tribe on this grassland dares not to obey the Khan's majesty?"

"As long as you live on the grasslands of our Great Yuan, you are all our people. Why should we distinguish between you and me?"

"If there is not enough food, then go and rob the Han people. It doesn't matter if many people die. Only the strongest warriors can survive the test of Changshengtian and become the loyal warriors of the Khan."

After these words were spoken, the other Mongolian noble ministers didn't know how to respond.

Haohaidayu was appreciated by Elbek Khan, so naturally he was very good at speaking, and speaking was exactly what the Mongolians were least good at.

The Mongols excelled in whips and arrows, not in talking.

Elbek Khan was very satisfied, and immediately appointed a general to lead 30,000 cavalry to subdue all other tribes on the grassland, and then led these people to attack the border of the Ming Dynasty.

Although the Northern Yuan Dynasty was defeated by the Ming Dynasty.

However, after returning to the grassland, the Northern Yuan Dynasty still had a large number of cavalry. After all, on the grassland, as long as a man is a man, he can ride and use horsemanship.

Although they are called iron cavalry, they actually no longer meet the standards of cavalry during the Yuan Dynasty.

It is even said that many bows and arrows are homemade.

Thinking back to the Mongolian cavalry back then, everyone was wearing armor, and almost no one could resist them wherever they went.

The current strength of the Northern Yuan Dynasty is still very strong. At least in field combat, it is still in a world-leading position. Even the Ming Dynasty has no way to completely destroy the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Even the Oirat and the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, the other two overlords on the grassland, were very wary of the Northern Yuan Dynasty and did not dare to invade easily.

As the saying goes, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Even though the current situation of the Northern Yuan Dynasty is very bad, its armaments are still stronger than those tribes that have lived on the grassland for a long time.

Neither Zhu Yuanzhang nor Zhu Ying could do anything about the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Because the real Mongolian army was composed entirely of cavalry and was very mobile, it was very difficult to defeat them.

Even the Mongolian Great Tent had to move several times a year and had no fixed location at all.

In the Northern Yuan Dynasty, the infantry were all slaves, and they didn't care about how many people died.

The 100,000 cavalrymen were troops directly under Elbek Khan, many of whom were veterans from the Yuan Dynasty and were extremely powerful.

…

The military information about the grassland's invasion of the Ming Dynasty was sent to the capital in an express delivery of 800 miles just seven days later.

Zhu Yuanzhang also had a headache dealing with these Mongolian cavalry.

"Grandpa, why worry? The fortress over there is still strong and cannot be attacked by the grassland cavalry. What they are doing is just a waste of people."

Seeing that the old man was in a bad mood, Zhu Ying spoke to comfort him.

Zhu Yuanzhang said with some reminiscence: "When we conquered the world, the Mongols had already been in ruins. In the eight northern expeditions, we were not fighting against the Mongols, but against those who raised an army in the name of surrendering to the Mongols."

"The Mongol court had long been corrupt. We didn't expect that we would not see the so-called Mongol cavalry until we reached the city of Nanjing."

"We still remember that at that time, Prime Minister Toghto organized a million main forces to fight a decisive battle with Zhang Shicheng and besieged Zhang Shicheng. Zhang Shicheng was about to surrender. But Emperor Shundi of Yuan Dynasty was afraid that Toghto would become too powerful, so he removed his military power. As a result, the million-strong army was dispersed all at once."

"Although Zhang Shicheng eventually surrendered to the Mongols, he was still the master of his own affairs."

"When we took Nanjing, the main force of the Yuan army was actually led by a man called Chen Yesian, who was a 'righteous soldier'. This was really ridiculous."

"And those Mongols are just bullying the righteous soldiers. How can they be considered as any fighting force?"

"At that time, the rule of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty in the Jiangnan area had basically collapsed, and it was completely the Han people who were in charge in the name of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty court."

"Even later on, when we were on our way to attack Yuan Dadu, those so-called Mongolian cavalry had no intention of confronting us head-on. Instead, they tripped each other up and fought among themselves."

"These old brothers who followed us all the way here have won countless battles. They are no longer the ordinary people they used to be. Even if they were to face the regular Mongolian army, they would not be afraid at all."

"It was in this way that the Ming Dynasty's territory was established through continuous northern expeditions."

At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang's expression began to become serious, and he earnestly explained to his grandson: "But grandson, you must remember that the decline of the Mongolian cavalry was caused by their extravagant life in the Central Plains."

"These Mongols in the late Yuan Dynasty were born in our Central Plains. Although they also practiced horsemanship, riding, and archery since childhood, the environment is nothing like that of the grasslands."

"They have been pampered and are no longer the Mongolian cavalry that first invaded the Central Plains."

"But they are Mongols. They have now returned to the grasslands and still rule over a vast grassland equivalent to half of the Ming Dynasty."

"It won't take too long. Perhaps in a few years or even decades, these Mongols will once again become the iron cavalry they once were during the Mongol Yuan Dynasty."

"So, never let down your guard against the grasslands. The grassland cavalry is still very powerful and it is still difficult for the Ming Dynasty to contend with it."

Perhaps because he felt his expression was a little serious, Zhu Yuanzhang continued, "Of course, we should not be afraid of them. Our Ming Dynasty is not the former Song Dynasty. The Mongolian cavalry will never dare to confront us head-on with artillery and muskets."

"It may be difficult to pursue them on the grassland, but our city cannot be easily conquered by tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of cavalrymen."

Listening to the old man's words, Zhu Ying nodded deeply.

Although there is a matchlock gun, it has not been equipped on a large scale yet.

The strength of the Mongolian cavalry lies in its large number of cavalry and its all-cavalry formation.

Even the defeated Northern Yuan Dynasty could easily have a cavalry lineup of over 100,000, and all of them were experts in horse riding, archery and so on.

Although the Ming Dynasty has such a vast territory and such a large population, it only has 40,000 cavalrymen so far.

It is naturally impossible to deploy all 40,000 cavalrymen at once. At most 20,000 would be a lot.

When comparing cavalry with the Mongols, we can only use their weaknesses to take advantage of their strengths.

In Yu Zhuying's opinion, the grassland should be restricted or even seized through commercial activities.