Zhu Ying's latest policy left many ministers confused.

Since ancient times, what dynasties were most worried about were the generals at the border and the princes who controlled their own armies.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is so intelligent. He previously granted fiefdoms to vassal kings overseas. How could he be so confused now?

They didn't talk about it during the court meeting, but after the meeting, the ministers were discussing it.

But no matter what, in today's world, the status of civil officials is really too low.

"If Hu Weiyong or Liu Bowen were still alive, they would certainly have tried to dissuade him."

An old minister sighed and said.

The minister beside him heard this and his face suddenly changed. He immediately said, "You are asking for your life. We are all this age. Don't make mistakes at this critical moment."

"These two people are taboo, don't mention them."

The old minister realized that he had spoken out of turn, looked around, and quickly stopped talking.

In today's court, power truly belongs to the emperor, and perhaps now there should be an additional crown prince.

Any civil official could see that in the next few decades of the Ming Dynasty, no one would be able to challenge the emperor's majesty.

What scholar-officials, censors.

It's all useless.

Originally, it seemed that His Majesty had gotten through it due to his old age, but who could have imagined that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was so powerful that he was no less powerful than His Majesty.

To be honest, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is better. He is not as rude as His Majesty, who kills people and beheads families at will. He has never had peace in court.

Even local officials are worried.

Because you never know when the Jinyiwei spies will come to investigate, and even if you put your official hat aside, your life is basically in danger.

Although His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is powerful now, many of the ministers' life problems have been basically solved. In addition, the reform of the salary system has reduced many of their daily worries.

Money, as long as you can have enough food and clothing, can basically solve 80% of the problems in life.

Moreover, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince does not like to kill people, so even if there is some conflict, he will not say that someone has lost their life.

In other words, no one in the court could be compared with him. In terms of power, the imperial power completely suppressed the power of the ministers.

The loyal ministers thought it was a good thing. At least there would be basically no fluctuations in the succession of the Ming Dynasty throne.

Things like the succession of the throne have the greatest impact on the dynasty. If the throne is unstable, the whole world will be in turmoil.

Now, most of the older ministers have accepted their fate and have a more peaceful mentality.

Everyone knows that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is too young and is said to be extremely strong. It is impossible for his old bones to survive.

Just be safe.

…

The changes on the grassland are too far away for the south. Even if there is blood and rain, it is impossible to say that it will affect the capital.

As the economy recovered, the entertainment industry began to flourish in the capital.

Opera troupes, singers, storytellers, writers, and brothels are becoming more and more prosperous in the capital.

The most famous of them is undoubtedly the Jiaofangsi.

However, due to some personal reasons of Zhu Ying, some adjustments were made to the Jiaofangsi.

First of all, according to the law, unless it is an unforgivable crime, basically no official would lose his life or have his family members sent to the Jiaofangsi.

This also led to the fact that many officials' wives and daughters would not be sent to the Jiaofangsi easily.

Even if it is for corruption or bribery, the death penalty will not be imposed immediately.

This was considered a relatively major reform on Zhu Yuanzhang's part.

Corrupt officials who are caught for embezzlement will be sentenced to reform through forced labor, which usually starts at twelve years. They usually don't do very strenuous work, and most of them are exiled to remote areas or do teaching work in the army.

This can be considered a way out, at least it gives a final bit of dignity.

Of course, this is also limited. If the corruption is too serious and even has a major impact on people's livelihood, then it is a different story.

We need to analyze each case specifically. In any case, the final right to interpret the law is in the hands of Zhu Ying and Zhu Yuanzhang, grandfather and grandson.

Over at the grassland military base, the originally somewhat desolate border has gradually become lively recently.

Even from the tribes of the wild Jurchens, nearly 200,000 people had migrated to the interior to live.

The northern officials, who had once been relatively idle, suddenly became busy.

In the past, a village might have only about a hundred households, and a large village would have no more than two or three hundred households.

With the migration of a large number of herdsmen, each village began to issue a large number of quotas.

The bulk of it is still in towns.

With more people, more things started to happen, especially between the grassland tribesmen and the locals.

According to the latest instructions from the capital, all officials must treat the migrating tribal people equally and must not discriminate or treat them differently.

In conflicts between locals and tribal people, we must be fair and just and act in accordance with the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

Changing the customs of the tribal people and teaching them Chinese is also a top priority for northern officials.

In order to better implement migration policies.

Zhu Ying put in a lot of effort and transferred more than 5,000 people from the capital to the border for support.

Among these more than 5,000 people, except for some candidate officials who signed up voluntarily, most of them were students from the Imperial Academy and the Imperial College.

This is also to better monitor the implementation of the migration policy for the northern grassland tribesmen.

At the same time, it is also an extremely important practical opportunity for these students.

Zhu Ying has always been committed to the reform of officials. In the current Ministry of Personnel, although no clear measures have been introduced, in fact, when promoting officials, anyone above the sixth rank must obtain Zhu Ying's consent.

For Zhu Ying, the first thing he looks at is the work performance at the grassroots level.

Everyone in the Ministry of Personnel knows that if they want to get a better promotion now, they will face a huge obstacle with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

By looking at the information on official dispatches from the second half of last year to the present, it can be clearly seen that officials who have taken up important positions are basically local officials.

And they are local officials who have truly made political achievements.

The biggest assessment criterion is the investigation of the situation of local people.

In other words, whenever an official was promoted, the capital would make a secret visit to investigate the local situation.

Although this approach consumes more manpower, it is more effective in selecting officials and talents.

Not anyone can be promoted just by saying a word.

There must be solid political achievements.

These personnel who go out for unannounced investigations are currently mainly from the military and are basically selected at random.

Relatively speaking, military personnel are better than officers in terms of physical strength and interpersonal relationships, so it is difficult to say that there is any possibility of infiltration.

The main ones here are Zhu Ying’s Black Armor Guards.

The current Xuanjiawei is no longer the original establishment of 5,600 people. With the increase in demand, after communicating with the old man, Zhu Ying has decided that the entire Xuanjiawei is constantly growing.

Currently, the number of regular staff and reserve staff is almost reaching 20,000.

These Xuanjia Guards, who have been selected through layers of selection and have undergone a series of ideological education courses, are still very loyal.

And even if he couldn't read all the literary classics, at least he had no problem with literacy.

With their simple minds, they will be able to complete the tasks assigned by Zhu Ying better.

After leaving the bureaucratic system, even if local officials wanted to find connections, they had no way to do so.

The Xuanjia Guards, who were originally from peasant families, can also better identify the good and bad of local officials.

As soon as the nomination list from the Ministry of Personnel came over, Zhu Ying's Black Armor Guards would set off immediately.

The duration is three months.

After the March investigation, a summary will be made according to the detailed records of the Xuanjia Guard Station.

During this process, the Xuanjia Guards can also make certain records and reports on the situations in the counties they pass through along the way.

Some notorious and daring people will basically be subject to a thorough investigation after verification.

Even border areas are within the scope of the investigation.

Those who think that the emperor is far away and behave recklessly within the jurisdiction will still be dealt with.

Although the results are not significant at present due to the short time, this method is like a sharp blade hanging three feet above the officials, warning them of the risk of falling at any time.

When doing something illegal or disorderly, you should also consider whether you can afford the consequences.

In the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying were drinking tea leisurely.

"I feel that since we asked you, my great grandson, to come to the government to carry out reforms, the number of memorials has begun to decrease significantly."

"There is always a thick stack of papers on my desk, almost like a small mountain, and I never see the day when I can finish my work."

"It seems that there hasn't been much change now. It's as if all the trivial matters we dealt with have disappeared."

"It gives us a lot more free time every day."

"It's not that it's bad, it's just that I'm still a little uncomfortable with it."

Tasting this year's new tea, Zhu Yuanzhang half-lying leisurely on the chair, looking at the flowers and plants blooming outside the hall, and said half with a sigh and half with emotion.

Zhu Ying took a sip of the tea and said with a smile, "Grandpa, don't you think this is a good idea?"

"My grandson has always been thinking, how can we manage a world with 60 million people with just a few people?"

"The key here is to grasp the key points."

"The first one is about military power."

"The military power is firmly in my hands, so I don't have to worry about others making trouble."

"The second is the selection of talents and the appointment of officials."

"A person who can read is not necessarily a good official, and a good official is not necessarily able to read the Four Books and Five Classics well."

"What they say about loyalty to the emperor and patriotism is actually a huge joke on the Confucian side."

"Since ancient times, dynasties have changed, and those ministers who died for their country were loyal to the emperor and patriotic, but what's the use? The country is gone, the emperor is gone, what kind of emperor are they loyal to, and what kind of country are they loving."

"Then my grandson should be more practical. We should not talk about loyalty to the emperor and patriotism all day long. Being able to get things done is loyalty to the emperor. Being able to let the people have enough food to eat and to have a place to seek justice when they are wronged is patriotism."

"Otherwise, if you shout slogans every day but still can't get things done and the people can't get enough food, then what's the point of being loyal in your heart?"

"Separate the military and the government, give them power, let them do their job well, those who do well will be promoted, those who don't will be demoted, only performance matters, all responsibilities are on their heads, don't think of pushing it upwards when encountering problems, try to solve them yourself first."

"If he cannot solve the problems reported, his achievements will be deducted. If he can solve the problems and raise taxes so that the people can have food to eat, he is a good official and should be promoted and given more opportunities."

"In this way, there will be fewer memorials. If you send all the trivial matters to the capital, what's the point of being an official? You might as well go home and grow sweet potatoes."

There is one meaning behind what Zhu Ying said.

I will take charge of military power and official appointments.

The rest will be left to the people below to handle.

Anyway, if that place cannot be done well, then let's find someone else to do it. After all, there are talented people who can handle things well. If all the ministers in the court can't handle it, why do you think the emperor can do it well?

There must be something wrong at the root.

For example, in the past, whenever there was a peasant uprising, the first step was to report it, and then to suppress it.

After this matter is over, officials and generals can still be credited for their contributions.

That's not right.

First of all, officials should be held accountable first when problems arise in their jurisdiction. It doesn't mean that an uprising has nothing to do with you.

The second thing is to find out what the cause of this uprising was.

Is it someone who is deliberately plotting a rebellion, or is it because they are being bullied, oppressed, and have no way out because they can't get enough food?

Then there is the crime.

This is entirely the business of the Ministry of Justice and the local public security bureaus. How come it is the emperor's turn to take charge?

Then what are you doing with people from the Ministry of Justice and the Public Security Bureau? Just to show off.

If they are just occupying the toilet but not doing anything, then you should replace them as soon as possible.

It is because of actions like these that today’s officials have more autonomy and power while the pressure on them is also doubling.

He even dared not to submit any report casually.

If the matter reported is too minor, the Ministry of Personnel will directly start deducting the political achievements during the assessment.

There is a bottom line for political achievements.

If government performance continues to decline over the past three years and tax collection continues to decrease, the local officials will bear the main responsibility and will basically be demoted.

It’s not like before, when you could just do it for the rest of your life.

Due to the influence of many factors, Zhu Yuanzhang was able to live a leisurely life today.

Zhu Yuanzhang put down his teacup, looked at his grandson who was talking eloquently, and said with satisfaction in his eyes: "I once read in a book that there are such things as natural saints, but I have always disdained such people."

"Until God sent you back, my great grandson, and we found you by accident."

"Over the past two years, I have watched your growth step by step, and I have also watched the changes in our Ming Dynasty."

"I thought that what we have achieved is among the best in history, but what you have done, my great grandson, has allowed me to truly see what a strong dynasty should be like."

"It also shows us what it means to be a natural born saint."