Ming Dynasty, Fengtian Hall.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the dragon throne, looking calmly at the ministers who were kowtowing below.

He didn't say anything for a long while.

According to etiquette, all the ministers were not qualified to stand up before Zhu Yuanzhang said "stand up".

Zhu Ying stood quietly beside Zhu Yuanzhang, as if he knew what happened today, with a hint of helplessness in his eyes.

Half an incense stick of time passed, Zhu Yuanzhang coughed slightly, and then announced:

"Our eldest grandson is a man of great talent and strategy. In the two years since he entered the palace, life has become better and better for the entire Ming Dynasty."

"I believe that you, my dear ministers, have all seen and remembered the development of the capital."

"I think everyone is familiar with this high-yield crop. Let me tell you that I did not discover it. It was transported to us from the Western Regions when our eldest grandson had not yet been crowned as the crown prince. This is the credit of our eldest grandson and also the merit of the Ming Dynasty."

"In the past two years, although natural disasters and famines have still occurred in various places, with the help of high-yield crops, our Ming Dynasty's food reserves have become more sufficient. Under the guidance of our plan, we can solve these problems at the fastest speed."

"The people are increasingly trusting our Great Ming. I haven't been out much, but there are some things I know very well. If we can keep people well fed, who would be disloyal to our Great Ming?"

"Two years, just two years, and our treasury is almost full of money. In other words, in these two years, the taxes and money collected by the Ministry of Revenue are more than ten times that of previous years."

"The reform of officials' salaries was proposed by our eldest grandson. Since our Ming Dynasty is rich, we naturally cannot let everyone suffer. We also know that many of you have a mess at home. Some officials with no foundation even have problems with food."

"You should thank our eldest grandson for these aspects. It is because of him that you have the life you have now. It is also because of this that many ministers can contribute their own strength to our Ming Dynasty with peace of mind and can focus on their ambitions without being entangled in the daily necessities."

Having said that, Zhu Yuanzhang paused slightly and gave his ministers some time to think.

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang had always wanted to tell these things in order to prove his reputation to his eldest grandson.

During these two years, Zhu Yuanzhang was very pleased, but also a little sad.

The good news is that Zhu Ying seems to have a strong talent for being an emperor, as if he was born to be the emperor, and he can handle all kinds of issues with ease.

The sad thing is that it seems that there is no need to pass on my skills to my eldest grandson.

I can help my eldest grandson only in some minor aspects.

Fundamentally speaking, the direction of a country should naturally be determined by Zhu Yuanzhang.

After all, it was he who drove out the barbarians, it was he who restored the Central Plains, and it was he who rectified the world.

But as things developed, it seemed that there were no major moves in many aspects, but Zhu Ying slowly accumulated some small things and slowly overturned some of the things he had decided.

For example, maritime ban.

Before the eldest grandson, the maritime ban had almost never been mentioned, or in other words, no matter who brought it up, Zhu Yuanzhang would directly oppose it, even the eldest grandson.

However, Da Sun did not talk about this aspect, nor did he discuss the issue of opening or closing the sea with those officials.

He just pointed out the Japanese silver first.

The Ming Dynasty was very short of silver. When it learned that there was a large amount of silver in Japan, how could it not be tempted?

Even Ru Hong, the Minister of War, chose to support the proposal to invade Japan at the first opportunity.

Come to think of it, isn’t it all for silver?

The Ming Dynasty's taxes and expenditures were very tight every year.

There is never a shortage of smart people in any generation. The printing of large amounts of banknotes is constantly reducing the credibility of the court. This is something that everyone knows, but it is also something that no one can solve.

Why support the expedition against Japan? To put it simply, any knowledgeable person would understand that at this time, a large amount of silver was extremely important to the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty had more than two million soldiers. For a small country like Japan, it would be extremely worthwhile to dispatch even a million troops, let alone the previous 500,000.

People die for money, and birds die for food.

When the news of the mountains of gold and silver spread among the ministers, the war to conquer Japan became a war that had to be fought.

The smooth progress of the expedition against Japan, including the intelligence that has now revealed the silver mines, shows that this was an extremely correct choice.

The reason why there is no direct robbing of silver now is simply because the economy of the Ming Dynasty is taking off rapidly, and the purchasing power of the Ming Baochao is constantly increasing with the continuous improvement of Zhu Ying.

The original mess is also being gradually cleaned up.

It would be a bit useless to expend great effort to go to war with Japan.

This is why we accepted Japan's surrender.

Japan has surrendered, and the problem of Japanese pirates along the coast can be said to have been completely solved.

Especially with regard to the trade surplus of silver with Japan, the maritime ban became an obstacle to the development of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, lifting the maritime ban seemed to be a natural thing.

Now let's talk about the issue of the guard post.

When the Black Armor Guards under Zhu Ying showed their extremely strong military qualities and combat effectiveness, it proved that in many cases, quality of soldiers is more important than quantity.

Although the garrisons did not consume the grain of the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of Revenue, from a small perspective, each garrison was like a separatist vassal state.

The problem of corruption was gradually revealed by Zhu Ying through continuous investigations. This is the root of the problem.

Therefore, the Wei Suo can solve the emergency temporarily, but it cannot last forever.

Over time, it will become a disaster.

When this point was made clear to Zhu Yuanzhang, naturally he had no choice but to make changes.

With the gradual changes in the garrisons, the household registration problem has been alleviated to a great extent.

Even though Zhu Yuanzhang did not issue an explicit decree to confirm the change of household registration, it can only be done in a tacit manner as things have changed.

And also about government affairs.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who had been extremely busy in the past, now found that his power as emperor was stable and the military power was in his hands, but he did not need to be as busy as before.

It actually started to become a little leisurely.

Regardless of the public security in the capital or in other places, Zhu Yuanzhang was constantly dispatching the Jinyiwei to conduct secret investigations.

Facts have proved that even if these trivial matters are ignored, the overall security environment is still showing a continuous upward trend.

There are many, many similar things that are changing quietly and silently.

Zhu Yuanzhang recalled what he had said to his eldest grandson: Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish.

As it stands now, Da Sun has truly done it.

I am old.

He conquered the world, established the Ming Dynasty, and served as emperor for twenty-seven years.

Over the years, I have been constantly busy and neglected a lot of things.

It is not about greed for power that requires us to hold on to it tightly.

I just don't dare to let go.

What is there to be dissatisfied with today's situation?

That being the case, it's time to let go.

He turned his head to glance at his eldest grandson, and the helplessness in his eyes was just caught by Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Your lazy nature needs some treatment."

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was originally feeling a little sad, suddenly felt like laughing.

Then he stood up and walked to Zhu Ying's side step by step, and said:

"From today on, all affairs of the Ming Dynasty will be handed over to our eldest grandson in person. From now on, I will be the one ruling from behind the scenes in the court."

The words fell.

Civil and military officials shouted: Long live His Majesty!

May His Royal Highness the Crown Prince live a thousand years and a thousand thousand years!

…

Not a bit of defense.

Zhu Ying didn't expect that the old man would unexpectedly do this to him.

Suddenly, I pushed myself to the forefront.

To be honest, Zhu Ying is feeling a little uncomfortable right now.

After staying behind the scenes for too long, this huge Fengtian Hall suddenly became a stage for one person, and it is difficult to reverse this feeling.

This is not a stage you can just go on casually.

The burden on my shoulders is a heavy responsibility.

The most important thing is to deal with the ministers.

In the past, Zhu Yuanzhang was in charge of all these aspects. It can be said that the Hongwu Emperor had already reached the extreme in terms of suppressing his ministers.

Even if he had any ideas, as long as he could get the old man's consent, he could easily implement them in the court.

Even if there were some opinions, no one dared to say much.

But now it is different. Now that Zhu Ying has come to power, whether these things can be done, how to do them, how to implement them, and how to convince the ministers all fall on his shoulders.

How did Zhu Yuanzhang establish his prestige?

This world was conquered by him personally.

This was the result of countless deaths in the Ming Dynasty's Fengtian Hall over the past 27 years.

Can Zhu Ying learn it?

Can't learn.

It's impossible to be like the old man and drag out and chop off anyone who dares to oppose.

Even if it's difficult to chop him off, he should be killed for some crime?

Or create an involvement.

It is possible to do so, but it is no longer appropriate.

It also does not conform to Zhu Ying's governing philosophy.

Well, now that things have come to this, I can only go ahead with it.

Anyway, you have to do it eventually, so it’s not a bad thing to get familiar with it earlier.

Zhu Yuanzhang said that he was ruling from behind the curtain, and that was exactly what he meant.

When the court was in session the next day, he simply had someone draw a curtain to cover the dragon throne.

The curtain was so dense that the ministers below the stage could not see whether there was someone inside or not.

In other words, from now on, apart from paying homage to His Majesty as per procedure, all government affairs will be presided over by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

…

Such a major event as Zhu Ying's appointment as regent was naturally published directly in the imperial gazette of the capital.

For the people of the capital, this is definitely a major event worth celebrating.

Especially regarding the high-yield crops, except for a small number of people who knew about it before, no one knew that these high-yield crops were actually brought here by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

High-yield crops have saved countless lives in the past two years, or strictly speaking, last year.

Moreover, due to high-yield crops, there are no more high rice prices. The price of grain is stable and has even been on a downward trend.

This truly benefits the people.

The opening of free schools, the treatment of beggars and refugees in the capital, and the workers who found a way to make a living.

From a low-level perspective, these benefits are all aimed at benefiting the truly poor people.

People in the past were illiterate, and of course the illiteracy rate is still very high now.

But all the people know one thing, that is, the current Crown Prince is truly on their side.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's Changsheng brand has always been a best-seller.

Radiating from the capital to the surrounding areas, almost 90% of the people, not to mention every household, worship it at home.

Even if one does not want to spend the money, one will carve a piece for oneself and worship it at home.

The older they are, the more pious they are.

If we really want to talk about the promotion here, the Jinyiwei also contributed a lot.

Zhu Ying did not intervene, but Zhu Yuanzhang was actually secretly directing the Jinyiwei to spread the news.

As far as the current Ming Dynasty is concerned, Zhu Ying's personal reputation has already surpassed that of the kings of all previous dynasties.

It reached an extremely terrifying level.

Therefore, Zhu Ying now can easily suppress the various princes and relatives without any action.

Not to mention Zhu Di, even Zhu Chong and Zhu Gang had no intention of going against Zhu Ying.

This is completely not on the same level.

As for military power, there is no need to say more.

Zhu Ying did not choose to seize the military power of the generals, but chose to use middle-level officers as the breakthrough point, and constantly make breakthroughs in various garrisons and generals.

After a series of ideological education, 90% of the soldiers who graduated from the Ming Military Academy would be loyal to Zhu Ying.

However, they were new to the army and had simple minds, so it was unlikely that they would follow the same corrupt practices as the previous generals.

Even if there are people who cannot resist the temptation, they are only a minority.

These people are usually not to be offended. From the day they graduated from the military academy, they naturally have an additional layer of classmate relationship.

When people are outside, it is a habit to stick together.

After they go out, their positions are not very high, usually at the level of a hundred households.

But it is this level that has the greatest influence on military power.

When there are enough centurions, the direction of military power in the army will naturally become completely different.

When the garrisons were mobilized previously, some commanders of the garrisons wanted to unite to resist, but were finally easily defeated by Zhu Ying.

Now that it has become a trend, it is hard to say what crooked ideas they might come up with.

Because these centurions strictly follow military discipline, for the commander of the garrison, they are the nails and spies nailed by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, keeping a close eye on him.

When the handle is caught, there is nothing you can do but to restrain yourself.

Even Zhu Yuanzhang did not expect that Zhu Ying could so easily break up the Huaixi nobles and military generals group that gave him the most headaches.

In this way, they established their own emerging force in the cracks.

The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang had the idea of ​​ruling the country from behind the curtain was not a sudden impulse.

It was the spontaneous outburst of millions of people when Zhu Ying left the palace a few days ago that made Zhu Yuanzhang make up his mind.