The capital of Ming Dynasty.

After nearly a month of sailing, the southern tour army finally returned.

After Zhu Yuanzhang returned to the palace, he immediately summoned the six ministers and Zhu Ying to check on the situation of the Ming Dynasty in the past six months.

Because of the decentralization of power, the government can function well even when there is no emperor to handle government affairs.

There are not many matters that require the emperor's personal review. They either involve border military defense or the conferment of titles.

The six ministers carefully handed over the statistical government affairs to Your Majesty.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at it in detail.

The previously vacant position of Minister of Rites now has a candidate.

It was the former Minister of Rites, Ren Hengtai.

According to the current promotion and demotion of official positions, it is no longer possible to promote people as you please. Skipping grades for promotion has now been cancelled, and promotion at each level needs to be supported by political achievements.

Only the emperor has the power of special appointment.

Of course, neither Zhu Yuanzhang nor Zhu Ying would use this power easily.

"Very good. It seems that during the time I was away, you, my dear ministers, still focused on government affairs and did not let me down."

After about half an hour, Zhu Yuanzhang finally finished reading the statistical data from the six ministries.

The six men below were at least fifty years old, and each of them was as nervous as a child handing in homework.

It wasn't until I heard His Majesty speak that I felt relieved.

"Apart from this job, do you have anything else to report?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked after putting down the memorial.

The six ministers looked at each other, but no one spoke in the end.

Now is a time of peace and prosperity, with singing and dancing.

The borders of the Ming Dynasty were basically stable. The surrounding small countries were either suppressed by the Ming Dynasty or guarded by overseas vassal states, and basically would not invade the Ming Dynasty.

For some small matters that they can handle themselves, the six ministers will not deliberately report them to the emperor to cause trouble for themselves.

At the current stage of rapid economic growth in the Ming Dynasty, the happiness index of most people is still relatively high. Basically, as long as they can work, they will not have to worry about food and clothing, but at least they will not starve to death.

The establishment of the Qunying Chamber of Commerce in local areas has greatly enhanced the revenue-generating capacity of local governments.

Even if there is a famine in some small places, the situation can be brought under control quickly to avoid large numbers of refugees.

While people now pay attention to political achievements, there is a special supervisory department in the capital that visits the entire Ming Dynasty every day.

If you encounter someone who behaves recklessly in the local area, you can appeal directly to the local governor.

In general, there are still some minor problems in the Ming Dynasty, but the major problems have basically been dealt with and will not affect the foundation of the country.

"Grandson, please say a few words about some arrangements and plans for this year." Zhu Yuanzhang half-lying on the chair, gave the instructions with a relaxed expression.

Now he is living a peaceful life, and is watching how his eldest grandson governs the country.

Zhu Ying nodded, and after organizing his thoughts, he said, "For this year, I have three ideas, and I hope the six ministries can help implement them."

As soon as the Crown Prince opened his mouth, the six ministers immediately sat up straight and listened attentively.

Zhu Ying continued: "First, it's about the military."

The Minister of War, Ru Hong, couldn't help but feel a little more nervous.

Because although there is still the Five Military Governors' Office, basically all military affairs are handled by the Ministry of War.

Zhu Ying glanced at Ru Rong and said, "At present, the quality of the soldiers in the army varies greatly, and there are even some officers who are not paying for their salaries and are cheating the soldiers. In this regard, I hope that Minister Ru can set up a military inspection department to conduct internal inspections on this aspect."

"A thousand-mile dam can be breached by an ant hole. From our perspective, perhaps a guard post or a thousand-household post is nothing, but such things are extremely contagious."

"There are hundreds of thousands of households who see their neighbors and colleagues making a fortune while they themselves are suffering. Naturally, they will feel unbalanced and will easily get involved."

"Once this trend spreads, it will have a huge impact on the Ming army and directly shake the foundation of the country."

Ru Rong quickly replied: "Please rest assured, Your Highness, I will convene a meeting immediately after I return to set up an internal inspection department to clean up the pests in the guards throughout the country."

Zhu Ying nodded slightly: "Apart from corruption, the Ministry of War has two other things to do at the same time."

"First, regarding the issue of soldier retirement, a time limit should be set. If some soldiers are already in their 50s or 60s and are still in the army, this will affect the army's combat effectiveness."

"I suggest that if low-level soldiers cannot be promoted to officers, they should retire before the age of 40, so that it will not have a big impact on their future lives."

"Including the general flag, the hundred households, the thousand households, and Minister Ru must discuss the number of years, especially the thousand households and above, there must not be a situation where they are just sitting there doing nothing."

"Secondly, regarding the issue of re-employment of retired soldiers, they must be properly placed. Local governments should cooperate in this regard. When recruiting clerks and government servants, retired soldiers should be given priority."

"Many soldiers may have joined the army at a very young age. If they retire rashly now, they will have no skills. In addition, they have martial arts skills. If they are ignored, it will cause chaos in the local area."

"However, the court cannot let down the soldiers who have devoted half their lives to the army."

Ru Heng quickly replied: "I understand. I will make careful arrangements."

Zhu Ying looked at the other ministers and ordered: "Regarding the placement of retired soldiers, it is not just the responsibility of the Ministry of War. The Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Ministry of Rites must all cooperate."

"Don't underestimate the retirement placement. It involves the army's combat effectiveness, morale, and even the success or failure on the battlefield. Only when we solve the soldiers' worries, they will dare to die fearlessly when they go into battle."

The six ministers replied in unison: "Your subjects shall obey the order of the Crown Prince."

Zhu Ying continued, "Finally, the Ministry of War has a question about this year's conscription."

"At present, our Ming Dynasty has more than two million soldiers. Although we have a military household system and can produce soldiers on our own, we must pay more attention to the individual quality of soldiers in the future and not recruit all kinds of monsters and demons."

"In the future, we must be careful when recruiting soldiers. We will not accept those with bad behavior, especially those who have committed crimes. Even if a person has excellent martial arts skills, the army cannot tolerate such black sheep."

"From now on, criminals of our Ming Dynasty will only be sent to labor reform and will not be allowed to join the army. This rule should be written into the military regulations of our Ming Dynasty and no one should violate it."

Before Zhu Ying, there was a saying of exile.

Anyone who broke the law was sent to the frontier as an exile.

Such behavior has greatly damaged the impression of the army among the people. In the eyes of many people, soldiers in the army are almost the same as criminals, and there is even a saying that children from good families do not join the army.

In fact, such behavior is also a helpless act, because the soldiers themselves are treated very poorly, and both corruption and bullying are very serious in the army.

This also made it difficult for the court to recruit soldiers, and coupled with the forced conscription, the army never had a good impression among the people.

At present, the economy of Ming Dynasty is already very good. What Zhu Ying needs to do is to integrate the current army, try his best to improve the overall combat effectiveness of the army, and put obedience to discipline first.

When recruiting soldiers, we should focus on those from good families.

Because only in this way can the army obey orders more and be better controlled by imperial power.

"Your Highness, I will obey your order."

After these words were spoken, the six ministers all stood up and bowed.

They felt even more deeply the Crown Prince's determination to reform the army.

In fact, smart people can understand that if such reforms are carried out, the discipline and combat effectiveness of the Ming army will continue to rise.

In fact, Zhu Ying’s reforms were not a stroke of genius.

Many smart people have already taken such measures. Even among the famous generals of all dynasties, it was very common and normal to only recruit sons from good families.

But only Zhu Ying, as the future emperor, actually wrote this article into the military law.

Only Zhu Ying wants to turn all the soldiers in the country into this.

Of course, there were emperors in all dynasties who had the same idea, but they could only think about it and could not formulate it like Zhu Ying did.

After all, in the previous dynasties of the Ming Dynasty, the right to speak was basically controlled by the aristocratic families. The stability of the emperor did not depend on the people and the army, but on the support of the aristocratic families.

Only the Ming Dynasty could achieve this.

Or rather, there is only the current Ming Dynasty.

If it were not for the era of Zhu Yuanzhang, it would be almost impossible to have such favorable conditions, and even Zhu Di would find it difficult to complete such reforms.

It would be even worse if officials in the court and the government began to become corrupt by the middle of the Ming Dynasty.

It can be said that the imperial society that has lasted for thousands of years can only be achieved at Zhu Yuanzhang's current point in time, and even considering Zhu Ying's help to the Ming Dynasty's economy.

In any other imperial era, such things would be nothing but empty talk.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at his eldest grandson with deep satisfaction in his eyes.

He felt that his eldest grandson had undergone a great transformation since this southern tour.

In the past, the eldest grandson would focus more on business and was relatively lazy in handling government affairs.

Every day I just think about taking a break from my busy schedule and living my own little life.

It is undeniable that many strategies were put forward to make the Ming Dynasty's economy prosperous and to solve the problem of power division very well.

But there is one thing that Zhu Yuanzhang never said, but he felt a little regretful about it.

That is, the eldest grandson did not give him the feeling of being an emperor.

It's a very strange feeling.

Not everyone can look like an emperor. When some people wear a crown, they give people the feeling that they are a monkey in a crown.

Maybe it's temperament, or maybe it's other aspects.

But today, when his eldest grandson gave orders to his ministers, he truly made Zhu Yuanzhang feel the emperor's majesty and wisdom.

This is who should be the emperor of Ming Dynasty in the future.

He is old.

What he wants to see most is that his successor is excellent, can surpass himself in all aspects, and can control the overall situation of the country.

Zhu Ying's side is naturally not just about the Ministry of War.

Among them, the Ministry of Industry was particularly concerned with issues concerning steam engines.

"After the meeting of the Ministry of Industry, a notice will be issued, and the Imperial Secretary will circulate it to all prefectures, counties, and even villages in the Ming Dynasty."

"The imperial court is currently in the midst of a major construction project, and we are calling on craftsmen from all over the world to gather in the capital. Anyone who has a skill and has passed the verification of the local government will have their travel expenses to and from the capital borne by the imperial court."

This time, Zhu Ying wanted to gather all the strength of the Ming Dynasty to develop the steam engine and truly apply it in practice.

Even if such a notice leads to some people taking advantage of the situation, it doesn't matter.

As long as we can develop steam ironclad ships, the future of Ming Dynasty will be a real sea of ​​stars.

The Craftsmen School of the Ministry of Works has been in operation for two years and has provided many craftsmen to the Ming Dynasty.

But in fact, what Zhu Ying lacks are researchers, scientific and technological talents, and even scientists.

These are still a bit far away. Currently, the underlying knowledge structure of the Ming Dynasty is still based on the Four Books and Five Classics. This is not a problem that can be solved in a few years.

Now that the Renaissance in the West has begun, if we can develop steam-powered ironclad ships as soon as possible, it will mean that the long distance between the East and the West will be greatly shortened.

For thousands of years, the Central Plains has indeed been leading the world in all aspects of cultural ideology, including various technologies.

But Zhu Ying would not be blindly arrogant or suppress the development of the West.

It is undeniable that the West developed rapidly in the hundreds of years after the Renaissance, especially in various aspects such as physical, chemical and manufacturing, thanks to free thinking and the emergence of the world market, which led to a technological explosion in just a few hundred years.

The Ming Dynasty was a society ruled by the emperor, so Zhu Ying certainly wouldn't be stupid enough to revolutionize himself.

However, the stable imperial power also has its shortcomings, especially the cultural ideology, which has lasted for thousands of years. It is not something that Zhu Ying could do suddenly in just a few decades.

Perhaps during Zhu Ying's lifetime, he could continue to develop new technologies, but at the same time, it is also very likely that after a few generations, under the influence of imperial power, the development of science and technology in the Ming Dynasty would not only stagnate but would most likely regress.

So Zhu Ying needs to find an analogy to form an arms race and stimulate scientific changes.

Zhu Ying believes that as long as the ideology changes, the research spirit of the Central Plains can be truly recognized and create value, and it will definitely not be worse than that of the West.

Therefore, while leading the Ming Dynasty to carry out reform and development and strengthen industrial infrastructure, it is also necessary to learn Western technological innovations at the same time.

Zhu Ying is looking forward to what kind of sparks will emerge from the fusion of East and West.

After handing over the completion of the work.

Regarding the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Personnel, and Ministry of Rites.

Zhu Ying also arranged some tasks and directions.

For example, the Ministry of Justice strengthened the improvement of laws, the Ministry of Revenue increased the proportion of funds allocated to the national treasury, and increased investment in the military and industry.

The Ministry of Rites is in charge of the current entertainment system of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ministry of Rites is similar to the cultural departments of later generations and is not limited to etiquette and diplomacy.

These include the correct construction of the Ming Dynasty's spiritual culture, the control of unhealthy practices, and the guidance of positive energy of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism.