Being too prosperous also has a disadvantage, that is, the people of the Ming Dynasty don’t want to go out at all, while the nobles of the surrounding small countries all want to come to the Ming Dynasty to live.
For example, the rising housing prices in Beijing show no sign of stopping.
Zhu Ying still remembers that when Zhengyang Avenue was first built, it was only a few coins per square meter, but now, the price has risen to hundreds of coins.
This is just the outer city area; the inner city area is even more priced but there is no demand.
We were originally thinking of moving the capital, but given the current situation, the move can only be postponed indefinitely.
Any movement will affect the country.
Of course, Zhu Ying’s immigration policy was not aimed at people in the capital. In many places in the Ming Dynasty, many people were still struggling to make ends meet, and not all land was suitable for farming, especially in some mountains, where people seemed to be still living the same old days.
If Zhu Ying wanted to expand outward, the first thing he had to do was to make concessions in terms of interests. If the court took all the lion's share, others would naturally lose the desire to expand outward. There must be enough benefits to drive it forward.
This actually has disadvantages as it will easily give rise to some huge aristocratic families. However, if one gives up because of fear of their growth, that would be very boring.
But before that, Zhu Ying had something important to do.
That is about my younger sister Zhu Mingyue’s wedding.
Zhu Mingyue, who was born in the ninth year of Hongwu, is now 25 years old and has reached the age to get married.
Because of Zhu Ying's doting, naturally no one dared to urge her and just let her do as she pleased.
The person he dated for a long time was Geng Xuan, the son of Geng Bingwen.
The wedding was originally scheduled to take place the year before last, but due to the delay caused by the Northern Expedition, it was postponed for another two years.
Although Geng Bingwen is now stationed in Guihua City, it will only take him ten days to return from there, so it will be no problem for him to attend his son's wedding.
Currently, Zhu Ying is still the crown prince, so Zhu Mingyue can only be temporarily conferred the title of Princess of Jiangdu.
If Zhu Ying ascended the throne, she would be the eldest princess.
When she got married, Zhu Yuanzhang granted her the same ceremony as a princess, which made the ceremony very grand.
Zhu Ying didn't feel much, but Zhu Mingyue cried very hard.
From today on, she will leave the palace where she grew up.
Zhu Yunhuan sent his bride off, and according to procedure, the return banquet would be held three days later.
The current banquet is arranged by Geng Xuan.
Zhu Ying was not worried that Zhu Mingyue would suffer any injustice after marrying into the Changxing Marquis family. As the younger sister of the Ming Crown Prince, no one in the world dared to bully her.
Not even my husband’s family.
Of course, he had examined Geng Xuan and found that he had good character and did not have the bad habits of a dandy boy. He was also a man worthy of his sister's entrusting her life to.
Besides, the two of them are in love with each other.
After the wedding, the three kings marched north.
Zhu Ying began to prepare for the expeditionary force.
That day, Zhu Ying came to the old man with the strategy he had written down.
"Grandpa, I talked to Li Jinglong a few days ago about this overseas matter."
"The world overseas is far more vast and boundless than we can imagine. Our Central Plains has been known as the Celestial Empire since ancient times, but compared to the entire world, it only occupies a small area."
"The strength of our Ming Dynasty is not much different from that of Genghis Khan. He had 300,000 cavalrymen back then, and we also have 300,000 cavalrymen now, as well as so many garrison troops."
"I have also considered this in my mind. If the imperial court were to bear the full brunt of the forced conquest, it would inevitably be a waste of money and manpower. Therefore, I have come up with a compromise. I hope Grandpa can find out the loopholes and fill them in."
After saying that, Zhu Ying handed the booklet in his hand to the old man.
Zhu Yuanzhang took it and began to read it.
This booklet tells the story of the Ming Dynasty's overseas colonization.
There are several key points.
The first is the expeditionary force.
Zhu Ying initially decided on twelve legions, named after the twelve zodiac signs.
Each legion has 10,000 soldiers, for a total of 120,000 soldiers.
This refers to combat troops, not including auxiliary troops. If the auxiliary troops are included, the number would be around 200,000.
Zhu Yuanzhang had only flipped through a few pages before he raised his head with a frown and said, "Enfeoff a country? Grandson, have you thought about it? Once this precedent is set, it will be difficult to control in the future."
Zhu Ying explained: "Only sufficient benefits can drive these families to give their all to support the expedition. We have no way to govern those wild lands, so we might as well leave them to them."
"This way, the Ming Dynasty only needs to collect taxes from them every year. If the imperial court is responsible for the governance, it won't be long before these places are taken back by the local natives. Moreover, with such a long distance, there will be too many tricks involved, and it will not be beneficial at all."
Zhu Yuanzhang pondered after hearing this.
Of course he knew the pros and cons, but previous dynasties had proven that enfeoffment of princes was a wrong choice.
The Shang Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty were almost all destroyed by the vassal states.
The Han Dynasty learned its lesson and decided that only those with the surname Liu could become king.
The rebellion of the Tang Dynasty's vassal states.
In fact, every founding emperor tried his best to avoid the mistakes made by other dynasties in history.
Zhu Yuanzhang was naturally the same.
So when he saw Zhu Ying propose to divide the country into vassal states, he was naturally hesitant.
"The situation in our Ming Dynasty is different from that in previous dynasties. After the Qin Dynasty, the wheels and writing systems were unified. After all, we are all Han Chinese, so any fight we make is just infighting."
"When the infighting is fierce, it gives foreign races an opportunity, which is why the Mongols came to rule the Central Plains."
"It is very difficult for the imperial court to effectively manage a territory that is too vast, especially since the culture and language of these countries are completely different from that of the Ming Dynasty. It is a big problem to educate them."
"If you want the horse to run, you have to feed it enough grass. If the Ming Dynasty wants to rule more extensively, it can only give up more interests. In this way, others will do things for you, which is completely different."
"And the conflicts within our Ming Dynasty can also be transferred to the outside world. The real core of the court is still the current Ming Dynasty."
Zhu Yuanzhang did not answer, but picked up the booklet again and continued reading.
It is written in the booklet that not everyone is qualified to establish a kingdom. One must first have the title of Marquis or Duke of the Ming Dynasty and the territory they have conquered before they can apply to the court to establish a marquisate or a duchy.
There is naturally a difference in the scope of a marquisate and a duchy, but Zhu Ying has not yet made detailed regulations. He only vaguely wrote that 30% of the national taxes must be paid as tribute to the Ming Dynasty.
At the same time, whether it is a marquisate or a principality, it needs to assume the responsibility of education, which will be supervised by the Ming Dynasty.
If the education is ineffective, the imperial court can revoke the country.
The booklet contains an outline and a direction, but the specific details still need to be discussed and finalized.
Zhu Yuanzhang was speechless for a long time after reading it.
If these were promulgated, there would be no doubt that the Ming Dynasty would become a military dynasty.
The most similar one is the Qin Dynasty.
The reason why the Qin people loved war so much was because of the twenty-level military merit system.
What the eldest grandson is doing now is imitating the Qin Dynasty's methods and making something new out of them.
It seems that there are restrictions on marquises and dukes, but in fact, when a vassal state is established, there will inevitably be a large number of aristocratic families attached to it.
No family can withstand such a force.
On this premise, Da Sun also established the Twelve Legion Expeditionary Force, which was equivalent to the court paving the way for them.
"Grandson, do you know how many hereditary noble families there are in our Ming Dynasty?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.
Zhu Ying also included the marquisate, of course he had done his homework, and replied; "Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there have been 104 dukes and marquises, including those who were posthumously conferred. Hu Weiyong removed 21 marquises from the list, so there are still 82 dukes and marquises."
Zhu Yuanzhang continued, "So Da Sun wants to establish 82 kingdoms? The Zhou Dynasty only established 71 kingdoms. Da Sun wants 11 more kingdoms than the Zhou Dynasty."
As he spoke, Zhu Yuanzhang himself laughed.
Zhu Ying also laughed and said, "If these 82 dukes and marquises can all meet the requirements for becoming a feudal state, then the territory of our Ming Dynasty will far exceed that of Genghis Khan."
"When the people of the Ming Dynasty go abroad, they don't need to learn any native languages, because Chinese is spoken everywhere."
Zhu Yuanzhang had no reason to refuse.
He put the booklet away and placed it on the desk, saying, "Okay, since Grandson has this idea, we won't stop him. Anyway, they are fighting outside and can't affect us at Ming."
"Let's let the ministers of each department study this booklet first, and let them spread the news. The next step is to see what the response is."
Zhu Ying replied: "After the news spreads, they may be more anxious than us."
The grandfather and grandson smiled at each other.
It turns out that old ginger is still spicy.
…
Zhu Ying's booklet was soon passed to the cabinet.
The current cabinet is basically composed of the ministers of various ministries, who are responsible for handling various government affairs, but the military power is the only thing that is not under the jurisdiction of the cabinet.
The cabinet was not formed by Zhu Ying, but was established when Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system. What Zhu Ying did was to delegate most of the emperor's power to cabinet members and reform the cabinet's powers.
Now most of the matters were directly handed over to the cabinet by Zhu Ying or Zhu Yuanzhang to handle.
Anyway, if it is not handled properly, people will be held accountable.
At other times, we usually look at the country's finances and local conditions through data released by the Prime Minister.
This way of governing the country obviously made life much easier for both Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying.
After receiving the booklet thrown by Zhu Yuanzhang, the cabinet almost set off a storm.
"How could Your Majesty have such an idea?"
Ru Rong was the first one to finish watching it, and she was completely stunned after watching it.
"If this news gets out, the entire capital will be shaken. Should we advise Your Majesty? This will inevitably affect the foundation of our Ming Dynasty." Minister of Works Shen Xi said worriedly.
His words were also approved by the ministers present.
Only Liu Sanwu slowly shook his head.
"I wonder what Minister Liu means." Shen Xi asked immediately.
Now it is no longer just six ministries. Liu Sanwu of the Ministry of Education is also a minister, and naturally he is in the cabinet.
In fact, even in the initial cabinet, many university scholars from the Hanlin Academy were involved.
"In my opinion, such an earth-shattering idea probably did not come from Your Majesty, and the only one who could ask Your Majesty to bring it to the cabinet for discussion is the Crown Prince." Liu Sanwu said.
These words made everyone's faces change again and again.
When it comes to the crown prince, things become much more complicated.
Now the cabinet is nominally under the control of His Majesty, but in reality, as long as the Crown Prince speaks up, His Majesty will basically have no objection to any matter, big or small.
Ninety percent of the credit for the Ming Dynasty's development into its current form goes to the Crown Prince. No one dared to stop it, no matter how absurd the matter was.
"If this is what the Crown Prince meant, we should still discuss it carefully." Minister of Personnel Zhan Hui said.
This old fox knows how to protect himself best.
You should know that the cabinet’s meetings were all conducted under the supervision of eunuchs, which means that their words were recorded in the book.
It would be fine for ordinary matters, but this involves the matter of enfeoffment, so everyone became very cautious in their words, and no one knew what His Majesty meant by this.
However, since it has been brought to the cabinet, it means there is still a great possibility of success.
The next day.
No one knew who spread the news about the overseas closure of the country, but it immediately caused a huge storm among the upper-class nobles in the capital.
In just less than two days, the matter of the fiefdoms of dukes and marquises had spread like wildfire.
When several ministers heard this, they immediately panicked.
They clearly didn't tell anyone, so how did the news spread throughout the capital?
Who leaked the news?
Every Shangshu has several suspects in his mind.
If Your Majesty blames the cabinet for the leak, then it will be the cabinet's fault.
…
The Mansion of Duke Liang.
Jingchuan Hou Cao Zhen hurried over.
"Brother, have you heard the news from the cabinet?"
Lan Yu frowned when he heard this and said, "Of course I heard about it. Your Majesty has given this matter to the cabinet for discussion, and it has not been decided yet."
Cao Zhen said, "Before I came here, many people asked me for information. It was abuzz everywhere. All the restaurants were almost fully booked. I don't know who in the cabinet was so bold as to spread such news."
"I guess things that were originally passable have become mysterious."
Lan Yu chuckled and said, "How do you know that the news came from the cabinet and was not deliberately spread by His Majesty?"
Cao Zhen couldn't help but say: "Brother, what you mean is that the Jinyiwei..."
Lan Yu waved his hand to interrupt Cao Zhen and explained, "It's not that someone informed me. You don't know the current situation of the Jinyiwei. But it was able to spread throughout the capital in such a short time. How could it be revealed by the cabinet?"
In the Jinyiwei, many people are part of the Huaixi noble group.
However, Lan Yu is now acting cautiously. He has already warned that unless it involves him personally, the Jinyiwei will not risk being exposed to pass on the news.
Those who are involved are often confused.
In fact, if you think about it carefully, you will know that such a move is obviously controlled by someone.
"Could it be that Your Majesty wants to take this opportunity to..." Cao Zhen only said half of it, but Lan Yu understood what he meant.
Lan Yu sighed, "This kind of behavior cannot be without the shadow of the Crown Prince. I just didn't expect that the Crown Prince would actually be willing to seal the country."