"Duke Liang, how should we proceed?"

Cao Zhen asked Lan Yu, with a strange light flashing in his eyes.

Not only Cao Zhen, but also some other generals, were all staring at Lan Yu.

Lan Yu knew that he was now facing a huge crisis, and perhaps many people in history had faced this crisis before.

Some people made the right choice, while others made the wrong choice.

Now that Timur has passed away, it means that the Middle East is no longer a threat to the Ming Dynasty. The generals on the front lines understand these things best, and it is also a common occurrence in dynasties throughout history.

The Indian military was weak, and Lan Yu controlled an army of 800,000, which could easily conquer the entire Indian army in a very short time.

Before this, the Crown Prince had issued an edict regarding the enfeoffment of the princes, but as of now, it has not been fulfilled.

Especially after the discovery of Dongsheng Shenzhou, it can be imagined that the Ming Dynasty would inevitably carry out a large number of immigration to Dongsheng Shenzhou, and those vassal kings would also go there one by one. The military strength of the Ming Dynasty would be weakened to a certain extent.

At this time, if Lan Yu had his own army, the imperial court would definitely be helpless. Even the crown prince would probably have to accept it.

He granted India to many dukes and princes and made it a vassal state.

This is the entire India, a territory with a population almost close to that of Ming Dynasty, and such a vast territory.

If it were up to the imperial court to arrange it, Tianzhu would certainly be divided into more than ten or even dozens of small vassal states. Not only dukes and marquises, but also a series of princes and even county kings might be enthroned to divide the territory.

So according to Cao Zhen's idea, take advantage of this opportunity to forcibly occupy Tianzhu so that more people can have more territory.

In their view, this was not treason, they just wanted more rewards. Similar things have been common in all dynasties throughout history.

The only problem now lies with Lan Yu.

Li Jinglong remained silent, while Xu Huizu glared at him.

"How could you have such a rebellious idea, taking advantage of the new king's succession to the throne to force him to abdicate?"

"Duke Liang, you are a relative of the emperor, and you have received great favor from the emperor. The crown prince regards you as a loyal minister. You must not do such a thing that would offend both heaven and man."

Xu Huizu was indeed loyal. Under the temptation of huge benefits, hereditary inheritance, and becoming king, he still stuck to his original intention.

He stood up directly and shouted at Lan Yu with a firm tone.

However, other generals immediately stood up to refute: "Duke Wei, you are already the most powerful official, second only to the emperor and above all others."

"But we are not like that. To build a career is to risk our lives for a better future. How can we miss such a great opportunity now?"

"Now the imperial court has conquered the four seas and taken over Korea, Annan, Zhenla, Siam, and Japan. Look at the South Seas, even the officials are hard to fill. Only a few dozen people have to manage a city. This was unimaginable in the past."

"As for India, the population is nearly 10 million, and the territory is so vast, how can the imperial court govern it? Rather than handing over the place we conquered with great difficulty to others, it would be better for us to enjoy the glory and wealth."

"There are so many brothers here, and we are doing this for everyone, not for personal gain."

Xu Huizu looked at the man who was speaking. He recognized him. He was an old subordinate of Lan Yu, holding the rank of Qianhu.

These words were like breaking the window paper, and greed surged in the hearts of many people.

Even Li Jinglong had no intention of supporting Xu Huizu.

It's true that he is a legitimate royal relative, but when he saw the man proclaiming himself king, he was still shocked and had many thoughts.

Of course, the most important thing is to see what Lan Yu means.

"You are a silver-tongued person, but you are just greedy. The rewards given by the court are not enough, so why are you so greedy?" Xu Huizu scolded.

The captain did not argue with Xu Huizu. His previous words seemed to be presumptuous. If the Duke of Liang did not agree, he would be the one in trouble.

Lan Yu was also very conflicted. He could see that, except Xu Huizu, almost everyone else supported keeping the army and occupying Tianzhu.

Sometimes it is like this. Even though Lan Yu is the Duke of Liang and controls the military power, he still needs to consider his subordinates.

The desire to have an army and be independent is very great, but when Lan Yu thought of the crown prince, the desire was suppressed.

Only those who have truly come into contact with the Crown Prince understand how terrifying he is.

The feeling that everything is under his control made many people think that the Crown Prince was a banished immortal. In fact, Lan Yu himself had such an idea.

Perhaps he can command his troops and be independent for a short period of time, but he may not be able to enjoy such days for too long.

The Crown Prince is too powerful, and anyone who goes against his wishes will not have a good ending.

"That's enough. Do you think that the soldiers who graduated from the military academy will listen to your ideas?"

"They still think that I am betraying the court and question my loyalty to your majesty, the crown prince."

"I never want to hear such words again. If anyone mentions it again, I will charge him with treason."

"Duke Cao, report Timur's situation to the court immediately and ask for the court's approval. The crown prince will take the throne. We hope to return to the capital to watch the ceremony. Please ask the crown prince for permission."

Hearing this, the soldiers below were unwilling but could do nothing about it.

Lan Yu was going back to Beijing, which meant handing over his military power. Only if others did not go back could he have the possibility of commanding his own troops.

Xu Huizu looked at Lan Yu with some surprise.

He thought Lan Yu would not do this, but he did not expect that Lan Yu would choose loyalty in the end.

Li Jinglong did not participate from beginning to end and did not express his own opinions, but Lan Yu made a choice and sighed in his heart, perhaps out of regret, or perhaps out of relief.

In fact, in any dynasty in history, almost most generals would choose to establish themselves as kings, and the few who chose to be loyal to the court would also be famous throughout the ages.

Lan Yu was an arrogant and domineering person, but he was too wary of the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince's current deterrence has surpassed Your Majesty in many aspects, and the most crucial point is that the Crown Prince is young enough.

So young that it’s scary and makes people dare not have any delusional thoughts.

Even though Lan Yu could be powerful for a while, he still had to consider his descendants, such as his son who was far away in Dongsheng Shenzhou.

Judging from age alone, the Crown Prince is more than capable of outliving him, and once he dies, it will be time for reckoning.

…

In the Ming Imperial Palace, the Qianqing Palace.

Ever since his eldest grandson agreed to ascend the throne, Zhu Yuanzhang has become very happy, and even his face has become a little rosier.

He now basically doesn't care about the affairs of the court at all, and leaves them all to the Crown Prince to deal with, even though Zhu Ying has not yet ascended the throne.

"It is said that it is easy to change a country but difficult to change one's nature. Timur's sudden death is a great opportunity for Lan Yu."

"Our Ming Dynasty is still developing the Dongsheng Shenzhou. If we want to withdraw troops to deal with him, it will obviously be very troublesome."

"Let's see. This time Lan Yu will most likely bring his own troops to ask for the title of Tianzhu. Even if he doesn't want to, I'm afraid the soldiers under his command will also want to have a better future and thus instigate him. We went through the same thing in the beginning."

"Even the emperor has times when he can't help himself."

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile, and he didn't seem to be at all anxious about the possibility that Lan Yu might become an independent mercenary, and he didn't even show any anger.

Because in itself, at this time, it was impossible for the Ming Dynasty to manage too much territory, and it seemed a little difficult for the Ming Dynasty to govern the current territory well.

For imperial power, the larger the territory, the better, because the larger the territory, the more difficult it is to control.

Zhu Yuanzhang was not questioning the ability of his eldest grandson, but this was related to future generations. In a dynasty, it is hard to say that every emperor is a wise ruler. There will always be a few particularly incompetent guys.

Therefore, even if Lan Yuzhen's mercenaries became independent, Zhu Yuanzhang would not care much.

And he also believed that his eldest grandson would take action.

"Maybe. I don't know what choice he will make. I hope he can figure it out and not make it too difficult for me."

Zhu Ying said lightly that he didn't really care what choice Lan Yu would make.

It is indeed difficult for the Ming Dynasty to spare some time to deal with Lan Yu now, but this does not mean that it will not be possible in the future.

Five years, ten years, there is always enough time.

Zhu Ying will only be thirty years old next year, and this is his greatest asset.

As long as he is alive, the Ming Dynasty will become more prosperous and powerful.

With Timur's sudden death, there will no longer be any country in the world that can be compared with the Ming Dynasty, and the entire Eurasian continent will be subject to the Ming Dynasty.

"You should discipline Wen Cheng, my great grandson. He has angered several teachers recently and has only been practicing martial arts all day long."

Zhu Yuanzhang was very troubled about little Wencheng. He couldn't bear to beat him or scold him.

But little Wencheng has no interest in studying at all, just like a warrior.

But he is the eldest son of the eldest grandson and the future heir to the Ming Dynasty, so this is not acceptable.

"Grandpa, speaking of Xiao Wencheng, I have to blame you for this."

"Normally, if you weren't protecting him, even if it was Yueqing who said a few words to him, you would have argued with him. Otherwise, how could this happen?"

"Just talking about the last time when Xiao Wencheng skipped classes, I was going to teach him a lesson, but it was you, Grandpa, who stopped me."

"Now that this guy has grown stronger, it won't be easy to discipline him."

Zhu Ying complained.

The system of primogeniture is one of the fundamental systems of the Ming Dynasty. It is impossible for Zhu Ying to do anything like appointing the most capable son as the heir instead of the eldest son.

Even now, Xiao Wencheng is totally unqualified to be an emperor, so in the end he will have to be the emperor.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled awkwardly and said, "I just feel sorry for my little grandson. How can you bear to discipline him when he's this old?"

At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang paused for a moment and continued, "Xiao Wencheng doesn't like to study, so you can find some civil officials to assist him. As long as they don't do anything wrong, we can still make some changes to the family foundation of the Ming Dynasty, which is harmless."

"Besides, if Xiao Wencheng is unreliable, then you should let him get married as soon as possible. When he has a grandson, he will be like us. You should take good care of him."

"Just don't let that happen, or you'll end up like me now, and then you can't blame me for anything."

Zhu Ying was speechless. This meant that the main account was useless, so he might as well get a small account.

After a slight hesitation, Zhu Ying said, "Grandpa, actually, I do have some other ideas about the imperial power."

"The rise and fall of a country depends on one person. Looking back at the past dynasties, any time a foolish ruler appeared, it would be a disaster for the entire dynasty."

"Therefore, I want to add some restrictions to the imperial power, so that even if the emperor does not attend court in the morning, the country can still operate normally, rather than letting the entire country decline because of the absence of the emperor."

"Govern the country by law, formulate a suitable system, let civil officials focus on political achievements, whoever can govern the local area better will be promoted, even if he has great power, as long as the people are prosperous and there is no chaos, that's enough."

"Of course, the military power must still be controlled by the emperor, and the emperor's most basic power must be guaranteed."

"Let the cabinet handle the affairs of the country. If there is public resentment, it is up to the emperor to decide who is responsible. It will not affect the imperial power."

"If there are talented people in the future, we can naturally snatch it back. If there are incompetent people, we don't have to worry about them causing too much damage. After all, the Ming Dynasty can continue better."

Zhu Ying never thought that all his descendants would be smart and capable, such as the Battle of Tumu in the history of the Ming Dynasty, and the Emperor who called the gate.

The powerful Ming Dynasty took a sudden turn for the worse, more exciting than a roller coaster.

Instead of doing this, it would be better to develop towards a constitutional monarchy and make the Ming Dynasty more democratic, which would also ease social, regional and class conflicts.

The most important thing is that the Zhu family’s heritage will become even longer.

Too much power also means too much responsibility. If there is no power, there is no responsibility.

Of course, under this premise, the first thing to do is to make the Ming Dynasty a country ruled by law.

Everyone followed the law and acted according to the rules, which is similar to later generations.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard these words, he was actually somewhat unwilling in his heart. Doesn't this mean he would become a puppet emperor?

But if you think about it carefully, it seems to make some sense. However, in comparison, the throne may not be so popular. In fact, being a vassal king is more powerful than being an emperor.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang knew in his heart that since his eldest grandson had said it, he was prepared to do so. He understood his eldest grandson's temperament. Even if he opposed it now, it would actually have a great effect.