Xu Huizu and Chang Mao couldn't be in a good mood at this moment, even though their positions were secure. Under normal circumstances, their families would be on par with the nation, and would certainly hold an extremely prominent position.
However, this also means that they represent military merit, and they do indeed have intricate connections with many military merits.
Zhu Yunying sighed and said to Xu Huizu and Chang Mao, "Back then, those who followed my grandfather in conquering the world were mostly heroes from humble backgrounds, many of whom came from our hometown of Huaixi. They were all poor peasants. But each generation does its own thing. Although our ancestors were poor, their descendants have forgotten their origins."
Xu Huizu and Chang Mao both lowered their heads and remained silent; they were well aware of many things.
Everyone in the world knows that the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty was once a novice monk and a beggar, a man who suffered the loss of his parents and elder brother and sister-in-law due to starvation.
The famous Twenty-Four Generals of Huaixi were basically not from wealthy or powerful families.
Xu Da was Emperor Hongwu's childhood friend, even though he came from a peasant family. To be honest, his family background was only slightly better than Emperor Hongwu's. At least he wasn't as poor, but that was all; he was a true peasant.
If Xu Da hadn't responded to Emperor Hongwu's call, he might have remained just an old farmer in Fengyang.
Chang Yuchun, born into a poor peasant family, was unwilling to die in the fields. He also possessed martial arts skills and used them to become an outlaw, engaging in highway robbery and burglary. If he hadn't thought such robbery was unworthy of his life and hadn't joined the Hongwu Emperor, Chang Yuchun might have been wiped out long ago and remained just a bandit.
So don't talk about who has a more noble birth than whom. At least in the Ming Dynasty, one's birth really wasn't something to talk about.
The emperor's ancestors were peasants, and the top military leaders were either peasants or bandits. There were no noble families or illustrious lineages among them. At most, they had achieved fame and success, which is why they all seemed somewhat aloof and superior.
Even if their ancestors came from humble beginnings, their descendants might not necessarily accept that, because they were born into wealth and power. They had become high-ranking officials and nobles, no longer peasant children who didn't need to toil in the fields for survival.
In terms of ancestry, many noble families of the Ming Dynasty seem insignificant. However, among the civil officials, there were indeed quite a few with illustrious family backgrounds. And if we're talking about families that passed down their literary and scholarly traditions, then there were certainly some.
Although the long-standing power of aristocratic families in China was almost completely wiped out after the late Tang Dynasty, the Liao and Jin Dynasties, and the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, many scholars did indeed look down on the Ming Dynasty's imperial family and considered the Ming Dynasty's military achievements insignificant.
To be honest, although nowadays the inheritance of culture is no longer solely controlled by a few aristocratic families.
However, it must be acknowledged that those scholars who inherited their knowledge through generations of poetry and literature do seem to have a slightly more solid foundation, and sometimes they do have a certain amount of reason to be proud. Regardless of who ultimately rules the country, they have the potential to remain aristocratic families and a mainstay of the ruling class.
Zhu Yunying looked at Xu Huizu and Chang Mao and said seriously, "In every dynasty, there has been a distinction between civil and military officials. Now, the nobles and civil officials of our Great Ming Dynasty are all acting out of line. I'm afraid many people didn't even take the case of Hu the Rebel to heart."
This is indeed a fact; the Hu Weiyong case was a major case, the biggest case in the early years of the Ming Dynasty. However, many people also feel that it did not constitute a collaboration between civil and military officials, but rather that the Hongwu Emperor merely wanted to weaken the power of the military by eliminating the prime minister.
Xu Huizu and Chang Mao were somewhat apprehensive, mainly because the emperor's words were rather harsh, and they seemed to sense the emperor's determination. The emperor was now setting the tone, which inevitably meant purging a group of nobles and civil officials.
This is clearly not a good thing. Although Xu Huizu and Chang Mao have deep ties with the royal family, they are still military heroes.
Zhu Yunying didn't care about so much, because the emperor has his own ideas, and the Son of Heaven has his own plans and arrangements.
In fact, this matter was somewhat unexpected, although he had previously instructed Lian Zining to do some things. However, those were mostly matters of the capital inspection, merely the duty of the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. Lian Zining's memorial was indeed unexpected.
However, the emperor also needs to adapt to changing circumstances, as many things are not entirely within his expectations. When unexpected events occur, the emperor certainly cannot panic; he must make quick decisions and take steps to change things.
That's exactly what Zhu Yunying did. Although Lian Zining's memorial surprised him somewhat, he truly needed to do so. Moreover, the ripples caused by Lian Zining's memorial aligned with some of Zhu Yunying's expectations and the national policies he had formulated.
Cleaning up some military officers was a plan Zhu Yunying had in the past, originally intended to use Xu Huizu's use of Zhang Rong's smuggling case as an excuse.
But now it seems there's no need to consider these things anymore; he has entirely other reasons to deal with certain individuals. And these pretexts are no longer simply about purging some military officials; they are also meant to once again send a warning to some civil officials.
Zhu Yunying would not rely solely on either civil or military officials. The continued dominance of the military officials needed to be suppressed. And the occasional provocations from civil officials also required a stern rebuke.
Xu Huizu and Chang Mao probably knew the emperor's attitude, and they could roughly guess what might happen next. However, at this point, there was probably nothing they could do.
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