My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 296 Old Li, You Are So Vicious
Lao Li’s true face? Lao Li’s true face. Lao Li’s true face!

At this moment, the words "Old Li's true appearance" kept lingering in Zhu Yuanzhang's mind. At this moment, he didn't even have the interest to read the letter. It seemed as if he couldn't understand what was written on the letter. His attention was all on what Li Han looked like.

Can you really see what this divine man looks like?
For a moment, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't believe it. Since he had been communicating with Old Li, he had imagined what Li Han looked like countless times.

An immortal with a sage-like appearance, an old man with white hair and a youthful face, a shrewd middle-aged scholar, a wise and powerful burly man, and even an elderly woman have all imagined him. Now, the mysterious veil covering Lao Li's head has finally come to be unveiled.

For a moment, Zhu Yuanzhang was a little dazed. He felt extremely nervous and excited. Even when he ascended the throne as emperor, he had never been so excited!

If there was ever a moment in his life when he felt as he does now, it was probably the moment when he and Queen Ma were in their bridal chamber, and he lifted the red veil from her head with trembling hands.

The current Zhu Yuanzhang does not look like the founding emperor of the Ming Empire at all, but an ordinary person who is about to meet his best friend whom he has not seen for many years.

He managed to suppress his excitement and calm himself down completely before continuing to read the letter.

"There's a saying that goes, 'A bosom friend is a friend indeed. We two appreciate each other and have the same aspirations. No matter how far we are from each other, even if we can't meet, we can still understand each other. Don't you agree, Old Zhu?"

That’s right, Old Li, your pure desire for the Ming Dynasty to remain strong forever is exactly the same as our Old Zhu’s!

"The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching. When you raise your glass to the bright moon in the palace, it will be like drinking with me."

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes seemed to be a little moist. He wiped the corners of his eyes and was deeply moved. His thoughts drifted to the distant sky.

Lao Li and I both live under the same moonlight. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the moonlight will shine on me and him.

"Let's get back to the point. Considering the 100,000 Annan captives you mentioned, using captives to do work is beyond reproach. It's just that your method of driving them, Old Zhu, is indeed a little immature."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned. What Lao Li said was right. No matter whether they were strictly guarded or killed as a warning to the rest, the captives would not be able to work with peace of mind. It might even have the opposite effect. But what effective suggestions could Lao Li come up with?

They don't want us to treat them well, right? We can't do that. We, the Ming Dynasty, have won the war, just to keep these captives as sacrifices?
Seeing that Li Han said that his methods were a bit immature, Zhu Yuanzhang was indeed a little dissatisfied in his heart. He wanted to see what Li Han had to say.

"Of course, no matter which country it is, prisoners have been treated in the same way since ancient times. They are either sacrificed alive, skinned and burned to death, buried alive, or forced to do hard labor. In the ignorant era when productivity was not yet developed, this was path dependence.

But Lao Zhu, you have to think outside the box. What era is the Ming Dynasty in now? It is an era of vigorous development of productivity and industrialization. Therefore, in this new era, how to manage prisoners also requires a new set of thinking. "

A new way of thinking about managing prisoners? Zhu Yuanzhang was successfully aroused by Li Han, but how to break out of the fixed mindset?
Either keep a close watch on the child or persuade him with kind words. Apart from these two options, is there a third way?

Break out of fixed thinking, break out of fixed thinking!
Zhu Yuanzhang unconsciously pinched the corner of the letter with his fingers, and suddenly an idea flashed through his mind. Lao Li asked him to break out of the fixed thinking. Was he asking him to think from the perspective of human heart and let the captives work spontaneously?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel moved. If this was possible, then it would save a lot of trouble!
"Old Zhu, do you still remember the performance appraisal?"

This sentence made Zhu Yuanzhang almost jump up from his chair. Old Li, aren’t you... a little too cruel?
Of course he remembered the performance appraisal, and he was very clear and proficient in it. This system completely controlled those nobles and dandies, and it was a great governance!
Of course, the performance appraisal Lao Li was talking about here was definitely not a mechanical one. He had a premonition that Lao Li was going to use another trick, and he had to make those captives lose their temper. "For any group of people, although the methods are different, there is only one core, and that is the people's heart."

With a "pa" sound, Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but clapped his hands. That's right, we knew that Lao Li was going to touch people's hearts!

He couldn't help feeling complacent. I knew that Lao Li would mention people's hearts. It seems that I can completely keep up with Lao Li's thinking.

"In fact, the means to manage this group of captives are very similar to those used to deal with the literary world, that is, to sow discord and divide and rule, and then add performance appraisal. Now you are all set. Let me analyze the specific steps in detail.

The first step is to disrupt the original grouping of the prisoners and reorganize them. This is very important, as it disrupts the existing organizational structure within the prisoners to prevent them from uniting again.

Old Zhu, think about it, a group of strong men mixed together, once they are organized, to put it nicely, they are captives, to put it bluntly, they are unstable factors!

Before reorganizing, we should prevent the troops with the same original organization from being reorganized together. I believe that when you registered the prisoners, you also clarified their original organization."

"oops!"

Zhu Yuanzhang slapped his thigh, wondering why he hadn't thought of such an important thing. Fortunately, the registration of the prisoners had already been done in advance, so the next step was to follow what Lao Li said.

“And reorganization is a very complicated matter. According to the Annan military system, 100,000 prisoners should be divided into a large number of corps.

The corps should not be united, right? So after disrupting the original structure, they will group the conflicting corps together and secretly stir up their conflicts from time to time, so that they will use their energy for internal consumption. Will they still have the energy to stir up trouble?"

Poisonous, Lao Li, you are so poisonous!
I, Old Zhu, have to write a big "admiration" to you!

"After the first step of grouping is completed, the second step is to select a leader for each group. When selecting a leader, the principle is the same as above, mainly to create as many conflicts as possible.

For example, a private can be asked to be a steward of an officer, or be the most unpopular person in a group, or the one who has the most conflicts with everyone.

After the steward is selected, he has to rely on the Ming Dynasty in order to live a better life. At this time, the steward can be given some power, and these powers must be related to the vital interests of the captives.

For example, let the manager distribute the food or something. Specifically, it has to be combined with the third step, which is performance appraisal!

In this way, the captives will be allowed to manage the captives, and the Ming Dynasty will save a lot of trouble. What the Ming Dynasty needs to do is to withdraw from the matter and become the arbitrator between the two!"

When seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was already sweating profusely. Letting prisoners manage prisoners, such a genius idea, how did Lao Li come up with this?

(End of this chapter)