Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 68 Zhu Yunhuan’s Suggestions
"Grandpa Emperor, is it really true that we have no choice but to kill Wang Bi and the military commanders and nobles he brought with him yesterday?"

Yang Shiqi told him to talk less about state affairs, and not to speak out no matter how good his ideas were when they shouldn't be spoken.

Old Zhu has already made a decision regarding Wang Bi and others.

Logically speaking, he doesn't need to worry about anything and just needs to follow Lao Zhu's arrangements.

But Zhu Yunhuan weighed the options again and again and still decided to give it a try.

It’s not because I feel sorry for the lives of Wang Bi and others.

Since those people dared to attack me yesterday, they deserved to die.

He has become more and more integrated into this world.

I know that as a superior, sometimes I have to be hard-hearted!
Since ancient times, "kind people cannot command troops, good people cannot be officials, and benevolent people cannot be politicians."

However, Zhu Yunhuan wanted to try to create an opportunity for himself.

We must fundamentally solve the problem of military generals becoming too powerful to be controlled.

"We don't want to kill!"

Lao Zhu sighed, "They are all my brothers who followed me to conquer the world. I am not a butcher. If I can avoid killing, I don't want to start a massacre."

"But what can be done?"

"For the sake of the Ming Dynasty, as an emperor, I often have no choice."

"Don't think you can just follow the example of Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty and let these people go home to retire just by removing their military power!"

"If we were alive, there would be no problem doing this."

"Once we are gone, with their foundation in the army, even if we don't grant them military power or seals, many soldiers will still obey their orders."

"Lan Yu's few words yesterday were enough to make thousands of troops retreat obediently."

"Do you think he could have taken control of the army by himself, by going to the barracks of his former subordinates and seizing it?"

Zhu Yunhuan's eyes flickered.

Obviously, looking at the performance of Wang Bi and others, we can know that if Lan Yu really wanted to do this, he could definitely do it.

It's nothing more than finding an excuse, such as claiming to have the emperor's oral order or something like that.

Or they could make a token themselves and falsely claim that it was granted by the imperial court.

True or false doesn't matter.

With his prestige among his subordinates, even fake things can be used as real ones, and the soldiers will listen to him.

"Official status can restrain some people, but it cannot restrain everyone!"

"If we don't kill them, it will be a huge hidden danger."

"Now you have a ready-made excuse. You can not only clip Lan Yu's wings and limit his power, making it easier to control him in the future, but also make him grateful to you. You can also use these people's heads to establish your prestige among the military generals and nobles."

"This is a good thing that kills three birds with one stone. Why not do it?"

Having lived two lifetimes, Zhu Yunhuan certainly understood what Zhu Yuanzhang was talking about.

Power does not only come from being granted from above, but more importantly, it requires recognition from below.

Once power is not recognized by those below it, it will become a piece of waste paper.

On the contrary, if one has the support of a large number of people below, he can still hold power even if he does not have that title.

However, Zhu Yunhuan had his own ideas. He said, "Grandpa Emperor, I have a way to take away their power without killing them."

"I can also make them work for me, and even fundamentally solve the problem of the generals being too powerful to be removed."

Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly stunned, and there was an obvious hint of disbelief in his eyes.

The difficulty of getting rid of military generals is an eternal problem.

From ancient times to the present, there has been no good solution.

Using civil power to control military power and strengthening the trunk while weakening the branches is certainly one method, but it can easily lead to the weakening of a country's military power.

The Song Dynasty is a ready-made example.

Various other methods have also been tried in various dynasties.

Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.

There is no perfect solution.

Zhu Yunhuan said he could solve it, but Zhu naturally didn't quite believe it.

However, facing his beloved grandson, he was still willing to listen to him, so he said with interest: "Come and listen!"

"We can start from two aspects!" Zhu Yunhuan said what he was thinking: "The first is to set up a military academy."

After hearing this, Old Zhu was stunned for a moment, then he burst into laughter.

"The military academy you mentioned, isn't it just martial arts?"

"I had just led my army to occupy Jinling City, and before I ascended the throne and became emperor, I had already established martial arts."

"The official in charge of martial arts now is named..."

At this point, Zhu suddenly paused. He had always been diligent in his work and knew the names of all the officials in the court.

However, the official in charge of martial arts was of too low a rank.

Martial arts play a very small role at this time, so Lao Zhu will not pay too much attention to it.

In addition, he is now old and his memory is not as good as before, so he actually forgot his name for a moment.

"Anyway, we have always had martial arts in the Ming Dynasty, but it has never been of much use."

Old Zhu said, "Our original idea was to recruit the children of military officers for the martial arts school."

"Through martial arts, we will train a group of soldiers who are good at fighting."

"But it turned out to be the opposite of what we wanted."

"Martial arts is very hard."

"Most of the children of military generals and nobles have been spoiled since childhood and cannot endure such hardships."

"So I don't want to study martial arts."

"Sometimes there are some people who are able to endure hardships and have good abilities. With the protection of their parents, they don't even need to enter martial arts schools. They can still achieve success and rise to the top."

"Martial arts have become a piece of chicken ribs, tasteless to eat and a pity to throw away."

In fact, when martial arts were first established in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was abolished after less than ninety days.

The reason is that there are simply no qualified students to recruit.

Although it was reopened later, it still did not play much of a role.

Lao Zhu encountered the same problem when he started a martial arts school.

Since ancient times, "the poor are good at literature and the rich are good at martial arts."

Poor families tighten their belts and save money, and by squeezing together they can barely afford to send their children to school.

But if I want to learn martial arts, I really can’t afford it!

The cost of food alone is an astronomical figure for a poor family.

If calculated based on the wages converted into income.

Food in this era was dozens of times more expensive than in later generations.

To learn martial arts you must eat well.

For children from rich families, they can afford to eat meat.

But the question is, why not study literature but join the army and learn martial arts?

Not only do they have to endure hardships, but they also have to fight on the front lines, which is extremely dangerous.

As for the sons of military generals and nobles like Chang Sheng, their ideal in life is to eat, drink and have fun by relying on their father's achievements.

After all the calculations, no matter what kind of people they are, no one is willing to learn martial arts.

Since we can’t even recruit a few qualified students, it’s naturally useless.

However, Zhu Yunhuan was very clear that there was another very important reason behind this.

That is, the benefits of martial arts are really too low.

Those who studied literature could take the imperial examinations, and if they passed, they could become officials.

But martial arts are different.

Soldiers, the great event of the country, the place of life and death, the way of life and death.

It's impossible to let you lead an army into battle just because you have learned martial arts and are able to talk about military affairs on paper.

This is too childish!

This is really different from civil servants.

Ultimately, students who have learned martial arts still have to go to the battlefield for training and make military achievements in order to be promoted step by step.

In that case, why not just join the army?
Why bother?
The martial arts school established by Zhu Yuanzhang only recruited the children of military officers, further limiting the scope of enrollment.

Even if these people want to join the army, the wise thing to do is to join the army under their fathers instead of studying some crappy martial arts.

In this case, it would be strange if the martial arts of the capital city did not become useless.

Old Zhu was well aware of this, but he couldn't find a solution for the time being, so he could only let it go for the time being.

Zhu Yunhuan already knew all this when he was thinking about setting up a military academy.

"Grandpa Emperor, of course I know that there are martial arts in Jinling City."

Zhu Yunxun said: "However, the military academy that my grandson is going to run is different from the current martial arts."

"The first batch of students that my grandson will recruit are not ordinary people, but military generals and nobles in the court, the left and right governors of the Five Military Governors' Office, assistant governors, judges, and commanders guarding various places, etc."

……

(End of this chapter)