My God, I am the emperor, the lord of mankind.

Chapter 310 When the reform is in progress

But before he could hear Yuan Zonggao's explanation, two censors from the Metropolitan Procuratorate came outside the door and whispered a few words in Wang Shouren's ears.

When I heard that it was the decree given by the emperor in the palace himself.

Wang Shouren's expression became much more serious.

He immediately stood up, bowed his hands to everyone, and said.

"Something happened with the traitorous party at the Jingzhong Wenxiang Society. The palace sent an order for me to deal with it. Take the first step! Accuse! Accuse!"

"Since there is an edict, Mr. Wang should go first. With me and the elders taking care of it, there won't be any trouble!"

Liang Chu nodded and said, he couldn't help but cough twice.

These days, as the army is on the march, these cabinet members are also working all night in the capital to deal with official imperial affairs.

How to provide frontline troops with all the resources they need to the greatest extent possible.

And it would not cause local civil unrest due to excessive oppression and bring blackness to the emperor's face.

It is undoubtedly a very complicated and thorny issue.

Everyone knows that as long as the cabinet orders an increase in taxes and grain adjustments, the local bureaucrats and powerful people who have already been tamed by this time will immediately implement it.

In order to please the Central Committee, the Association collected more, and even took the opportunity to intercept some of it and put it into his own pocket.

But they don't care whether heavy taxes and corvee will push the common people to a dead end.

After all, it was you who gave the order. When the civil uprising really happens, the responsibility will naturally fall on the cabinet.

And they only need to wait for the peasant army to develop to a certain level and start suppressing it. The leader of the Gar people will do the same.

After all, the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty were extremely proficient in how to get promoted quickly by relying on the leadership of peasant soldiers.

How to coordinate this balance so that the court can obtain military supplies without bankrupting the people and preventing local corrupt officials from taking advantage of it requires detailed discussions among the cabinet members and the continuous collection of information from all parties in a timely manner. React.

"Sir, Chief Assistant, please also pay attention to your health and don't overwork yourself!"

After saying a few words of relief, Wang Shouren quickly walked out of the door and hurriedly retreated with the two censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

As for the only three people left in the field, Yuan Zonggao first glanced at Liang Chu worriedly, and then explained after seeing that he indicated that he was fine.

"If that's all, that's it, but these relatives were either transferred to serve in the Beijing Army by His Majesty, or they were appointed to the Governor's Office of the Fifth Army, and some of them were included in the forbidden troops to wait for arrangements——"

Yuan Zonggao said.

At this point, he couldn't help but sigh.

There are so many relatives, but not one of them has been assigned to serve as a clerk in the six ministries.

What does the emperor mean?
If you want to use your relatives to manage the army, then the Ministry of War is not a good place. Why should you choose the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion?

But the emperor not only did not consider it.

Instead, several decrees were issued, asking the Fifth Army Commander-in-Chief to work with the Ministry of War to verify this year's food, salary and military supplies in the north.

This is undoubtedly dividing the rights and functions of the Ministry of War.

And gradually strengthened the control of the Five Armed Forces Governor's Office over military posts all over the world.

"Does the emperor really want to follow the old example of Hongwu and build all the vassals to protect the royal family?"

Liang Chu, the commander-in-chief of the empire, naturally understands better than anyone else how the country has changed since the emperor returned to Beijing in recent months.

The first is the change in the functions of the Fifth Military Governor's Office and the Ministry of War.

The Emperor first assigned the power of appointing and dismissing the most elite Nine-Border Army in the north to the Governor-General of the Rear Army, who is now the Governor-General of the Rear Army, on the grounds that the Ministry of War had not been able to order the local officials to repay the debts owed to the Nine-Border Army over the years and was ineffective in doing so. Determined hands.

Then he followed the same pattern and handed over the border troops in the northwest, southwest, and Lingnan to the governors of each region under the jurisdiction of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion.

The Ministry of War is only responsible for checking and distributing money and food every month.

As compensation, perhaps considering that trade with barbarians from all directions required the participation of officials from the six ministries, the Ministry of Rites sent people to communicate the payment of commercial orders, the Ministry of Industry shipped goods, the Ministry of Accounts took care of accounts, and the Ministry of War needed to dispatch fleets to transport goods out of the empire.

Therefore, the newly formed naval fleet was handed over to the joint jurisdiction of the Ministry of War and the Right Army Governor's Office.

The Ministry of War was very happy to get the jurisdiction of the fleet.

After all, this way the Ministry of War can be tougher in front of the officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs when it comes to paying wages in the future.

If it really doesn't work, the Ministry of Household Affairs will not pay wages, and everyone from the Ministry of War to the Shangshu to the petty officials will go to sea to do business. It is also a way to survive.

Especially after the emperor said that the Ministry of Rites' use of the navy for trade was not free, and part of the profits must be allocated to the Ministry of War and fleet officers and soldiers as hard work and allowances.

The Ministry of War official who originally said, "The laws of our ancestors are immutable, we cannot indulge in trade with barbarians, Your Majesty," looked at the money in his hand and remained silent for a long time.

I saw that silk worth only 20 taels in the Mainland had multiplied five times in the hands of second-rate dealers from Flangji people in Luzon.

The money allocated to the Ministry of War alone was enough to buy another batch of silk.After experiencing a fierce ideological struggle.

The next day when the officials of the Ministry of War went to court, they had to change their ways and made a decision that went against their ancestors.

"Do you understand what the wisdom of the ancestors is?"

"Do you know the value of Guan Zhong Hengshan's plan, a great economist in the Spring and Autumn Period?"

"Economic war is also a type of war? Currency war, monopoly trade, understand?"

Although it is tempting, well, the idea of ​​twice the salary is indeed tempting.

As a result, the angry officials of the Ministry of War who had had their powers weakened were now afraid that their complaints would offend the emperor and prevent them from contributing to the empire's great economic strategy of subduing the surrounding barbarians.

Therefore, they surrendered without any serious resistance to the reforms of the empire.

Originally, in everyone's mind, this was just a small adjustment made by the emperor to distinguish the frontier army from the inland army.

But Liang Chu thought of the imperial court's arrangements for the two Xuanweisi and military towns in the southwest.

Can't help but let out a long sigh.

Realizing that the emperor's purpose of re-dividing military power was probably not just to treat the frontier army and the inland army differently.

But there are other plans besides this.

Liang Chu looked at Yuan Zonggao, who was from the Ministry of Rites, who was anxious in front of him, and smiled bitterly.

The emperor wanted to follow the example of Taizu and entrust kings to protect the royal family. Although he did not say it on the surface, he had already made up his mind secretly.

The fact that the two Xuanweisi and military towns in the southwest are not within the scope of the border army is a signal.

But this time, by directly letting his relatives come to Beijing and serve in the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion and the Beijing Army, he was almost telling the world what he wanted to do.

When a prince grows up, his mother's family will become their first followers and loyalists.

The troops in his hands will also be split up by the emperor and put into the newly established fiefdoms of the empire to maintain the local rule of the kings.

More than ten years were enough for the foreign relatives who now seemed to be insignificant in front of the huge imperial bureaucracy to expand into a behemoth that no one could ignore under the emperor's deliberate connivance.

And now the emperor is adjusting the empire's military system step by step so that it can gradually adapt to the impact of the new garrison model in the near future.

Liang Chu looked at Yuan Zonggao and Yuan Ge Lao who looked anxious in front of him, and knew what the crux of his worries was the most.
If the emperor cannot be stopped now, then ten years later, when a layered loyalty system is formed around these princes, relatives, military nobles, and middle- and lower-level warriors who are eager to make achievements.

That was really imminent. Even if the imperial bureaucrats wanted to go back on their word, it would be too late.

But, stop it now?is it possible--

Liang Chu shook his head gently and sighed.

This destroyed Yuan Zonggao's last illusion about persuading the emperor to turn back in time.

"Your Majesty is the master of Zhongxing. A real dragon has come to this world. His thoughts and concerns are beyond the reach of others. We are all ministers of the emperor. If your Majesty has already made a decision, we should not make false statements."

But after all, as the head of a hundred officials, he is actually the spokesperson of the Cultural Management Group.

No matter how Liang Chu knew that nothing could be done, he could not pretend to be deaf and indifferent to this change that would affect the entire imperial bureaucracy.

As for why Yuan Zonggao was so impatient.

Liang Chu also understood something.

After all, the cabinet members are all human beings, so who can't understand the purpose of the emperor's series of arrangements.

You can see how calm and composed Wang Qiong, Wang Shouren and other cabinet ministers who came from the Ministry of War appeared in response to the order of the vassal king.

Because it is obvious that with the establishment of vassal states one after another, although the Fifth Military Governor's Office will take away a large part of its powers, the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War will inevitably be further expanded.

After all, the finance and people's livelihood of the vassal territory can be autonomous. There is a high probability that the empire will relax its control, and even the military of the vassal can be self-sufficient to a certain extent.

However, in order to control the various vassals and prevent the vassal kings from using too much power to cause chaos, the central government of the empire would inevitably use the empire's own military system, that is, the Ministry of War and the Five Military Governor's Office directly under the imperial court, to supervise and even directly participate in the military construction of the vassals in various places. among.

With the establishment of the vassal state more than ten years later, the expansion of the functions of the Ministry of War was almost inevitable.

This is also the reason why there is no obvious resistance from the top and bottom of the Ministry of War to the emperor's recent reform attitude.

But for document management systems other than the Ministry of War and Industry.

The establishment of vassal states undoubtedly meant the contraction and reduction of their power.

This is why Yuan Zonggao looks so angry.

After understanding this, the behavior of various forces within the empire is not surprising.

But there was only one thing that Liang Chu couldn't figure out.

That is where in the empire does the emperor want to divide his princes?
(End of this chapter)