I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 400: Zhu Houxuan's View of the Civil Service "Group"

Zhu Houzhao was determined to take every step of the reform firmly. He was not in a hurry for success. There was no rush for reform. Time was on his side. After all, he was only 22 years old. Zhu Houzhao was only 27 years old.
Although Zhu Houchun claimed to be the executive vice emperor, in fact, all major decisions were discussed with Zhu Houzhao beforehand. Zhu Houzhao had little interest in government affairs and devoted all his attention to military affairs, so he left it to Zhu Houchun to handle it on his own.

The most important thing is that Zhu Houzhao had seen through those civil servants in the nine years after he ascended the throne, so he was happy to see Zhu Houxuan's move to crack down on and restrict the civil servants.

Zhu Houzhao also realized the problems with the civil service system, but due to the limitations of the times, he did not have any good way to deal with the civil servants, and was instead suppressed by them.

Before Zhu Houxuan traveled through time, he had read a lot of online articles about traveling to the Ming Dynasty. He was familiar with the famous "civil servant group" of the Ming Dynasty. However, after traveling through time and observing the political ecology of the Ming Dynasty up close, Zhu Houxuan discovered that the so-called "civil servant group" did not exist.
At least the "civil service group" described in the online article does not exist.

Zhu Houxuan's observations are:
There was no "stable and purposeful" organization in the Ming Dynasty;

But there is a group that is "unconsciously proliferating and expanding";

There is no civil service “group”;
But there is a civil servant “group”;
During the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang learned from the lessons of the demise of previous dynasties and brought imperial power and the feudal system to a new peak.

In the Ming Dynasty, it was impossible for the civil service group to develop self-awareness. There was simply no soil for it. Even in the late Ming Dynasty when the entire court was filled with the Donglin Party, the civil service group did not actually develop self-awareness. They were even divided into many factions and fought each other fiercely.

Because they do not have a unified program, although they learn from Confucianism, Confucianism has been transformed into something that completely serves the rulers.
Therefore, there is no civil service group because they are not a political organization, but only a political group, and their degree of organization does not reach the level of a "group".

Sometimes we can see civil servants uniting to oppose something, but this is not controlled by self-consciousness, but a stress response caused by the damage to the common interests of their group.
Therefore, it is clear that there existed a group of civil servants in the Ming Dynasty that “unconsciously proliferated and expanded”.

The lack of a "group" is also a very scary thing, because you want to attack them but there is no "entity" to attack, or in other words, no one is a traitor, but everyone is a traitor.

The biggest problem of the civil servant group is "unconscious proliferation and expansion". Although they have no self-awareness, they have an instinct to constantly strengthen themselves and proliferate and expand.
Doesn't it feel like cancer cells? Cancer cells cannot become tissues with a growth direction, but they multiply infinitely without consciousness and have a high ability to kill the mother cell?
If you think carefully about the state of the Ming Dynasty at the end of the Ming Dynasty, wasn’t it like a patient in the late stage of cancer?
Of course, these are not a problem for Zhu Houxuan, the methods have been written in the textbooks of later generations.
Zhu Houzhao gradually became unable to stay in the capital and was eager to return to the border town.

Having achieved a great victory, he no longer had to sneak out of the capital as he had done before. This time he would go to the border town openly and with great fanfare.

So he has been summoning people frequently recently to explain all matters that will be handled after he leaves Beijing.

Leopard room.

"After a series of simulations, the General Staff concluded that our next offensive direction should be in the Hetao direction," said Jiang Jiangong, pointing to the Hetao on the map.

He has now officially become the Chief of Staff of the General Staff.

"Why?" Zhu Houzhao asked with interest. "The Yellow River has a hundred harms, but only one benefit. The Hetao area is rich in water and grass, and is one of the most important grasslands for the Tatars. The Yellow River is blocked on three sides, and the soil is fertile and can be used for farming. If our army occupies the Hetao area, we can build a city and cultivate land there, making the Hetao a fulcrum for our attack on the Tatar tribes."

"In comparison, the location of the three Wuriankhai tribes is not as important as Hetao. Moreover, our army defeated the Mongols last year, and their internal situation is in chaos. Although the three Wuriankhai tribes are subservient to the Tatars, they have always been at odds with the Tatars and have different intentions. If we attack the three Wuriankhai tribes at this time, it would be equivalent to helping the Tatars. Therefore, we should give priority to weakening the main branch of the Tatars, so that their internal struggle will not be quelled." Jiang Jiangong said.

"The last point is that we can launch the attack on Hetao from Datong, Shuozhou and Yulin. Compared with attacking the three Wuliangha guards in Liaodong area, our logistical supply will be easier. These are all the reasons of the General Staff." Jiang Jiangong ended his speech.

There was an immediate burst of admiration in the room. Jiang Jiangong's reason was impeccable and no one present could find any fault with it.

Zhu Houzhao was also very satisfied, and his idea was to attack the Hetao area first.

In addition to the reasons mentioned by Jiang Jiangong, the Hetao region was considered a lost territory of the Ming Dynasty. It was taken away from the Ming Dynasty by Dayan Khan, so it has greater political significance.

"Brother, is there any problem with logistics?" Zhu Houzhao looked at Zhu Houxuan beside him.

Zhu Houxuan was also pulled to attend the meeting. Although he expressed his unwillingness to participate in such a meeting to make military decisions, he was stationed in the capital, which was the logistics base of the Imperial Guards, so he was forcibly pulled to the meeting by Zhu Houzhao.

"There are no major problems with logistics, please rest assured, my brother." Zhu Houxuan said with a smile.

With the existence of railways, the consumption of grain and grass during transportation was greatly reduced. Even though the railway could not be built to Datong Town due to the terrain, the loss during transportation was much lower than that during the Hongwu and Yongle periods.
Moreover, Zhu Houxuan had a hunch that the mass-produced steam locomotive would most likely be finalized and put into production this autumn, by which time the transportation cost would drop significantly.

So he doesn't worry about logistical issues.

However, he still had some doubts in his heart. He hesitated for a moment and asked, "When are you going to launch the attack, brother?"

"I haven't thought about this yet. I want to launch an attack in the fall, but I'm worried about the training of the new army's cavalry and the production of flintlock pistols." Zhu Houzhao frowned slightly.

"Brother, do you still remember that I discussed military affairs with you when I first came to the Leopard House?" Zhu Houxuan suddenly asked.

"First time in the Leopard House? Are you talking about Wei Qing and Huo Qubing's recovery of Hetao? You want us to launch an attack next spring?" Zhu Houzhao immediately thought of what happened in the ninth year of Zhengde.

(End of this chapter)