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

Chapter 462 Testing
"I will select officials for the eight new states within three days!" said the Minister of Personnel Shi Yan.

Zhu Houxuan looked at the ministers leaving, shook his head gently, and turned his gaze back to the memorial in front of him.

He was not as angry as he appeared to be, and he guessed that the ministers also knew that he was not that angry.

How could Zhu Houxuan be angry about the incomplete staffing of officials? What good would it be to send those people who were selected by the Ministry of Personnel and were full of sage books, had little experience in practical affairs, and were unfamiliar with Mongolian affairs to the border military states? It was already good enough that they didn't make things worse...

So Zhu Houxuan was testing the bottom line of the civil officials.
What he meant just now was very clear: if the Ministry of Personnel could not select enough officials for the eight newly established states, then he would have to select them himself. By that time, the people he selected personally might not necessarily be people with meritorious service.

Since its establishment in the 12th year of Zhengde, the Beijing Te District has burst out with great vitality. In just over two years, the entire capital and its surrounding areas have undergone tremendous changes. In the past, it would not have taken decades to achieve such great changes.

The current Beijing Special Administrative Region is a place of political stability and social harmony from every perspective, with the people having enough food and clothing, living and working in peace and contentment, and it is a scene of prosperity.

The officials in the capital saw the changes in the Te District most clearly. The pragmatic and meticulous governance style of the Te District, which relied on industry and commerce to stimulate the economy, had completely exceeded their imagination and made them secretly shocked.

According to the standards of all dynasties, the current situation in the te district of the capital can be considered a well-governed state in any case. It can even be said that it has far exceeded the standard of a well-governed state.

But what embarrassed everyone was that the flourishing scene in the imperial territories had nothing to do with the civil servants. The civil servants in the imperial territories were all rubber stamps, and the officials who really played the leading role were the clerks from the royal group. Everyone was very clear about this, which brought a great shock to many people. It made many civil servants realize for the first time that they could govern the country well without reading the books of sages.
But the civil officials couldn't do anything about the capital's te district, so they tacitly handled the capital's te district's affairs.
Everyone knows that the Royal Group is the foundation of Zhu Houxuan's career. In the past, the Royal Group was only involved in industry and commerce, but now the Royal Group has begun to get involved in politics.
Zhu Houxuan was not satisfied with the current situation, so he was looking for ways to turn people from the royal group from clerks into officials, but this affected the interests of all the scholars in the Ming Dynasty.
So he wanted to try to see if he could get the official quotas of the newly established eight states (actually the eight states of Inner Mongolia), and let the employees of the Royal Group who had no official titles become officials of these eight states, first let them become officials with ranks, and then slowly promote them. Anyway, the conditions in these eight states are too difficult. Only the Guihua City in Yunzhong State has better conditions and has a city wall. The remaining seven states don't even have city walls.

The capitals of newly established states like Chengde, Chifeng, and Tongliao only had a low earthen wall, and the government offices were also very simple. In addition, due to continuous wars, the civil servants did not want to take up office in the eight newly established states.

Zhu Houxuan thought this was an opportunity, but the civil officials were very cautious, and it seemed that his plan might fail.
Just as Zhu Houxuan was lost in thought, Zhu Houzhao walked leisurely into the Qianqing Palace.

After returning to Beijing this time, Zhu Houzhao was more blatant in his political affairs. Before, he just sent memorials to Nangong for Zhu Houxun to handle, and nominally these government affairs were still handled by Zhu Houzhao. But after returning this time, he even skipped this step and let Zhu Houxun directly come to Qianqing Palace to handle government affairs and meet with officials.

Zhu Houzhao hid in the Leopard House all day, planning something.
Many people advised Zhu Houzhao against this, but Zhu Houzhao did not listen at all. He now had the confidence to ignore these advices.
"Why is my brother here?" Zhu Houxuan was awakened by the noise in the palace.
"Come to see you." Zhu Houzhao said with a smile.

As he spoke, he walked to Zhu Houxun's desk. Zhu Houxun's desk was in a well-lit corner of the hall. He knew his place well and would not be so arrogant as to sit in Zhu Houzhao's seat in the hall.

Zhu Houzhao walked to the table and casually flipped through the memorials on the table. He felt a headache when he estimated the thickness of the memorials on the table.
"You have worked so hard." Zhu Houzhao said with emotion. "You are too kind, my brother. I am living in the capital with fine clothes and delicious food. It is really hard for you to lead troops to fight in the outside world and sleep in the open air!" Zhu Houzhao said immediately.

Zhu Houzhao felt warm at the words of Zhu Houxuan, and said: "I don't find it hard at all to lead troops outside, but you are really hard-working and too stressful."

"Brother, don't be so modest. I have also learned about the hardships on the Mongolian grasslands through various documents." Zhu Houxuan said seriously.

"However, the war against Mongolia will be over in one or two years. By then, there will be no more major wars in the north of the Ming Dynasty. My royal brother should return to the capital to rest and take good care of his health." Zhu Houxuan said.

However, the smile on Zhu Houzhao's face gradually disappeared as Zhu Houxun spoke.
Zhu Houxuan also noticed Zhu Houzhao's expression and asked in surprise, "What's wrong with my brother?"

Zhu Houzhao glanced at Zhu Houxuan, then took a deep breath and said, "Brother, I don't want to stop after the war against Mongolia is over."

"Don't want to stop? What do you mean you don't want to stop?" Zhu Houzhao's words were beyond Zhu Houxuan's expectations, and he asked in confusion.

"I don't want to stop, I just want to keep playing."

"Continue to fight? Where to fight?" Zhu Houxuan said in disbelief, "The Tatar Mongols, who are the biggest threat to the Ming Dynasty, are almost unable to hold on. After they are dealt with, the Ming Dynasty should rest and recuperate for a while. Where else should we fight?"

Zhu Houzhao felt a little guilty about Zhu Houxun's big reaction, but he still said, "Fight to the west."

"Go west?"

"Yes! Fight to the west. To the west is the Ming Dynasty's old enemy, the Oirat Mongols. They haven't yet avenged the arrow shot from the Ming Dynasty. The Western Regions are the homeland of the Han and Tang Dynasties," Zhu Houzhao said quickly.

Zhu Houxuan stared at Zhu Houzhao in astonishment. He was a little confused about Zhu Houzhao's train of thought. "The Oirat Mongols were beaten badly by the little Mongolian prince. The Western Regions were not occupied during the time of Taizu and Taizong. Why are you in such a hurry, brother?"

Zhu Houzhao's plan was completely beyond Zhu Houxuan's expectations. In his plan, after defeating the Tatars, the Ming Dynasty would usher in a long period of peace.
(End of this chapter)