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

Chapter 592 War preparations
Chen Hong and Jiang Jiangong's resumes were immediately put under the microscope
Jiang Jiangong was fine, as he had earned his status by following Zhu Houzhao in the wars, but it still caused dissatisfaction among the civil officials. It had been hundreds of years since a military man became the Minister of War, and this position had always been held by civil officials. Moreover, in the eyes of the civil officials, this military man was just a servant in the Prince of Jing's mansion.
This is simply the most ridiculous thing in the world!

As for Chen Hong, it is even more infuriating. A man born in a merchant family, who had only been Zhu Houxuan's follower for twenty years, was promoted to a first-rank official, became a Grand Secretary of the Huagai Palace, and directly entered the cabinet?

The fact that a merchant's son who had never been to school could become a university scholar was unacceptable to all the civil servants.
You must know that in the eyes of civil servants, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet is extremely sacred, and there has always been an unspoken rule that only Hanlin scholars can enter the cabinet. Who among those who can enter the cabinet is not a person of profound knowledge and noble character?

As a result, Zhu Houxuan's actions directly destroyed all the sacredness of the cabinet ministers.
How could this not make them angry?

In addition, Zhu Houxuan's appointment of officials to the royal group also caused strong dissatisfaction among them. They all studied hard for decades to become officials, while these people from the royal group were just some businessmen who didn't know the classics and eight-part essays, but they became officials just like that. This contrast was simply unbearable.
In short, a war of words broke out between the South and the North. At that time, newspapers were already quite developed, so everyone published various articles in the newspapers.
The gentry in the south directly called the officials from the royal group "the eunuch party of the new era", believing that although they were not eunuchs, they were eunuchs who abused their power and brought disaster to the country. They also believed that Zhu Houxuan was a traitor and would lead to the demise of the Ming Dynasty.
The North and South were cursing each other with great pleasure. At this time, the Beijing court had lost control of the South because officials from the top to the bottom of the South were alienated from the Northern court. The Beijing court could not do anything about the Southern scholars who participated in the verbal battle, which made them even more arrogant.
The southern scholars also showed off their best performances and went to Confucius's Confucian Temple to cry about Zhu Houxuan's atrocities that disrespected Confucianism.
In this war of words, both sides gradually showed their respective political ideas, and more hesitant people made up their minds.
Those who supported the imperial court in Beijing moved closer to the imperial court in Beijing, while those who supported the rebel forces in the south moved closer to the south.
Many gentry were hesitant at first, but when they found that the momentum of supporting the southern forces was greater than that of the Beijing court, they all sided with the southern forces.
There were even many northern gentry who secretly went south to join the southern forces. The northern court turned a blind eye to this and did not stop them from fleeing to the south, which made the southern forces even more arrogant.
Just when the verbal battle between the two sides reached its climax, a piece of news that shocked the world came out - the contemporary Yansheng Duke Kong Wenshao appeared in Hangzhou City and launched a verbal attack on the Northern Court.
Kong Wenshao, the Duke of Yansheng, had long planned to leave the north and the area controlled by the northern court. Now that the time was finally right, he took the Kong family and Confucius' tablet and headed south, in fact, he fled to the south.
After arriving in Hangzhou, he openly criticized the northern court and presided over a large-scale public weeping temple action to accuse Zhu Houxuan of various atrocities.
The arrival of Kong Wenshao, the Duke of Yansheng, in the south boosted the morale of the southern forces and also made more hesitant people decide to side with the south.
The appeal of the saints to scholars is still very strong.
Zhu Houxuan did not care much about this turmoil. He hoped that as many people as possible from the south would come out.
"How is the preparation for war going?" Zhu Houxuan asked calmly while looking at the people in the audience.

"Your Highness, in the past three years, the Guards have expanded to 60 people, and each unit is equipped with four times the number of officers. If a war breaks out, these officers can enable us to expand our rapid military strength fourfold." Jiang Jiangong replied quickly.

"In the past three years, we have also completed the military system reform, the adaptation and transformation of new equipment and new tactics. The navy has also made corresponding preparations and training," Jiang Jiangong continued.

"Four times is two million four hundred thousand," Zhu Houxuan nodded and said calmly.

"What about weapons and equipment? Can it satisfy this number of troops?" Zhu Houxun looked at Wu Liangshan and said.

"Reporting to Your Highness, the General Armament Department has been expanding the production capacity of weapons over the past three years and has built more than a dozen new production lines. In addition to the firearms equipped to the active troops, we now have more than 1.5 million firearms in stock, which is enough to cope with future responses," Wu Liangshan said hurriedly.

Zhu Houxuan nodded and continued, "How are the arrangements for the Western Regions, Yanran, and Annan? Are their supplies sufficient?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, we transported a large amount of supplies to these three places at the end of last year, including a large number of vulnerable parts. Enough for them to use for two years." Wu Liangshan said immediately.

"What about other departments?" Zhu Houxuan asked. "The Ministry of Railways has already transported and stockpiled a large amount of supplies to the front line in Henan and Shandong."

"The Propaganda Department has completed its propaganda and infiltration work in the south. The people are still quite inclined towards us."

"."

The heads of various departments kept reporting. In fact, Zhu Houxuan had a clear idea of ​​the content of their reports in advance, but he needed everyone to have a clearer understanding of it.
"Everyone!" Zhu Houxuan stood up, "I believe you all know that the war will break out soon, and we have made full preparations for it!"

"At the end of the meeting, I want to say something to everyone!" Zhu Houxuan said, looking around at everyone.

Everyone stood up immediately, looking straight at Zhu Houxuan, waiting for his instructions.
"We want our enemies to know that we are not only good at building a new world, but also capable of smashing the old world!" Zhu Houxuan said in a sonorous and powerful voice.

Zhu Houxuan issued an edict regarding the fact that Duke Yansheng had taken Confucius' tablet to Hangzhou without authorization.
On the grounds that it was not right for Confucius to be called a king, his title of king and the title of Great Accomplishment and Culture were removed, and he was instead named "The Great Sage and Teacher".

Confucius' title of king came from the Yuan Dynasty, when Emperor Chengzong of Yuan conferred the title "Great Sage, Cultural and Propaganda King" on Confucius.

The Ming Dynasty followed the Yuan Dynasty's title and also respected Confucius as king.

This decree caused an uproar. Although the title of "Great Sage and Teacher" was not bad, at this critical juncture, giving Confucius the title of king would always make people think about it.
(End of this chapter)