The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 174 "The Emperor's Secret Order"

After considering for a few days, Zhu Jianxuan began to write a reply to his father who was the emperor.

Tell him that your plan and preparations have been basically completed and you can go back to work after the New Year.

He hoped that the immigrants' steamship fleet could help transport people, and that the imperial court would be prepared to deal with any situations that might arise from this.

Then he explained his analysis and concerns about the situation in the Jiangnan region.

There may be a wave of factory closures after the disaster relief and immigration are over, and there is a risk of unemployed intellectuals and workers joining forces.

On this basis, it was suggested that my father begin to implement a minimum wage system. For example, the monthly wage of any craftsman in Yingtian Prefecture must not be less than three silver dollars.

If it can be fully implemented locally, it should be able to delay subsequent crises.

If it is difficult to implement within the private sector, it is recommended to start with royal factories and royal trading companies.

This will create a gap in reputation between royal manufacturers and private manufacturers.

Let the people believe that the royal family is good.

Zhu Jianxuan's letter was sent back to Yingtian Prefecture in mid-November of the 41st year of Xianning as the immigrant ship returned.

After reading the letter, Ming Emperor Zhu Zhonglin was quite satisfied with Zhu Jianxuan's plan and looked forward to seeing the liberation of the north in his lifetime.

I quite agree with Zhu Jianxuan's analysis of civil conflicts and risks.

The rebels in every dynasty were basically scholars who mobilized the peasants, which led to the formation of an uncontrollable scale.

However, the emperor's views on how to solve the problem and the specific ideas and directions were obviously different from Zhu Jianxuan's.

In the emperor's view, the leaders of ancient rebels had to mobilize the peasants, which, from another perspective, meant "winning the hearts of the people."

In ancient times, killing evil landlords and dividing the land was the best way to win the hearts of the people.

The practice in rural areas is the same now. If we use an analogy in the city, it means killing the bully boss and distributing money or even shares to the workers?

Zhu Jianxuan was thinking in a positive direction and took the initiative to pay the workers to prevent them from being mobilized by ambitious people.

But the emperor naturally thought the other way around.

We must not allow ambitious people the opportunity to do these things, and we must immediately eliminate any traitors who do such things.

The emperor felt that he was destined to be the emperor and that he was the people's choice.

I find it weird to proactively pay workers processing fees.

The emperor thought that it was because he had not mentioned before the plan to concentrate the disaster victims on Chongming Island for management.

Once the disaster victims are sent away, the civil situation will naturally stabilize.

In order to recruit workers, factories will naturally increase wages. This is the experience from previous disaster relief efforts.

After considering for a long time, the emperor personally wrote an imperial edict, sealed it with his own seal, and sealed it in a special box.

That is to say, it was a very rare secret decree, allowing Zhu Jianxuan to use it according to the situation.

In addition, a public order was issued, requiring the steamship fleet to accept the orders and commands of the King of Wu when it arrived in Australia next time.

At the end of the 41st year of Xianning, another round of immigrants arrived in Australia.

The admiral of this immigration fleet, Wang Tao, the deputy governor of the Central Military Governor's Office, immediately went to pay a visit to King Wu Zhu Jianxuan after the fleet docked.

In the Chengyun Hall of the Wu Palace, Wang Tao presented the emperor's sealed box to Zhu Jianxuan first, and then gave Zhu Jianxuan the emperor's public order for him to check:
"Your Majesty, I am ordered by Your Majesty to act according to Your Majesty's orders. Please tell me what we should do specifically."

Zhu Jianxuan read the order and replied with a straightforward statement:

"General, you will spend the New Year in the capital first, and then command the fleet that transports immigrants and transports the soldiers of the Wu Kingdom to the battle."

Zhu Jianxuan didn't get to the point, and Wang Tao felt that he shouldn't ask any more questions:
"I understand. If you need my cooperation, please give me the order directly."

Zhu Jianxuan asked Wang Tao to rest first, and then he fiddled with the box his father gave him alone.

After carefully examining the wax seal on the box and opening it, he discovered that it contained an imperial edict and a letter.

Zhu Jianxuan read the letters first, which were mainly about what he wanted to do.

The emperor allowed himself to do what he wanted. The imperial court might not be able to provide much help and could only be responsible for suppressing the local vassal states that might cause trouble.

At the same time, the emperor said that he would give himself a status, which was the arrangement in the imperial edict in the box.

Zhu Jianxuan put away the letter, carefully took out the imperial edict, and read its contents carefully.

The imperial edict was quite simple. First, it appointed King Wu Zhu Jianxuan as the "Grand Commander of the Northern Expedition" to oversee the Northern Expedition affairs and to act at his discretion.

At the same time, an additional requirement was imposed on all officials and civilians to cooperate. If anyone obstructed the Northern Expedition, regardless of whether they were royal relatives, nobles, officials, or gentry, they would be executed first and reported later.

This secret decree was an "imperial decree" and was an order written directly by the emperor himself without the approval of the cabinet.

According to many novels, this imperial edict is "illegal".

But the emperor's will is the law, and there is no such thing as illegal imperial edicts, but they may not be enforced.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty in previous history, imperial edicts without the cabinet's approval were difficult to execute.

Because the cabinet ministers were the representatives and leaders of the civil service system, their failure to write drafts for the emperor's will meant that there were differences of opinion between the emperor and the civil service system.

So it’s not that the decree is illegal, but that the decree harms the interests of officials and the officials collectively refuse to execute it.

But looking at it from another perspective, if the person who received the imperial edict was willing to carry it out and did not care about the interests and exclusion of the civil service system, then it would not matter whether there was a cabinet vote or not.

In fact, having no draft may be better than having one, as it can better represent the emperor's will and is more unquestionable.

Zhu Jianxuan's imperial edict was a secret edict written by the emperor himself.

Zhu Jianxuan read the imperial edict for a while, and a special suspicion suddenly arose in his mind. This imperial edict could completely clear the credit for the Northern Expedition from the court officials.

One can even have a conspiracy theory, which could make people speculate that the emperor wanted to launch a northern expedition, but was collectively opposed and even sidelined by officials.

The emperor even had to write a secret decree to order the princes outside the capital to send troops to the north.

Zhu Jianxuan took this imperial edict and led his 200,000 troops to the north. If he encountered anyone who obstructed his actions, he could capture and shoot them on the spot.

Zhu Jianxuan didn't expect that his father gave him such great trust.

We had originally planned to conceal it when we sent out the troops, but now we can prepare and act in a big way.

Lure the vassal states that opposed the Northern Expedition to come out and cause trouble, and then kill them directly.

In fact, even if they did not jump out, he could take the imperial edict and take the initiative to kill all the vassal states and existing bureaucrats.

But there is no need to be so drastic for the time being, and we should prioritize the Northern Expedition.

First deal with the Qing Dynasty in the north, and then turn around to clean up the vassal states.

After careful consideration, Zhu Jianxuan carefully kept the imperial edict and then called Duan Yucai from the Secretariat.

Let him write a manifesto to fight against the Qing invaders.

When Duan Yucai heard the order, he was stunned:
"Your Majesty? I didn't hear you clearly just now. You want me to write a manifesto to fight against the Qing invaders?"

Zhu Jianxuan said very seriously:
"Yes, His Majesty the Emperor has issued a secret decree, requiring me to lead my own troops to the north to fight against the Qing invaders at the right time.

“In the spring of the 42nd year of Xianning, I will personally lead 200,000 soldiers of the Wu State to go to war.

"We sailed north to fight against the Qing invaders and recover the old capital.

"So Mr. Qing wrote a letter to attack the Qing invaders and sent it to the editorial office of the main local newspaper to be published and announced to the world."

Duan Yucai felt his eyes inexplicably sore after listening to these last words.

I subconsciously said to myself that my previous judgment was indeed correct, and the people's speculation was indeed correct.

Our king is so "warmongering" that he even goes overseas to train troops. It is impossible that he does this just to conquer cities overseas.

His goal has always been the Central Plains, which the Ming Dynasty scholars have been dreaming of:
"I obey your order. I will write it right away... I will follow the king to the north!"

Zhu Jianxuan thought about it:
"Then transfer Mr. Duan Yucai and Mr. Fei Chun to accompany the army to assist the main force of the army in the civil affairs of the recovery area, and Mr. Song Wendao, Mr. Yao Nai, and Mr. Shen Chu will stay in the capital."

Duan Yucai immediately agreed excitedly:

"The minister obeys the order."

Duan Yucai did not ask how the land would be dealt with after the Northern Expedition, whether it would be given directly to the imperial court or managed by the State of Wu.

Should the vassal states be reduced after the Northern Expedition? How should the vassal state of Wu be arranged?

Zhu Jianxuan assigned Duan Yucai a task and ordered all military officers above the rank of division commander in the royal capital, including the Privy Councilors and staff officers of the Privy Council, to come to Chengyun Hall for a meeting.

Zhu Jianxuan once again publicly and loudly announced that he had received a secret order from his father and decided to send troops to the Northern Expedition next year.

The generals on the scene immediately became excited.

The Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and the recovery of the old capital are the greatest military exploits that the current generals can think of and have the opportunity to achieve.

Compared with the wars in the Central Plains, those wars overseas are not worth mentioning at all.

Moreover, the generals had experience in overseas combat and were very confident in the new rifles and artillery that had recently been fully equipped compared with the old equipment.

No one takes the enemy in the north seriously anymore.

Many people think that this battle will turn into a race.

It depends on whose troops march the fastest and take over and recover the most land, and the more rewards they will get in the end.

The higher the chance of leaving your name in history.

Some generals, in their excitement, thought of the task arrangement just like Duan Yucai, so they took the initiative to stand up and report loudly:
"I would like to follow the king to the north!"

With someone taking the lead, the other generals immediately reacted and stood up and shouted:

"I would like to follow the king in the Northern Expedition."

Zhu Jianxuan looked at their reactions and suddenly felt a little helpless.

But looking at the current situation, it is estimated that no general is willing to stay, as they all want to follow him in the Northern Expedition.

If the output forced an order and assigned a few people to stay, they certainly would not dare to disobey, but they would definitely feel regretful.

Zhu Jianxuan thought about it and looked to see if anyone was willing to stay:
"I plan to lead ten main divisions, ten auxiliary divisions, and all the main naval divisions to the north to attack the Central Plains.

"Leave two main army divisions to lead the Guard Corps militia to guard Australia. Who among you is willing to stay?"

All the generals lowered their heads immediately. They were so excited just now and afraid that the king couldn't see them, but in a blink of an eye, they were afraid that the king could see them.

Zhu Jianxuan looked at several Privy Councilors of the Privy Council.

Cao Zhendong, who had already become the Privy Councilor, suggested at this time:
"Your Majesty, Australia is isolated overseas and surrounded by the sea. It has no strong enemies and does not need to arrange a main force to guard it.

“I think we can refer to the militia system of the United States.

"After the main army marches north, 30,000 to 50,000 militiamen from each garrison will take turns to guard the capital."

Zhu Jianxuan saw that the generals at the scene were all excited after hearing this suggestion, so he decided to follow suit:
"Then follow General Cao's advice. All the main divisions will head north, and the militia will be deployed in rotation."

The plot should have changed to a new stage, but I don’t know how to write it. I’m having a hard time writing it.

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(End of this chapter)