Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 65: Filling the Gap
Inside the small building, a cold wind was blowing outside.

Inside the house, Zhu Yunfeng closed the sliding door to the balcony and turned on the electric oven on the table to dispel the cold.

At this moment, Zhu Biao, Zhu Di and Zhu Yunfeng were sitting around the sofa, warming themselves by the fire.

Zhu Biao looked at the simple mind map made by Zhu Yunfeng. Under Zhu Yunfeng's guidance, the Ming officialdom, which was originally shrouded in fog, suddenly seemed so clear.

So that’s it.
Zhu Biao's mind was working rapidly and he quickly figured out the connection.

Unlike Zhu Di who was not allowed to interfere in the court, although Zhu Biao had no real power, he was able to observe politics and was not completely ignorant of the situation in the court.

Guided by the few simple labels made by Zhu Yunfeng, I suddenly understood a lot of things.

"Brother, Yunfeng, what are you talking about?"

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Biao, who seemed to have suddenly realized something, and couldn't help asking, "Can you explain it more clearly?"

"The structure of the officialdom in the early Ming Dynasty should be dominated by the Huaixi civil officials and the Zhejiang East civil officials group."

Zhu Yunfeng asked.

"Yes."

Zhu Biao nodded: "I understand your classification. Li Shanchang and Hu Weiyong were both Huaixi officials who followed their father to conquer the world."

"But in fact, the Zhejiang East Civil Service Group is also very powerful, led by Liu Ji, Zhang Yi, Ye Chen, and Song Lian."

Zhu Yunfeng said directly: "They are called the Four Masters of East Zhejiang, and they are also the heroes who helped our ancestors build the country. Although their contributions came later and are far inferior to Li Shanchang, they are also the leaders of the East Zhejiang Group."

"With the successive deaths of Liu Bowen, Zhang Sanyi and Ye Jingyuan, the only official from eastern Zhejiang left in the court who could hold up the situation was Song Lian, the teacher of Grandpa Taibo."

"However, the good times did not last long. Song Lian retired and returned to his hometown, which resulted in the Huaixi civil service group gaining a crushing advantage in the court."

"What's worse is that they even have a close relationship with the Huaixi Military Generals Group."

He looked at Zhu Di and said, "Second Ancestor, tell me, if you were the ancestor, and saw that the group of civil officials and military generals who helped you conquer the world colluded with each other and controlled the entire court, what would you do?"

"Of course it's killing!"

Zhu Di said without hesitation.

He now had some idea of ​​the key points and also understood why Zhu Yunfeng said it was related to the party struggles in the early Ming Dynasty.

So this is the root cause.

Seeing that Zhu Di had become somewhat clearer, Zhu Yunfeng nodded slightly.

Officials in the early Ming Dynasty were mainly divided into three groups.

Since Zhu Yuanzhang had conducted imperial examinations for several years but the results were not ideal, he chose the system of recommendation.

What is most likely to happen under the system of recommendation?

Naturally, it’s the fellow villagers.

Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang was from Huaixi and made his fortune in the Huaixi region, which led to the Huaixi people recommending each other, and there were countless high-ranking officials from Huaixi in the court.

Among them, the Huaixi people headed by Hu Weiyong and Li Shanchang were the leaders of the Huaixi civil service group.

In order to prevent such a situation of one dominant party, Zhu Yuanzhang supported the people in eastern Zhejiang to control the supervisory power as a check and balance.

For example, Liu Bowen was the Chief Censor and Grand Historian, Zhang Yi was the Chief Censor and Grand Prince Praiser, and Song Lian was even appointed as the prince's teacher. They were called the first of the founding civil officials and were entrusted with important tasks.

But obviously Zhu miscalculated.

The Zhejiang East Group collapsed too quickly. The Zhejiang East civil officials who followed him either died of illness or retired due to old age. They had no ability to compete with the Huaixi Group.

So Zhu had no choice but to personally kill off the Huaixi civil service group that threatened his imperial power, and also killed several Huaixi military generals and nobles who had close ties with the Huaixi civil service group, to serve as a warning to others.

One of the charges against Hu Weiyong was that he was suspected of poisoning Liu Bowen to death, which is the most important evidence.

So the logic behind it can be understood at once.

Originally, the Huaixi Group and the Zhejiang East Group were competing against each other, so Zhu Yuanzhang was quite relieved and spent more than ten years in peace in the early Ming Dynasty.

However, as the leading figures of the East Zhejiang Group died one after another, the last one, Song Lian, also retired and returned to his hometown. The Huaixi Group became the only one in power, threatening Zhu's imperial power, and was slaughtered.

The first to be affected by this political turmoil were naturally the Huaixi civil servant group recommended in large numbers by Hu Weiyong and Li Shanchang.

Now Zhu Yunfeng made this situation concrete for them and presented it to them in the form of a simple mind map.

Although it may not be completely accurate, it is simple and easy to understand.

Under such guidance, Zhu Biao quickly formed a picture in his mind.

Obviously.

There was only one result his father wanted - to get rid of the Huaixi civil service group that currently controlled the government!

No wonder fathers in history used treason as an excuse.

Only this excuse can logically allow the situation to continue to escalate.

If he can do this and satisfy his father, he will be able to take control of the future government.

"That's it, that's it!"

After Zhu Biao figured it out, he couldn't help but tremble and said, "Doesn't this mean that the Secretariat, the six ministries, the Censorate, and many officials from Huaixi will all be killed?"

"Well, so our ancestors readjusted the power structure after the Hu Weiyong case."

Zhu Yunfeng nodded.

The top-level power structure in the early Ming Dynasty initially followed the old system of the Yuan Dynasty.

It is mainly divided into three types: civil servants, military, and supervisory.

The first is the Secretariat, which governs the six ministries and is in charge of administrative affairs.

The second is the Grand Marshal's Office, which is in charge of military affairs.

The third is the Censorate, which is responsible for supervisory affairs.

The Hu Weiyong case was a purge of the civil service group.

The nominal highest official of the Secretariat was Li Shanchang, but the actual highest official was Hu Weiyong.

Three of the six ministers, namely Minister of War Zhao Ben, Minister of Personnel Chen Yu, and Minister of Works Yu Wensheng, were all from Huaixi.

In addition, there were the assistant ministers, doctors and deputy ministers of the six ministries, as well as some censors of the Censorate, officials of important departments such as the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provincial Administration Office, the Transport Commissioner Office, and the Yingtian Prefecture Office.

At present, there are not only a handful of high-ranking officials from Huaixi, but they also account for half of the country.

It can be said that the court is full of righteous people and all the wise men are present.

And the key point is not only that officials from Huainan recommended each other to serve as high-ranking officials, but also a large number of officials from non-Huainan joined them.

For example, the Imperial Censor Chen Ning, the Chief Censor Tu Jie, the Minister of Punishments Lu Zongyi, the Minister of Revenue Ren Bin, and even the previous Right Prime Minister Wang Guangyang all followed Hu Weiyong's lead.

With such a huge force, even if the emperor himself was one of the Huaixi people, who would not be afraid?
So now Zhu Biao realized what it meant to take over Hu Weiyong's business.

This means that he has to deal with the entire Huaixi civil service group.

Is this possible?
Zhu Biao hesitated and said, "Then what should I do? If this is true, won't I become like my father?" "I have already told you the method."

Zhu Yunfeng said.

"Well, we have to have a legitimate reason. We have to come up with a solution, such as killing or deposing these people for corruption, inaction, and lack of political achievements. We can strengthen the imperial power with legitimate reasons. I remember it very clearly."

Zhu Biao hesitated and said, "But the problem is that with such a large-scale dismissal and killing of officials, how can I choose a successor? I don't know how my father did it later."

Zhu Yunfeng smiled and said, "What else can our ancestors do? They can only reuse those officials who entered the government through the imperial examinations from the end of the Yuan Dynasty to the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. After the Zhongshu Province was abolished in the 13th year of Hongwu, the court officials were reformed, and a large number of Hu Weiyong's party and Huaixi civil servants were killed. Those who passed the imperial examinations in the late Yuan Dynasty, that is, from the Zhizheng period to the 6th year of Hongwu, were promoted. I checked before, and most of the six ministers and the doctors and assistants of each department were officials who entered the government at that time."

"So how did it work?"

Zhu Biao asked hurriedly.

"Not ideal."

Zhu Yunfeng shook his head and said, "Our ancestors themselves said that most of these people were just good at writing and their help to national affairs was extremely limited, otherwise they would not have abolished the imperial examination system in the sixth year of Hongwu. It was not until the fifteenth year of Hongwu that they found that there were really few officials in the court due to his killings, and the remaining officials were all incompetent, so they were forced to restore the imperial examination system, which even triggered the later North-South List Case."

"what should I do?"

Zhu Biao frowned and said, "Although I don't want to cause mass killings, according to my father's wishes, I have to dismiss even those officials who are not guilty. With such a big gap, do I have to learn from my father and promote those who are good at writing?"

"Of course there is a way."

"any solution?"

"This involves another group - the Yuan Dynasty civil servants group."

Zhu Yunfeng pointed twice at the location of the ancient Yuan Dynasty civil servant group written on the paper, and said with a smile: "This is a group that is easily overlooked, but it is also a very important group."

"them?"

Zhu Biao looked at the group and fell into deep thought.

The Yuan Dynasty civil service group.

Before Zhu Yunfeng labeled them, Zhu Biao had never even thought that such a group existed.

However, after Zhu Yunfeng set up this label, Zhu Biao suddenly understood.

It turns out that there was such a huge group in the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, since Zhu Yuanzhang's civil service group in the early Ming Dynasty was not strong enough, and he was not satisfied with either the recommendation system or the imperial examination system for selecting talents, Zhu Yuanzhang did not make a major change in local management.

Many of the county magistrates, prefects, and county and prefectural assistant officials were people who had served as officials during the Yuan Dynasty.

Among them, there are not only Han people, but also Mongolians and Semites.

For example, the current Left Councillor of Shanxi, Qie Si, the Magistrate of Lu'an Prefecture, Fengyang Prefecture, Yan Hu, the Editor of Hanlin Academy, Huo Zhuang (Mongolian name Huo Nichi), the Magistrate of Panyu County, Dao Tong, the Magistrate of Luzhou, Su Qi (Mongolian name Bojijijin), the Etiquette Envoy Pu Bo, and so on.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang, who had experienced the end of the Yuan Dynasty, had seen too many of the former Yuan officials exploiting the lower-class people, which led to him naturally having no good feelings towards these former Yuan officials.

For example, Daotong, the magistrate of Panyu County, was a very good official. Zhu Liangzu, one of the founding heroes, committed crimes after going to Guangzhou. Daotong was not afraid of power and stood up for the people. Even when he was humiliated and beaten by Zhu Liangzu, he remained stubborn and unyielding.

As a result, Zhu Liang's ancestors took action and falsely accused Daotong to Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang was too lazy to send anyone to investigate the situation and directly sentenced Daotong to death. He regretted it deeply after knowing the truth.

There was also the Empty Seal Case, which was basically a large-scale disposal of the middle and lower-level officials of the Yuan Dynasty who were directly responsible for governing the people, killing and implicating tens of thousands of people.

This is enough to show that Zhu Yuanzhang had no trust in these people at all.

Therefore, officials who had previously served in the Yuan Dynasty had very little weight on the high-level political stage in the early Ming Dynasty.

But they are also the vast majority of grassroots officials and a force that cannot be underestimated.

Zhu Yunfeng mentioned them, causing Zhu Biao to ponder and ask, "You mean, you want me to use them to fill the gap?"

"good."

Zhu Yunfeng nodded and said, "Not only them, but also officials who have some ability and are not Hu Weiyong's followers can make up for it. Even if they are Hu Weiyong's followers, as long as they do not do evil and have achievements in their official duties, they can continue to stay in office."

"But on the father's side"

Zhu Biao frowned.

Old Zhu is even more wary of this group.

However, Zhu Yunfeng said: "Don't engage in identity politics. They did serve as officials in the Yuan Dynasty, but that doesn't mean they are bad officials. In fact, they served as local officials and have rich experience in governance, and they can quickly help the Ming Dynasty stabilize the country. After our ancestors established the Ming Dynasty, they were able to quickly stabilize the situation, and these people can be said to have made an indelible contribution. Corrupt officials should be killed, and those who have made contributions to governance should also be rewarded. Only by clearly distinguishing rewards and punishments can we convince the people."

"Well, that makes sense."

Zhu Biao agreed.

"Although having served as an official in the previous dynasty may be considered a stain, as long as he is an honest official who does not commit crimes and speaks for the people, it is not intolerable. After all, in my opinion, doing practical things for the people is the truth."

Zhu Yunfeng said: "Think about it, the Han Dynasty replaced the Qin Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty replaced the Sui Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty. They all accepted a large number of officials from previous dynasties. Including the early days of our country, we also accepted many enemy officials. The Ming Dynasty did not do well in this regard. The officials of the previous dynasties were not completely useless. As long as they had no bad records of doing evil and had the ability to govern and execute, what's wrong with promoting them? It doesn't matter where a hero comes from."

Throughout the dynasties, when a new dynasty replaced the old one, it broke the old order and caused the old system to collapse.

At the beginning, the new dynasty did not establish an effective official selection mechanism, and it did not have a complete system for official training like the old dynasty, so most grassroots officials still needed officials from the previous dynasty to continue to stay in office.

Including our army.

The most typical examples are Long Yun, Wei Lihuang, Cheng Qian, Zhang Zhizhong, Fu Zuoyi and others, some of whom even reached the vice-state level.

However, our army's talent pool is still quite excellent. Unlike the newly established feudal dynasties in ancient times, which were often embarrassed to accept the enemy due to united front factors, our army is thousands of times stronger than the ancient feudal dynasties in this respect.

But the situation in the Ming Dynasty is special now. Zhu Yuanzhang does not trust the officials of the previous dynasty, which makes it difficult for the officials of the previous dynasty to reach a relatively high position even if they are very capable.

Therefore, Zhu Yunfeng’s meaning was very simple, to change the inherent concept and learn from the Han and Tang dynasties to accept officials from the previous dynasty and promote these people to the central government to make up for the lack of central officials after the Hu Weiyong case.

"I understand. I will discuss this matter with my father."

Zhu Biao nodded.

Zhu Yunfeng smiled and said, "And this is also your chance to get involved in the Six Departments."

"I'm interfering with the Six Departments?"

Zhu Biao was puzzled.

"Behind you is actually still the Zhejiang East Civil Service Group headed by Song Lian. Although your teacher Song Lian has retired and returned to his hometown, he still has many students and former officials. It is normal to promote him."

Zhu Yunfeng did not intend to avoid Zhu Di at all and said it lightly.

Zhu Biao's eyes flashed with a trace of worry, but after a moment he nodded and said, "I understand."

"Dudududu!"

Just at this moment, Zhu Yunfeng's cell phone rang.

At the same time, a car horn was heard outside.

Zhu Yunfeng answered the phone. It was the truck driver who called and told him that the goods had arrived at the door.

"Let's go and move our things."

Zhu Yunfeng sat up from the sofa, stretched and said, "These more than 10 tons of stuff are enough for us to drink a pot."

(End of this chapter)