The First Uncle of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 107 Too Many Official Positions
Li Shanchang originally retired to his hometown in great glory, but now that he has returned to the capital, he appears to be extremely low-key.

Even though Li Shanchang seemed to be very low-key, he would definitely attract a lot of attention as long as he returned to the capital.

There is no other reason, just because he is Li Shanchang, the Left Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty.

Your Majesty, you have Xu Da, Chang Yuchun and others in the military field, and Li Shanchang is the leader in the civil field. This is a fact known to all the world, and he is the true head of all officials.

Compared with Li Shanchang's low-key return to Beijing, the Secretariat was becoming lively.

Even though there is no imperial decree yet, as long as Li Shanchang returns to the capital, he will certainly be entrusted with important tasks by His Majesty and will definitely continue to participate in state affairs. There is no doubt about this.

For many people in Huaixi, this was extremely exciting good news, but for people in eastern Zhejiang, it was like a bolt from the blue.

On August 17, the third year of Hongwu, the palace seemed very solemn.

Zhu Chong and others wore nine-tassel crowns and nine-marked robes, and stood obediently outside the Fengtian Gate.

After the emperor took the throne, Zhu Biao was the first to come out and said, "Emperor Xuan's second son and others, please enter the palace."

The guards continued to announce the imperial edict all the way outside the palace. Li Zhen and Ma Xun immediately led Zhu Chong and others into the palace.

However, Li Zhen and Ma Xun were not there simply to lead the way. Li Zhen was holding Zhu Zi, who was less than one and a half years old, while Ma Xun was holding Zhu Qi. These two children were also going to be crowned kings today.

The two little ones were not supposed to come, but the emperor wanted to see his own sons flourish, so he brought them here. At one and a half years old, they understand a little bit, at least they can understand simple words.

Also coming with them was Zhu Shouqian, the prince in name only but a prince in reality, who wore the same crown and robes as Zhu Chong and others.

As soon as Zhu Chong and others arrived at the Fengtian Hall, they knelt down and said, "Your son Zhu Chong (Zhu Gang, Zhu Di) and others pay homage to your father, the emperor."

Li Zhen and Ma Xun knelt down holding the child. They were actually just going through the motions with the child because the nominal master of ceremonies was obviously Zhu Biao.

"Controlled!"

Zhu Biao opened the imperial edict and read out, "The second son Zhu Chong is appointed as the Prince of Qin, the third son Zhu Gang is appointed as the Prince of Jin, and the fourth son Zhu Di is appointed as the Prince of Yan."

"The Emperor's nephew Zhu Shouqian is enthroned as the Prince of Jingjiang."

After the imperial edict was read, Zhu Biao began to issue books of honor to his younger brothers one by one.

The civil and military officials were confused. These things should have been done by the chief ceremonial officer, but now the crown prince was doing it. These should have been ordered directly by the emperor, but it seemed that the crown prince was in charge of the whole process.

But none of them think there is anything wrong with doing so, as if all of this is natural and right.

The formal enthronement of the kings had been carried out, but the ceremony had not yet been formally completed.

After receiving the imperial edict, Zhu Chong and others immediately expressed their gratitude and then hurried to Rouyi Palace.

After thanking Ma Xiuying, the princes went to Wenhua Hall to thank the crown prince. Then Li Shanchang led the civil and military officials to pay homage to the princes. Everyone was very busy.

The first day was busy with ceremonies and expressing gratitude. On the second day, the kings had to go to court to express gratitude again, and all officials also had to come to the court to express congratulations. The emperor and empress also had to give banquets to all officials and ladies respectively.

Everyone is very busy in enthroning the kings, which is normal, after all, this is a big event.

Although he is very busy, Ma Xun is still relatively happy because his nephews have grown up now.

Zhu Chong and others were undoubtedly the happiest. From now on, they would have official titles of kings. When they went out, everyone would call them "His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin" instead of "His Royal Highness the Second Prince of the Emperor" and so on.

After three busy days, Ma Xun and Liu Shuning still lived and ate in the palace.

Li Zhen's courtyard was very lively, and this time there was a newcomer, Li Wenzhong.

Li Wenzhong was helpless. If he wanted to serve his father, he had to ask for permission to enter the palace. If he wanted to see his eldest son, he still had to ask for permission to enter the palace. If he wanted to take his father and son back, that was impossible.

"Bao'er, come here." Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy and said, "The second brother said that he would go to Xi'an to fight. Where do you think he should go to fight?"

Li Wenzhong smiled and said, "If the King of Qin wants to go on an expedition, I think it will probably be to the Western Regions."

The so-called Western Fan is also known as Western Qiang, which is relatively close to Shaanxi and other places.

Zhu Chong complained, "Xifan? Those people are insignificant. It would be meaningless if I led the troops to fight them."

Hearing Zhu Chong's dissatisfaction, Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "Now that Wang Baobao has been driven away, what use can you have? It's great to suppress some rebellions in the Western Regions, what else can you do?"

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "I think the second son can still be of great use. When my uncle came back last time, he said that Guanzhong was in decline. When the second son goes to Xi'an in the future, he will definitely repair the city walls and the passes." Zhu Yuanzhang immediately said, "Yes, Biaoer is thoughtful. The natural barrier of Guanzhong must be repaired, and these tasks will fall on the shoulders of the second son in the future."

Zhu Chong was obviously even more depressed. He wanted to command thousands of troops, but why did he end up being asked to suppress a small rebellion of the foreign people and build city walls?
There is no point using a butcher knife to kill a chicken. Zhu Chong felt that if he did these things, he would be wasting his talent!

It can be seen that Zhu Chong is a little depressed now, but even if he is depressed, he obviously can't do anything about it.

It is normal to have great ambitions when you are young, but when the time comes, you can no longer control yourself. If you are really assigned some tasks, you must do them well.

Ma Xun just had to watch the fun at this time, because these tasks would not fall on him anyway. And even if Zhu Chong and others were to go to the vassal state, it would definitely not happen in a short period of time.

It will take at least five years before Zhu Chong and others can be granted fiefdoms, which means there is still a long time to go.

In the past few years, he only needs to do a good job in education. Whether it is the moral education of Zhu Chong and others, or considering the development of his own college, those are his responsibilities.

Seeing Ma Xun eating melons, Ma Xiuying said, "Little brother, Li Xiang has praised you a lot these days."

Ma Xun complained, "He must be praising my excellent medical skills. I failed to diagnose his illness. Now this news is spreading all over the capital."

Zhu Yuanzhang also said helplessly, "This Li Shanchang loves to create momentum the most. If you don't find out his illness, he will let everyone in the capital know, and he wants me to know too."

"I shouldn't have treated him in the first place." Ma Xun couldn't help but complain, "Now I am almost the best medical practitioner in Ming Dynasty. If I say he is not sick, then he is definitely not sick. I have no choice but to admit it, but Prime Minister Li has admitted it."

The others also burst into laughter. Last time, it was Ma Xun who put Li Shanchang on the fire. Now, it was Li Shanchang who directly pulled out the ladder, making it difficult for Ma Xun to get off the stage.

Everyone knew what Li Shanchang was thinking. In the final analysis, he was unwilling to retire in his hometown and still wanted to return to the court.

It was just that it was hard to say whether he would be allowed to join the Secretariat again. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang had found a reason to send Li Shanchang back to his hometown, which changed the structure of the Secretariat.

It would not be appropriate to let Li Shanchang return to the Secretariat now.

"Xu Da is the right prime minister, Chang Yuchun and Liao Yongzhong are the ministers of state, but this is not enough." Zhu Yuanzhang said, "I have said before that I will be allowed to join the Secretariat and be the minister of state."

Ma Xiuying also smiled and said, "This was something we agreed on last year, and it just so happens that his Taishan is about to retire."

Liu Shuning looked at Ma Xun, and Ma Xun had no choice but to accept it. It was originally mentioned last year that he should go to the Secretariat, but there was no rush to arrange an official position for him at that time.

But Ma Xun still said, "Brother-in-law, Baoer has made great contributions."

Li Wenzhong is now the Left Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Commandery, while Ma Xun is the Right Commander-in-Chief. Xu Da and Chang Yuchun are both military officers and state officials, and do not have official positions in the Grand Commandery.

This means that Ma Xun and Li Wenzhong are in charge of the Grand Marshal's Office, and under their command are Lu Zhongheng, Gu Shi, Chen De, Wang Zhi, Zheng Yuchun, and Wu Liang, the deputy governors.

Most of the generals in the current Grand Marshal's Office no longer hold official positions in the Secretariat.

This is because with the establishment of the dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang accelerated the establishment of the political organization. On the one hand, it was necessary to reform the Zhongshu Province, which had previously combined military and political affairs during the war, in order to achieve the purpose of separating military and political affairs.

Therefore, the military generals who originally served in the Secretariat were transferred to the Grand Marshal's Office. On the other hand, it was hoped that the Grand Marshal's Office would become a professional organization for military generals to lead the army.

The military power of the Secretariat was further transferred, and the military command function of the Grand Marshal's Office was further strengthened.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "Although Bao'er has made great contributions, he can now participate in military and national affairs, and there is no need for him to hold an official position."

"Brother-in-law, I hold many official positions." Ma Xun almost counted on his fingers, "I am the Right Commander of the Grand Commandery, the Junior Tutor of the Crown Prince, and now I am also the Minister of State Affairs of the Secretariat. I am also in charge of the Imperial College, so I can't spare the time."

"Bao'er was originally in charge of the affairs of the Grand Commandery, but you stepped in when he couldn't afford to offend anyone." Ma Xiuying smiled and said, "You are not in the army, and you are my brother, so you can just offend people."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and nodded. Ma Xun was just a decoration in the Grand Marshal's Office, or a deterrent. He was used to intimidate some arrogant soldiers and generals. After all, some people did not respect Li Wenzhong very much and thought he was just a junior.

As for looking down on Ma Xun, it doesn’t matter. If even he comes forward and it doesn’t work, Ma Xiuying will step up.

Li Zhen and Li Wenzhong were happy because Ma Xun's existence could indeed attract a lot of attention.

Ma Xun had nothing to say, "In two months, the meritorious officials will be honored. These days, many people are worried. I am ready to close the door and refuse visitors. Everyone knows what title they should be honored with, but there are still some who are unwilling to give up."

Ma Xiuying said directly, "Then don't worry about it. If they really bother you, just kick them out."

Zhu Yuanzhang was also unhappy and said, "These people, no matter how much we give them, they still think it's not enough."

It seems that there is no big problem with this. After all, for many people, being a marquis or a general is a lifelong pursuit. After fighting for half a lifetime, this is what they pursue.

(End of this chapter)