The First Uncle of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 65 Inspection
There is a Chengxian Street in the south of Jilong Mountain, which is about one kilometer long from north to south. This is where the Ming Imperial Academy is located. There are locust trees on both sides of Chengxian Street. It connects to Jilong Mountain in the north and extends to Beiting Lane in the south.

Ma Xun took Wangcai on a quick tour and had no intention of going to the Imperial College to study.

"Let's go down the mountain." Ma Xun carefully inspected the terrain and said, "I have decided on the candidates for the imperial doctors of the Imperial Hospital. Quickly select 100 young, careful and literate people from the army."

He Da laughed first, "My Lord, most of the literate soldiers in the army are doing clerkships, who wants to be a medical officer?"

Ma Xun said unhappily, "There are so many people in the army, isn't it easy to find a hundred?"

He Da thought about it and it made sense, "That's true. There are quite a few doctors anyway."

The army would normally select some young soldiers to go to the Imperial Hospital for "further training", so it wasn't that unusual for Ma Xun to do this now.

The most he did was to gather a group of young soldiers to study medicine, and then assign them to various garrisons after their concentrated study.

Ma Xun then asked, "If I go to the Grand Commandery, do I have to go to the palace more often?"

He Da immediately began to gloat over the misfortune, "Of course, the uncle of the emperor often goes to the Imperial Hospital, so he should know that the two sides behind the Qianbu Corridor are the six ministries and five departments."

Ma Xun doesn't like going to the palace, and everyone around him knows this.

Ma Xun could only comfort himself, "It's not like I went to the inner city. I'll be fine if I run faster."

He Da and others were laughing nearby. Although they had become the bodyguards of the king's uncle now, they did not feel any psychological gap.

Not to mention that the uncle is easy to get along with, and looks like a gentleman, but he also likes to joke. Sometimes I feel like I'm still in the army, surrounded by rough people.

Ma Xun stopped joking and asked seriously, "Where should I go to get someone now?"

He Da said without thinking, "You are the uncle of the emperor, the right governor of the Grand Governor's Office. You must be the imperial guards, and they must be the imperial guards directly under the superior."

This is also the characteristic of the Grand Marshal's Office. All the troops in the world are under the jurisdiction of the Grand Marshal's Office, but there are also some guards directly under the emperor, such as the Feixiong Guard and Yulin Youwei that Ma Xun had brought out before.

Ma Xun looked at He Da and said, "You really dare to think that these people will go to the battlefield to save the dying and the wounded in the future."

"It must be the Imperial Guards. These are all old brothers who have followed us to the top." He Da said immediately, "The King's uncle is a great doctor, and the brothers are also very brave. They killed a lot of people, and naturally they also injured a lot of people."

Ma Xun couldn't help but look at He Da. He never asked about the specific origins of He Da and others.

But now it seems that this person is really Zhu Yuanzhang's confidant, and now he is trying to get any benefit for the old troops.

Ma Xun thought about it carefully and said, "Are the children of your family also in the army?"

He Da immediately pleaded with a bitter face, "My Lord, my son still needs to make contributions and kill the enemy, so he can't be a medical officer!"

"Let him choose the people!" Ma Xun didn't know what to say for a moment. "I'm not familiar with the military, and Wenying and the others are not in the military now. Where can I find reliable people?"

He Da was immediately overjoyed, patting his chest and saying, "It will be over in a moment. We can find a hundred careful young people in three days at most."

Ma Xun was satisfied, and then asked, "If I want to lead these 100 people out, do I have to go to the Grand Commander's Mansion?"

"To mobilize troops, we naturally have to go to the Grand Commandery, but we should also go to the Ministry of War." He Da explained, "But don't worry, my uncle, those people in the Ministry of War won't dare to say anything."

Zhu Yuanzhang would naturally impose some restrictions on the generals who led troops. The Grand Marshal's Office commanded all the troops in the world, but it did not have the power to directly mobilize troops.

The power of dispatch was directly controlled by the emperor, and the Ministry of War had the power to appoint, dismiss, promote and train soldiers in the army, which seemed to be a restriction on the Grand Marshal's Office.

But don't think that the Ministry of War is too powerful. The current Ministry of War has no right to interfere in the affairs of the Five Military Governorates. The Grand Governorate can still participate in the central military decision-making of the Ming Dynasty.

The Minister of War had to be submissive not only in front of Xu Da, Chang Yuchun and others, but also in front of some "marquises".

We have to ask for people, money, and supplies. This is not a small matter. It seems difficult not to enter the palace.

Ma Xun and others walked in front, and Wangcai followed slowly behind. This group of people walked along Chengxian Street as if no one was around. An old scholar with gray hair sighed. This uncle of the emperor had already arrived at the gate of the Imperial College, but he just walked past without asking any questions.

How can I do this?

After thinking it over carefully, I decided to ask Brother Liu to let Scholar Song talk to the Crown Prince.

Otherwise, I really wouldn't be able to see the uncle of the emperor. I sent him several invitations to visit him. But the people in the uncle's mansion treated me as someone trying to curry favor with them. They didn't chase me away or scold me, but they certainly didn't tell the uncle of the emperor.

As a third-rank official of the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial College, Wei Guan was recruited at the same time as Liu Bowen, Song Lian and others. He was considered a high-ranking official among the Ming Dynasty's civil officials.

It’s a pity that this identity is useful in many cases, but it is not enough when facing those Huaixi people and relatives by marriage.

This uncle of the emperor defeated Prime Minister Li!

I heard that the Ministry of Rites has received news that His Majesty intends to promote this uncle to the position of Prince's Junior Tutor and Duke of Xu, which will directly fill the vacancy left by Prime Minister Li when he left the Secretariat.

Li Shanchang was named Duke of Xuan before the founding of the country, and after the founding of the country he became the Junior Tutor among the three young princes.

But now he has retired. This recognized head of civil servants has left the court and returned to his hometown.

Even though many people understood that this was the emperor's intention, no one could guarantee what role the emperor's uncle played in this matter, or whether he added fuel to the fire.

If you still treat him as a country boy who knows nothing about court affairs, that's not just looking down on him, that's risking your own political future and life.

Ma Xun returned home and saw Liu Shuning busy, so he asked, "What are you doing?"

Liu Shuning smiled and replied, "I'm checking the accounts."

Ma Xun asked curiously, "How much business does your family have now?"

"We have 300 acres of land outside the city and 4,000 acres of land in our hometown." Liu Shuning said with a smile, "My sister allocated a shop for us, so we can start some business."

Ma Xun was shocked. "So rich?"

"It's a lot, but not too much." Liu Shuning joked, "Some wealthy families have over ten thousand acres of fertile land and countless shops."

Ma Xun thought about it and felt that it made sense. He did have a lot of properties, but they were not particularly numerous.

Liu Shuning asked with a smile, "Does the temple where my husband became a monk have ten thousand acres of fertile land?"

"If there really were ten thousand acres of fertile land, I would have to work illegally there." Ma Xun couldn't help but complain, "The Buddhist temple still has money and land. Many monks persuade people to end worldly affairs, but in the end they become rich and cruel."

Liu Shuning pursed her lips and smiled. Although Ma Xun's words were extreme, they were very common in today's era.

Some temples concealed their population, occupied fertile land, and did not pay taxes, so the court is now strictly restricting the development of Buddhism.

This is not just the case with Buddhism; other religions are not much better, including the White Lotus Sect and so on.

This is not just because many uprisings are in the name of religion, but also because these religions are really good at making money.

Liu Shuning continued to check the accounts. Ma Xun picked up the brush and looked at the paper in front of him, in a dilemma.

If you let someone else write for you, you will definitely be laughed at, but if you write it yourself, you will still be laughed at.

Just do it yourself. No matter how funny it is, this is serious business!
If you want people, money, materials, and land, you have to explain in detail the reasons why you want these things. It is not easy to get the emperor's support. Even if you are the emperor's brother-in-law, you cannot waste resources wantonly.

By the way, we need more craftsmen, and the experiment needs to continue. This costs money, and we may not see results in a short time.

(End of this chapter)