The First Uncle of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 90 I'm the only one who's not inflated
Peking is still a relatively remote military town, the Grand Canal has almost been silted up in the Shandong section, and the Tonghui River has become a small canal, and Tianjin is still just Haijin Town.

Many things nowadays don’t seem to match what Ma Xun remembers, but that’s normal if you think about it.

The Yellow River now flows into the sea through the Huai River and is constantly changing its course. The Yellow River now has two "tributaries", the east and south. The main tributaries flow south into Wo and Ying Rivers, and the main tributaries flow east into Si River.

Natural disasters, man-made disasters, and the vicissitudes of life. Some of our cognitions seem to be within our grasp and we are very confident about them, but after seeing them with our own eyes, we feel that some of our cognitions have become a joke.

Seeing Ma Xun coming back, not only Zhu Yuanzhang was speechless, but Xu Da and others were also speechless.

He was busy all day, and everyone knew that what he did was necessary, but they also felt that it was not in line with his status. He was planning to be a civil servant, and a civil servant who would hardly have any achievements.

It is true that being without desires makes one strong. Just do what you like.

When Ma Xun washed his hands and came to the military tent, Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "Do you know what's going on in the Secretariat?"

Seeing Ma Xun shaking his head, Zhu Yuanzhang said sarcastically, "I want to give you power and let you manage things, but you don't care about anything. I don't want to give Yang Xian too much power, because he wants to do everything."

Ma Xun also became concerned, "Biao'er is in the capital, what trouble can Yang Xian cause?"

"Your nephew did a good job. He claimed that he was young and ignorant, and let Yang Xian manage the Secretariat." Zhu Yuanzhang said mockingly, "Yang Xian asked a few questions at first, but now he doesn't ask your nephew at all, and he makes arbitrary decisions on major and minor matters."

There is no way to deal with this. This may be a trap set by Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao, but what Yang Xian did was indeed courting death.

Although he does not have as much prestige and ability as Li Shanchang, Yang Xian is even more unscrupulous after defeating Wang Guangyang.

Now he not only wants to take sole control of the Secretariat, he also wants to sideline the Crown Prince. If this continues, does he want to sideline the Emperor as well and hold all the power in his own hands?

Ma Xun also said, "Anyway, I don't have any friendship with that person, but he wants to be the prime minister. If he does this, I think he will not be the prime minister sooner or later."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Ma Xun with some surprise, this was another case of "heresy".

Because every dynasty has had a prime minister, this is the standard configuration. Although Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to abolish the prime minister system directly, he was just thinking about it in his mind.

Not to mention Yang Xian and Hu Weiyong, even Li Shanchang and others would not think that the emperor should abolish the prime minister system, because this was unprecedented in history.

Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but remind him again, "Don't spread this. If you spread it, you will get yourself into trouble."

Ma Xun naturally nodded repeatedly. He also knew that these words must not be said outside, otherwise the impact would be too great.

Some things just need to be done step by step. If Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to abolish the prime minister system, that would also take a process.

Although the names of the official positions were different, the position of prime minister was established intermittently during the 1,600 years from the Qin Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty. This was an official recognized by everyone as assisting the emperor in managing all government affairs and the head of all officials.

To say that he is second only to the emperor and above everyone else is actually a description of the prime minister.

If God wants someone to perish, he will first make him crazy.

Whether it was allowing Yang Xian to monopolize power and act arbitrarily in the Secretariat now, or allowing Hu Weiyong to appear to be in power in the future, this was all deliberate indulgence by Zhu Yuanzhang.

The military power has always been firmly under his control, and the court is also under his control. Even the so-called powerful ministers cannot cause any trouble in Zhu Yuanzhang's hands.

When Zhu Yuanzhang returned to Beijing, Yang Xian would be executed. When the time was right, Hu Weiyong would disappear along with the prime minister system.

But Ma Xun was still a little surprised, "Brother-in-law, didn't you say that Yang Xian is your confidant?"

"Can you trust your trusted ones?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "Since the uprising, how many people have been blinded by power? Now, let alone the power that dominates the government, some people become so self-absorbed when they become minor officials."

Ma Xun didn't know how to refute for a moment, because what Zhu Yuanzhang said was very reasonable.

Some people have a pure heart at first, or are cautious and honest, but they change slowly.

Some people are kind, generous, and empathetic at first, but once they have a taste of power and status, they immediately become a different person, and may even do worse things than those people they hated in the first place!

Yang Xian’s current behavior may seem surprising, but it is also normal. He has become so arrogant that he doesn’t even know his own last name.

Looking at Ma Xun, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "This time when we go back, we have to prepare to confer titles on our meritorious officials. I'm afraid we have to start killing some people as well."

Yang Xian deserved to die for his crime, but some of the founding heroes should not feel wronged. Most of the heroes who were killed in the early period of Hongwu deserved to die, so there is no need to complain for them. Ma Xun thought about it carefully and said, "I know some arrogant soldiers and generals are even more arrogant and domineering, so should I stay away from them?"

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed instantly, "You want to hide further away? Where are you going to hide? Biao'er took you to a close family, you should go anyway. Those people from Huaixi want to play with you, go and play if you want."

Ma Xun thought it made sense. "The families that Biaoer took me to visit were basically reliable. Not only were they close to us, but they were also basically smart and decent people."

Zhu Yuanzhang became proud, "Your nephew loves you. If you were more outgoing, he would have taken you to meet a different group of people. Look at the people that Biaoer has taken you to meet. Which one of them is likely to cause trouble?"

Although this statement is a bit absolute, it does make sense and is not an exaggeration.

Last year, Zhu Biao took Ma Xun to visit and met most of the people he met who were easy to deal with, and he was not afraid that they would cause trouble and implicate him.

Ma Xun was instantly happy, "The court has been unstable for the past two years, so I can just do my job with peace of mind!"

No, no!
Zhu Yuanzhang was a little panicked. He told Ma Xun these things just to say that some people in the court were not on the same page with him. Even the old brothers who had fought together to conquer the world, many of them had become so arrogant that they forgot themselves.

I say this because I hope Ma Xun can make more progress and help share my worries.

How come Ma Xun understood that the court was dangerous and full of struggles, so he could just stay out of it with peace of mind and do things that seemed insignificant to others?
Looking at Ma Xun's happy expression, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was about to say something, suddenly decided not to say anything.

He knew from the beginning that Ma Xun was an honest man and also a smart man, so he was aware of his feelings.

But at this time he was just pretending to be stupid, which clearly showed that he was not interested in "sharing the worries".

"Brother-in-law, I'll go back and study other things." Ma Xun said seriously, "I want to study some medicines that will be good for the wounded soldiers and the people. Maybe they will also be good for our descendants in the future."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand impatiently and said, "It's up to you. If you want to be a doctor, go ahead and be a doctor."

Suddenly remembering something, Zhu Yuanzhang warned, "Don't mess with Lao Wu. Your sister mentioned this a while ago and I almost forgot about it. Lao Wu is looking for herbs everywhere in the palace. Did he learn it from you?"

Ma Xun was also surprised. He originally thought that Zhu Su studied plants and medicine out of boredom after arriving in Kaifeng. Could it be that he had this ambition since childhood?
"Brother-in-law, I dare not teach them, for fear that they will learn bad things from me." Ma Xun immediately stated his position and said, "Old Five is also reckless. How can he find herbs in the palace by himself? He must first know how to identify and prepare these herbs before they can be used as medicine."

Hearing Ma Xun say this, Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said, "Get lost."

Ma Xun stood up immediately. If he continued chatting, he would be in a bad situation. He would have to attend classes and be brainwashed again.

Seeing Ma Xun coming out of the tent, Guo Ying asked with a smile, "Uncle, are you being scolded again?"

"I don't want to come. I'll be scolded if I come." Ma Xun said heartlessly, "Second Brother Guo, what do you think of this? He knows that I am incorrigible and I won't listen to him. He still has to scold me every day."

Guo Ying smiled and said, "I followed the emperor to fight when I was 18 years old. In all these years, I have seen three people enter and leave the emperor's military tent and the back palace without reporting."

Li Zhen is one, and the other is most likely Zhu Wenzhen, and now Ma Xun is probably included.

Guo Ying, who was a former guard of Zhu Yuanzhang, also advised, "My uncle, there are important things happening in the court and the army right now, and you should share the worries of the upper position."

"Brother, I'm not being lazy." Ma Xun could only say, "What I do is also serious business. Now that the world is stable, restoring people's livelihood and recuperating are also important things. What I'm busy with now is to make sure everyone can eat more and make more good things. How can this not be serious business?"

This is probably just a difference in concepts. Ma Xun's "not doing his job properly" is just because some people now think so. But Ma Xun doesn't think so. He is working hard to improve productivity.

These were all very important matters, and he did not slack off at all.

Watching Ma Xun walk away briskly, Zhu Yuanzhang walked out of the military tent, "Still can't persuade him?"

Guo Ying said, "If the superior can't persuade him, how can we persuade him? Besides, I suffered a lot in my early years, and we feel sorry for you. Even if the queen doesn't say anything, we will still protect me."

Guo Ying's words left Zhu Yuanzhang speechless, because this was the most difficult reason.

If it were anyone else, Zhu Yuanzhang would have beaten and scolded them long ago. No one could refuse what he arranged.

But Ma Xun cannot be beaten or scolded, not only because of Ma Xiuying's feelings, but also because Ma Xun is young and suffered a lot in his childhood, so everyone just turns a blind eye.

It's fine as long as Ma Xun doesn't go astray. If it's useless to persuade him if he doesn't make progress, then just persuade him less and just let him live happily.

(End of this chapter)