Zhu Yuanzhang Returns from Modern Times

Are you happy?
Does he think your scheme has succeeded?

Don't you think that this time you can drag a lot of people down with you, make a mess of our Ming Dynasty, and leave us in a complete mess?

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Hu Weiyong and asked him a question.

His expression seemed somewhat amused.

Upon hearing this, Hu Weiyong's smile remained unchanged, but his heart skipped a beat.

Because he suddenly realized that things didn't seem quite the same as he had imagined.

Zhu Yuanzhang's reaction was somewhat beyond his expectations.

How could Zhu Yuanzhang know all of my thoughts?
He even said it out loud?
What does he mean?
"What? You, a ruthless killer, actually think you've killed too many people?"

Are you planning to forgive those people in the future, thus thwarting all my plans?

Is this meant to slap me in the face?
But then again, you are the emperor!
This world belongs to you; you have the power of life and death over it.

If you wish to pardon me, then pardon me; if you wish to prevent my wicked scheme from succeeding, then prevent my wicked scheme from succeeding.

"Who told you to be the emperor?"

Hu Weiyong's cold smile remained unchanged as he looked at Zhu Yuanzhang.

His meaning was clear: he was trying to provoke Zhu Yuanzhang in this way.

This allowed Zhu Yuanzhang to decide who to target next.

He wanted to use his own death to take others down with him.

Let the entire Ming Dynasty bleed profusely, and severely damage Zhu Yuanzhang's Ming Dynasty!
He also understood Zhu Yuanzhang's meaning.

Zhu Chongba, that beggar, actually wanted to pardon those people in order to destroy his morale.

Make yourself feel bad.

Things didn't go as planned.

How can this be done?

He had to embellish the story and provoke him.

To persuade Zhu Yuanzhang to abandon his erroneous and rebellious idea!

So, in the next step, they proceeded to kill those people.

All those who deserved to be killed were killed, and all those who needed to be dealt with were dealt with.

That would be most gratifying.

Only then can he be satisfied.

If Zhu Yuanzhang had truly granted a general amnesty, he would have only punished himself and a small number of others for their rebellion, while leaving the majority of people untouched.

So he did indeed suffer a loss this time.

"Don't try to provoke me."

You, Xiao Hu, have done something like this.

Even the prime minister of our great Ming Dynasty is like this.

Why don't we prepare a proper meal here?

We must kill these people; we have no choice.

Now that they dare to rebel against us, if we don't give them a good beating, wouldn't that make us seem weak and easy to bully?

Wouldn't it be that in the future, many people might follow suit and rebel against us?

Hu Weiyong immediately cupped his hands and said, "Your insight is excellent! That's exactly the point. We must kill them! We must make an example of them."

Killing is not enough to appease the public anger.

If we don't kill them, everyone will want to rebel and take power in the future.

How can this be acceptable?

He absolutely deserved to die!

I have left letters with all those who conspired with me.

Do you want me to tell you everything?

Hu Weiyong praised Zhu Yuanzhang.

"There are so many people here, including Liu Bowen, Li Shanchang, Xu Da, Chang Mao, Li Wenzhong, Deng Yu, Tang Shengzong, and Feng Sheng."

They all conspired with me to rebel.

They are all my accomplices.

Countless people in the world hate you to death!

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled upon hearing this: You really know how to make things up.

Xiao Hu, we know what you're thinking.

They just want to see us kill more people, to see our world descend into chaos, and the more people they drag into it, the better things will be.

If people think that we have killed too many people, then there will be resentment in the world.

They feel our country is unstable.

But now I'm telling you, you're wrong about all of that.

Or rather, we're on the same page.

You, Xiao Hu, have two purposes for doing this.

If they can kill us and take our place as emperor, that would be best. If they can't kill us, they can take the opportunity to make a mess of our country.

Either way, you won't lose out.

But think about it, Xiao Hu. You're the only one with schemes, but don't we have our own ideas?
What you did is exactly what we wanted.

We just want you, Little Hu, to rebel. We just want to take advantage of your rebellion to kill some people.

You think that if we kill too many people, the world will descend into chaos.

Let me tell you, the world won't fall into chaos!

On the contrary, only by killing more of your kind and eliminating more of these pests will the world become more stable.

If we kill you lot, not only will there be no chaos, the world will actually become a better place!
We had always planned to take advantage of Hu Weiyong's rebellion to thoroughly clean up the world.

Don't try to confuse us with all this talk, trying to make us suspicious of this and that.

They want to throw us into a state of confusion.

Let me tell you, you, Xiao Hu, are still far from good enough.

We have a scale in our hearts, and we keep a record of things.

Who deserves to die, who doesn't, who should be punished, who should be rewarded, who is truly capable, and who is truly for the country.

We know better than you do.

Upon hearing this, Hu Weiyong felt a pang of sadness.

So, Zhu Yuanzhang actually knew everything he had done, including his purpose in doing so?

You understand?
He actually intended to use me to thoroughly clean up a group of people?

In other words, he was outmaneuvered by Zhu Yuanzhang from beginning to end.

Did you not win at all from beginning to end?

Many things that he thought he had gained were exactly what Zhu Yuanzhang wanted.
Even his own desire to have many people die with him, so that Zhu Yuanzhang could have a bloodbath and plunge the world into chaos, was within Zhu Yuanzhang's consideration.

He completely outmaneuvered me!
This feeling is truly unbearable.

This is especially true for a smart person like him.

Zhu Yuanzhang was so cunning and infuriating!
This means that his two intentions were actually within Zhu Yuanzhang's calculations.
What he was most proud of, what could cause chaos in the world, make Zhu Yuanzhang kill rivers of blood, and make Zhu Yuanzhang suffer from these schemes, actually benefited Zhu Yuanzhang instead.
He wanted to kill Zhu Yuanzhang and destroy his spirit.

As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang instead used a strategy of killing him and destroying his spirit.
This feeling is even more unpleasant than punching cotton with all your might!
Looking at Hu Weiyong's smile, which became somewhat forced with each word he spoke, he could see it was genuine.

Zhu Yuanzhang's mood improved considerably at this moment.

Sure enough, the person's smile didn't disappear; it just shifted.

When Hu Weiyong's smile disappeared, his smile would immediately become more pronounced.

However, that wasn't enough; he had prepared even more surprises for Hu Weiyong!
This time, all of them must be given to Hu Weiyong.

Give Hu Weiyong a good talk and make him happy.

"Xiao Hu, you've been a huge help to us!"
Our Ming Dynasty has many problems, and many problematic people as well.

We were originally thinking about how to best deal with these people.

And that's when you, Xiao Hu, made your move.

Now we don't need to worry anymore.

There's no need to dwell on it any longer.

It can solve many problems and many people all at once, like scraping the bone to remove poison.

Without you burdens, without you insects, the Ming Dynasty will be even better from now on.

It will become even more prosperous.

"Without me, you won't be able to do many things well."

Finding another prime minister as capable as me is not so easy.

You dare not use Li Shanchang, Wang Guangyang is a good-for-nothing, and Liu Bowen is in poor health.

Apart from those three, most of the others are young and lack the necessary skills.

Either they can't keep up with your energy. You'll be in trouble.

Hu Weiyong looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and spoke.

He's still not convinced and wants to get back at them.

I want to see Zhu Yuanzhang suffer.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang's smile widened.

"Who should be the prime minister?"
Why should someone else be made prime minister?

We told you, Xiao Hu, that you did us a huge favor, but you didn't believe us.

You think you're important? You think the prime minister system is important to us?
We're telling you now, you're wrong.

Neither you nor the prime minister system matters to us.

We've disliked the prime minister system for a long time!

I've wanted to abolish it for a long time.

Unfortunately, there has never been a good way or a good reason to reform the prime minister system.

Just when we were so troubled, you, Xiao Hu, so thoughtfully rebelled and caused quite a stir.

Is this some kind of pillow you bring to someone who's just fallen asleep?

You, Little Hu, have done a great job in your rebellion!

That was a brilliant rebellion!
Isn't this a huge help to us?
"I told you, Xiao Hu, you're a good person, but you didn't believe me."

Upon hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, Hu Weiyong was stunned.

His expression became extremely complicated.

Even the person himself was dumbfounded.

What did I hear?
Zhu Yuanzhang... What is that scoundrel Zhu Yuanzhang saying?
They actually... they actually want to abolish the prime minister system?
Did you hear it correctly?

Is this scoundrel out of his mind?

How could you say such a thing?
He actually wants to depose the prime minister?
So you've actually disliked the prime minister system for a long time?
What... what is he thinking?

How dare you do such a thing?
This is the prime minister system!

A system that has lasted for no less than two thousand years!
Since the pre-Qin period, there have been corresponding positions such as Grand Minister to assist in governing the country.

For example, the very famous Yi Yin.

It can be said that the prime minister system almost arose at the same time as the monarchy.

Where there is a king, there must be someone like a prime minister to do things.

I can't live without it.

And now, Zhu Yuanzhang... actually said this?

How could he not be surprised?

"Are you crazy? You dare to abolish the prime minister system?"

“We’re not crazy, we’re perfectly clear-headed, and we’re determined to abolish the prime minister system.”

Zhu Yuanzhang's answer was resolute.

“Li Shanchang has been dishonest since becoming prime minister, and has led his officials to oppose us.”

Yang Xian held great power in the Secretariat, yet he was still quite unruly.

The same applies to you, Hu Weiyong, after you become prime minister.

They even dare to rebel against us.

After thinking it over, we've concluded that it's really just because the people selected aren't good enough.
No.

The real problem lies in the system of the prime minister.

This was especially true after the Secretariat and the Chancellor were combined.

The Secretariat was too centralized, and the Chancellor of the Secretariat held even more power.

Having power makes things easier, but it also makes it too easy to confront imperial power.

People in the Yuan Dynasty just loved to mess around; they didn't understand anything.

The perfectly good system of three provinces and six ministries has been ruined like this.

With this system in place, even if we kill Hu Weiyong and promote someone else, that person will behave themselves.

Then you won't end up like Hu Weiyong?

Li Shanchang, Yang Xian, and even you, Hu Weiyong, could it be that from the very beginning you harbored many rebellious thoughts?

Do you want to do so many terrible things?

No, it's the power they wield that matters.

Then it will naturally be easy to have some thoughts that shouldn't be there.

Therefore, to prevent future troubles, it would be best to abolish the Secretariat, along with the Chancellor system!

Hu Weiyong is about to die, yet he remains so unruly, attempting to destroy his spirit and even kill him. Therefore, he cannot be lenient.

We need to really teach him a lesson!

"Ha ha……"

"Hahahahaha..."

After a moment of stunned silence, Hu Weiyong burst out laughing.

"You'll be worked to death! You'll absolutely be worked to death!"

Without the Secretariat and without a prime minister, all the affairs of the nation depend on you.

Can you finish it?
You can't finish it!
You couldn't finish it even if you worked yourself to death!

Adding your son wouldn't work either!

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed upon hearing this, "You're right, it is indeed very tiring, but do you think we don't have a corresponding solution?"

We could easily set up another agency here.

We've already come up with a name for this institution: the Cabinet.

The cabinet is responsible for assisting in handling government affairs, but can only provide corresponding suggestions.

After the tickets are prepared, send them to us.

The decision is up to us, the emperor.

If your suggestions are good, we'll adopt them.

If their suggestions are not good, we should reject them and let them continue to make suggestions.

Or we can just propose a solution directly.

It's impossible for us to do everything, big or small.

With a cabinet, things are different.

We can keep the decision-making power in our own hands here.

It is possible to promote four or five people to the cabinet.

"Let them hold low-ranking but high-ranking positions, so that they can check and balance each other..."

Zhu Yuanzhang explained the cabinet system that would later emerge in his Ming Dynasty.

However, it differs somewhat from the cabinet system commonly seen in later generations.

Later generations, because their descendants were too lazy, or some were truly incompetent, failed to live up to this.

Therefore, some power was delegated to the eunuchs.

They created an inner court system to check and balance the outer court.

Such as the eunuch holding the pen and the eunuch in charge of the seal, etc.

This is something that can be completely ignored by him.

He only needs to control the approval and use of the seal.

The decision-making power need not be delegated to those eunuchs.

Of course, if this continues for a hundred years or so, and later generations come up with the same system, there's not much he can do about it.

But at least for him, it was impossible to get the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs and other similar bodies to share power.

Upon hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang said, Hu Weiyong couldn't help but widen his eyes in astonishment.

No... Zhu Yuanzhang had already come up with a corresponding solution?
cabinet?

It does sound like it would be very useful.

They need to handle matters, but they don't have the power of a prime minister; they only have the power to offer opinions.

What was Zhu Yuanzhang really thinking?

With such a system in place, even after the prime minister is abolished, the world really won't descend into chaos!

Zhu Yuanzhang and his son wouldn't have been worked to death!

Zhu Yuanzhang took in Hu Weiyong's reaction and felt a great sense of pleasure.

I'm in a good mood.

So he decided to add fuel to the fire for Hu Weiyong.

"Xiao Hu, we have some news here about your son, Hu Tianci. Would you like to hear it?" (End of Chapter)