Go to the study.
After resigning from the court, Zhu Yuanzhang took Zhu Biao to deal with the memorial as usual, but Zhu Biao was a little absent-minded.
"Biao'er, what are you thinking about?"
Zhu Yuanzhang saw Zhu Biao's absent-minded look and asked.
"Father, I'm thinking, if Li Jin comes to Beijing, how will he react when he sees his father?"
Zhu Biao suddenly came to his senses and told all the questions that came to his mind.
Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a moment, as if he thought of Li Jin's panicked expression, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly. He was looking forward to Li Jin's reaction.
"If he sees us, I'm afraid he will be scared to death and will never dare to speak eloquently again."
Zhu Biao's expression also became extremely excited, and he laughed and said:
"Hahaha, it will definitely be very exciting when the time comes."
Just as the father and son looked at each other and smiled, Li Shanchang suddenly asked to see him outside the door.
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly, why did Li Shanchang appear at this time?
Although Li Shanchang was nominally the prime minister, he also had the power to help Zhu Yuanzhang correct the memorial.
But Zhu Yuanzhang is an out-and-out workaholic, and with a strong desire for control, Zhu Yuanzhang will basically not let Li Shanchang get involved in the memorial.
Usually, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao handle government affairs.
Now that Li Shanchang is asking for a meeting, does he have any objections to his arrangements? Want to seize power from yourself?
Zhu Yuanzhang's expression gradually cooled down, and then he asked Li Shan to visit him.
After Li Shanchang came in, Zhu Yuanzhang asked straight to the point:
"Shan Chang, aren't you usually at the mansion at this time?"
"Why do you have time to come see us now?"
"I would like to report to the superior. This time I seek to see the superior. I want to ask the superior about the matter of granting the king a title and guarding the border."
Li Shanchang bowed slightly and directly stated the purpose of his visit.
"Now that the prince has grown up, it's time to share the emperor's worries and serve the court."
After hearing Li Shanchang's words, Zhu Yuanzhang's expression instantly turned from gloomy to clear.
For Zhu Yuanzhang, sealing the king and guarding the border was a national policy, a policy above all else.
Because the title of king and guarding the border is related to the prosperity of the old Zhu family.
Zhu Yuanzhang, referring to the precedent of previous dynasties' subversion, planned to entrust vassal kings in various parts of the Ming Dynasty to spread the power of the old Zhu family throughout the country.
In this way, if there is civil strife in the court, the vassal kings from various places can lead troops to serve the king.
Moreover, these people were sealed to the border areas. If foreign tribes invaded, these vassal kings could become the first line of defense for the Ming Dynasty.
These vassal kings could not only resist the invasion of the Ming Dynasty, but also help the emperor quell the civil strife when there was civil strife in the court and help stabilize the Ming Dynasty.
The worst-case scenario would be like what happened in the Western Han Dynasty, where someone would conspire to usurp the throne.
Even so, Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, founded the Eastern Han Dynasty from scratch and continued the life of the Han Dynasty for more than a hundred years.
Could it be that Zhu Yuanzhang’s descendants can’t extend the lives of his old Zhu family for hundreds of more years?
What's more, he also gave them vassal kings. No matter how bad they were, he could buy one or two hundred years for the Ming Dynasty.
"We haven't thought about this yet. I wonder if I have any suggestions?"
Although Zhu Yuanzhang already had a draft in mind, he pretended to have no idea and let Li Shanchang speak first.
Let's see if Li Shanchang can satisfy his wish.
"Your Majesty, I only have some superficial opinions on this matter."
Li Shanchang was humble for a while, and then continued:
"I think we can first divide these princes into vassal kings. After selecting the vassal land, let them go to the fiefdom and manage the place for the imperial court."
"Not only that, the princes have been educated by great Confucian scholars since they were young. They are both civil and military, and they also have to lead troops."
"Although the Ming Dynasty is peaceful on the surface, the southwest is unstable and the northern border is uneven. Beiyuan is hiding in Mobei and resisting the Ming Dynasty."
"I feel that now is the time for the imperial court to employ people, and the adult prince should be crowned king as soon as possible to serve the imperial court."
The smile on Zhu Yuanzhang's face became even brighter, and Li Shanchang was as considerate as ever, and the suggestions he gave were in line with his own wishes.
"Hahaha, you are worthy of being a prime minister. These words are spoken from the bottom of our hearts."
"In your opinion, which princes should be given the title of king? And where should they be given the title?"
Zhu Yuanzhang grinned from the corner of his mouth to his ears, looking very happy.
"I think the second, third and fourth princes should be crowned kings."
Li Shanchang had already thought of a countermeasure to this matter and responded fluently.
"As for where to seal it, it depends on the emperor's wishes."
Even if Li Shanchang had ideas about the enfeoffed vassals, it was not his place to say it. After all, if Li Shanchang had to say everything, how could the importance of Zhu Yuanzhang be reflected?
"Since you are granted the title of king to guard the border, you will naturally go to guard the border for the Ming Dynasty."
"We are not letting them eat, drink and have fun and become worms who only enjoy happiness."
Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Li Shanchang had already said this, so he simply showed his cards and said domineeringly:
"The Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun has lost contact with the Central Plains for more than three hundred years since it was sold to the Khitan by Shi Jingtang."
"Many customs of the people in these Han areas have changed, and we are very worried about these."
"So, we have to arrange for all these princes to go to the north."
"Taiyuan and Peiping are strategically important places. We think we should let the third and fourth sons go to these places."
"The superior is wise."
When Li Shanchang heard this, he bowed directly and said:
"It's just a matter like this. I think we should listen to the advice of the courtiers."
"The most important thing is the advice of the censors. The superiors should also know the character of these censors."
Of course Zhu Yuanzhang knew the temper of these dog censors. The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang set up this censor station was to cause trouble for the nobles of Huaixi.
In order to allow Liu Bowen to take these censors to compete with the powerful people in Huaixi, he even separated the highest institution of the censorship.
The position of Zuodu Yushi is even equal to that of the prime minister. There is no one in the court that he cannot impeach.
Zhu Yuanzhang used Liu Bowen as a knife, and the censor in Taichung was the sharpest edge of the knife.
Originally, this knife was quite useful, but now Zhu Yuanzhang discovered that these censors even wanted to impeach him.
This gave Zhu Yuanzhang a headache, especially recently, this phenomenon has become more and more serious.
Zhu Yuanzhang had mentioned the matter of granting the king a title and guarding the border in the court before, but as soon as he raised it, he was frantically remonstrated by the Yushitai.
Looking at that posture, it seemed that he would not give up until he achieved his goal, so Zhu Yuanzhang had to temporarily suppress the fengwang garrison.
But now that the princes are getting older, Zhu Yuanzhang feels that this matter must not be delayed any longer and must be settled.
"Shan Chang, let's arrange it and let all the civil and military officials take part. We want to see what these people have to say about our princes!"
Li Shanchang lowered his head in response and raised the corners of his mouth slightly.
Liu Bowen, see if you can accept this great gift from me?
