"Didn't we ask you to wait in Hepu County and monitor Li Jin?"
After Zhu Yuanzhang saw these Jin Yiwei, he frowned and said in a bad tone:
"What are you doing back now?"
"Don't you dare to disobey our imperial edict?"
The entire Jinyiwei family was so frightened that they knelt down in front of Zhu Yuanzhang and hurriedly defended themselves:
"We will never dare to disobey the imperial edict, but His Highness the Crown Prince asked me to come back and escort important prisoners to Yingtian Mansion."
"If not, how could we dare to leave our posts without permission?"
"Here is a secret message from His Highness the Crown Prince. Your Majesty, you will know it at a glance."
"Escorting important prisoners?"
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were puzzled, but he still didn't let the guards drag them down immediately. Instead, he took the secret letter and tore off the letterhead.
After opening the secret message and seeing that it was indeed Zhu Biao's note, Zhu Yuanzhang began to read it seriously.
After reading the contents of the secret letter, Zhu Yuanzhang's face was first surprised, and then showed a look of surprise. He felt overjoyed, and hurriedly looked at the Jin Yiwei and asked loudly:
"Where are all those toasts?"
"Have you really all been escorted to Beijing? Is there any mistake?"
"Your Majesty, we have all been escorted into the capital and are waiting outside the palace. There is nothing wrong with them."
Jinyiwei Baihu answered quickly, and then said hesitantly:
"It's just...just..."
"Just what?"
The expression on Zhu Yuanzhang's excited face paused, and then he asked:
"Did someone die on the road?"
"No, it's not! It's just that some people cursed and were very reluctant on the road!"
Baihu told Zhu Yuanzhang everything about the performance of these chieftains on the way to Beijing.
After Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, his eyes narrowed slightly, and then he said:
"Huh, unwilling?"
"Now that they are in the capital, they have to listen to us."
"You take them to the inn first and keep them under strict supervision. You must not let them disappear from the sight of Jin Yiwei."
"You did a good job this time. After the matter is resolved, we will still have a reward. You can go down first."
Hundreds of households were overjoyed when they heard this and hurriedly bowed down and said:
"Serving the emperor is a humble duty. Don't dare to be greedy for merit."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly, and then waved people to leave, but the joy on his face was obvious.
Liu Bowen, who was watching the whole process, was very surprised by Zhu Yuanzhang's performance. He hesitated for a long time and asked:
"I dare to ask the emperor, but what happy event is there?"
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw Liu Bowen asking questions, he looked even more happy and laughed loudly:
"Our Biao'er has done great things in Hepu County, which makes us very happy!"
Hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang said, Liu Bowen was even more curious and couldn't help but say:
"I wonder what exactly His Highness the Crown Prince did in Hepu County to make the Emperor so happy?"
"Hahaha, Bowen, you are extremely smart, but have you ever thought about how our government should manage those southwestern chieftains?"
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed loudly, and then asked Liu Bowen deliberately.
Hearing this, Liu Bowen frowned slightly and fell into deep thought.
Even the talented Liu Bowen could not help but fall silent when faced with this question from Zhu Yuanzhang.
The reason is very simple. The chieftains in the southwest are really difficult to manage.
These chieftains are intertwined and intertwined. Coupled with the intricate terrain of the southwest, if these chieftains are forcibly pacified, the southwest may fall into a swamp of war.
It's not that the current Ming army's combat effectiveness is not strong, but the special geographical environment is destined to make it extremely difficult for the natives in the southwest to suppress bandits.
The Shiwan Mountains, the Hengduan Mountains, the Guizhou Plateau, the primeval forests, and the deadly poisonous insect miasma are the biggest obstacles to the Ming army.
Which of these southwestern chieftains is not a native emperor who has been passed down for hundreds of years?
For example, the Yang family in Bozhou is a great chieftain that has been passed down since the Tang Dynasty. It has gone through the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Song Dynasty and the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, and now has a history of 700 years.
The Yang family is not the largest toast in the southwest, but there are many such big toasts in comparison.
Not even the mighty Mongolian cavalry could do anything about this kind of chieftain. They were like warlords, a state within a state in the Ming Dynasty.
However, Daming could only comfort him. Once the war started, Southwest, which had finally settled down, would fall into turmoil again in an instant.
The annihilation of the southwestern chieftains will bring down the Ming Dynasty's treasury. Even though the Ming Dynasty's finances are no longer what they used to be, once the war starts, no matter how much money they have, they will eventually disappear without a trace like running water.
Although a country is large, if it is warlike, it will perish.
However, if it is something that cannot be obtained on the battlefield, then it must be even more impossible to obtain at the negotiation table.
The southwestern chieftains of the Yang family and the Zhao family are the cancer that has grown on the Ming Dynasty. These forces, called ministers, are actually warlords. Once they break out, they will inevitably bring extremely heavy disasters to the Ming Dynasty.
But how to manage these toasts?
Liu Bowen thought for a long time, but there was no way to get the best of both worlds. He could only shake his head and smile bitterly:
"Your Majesty, I apologize for my stupidity. I really can't figure out how to manage these chieftains?"
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw Liu Bowen's embarrassed look, he laughed even louder and said:
"Bowen, Bowen!"
"Aren't you known as a miraculous strategist? Is there anything in this world that you don't know how to do?"
Liu Bowen bowed repeatedly, saying that he had little talent and knowledge and did not dare to be praised like this by the emperor.
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled very happily. What he liked to see most was Liu Bowen's deflated appearance.
"Bowen, have you ever heard that you should change your ways and return to your hometown?"
"Return to the native land?"
Liu Bowen looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with confusion in his eyes.
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded with a smile, then stroked his beard and said with a smile:
"That's right, I'll change my ways and return to my hometown."
"Since the previous dynasty, the hereditary system of chieftains has been continued. The natives have been regarded as private property by these chieftains for generations, and the imperial court has always upheld the system of chieftains managing natives."
"Although this system has some advantages, the shortcomings are more obvious."
"Although this kind of restraint system can quickly recover places like the southwest, in fact it is a change of soup without changing medicine. These chieftains are still the ones who rule these places."
"In the eyes of the natives, they only see the chieftain, but they don't know us as the emperor."
"As long as these chieftains stand high and shout, these natives will be deceived by the chieftains and launch a rebellion."
"This is also the reason why although the Southwest has been recovered in recent years, there have been frequent turmoils."
"In that case, let's reorganize the system! Let these natives and other parts of the southwest be handed over to the officials for management."
"These floating officials rotate every three years, and all the original chieftains are sent to the capital for further study. They cannot go back until we think they can return to lead the tribe."
"In this way, changing the chieftain system to a floating official system will definitely put an end to the chieftain rebellion in the southwest!"
Liu Bowen looked at Zhu Yuanzhang dumbfounded. Although the official transfer system mentioned by Zhu Yuanzhang was very good, it had a fatal flaw.
If this defect is not resolved, no matter how perfect the official transfer system is, it will probably not be implemented in the southwest.
