Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 389 New Overseas System (I)
The meeting was over and the ministers began to leave, but Fang Congzhe, Wen Tiren and Yuan Keli stayed.
"Eh? Do the three elders have anything else to do?"
"Your Majesty." Wen Tiren stepped forward and said, "Please dismiss the attendants. We have confidential matters to report."
"...Okay, Fang Zhenghua, take your people out."
After the venue was cleared, the three ministers bowed to the bottom and said, "Your Majesty, we request that your eldest son be made the Crown Prince!"
"What?" This sudden request really shocked Zhu Youdong: "What do the three elders mean? I am only eighteen years old this year, and the eldest prince is still in his infancy."
"Your Majesty." Yuan Keli also took a step forward: "I am not worried about your health and lifespan, but I want to stop the Xiao Zong from thinking about it. Confirming the crown prince as soon as possible is a protection and a goodwill to the Xiao Zong and some ministers."
Yuan Keli's words were short but rich in content. However, after all, having been at the pinnacle of power for so many years, Zhu Youdong still understood.
As for people, once they enter the officialdom, most of them are thinking about how to climb up and get a higher official position. But now the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty is very clear: the Emperor's Teacher Party climbs the fastest, followed by the Fangshan Party, which is the most favored by the emperor. For officials outside these two parties, they either find a way to attach themselves to the past, or start a new one.
If they wanted to start a new business, what could be quicker than relying on Zhu Youxiao, who was the regent?
If the emperor does not decide on a crown prince soon, it will give the regent unrealistic fantasies. It will also give some officials unrealistic fantasies. Once these two things are combined to a certain extent, I am afraid that someone will have thoughts that they shouldn't have - it may not be Zhu Youxiao who has the idea, but the people around him will push him in a bad direction.
But I am a time traveler, and I have the Prime Minister locked on. Unfortunately, I can't say this clearly.
"...I understand that the three ministers are concerned about the country and the people. However, it is still too early to decide on the position of crown prince."
"emperor?"
"The three ministers, please listen to me." Zhu Youdong stood up and said, "I am destined to bring about a complete change to the Ming Dynasty. The vassal policy that has been practiced for more than 200 years in the Ming Dynasty has been changed in one day. Of course, the policy of succession to the royal family must also be changed."
"What does the Emperor mean?"
"First, the position of the crown prince should not be decided at this time. I know what you want to say. Well, the number of times I will personally lead the army in the future will not be too many, nor too few. The war is dangerous, and if I die in battle, you can't say for sure, but I know it in my heart. However, since I already have a prince, I am not too worried about the issue of royal succession.
Secondly, I have always been very interested in the Ottoman system of selecting heirs. Of course, the Ottoman Canon succession law is indeed too bloody. But letting the princes take up important positions in various departments can train their abilities and cultivate their own team. This idea is correct. Therefore, my princes and grandchildren will serve as officials and generals in the future. After I have fully observed them, I will secretly write down the edict and determine the successor. A hundred years after I die, the cabinet elders, the eunuchs in charge of the seal of the Silijian, and the military representatives will open the edict together. Together, they will assist the person on the edict to succeed to the throne. The other princes and grandchildren will be appointed as kings outside. "
"…The Emperor's new ideas are always endless."
"Hahaha, this is nothing new. It's just a slight improvement on someone else's existing policy. Come to think of it, the Southern Country, thousands of miles away, is implementing a new policy right now."
…
When Zhu Youdong revealed a little about his education methods for future royal children in Beijing, Singapore, thousands of miles away, also welcomed a group of guests.
"Hahaha, bosses, I'm the new governor of Singapore, Li Jia. This is the president of the state court, Peng Xiaodong. This is Du Youning, the commander of the Singapore State Garrison. This is Qu Shisi, whose courtesy name is Qitian. He is the head of the Independent Commission Against Corruption of our state. This is Huang Zunsu, whose courtesy name is Zhenchang. He is the education commissioner of our state. According to the emperor's will, the five of us are the heads of the civil affairs, judicial, military, supervision and education departments of this state of Singapore. In short, welcome to all the bosses for choosing our state of Singapore for inspection."
What made Li Jia, Zhu Youdong's favorite student, lead all the bigwigs of the state government to come out to welcome them was a scene that was simply unimaginable in the mainland: the five bigwigs of the state, all of whom were Jinshi in 1616. They actually came out together to welcome a group of businessmen?
But there is no way. The current state of Singapore has an area of more than 4,000 square kilometers (four times the size of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region), but its population is only about 37,000 people: this is including the soldiers of the New Army stationed here and their families, as well as the sailors of a small-scale Nanyang Squadron and their families. If we really count the local indigenous people, it is estimated that there are only 2,000 to 3,000 people at most.
As a time traveler, Zhu Youdong knew how important Singapore's geographical strategic location was. He also knew that if it was well built in the future, the tolls alone would be very exciting. Therefore, officials in other places in the new five states were mainly traditional imperial examination officials, and Fangshan students were mainly responsible for supervision. Only in Singapore, he stuffed three Fangshan students here at once.
Of course, according to the emperor's mind, even if they were students of Fangshan, he would not allow all the officials in charge of this overseas state thousands of miles away from Beijing to be students of Fangshan. Therefore, the two Donglin Party members were responsible for supervision and education.
As the Donglin Party, which was hit hard three times by Zhu Youdong, the biggest representative of this party in the court is actually Sun Shenxing, a marginal person who could not enter the core area at the beginning. As for Qu Shisi and Huang Zunsu... Well, there are actually two types of people in the Donglin Party. One type is full of morality and all kinds of deception. The other type really believes what the former says and then rushes into battle. Qu and Huang basically belong to the latter.
Regarding the domestic wealthy merchants coming to the state to investigate investment, Qu and Huang were unwilling at first to welcome them collectively with the five big bosses of the state: Merchants are so lowly, how can we bow down and flatter these lowly people?
But Li Zhizhou spread his hands and said: "The people in the state are either soldiers or natives. We can't collect taxes at all. If merchants don't come here, we will just starve to death. Moreover, now that Siam has fallen, countless ships are passing by us. If we don't build the port quickly, won't we watch tens of thousands of silver dollars fly away from us every day?"
There was also Du Youning, who was a scholar but did not want to be a soldier. Not only that, he also shaved his cheeks with a dagger and grew a beard. The gentleman suddenly became a bandit. Then Li Jia patiently persuaded two Donglin young men to attend the so-called investment promotion meeting, while Du Youning was standing next to them, cutting fruit with a big knife...
Forget it, forget it. Can't we attend? From now on, I will be in charge of supervision. I will investigate and kill you, the emperor's disciples! When a bunch of corruption comes out, I don't think the emperor will still have the face to protect you!
