Above the main hall.

The voice of the chief minister, Sun Xiangqing, announcing the decree echoed inside and outside the palace. Under the jade steps, a young man with red lips and white teeth and a face like a crown of jade, wearing the prince's court uniform, bowed respectfully to Zhao Yuanjin who was sitting on the throne.

Under the complicated eyes of the civil and military officials of the court, the eldest son of the emperor, Zhao Xinyue's brother Zhao Xinlu, walked up the jade steps and took the crown prince's seal from his father, Zhao Yuanjin. From this moment on, he became the king of Chu Dynasty.

The crown prince, the legitimate heir to the empire.

Zhao Yuanjin then announced Qin Feng as the prince's tutor, taking on the important task of teaching the prince. In addition, he also appointed Ling Yuanqing, Wen Songlin, and Dong Yushan as the deputies of the national tutor.

Needless to say, Ling Yuanqing is now the General Long Xiangwei of the Chu Dynasty, the privy envoy, and the first person in the military generals; Wen Songlin is a well-known wealthy private businessman, a model of self-made wealth, and an old friend of the emperor; as for Dong

Yushan was a county magistrate in the previous dynasty and ranked first in the performance evaluation for three consecutive years. Because he was too honest and upright, he was not liked by the superior officials and was never promoted or reused.

Qin Feng's purpose in selecting these three people is to hope that the prince can have sufficient understanding of important fields such as military affairs, commerce, and grassroots people's livelihood and civil affairs, and cultivate and manage his own connections, so that he can be handy after he ascends the throne in the future, and will not be deceived by his ministers.

coax.

Needless to say, in terms of military affairs, political power comes from the barrel of a gun. If an emperor does not know how to run an army and does not have military power, it is hard to say how much authority his words can have. This is especially obvious in the era of the monarchy system.

The military emperor is synonymous with puppet.

In terms of business, the prince must understand the true significance of business to the country's fiscal revenue and economic lifeline, and he must also be familiar with the rules of private business operations, so that in the future he will not be used by those insidious civil servants as "the emperor will not compete with the common people for profit".

I was deceived by such nonsense reasons.

People's livelihood and civil affairs at the grassroots level are something that the emperor must be familiar with and understand personally, instead of just sitting in the palace reading a few memorials and listening to the reports and deceptions of civil servants.

In the main world, even the top leader of China started as a village cadre. After being familiar with the grassroots level, he was promoted step by step. From managing a county, a city, a province, until he entered the central government, he worked conscientiously and truly grasped the situation.

Only through hard work and a time span of several decades can one finally be qualified to take on the responsibility of being at the helm of such a huge country.

Of course, in this world, due to different times, the training of the heir to the throne cannot be so complicated and detailed, but the basic process cannot be omitted. The most important thing is to establish a system for the prince to handle important tasks.

To study, you need to go out to visit the capital and become familiar with all aspects and operating mechanisms of the entire empire.

Take the Ming Dynasty as an example. The princes were born in deep palaces and grew up with women. After enlightenment, they interacted with those well-educated Confucians and civil servants every day. They could only read some books of sages and study poems and songs. They were attracted by these

Civil servants use various subtle methods to brainwash people, but they know very little about the real people's livelihood sufferings.

The most classic negative examples are Emperor Jianwen and Emperor Chongzhen. Both of them were well-read in poetry and books, and highly believed in Confucian theories. However, their real ability to govern the country was abysmal, and they knew nothing about the basic people's sentiments. They were treated like veterans.

The civil servants and great Confucians were playing tricks all over the place. In the end, one of them lost his throne and went into exile overseas, and the other lost his country and hanged himself.

Of course, those civil servants would not take responsibility for this. They turned away, packed up their mood, and went to serve the new master happily.

After the court meeting ended, the ministers walked out of the hall one after another. Some of the civil servants' faces were as dark as the bottom of a pot, uglier than their dead parents, but the generals were smiling happily.

There are basically no real fools who can stand in the court, especially those old and cunning civil servants. People with a little bit of brains can see the emperor's true intentions, but they still have nothing to do.

Outside the Meridian Gate, a group of civil servants from the Jiangnan faction muttered a few words with gloomy faces, and then left in their cars.

Qin Feng left the main hall and was planning to go back to the mansion to teach the girls to continue their driving lessons. A chamberlain came over to salute and politely informed: "Your Majesty has invited the Imperial Master to speak to you in the south study room."

He was startled for a moment, then readily agreed: "Okay, let's lead the way."

A moment later, in the quiet south study room.

A table of exquisite dishes had been placed, and Emperor Zhao Yuanjin, who had changed into casual clothes, was waiting. Seeing him coming, the two of them didn't show too much politeness, and sat down to have a drink with each other.

"...I have read the strategies for teaching and training the prince, sir, yesterday."

After three rounds of drinking, Zhao Yuanjin put down his glass and said, "If you really follow this charter, it will be difficult for the prince to take on a big position within ten or twenty years."

"Your Majesty, this is normal. The king of a country is responsible for the well-being of hundreds of millions of people. Every word and deed directly affects the court, so it should not be taken carelessly."

Qin Feng smiled slightly and said: "What's more, Your Majesty is now at the peak of the Spring and Autumn Period. It will not be a problem to rule the world for thirty years. You can definitely afford it."

Zhao Yuanjin nodded in agreement. In fact, he had never established a prince, and the only concern in his heart was Qin Feng's attitude.

Although he was able to become the emperor only because of Qin Feng's help, now that he has taken this position, who is willing to let it go?

If he established a crown prince and Qin Feng had other ideas, such as asking him to abdicate early and support the crown prince to ascend the throne so that he could control the government more easily, then he would have no solution at all.

Of course, Qin Feng now made it clear that he had no intention of letting the prince take over in advance, and the stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.

"By the way, based on your words and deeds, it seems that you are very wary of the civil servant faction in the court. I wonder why?" Zhao Yuanjin asked again.

Looking through the history books of previous dynasties, everyone knows the dangers of excessive military power. Therefore, the emperors in subsequent dynasties tended to emphasize civility over military power and use the power of civil servants to suppress military commanders. There is nothing wrong with this idea, but there must be a limit in everything. Too much is not enough. Civilian power

If it is too large, the harm caused cannot be underestimated.

The Tumubao Incident during the Yingzong period of the Ming Dynasty was a collusion between civilian officials and officials to cut off the supply of food and supplies, leading to the defeat of hundreds of thousands of elite Ming troops, the death of a large number of generals, the capture of the emperor, and the collapse of the entire Ming Empire.

After a period of decline, the civil servants successfully took control of the government.

Later, Emperor Zhengde tried to re-establish the power of military commanders and nobles to check and balance the power of civil servants, but he died in an unknown manner and did not even leave any heirs.

Because of the dominance of civil servants, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty could be said to have lived the most miserable lives. If it were not for the existence of institutions such as Jinyiwei and Dongchang, the emperors would basically be no different from puppets.

"...So, from the standpoint of the emperor, we must not get too used to these corrupt officials, whether in the court or among the people." Qin Feng emphasized.

Zhao Yuanjin pondered: "But these literati hold the pen. If we suppress them too much, maybe the public sentiment in the world..."

"It doesn't matter. As long as the emperor can firmly grasp the military power, he has nothing to fear from such consequences." Qin Feng said nonchalantly.

In this regard, we can appropriately learn from the experience of the Han Dynasty. The emperor himself controls the main military power in the country, and military power is unique to the emperor. It has nothing to do with the Ministry of War, let alone the power of civilian officials. The situation of civilians in charge of the army is never allowed to occur.

As long as the emperor holds the gun firmly in his hand, there is no need to worry about the situation getting out of control.

To be honest, there are still quite a lot of problems in the top-level system design of the Ming Dynasty, which led to so many troubles later. For example, the vassal system, the craftsman household system, the health office system, the commercial tax system, etc. Zhu Yuanzhang was a poor farmer after all.

He was born with limited knowledge and vision. Although he studied diligently after gaining the throne, he still left behind many sources of bad governance.

"Your Majesty is the founding ancestor of the country, and his prestige and authority are unmatched. Naturally, there is nothing to worry about. However, future generations are incomparable in this regard, so some things must be prepared for a rainy day and a system should be formed now."

"My opinion is very simple. Every king in the future should spend at least half of the month with the generals and nobles."

"The Yulin Forbidden Army guarding the Imperial City and the capital camp guarding Luojing City must be completely controlled, and no civil servants are allowed to get involved. In addition to frequently summoning the main generals, it is best to be able to call every guard general-level officer

name."

In the main world, when the second-generation leadership core was passed on to the third-generation core, they were worried that their authority would not be enough, so they once told them to spend at least five days of seven days a week with the top military leaders. Facts have proved that this approach is indeed effective.

"Okay, I know what to do." Zhao Yuanjin finally said.

Next, Qin Feng talked with him about a series of issues such as official treatment, anti-corruption supervision, and foreign policy, all of which gave him unique insights.

If the top-level system design of the Chu Dynasty can learn from the lessons of previous dynasties and does not stop political power due to the death of people, then it will not be difficult to break through the three-hundred-year limit. Of course, this also involves the key factors of population growth and food production.

Qin Feng is also considering a solution to this matter.

An hour later, the guests and hosts parted happily.

Back at the mansion, Zhao Xinyue happily greeted her: "My lord, my mother has been waiting for you for a long time."
Chapter completed!