Daming: I became Zhu Yuanzhang's eldest son

After Zhu Tao said this, although Zhu Yuanzhang usually obeyed his advice, he was still taken aback.

"Tao'er is not talking nonsense. One of the systems that father is most proud of these years is the guard system. How can you give him up so easily."

Zhu Tao replied helplessly.

"When the guard system was established, it also made a great contribution to Daming, but it is no longer suitable for the current national conditions of Daming."

Zhu Yuanzhang was very shocked. He knew that Zhu Tao was definitely not a person who talked freely. Since he said this, he must have a reason, so he wanted to hear what Zhu Tao said next.

In fact, Zhu Tao naturally knew in his heart that the guard system actually allows these troops to serve as soldiers in peacetime and farmers in wartime, and inherit military households from generation to generation.

That is to say, soldiers are soldiers all their lives, and military members are military members all their lives, and their household registration and land are specially designated for them, which is the so-called military settlement.

Zhu Tao asked Zhu Yuanzhang helplessly.

"Your Majesty, if you don't want all these military households to become slaves to their superiors in the end, then this guard system will be abolished sooner or later."

Zhu Yuanzhang really didn't understand why he said that, he just frowned slightly and said to Zhu Tao.

"The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty are all extremely brave. They opened up the territory for the Ming Dynasty and went through life and death. How could they become the boss's slaves?"

Zhu Tao pointed it out directly.

"At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, in order to prevent insufficient military expenditures, it was natural to use the guard system to supplement military expenditures. Because the soldiers did not remove their armor or delay the battle, their combat power remained unchanged."

Zhu Yuanzhang listened carefully to Zhu Tao's words. At this moment, Zhu Tao suddenly changed the topic and continued.

"Ten hundreds of years later, the world will be at peace by then, and there will be no wars to fight. The soldiers will not be able to make meritorious service, and they will not be able to get promoted, but their household registration cannot be changed again. If it’s not a matter of saying a word for the chief, then they will naturally become invisible slaves.”

What Zhu Yuanzhang said made Zhu Yuanzhang's heart tremble, but he had no way to refute it. If it was true as what Zhu Tao said, then it would really develop in this direction.

In fact, Zhu Tao is really not scaremongering. In later generations, those military settlements were really taken over by the local guard chiefs and became private property.

More importantly, those military households have really become slaves who only serve their superiors, and they have no combat effectiveness at all.

So much so that in Liaodong at the end of the Ming Dynasty, when we counted the military settlements with 2 people in a booklet, we found only less than 500 soldiers capable of fighting.

Of course, this is something recorded in the history books of later generations, and Zhu Tao can't directly use it to explain things, but he can tell the truth.

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was of course shocked. He never thought that the guard system that he had always been proud of would have such serious drawbacks.

After Zhu Tao finished speaking, he couldn't help looking at Xu Da and Li Shanchang next to him.

As Wei Guogong, Xu Da is the supreme duke, the chief governor of the five armies' governor's mansion, and the head of generals.

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang looking at him like this, he couldn't help being taken aback.

As the commander in charge of the entire army, he certainly knew that some of the guard officers below had already begun to corrupt.

The generals who lead the troops know that no matter what level of military officer they are, it has always been common to be empty-paid, and oppression of soldiers is not non-existent.

Although Xu Da was a little disgusted by this, he also felt that this matter was not a big deal, and he never reported it to Zhu Yuanzhang until Zhu Yuanzhang came to see him today.

"What King Dingyuan said has begun to take shape. In the reports of some subordinates, I can also detect that some chiefs of the guards are now starting to do whatever they want because of the long peace."

Zhu Yuanzhang was furious instantly, and he couldn't help asking Xu Da.

"Xu Da, you are our sworn brother, and you are also the governor of the five armies. You are in charge of all the generals. There has been such a thing, why don't you report it to us early!"

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang was a little sullen, Xu Da also felt that the matter might be a little serious, so he quickly explained.

"The superior should calm down, I feel that this kind of thing, such as eating empty salary, can be regarded as something that happened many years ago, and it is not a big deal in the army, so I dealt with a group of people on my own initiative, but did not report to you. "

Zhu Yuanzhang took a look, feeling somewhat dissatisfied with this old man, so he said.

"If you have anything to tell us as soon as possible in the future, otherwise, we will think that you and those officials are collude to deceive us."

These words were a bit too heavy, Xu Da naturally couldn't bear it, and quickly knelt down to plead guilty.

Zhu Yuanzhang originally just wanted to hit him, so he took advantage of the situation to get him up, and didn't say anything else.

At this time, Li Shanchang also knew the seriousness of the matter, and immediately came to kneel down to plead guilty and said.

"Your Majesty can't criticize Wei Guogong all the time. After all, he is a military general, and the minister is the former chief assistant of the cabinet. The news must be collected here."

After finishing speaking, he also briefly talked about the current situation with Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Now, after some state governments have assigned them military settlements, the amount reported each year is different from the cabinet's estimate, and they always complain that there are not enough acres of land, and demand to continue to allocate land."

In fact, this is already the beginning of corruption, but it is not so serious now, it is more subtle.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang's face darkened in an instant, and he absolutely could not accept such a thing happening in the army.

"Yanchang, although you are named Second Assistant, you are actually the head of the cabinet. How can you explain this to me when something like this happens?"

Li Shanchang knelt on the ground and kowtowed, and then said.

"Your Majesty, I have always cared about the internal affairs of the court, and did not have much energy to intervene in the army, so I was negligent in this matter. Please understand, Your Majesty, I am willing to be punished for this."

What he said was actually very polite, but the essence of the matter was not that simple.

In the final analysis, Li Shanchang is just a civil servant, even if he is the cabinet member who is the head of the civil servants, he is still a civil servant.

And the jurisdiction of the generals is under the control of the Five Armies Commander's Mansion, and the chief governor of the Five Armies Commander's Mansion is Xu Da.

If Li Shanchang really stretched out his hand so long and went to the army, then he really violated Zhu Yuanzhang's taboo.

But, after all, such a big thing happened now, it is too unreasonable for him, the emperor, to know nothing about it.

He glanced at Xu Da next to him, and at the same time said to Li Shanchang.

"Both of you heard it clearly. It's not that we don't know about it. It's just that you can't hide it and don't report it. This time, you won't go deep into the small punishment and the big commandment, and you will be fined for one year."