56: Chapter 56: Unable to protect the King of Wu, the entire clan will perish!

After Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong left, Zhu Yuanzhang sat motionless for a long time before slowly extending his wrinkled hand to pick up the two booklets wrapped in kraft paper.

He opened the first one first.

There were no ornate covers, no complex rhetoric, only pages with crude drawings of human figures, annotated in the most straightforward vernacular: "At a quarter past noon, sit cross-legged, press your tongue against the roof of your mouth, inhale to expand your abdomen, exhale to contract it, repeat thirty-six times to calm your mind."

"Duck meat has cooling properties; when stewed over low heat for an hour with aged ginger, it can moisten the lungs and relieve asthma."

...

As he flipped through the pages, they were all simple, unpretentious methods for maintaining health.

Zhu Yuanzhang rubbed his fingertips over the rough pages. He suddenly remembered that for so many years, apart from the late Empress Ma and Crown Prince Zhu Biao, no one else had ever spoken to him about such trivial, domestic concerns. His throat tightened, and his eyes reddened without warning.

What he had ever wanted was never immortality. He just wanted to be able to sleep soundly in the dead of night, to breathe easily, and to stop dreaming of those blood-soaked battlefields and faces that died with their eyes wide open in resentment.

This grandson understood him.

He carefully placed this booklet beside Empress Ma's jade pillow, then picked up the second one.

On the cover of the booklet were four characters written in the official "Guan Ge" style: "Proposals on State Affairs."

Zhu Yuanzhang's brow subconsciously furrowed; the thing he hated most in his life was the long-winded "proposals" and "discussions" written by scholars.

In his view, nine out of ten were empty clichés, and the remaining one was a veiled insult to him, but he still patiently flipped to the first page.

The very first sentence was like a thunderclap, booming in his mind!

"The monarch is the master of the world, overseeing all major policies and making decisions alone. However, the affairs of the world are as numerous as ox hair. Yet, an emperor's energy is limited; if he must attend to every single matter himself, he will become exhausted, and state affairs will conversely be hindered."

Zhu Yuanzhang's calloused hand gripped the edge of the booklet tightly.

Exhausted!

Since the thirteenth year of the Hongwu reign, when he angrily executed Chancellor Hu Weiyong on charges of treason, abolished the Secretariat, and centralized all power in his own hands, he, Zhu Yuanzhang, had become the most tired person in the Great Ming Dynasty.

Every day, mountains of memorials piled up; he had to start reviewing them before dawn and continue until late at night. The Six Ministries, the Censorate, the Office of Transmission, the Court of Judicial Review... he had to make the final decision on everything alone.

It was not that he hadn't thought of solutions; he had appointed Grand Secretaries in the Huagai Hall, Wuying Hall, Wenyuan Pavilion, and East Pavilion, and even established the "Four Auxiliary Officials" system. But these people were, in the end, only advisors and secretaries; they dared not take responsibility, nor did they dare to make decisions.

In the end, all the burdens still pressed upon him, an old man in his seventies or eighties.

He suppressed the shock in his heart and continued reading.

There was not a single word of nonsense in the booklet; it was all substantial content. It proposed a complete framework, one capable of overturning the existing administrative system of the Great Ming: the Grand Secretariat.

"...Select three to five cautious and learned scholars from the Hanlin Academy to serve in the Wenyuan Pavilion and participate in handling confidential matters; these shall be the Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat. All memorials from internal and external offices shall first be sent to the Grand Secretariat. The Grand Secretaries shall use ink to 'propose drafts' (Piaoni) for handling strategies, then submit them to the Emperor. If the Emperor approves, he shall use the vermilion brush to 'approve in red' (Pihong), hand it to the Directorate of Ceremonial to affix the seal, and send it back to the Six Ministries for execution. If not approved, it shall be returned for redrafting..."

Proposing drafts! Approving in red!

Zhu Yuanzhang's pupils suddenly constricted!

These two seemingly simple terms ingeniously liberated the Emperor from the complex administrative duties!

The Grand Secretaries were responsible for proposing solutions, acting as a high-level secretariat, which greatly reduced the Emperor's workload. Yet, the final decision-making power, that sacred "vermilion brush," remained firmly in the Emperor's hands!

This method not only solved the problem of the Emperor working himself to death, but it also did not shake the foundation of imperial power in the slightest. In fact, because a system of checks and balances was formed between the Grand Secretariat and the Six Ministries, imperial power became even more stable!

This... this was simply tailor-made for him!

Zhu Yuanzhang's breathing became rapid. He flipped page after page; the booklet not only contained the structure of the Grand Secretariat, but even the rank of the Grand Secretaries, the authority of the Directorate of Ceremonial, the process of proposing drafts, and the coordination mechanisms between the ministries and the Censorate were all written clearly!

How could this be something a fifteen-year-old youth could think of?

Even those old foxes who had spent their whole lives in the imperial court certainly did not possess such vision and courage!

"A monster… My grandson is a monster!"

Zhu Yuanzhang muttered to himself. He held the booklet tightly to his chest, first chuckling foolishly, and as he laughed, tears began to stream down his face.

He had thought he was paving the way for Crown Prince Zhu Yuntong, but in the end, it was this grandson who had pointed out a way to survive for him, an old man about to be crushed by memorials!

After a long time, he finally calmed his agitated emotions. He suddenly raised his head and shouted toward outside the hall: "Jiang Wan!"

A figure quickly appeared in the hall, kneeling on one knee: "Your servant is here."

"You will follow the Prince of Wu south tomorrow." Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was as cold as iron, devoid of any emotion.

Jiang Wan was not surprised by this; after all, the Emperor had long ago said that his life belonged to the Prince of Wu.

"On this trip to Jiangnan, you have only one task." Zhu Yuanzhang stared at him intently, enunciating every word.

"Protect him."

"If any harm comes to him..." The old emperor paused, murderous intent flaring in his eyes.

"Your entire clan, along with all three thousand members of the Northern and Southern Divisions of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, will be wiped out, not a single one spared!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Wan trembled violently, cold sweat instantly beading on his forehead. He did not dare to hesitate in the slightest, knocking his head heavily against the floor, "Your servant… obeys the decree!"

At a fork in the road thirty miles outside Yingtian Prefecture, a dozen people dressed in ordinary merchant attire surrounded an inconspicuous blue cloth carriage. They flew no banners. After confirming no one was around, the driver cracked his whip, and the carriage team quietly turned toward the north. Half an hour earlier, the official delegation flying the Joseon royal flag had already departed with great fanfare toward the port in the east.

Inside the blue cloth carriage, Yi Bang-won lifted the curtain and looked back at the towering capital of the Great Ming.

"Your Highness, are we really going to Beiping?" the accompanying old envoy lowered his voice, his face full of worry, "If the imperial court finds out we are privately contacting the Prince of Yan, this will be a grave taboo."

"That Prince of Wu in Yingtian Prefecture is too terrifying." Yi Bang-won lowered the curtain, his eyes sinister, "The way he looked at me was like looking at a pig raised for slaughter. Three thousand warhorses are just the beginning; once he has the time to turn his attention to us, Joseon will sooner or later be swallowed by him until not even bones are left."

Yi Bang-won clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white, "Only when fierce tigers fight each other do the foxes and rabbits have a chance to survive. Go to Beiping!"