Daming: The system rejected my request for salted fish

Chapter 1500

Upon hearing Wei Wu's response, Zhu Yuanzhang's expression froze.

He then stared at Wei Wu for a long time before finally asking a question.

Do you have any other ideas?

"Ok!"

Wei Wu nodded, and then directly stated the reason for his refusal.

“Uncle Zhu, now that I am a Duke, the so-called reward for merit is meaningless to me.”

"Do you intend to bestow upon me a title of kingship of a different surname? For me, having you and my elder brother to protect me is enough."

"Whether I am a Duke or a prince of a different surname makes no difference to me. The main thing is that I have too many achievements to make."

Wei Wu's words were actually a sarcastic response to Zhu Yuanzhang, considering that there wasn't a single living king of a different surname in the Ming Dynasty.

Although Wei Wu was confident that even if he were to be enfeoffed as a king of a different surname, Zhu Yuanzhang would not harbor any suspicion or fear towards him.

But Cao Cao did not want to set a precedent. In his view, Zhu Yuanzhang was right. A dynasty did not need to grant titles to people of different surnames.

Therefore, after pointing out the issue of kings of different surnames, Wei Wu once again refused, saying:

"Besides, as you know, I've been trying to tarnish my reputation all this time! There's no need to add any more merits."

"Actually, in my opinion, all the credit for this should go to Fourth Brother. It would be a good thing for you too."

"After all, Fourth Brother is about to be enfeoffed overseas. If we attribute all the credit to him, the ministers will feel more at ease!"

Wei Wu did not explicitly state his meaning, but Zhu Yuanzhang, being so astute, immediately discerned the problem.

The first thing that can be confirmed is that it is a civil or military group, a group of officials from Huaixi or Zhejiang.

Not a single official in the court wanted the Ming Dynasty to adopt a feudal system, as it had been the case since the founding of the dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to grant titles to his sons, but they refused. However, he couldn't persuade them otherwise, so he reluctantly agreed.

Even so, they still managed to restrict the enfeoffment system to a certain extent, making it a castrated version of the enfeoffment system.

Since it is impossible to completely prevent this, we must pay more attention to the succession of the throne in order to avoid a struggle for the throne.

As the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty and the sole heir to the throne, Zhu Biao was recognized by all the civil and military officials.

They all hoped that Zhu Biao could inherit the throne and become the next emperor of the Ming Dynasty, which was beyond doubt.

At this time, a prince suddenly appeared who had made tremendous contributions and was also very capable and shrewd.

This is something they do not want to see; they will not allow anyone, even in the slightest way, to threaten their throne.

However, Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, was able to conquer the northern deserts and completely eliminate the threat to the grasslands, which can be described as an unprecedented feat.

The credit was given to him, but the ministers who were really anxious were those who hoped that Zhu Biao could ascend the throne as soon as possible.

However, Prince Yan, Zhu Di, was a prince and had just made great contributions, so even if they were anxious, they could only watch helplessly.

If Zhu Yuanzhang had proposed granting fiefdoms overseas at this time, sending Zhu Di away, those ministers certainly wouldn't have objected.

Even though they were resistant to the feudal system, it was still in the open sea, and in a remote, barbarian land nearly ten thousand miles away.

These ministers do not yet have a clear understanding of the 'world'; the most important thing in their hearts is only the Central Plains.

In their view, enfeoffing Zhu Di overseas was not an enfeoffment, but an exile, so they would definitely support it.

It was precisely because Zhu Yuanzhang understood the meaning behind Wei Wu's words that he nodded after Wei Wu finished speaking.

"Okay, what you said makes sense. As for achievements or not, in your words, we've got your back!"