It was not only Xu Da who felt regret. Zhu Yuanzhang felt the same.
Although he could not recall writing such a letter to his third son, the description within it was entirely correct.
From the first year of Hongwu, he had crossed the Yangtze, pacified Jianghuai, subdued Qilu, swept through Henan to Tong Pass, driven the Yuan ruler away, and secured Youji. After that he rapidly recovered Shanxi and Hebei, pressed westward into Hexi, and once Guanzhong submitted, the realm was effectively unified.
All of this had taken no more than two and a half years.
Such speed was rare even in ancient times.
If the campaign of the fifth year of Hongwu had truly swept away the remnant Yuan in one decisive stroke, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that even before Emperor Taizong of Tang he could have boasted of his military achievement.
Unfortunately, the momentum that had filled the army when they swore the oath of campaign could not overcome the northern winds and snow.
The unbroken victories since the first year of Hongwu finally came to grief at Karakorum. The legend of invincibility was cut short there.
Fine horses were lost. Elite soldiers were lost.
What could have been resolved once and for all was broken apart.
Compared with Li Wenzhong's angry sighs and Xu Da's unwillingness to accept defeat, Zhu Yuanzhang's emotions were relatively restrained.
"I think the name Tula River is quite good," the Ming emperor said calmly. "A thousand years from now our descendants will still come to this river to mourn the brave soldiers of the Great Ming who fought with blood and courage along its banks."
As he spoke, he turned to look directly at Xu Da.
"Even if only to ensure this river never changes its name, Brother Xu Da should destroy the Yuan and complete the task."
At those words Xu Da remembered many things.
Brothers whose fame would reach later generations but who died young.
The imperial guards who had fought their way out of defeat without collapsing.
The hardened soldiers who died facing north on the march home.
The children in Beiping dressed in mourning white, clutching his sleeves and asking whether their fathers had died bravely.
Finally he rose to his feet and spoke word by word.
"If the remnant Yuan is not destroyed, then Xu Da will not return."
The atmosphere inside Huagai Hall grew solemn.
The meaning between ruler and general was unmistakable. For the Great Ming, the destruction of the remaining Yuan forces was a goal that could not be abandoned.
Seeing this, the crown prince leaned forward and asked cautiously,
"Since Father has such ambition, then perhaps the Records of the Ancestral Instructions need not be supplemented further?"
The sentence instantly wiped away Zhu Yuanzhang's expression of harmony with his ministers.
"Absolutely impossible!"
Zhu Biao immediately pressed the matter.
"The lands north of the desert produce little and cannot support supply. The people there cannot easily be commanded. Why then should we wage campaigns there?"
Only then did Zhu Yuanzhang understand.
His good son had laid a trap here.
Earlier, when the light screen discussed polo, it had mentioned a line from the Records of the Ancestral Instructions: "Its land cannot support supply, its people cannot be commanded." Later generations claimed this sentence prevented the Ming from expanding outward, and after external threats disappeared the dynasty gradually lost its martial spirit.
Now it was the beginning of the fourteenth year of Hongwu.
Zhu Yuanzhang remembered clearly that the version of the Records of the Ancestral Instructions he had personally written did not yet contain that sentence.
The crown prince's intention was simple. He was using the emperor's own reasoning against him.
After realizing this, Zhu Yuanzhang dismissed it with a snort.
"The barbarian Yuan and tributary states cannot be treated the same!"
Zhu Biao had not yet thought through the matter when his fourth brother spoke quietly from the side.
"To conquer all four hundred prefectures of Great Ming…"
Zhu Biao watched as their father's expression changed instantly.
The emperor raised his hand as if to say something.
However the fourth prince reacted quickly and slipped behind their mother.
The emperor's raised hand smoothly changed direction and pointed at Zhu Biao instead.
Yet perhaps he could not bear to scold his eldest son too harshly. The raised hand slowly lowered again and struck the table beside him.
"I fought wars across the realm, traveling north and south. The men I met were all talented. Only after such experience did I establish the Great Ming. Do you think I would not understand what benefits my dynasty?"
"The matter with Japan was only a moment's misjudgment. Once I heard of it I corrected it. All these measures are for the sake of the Great Ming's foundation lasting a thousand autumns."
Yet the moment he finished speaking he noticed the strange expression on Zhu Biao's face, as if he wanted to speak but held back.
Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly remembered something.
The length of the Ming dynasty's mandate was no longer a secret. And no matter how one counted, that number had little to do with a thousand autumns.
But it was neither appropriate nor realistic to scold Zhu Biao.
So Zhu Yuanzhang turned his finger elsewhere.
"Third son, why are you laughing?"
Jin Prince Zhu Gang, who had been concentrating on recalling the letter from his father, raised his head blankly.
"Ah?"
[Lightscreen]
[After the defeat at Lingbei, Zhu Yuanzhang revived the recommendation system.
His purpose was clear. By advancing step by step and concentrating authority, he wanted to quickly restore the country and stabilize governance.
Objectively speaking, however, this decision also helped raise Hu Weiyong and eventually led to the necessity of executing him.
One interpretation holds that Zhu Yuanzhang's disdain for the imperial examinations during the early Ming reflected an incomplete understanding of official administration.
Since the birth of centralized monarchy, officials sent by the emperor to local regions did not actually need to govern effectively. Their main role was to represent imperial authority and ensure obedience from the localities.
The ultimate goal was simple: the collection of taxes.
In short, officials in a feudal era served more as instruments in the struggle between central authority and local power.
They might not be able to accomplish a task, but they certainly could prevent a task from being accomplished.
After the establishment of the Three Departments and Six Ministries system, the three departments continually rotated authority among themselves, yet the Six Ministries that actually handled affairs remained firmly in place.
Under imperial rule, the true foundation of local administration was the clerical staff.
For this reason every dynasty tightly controlled the management of clerks, which is why "rectifying official administration" became such a familiar phrase.
Within this framework, officials functioned as representatives within local society. The struggle between imperial power and local interests centered on control of appointments, ensuring that local officials ultimately represented the emperor's authority.
From the early Han practice of appointing meritorious nobles, to Emperor Wu's use of the recommendation system to reclaim authority, to the later Nine-Rank system, the relationship between central power and local elites remained a shifting contest.
Only with the birth and maturation of the imperial examination system did appointment power truly fall into the emperor's hands.
Another view argues that the imperial examinations were extremely difficult. Those who passed the jinshi degree often felt they had succeeded through their own ability rather than through imperial favor, which might weaken loyalty to the throne.
But emperors who implemented the examination system generally did not mind this.
As long as the jinshi did not feel gratitude toward powerful clans, imperial relatives, eunuchs, or military commanders, it was acceptable.
From the perspective of the ruler, it was preferable that these scholars feel indebted to no one at all rather than owe allegiance to some other patron.
This was also the fatal weakness of the Yuan dynasty that we discussed earlier.
Mongol nobles could appoint officials arbitrarily through clerical promotion. Those officials naturally viewed the noble who appointed them as their patron.
The result was that Yuan imperial orders often failed to extend beyond the capital.
Looking at the timing of Zhu Yuanzhang's abolition of the examination system in the sixth year of Hongwu, distancing himself from powerful nobles such as Li Shanchang while promoting new figures such as Hu Weiyong could be interpreted as a precaution against the recommendation system shifting power back toward the nobility.
However, reviving such an ancient institution within a newly founded empire produced consequences far beyond Zhu Yuanzhang's expectations.
Here we may directly cite data from the study Research on the Recommendation of Former Yuan Officials During the Early Hongwu Period.
During the Hongwu reign there were 422 officials of the third rank or above.
Among them, 197 entered office through recommendation, accounting for 46.9 percent.
Among the vice ministers of the Six Ministries, 48.67 percent entered through recommendation.
Looking more closely, the Ministries of Personnel and Revenue had the lowest proportion, both below thirty percent.
The Ministries of War and Rites were roughly even, each around fifty percent.
The Ministries of Justice and Works were the highest, both reaching seventy-five percent.]