Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 876
If the emperor consulted his opinion, he wanted him to recommend someone he liked, but let him bear the pressure.

As the name suggests, it is both a good reputation and benefits.

Unsurprisingly, it was Zhu Mou, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, who the emperor wanted to join the cabinet.

Because of his clan status, public opinion inside and outside the court was raging, which can be described as constant controversy.

Without it, because in the past 300 years of the Ming Dynasty, there has not been a Zaifu who was born in the clan. After all, the clan was allowed to be an official, and it only started in the Wanli period.

Zhao Shu sighed softly in his heart, and could only bite the bullet and said: "The old minister is stupid, but he knows that in the government and the opposition, only the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Zhu Mou, is smart and capable, and has a valuable character. He is the best candidate."

The emperor laughed when he heard the words: "I think so too."

"Sir, you and I really coincide with each other!"

After all, Zhu Mou's entry into the cabinet is finally settled.

The monarch and his ministers enjoyed themselves for a while, quite a bit of the taste of the past.

At this time, Zhao Shu suddenly waved his hands at the eunuchs beside him, the emperor was surprised and asked Liu Afu to give orders.

At this time, there were only three people within a few feet.

"The old minister is old and weak, and I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to take on a big job."

Zhao Shu stood up and cupped his hands, showing a tired face.

Zhu Yixi said without hesitation: "No."

"The imperial court cannot do without sir."

Zhao Shu heaved a long sigh: "The old minister is also willing to do his part for the prosperity of Shaowu, but now he is old and frail, his teeth have become loose, and his eyesight is not as good as before."

"Nowadays, you can't even sit in a chair for more than an hour, otherwise you will suffer from back pain and difficulty falling asleep. The old god has seen the imperial doctor, and the pressure of speaking is too heavy..."

"My parents passed away for many years, and I don't know what the grave looks like, how many weeds are there..."

Seeing the sadness he said, Zhu Yixi was taken aback, and looked at Liu Afu who was beside him.

The latter nodded slightly, indicating that he had heard the news.

Zhu Yixi opened his mouth at this time, wanting to persuade, but he didn't know how to say it.

As the first literati of the Shaowu Dynasty, he not only served as the chief assistant for more than ten years, but was also conferred the title of Lord of the Kingdom of Bing, inherited by the World Lord, which can be described as very beautiful.

"gentlemen--"

Zhu Yixi said in a deep voice, unknowingly with solemnity.

"Da Ming cannot live without you."

"No, Your Majesty, anyone can do without Daming, but you can't live without you."

Zhao Shu shook his head, his eyes glowing brightly: "Back then, the old minister just wanted to find a way out and protect the old and young of the Sun family. He never thought that under the protection of the ancestors, the old things of Guangwu would reappear."

"Three hundred years of continuation of the Ming Dynasty, I will die without regret."

"That's it."

Zhu Yixi knew the stubbornness in his bones, and if he couldn't be persuaded, he could only sigh: "At least the 12th year of Shaowu must be over?"

"Old minister understands." Zhao Shu nodded slightly.

At this time, the emperor showed a forced smile: "Although I am resigning from office, the president of the Ming History Museum cannot just resign like this. This is specially reserved for you."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness."

Zhao Shu felt a little more happy in an instant.

Immediately, the two chatted about some old things, and they were full of emotion when they talked about it.

After he retreated, Zhu Yixi sighed deeply and didn't say much.

One year in Hanzhong, two years in the Huguang shogunate, and 12 years in Shaowu, a total of 15 years. This period of time can be described as exciting and effective.

In a way, this is the end of an era.

Of course, from this point of view, the political affairs and pressure in the feudal era were very serious to the spiritual destruction of people.

Zhao Shu is in his early sixties, so he must have gray hair and grow old.

It's no wonder that in the early Ming Dynasty, the age of becoming an official was reduced to 60 years old. With the increase of population and the development of productivity, the pressure and government affairs also increased day by day. It was simply unreasonable to become an official at seventy.

Of course, becoming an official at sixty, to a certain extent, is also a renewal of the officialdom.

Running water does not rot.

And, more importantly, this is a nirvana for civil servants. Once the emperor doesn't want to use it, as long as someone impeaches him for a sentence of age, he has to quit.

Now it seems that Wang Yingxiong and Lu Daqi will not last long.

Of course, such a change of appearance must be done step by step. If it is like Chongzhen, who served as the chief assistant in 17 years and [-] years, the longest period is only four years, and the shortest is only one or two months.

This is a mess.

From the perspective of the breadth of history, compared with the last emperors of other dynasties, Chongzhen's power can be said to be the greatest.

Killing officials is like killing dogs, and treating military generals is not blindly conniving, which is unimaginable in other courts.

As far as Emperor Yuan Shun at the end of the Yuan Dynasty was concerned, he wanted to kill Wang Baobao and went back and forth for more than ten years, but he had no choice but to rely on him in the end.

It was even more terrifying at the end of the Qing Dynasty. The government decree did not leave the Forbidden City, the regent was forced to abdicate to let the virtuous, and the authority of the central government was dissipated.

Although the conversation between the two was relatively secretive, rumors that Zhao Shu was about to retire from office still spread, and the news of the compilation of the Ming History Museum was immediately covered up.

There was an endless stream of people going to the Duke of Feng's mansion to seek an audience.

The queen even went out of the palace in person to visit her body.

And the most eye-catching thing is the appearance of the prince.

As the emperor's representative, the prince was well-dressed, well-equipped with troops and horses, and with a huge guard of rituals and music, he visited the door in a mighty way to express his condolences.

At this time, the civil and military officials realized that the presence of the prince in the past two years was really too weak.

It's no wonder everyone doesn't get used to it.

During the Jiajing period, the position of the crown prince hung in the balance for 20 years; during the Wanli period, there were countless battles.

In the past hundred years, although the ownership of the final prince has always been succumbed to the eldest son inheritance system, the process can be described as wonderful.

But now, although the crown prince lives in the East Palace, all the auxiliary ministers are served by important cabinet ministers. They are nominal, and there are almost no real subordinates.

Moreover, the prince is still studying with many princes, he looks no different from ordinary princes, low-key and restrained.

On the contrary, as the eldest prince of King Qin, he has a strong sense of presence.

At the beginning of the year, among the several concubines who were engaged, there was actually a Mongolian, which caused an uproar among the ruling and opposition parties.

Officially noncommittal.

Because the king of Qin married a Mongolian woman, it was impossible to threaten the crown prince.

Besides, didn't the first king of Qin also marry the Mongols?This is the tradition of the old Zhu family.

But the folks believe that this is the royal blood has been tarnished.

"The prince is really spiritual and intelligent, he is worthy of being a prince—"

"I also heard that the prince is both civil and military, and can ride a horse and shoot arrows—"

All civil and military officials admired, and felt extremely happy for the prince's appearance.

However, with King Qin's engagement, the crown prince will have to choose a concubine if he is thirteen years old.

In this way, the nobles in Beijing immediately set off a wave of entering the palace.

The wives took their budding daughters to the palace to beg to see the queen, and took their daughters out for a walk from time to time, the meaning of which is self-evident.

Sun Xueniang had a keen eye for these girls, she was very indifferent on the surface, but she kept it in her heart quietly, and selected a few superior ones who were similar in age.

She even wanted to pick out a few scrolls, and prepared to present them to the emperor for selection.

As a result, when her younger sister, Sun Damiana, saw the picture album, she immediately flipped through it, and at the end she muttered, "Why are these all of outstanding virtue?"

"Although virtue is the most important thing for a crown princess, some beauty is also required." Sun Xueniang poked her head with Cong Cong, speechless.

"No, I mean these girls are so beautiful, and the artist has polished them up again. If you show it to the emperor, wouldn't it be heart-wrenching?"

Sun Damiana drove away the maids, and then spoke recklessly.

"No one in the world knows that the emperor is lustful? Even Mongolian women are not spared..."

"Don't talk nonsense." Sun Xueniang retorted in a low voice: "This is for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, so the Mongolian concubine was accepted."

"I remember the emperor once said to me that all the princes can't escape, they have to accept concubines, and they will even marry princesses in the future!"

That's what she said, but she unknowingly threw the picture album aside.

"Prince as well?" Sun Damiana was startled, and jumped up directly: "Then if a prince is born, wouldn't it be—"

"This matter, let's take it one step at a time!"

The queen sighed: "For the sake of Daming, what is the crown prince worth?"

"Alas!" Sun Damianang was also distressed: "So many Han people don't want to look for them, so they insist on finding a Tartar..."

The liveliness of the capital is exactly the opposite of that of the folk.

The summer harvest is over. Although Fujian has paid taxes at the end of June, second only to Guangdong and Guangxi, it is now bustling.

However, there are 25 provinces under the Great Tomorrow, and each province is different, and the difficulty of governance is also different.

In the past, the biggest difficulty in Fujian was population.

Seven mountains, two waters and one field, the long-term peace caused Fujian's population to explode, and it has not yet experienced the wars and famines during the Chongzhen period, and its population has skyrocketed.

However, with the development of the Taiwan government, the whole of Fujian is equivalent to an additional outlet. In just a few years, tens of thousands of people have emigrated.

It's a pity that Fujian has not yet breathed a sigh of relief, and received instructions from the new governor: to crack down on prostitutes.

Fornication, indulgence, excess, excess, out of control, out of law.

In short, obscene sacrifices refer to sacrifices that do not conform to the etiquette system, sacrifices that are not suitable for sacrifices, and sacrifices that are indiscriminate.

"Book of Rites" says: "Sacrificing to someone other than what they are offering sacrifices to is called prostitution, and prostitution is no blessing."

For example, after the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, a large number of prefectures and counties in Hebei still had temples dedicated to Anlu Mountain.

And in the whole world, the most prevalent place in the world is Fujian, where it can be said that it is forbidden and flooded.

Therefore, in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang built Town God's Temples in various counties in order to establish official sacrifices, so as to absorb incense and stabilize the rule.

No way, the source of the Ming Dynasty came from the Red Scarf Army and the White Lotus Sect, so it was particularly serious about prostitution.

The prevalence of prostitution in Fujian is endless, and there are many historical records. For example, during the Zhengtong period of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Tingju, the magistrate of Shunde County, destroyed [-] temples in Longjiang.

In the memorials of various prefectures and counties, its seriousness is revealed.

Some people killed hundreds of cattle in one night for sacrifice, endangering agricultural production;

In private, they also cook and fry human organs.

The point is that Fujian's good ghosts and gods are too rampant.

For example, if there was a flood one day and a female corpse was hung on a tree, someone would erect a temple three or two days later, the so-called Shuiniangniang Temple; Can bless you not to get lost...

"Xiamen Chronicles" in the Qing Dynasty recorded: "Evil and monsters intersect, stone lions say nothing, big trees are erected for no reason, puppets are scattered, ancient coffins are whistling in the wind, guessing gods and gods, singing together, wine and meat incense paper, men and women Madness."

Among them, there was even Hu Tianbao, the God of Rabbits, who stole Yuelao's business.

There are rumors in Fujian that after hearing about the so-called Hu Tianbao in Fujian in the secret box, the emperor was furious and ordered the entire province of Fujian to crack down on prostitutes.

The cabinet was also furious.

Doesn't this affect the growth of Dingkou?
The officialdom in Fujian is really a pile of waste, and the Four Books and Five Classics have been pulled out?

To put it bluntly, the reason why the emperor and civil servants in the court jointly cracked down on prostitution was mainly due to the unity of interests.

Confucianism unanimously controls the sacrifices and rituals of the world, and has looked down on prostitutes for thousands of years. Cracking down on prostitution is a political achievement; at the same time, the emperor saw the expansion of the power of the Fujian clan from prostitution.

Cracking down on prostitutes is also hitting the clan forces in Fujian to a certain extent.

Although Zhu Yixi recognizes the role of clan forces in protecting and governing ordinary people, the clans in Fujian go too far.

If you stretch your hand too far, you will naturally want to hit it.

This top-down decree is a great deterrent to Fujian officialdom.

Fan Yiheng, the governor of Fujian, was in a hurry, and wrote directly to the prefects, expressing his determination to crack down on prostitutes:
"If necessary, the patrol battalions of the counties must also be mobilized; if there are foolish people who resist, ignore them and suppress them directly..."

"If the gentry and rich merchants block it, they will be locked up and handed over to Fuzhou..."

"If the patrol battalion fails, the Fuzhou garrison Beijing battalion will also dispatch—"

At this time, the magistrate of Zhangzhou was from Zheng Sen of Nan'an, Quanzhou.

In just over ten years, he climbed to the position of magistrate, which can be said to have shocked the world.

After arriving in Zhangzhou Mansion, due to the similar customs and the same language, he was at ease, until he received the handwritten letter from Governor Fan Yiheng, and he was startled:

"Isn't this going to cause civil unrest?"

As a native of Fujian, Zheng Sen knows very well that in Fujian, there is almost a temple for a hundred steps, and a commune for ten miles.

Even Mazu, who is widely worshiped today, was a prostitute at the beginning. Later, Song Huizong bestowed the "Shunji Temple Head",
Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty conferred the title of "Mrs. Linghui" before she was formally included in the official worship.

Therefore, the vast number of prostitute priests want to be listed as official priests.The momentum is endless.

That's what I said, but in officialdom, the governor is the head of a province, and the prefect must be obedient, otherwise he will fail the evaluation.

"People in Fujian all worship ghosts and gods for personal gain. If they are seeking money, sex, gambling, children, and peace, the list goes on and on."

At this time, the importance of the staff is reflected.

One of them said: "The only thing that is intolerable by the people and disliked by the officialdom is the Rabbit God—"

"We can start with this first."

(End of this chapter)