The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 177 Public Opinion War

The reason why Ma Shiying and the Ministry of Officials chose to take the case of Dingyuan County lightly is because compared with the other nine counties, the situation in Dingyuan County is already considered good.

At least the number of acres of fields is comparable, the ratio of dry fields to paddy fields is not too outrageous, and the mulberry fields are not falsified.

As for the matter of accepting money from landlords and gentry, in the eyes of Ma Shiying and other officials, it is not a matter at all. If His Majesty did not pay attention to it, the twelve civil servants would have made a mistake at most.

In addition, Wu Hong is a Jinshi of the new department, and he did not accept bribes. Ma Shiying and Liubu both had to sell him a favor, so they chose to pick it up high and put it down gently.

There is no way, after all, the emperor and the courtiers, as the first batch of new Jinshi in the Shenwu Dynasty, and today's disciples, no one knows His Majesty's attitude towards these new Jinshi.

If the punishment is too excessive, will it cause His Majesty's attention or displeasure?
Therefore, in the opinion of Ma Shiying and the six officials, such punishment is undoubtedly the most appropriate.

However, not all magistrates are new scholars of the Shenwu Dynasty. Compared with Wu Hong, they care more about their own future and reputation. The other nine magistrates are not so conscious, or they are used to it.

Almost all the nine county magistrates received a large amount of money, and the situation of field concealment was relatively serious. Not only did the amount not match, even Sang Tian dared to cheat.

In particular, two of the county magistrates actually instigated the civil servants to blackmail those gentry and landlords, taking the opportunity to amass a lot of money.

Ma Shiying had no worries about these Jinshi from the Chongzhen Dynasty. In order to deter other states and counties, he chose to deal with them strictly.

Among them, seven magistrates were all dismissed for serious dereliction of duty, and the officials in charge were transferred to the Ministry of Punishment for trial.

The other two county magistrates, who wantonly amassed money, directly took bribes and exploited the localities and handed them over to the Ministry of Criminal Justice for trial.

At the same time, the results of the punishment were notified to the counties and prefectures in Southern Zhili, and a re-report was made within half a month, and it was clearly stated again that they would be checked one by one at that time, and there should be no chances.

As the official documents of the punishment were sent to the states and counties, the officials in the states and counties were really taken aback.

Even among the greedy civil servants, they understand that if they try to cheat for personal gain at this time, they will definitely commit crimes against the wind and will not end well.

"Elder Ge, there are two female officials outside who claim to be propaganda supervisors, and they demanded to see Elder Ge with the order of the Queen Mother."

"Propaganda supervisor?"

Ma Shiying was taken aback, what the hell is this propaganda supervisor?Why hasn't he heard of it?

But after thinking about it for a while, I guessed a lot. Since it is called the Propaganda Supervisor and holds the Queen Mother's order, it must be a yamen of the inner court.

"Bring it in." Ma Shiying waved his hand. With the Queen Mother's order, he couldn't put on airs even if he wanted to.

What's more, he was also a little curious about the function of the propaganda supervisor.

The ones who came were Dong Xiaowan and Li Xiangjun. Although they were dressed in men's attire, Ma Shiying recognized the two women at a glance.

Apparently, he had been around the Qinhuai River a lot in the past, and at the same time, he also understood the function of the publicity supervisor.

"Dong Wan, the left supervisor, and Li Jun, the right supervisor of the publicity supervisor, have met Mr. Ma Ge."

After the two girls were brought in, they hurriedly saluted, and their previous stage names were also changed.

"Hehe, you two girls don't need to be too polite, please sit down!"

Ma Shiying smiled and waved his hands.

"Thank you, brother." Both women sat down neither humble nor overbearing.

"The two turned out to be the left and right supervisors, so who is the director of the publicity supervisor?"

His majestic cabinet secretary, the future head of civil servants, the minister of ZTE of Ming Dynasty, not to mention a newly established propaganda supervisor, even if it is the Second East and West Factory, the factory supervisor has to come in person if there is something to do?
But the propaganda supervisor is good, and only two supervisors were sent, and the director of palm prints is too defiant.

If it is said that the director of the publicity department is like the chief treasurer of the Royal Bank, he would not believe that it was the princess and prince who killed him.

"I hope Mr. Ma Ge will forgive me. I have established the Propaganda Supervisor not long ago, and His Majesty has not officially appointed the director of palm seals. In the entire yamen, my sister Xiangjun and I have the highest positions and the highest rank."

Dong Xiaowan naturally understood what Ma Shiying meant, so she quickly explained.

"So that's the case, so I don't know what business you two have?"

Sure enough, hearing what she said, Ma Shiying's face softened a little, and then asked.

"So that Elder Ge knows that the main function of my publicity supervisor is to publicize the imperial court's decrees and the real-time progress of the New Deal to the world, and to publicize some problems that exist, so that the officials, gentry and common people in other provinces can learn lessons in the future."

Li Xiangjun explained slowly.

Of course, she did not mention the most important thing about promoting His Majesty's benevolence to the people.

"Well, so that's the case, so I don't know if the two of you are here today?"

Ma Shiying nodded, thinking that it was the same thing as the previous two times, nothing more than a change of identity.

However, I have to admit the role of the propaganda supervisor.

"Mage, I have just received an imperial order from His Majesty to organize a newspaper for the Imperial Palace of the Ming Dynasty, which will be published every seven days. Apart from military and commercial matters, the content is currently mainly about the New Deal.

My supervisor believes that the cabinet’s inspection of the ten counties this time can serve as a good warning, so I want to publish the detailed process and the officials involved in the case, as well as the punishment of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs and Officials, in the Dibao, and then send it to other provinces. Let me tell you, I hope Mr. Ge can let all the ministries support me to supervise..."

Dong Xiaowan made her intentions known in the future. In fact, it’s not just that all the inspection incidents have to be published. Since the implementation of the New Deal, officials from all over the country have been cheated by the chief officials, and gentry and landlords from all over the place want to bribe the officials to cheat. And so on, have to pick a typical example and publish it in the residence newspaper.

In this way, when other provinces implement the New Deal in the future, with the lessons of Jiangnan in mind, the officials and landlords in the provinces will not be deceived by false ideas, and the implementation of the New Deal will also be easier.

After hearing this, Ma Shiying frowned, obviously he didn't want to spread these nasty things widely, so that the whole world would know, and the cabinet's household department and officials would lose face.

But the two of them took the Queen Mother's order again, obviously they came by His Majesty's imperial edict, so they could only ask: "Then I don't know if the Royal Mansion Newspaper of your propaganda supervisor is limited to official circulation, or is it circulated among scholars?"

"The Royal Mansion Newspaper is for everyone in Ming Dynasty, all classes, even ordinary people who can't read. My prison will send gentlemen to each village and town to explain one by one."

Li Xiangjun smiled slightly, as if he didn't know what Ma Shiying was thinking.

After hearing this, Ma Shiying gasped, and his face became serious. He immediately understood that he had greatly underestimated the role of the propaganda supervisor, and also underestimated the means of today.

This propaganda supervisor was clearly set up by the emperor to compete with the world's literati and gentry class for public opinion.

It is conceivable that in the future, if the propaganda supervisor can really convey the emperor's will to all the people in Daming, it will be a terrible thing.

In order to check and balance the monarchy, the literati of the past dynasties used public opinion as the most important means. If this point is also lost, then the monarchy will completely lose checks and balances in the future.

Thinking that in the future, black people can also be called white by the emperor, and loyal ministers can also be called treacherous ministers by the emperor, Ma Shiying's spine shivered.

"Mage, Your Majesty has granted the Propaganda Superintendent the right to know all official affairs, that is to say, except for some personal private matters, the Propaganda Superintendent has the right to know all major and minor matters. If the officials involved refuse to cooperate, they will be punished. Dongchang punishment."

Seeing that Ma Shiying hesitated, the two women looked at each other, and then spoke out about the rights of the propaganda prison.

"It turned out to be His Majesty's will. The six ministries of the cabinet and the yamen at all levels, all officials will naturally abide by it. This old man issued a circular in the name of the cabinet, announcing the functions and powers of the Propaganda Supervisor, and strictly ordered the yamen at all levels. All officials must cooperate .”

Ma Shiying finally sighed, and had no choice but to speak slowly.

He knew that His Majesty was saving face for him. If the cabinet did not take the initiative to cooperate, His Majesty would probably issue an imperial edict directly and announce it to the world.

"Then thank Ma Ge for being old, and I will leave!"

The two women also breathed a sigh of relief, then stood up and said goodbye.

With this announcement from the cabinet, it is more convenient and easier to go to places to collect information after the publicity prison.

The announcement of the cabinet naturally caused a huge repercussions and sensation, especially among officials and scholars.

Similarly, the Propaganda Supervisor was completely exposed to the eyes of the world, and almost all literati knew what kind of department it was.

Obviously, His Majesty and the imperial concubine have tasted the sweetness of letting those famous prostitutes promote their reputation to the people. They not only want to expand their efforts, but also want to do this for a long time. For this purpose, a special inner court department was set up to be responsible.

Almost all the literati scolded Ma Shiying in their hearts for sitting crookedly on his buttocks, and for being a traitor and scum among scholars.

In everyone's opinion, in the face of the emperor's behavior that has been ruined for thousands of years, Ma Shiying, the second assistant, should risk his life to speak out to protect the overall interests of scholars.

Originally, there were not many checks and balances in today's world, and the imperial power has far surpassed Taizong, Emperor Wu of the Han and Tang Dynasties, and is approaching Ming Taizu.

If even public opinion is in the hands of the emperor in the future, then he will really destroy whose clan he wants to destroy, and copy whose family he wants. The imperial power is so great that even the first emperor may have to bow down.

Because no matter how famous you are, no matter how great a Confucian you are, the emperor can still use the Propaganda Supervisor to first stigmatize your reputation and bring it to justice. In the end, you will not only confiscate your family and exterminate your family, but also ruin it forever.

Almost all literati and gentry felt the oppression and panic from the imperial power like never before, and they lost any sense of security.

Compared with the fact that the officials and the gentry pay the grain together and only pay the emperor a fraction of the tax every year, the literati and gentry care more about the power of public opinion, because this is their only means of checking and balancing the imperial power.

But no matter how angry or dissatisfied they were, they dared not directly point the finger at the emperor and the imperial power, but aimed at Ma Shiying and the eunuchs who were on errands for the emperor.

So in the following days, a vigorous crusade against the eunuchs was launched throughout Jiangnan.

Ma Shiying was naturally the first to bear the brunt. Numerous academies, clubs, and even family schools have erected kneeling statues of Ma Shiying at the door, and students have to spit on him when entering and leaving.

Some scholars with outstanding literary talents also began to compile the biography of Ma Shiying, portraying Ma Shiying as the most treacherous and shameless scholar in history, and published it wantonly and distributed it free of charge.

At the same time, a list of treacherous ministers was produced, which ranked Ma Shiying with Qin Hui, Yang Guozhong, Zhao Gao and other ancient treacherous ministers, and they were also at the top of the list.

None of the six ministers made it to the list, and many biographies of them were also compiled, all of which were scandalous and evil.

It also brought out the five tigers and ten tigers from the eunuch period, but changed the six ministers to six tigers, and the twelve servants to twelve tigers.

"Ma Shiying, a treacherous minister through the ages, a shameless beast, what face does he have to live in the world?"

"Ma Shiying, the unfilial descendant of the Ma family, and your ancestors jumped out of the coffin board in anger..."

Outside Ma Shiying's mansion, a group of children scolded and threw rotten eggs, cow dung and other dirty things in front of the gate. Or batch after batch.

The residences of other high-ranking officials also enjoyed this kind of treatment.

The soldiers of Wucheng Bingma Division had no choice but to strengthen their patrols, drive away children who came to make trouble, and take strict precautions.

Even so, Ma Shiying was so angry that he vomited three liters of blood and couldn't get sick.

Although the six ministers did not fall ill, they were all mentally and physically exhausted, and they all planned to resign and return to their hometowns.

As a result, the government affairs of the six ministries of the cabinet have come to a complete standstill.

Zhang Yan was also caught off guard. Facing all the literati in the south of the Yangtze River, he slandered Ma Shiying and the six ministers with such fierce and shameless methods that he didn't know how to respond for a while.

(End of this chapter)