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

Chapter 180 Easy Solution
"Lang'er, you're finally back, you're almost dying of anxiety."

It also only took ten days for Zhu Cihong to return to Nanjing from Beijing. Zhang Yan couldn't help complaining as soon as she returned to the palace, but there was a relieved expression on her face.

"Auntie, it's been hard for you for a while. The child didn't expect that nothing happened for several months, and something happened as soon as he left."

Seeing that she was even more haggard than when he first came last year, Zhu Cihong said apologetically.

Knowing that for more than 20 days, she must have endured tremendous pressure.

"Auntie is fine, but Ma Aiqing and the others were indeed tortured a lot, especially Ma Aiqing, who was under tremendous pressure." Zhang Yan said.

Zhu Cihong believed in this point, after all, the ancients cherished their reputation, even the red lady was no exception, not to mention Ma Shiying, a civil servant who wanted to be a minister of Zhongxing.

"Auntie, tell the baby about the current situation first!"

"Lang'er, you must have been exhausted after traveling all the way, so don't be in a hurry, why don't you take a good night's rest and talk about it tomorrow?"

Zhang Yan couldn't help but be concerned when he saw that he was busy in the world and his face was full of fatigue.

"No need, just get a general understanding, my son. Let's go to the Imperial Study Room first!" Zhu Cihong waved his hand.

"OK then!"

Immediately, the two came to the Imperial Study Room. Zhang Yan briefly spoke, then looked at Zhu Cihong and said worriedly: "Lang'er, almost all the literati in the south of the Yangtze River have joined together, and the literati and gentry in other provinces have also expressed solidarity. A state of unstoppable purpose.

These days, officials from all over the country have impeached Ma Aiqing, and there are two big baskets. Auntie sees that they are obviously slandering and arranging Ma Aiqing, but they are actually resisting the New Deal. How should I deal with it? "

"Auntie, don't worry, these so-called scholars are the ones who cherish life and fear death the most, and know how to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. Few of them really dare to be tough to the end. My son, let them experience what is called iron-blooded regime."

Zhu Cilang waved his hand, then called Xu Lan in, pointed to the two boxes of memorials and said, "Xu Lan, first burn all these memorials, put them here to occupy space, and then take someone to arrest Gao Hongtu, the charge is Inciting literati to slander and slander court ministers."

"It's Your Majesty."

As soon as Xu Lan beckoned, several female soldiers came in and carried the box out.

"Lang'er, Gao Ai...Gao Hongtu is quite famous among the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River. Wouldn't it be inappropriate to arrest him directly like this? After all, our Ming Dynasty has never been convicted of crimes for words, and we can listen to the rumors."

Zhang Yan said carefully,
"Our Daming is not guilty of words, but they are no longer just talking, but taking action, not only writing books and biographies, but also erecting kneeling statues and spitting, the nature is completely different.

Such a blatant humiliation of a first-rank minister in the imperial court is simply unheard of. If there is no severe punishment, the authority of the imperial court will disappear in the future, and it is necessary to kill everyone. "

"But this matter can't be completely blamed on Gao Hongtu alone?"

"Anyway, it is inseparable from him. Qian Qianyi's old man is not here, so he has the highest reputation, and he is in Nanjing City. If he is not used for the operation, who will be used for the operation?"

Zhu Cihong would not have the patience to investigate who took the lead first, anyway, he would just catch the most prestigious one.

He didn't intend to kill him either, so he was dispatched to Qiongzhou.

Seeing him say such unreasonable words, Zhang Yan opened her mouth, but finally had to smile wryly.

Immediately, Zhu Cihong ordered Ma Shiying to be summoned.

"The minister Ma Shiying kowtowed to my emperor, long live my emperor, long live, long live, long live."

"Ma Aiqing don't need to be too polite, just sit down, I've heard about everything that happened these days, it's hard to embarrass Aiqing."

"The old minister is incompetent and has failed His Majesty's trust and trust. He deserves death..."

As soon as Ma Shiying's butt touched the stool, he plopped and knelt on the ground, saying that he finally burst into tears, obviously holding back his grievances.

"Okay, Ma Aiqing doesn't have to blame herself, it's because I didn't think thoroughly, and I can't blame the cabinet and the Sixth Ministry for this matter.

Don't worry Ma Aiqing, I will definitely uphold justice for you, and will never allow those literati to slander Aiqing, nor will Ma Aiqing be left with a bad reputation forever.

After all, if you, Ma Shiying, were really slandered as Zhao Gao, Qin Hui and the like, wouldn't this Shenwu emperor become Qin Ershi and Song Gaozong?
Those scholars clearly want to make you, Ma Shiying, bad, but in fact they want to make the emperor, I, a bad idea. It's wishful thinking.

I am the eternal sage who is destined to surpass all the ancient and modern emperors, and you, Ma Shiying, are also destined to become a famous minister through the ages. "

"Your Majesty, those literati really have ulterior motives..."

Seeing that the little emperor saw it so thoroughly, Ma Shiying was finally relieved, and at the same time was so moved that he couldn't speak.

Zhang Yan's face turned slightly hot and red, obviously she was ashamed by Zhu Cihong's boastful words just now.

"Ma Aiqing, you go back and continue to preside over the New Deal. At the end of July, all the land data must be collected again. You don't have to worry about other things, I will take care of them." Zhu Cihong waved his hand.

"It's Your Majesty, the old minister is leaving!"

After Ma Shiying left, Zhu Cihong issued several imperial decrees in succession.

First of all, Ma Shiying was awarded the title of Grand Master of Fengtian Temple, Prince Taishi, and he was in place in one step, and he was an extremely human minister.

Then he was granted the title of Shangshu of the Nanjing Household Department, and the Shangshu of the Ministry of Officials was respectively a bachelor of the Wenhua Palace and a bachelor of the Jianji Palace, and they entered the cabinet to manage politics.

Re-establish the authority of the six ministries of the cabinet.

The last one is the edict, which is simpler in content. From now on, all scholars who have a reputation are not allowed to criticize cabinet ministers in public, and those who violate it will have their reputation removed.

From now on, everyone is not allowed to take any actions or actions that insult cabinet ministers in public, and offenders will be punished according to the circumstances and impact.

It also stipulates that after receiving the edict, Ma Shiying's kneeling statue must be destroyed within three days, and all related books with an insulting nature must be destroyed.

Although Zhu Cihong didn't want to restrict the freedom of speech too much, this kind of malicious insult and defamation of high-ranking court officials is absolutely not allowed.

You can secretly scold the ministers of the court at home, or even be a scarecrow and poke it with a needle.

But it is absolutely not allowed to speak nonsense in public, and it is not allowed to stand kneeling at the gate of the mansion or the academy, spit, slap, and insult people.

After the three imperial decrees were issued to the cabinet, Ma Shiying and all the officials were very excited, especially Ma Shiying and the two ministers.

Following Zhu Cihong's wishes, the Ministry of Punishment immediately added a crime of defamation to the Daming Law, perfected it, and made it known to the world together with the appendix of the imperial edict.

Sure enough, after the attachments of the three imperial decrees were sent to all states and counties, the officials from all over the place saw that Ma Shiying not only did not punish Ma Shiying, but added the titles of Grand Scholars and Grand Masters.

Immediately, he did not dare to be passive and sabotage his work, and strictly implemented the contents of the imperial edict.

And after the reputations of some scholars were abolished, all localities had to destroy the kneeling statues at the entrance of the academies, and they did not dare to sign the printed books.

At the party in the restaurant and brothel, he only called someone Ma, and he didn't dare to name him by name like before, and called him by his first name.Even eighteen generations of ancestors have to bring it up and scold it again.

More scholars directly chose to put their flags to rest. After all, judging from the situation, Ma Shiying may not collapse in the short term. It is fun to scold him now, but what will he do when he becomes an official in the future?
If you are not in high school, do you still have to take part in the assessment by the Ministry of Officials?

At that time, once a bad classmate and friend secretly reported that he had scolded Mr. Ma Ge before, he would definitely fail the assessment.

But Zhu Cihong didn't care about this sneaky and subtle insult.

Because this kind of thing can't be controlled, as long as it's not too much, it's not too outrageous, let them toss about it.

After the publicity supervision is perfected and the Royal Mansion Newspaper is published, it is enough to guide ordinary people slowly.

When there will be more people who can read and write in the future, everyone will have their own opinions on right and wrong.

In this public opinion incident, Zhu Cihong did not kill anyone, but sent Gao Hongtu alone, and dismissed dozens of famous scholars.

These are almost all die-hards and stubborn, and in the end they couldn't escape the end of distribution.

As for the civil servants who impeached Ma Shiying in various provinces, none of them were punished.

And these officials are not worried that Ma Shiying will retaliate, because almost all the officials in the provinces have been impeached.

(End of this chapter)