A century-old family that runs through the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 268 The Foolish Emperor and Etiquette

The ministers were no longer in the mood to watch the excitement.

The emperor and his disciples were at odds with each other, which was unprecedented.

So that day, many officials went to court to ask the emperor not to be so impulsive. However, Wanli was determined to give these scoundrels some punishment.

To invalidate their hard work is the best punishment.

When the news came out, it also caused an uproar. The imperial examination was a major event in the Ming Dynasty. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is the foundation of the country. If it was stopped all of a sudden, the impact would naturally be huge.

And the reactions of those candidates were also different.

There were many who regretted it. They did not expect that the emperor would be so angry that he directly canceled the qualifications of all candidates for examination. You must know that the Ming Dynasty always dealt with such matters by "punishing only the first culprit and ignoring the rest." , the reason why they participated in this matter was because Gu Boyang was in front of them. Wanli suddenly made them regret it.

After all, who could have imagined that Emperor Wanli would do such a thing!

Tell me, why were you joining in the fun at that time?

But there are also many people who shouted "Even if the exam is suspended, they still have to speak out." Either they are friends with Gu Boyang, or they are so excited by those words that they want to continue to speak out even if they are suspended from the exam.

After all, three years later, there will be another hero. At worst, we have to wait three years. Such a big event is unprecedented, and it is unlikely that it will leave a mark in history! Even if not, you will still have something to brag about in the future.

Zhang Yicheng is one of them.

He was young, intelligent, well-known, and upright in character. When he heard that the emperor had violated etiquette, he immediately stood up angrily and signed his name first.

Even though he was suspended from the exam, he did not regret it. He believed that his efforts would bear fruit and make the emperor change his mind.

However, several of his fellow villagers did not have this awareness and kept chattering in his ears.

He often retorted, and several people argued frequently.

On this day, several people had a big quarrel again. Zhang Yicheng left the inn where he was staying and wandered on the street.

After wandering around, I came to "Changle Bookstore".

The Changle Bookstore is very famous. Many books and novels circulated among the people of the Ming Dynasty today came from here. The famous "The Heroes of the Ming Dynasty" and "Water Margin" were published by it, and there are often some comments in it. Articles on current affairs and things like "imperial examination materials" and "three-year examination and two-year simulation" are very popular among scholars.

When he saw that he had wandered here, he also walked in, intending to read the current affairs and relax.

As soon as he entered, he saw a group of people gathered in the corner of the bookstore. Some of them looked familiar. They were the same people who went to school with him a few days ago. But they were looking at something in the corner of the bookstore. He fell into silence, and there seemed to be some tangled expressions on his face.

Zhang Yicheng suddenly became curious, unconsciously quickened his pace, walked over, and asked the waiter there to buy a current affairs article.

It's not expensive, only fifty coins.

This latest article rarely contains the author's name, and looking at the title, it seems to be just a historical discussion that repeats the same old tune.

"On the Old Affairs of Emperor Hui of Jin Dynasty"

Seeing this title, Zhang Yicheng raised his eyebrows.

Emperor Hui of Jin, what else is there to talk about? Isn't his stupidity recognized by history? When everyone talks about the Western Jin Dynasty, they always step on it. What else is there to say?

Changle Bookstore is starting to lose money. How about using this thing to make up the money?

He thought so, but after paying the money, he still read on. It did not surprise him. The whole article was basically listing some behaviors that proved the stupidity of Emperor Hui of Jin, and demonstrating the damage he caused to the Jin Dynasty.

It made him yawn, and he even suspected that the people next to him were pretending to be so serious in order to trick more people into watching this boring thing.

You can't suffer the loss alone, right?

However, when he saw the last line of words, he shuddered and suddenly woke up.

At the end of the article, the author raised a question:

"Emperor Wu had twenty and six sons, but he appointed a fool as emperor. Is it okay for him to perish for the sake of etiquette?"

This simple sentence made Zhang Yicheng's hair stand on end.

Sima Yan had twenty-six sons, but it was Sima Zhong who became the emperor in the end.

In the end, it led to destruction.

This seems to be just a simple argument, but raising this argument in the current environment has extraordinary implications.

This is a challenge to etiquette, but it has to be said that it is reasonable and thought-provoking.

Which of these two would do more harm to the world, to establish a faint emperor who complies with the etiquette and law, leading to the downfall of the court, or to establish a wise emperor, but who confuses the etiquette and law system?

Zhang Yicheng froze on the spot, and it was really hard for him to answer this question for a moment.

The reason for establishing a direct heir is to avoid internal strife in the court due to inheritance order issues. However, if a weak emperor is established as a result, the harm caused will be unparalleled.

After all, internal strife in the imperial court is a chronic suicide, but having a coward is equivalent to putting a gun to the forehead.

Of course, the reason why Sima Yan decided to establish Sima Zhong was actually not that simple, but from the perspective of hindsight, this was undoubtedly a wrong option.

After all, the Rebellion of the Eight Kings directly led to the decline of the Western Jin Dynasty. There is no explanation for this. Moreover, it was this melee that led to the rise of the Wuhu, and finally led to the Wuhu chaos.

In fact, many people have seen the "sinister intentions" of this article.

It may not necessarily want to change the public's concept, but it must want to muddy the current "water" so that everyone will no longer be obsessed with the so-called "non-eldest son cannot ascend the throne" in traditional etiquette.

Zhang Yicheng finally understood why his classmates were so confused. Like them, he was also full of discomfort.

Even if they wanted to adhere to etiquette and speak some truth, under the background of Emperor Hui of Jin, he couldn't do it.

Because for the Ming Dynasty, which was founded by fighting barbarians, the Sima family was the absolute target of criticism, and scolding them was politically correct.

It's hard to comment.

You can't just whitewash them because of an issue of heirs.

Zhang Yicheng only felt that he had gone out to relax, but the more he dispersed, the more annoyed he became.

Of course, he still firmly believes in etiquette in his heart. It is impossible to change his mind just because of this article, but it is inevitable to think about this issue after all.

What he also didn't notice was that as he thought about it, a small gap was opened in the indestructible concept in his heart that "one cannot ascend the throne unless he is the direct eldest son."

(End of this chapter)