A century-old family that runs through the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 369 'Stop when things go right'

In May of the 22nd year of Wuxing, the second year of the military government.

Prince Yue's Mansion stands quietly in the city, very majestic. It is not very resplendent, but it looks very majestic.

At this time, the chief minister and the king of Yue were in the mansion. The king of Yue was sitting at the desk, listening to the lecture of the chief minister.

Before a servant came to the room, he announced that a minister was coming.

The sounds in the room paused, and the young voice of the King of Yue sounded:

"Xuan."

The attendants left in a hurry, and the two men straightened their clothes and prepared to welcome the courtiers who arrived.

"The king, the first assistant, the village elders and gentry from all over the country jointly petitioned to restore the eight-legged system of recruiting scholars, using the Four Books and Five Classics as the method for recruiting scholars. They said that the Confucian method of governing the world is an ancient inheritance and has the effect of stabilizing the country. Now if we change it and use strange techniques and heresy to win scholars, it will definitely destabilize people's hearts and cause chaos in the world."

"Of course, the main reason is that their children almost failed to pass our official examination, so they are very dissatisfied."

The Minister of Education came to them, reported the latest situation to them, and submitted a memorial.

These landowners and gentry were immediately disappointed and discussed in private:

Although they already knew that the military government did not treat scholar-officials as favorably as the previous dynasty, they did not expect that it would leave no room for them.

Scholar-officials from all over the country saw this and wanted to refute, but they didn't know where to start and were speechless for a while.

"The landowners and gentry are aware of this, and they are still so sparse. Half of them are the influence of corrupt Confucianism, and the other half are probably still trying to promote their own influence and occupy a place in the military government."

A large number of literati in the Propaganda Department came from Dongqian Academy, and they were not accustomed to the rituals, music, and classics. Of course, they were very happy when they were refuted by them. They simply refuted one by one and dismissed the Eight-part Writings and Confucianism as the rule. Criticized to the point of leaving everyone scratched.

So, not long after, the eagerly awaited landowners and gentry got the answer in the newspapers.

"Nowadays, the method of selecting officials is quite scientific, rich in theory, and can be applied in practice at any time. Confucianism seems to be full of economic principles, but in fact it is not conducive to governing the country and should not be changed."

Yan Quan finished reading the memorial, handed it to Yan Ling, and said in his still immature voice:

Yan Ling nodded approvingly, this was not much different from what he thought:

"Instruct the Propaganda Department to write an article and publish it in the editorial tomorrow to refute them one by one."

"You don't respect etiquette and music, you don't learn Confucianism, but you respect these strange skills and tricks... Isn't this the new policy of the new dynasty? It's just a bandit."

"The military government is different from previous regimes. It does not need the support of the landowners and gentry, and there is no room for the survival of old antiques who cannot change the past!"

He turned his eyes and looked at Yan Ling:

They finally knew the attitude of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang military governments towards Confucianism.

"In vain, I thought it was the Lord of Destiny who came. I didn't expect that this bandit habit has not changed at all, and it is difficult to achieve great things."

"If this continues, we will never get ahead."

A group of people were filled with righteous indignation and began to work together to plan to overthrow the rule of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang military governments and usher in a regime that was willing to plan for them. Some squires are cowardly and do not dare to participate. Some squires have already tasted the benefits of steam engine workshops and do not care much about these things. However, some squires do not want their interests to be infringed in this way.

What they didn't know was that all of this was being observed under the noses of the Intelligence Department. Yan Ling had already received the intelligence, but ordered no action.

Soon, some unwilling squires got together and sent representatives to Runing to meet Wang Er, who claimed to be the King of Yu.

"Nowadays, everyone in the southeastern provinces is hated, but the bandits are so powerful that they have not been able to attack. If the king leads his troops southward, we think that we should be internally involved, and we can definitely fight and dedicate all the great rivers and mountains in the south of the Yangtze River to the real people. Lord of the people.”

In Wang Er's splendid palace, three middle-aged men kowtowed and kept saying beautiful words, hoping to persuade Wang Er to go south.

After some discussion, they finally did not go to the court. In fact, in the previous battles, the court's performance was really unsatisfactory. If the other party could really defeat Yan Ling, it would not have been defeated repeatedly before. Even Nan Zhi Such a heartland place is in the hands of the enemy.

On the contrary, Wang Er, who has been in the limelight recently, went to the north and captured Luoyang again. To the east, his army has gone straight into Shandong, to the south to occupy Huguang, and to the north to set foot in Shaanxi and Shanxi. He really seems to have replaced the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, Wang Er has recently stopped killing the gentry and wealthy merchants as he did in the past. Instead, he has started to recruit scholars and reused some of the scholars left over from the Ming Dynasty. He has done enough to make the landlords and gentry very satisfied, and also They all surrendered.

At this time, Wang Er couldn't help but smile when he heard the words of the gentry, and his ambition aroused in his heart:

Yan Quan is so unpopular among the Jiangsu and Zhejiang military governments. If I send my troops south, wouldn't all the land south of the Yangtze River belong to me?

And Gu Junen, after the Jin gentry retreated, he also smiled and congratulated:

"The king has now won the hearts and minds of the people. This is a sign of destiny's favor."

"It's just that if it can be approved by Yan Shenggong, it will be smoother."

Therefore, Wang Erdang immediately ordered General Liu Zongmin to lead his troops to attack Yanzhou. They had already begun to attack Shandong, defeated the Ming army repeatedly, occupied several cities, and now even entered Qufu.

And when they came to the city, what greeted them was not the closed city gate, but Duke Yan Sheng holding a surrender watch.

Although he is actually very reluctant to express his position, after all, the situation is not yet clear, and various forces are still competing. Even the imperial court seems to be quite powerful, but the enemy's soldiers have already arrived at the city, and their goals are extremely clear. At this time, it is no longer possible to turn around. To both ends of his head.

Duke Yan of Qufu presented his surrender to Wang Er, King of Yu, indicating that he was the master of destiny. When this news came out, the world was in an uproar. Although many landowners and gentry who were loyal to the Ming Dynasty refused to admit it, the influence of the Confucius family was indeed very great. Many scholars were shaken by this, thinking that it might be time to change the dynasty.

As the trend spread, Wang Er's subordinates immediately persuaded him to join. He pretended to decline and accepted.

He said to Gu Junen:

"What is the name of the country? Sir, please consider it for me."

Gu Junen spoke without hesitation:

"There is a prophecy among the people. It is said that Taizu of the Ming Dynasty once asked a fortune teller to predict the length of the calendar, and the fortune teller said:"

"'Stop when things go right.'"

"Your Majesty is following the direction of destiny. You should take 'Shun' as your country's title and command the world."

Wang Er laughed and agreed, becoming even more convinced that he was destined to do so.

In that year, Wang Er changed his name to Wang Chongzu and officially ascended the throne in Luoyang. He designated the country as "Dashun" and the reign as "Yongchang". The following year was designated as the first year of Yongchang and Luoyang was designated as the capital.

(End of this chapter)