I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Seeing Xu Guangqi, Xiong Tingbi and others speaking out their support, Sun Shenxing and others suddenly lost their composure and were about to scold him.But before they could say anything, Zhu Youxiao spoke first.

"Okay, stop arguing. What Xu Aiqing and others said is very reasonable. Western learning does not mean Western religion. I opened the Capital Tongwen Museum because I hope that in the future, I, the scholars of the Ming Dynasty, can understand Western learning and not be completely controlled by Western monks. Well.

My attitude towards Western learning, all of you dear friends, must be clear to me. I want to learn from the foreigners and develop skills to control them.I recall that the great Tang Dynasty was inclusive, accepting people from all over the world, and embracing learning from all over the world.My Ming Dynasty is also a great dynasty, so why can’t I do this? "

"I feel ashamed, and please be punished by Your Majesty."

After hearing the emperor's reprimand, although Sun Shenxing was still a little unconvinced, he did not want to argue with the emperor.

He also figured out that in the future, the management of the academy would still be the responsibility of the Ministry of Rites. As long as he was the Minister of Rites, even if this matter had to be implemented, there would still be room for detours in the future.So he stopped arguing and immediately apologized.

Zhu Youxiao didn't say anything when he saw this, and waved his hand to let him get up.

In fact, he knew very well that the social atmosphere in the late Ming Dynasty was extremely open and more tolerant of Western learning than he imagined.Historically, Emperor Chongzhen was also influenced by Xu Guangqi and believed in God, and the officials did not say anything.

Ultimately, this is because the situation in the late Ming Dynasty was different from that in the late Qing Dynasty.

Although Europeans are coming now, they can't get much benefit from the Ming Dynasty.Therefore, people in the Ming Dynasty were not afraid of Western culture, but more curious, and there was not much pressure to learn it.

Therefore, although Sun Shenxing and others in the court now speak out against the so-called Western learning, they are actually opposing Western religion.Because as long as he separates Western learning from Western religion, it will be much easier to implement Western learning in the future.

"Then the matter of the Education Department of the Ministry of Rites has been decided. In addition to the affairs of the Education Department, the affairs of the clan government must also be separated from the Ministry of Rites, and diplomacy must also be taken seriously."

"Your Majesty, in the past, the affairs of the Clan's Mansion were under the control of the Ministry of Rites. Your Majesty is now going to separate the Clan's Mansion from being in charge. I wonder what the Department of Rites has not done well?"

Sun Shenxing has become the protagonist today. If the previous restructuring of the Education Department was to strengthen the authority of the Ministry of Household Affairs, but now the separation of the Zongren Mansion is to weaken the Ministry of Rites, this approach can't help but make Sun Shenxing confused.

"There is nothing bad about the Ministry of Rites, but the number of people is always increasing, and the annual expenses are also increasing day by day. Not to mention that some clans take advantage of their status to act recklessly, disregard human lives, and do many illegal things. How can we not do this? It made me angry. So I thought about it and felt that I couldn't ignore this matter, and even had to strictly control it.

Therefore, I thought of separating the clan government from the household department, asking highly respected members of the clan to take charge of their duties, and rectifying the clan. "

As Zhu Youxiao said, the position of the Zongrenfu is very important. It is in charge of the clan roster of the emperor's nine clans and compiles the jade ultimatum on time.Record the concubines, names, titles, dates of birth and death, marriages, posthumous titles, and burials of the children of the clan.Responsibilities: Report the clan's requests to the emperor; introduce talented people; record the clan's responsibilities and faults, etc.

It can be said that all matters related to the emperor's relatives are in charge of the clan government, which can be said to be an important institution for managing and restricting the clan.

But such an important institution played a particularly low role in the entire Ming Dynasty. Especially after becoming the ancestor, the Ministry of Rites was mostly responsible for the clan affairs.

Therefore, if Zhu Youxiao wants to rectify the clan, the first step is to make this organization independent. It will be more convenient to use this organization to bypass the civil servants and manage the clan alone.Everyone present was a little surprised when they heard this. If we talk about the emperor's plan to reorganize the Department of Education just now, it caused constant controversy among everyone.Then the fact that he wanted to become independent of the sect's mansion surprised everyone.

The clan issue has always been a difficult problem faced by the Ming Dynasty.

Not to mention that the annual royal salary is as high as more than 150 million taels, which is a lot of money.It was they who used their clan status to seize land, monopolize operations, and embezzle royal taxes.

Just like what the emperor said just now, many clans used their status to run rampant in the countryside, doing evil, ruining the reputation of the clan, and making it difficult for the court to govern.

Everyone present knew these things well, but the clan issue had always been a "family matter" of the emperor.Even though they wanted to deal with it, they couldn't explain it clearly due to their status, and now that the emperor actually mentioned this matter himself, how could they not be happy.

Thinking of this, Ye Xianggao, Zhao Nanxing, Sun Shenxing and others immediately raised their hands and said:
"Your Majesty is wise, this is your Majesty's family matter, and I should not say anything more. However, our Ming Dynasty clan has many sects, and there are many virtuous people among them, but it is inevitable that there are lawless ones. Previously, the affairs of the sect's mansion were under the responsibility of the Ministry of Rites, which resulted in loose management and many things were not done right. It is convenient for punishment. Now that it is independent from the Ministry of Rites, if His Majesty can reaffirm the rules and regulations, he will definitely be able to restrain the clan."

Zhu Youxiao listened to their words and immediately understood what they meant.In the final analysis, managing the clan still depends on the emperor's attitude. If the emperor's attitude is strict, then the court will be able to handle things more easily.The fear that the emperor would favor the clan made the court officials timid and did not dare to take any action.

However, Zhu Youxiao had been mentally prepared for a long time, and even said that he had wanted to solve the clan problem for a long time.These Ming Dynasty clans have been favored by the emperor for generations, but many fish and meat towns have ruined the reputation of the old Zhu family.

Before, I didn't want to intensify the conflict because of the war.Now that the war has been resolved, we must start to resolve this matter.

"Well, I understand, so it's settled. At present, my brother King Xin is in charge of the Zongren Mansion, and the British Duke Zhang Weixian is in charge of Zongzheng."

As Zhu Youxiao spoke, he looked at Zhang Weixian and said solemnly:

"Mr. Yingying, you must help King Xin manage the clan's mansion. When the time comes, submit a question book to me. I really need to know in detail the current number of people in the Ming Dynasty clan and other situations."

"The minister obeys the order."

Zhang Weixian immediately accepted the order after hearing this, but Sun Chengzong on the side felt something was wrong when he saw this.During the Ming Dynasty, there were clans serving in the imperial court, so the emperor's behavior was obviously against the rules.

But just as he was about to say something, he saw Ye Xianggao wink at him, telling him not to act rashly.

Zhu Youxiao, who was sitting on the throne, did not notice this. After settling the issue of the independence of the Zongren Mansion from the Ministry of Rites.

He then ordered that the Seiyi Pavilion, which was put in charge of the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple, should now begin to recruit talents who could speak Western languages, and also collect Western information as a daily task, laying the foundation for future dealings with Europeans. ,

After the affairs of the Ministry of Rites have been dealt with, the next step is the reform of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Works. (End of chapter)