Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 241 Imperial Textbooks and Japanese Lectures

Seeing Dong Qichang addicted to hard-pen calligraphy, Yuan Keli reminded him:

"You are His Majesty's daily lecturer. You cannot just teach His Majesty how to write."

"What is Your Majesty studying now? Do you have "Zhenguan Politicians"?"

Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, was a Mingjun respected by all dynasties, and "Zhenguan Politicians" has always been a textbook for the Ming emperors and princes, and was taught to the emperors by civil servants.

The current emperor was succeeded by a vassal prince and had no experience of learning from the prince. Yuan Keli believed that this lesson should be made up and the emperor should learn from Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, so as to prevent him from imitating Emperor Jiajing and causing trouble in etiquette.

Dong Qichang really didn't pay attention to this matter. He mainly taught the emperor how to practice calligraphy. After hearing Yuan Keli's inquiry, he thought about it carefully and said:

"Your Majesty has been studying Daxue, Shangshu and Emperor Jian Tu Shuo, but has not yet started studying Zhenguan Zhengyao."

"I communicated with several Japanese lecturers. They plan to teach "Tongjian" to His Majesty after finishing "The Imperial Mirror Illustrated Theory"."

"Tongjian" refers to "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" and a series of related books, such as Zhu Xi's "Zi Zhi Tong Jian Compendium", Emperor Xiaozong Hongzhi ordered Li Dongyang and others to compile "Zi Zhi Tong Jian Compendium" and so on.

Like "Shangshu", "Spring and Autumn Annals", "Extensions of the University", "Zhenguan Zhengyi" and other books, it is a textbook for the Ming emperor and the prince.

As for the "Emperor's Illustrations", it was compiled by Zhang Juzheng under his personal guidance. It contains 81 chapters in the first chapter and 36 chapters in the second chapter, a total of 117 examples, to teach the then young Emperor Wanli.

When Yuan Keli heard that the emperor was still learning this, he suddenly laughed and said:

"What's there to learn from "The Emperor's Illustrations"? Your Majesty is so old, you can finish it in a few days."

"How come it's been almost two months since the lecture started and you're still studying this?"

"Is it because His Majesty did not pay attention to learning, or did he not pay attention to official teaching?"

"Emperor's Illustrations" was compiled by Zhang Juzheng and others, which certainly meets the requirements of civil servants for kings. Moreover, this book is rich in pictures and texts, and the annotations are easy to understand. It is a rare imperial textbook.

This is also the problem. Its content is too simple. It is simply for teaching children. Adult emperors should not study for too long.

(In the "Emperor's Illustrations", the fourth chapter uncovers the utensils and asks for words, Xia Shiji: Dayu hangs bells, drums, chimes, duos, and traps to wait for the people from all directions, saying: "Those who teach the few people the Tao, beat the drums; give instructions to Those who are righteous will strike the bell; those who report things are shaken up; those who express sorrow are struck with chimes; those who are involved in prison lawsuits are shaken." [Interpretation] Xia Shiji: Since Dayu was on the throne, he was afraid that his family would have unclear affairs. , the righteousness is not yet mature, or the affairs are not in their right place, or there are worries that are not known, or the prison litigation is not settled, people far and near in all directions have no way to express their opinions. So the bells, drums, chimes, bells, and five Such musical instruments are hung outside to inform the subjects...)
When Yuan Keli heard that the emperor was still studying "The Emperor's Illustrations" after nearly two months of studying, he immediately felt something was wrong and thought that the teaching materials should be changed:
"Finish the "Emperor's Illustrations" as soon as possible and explain the "Zhenguan Political Important" to His Majesty."

"His Majesty is so smart now that he should learn how to be a king from a wise king like Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, so as not to go astray."

Dong Qichang was a little puzzled when he heard this. He didn't know why Yuan Keli suddenly cared about the emperor's education and specifically asked him to suggest that the emperor study "Zhenguan Politicians".

After asking, I learned that the emperor planned to make trouble during the sacrifice, imitate the great ceremony initiated by Emperor Jiajing, and ask the court officials to take sides.

This kind of thing is something that no civil servant who has experienced the national dispute wants to see. At that time, Emperor Jiajing launched a great ceremony, forced officials to take sides, selected ministers who supported the emperor, and then gained power.

Emperor Wanli also followed suit and started a national dispute. He wanted to get the ministers to stand in line and support him and King Fu.

As a result, the civil servants have learned to be smart and will not be fooled at all. No one paid any attention to Prince Fu, and most of them supported the eldest son becoming the crown prince.

Today's emperor picked up this old wisdom again, and the civil servants disapproved of it and didn't want to pay attention to it at all.

For civil servants, especially Jinshi, most of them want to be in office safely and securely, and they don’t want to stand in line every few decades and risk their lives and fortunes——

Not to mention these civil servants of the Ming Dynasty, they were slave officials of the Qing Dynasty. After experiencing the seizure of the legitimate son in Kowloon, their enthusiasm for participating in the subsequent seizure of the legitimate son also plummeted, and not many officials were willing to participate.

Therefore, after Kowloon seized the throne, the intensity of the Qing Dynasty's seizure plummeted. The so-called secret establishment almost only exists in one form. In fact, it is still based on the system of direct descendants.

Although the ministers of the Ming Dynasty did not experience the Nine Dragons seizing the rightful son, they did experience the great ceremony. After being taught a lesson by Emperor Jiajing, they did not hesitate to push back when Emperor Wanli wanted to mess with inheritance etiquette -

Almost all the ministers clearly supported the eldest son of the emperor. They did not want to take sides every time a prince was appointed and let the emperor play with him.

Therefore, after hearing Yuan Keli talk about this matter, Dong Qichang had the same idea as him, believing that the emperor could not be allowed to act recklessly and the officials in the court could not stand in line.

But the current situation is that the officials in the court are mainly the remnants of the eunuch party. They dare not violently oppose the emperor, lest the emperor directly kick them out when they are impeached.

It is impossible for the Donglin Party to give up the impeachment against them, lest these people continue to occupy high positions in the court and firmly control the government situation. Therefore, after the emperor sends a signal to take sides, the remaining members of the eunuch party will most likely support the emperor. If the Donglin Party does not support it, it will lose the emperor's favor.

However, the emperor's actions such as rebuilding martial temples and sorting out the immortal system in the name of correcting the sacrificial rituals made many civil servants of the Donglin Party uncomfortable and unwilling to express support.

So the crux of the matter is here. It's no wonder that Yuan Keli had a headache and was anxious for the emperor to study "Zhenguan Political Essentials"——

The current emperor must not be allowed to learn from Emperor Jiajing, they don't want to bother anymore.

Taking this matter very seriously, Dong Qichang, as one of the Donglin Party officials with the highest official position in the court, immediately told Yuan Keli:

"I would suggest to other Japanese lecturers that they should finish the lecture on "Emperor's Illustrations" as soon as possible and start the lecture on "Zhenguan Political Important".

"It's just a matter of correcting the sacrificial rituals. Brother Yuan, tell me what to do? Should you support or oppose it?"

Yuan Keli sighed and said:

“What’s the use of our opposition?”

"Huang Liji and others will definitely support it!"

"It would be even worse if this offends His Majesty and makes Him get closer to the remnants of the Eunuch Party."

"So I want you to give a warning to the Donglin Party in Beijing. Even if you don't want to support it, just don't speak out."

"If you go to Shu, you must support the emperor!"

Dong Qichang nodded repeatedly, knowing that Yuan Keli wanted to maintain the stability of the court. If the remnants of the Eunuch Party support this matter and the Donglin Party members oppose it, it will be another political dispute. The Donglin Party, which had just been resurrected, might be defeated by the emperor.

So the best thing to do is to do what Yuan Keli said. Even if you don’t want to support it, you absolutely cannot oppose it. This is the emperor trying to lure his ministers to take sides, and he must not make a mistake in this matter.

Even, I think of the officials who stood out in the great ceremony and were valued by the emperor and were promoted quickly. Dong Qichang felt that he should also encourage the Donglin Party members who supported the revision of the sacrificial rituals, so that they could actively communicate and gain the emperor's trust.

It would be a better thing for the Donglin Party if they could take the lead in correcting the rituals. This will correct the emperor's mistakes and prevent those sycophants from taking the opportunity to gain the emperor's trust.

　"Da Ming Hui Dian"

　　Lectures and readings from Fandong Palace:
　　In the early years of Hongwu, a large main hall was set up, where the crown prince and princes were ordered to give lectures, and officials were set up to teach scriptures.

　　After the crown prince lived in the Wenhua Hall, the officials were divided into classes, and the selected officials were selected to serve as companions.

　　In the second year of Yongle's reign, he ordered the officials of the Economic Affairs Bureau of Chunfang and the officials of the Hanlin Academy to give lectures every day.

　　He used books such as Shangshu, Chunqiu, Tongjian, Daxue Yanyi, Zhenguan Zhengyi and other books to directly describe the great righteousness, compile them into chapters, submit them to the emperor for reading, and then go to the Wenhua Hall to give lectures.

　　Daily lecture:
　　The emperor's Wenhua wears the palace, and only uses it to teach the officials.

　　There is no need for guards, ceremonial deacons and other officials to serve as cabinet bachelors. The attendants lectured and read, and other officials came in to see him, kowtowed, and separated the east and west.

　　Read the Four Books first, then the Bible or history. After reading each book ten times, the lecturer first talks about the four books, and then talks about the classics or history. It is important to speak plainly and clearly. After the lecture, the scribes came up to study the calligraphy, and then all the officials kowtowed and retired.

　　Wenhua Palace gave tea [not available today].

　　Wenhuamen gave us wine and food.

　　Afternoon Lecture:
　　In the sixth year of Longqing's reign, every morning, the cabinet ministers and lecturers would finish their speeches and retire. After going up to warm up and rest for a while, the chief ceremonial supervisor brought all the yamen seals to the imperial examination, and the cabinet ministers and others retreated to the west wing to wait.

　　When someone consulted someone, he immediately summoned him to the imperial court and explained everything in the book clearly. After reading the book, the cabinet ministers led the Zhengzi officials to respectfully serve Shangjin. After that, if you want to go back to Nuanhe for a little rest, the cabinet ministers and others will still retreat to the west wing to wait. If he does not go to Nuanhe, the cabinet ministers and others will lead the lecturers to go to the afternoon lecture again.

　　Let’s talk about the essentials of Tongjian Festival [After Tongjian finished speaking, Zhenguan political dignitaries started talking]. Talking about official affairs will directly explain the facts of the rise and fall of previous generations. After speaking, everyone retreated and returned to the palace.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)