Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The issue of hiring workers in Jiangnan was of concern not only to Emperor Zhu Youjian, but also to people in the capital, both at home and abroad.

In particular, Zhang Pu's reputation in the newspaper industry has led to a lot of support from the newspaper industry in the capital, making the affairs of Jiangnan one of the hot topics in Beijing.

Although these people were not as well-informed as Emperor Zhu Youjian, after the dust settled, the whole picture of the incident became clear.

Qian Qianyi looked at the news collected by Datong Daily and sighed:
"The emperor really values ​​Zhang Tianru. He actually did so many things for him."

"This kid may become a strong rival in the future!"

Knowing why the emperor valued him so much, Qian Qianyi knew that his greatest amulet was his reputation among the literati.

Although Zhang Pu's reputation among the literati is not as good as his own now, he has established supreme prestige among the employees.

From now on, the emperor will give special treatment to Zhang Pu in order to win over his employees.

Not to mention that Zhang Pu was the emperor's confidant, and was vaguely known as the "white-robed prime minister."

Now with the help of hired workers, we will surely be even more powerful.

Although the influence of these hired workers is far less than that of scholars.

However, as one of the four classes of people, workers cannot be ignored in future parliaments.

Qian Qianyi couldn't help but sigh again when he thought of this. Because the leader of the re-creation of ritual music was Liu Zongzhou, who was the person in charge of the National Assembly:
"Remake the rituals and music! Remake the rituals and music..."

"This is really a big chess game!"

"The emperor used Zhang Pu to confirm the status of hired workers."

"The next ones are employers, especially those in business and industry."

"In this way, the workers and merchants among the four classes will be able to find their place in the new ritual and music system, and the positions of scholars and farmers will also be determined accordingly."

"What a shame! What a shame! Why wasn't I the one who remade the ritual music?"

Once again feeling regretful about this, Qian Qianyi thought that if he could go back to two years ago, he would definitely surrender to the emperor without hesitation, put forward his ideas on the ritual and music system to the emperor, modify it according to the emperor's instructions, and promote the new ritual and music.

But it is too late to say anything now. Liu Zongzhou has already occupied this position, and his status is recognized by the emperor and his subjects.

All he could do was to make minor repairs to the ritual and music system established by the emperor and Liu Zongzhou, and the emperor used his reputation to persuade the scholars.

This made him not very enthusiastic about it. After the theory of permanent property was proposed, it was not further explored for a long time. This was because Qian Qianyi was unwilling to make wedding dresses for Liu Zongzhou under such a contradictory mentality.

Now it seems that he still did a poor job. If he had improved the theory of permanent property earlier, the emperor might have promoted him to a minister earlier, and he wouldn't have wasted so much time.

One of the reasons why he was promoted to the title of Minister of State was that he supported the emperor in Suzhou affairs and advocated the practice of the theory of permanent property of "one man with five people managing a hundred acres of land". Many Suzhou gentry could not object to this.

At this time, Qian Qianyi already felt vaguely:

The honor and disgrace of the rest of your life depends on the theory of permanent property.

No matter what he thought when he proposed the theory of permanent property, whether he was sincere or not, he would practice the theory of permanent property and perfect it in the future.
-
Liu Zongzhou had the same insight as Qian Qianyi. Although he did not participate deeply in the affairs of Suzhou, the etiquette and law provisions he drafted according to the emperor's requirements became the basis for the release of slaves in Suzhou.

This made him feel the power of rites and laws even more, and he praised the emperor's use of rites and music to govern the country from the bottom of his heart:

"Mencius said: Every five hundred years a king will surely rise, and during this time a man of great fame will surely emerge."

"Your Majesty is such a king!"

"I will realize the long-cherished wish of the sages of all ages."

At this moment, he felt more deeply the great mission he had. The teachings of Confucius, Mencius, Han Zi, Zhu Zi and others all appeared before his eyes.

He vowed to re-establish rites and music according to the teachings of the sages, so that the Ming Dynasty could return to the right path of governing the country with rites and music.

His student Huang Zongxi, however, was not so optimistic and said to his teacher:
"Sir, your majesty is indeed remaking rituals and music, but not entirely in accordance with the teachings of the ancient sages."

"What he wants to do is to be a monarch like Taizu and Chengzu, or even learn from Emperor Sejong."

"Especially regarding your love of music and beauty, have you ever followed the teachings of the saints?"

This statement has some accusatory connotations, especially when the music in ritual music is interpreted as being just for the sake of sound and beauty.

Li Yudao, who has become Liu Zongzhou's apprentice, said:
"The Emperor likes music, but he doesn't revel all day and night. Instead, he uses the twelve equal temperaments of Prince Duanqing to re-establish the music system."

"If Senior Brother Huang doesn't understand these, you can go to the Royal Orchestra to learn more."

"Junior brother has recently been ordered to compile teaching materials for the music school. I will send you a few volumes when I finish them in the future."

This was quite a bit of a confrontational statement, after all, Li Yu's foundation was music. If he was regarded as an actor, how could he hold his head up high in the government and the public in the future?
Therefore, he had to openly oppose Huang Zongxi's remarks and not let the world look down on music.

After hearing this, Liu Zongzhou also rebuked Huang Zongxi:
"Tai Chong, you passed!"

"The Book of Music is one of the Six Classics, and ritual and music have always been mentioned together. How can we treat it lightly?"

"Your Majesty ordered me to compile the Book of Rites based on the three rituals of Zhouli, Yili and Liji, but the Book of Music has been completely lost. I wonder when it will be rediscovered?"

"Without the guidance of the Book of Music, it is understandable that your Majesty's views on music are somewhat biased."

"Xuan Yu often sees Your Majesty when performing music, and needs more guidance."

Li Yu accepted the order and thanked the teacher for clearing the name of music.

The young and energetic Huang Zongxi was still a little unconvinced, and looked at Li Yu sarcastically and said:
"Depend on him?"

"To guide His Majesty to like beauty?"

"I heard that the women in the Royal Orchestra are all prepared for His Majesty."

"They all have the status of palace maids, and the emperor can favor them at any time."

"The music master has done this, it's really a disgrace to the predecessors!"

Li Yu was so angry that his face turned red when he heard this. He pointed at Huang Zongxi and couldn't say anything.

Because what Huang Zongxi said was true, almost all the women in the royal orchestra were palace maids.

He did offer beauties to the emperor, although it was at the queen's request.

But what was done was done, and this was one of the evidences that the emperor liked beautiful women. Some officials from the outer court even remonstrated with him because of this.

Liu Zongzhou also had his own opinions about this, but in front of everyone, he had to defend the emperor and said:

"Mencius said: Food and sex are human nature."

"Your Majesty is young and full of vigor, so it is understandable that he likes beautiful women."

"As long as you don't lose control like Emperor Longqing and Emperor Taichang, it won't be a big problem."

"The current queen is virtuous, and she will be in charge of the affairs of the harem. We don't need to worry too much!" This is one of the tacit understandings between him and the emperor, that is, to maintain each other's prestige -

The emperor gave him the position and power to exercise, and he used his reputation to find a basis for the emperor's actions, just like the "Memorial to the Emperor Yao and Shun", which was edited by the emperor and became a declaration of the re-establishment of rituals and music.

Knowing that reforming rituals and music was a reform, the risks of this matter were extremely high. Liu Zongzhou had to maintain the emperor's reputation to prevent people in the court and the public from regarding him as a tyrant, which would affect the reform of rituals and music.

Zhu Youjian's current good reputation is closely related to Liu Zongzhou's constant support for him. No matter how others criticized the emperor, Liu Zongzhou always said that the emperor was a benevolent and righteous monarch, in line with the true meaning passed down by Yao and Shun.

Zhu Youjian's previous practice of not killing people indiscriminately or unjustly finally paid off, and people could no longer blame him for his "benevolence and righteousness" -

The ministers did not want the emperor to kill people indiscriminately, so whether they agreed or not, they had to accept it.

Even Huang Zongxi was the same. Although he still had some objections in his heart, he had to accept his teacher's words.

Then he said to the teacher:
"Sir, after the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands signed the agreement, Prince Lu sent people south to establish a vassal state."

"He also asked me if I wanted to continue to go and help him set up a parliament in the Prince of Lu's vassal state."

"I plan to go to Lufan to pursue my ambitions. I hope you will grant my permission."

Liu Zongzhou nodded and said:

"It's good to have your own ideas, but you should think more about everything."

"It's also good to go to Lu Fan to practice. It's far from the capital, so it's less affected by the capital. If there are any problems, the disturbance won't be too big. Your master can help you suppress it."

"You are bold in doing things in Lu Fan, and His Majesty also expects you to achieve something!"

Huang Zongxi was surprised and asked:

"Your Majesty also knows me, Huang Zongxi?"

"You know I'm going to Lufan?"

Liu Zongzhou smiled and said:

"Your name has long been heard by His Majesty."

"Your Majesty said that you are a loyal minister and a filial son, but you just need some experience."

"Now, do whatever you want. If anything goes wrong, His Majesty and the teacher will cover it for you."

"Also, His Majesty has allowed you to try out the parliamentary system, and has specially upgraded your territory to the barony of Fang Baili. This will allow you to give full play to your abilities, and you can put into practice any ritual and music system you have in mind."

"If you can make achievements, I will make you a formal baron and make the barony a hereditary family property."

Huang Zongxi was touched by such generous treatment. If he had not been dissatisfied with the emperor's decision not to execute Xu Xianchun and others, he would have been grateful and loyal to the emperor.

What he wants more now is to make a career in his own territory. What he wants most now is to practice "all power belongs to parliament".

When the other students heard Liu Zongzhou's words, they all looked at Huang Zongxi with envy. The emperor really favored Huang Zongxi, as he was able to have a baron to live freely.

The only person they knew who had this treatment was Zhang Pu, but Zhang Pu's behavior in Suzhou was also very restricted.

Not to mention that if Huang Zongxi made some achievements, he would be awarded the hereditary title of baron.

That was Fang Baili's Baili Hou. Many of them would never have such an opportunity in their dreams.

However, Li Yu was obviously not among them. As he had made many contributions to music, he had many opportunities to be knighted.

Even if he makes great contributions to the twelve-tone equal temperament, he may be listed in the Purple Pavilion like Zhu Zaiyu in the future.

Thinking that Huang Zongxi's establishment of a new set of rituals and music would inevitably involve music, Li Yu bowed to Huang Zongxi and said:

"Brother, when you set up rituals and music in your territory, there must be a need for music."

"If you need anything, just tell me. The Royal Orchestra will also send people to Nanyang to collect folk songs."

Huang Zongxi felt a little embarrassed after hearing this. After all, he had just been in a tit-for-tat confrontation with Li Yu and even almost called the other party a traitor.

Now that Li Yu was willing to help regardless of past grudges, he could only bow and say:
"Thank you, Junior Brother Xuanyu!"

"Brother, your words were a bit extreme. I hope you don't mind."

"Music is indeed indispensable. I will go to Southeast Asia to formulate rituals and music for my own barony and even the vassal state of Prince Lu. I will definitely need your help."

"I will also read Junior Brother's masterpiece on music!"

Huang Zongxi quickly felt the change of his identity from a cynical young man to the operator of a country's ritual and music system. Many things that he didn't need to pay attention to before now had to be paid attention to.

For example, he didn't need to understand the music system in detail before, he just needed to find out the problems.

Nowadays, we must study in depth to prevent the rituals and music we create from being criticized.

This made him feel a great deal of pressure, and he also had a vague understanding of his teacher Liu Zongzhou's behavior:

Managing the rituals and music of a small country is already so difficult. Teacher Liu Zongzhou had to consider all the aspects of the rituals and music he had to re-create for the entire Ming Dynasty, which is simply mind-boggling.

Fortunately, the emperor trusted the teacher as always, and even handed over some of the power of the monarch to the teacher some time ago. No wonder the teacher always spoke for the emperor and believed that the emperor was the king.

"It is so difficult for a ruler and his subjects to get along well with each other!"

"It is said that serving the emperor is like serving a tiger. I wonder how many years the emperor's trust in you can last."

"I have to make progress as soon as possible and not give up on remaking the ritual music halfway."

With this idea in mind, Huang Zongxi was more eager to go to Southeast Asia. He wanted to fly to Southeast Asia and immediately practice the rituals and music he had envisioned.
-
Like him, Qian Wu's uncle Qian Sheng also wanted to go to Southeast Asia.

After his daughter was chosen as the emperor's concubine and got to know Tian Hongyu, the father of Concubine Tian, ​​Qian Sheng finally decided to go to Southeast Asia to establish a fiefdom.

In particular, Qian Wu's letter from Jiangnan tried his best to describe the conditions of New Jiangnan and the enthusiasm of Suzhou gentry to develop New Jiangnan. He suggested that his uncle should not hesitate to go to New Jiangnan to establish a fiefdom immediately.

Otherwise, if the imperial court system changes in a few years, he, a newly minted hereditary thousand households, will only be able to be converted to a knight.

After his daughter became the emperor's concubine, Qian Sheng's hereditary title was promoted to the next level, becoming a hereditary thousand-householder.

And as a preferential treatment for relatives by marriage, they were allowed to transfer to the Jinwu Guard.

However, Qian Sheng, who had actual assignments in Fuyuwei and Bingmasi, certainly did not want to go to Jinwuwei in name only, even though that would allow him to buy more private land, convert it into hereditary land and pay the eleventh tax.

His mind has now turned to opening a fiefdom. He doesn't care about the few hundred acres of land at all. He just wants to take a few more people with him to Southeast Asia:
"Old Sun, Old Wang, you have followed me for decades, and our families have been friends for generations."

"Now I plan to go to Southeast Asia to establish a fiefdom. Are you willing to go?"

"I can't tell you anything else when you get to Nanyang, but you can all become hereditary soldiers, and the land you own will be calculated by square miles."

"If you make outstanding contributions, I can also let my daughter ask the emperor to confer the title of knight on you." (End of this chapter)