Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"Do you know Ban Dingyuan?"

Zhang Jingxin did not expect that the first question the emperor asked when he summoned him would be this question.

He tried to figure out what the emperor meant and replied cautiously:

"Ban Chao, courtesy name Zhongsheng, was a native of Fufeng in the Later Han Dynasty."

"For his contribution to restoring peace in the Western Regions, he was granted the title of Marquis Dingyuan."

"So he was called Ban Dingyuan."

There was nothing wrong with what he said, but it did not meet Zhu Youjian's wishes. He continued to ask:

"Then do you know who Ban Chao was imitating when he gave up his pen and took up arms?"

Zhang Jingxin understood now, and said with some excitement and trepidation:
"Ban Chao's calmness in putting down his pen was an imitation of Fu Jiezi and Zhang Qian."

"Both of them made great contributions in foreign lands and were awarded the title of nobility. Ban Dingyuan did the same."

Obviously, he understood why the emperor asked this question. He also realized that the emperor did not ask him to go on a simple mission, but to emulate Ban Chao and Fu Jiezi.

This is a blatant promise: if you make meritorious service, you can be awarded a title of nobility!

How could he not feel excited and stressed?
"It's good to be rewarded with a title for your meritorious service, but it's dangerous!"

"If things are not done well, then it will be the end of the army."

These people were all famous envoys of the Han Dynasty. After Zhang Jingxin served in the Lifanyuan, he was familiar with their deeds.

Fu Jiezi held the imperial seal and beheaded the King of Loulan, and Ban Chao led 36 people to attack and kill the Xiongnu envoys and subdue Shanshan. These are all successful examples.

Zhongjun was killed at a young age while on a diplomatic mission to South Vietnam.

As a promising Jinshi, Zhang Jingxin certainly did not want to follow this person's example.

Therefore, his purpose in this diplomatic mission was just to announce the imperial decree according to the order of the court.

Unexpectedly, the emperor mentioned Ban Dingyuan and encouraged him to cause trouble.

While he was thinking about how to reply to the emperor, he heard the emperor's instructions:
“As an envoy, you should take Zhang Qian, Su Wu, Fu Jiezi, Ban Chao and others as your role models.”

"But you should not learn from An Guo Shao Ji, who ruined state affairs because of personal feelings and implicated Zhong Jun and others."

"As long as you are dedicated to the public and do not violate the court's policies and become enemies of the great powers, all your words and deeds will represent me and the court."

"Come here, give me the imperial sword and the imperial seal."

He ordered the eunuchs to bring the imperial sword, flagpole, and seal, and granted Zhang Jingxin the power to fully represent the emperor and the court.

Zhang Jingxin's breathing became a little rapid as she looked at these three items.

After the current emperor ascended the throne, he improved the imperial sword system and added corresponding symbols:
Using the talisman, he could issue official documents as an imperial envoy.

Holding the flag, he could represent the emperor and the court to reward and punish people outside.

The Shangfang Sword can be used to kill those who disobey orders below the rank of general, and can directly kill those who disobey oneself.

These three powers are concentrated in one person, and it can be said that he is equivalent to an emperor to the outside world.

So after a little hesitation, Zhang Jingxin quickly took the three items:

He hung the Shangfang sword at his waist, held the flagpole in his right hand, and held the talisman in his left hand.

Seeing that he was willing to obey orders, Zhu Youjian nodded with satisfaction. He also felt that the crown and clothes on the other party were not worthy of these three items, so after thinking about it, he said:

"Take the dragon robe and jade belt and allow them to be worn on the mission."

"The envoys of the Ming Dynasty court were of a higher status than kings and princes when they were on diplomatic missions."

He bestowed a dragon robe and jade belt on Zhang Jingxin, asking him to wear it when he was on the diplomatic mission, and to take it back when he returned.

This is undoubtedly much higher than the first-class crown and clothing that the envoys could wear before. Zhang Jingxin was flattered and said:
"Your Majesty, just grant me the first-rank crown and clothing according to the old system."

"How can I be so virtuous and capable as to dare to wear a dragon robe and jade belt?"

Zhu Youjian said with a smile:

"You don't have any great achievements, so of course you can't wear it."

"But you are here on behalf of me and the imperial court, and you represent the majesty of the Ming Dynasty."

"The dragon robe and jade belt were bestowed by me. When you wear them, you represent me."

"If you make great contributions, this crown and robe will be given to you."

He also ordered the Imperial Wardrobe to send two eunuchs to specifically manage the dragon robe and jade belt, and to help Zhang Jingxin dress up to show the majesty of the court.

Zhang Jingxin is in his thirties this year, at the peak of his energy. He is also a very elegant and dignified person with a strong sense of integrity.

At this time, she walked out of the palace after being carefully dressed, accompanied by eunuchs and Jinyiwei. All the officials who saw her along the way looked at her sideways and were extremely envious of her.

Some even lamented:
"Today I know what it means to restore the dignity of Han officials!"

"This is the envoy of the Ming Dynasty!"

They surrounded Zhang Jingxin and returned home, congratulating him one after another.

Zhang Jing was very happy and greeted these colleagues one by one.

But after sending these people away, he hurriedly took off his dragon robe and jade belt with the help of the eunuchs, and handed the imperial sword and talisman to the Jinyiwei.

His wife was very puzzled and asked him why he was so careful. Zhang Jingxin said bitterly:
"The python robe, jade belt and monk's sword are nice, but they can also kill you!"

"I don't know if my husband will be able to come back from this mission."

"I leave all the family affairs to you. If anything bad happens to me, follow this suicide note."

Mrs. Zhang was so shocked that her face turned pale. Under her questioning, Zhang Jingxin finally told the truth about today's audience:

"The Emperor asked me to follow the example of Ban Chao and Fu Jiezi. This is asking me to risk my life!"

"If it succeeds, it's not a big deal. You may even be awarded a title of nobility."

"But if they fail, that would be a reason for the court to send troops, just like the former Han Dynasty's Zhongjun."

This was something he had never expected before, otherwise he would not have taken such active actions to seek the position of envoy.

Now, the task that used to be easy to accomplish has become very risky, and he really feels a little regretful.

Mrs. Zhang cried and said:
"Is it not okay not to go?"

"The Emperor will still force you?"

Let him find a way to pretend to be sick and quit the job.

Zhang Jingxin was very nervous and reluctant in his words. But when he heard his wife asking him to pretend to be sick and resign, his face immediately changed and he said angrily:

"What's the point of pretending to be sick?"

"Am I that kind of person?"

"Today I have put on my dragon robe and taken my imperial seal. If I quit my job, how can I hold my head up high in the future?"

"Don't say such things again. Put this suicide note away."

He asked his wife to take the suicide note and then reminded her:

"The mission is confidential and must not be leaked."

"I will go to see Yuan Shumi and ask him for a solution."

After changing into casual clothes, he planned to go and see Yuan Keli after get off work.
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As a minister, Yuan Keli was able to arrange his time freely and did not need to sit in the Privy Council all the time.

But he was very supportive of the emperor's duty system and always set an example by usually returning home after get off work.

People who usually go to see him will only come after get off work -

And no one would wear official uniform, because Yuan Keli insisted on handling official business impartially and only dealt with personal matters after get off work.

Unless there was urgent business, he would not meet with anyone in official uniform after get off work.

Zhang Jingxin, who was a Jinshi in the second year of Tianqi, could be said to be his student. Although they did not have much contact, he was very clear about this. After submitting his name card, he waited patiently in the gatehouse.

He thought he would have to wait for a long time, but he was summoned in not long after, along with other people. Zhang Jingxin looked carefully and realized that most of them were Jinshi in the second year of Tianqi, and some of them claimed to be Yuan Keli's disciples, and they were all very famous in the court.

This made him feel that perhaps by chance he had gotten the opportunity to attend the teachers-student gathering.

At the same time, he was a little hesitant, not knowing whether he should tell these people what happened during the day. Was it inappropriate to talk about the palace's affairs outside the palace?

Thinking this in his heart, Zhang Jingxin followed everyone to the study room and saw Yuan Keli holding a newspaper and said to them:

"Please read this article and share your thoughts."

Let the servant boy distribute newspapers, one for each person.

Zhang Jingxin read it carefully and found that the article was talking about feudalism on the surface, but was actually denouncing Qin.

They believed that the Qin Dynasty had never ruled the world and that the surrounding areas were threatened by barbarians such as the Huns.

One of the reasons why the barbarians caused chaos in the world was that they abolished feudalism.

They supported the emperor's feudal system, but were dissatisfied with the emperor's inclusion of the Qin Dynasty in the Celestial Empire.

"Such a magnificent article is worth reading."

"But why did Yuan Shumi give it to us specifically?"

While pondering this question, Zhang Jingxin heard Ni Yuanlu say:

"Teacher, this is an article written by Huang Zongxi."

"This person has always been resentful because of the death of Huang Zhongduan."

"His articles are just one person's opinion. You can read them or not."

Obviously, he understood who wrote the article and also knew what kind of person Huang Zongxi was.

Perhaps because Xu Xianchun and others, the direct enemies who killed his father, were not killed, Huang Zongxi has always had some problems with the current emperor.

Ni Yuanlu could understand him, but he didn't think his mentality was right:
The list of traitors has long been made public, and the eunuch party traitors have all been executed. Why should we keep dwelling on the past?

Some other people share the same idea, while others think Huang Zongxi is right:

Even when the Qin Dynasty was at its most powerful, it had not completely conquered the Huns, and there were still rebellious foreigners around it.

In addition, it was destroyed just over a decade after unifying the Central Plains. It also burned books and buried scholars, leaving the Six Confucian Classics incomplete.

These scholars naturally had no favorable impression of the Qin Dynasty. They did not think that such a dynasty could be called the Celestial Empire and be ranked on the same level as the Xia, Shang, Zhou, Han and Tang dynasties.

Yuan Keli listened to the students' ideas and nodded in approval from time to time.

I saw Zhang Jingxin who didn't come here often, and asked him:

"You are an official of the Lifanyuan, and you know the foreigners best."

“What’s your opinion on this article?”

Zhang Jingxin recalled what happened today and bowed:

"Huang Taichong's article has its merits, but it is not entirely correct."

"It is naturally desirable to divide the country into different territories. Given the vastness of the world today, the Ming Dynasty would never have become a celestial dynasty without dividing the country into different territories."

"But to say that the Qin Dynasty was not the Celestial Empire is a bit too harsh."

"It is important to know that Maodun usurped the throne and unified the grasslands during the reign of Qin II."

"During the time of Qin Shi Huang, the Xiongnu had been chased back to the grasslands."

"The Xiongnu's claim that the Qin Dynasty was at its most powerful was due to external enemies is probably untrue."

Detailed citations from classics show that the Xiongnu became powerful after the reign of Qin Shi Huang.

Before this, the Xiongnu, Donghu and other foreign tribes were no different from each other and could not be considered major enemies of the Qin Dynasty.

This view fundamentally refuted the argument that the Qin Dynasty could not be called the Celestial Empire because it had foreign enemies, and a lot of people were talking about it.

Yuan Keli stroked his beard and smiled:

"Xiaozhong used historical facts to explain things, which can be said to be seeking truth from facts."

"You know so much about the Xiongnu. You should write an article to set the record straight and stop the fallacy from spreading."

Encourage him to publish articles and express his own views.

Zhang Jingxin was encouraged by this and said boldly:

"In fact, there is not much difference between the Qin Emperor, Han Emperor, and even our own Emperor Chengzu in their approach."

"They all exhausted the people's strength to conquer the surrounding enemies."

"The difference is that after Emperor Wu of Han, there were Huo Guang and Emperor Xuan, and after Emperor Chengzu, there were Emperor Renzong and Emperor Xuanzong, which allowed the people to rest and recuperate."

"After the First Emperor, there were only Hu Hai, Zhao Gao, and Li Si, and the country was destroyed in the second generation."

"Students believe that the Ming Dynasty can restore the Celestial Empire, but it should not cause border conflicts and lead to poverty and exhaustion of the people."

It was obvious that he had a hidden agenda and was dissatisfied with the emperor for instigating him to cause trouble.

Although others could not understand the deep meaning of this, they thought this statement was quite novel, and after thinking about it carefully, it made sense:
The public's evaluation of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, and Emperor Chengzu is indeed somewhat similar. They all believe that these three emperors were warlike and wasted the public's financial resources.

But they conquered the Celestial Empire several times in history. This made everyone look quite strange:

"Is it wrong to criticize them? Qin Shi Huang, Han Wudi, and Cheng Zu were all good emperors?"

There was some confusion in everyone's mind for a moment.

Even Zhang Jingxin, who proposed this point, felt incredible after thinking about it:

"The Emperor Qin, Emperor Wu of Han, and Emperor Chengzu all established the Celestial Empire in this way."

"Your Majesty encouraged me to stir up trouble because he wanted the Ming Dynasty to regain its status as the Celestial Empire?"

"Doing what the vassal states wantonly is the way to show the power of the Celestial Empire?"

For a moment, I didn't know how to talk to Yuan Keli.

Fortunately, Yuan Keli was ordered to compile the military volume of the "A Brief History of Chinese Chronicles" and had some knowledge of this. He said:

"In addition to the Qin and Han dynasties, the Xia, Shang, Zhou and Tang dynasties were also celestial dynasties."

"The Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties were founded by Yu, Tang and King Wen, while the Tang dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizong of Tang."

"They conquered the Celestial Empire without resorting to excessive military campaigns. This is what our dynasty should learn from."

"We should advise Your Majesty to learn from Emperor Taizong of Tang, rather than Emperor Qin and Emperor Wu of Han."

The debate was barely ended, and Emperor Taizong of Tang was set up as an example.

This has always been his view, and in the past he urged the emperor to study "Zhenguan Zhengyao".

All the students nodded as they listened, believing that the emperor should indeed learn from Emperor Taizong of Tang.

They decided to publish an article in the newspaper to continue to promote Emperor Taizong of Tang as an example of an emperor. We cannot overturn the verdicts of Emperor Qin, Emperor Wu of Han, and Emperor Chengzu just because of the saying of the emperor's heavenly dynasty.

After discussing these academic matters, it was already late. As everyone left one after another, Yuan Keli deliberately kept Zhang Jingxin:

"Xiaozhong was summoned by His Majesty today. He must have come here tonight for something."

"Please stay for a while and talk to me in detail."

Let Zhang Jingxin tell the details of the audience and what the emperor said truthfully.

After Zhang Jingxin told the whole story from beginning to end, he said worriedly:
"Your Majesty, if you think this way, I am worried that the envoys who will be sent out in the future will provoke conflicts and there will never be peace at the border."

"Teacher, can you give some advice and explain the dangers?"

Yuan Keli has been with the current emperor for a long time, and it can be said that there is a tacit understanding between the monarch and his subject.

After thinking about it for a while, he smiled and said:

"Don't worry about the emperor. He has already drawn all the necessary lines."

"As long as you follow the emperor's instructions, there will be no problem at all." (End of this chapter)