Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1591 A solution that combines both hardness and softness!
Because of the drought in the north during this period, some forces in the court who were dissatisfied with Ye Mingsheng's reform measures were also ready to move. The general view of these people was that Ye Mingsheng's reform measures were wrong, and that they would shake the foundation of the country and affect the government, and that the reforms must be stopped immediately!
The current drought is God’s warning to Daqian. If Ye Mingsheng continues to persist in his wrong ways, even greater disasters will be waiting for Daqian!

To be honest, Ye Mingsheng himself scoffed at such a view. He felt that whether there was drought or not had nothing to do with his reforms. Even if he did not reform, the drought would still come!
However, the vast majority of the people in Daqian still have very feudal ideas, and the reform has greatly infringed upon the interests of the GL Group. Many people have lost their jobs and power as a result. Now that they have finally seized the opportunity, they are frantically advocating for the reform from top to bottom.

Instigated by these, there are still many voices among the people and in the court who agree that the drought is the wrath of heaven and the people caused by Ye Mingsheng’s reforms, and it is a punishment from God!
Ye Mingsheng was very clear that these memorials, including Fang Shi's, were just a test. If he weakened his attitude at this time, the other party would become more aggressive, and even all the officials would unite in the grand court meeting to give joint advice.

But if Ye Mingsheng maintains a tough stance and responds to toughness with toughness, it will undoubtedly intensify the internal conflicts within Daqian. The officials may not dare to do anything on the surface, but secretly they will use all kinds of tricks to resist the reforms promoted by Ye Mingsheng!
Public opinion will undoubtedly blame Ye Mingsheng even more, which will also plunge the new Daqian Dynasty into a crisis of trust...

This is undoubtedly a major test of Ye Mingsheng's political level. If Ye Mingsheng withdraws this time, the reform will basically come to nothing!

After sitting in the chair and thinking carefully for a while, Ye Mingsheng instructed Ye Cheng:
"Who is the director of the Imperial Observatory?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's question, Ye Cheng thought for a while before answering Ye Mingsheng's question:

"The director of the Imperial Observatory is named Wang Ruolai! He was the former deputy director of the Imperial Observatory in Luoan. Because of his clean background and deep research on astronomical phenomena, Your Majesty appointed him as the director of the Imperial Observatory!"

After hearing Ye Cheng's introduction, Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly and had some impression of this Wang Ruolai.

Before defeating the Luoan court, the Fengwu Army led by Ye Mingsheng was a local vassal state. In addition, in order to save costs, Ye Mingsheng only retained some core departments, and the court institutions were not comprehensive!

But after defeating the Luoan court, the Fengwu Army's power was transformed from a local vassal state into the central court. As a result, some necessary institutions had to be equipped, so at that time the Daqian Imperial Observatory began to be organized!
Because the Fengwu Army did not have the Imperial Astronomical Observatory in the past, there was a lack of professionals in the field of astronomy. Originally, this problem was easy to solve. After all, the Luoan court had the Imperial Astronomical Observatory. Ye Mingsheng only needed to inherit these people...

But the problem is that in the past battle between the Fengwu Army and the Luoan Court, Shangguan Hongyuan chose to use God in order to portray Ye Mingsheng as an unforgivable villain who did all kinds of evil!
To be specific, there are certain astrological signs in the sky indicating that Ye Mingsheng is a treacherous villain who has done all kinds of evil. There are also certain astrological signs showing that Ye Mingsheng has done too many bad things, so he will definitely not have a good end. Sooner or later, the court will arrest him and bring him to justice!

In the process of Shangguan Hongyuan using astrology to launch a public opinion attack on Ye Mingsheng, the members of the Imperial Astronomical Observatory were responsible for interpreting the astrology. This means that they said a lot of bad things about Ye Mingsheng!

Honestly speaking, Ye Mingsheng had no opinion towards most of the officials in the Imperial Observatory, except for those few people who scolded him the most harshly in the Luoan Imperial Observatory and cursed him and his three generations of ancestors!

Ye Mingsheng was willing to believe that most people were just following orders and did not really have that much ill will towards him, so according to Ye Mingsheng's meaning, except for a few people, most people would not be held accountable, and some backbone members of the Imperial Observatory would be retained to serve in the Luoan court.

However, the political rules in the court are different now. Faced with the idea that most of his subordinates should severely punish anyone from the Luoan court who insulted Ye Mingsheng, Ye Mingsheng finally chose to acquiesce. He then gave some of the Luoan court officials who had insulted him from the Imperial Observatory a light punishment and then released them.

In the end, among the hundreds of people in the Luoan Imperial Observatory, only Wang Ruolai, the deputy supervisor who was marginalized because of his mistakes at that time, had never scolded him, so Ye Mingsheng made Wang Ruolai the supervisor of the Yijing Imperial Observatory with a stroke of his pen, and transferred several people from other departments to organize the Yijing Imperial Observatory...

When this department was established, Ye Mingsheng did not take it seriously. In Ye Mingsheng's opinion, his administration had nothing to do with celestial phenomena. The reason for establishing this department was mainly because the general public was still relatively superstitious. So based on this situation, Ye Mingsheng organized this department!
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng felt a little complicated, but he still ordered:

"Go and call Wang Ruolai over here!"

"Yes!"

Under Ye Mingsheng's instructions, half an incense stick later, a thin, pale, and well-mannered official came to Ye Mingsheng under the guidance of Ye Cheng.

"I, your humble servant, am here to see Your Majesty!"

Because Ye Mingsheng's time was precious, he glanced at Wang Ruolai and asked directly without beating around the bush:
“Are there any signs of heavy rain in the north recently?”

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's question, Wang Ruolai was stunned for a moment, and then he hesitated before speaking:
"Your Majesty, this scope is too large. I am not sure!"

"Then tell me, Youyan, is it possible that there will be heavy rain around Yijing in the near future?"

Facing Ye Mingsheng's questioning, Wang Ruolai also felt a lot of pressure. After hesitating for a while, he slowly said:
"If your majesty is benevolent, I believe that heaven will surely send down a blessing..."

Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but narrow his eyes when he heard this, and then he said coldly: "You are so brave!"

Before Ye Mingsheng had finished speaking, Wang Ruolai, who sensed the chill in Ye Mingsheng's words, knelt down in fear and said:

"Your Majesty! Everything I say is true! As long as Your Majesty is benevolent, the heavens will see it. Please put the country first!"

Ye Mingsheng didn't say anything when he heard this, but Ye Cheng, who was standing by, observed Ye Mingsheng's expression and made a decision in his heart. He immediately waved at the guards outside the door, and the guards rushed forward and dragged Wang Ruolai out of the imperial study.

Seeing Ye Cheng dragging Wang Ruolai out, Ye Mingsheng didn't say anything, but just picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea.

Seeing that Ye Mingsheng's teacup was empty, Ye Cheng quickly picked up the teapot to refill Ye Mingsheng's cup and then counseled:

"Your Majesty, the people in the Imperial Observatory are the most superstitious. They don't understand your good intentions for the court. Your Majesty, please don't bother with them. You must take care of your health!"

Hearing Ye Cheng say this, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but look at him. Seeing this, Ye Cheng immediately shut his mouth and stopped talking. As Ye Mingsheng waved his hand, Ye Cheng also immediately left the imperial study!
Ye Mingsheng, who was alone in the imperial study, looked at the sunset outside the window, but his eyes gradually became cold!

To be honest, after becoming emperor, Ye Mingsheng didn’t like to use violence to solve problems!

Ye Mingsheng always believed that violence can solve some problems, but it cannot solve all problems. If you use violence to solve some problems, it will not only be detrimental to solving the problems, but may even make the problems worse!

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng prefers to adopt a combination of hardness and softness in matters of court affairs, rather than simply killing and arresting people...

So regarding the public opinion about the drought this time, Ye Mingsheng was thinking of solving it with a combination of hard and soft methods!
First, arrest the few people who are jumping the most happily. Of course, although Ye Mingsheng arrested them because they used the drought to attack the reform, in the actual arrest, Ye Mingsheng would definitely not use this as an excuse, as this would give them an excuse and intensify the conflict!
Ye Mingsheng would ask the Coordination Office to look for these personal moral issues, such as whether you accepted gifts from someone, went to brothels to drink, etc.

As for whether the problem can be found, Ye Mingsheng is not worried at all. Although the situation of Daqian TF is better than that of Dazhou, it was derived from Dazhou after all and is still a feudal dynasty. The roots have not changed. Although the leaves and fruits that grow out are a little worse, they are generally the same.

If Ye Mingsheng were to find problems with the tens of thousands of G members in Daqian, he felt that at least 90 percent of them would fail.

Ye Mingsheng's consistent attitude towards this is to severely punish major problems and turn a blind eye to minor problems. After all, if the root cause does not change, there will not be much improvement even if you change people.

But you have offended Ye Mingsheng this time, and the small problem has become a big problem...

After dealing with the person who stood out, Ye Mingsheng planned to organize a rain-praying ceremony. Ye Mingsheng would personally appear. Although Ye Mingsheng himself did not believe in it, most of the common people believed in it, so even as an emperor, Ye Mingsheng had to respect public opinion!

Of course, Ye Mingsheng couldn't organize this rain-making ceremony without any preparation. After all, Ye Mingsheng planned to attend it in person. If Ye Mingsheng participated in the rain-making ceremony and God didn't rain, wouldn't that be even more controversial? Public opinion would be even more serious!
So Ye Mingsheng would organize this rain-praying ceremony only when it is about to rain!
In this way, after Ye Mingsheng organized the ceremony, it rained. This showed that Ye Mingsheng had the support of the people and the destiny. Although Ye Mingsheng himself did not believe in it, the people now believed it, so Ye Mingsheng could only follow this model!
According to Ye Mingsheng's ideal plan, he killed the one who stood out and warned those who opposed the reform. Then it rained and the drought was alleviated. In this way, the public opinion crisis was reduced to a small matter!
That's why Ye Mingsheng thought of finding the director of the Imperial Observatory to ask him when it would rain!
Although Ye Mingsheng did not expect him to give him an accurate prediction like the weather forecast, Ye Mingsheng was looking forward to Wang Ruolai being able to give him some reference.

But I didn't expect this guy to say that as long as Ye Mingsheng is benevolent, God will rain...
Although Wang Ruolai was not like Fang Shi, who pointed at his nose and cursed at his reforms, saying that they were tyranny, he drove tens of thousands of loyal and honest people out of the court, making his relatives sad and his enemies happy!

But his meaning is similar. What he meant is that as long as Your Majesty implements benevolent policies, God will send down rain. Doesn't that mean that the reason it's not raining now is because you haven't implemented benevolent policies?
Ye Mingsheng was speechless when he heard him say that, but after thinking about it carefully, he could understand to some extent that the most core part of the reform he promoted at the administrative level was layoffs!
Layoffs mean that some people lose their jobs and some people lose their power, so these people are unwilling to accept this. From their perspective, it is understandable!

Even those who are still in their jobs and have not been laid off are now in a state of panic. In order to keep their jobs and their power, these people will definitely take some actions, even resorting to extremes!

This is because these people do not have military power, otherwise rebellion would be very likely!
Although Ye Mingsheng understood the ideas of some G members represented by Wang Ruolai to a certain extent, things have come to this point today. Ye Mingsheng absolutely does not want to see the reforms he has promoted become anticlimactic!

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng cannot retreat at all. If Ye Mingsheng retreats at this step, the problem of redundant staff cannot be solved. This cancer will continue to affect the finances of Daqian and affect the people of Daqian!

At the same time, Wang Ruolai's attitude also made Ye Mingsheng realize that he might have underestimated the seriousness of the problem. His approach of combining firmness and flexibility and turning big things into small things might be too idealistic!

In order to solve this problem and implement some of the established reform measures, I may need tougher measures to demonstrate my determination and will as an emperor!
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng was a little conflicted. To be honest, in the past few years, the entire Great Zhou had lost many people due to the separatist rule of local governors and warlord infighting. If possible, Ye Mingsheng really hoped to solve the problem with the gentlest means possible!
Ye Mingsheng always believed that violence could not solve all problems, but if there was really no other way, Ye Mingsheng could only resort to this last resort...