Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 11 Zhu Biao’s demeanor!
Zhu Biao stood up suddenly, his face flushed with anger, and a long-lost hint of uneasiness and nervousness appeared in his eyes, as if he was really angered and hurt by these words.

Zhao Mao and other officials looked at each other, with a hint of panic and a slight trance in their eyes. They all lowered their heads and did not speak again. The current situation was not one in which they could speak.

Any words, if heard by Zhu Biao, might add fuel to the fire, or even be regarded as blaming someone indirectly. They had been in the court for many years and were well versed in the ways of being an official, so they dared not put themselves in danger.

But they had to admit it.

Some of the words in this "anti-article" do make sense. Compared with other dynasties, the Ming Dynasty was indeed too strict and rigid in its early days.

There is no flexibility.

It's all up to your majesty to decide.

The reason why the Ming Dynasty stopped the imperial examination in the first place was not only because the selected scholars were of varying quality and impractical, but also because these scholars had no sense of identification with the Ming Dynasty.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, many scholars in the world held a wait-and-see, suspicious, or even hostile and uncooperative attitude towards the Ming Dynasty, and many scholars were simply unwilling to serve the Ming Dynasty.

The reason.

The reason lies in Your Majesty's attitude towards the imperial examination system and the scholar-officials. The Confucian scholars of the world cannot get real closeness or sincere trust from Your Majesty.

And this may really be what this article says.

It has something to do with your Majesty's background.

Your Majesty's desire for talented people was revealed very early. When he was the Duke of Wu and the King of Wu, he announced, "I would like to review the ancient system and set up two categories, civil and military, to seek talents from all over the world."

However, the talented and capable people who were sought were not put to good use, nor were they really given the important positions as stated in the imperial edict. Instead, they were criticized in every way.

Your Majesty has repeatedly criticized these officials for "mostly young people" who are not practical and cannot "put what they have learned into practice", and has failed to achieve your Majesty's goal of "holding people accountable and seeking talented people".

Your Majesty does have a strong desire to seek talented people to govern the country, but what Your Majesty wants in order to govern the country is just people who want to do things according to Your Majesty's ideas.

You cannot have your own thoughts and ideas.

Just let him be your own slave!

This is just like a farmer who really wants to get help from others, but is also worried that others will covet his things, so he is always extremely cautious and wary.

If there is any dissatisfaction, they will be suppressed rudely with force as a deterrent. How can people feel at ease if they are employed with the mentality of preventing thieves?
Zhu Biao looked coldly at the officials below and said in a cold voice: "Do you also agree with these words?"

Li Shanchang bowed and said, "Your Highness, I only heard slander against Your Majesty. Such treasonous remarks should be killed! Should be executed!"

Li Shanchang's face was full of anger, as if he was really standing up for Zhu Yuanzhang and was filled with righteous indignation.

Zhu Biao looked at Li Shanchang coldly for a few times, then looked at the silent officials below for a few times, his face was extremely gloomy.

How could he not see that these officials clearly agreed with what was said and truly believed that some of the decisions made by the current emperor were wrong?

But he was puzzled. Since all the officials had different opinions on some of His Majesty's decisions, why didn't they dare to speak out?
Li Shanchang was full of anxiety.

I don’t know whether I should continue studying.

He just looked at Zhu Biao earnestly, wanting Zhu Biao to make a decision.

Zhu Biao's expression changed again and again.

finally.

A hint of color returned to his thin cheeks, and he regained his usual calmness and composure. He said calmly, "Continue reading."

"I also want to hear what these rebels say about the problems of our Ming Dynasty. And I never think that the Ming Dynasty is perfect."

"If you make a mistake, correct it; if you don't, try harder."

"This has always been my attitude."

"read."

Zhu Biao showed the magnanimity and open-mindedness that a crown prince should have, and completely changed his mind, no longer simply viewing this article as a counter-article.

Li Shanchang hesitated for a moment and continued, "Emperor Hongwu was so harsh on officials who worked for him, let alone the people? He was just abusing the people under the guise of loving them."

"To have the heart to love the people but not the actions to love them is to regard the whole world as one's own property."

"From this perspective, Ming gained from the peasant uprising, but was also destined to lose from it. It was just a bowl at the beginning, but a stiff corpse at the end."

"Governing a country the way you govern your family will only make it worse and worse, and more and more cruel and inhumane, because there will only be more and more 'disobedient' subjects."

"In this oppressive environment, teaching the subjects to just obey blindly and follow the so-called ancestral laws will only lead the world into an endless abyss of darkness."

“People are living in misery!”

"Why did the Hongwu Emperor pay so much attention to the people, even mentioning them every time he spoke? It was not because he was truly tolerant of the people, but because he only understood the people."

“Perhaps on the road to unifying the world, Emperor Hongwu learned a lot of strategies and military affairs, but his knowledge of the specific six arts of Confucianism was not complete.”

"Scholars, farmers, merchants, and soldiers only know farmers and soldiers."

"Because I understand agriculture, I pay the most attention to agriculture-related matters, and for other things, I can only continue the old system."

"Many times it's not that we don't want to change, it's that we don't know, we don't dare, and we're afraid of being cheated."

"I am more worried about being deceived by the ministers."

"Because of his background, Emperor Hongwu was full of hostility towards other social classes, believing that they had ill intentions, and he always assumed the utmost malice towards them. This was actually not a big problem."

"But it's different for you."

“Don’t trust those you employ, and ignore those you doubt.”

"We should weigh the pros and cons of the court and put the world first."

"It's not just farmers and civilians."

"The world is bustling with people all for the sake of profit, and most people do not get up early without profit."

"Either for fame or for profit."

“And the final decision-making power has always been in the hands of those in power.”

"However, Emperor Hongwu did not even give them the opportunity to choose and judge. He only regarded all officials as his long-term workers and all the people as his slaves, wanting them to be his servants for generations."

"If this continues, the world will only be filled with people who flatter their superiors and bully their subordinates, and the situation of officials being lazy and incompetent will spread further."

"Because if you do more, you will make more mistakes; if you do less, you will make fewer mistakes; if you do nothing, you will make no mistakes."

"Rather than that."

"Why get yourself into trouble?"

"It is precisely because of this that, more than a decade after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, apart from re-establishing the world order, conflicts are still rampant throughout the country, interests are uneven, the future is uncertain, and people's hearts are unsettled."

"Emperor Hongwu likes to use force and treat his subjects rudely. Under such circumstances, everyone is in danger and their future is uncertain. How can the Ming Dynasty really make great progress?"

"There are these few sentences in Jia Yi's On the Qin Dynasty."

"He built a city on Hua, and made a pond out of the river. He built a city a hundred million feet high, and faced an unfathomable abyss, and made it a stronghold."

"Good generals and strong crossbows guard the key points, loyal ministers and elite soldiers display their sharp weapons, and no one can stop them. The world has been settled, and the First Emperor believes that Guanzhong is a solid fortress, a thousand-mile golden city, and the eternal legacy of his descendants and emperors."

"How is this different from what the Ming Dynasty did?"

"How can one person decide the affairs of the world for eternity and have a good ending?"

"It is just repeating that the Qin people had no time to mourn themselves, but later generations mourned them; later generations mourned them but did not learn from them, which also caused later generations to mourn later generations."

"What can I do?"

(End of this chapter)