Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 354 Even though you are old, you still have to give us advice!
“Abolish the life tenure system.”

Zhu Yuanzhang held the memorial tightly in his hand, his turbid eyes flashing with strange colors.

He was naturally aware that only the lifelong tenure of officials could be abolished, and the emperor would not be affected.

If the lifetime tenure system is to be abolished, it means setting some terms of office. The most common one is time, with a term of three years or even longer, so that officials have no time to form cliques and are forced to change positions. After being transferred repeatedly, they are eventually forced to retire from the court.

This in turn ensured the concentration of power in the emperor.

It also avoids the emergence of powerful officials as much as possible. Even if a powerful official really appears, as long as there is a time limit, he will eventually have to step down. Moreover, according to Zhu Yuanzhang's expectation, this system should also be designed with a certain age ladder in order to avoid some officials from entering the court too early.

This gives these people too much time to cultivate their own factions.

As long as the time for these people to enter the court is slowed down to about ten years, unless the emperor in power is a waste and completely delegates power, it is impossible for powerful ministers to have power over the country, let alone allow powerful ministers to monopolize power.

Thinking of the various benefits of abolishing the life-long tenure system, Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes became brighter and brighter.

When I thought about the exciting things, I couldn't help but clap and cheer.

Pu Gou'er looked up curiously and glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang. He was very curious about what the emperor saw that made him so happy. He had served the emperor for so long and had not seen the emperor so happy for a long time. But since the emperor was happy, he, as a servant, was naturally happy for the emperor as well.

Zhu Yuanzhang put down the memorial, and said with a frown: "I am getting more and more confused about Xia Zhibai."

“But we can see more and more clearly.”

"He started out by going to the north to get involved in the military, then to the south to get involved in 'money', and now he's getting involved in the system. From what Biaoer told me before, I'm afraid Xia Zhibai never wanted to be a businessman, nor a university scholar. He wanted to be the prime minister of our Ming Dynasty."

"and"

"What he has come up with now, he may have thought of in his mind a long time ago, just looking for opportunities to reveal it bit by bit. This person is very thoughtful and has thought a lot, and his thoughts are quite beautiful."

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, but he didn't show much anger.

He has now gradually sorted out some clues.

Xia Zhibai really wanted to reform the world's system, and it was different from what he had done. He wanted to combine the historical lessons of past dynasties and make full use of some social habits to create a new system for the world on the ruins of China after the war.

A new system that is different from the past and will continue into the future.

Institutionalization, standardization and rationalization.

And it’s process-oriented.

Everything has a traceable path, everything has laws to follow, and everything has established regulations.

However, Xia Zhibai's ambition is obviously not limited to the system. He also wants to correct the world's customs and inject new vitality into the world. He has taken time to read the books he edited in the past year, especially Xia Zhibai's several "instructions" to the Hanlin scholars, which made him realize that he is different.

What he wants is universality!

What is needed is what Confucianism calls 'teaching without distinction'.

Rather than private transfer.

He even criticized and hated private transactions, and this was the fundamental conflict between Xia Zhibai and the scholars of the Hanlin Academy. Liu Sanwu had come to him to impeach him and complain, and he knew that what Liu Sanwu said was mostly true, but he chose to turn a blind eye in the end. He also wanted to see what Xia Zhibai could come up with in the end.

And how many books has Xia Zhibai read?
At the beginning, Xia Zhibai used the poems of Tang Dynasty poets to satirize himself for "not reading books", always following the old path of history, not being proficient in many aspects, and even directly cutting them off. He wanted to see what kind of "encyclopedia" Xia Zhibai, who is full of knowledge, can compile for the Ming Dynasty.

Can it really be universal? !
Zhu Yuanzhang held the jade ruyi in his hand, and Xia Zhibai's past bold words kept flashing through his mind. Eventually, he slowly wove these bold words into a general direction, but he still couldn't find out what Xia Zhibai's intention was in doing so.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Pu Gou'er and said, "Pu Gou'er, you have seen Xia Zhibai a lot. Tell me, what is Xia Zhibai thinking about all this? What is he thinking?!"

Park Gouer gave a bitter smile.

He is just a eunuch, how could he understand these things?

Pu Gou'er leaned forward and said, "Your Majesty, I don't understand these things. I only know that no matter how much Xia Zhibai wants, he must get your Majesty's approval. If your Majesty doesn't allow it, even if Xia Zhibai says something wonderful and golden lotus emerges from the ground, it will not have any effect."

"I only believe in your Majesty's words."

"The subjects of the Ming Dynasty only listen to your Majesty."

Park Gou'er smiled widely and bent his waist even deeper, almost to 90 degrees.

Zhu Yuanzhang grinned and said, "I am old and confused, why am I asking a eunuch like you? What do you know?"

"Put this memorial away. We really need to think about it."

"How can we get our officials to speak up?"

Zhu Yuanzhang put the memorial aside. Pu Gouer hurried forward, took the memorial in his hand, put it in a brocade bag, and then carefully placed it in a wooden box under the prince's command, and then put it in the box.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat in a chair, tapping his fingers on the table, thinking about how to get the officials to speak actively.

He didn't want to speak himself.

If I speak up myself, it will seem a bit forced.

It would also easily arouse dissatisfaction among a group of old ministers. Although he did not care much about these people, if these old ministers scolded him unanimously, he would feel somewhat embarrassed, especially since he was in the wrong. After all, they were brothers who had followed him through thick and thin, so he had to pay some attention to his face.

However, it is not easy to get these old ministers to speak up.

Everyone is greedy for power, he himself was like this, and so was Li Shanchang. It was not so easy to ask them to hand over power. Although Zhao Kuangyin gave up military power with a cup of wine, it was just a simple record in history books. In fact, Zhao Kuangyin paid a great price for it and gave up a lot of things, which led to the weakness of the entire Song Dynasty. Naturally, he did not want to be like Zhao Kuangyin.

Think about it.

He still set his sights on Li Shanchang.

After all, Xia Zhibai had explained Li Shanchang's "afterlife". He could either become Li Si or Sima Yi. Of course, there was another possibility, which was to die early. However, Li Shanchang always paid attention to his health, and I'm afraid he would not be willing to "die" on the spot.

Then he might as well take advantage of the situation to continue to put pressure on Li Shanchang and scare him. When Li Shanchang was really scared, maybe he would compromise.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "Old buddy, you have been giving me advice all my life. Now that you are old, you have to help me again. I have always regarded you as the Xiao He of the Ming Dynasty."

(End of this chapter)