I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 771: The Emperor and Lord Hai have good intentions!

The left hall of Ziguang Pavilion in Xiyuan was converted into a round table conference room.

Zhu Yijun sat in the upper seat in the middle, with Grand Secretaries Zhang Juzheng, Tan Lun, Zhao Zhenji and Wang Chonggu sitting on his left and right.

Sitting in a large circle below and outside were 24 advisory scholars including Qi Jiguang, Wei Xueceng, Wang Guoguang, Wang Yi'e, Pan Fengwu, Yin Zhengmao, Hai Rui, Wang Daokun, Li Sanjiang, and Li Xing.

A plenary meeting of the Advisory Bureau is being held.

Qi Yan stood next to Zhu Yijun, holding a stack of papers and reading aloud: "Rule of law is the best way to ease domestic conflicts."

After he finished reading, Zhu Yijun glanced at all the ministers and pointed at Qi Yan with his right hand, “These words were spoken by the Portuguese envoy Marcelo after he attended the trial of the Xiao Baicai case.

Everyone, do you understand what I mean?"

The advisors looked at each other in bewilderment.

Looking at their expressions, whether real or pretended, Zhu Yijun couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

When I was reading the files and materials preserved in the Imperial Archives and the Hanlin Academy, I found that China actually had the spirit of the rule of law as early as the Qin and Han dynasties.

However, this spirit of the rule of law became increasingly weak with the change of dynasties and the increasing strengthening of imperial power, and was almost completely gone by the time of the Qing Dynasty.

The rise of Confucianism is primarily responsible for this.

The rule of virtue emphasized by Confucianism is actually a kind of rule of man. In their eyes, governing a country is very simple, and the word "benevolence" almost encompasses everything.

What is benevolence?
Everyone follows the Three Constant Virtues and Five Principles, and each stays within their own class. People at the bottom should be content with their fate, and people at the top should be kind and virtuous.

Simplify the complex world and make the dynamic society static. The whole country is a huge pyramid with clear levels, leaving only the scientific examination as a single-plank bridge for class leaping.

When Emperor Taizu established the Ming Dynasty, this static state reached its peak. Power was concentrated in the emperor, but contradictions became increasingly fierce.

There are many contradictions between the imperial power and the civil service group, between the civil service group and the noble group, and between each level. These contradictions cannot be eased and can only be resolved through brutal political struggles, and in serious cases, dynasties must be replaced.

When Emperor Taizu designed the national system, he treated self-cultivating farmers, including small and medium-sized landlords, as tenants of the royal family, and officials and scholars as the emperor's long-term workers and stewards.

After several rounds of bargaining, most of the power in the country was controlled by the civil service group, that is, the scholar-official families.

But in name, they are not the masters of this empire.

The master is the emperor.

We are all working, and we will put money into our own pockets when we get the chance. As for whether the Ming Dynasty will collapse, no one cares.

Zhu Yijun continued, "I never thought that when I was practicing the rule of law, the friend I met was not from the Ming Dynasty, but an envoy from Europe, the Portuguese, the barbarians you call fools."

Everyone listened quietly, trying to figure out what the emperor meant.

"When I proposed to govern the country according to law, many great Confucian scholars mourned their parents' death. Some went to the Confucius Temple to cry, some went to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to cry, and some even went to the Xiaoling Mausoleum to cry.

It is said that governing the country with benevolence and virtue is the good way of governing the country passed down from our ancestors.

My rule of law is against the will of Heaven and the resurgence of the evil Legalists. Some even cursed me, saying that my perverse actions would surely lead to the destruction of the Ming Dynasty in my hands, just like the death of the Second Emperor of the Former Qin Dynasty.

But I turned a deaf ear to all these words and continued to promote the rule of law. "

The ministers murmured in their hearts.

You know, Emperor Sejong has already told us long ago, "I have chosen for you an emperor who is resolute and unyielding."

Not only are you resolute, but you are also very skilled in your methods. You have repeatedly committed major crimes, and countless noble families have been wiped out. The backbone of the Confucian conservatives has long been destroyed.

People in the government and the public either "understand" your philosophy of governing the country, or oppose it in their hearts but dare not speak out.

No matter how openly and honestly you implement the "Legalist" rule of law, no one dares to oppose it, and no one can oppose it. Those sour Confucianists are crying just to gain reputation, which is of no help to the general trend.

Now you say that your confidant of the rule of law is a Portuguese, which is unbelievable.

The emperor’s previous attitude was to rule the country according to law. If something was not understood, he would execute it first and then slowly understand it during the execution process.

Now that the emperor had said this at the plenary meeting of the Council of State, the ministers' minds turned several turns and they roughly understood what he meant.

After three to five years of implementing the rule of law, it is time to reach the stage of understanding.

According to what the emperor had mentioned in a previous meeting, this is called unified thinking.

Everyone remained silent, waiting for Zhu Yijun to make clear what he wanted to say.

Seeing that the ministers were waiting in silence, Zhu Yijun did not mind making things clear and giving them a good beating. To unify the thoughts, we must start from top to bottom, starting with the highest decision-making and advisory body of the Ming Dynasty, the Advisory Bureau.

“Marcelo is right. Politics is a game of balancing power. We need to try to keep the forces of all parties balanced. However, no matter how balanced the forces are, conflicts and contradictions will arise among all parties due to various interests.

How to resolve these conflicts and contradictions?
Marcelo sees things clearly. Previously, when we tried to resolve these conflicts and contradictions, we were always short-sighted and superficial. The end result was often to intensify the contradictions and intensify the conflicts. "

Zhu Yijun swept his eyes across everyone's face. The twenty-eight people present were all the pillars of the Ming Dynasty that he had selected. Each of them looked very serious and was listening carefully to what he said.

Zhu Yijun pointed at Hai Rui and said, "Everyone knows that Lord Hai is the most honest official in the Ming Dynasty. When he makes a judgment, everyone in the government and the country, from officials to ordinary people, is convinced.

You know why?"

Everyone couldn't help but look at Hai Rui, whose face was gloomy.

why?
Because Emperor Shizong used his reputation to sharpen Hai Rui's sword of dustlessness to a level that could chill the nine states, and then passed it to you. You sharpened it even more with cases like the Shandong Confucius Mansion case and the three major Jiangnan cases.

Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "Because Lord Hai is the standard of integrity and justice. After more than 30 years of accumulation, no one dared to make the slightest mistake, and only then did he establish the standard of Lord Hai.

I once again said that the core of the Ming Dynasty's judicial system is based on evidence and the law. Then I painstakingly designed a whole set of complex litigation procedures to ensure judicial fairness, which is to tell everyone what the standard of fairness is with visible justice! "

At this point, Zhu Yijun couldn't help but admire Marcelo in his heart. This foreigner had a really sharp eye.

“Marcelo sees things very clearly. Because people cannot see the standard of fairness, when resolving conflicts, they all think they are the one who suffers the loss.

So the way we resolve conflicts eventually turns into whoever is the strongest is right.

But power is like the waves of the sea, rising and falling. Today he is strong, tomorrow you are strong. Fairness and justice are like sheep, one moment he will snatch them away, the next you will snatch them away. "

Among the ministers present, some became more solemn, some seemed to be thinking about something, and some disagreed.

Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and continued, "I have always felt that the imperial examination is a sign of progress.

Compared with the system of selecting filial and honest officials and the system of nine-rank examinations, the imperial examination system, which began in the Sui and Tang dynasties, matured in the Song dynasty, and was perfected in the current dynasty, was actually a very fair and just channel and platform for resolving conflicts, and it was highly recognized by both the government and the public.

Although there have been many cases of cheating in imperial examinations from county examinations to prefectural examinations to provincial examinations and metropolitan examinations over the past hundreds of years, it is undeniable that once cheating is exposed, everyone from the emperor to officials to ordinary people will agree that it must be severely punished.

From the North-South List during the Hongwu reign to the Southern Examination Fraud Case during the first year of the Longqing reign, countless officials and scholars were killed. Any case could be rehabilitated after the new emperor ascended the throne, except for the imperial examination fraud case, which no one dared to redress.

why?
Because everyone reached a consensus that the imperial examinations must be kept as fair and just as possible, otherwise the foundation of the country would collapse.

The imperial examination has also become a channel and platform recognized by all forces as the most fair and just way to resolve conflicts and solve problems. If you have the ability to pass the imperial examinations and become a juren or jinshi, your words will carry weight, you can call the wind and rain, and govern the country and care for the people.

The same is true of the Ming judicial system that I designed, which is based on rule of law.

Based on evidence and the law, the procedural justice ensures judicial fairness. This is the fair and just standard that I have painstakingly created and can be seen by the government and the people!
Over time, this fair and just standard will be recognized by everyone, just like Hai Gong. Then any contradictions and conflicts will be resolved within the judicial framework, not based on who is stronger and who is right! "

Zhu Yijun sighed: "My good intentions were seen through by a European.

There are probably only a few people among the nobles who can understand it. Well, Lord Hai is one of them."

Everyone looked at Hai Rui again.

At this point, all the ministers present finally understood why Hai Rui had gone to such great lengths to transfer the Xiao Baicai case from the jurisdiction of the Jiangsu Provincial Surveillance Office to the Huzhou Administrative Court for trial.

At this point, everyone suddenly realized why the Xiaobaicai case, which was not a shocking case, caused such a sensation, shook the south of the Yangtze River, and then spread throughout the world.

Hai Rui and the emperor must have been secretly fanning the flames.

In particular, the Xiaobaicai case deliberately publicized the "affair" between the man and woman involved, making it very erotic, because that's what the people liked.

You said that the Yang Kaitai case concerns judicial fairness, business integrity, and the importance of contracts, but the people have no interest in it at all.

When you said that Yang Kaitai and Gou Cai were having an affair, the people became excited when they heard it. Word spread from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred, and it has such a huge influence today.

The results of the review by the Huzhou Administrative Court will be widely disseminated across the country, and when the people discuss erotic matters, they will also be subtly influenced by the deep meaning contained in the case.

Ordinary people look at sex, businessmen look at justice, and officials look at the rule of law. Different groups of people have different focuses, and all of them are encompassed by the Xiaobaicai case.

Your Majesty, Lord Hai, you really have good intentions!
Zhu Yijun saw the expressions on everyone's faces and the light flashing in their eyes, and knew that they had all taken his words to heart.

"On the topic of rule of law, I would like to add a few words.

Judicial justice is the most effective tool to ease the internal conflicts of the Ming Dynasty. Marcelo made this point very clearly.

Today, the world is changing with each passing day. There are new changes and progress every day, every month, and every year. New problems and contradictions are also constantly emerging.

We must keep up with the development of the times, change our thinking, improve our governance methods, and use new means.
If we still use the past means of benevolence, virtue, propriety and human governance, how can we solve problems, resolve conflicts and ease contradictions?
New productive forces must have new production relations!

Productivity determines production relations, while production relations react on productivity. When production relations adapt to productivity, they can promote the development of productivity; otherwise, they will hinder the development of productivity.

The developing productive forces are the tide of the times, surging and rolling forward. If we follow the trend and adapt to it with appropriate new production relations, we can ride the wind and waves and sail thousands of miles.

If we still cling to the obsolete old production relations, we will be going against the tide of the times.

Today, the world is undergoing a thousand-year change. The trend of the times is unstoppable. Those who follow it will prosper, and those who go against it will perish! If China wants to stand forever in the world and the Ming Dynasty wants to be as majestic as the sun and the moon, we must follow the trend!"

Zhu Yijun's resounding words echoed in the conference hall.

(End of this chapter)